IcanMakeit

You are so fortunate to have such wise and loving daughters. I would have felt mortified to have been the target of their intervention, but you are smart enough to listen to what they are saying rather than react to them having the audacity to tell you about yourself. Great post. I'm going to try to learn from your experience so I don't have my family members telling me about myself!

I've been doing very well in maintenance so far. My weight has only gone up or down a pound and a half for the last few weeks. I'm hoping you guys can help me stay on track. Today's weight 111 Goal weight 111 Thanks again, stephh.

The timing of my first drink was about the same -- 7 months post-op. I had 3 oz of champagne for the New Year and I was fine. I felt it a little bit more than I would have pre-surgery, but I didn't get drunk or feel sick. I hope you enjoy your birthday drink as much as I liked my New Year champagne.

It sounds like a wonderful trip. I wish I could go back to all the places I have been now that I am thin. I would enjoy the trips so much more now that I can walk without pain and climb stairs without losing my breath.

@@Swampdoggie Ha! I am going to try to work this into a conversation today.

I am sorry Dave's course of treatment is so arduous but I'm so glad that you have found a great medical team that is fighting for him as hard as they can. Stay hopeful and prayerful. We're all pulling for you both.

I never eat ketchup, but I started eating mustard and pickles pretty much as soon as I was allowed "all foods as tolerated." For me, the mustard and pickles make low fat burgers edible.

Your doctor's information about WLS outcomes does not reflect the statistics, but it is true that some WLS patients stop losing weight long before they reach their goal weight. Sometimes this is because they are unable to follow the post-bariatric diet and do not continue to exercise. Even though capacity is much diminished after surgery, it is possible to consume too many calories by snacking and grazing and/or choosing calorie dense foods. And some have health issues that slow weight loss. I don't know if your diagnosis precludes WLS, but if it doesn't, you should do a little more reading and soul searching before writing off the possibility. Since you believe you can stick to a diet, you might be a good candidate for WLS. Most people find it much easier to lose a significant amount of weight with the surgery than without it. It is also the case that WLS patients are more likely to maintain a large percentage of their weight loss than dieters who did not have the surgery.

@@VSGAnn2014, come sit by me.

I also carried a lot of my excess weight in my abdomen and after weight loss, that is the only area where excess fat remains (along with a lot of loose skin). I had been scheduled for plastic surgery this month but I put it off due to work and finances. Now I am learning to wear shapewear whenever needed and I'm not finding it too uncomfortable. More than that, I have also learned to accept my pouf. It is the natural consequence of substantial weight loss. No body is perfect, why should I expect mine to be? I plan to go forward with the plastic surgery when my work/financial situation improves, but in the meantime, I'm becoming more satisfied with my current shape.

I'm holding at 111.2 lbs. Since I've been advised not to lose anymore, this is a good thing. Thank you Stephh for organizing this challenge.

Although I am in maintenance, I would like to participate in the next challenge. Reading about all the struggles and successes of others really helps me stay on track. Please add my name. My goal weight will be my current weight, 111.

Although I agree with what I believe to be the point of this article (that in order to achieve long term success, we have to make permanent changes to our way of eating), I was also put off by some of its assertions. I do not agree that the first 100 lbs lost is all due to surgery. So many people never reach that milestone because they were unable to follow the program set out for them. Losing that much weight takes sacrifice and focus. I don't like hearing anyone diminish this accomplishment. The other assertion that I don't really agree with is that it's wrong to enjoy substitutes for white carbs. There are many healthy ways to enjoy your Pasta sauce, not just shirataki noodles, and to me, no reason not to try them. Unfortunately for me (since I really enjoy carbs), I do agree that I need to severely limit white carbs forever if I want long term success, but I know that not everyone agrees with that.

Thrift stores and consignment shops are fabulous places to get fun clothes that you can't find elsewhere. Some of my new favorite items have come from them. I am a natural pack rat and hoarder, but I am forcing myself to get rid of my large-sized clothes. Even my favorites. I want the consequence of regain to be having to go out and shop for larger sizes, not just reaching deeper into my closet. It's too easy for me to tell myself that regain is not that bad if I'm not seriously inconvenienced.

Thanks for giving me permission to order from the child's menu. I usually worry too much about what the server will think. But you're right. Why should it matter to them that I'm a senior rather than a junior? Oh, but I just remembered that the food on the kid's menu is mostly breaded and fried. I'll use this strategy next time if there are any edible offerings on the kid's menu.

I am in the same position. While I don't look so thin because of my loose skin, I've been advised to stabilize at my current weight. I want to do this carefully because for me, this is dangerous. If I get used to eating high calorie foods, I'm worried that I could just forget about my diet all together. I still enjoy eating tasty foods. The VSG didn't change my preferences, it just made me able to make better choices.

Maybe you should start by reconnecting with your doctor and nutritionist. They may be able to offer some solutions. Also, you don't mention whether or not you're still exercising. If not, it might help to move things in the right direction.

I'm so sorry to hear about your husband's diagnosis. I can't imagine how hard it must be to face such a serious illness. I hope all the prayers and good wishes that I, and many others on this site are sending you lift you up at least a little bit and help you stay hopeful.

I experienced a lot of back pain after losing about 80 lbs. For me, the cause was the loss of my large abdomen, which used to support my heavy breasts somewhat. Without that "shelf," the weight of my breasts caused severe back pain. For me, the cure was breast reduction surgery. My back has been great since then.

Today is my one year surgiversary. I am so glad that I made the decision to save my own life by losing weight. At the beginning of the process, WLS was not part of my plan. (I had gone through the whole pre-op testing process five years before and then backed out of having the lap band.) I started dieting in Jan. 2014, lost weight steadily for a few months, and began to enjoy the improvements to my health and appearance. I decided that I didn't want this to be just another diet, where I lose weight only to find it again within a few weeks or months. I then talked to my PCP and he suggested that bariatric surgery might help me with maintenance. Within three months of that conversation with my PCP, I was sleeved. My family was amazed that I changed my mind about bariatric surgery and had it done so quickly, but they were all so supportive, it made me feel even more secure in my decision. Just like so many other people, the initial post-op period was unpleasant, but I was lucky that the worst of it passed within a couple of months. Then it was a pretty steady period of loss until I reached my surgeon's goal in December 2014. The goal he set for me, 135 lbs., put me near the top of the acceptable BMI level. At that weight, I looked so much better than before, but still looked a bit chubby. I had set my own goal at 125 lbs. because I remembered feeling pretty good and strong at that weight back in my college student/dance minor days. I didn't really advertise that goal. I had no confidence that I would reach it. But I must have gotten a second wind after my breast reduction at the beginning of December. Not only did I surpass my surgeon's goal, I surpassed my own secret goal. I have now lost 132 lbs. and look and feel like a new person. Changing my lifestyle has really been facilitated by my VSG. It has given me better control of my eating habits and the weight loss (and breast reduction) has made it possible for me to exercise without pain. I won't have my one year follow up visit with my bariatric surgeon until next week, but I'm expecting to hear good news, just as I did at my 9 month follow-up. Pretty much everything I was suffering from when I was overweight is either improved or resolved.

I'm glad the cyst was benign. Although this is a very trying time, you have good reason to anticipate a positive outcome. I'll be thinking of you and your husband on Friday, @Canyonbaby. Good luck.

@@AvaFern, I think you are right to be hypervigilant. It is so easy to gain weight after reaching goal and so hard to lose the regained weight. Why walk that road if you don't have to? But in this case, I hope your panic is premature.

@@AvaFern, I'm glad you contacted your doctor as soon as you suspected something was wrong. And I agree that antibiotics are indeed a boon to humankind. But don't you think it's likely that the two parts of your post are related? The weight gain could be Fluid retention caused by the inflammation. If the weight gain persists for another week, then it will be time to react by cutting back on calories. Make sure you are drinking plenty of plain Water. Try not to panic. I know that's easy to say and hard to do, but it's counterproductive. Edited to add: If you are not currently tracking your food intake, you might want to start now. That information is very helpful for weight loss and for maintenance.

How much loose skin you'll have when you reach your goal can't be accurately predicted. If you're young, have good genes, and haven't been obese for too long, you are very unlikely to end up with a lot of loose skin after weight loss. If none of the above are true for you, you are likely to have excess skin after substantial weight loss. But there are two pieces of good news: 1. You can have plastic surgery to remove it. And 2. When you reach your goal weight, you look and feel so much better than when you were obese that the loose skin may not be too bothersome. You kind of get used to it because it doesn't really show much unless you're undressed.

This is my first post in the Veterans' Forum. My surgiversary isn't until next week, but I have something on my mind and would like feedback. I have been below goal since December. It's time to learn how to do maintenance and "moderation." I have to admit that I am afraid that if I change my habits even a little, that I will spiral out of control and end up morbidly obese again a year from now. I know that this "all or nothing" mentality is part of the reason my weight got so out of control. I would use my failure to resist treats as an excuse to forget about my diet, and just keep on eating whatever I wanted. Now that I am thin enough to be healthy, I don't want to live like a monk. I want to enjoy occasional pleasures, including party food and wine. Tonight I found myself feeling deprived because other people were enjoying wine with their dinner. So far, I have been too conservative to enjoy both wine and fattening foods on the same occasion. Since surgery, I have indulged in only one small glass of champagne on New Year's Day. I have so far opted for birthday cake (or whatever the normally forbidden dessert is) rather than wine on special occasions, since I shouldn't have both. But does it need to be like this forever? We're celebrating my husband's 65th birthday as well as Mother's Day tomorrow. I think my plan to forego the champagne so that I can have a small piece of birthday cake might be more of my all or nothing attitude. Before I lost weight, I had planned to allow myself to Celebrate special occasions with my family with good food and wine in small amounts. That still seems like a good goal. But my abstemious practices during weight loss served me so well that I'm afraid to let myself have a glass of wine and treat food on the same day,. How do others navigate celebrations in maintenance?