SmilingBeauty

Don't miss my tummy, and don't really think too much about it being gone. Never had a single regret from day 1.

I was revised from band to sleeve in Dec 2011 - nearly 4 years ago. I hit goal in Feb 2013 after losing half my body weight. I spent some time under goal, spent sometime with a small regain to slightly over goal and am now at goal again. A success story as I have never maintained a weight loss of signficance for any length of time. I am gaining confidence that I will remain in the ballpark of my goal weight for the long haul these days. I had major plastics in Oct 2013 and while I got off my workout schedule, i got back to it according to a very clear plan and it didn't interfere much.
However, I have had a very disappointing turn of events that have impacted me alot, especially over the last year. Even when I was in the 250-300# weight class I was as active as I could be. I pushed through pain and discomfort to keep up with my slender friends, to do horse events, take care of my little farm etc. One of the biggest joys for me of losing all that weight was becoming very fit and capable. I worked out alot.... then.. the problems started showing up.
Overuse injury triggered by an overzealous and under educated personal trainer - hip injection needed in 2014
Elbow overuse injury got so bad I had to send my horses to live elsewhere for several months which triggered a bunch of other issues (horse behavior related)
Left knee starting to hurt - I believe compensating for hip
Find out right hip actually has arthritis, looking at a replacement in a few years and now get injections a couple of times a year to manage the pain
Right breast starts mysterously swelling earlier this year - massive tests, MRI, labwork and no conclusions really. Good news cancer has been ruled out.
A week ago I had to have the implant removed since nothing worked to resolve the swelling issue. I don't have the labwork back but I am optimistic that I can have a new one put in after the 3 month resting / healing period.
So, I now have a plan to deal with the hip pain, the elbow is "ok" but I am avoiding pushups for sure and the breast surgeries interfere, but I also know it is temporary... just disappointing and not part of "the plan"
So, I give myself a pat on the back for maintaining my weight even as my fitness level is disappearing. I need to get back on the fitness train (hip doctor has a very good plan for my hip anyway!) but have to wait to get clearance post current surgery and then wait for a new hip injection as it is hurting again.
So, the moral of my story to pre-ops: one thing to consider the longer you remain morbidly obese, the more likely you are to have problems. It is pretty clear that i had a childhood injury or perhaps birth defect that triggered the hip issue, but packing around all that extra weight is of course a major component to that hip issue, the knee issue and ongoing back pain too
Moral of the story to active post ops: your body is not as healthy and strong as it seems if you have a long history of morbid obesity. Losing the weight, getting fit improves all those bloodwork, the blood pressure and all that stuff, but the muscular skelatel system damage may have already been done. I was careful to avoid high immpact workouts like aerobics, but I very much enjoy high intensity, high fitness creating activities and while they didn't cause any of my issues, they helped expose them, that is for sure.
Moral of the story to all of us - don't self identify so strongly with one thing. I got really into my physical prowess (for my age), became a much bolder and stronger horseback rider and loved it. I had to cancel plans to do an intense equitrekking adventure to Iceland because with that hip - I can't spend 8 hours a day in the saddle for a week or two anymore... it is sad to me. I had also planned to do barrel racing, drill team and other speedy events that were on hold for a bit - but i think i can see my way back to some of those goals again. It has been heart breaking to watch myself very quickly drop in capability. At times it has felt a bit sad or depressing. I am currently working on creating a life with more balance - physical fitness and identification with the inner athlete, balanced with other things in life that are still satisfying even when my body isn't quite cooperating.
I thought that I would feel horrible at having one implant removed. Truth of the matter is my implants were pretty small, intended to give me that lost "upper pole" fullness so I actually don't look as mismatched as I feared. I am finding my ability to deal with this physical set back that impacts my feminity/looks so much pretty okay so far and I am happy with myself for being able to handle it. It will be alot better once the effing drain comes out, but overall I am coping pretty well with this set back.

Posts like that, and you actually feel you're not relevant to this site anymore??
Puh-leeese.
You are amazing, inspring, and always so full of insight and So. Much. Wisdom.
Keep healing and take care of yourself!

My current weight is 224.8. My goal weight for the challenge is 199.
If i hit this goal, I will have lost 116 pounds this year.
Let's go!!!!
Thanks for these challenges @@stephh!

My current weight is 224.8. My goal weight for the challenge is 199.
If i hit this goal, I will have lost 116 pounds this year.
Let's go!!!!
Thanks for these challenges @@stephh!

227.2. I didn't make my goal. Came pretty close though. Can't wait for the next challenge.

@@Dub - You win the internet today! That was hilarious!!!

I can only imagine how that went down........two Iron wills colliding.......forgedtits and the doctor (I'm seeing Arnold Swartzenaeger in this role for some reason....)
"I want a sammich dambit !!!"
"NO...just Soup for you".
"It's not fair......I should have cupcakes".
"No......Protein Powda only......now, get to the choppa".
"I want oodles of noodles and bread bowls"
"STOP with your whining"
I almost feel sorry for the surgeons.......I mean, they have the ability to change lives in a way that patients can only dream of......yet their results are held hostage by those that want to fight them every step of the way.
I simply don't understand how people make it to the surgery and have so damn little understanding of basic calories and nutrition. This stuff is taught in elementary schools. Hell, I grew up in the boonies.....where the teachers main challenge was keeping us from breeding our cousins.....yet somehow.....someway....they taught us the basic concepts of how to eat.
Sure....many, like me, turn their back on that knowledge and develop weight problems as adults. Thankfully I stayed off my cousin, though.
There is normally so much education that goes into a bariatric program that you'd expect good comprehension of the surgery and the demands that follow.
Add to the fact that she's lived through this with her husbands wls.....although a different procedure.
OP is right. It's not fair. It's not fair to the surgeon. That poor surgeon will never get the time back that she's going to spend arguing with the OP in this visit. OP already knows everything and won't be satisfied until the surgeon yields and admits that cupcakes, Cookies and pizza are in fact, great foods that will yield to a slim, trim and sexy new you.
Poor surgeon. She could be spending that time with patients that actually are receptive and willing to listen and follow.

Oh crap! I can't, I won't, oh lort it hurts not to..........nope. Winner winner chicken dinner!!! Oh but sorry you can't have that ,or maybe you can?!!! @@LipstickLady @@Babbs

I'm choosing to be "supportive" and tell the OP what he/she wants to hear.
Sorry to one up you, there.

See? See? I haven't said a word! It's a new kinder, gentler me!
*Sprinkles fairy dust on everyone and skips away*

227.2. I didn't make my goal. Came pretty close though. Can't wait for the next challenge.

232

Great advice. Sometimes we want all the weight off so bad, that we don't acknowledge and appreciate the weight that has come off.
I am thankful to be down 74 pounds. And I am earning to change how I communicate that. Over the weekend my cousin asked how much I had lost? My response was I have lost about 70 pounds but I still have 100 more to lose!
I will stop discounting my sucess today. The next time someone asks my answer will be "I have lost over 70 pounds and I look and feel great!" Period. Because that is the truth.

I can't eat more than 1/2 cup or so at a sitting. bread gets stuck, Pasta and rice come back, ice cream makes me dump. I want to nibble all day because I can't seem to get in more than 1000 HEALTHY calories a day and wine gives me horrific heartburn. I am either constipated or have poop Soup - usually the first leads to the second -- and I still can't have even a small glass of Water with a meal or I will horf it all back up. Regular water sits like a lead brick in my stomach still (after 2.5 years!!) and I still sit on the potty before I pass gas just in case.

That said...

I wear a size 6/8.
I can shop in ANY store.
My teenaged daughters now borrow my clothes and I borrow theirs. (Wait -- is that good or bad?)
I can fit in any seat AND cross my legs.
People don't look at me like I am Satan on fire when I sit next to them on the bus, the theater, the airplane.
I can put junk food in my grocery cart and not feel judged.
I can (and do!) walk 6-10 miles a day without pain the next morning.
I can keep up in Zumba class and still do another workout after.
I can dance all night without feeling it the next day.
I hike, bike, kayak, and play outside with my kids comfortably.
I no longer sweat like a horse the second I walk outside.

I am healthy. No longer pre-diabetic, no longer morbidly obese, no longer ruining my knees, hips, feet and back with excessive weight.


If this was the "easy way out", so be it. It damn sure was the SMART way out.
EDIT TO ADD:

It seems that some of you are taking my "litany of complaints" as real hardships and I want to correct that. None of the things I listed above are the end of the world nor are they even more than little blips on my radar.

When my ass hurts, I get up. When I'm cold, I grab a blanket. I choose not to eat bread, rice, pasta or ice cream and as much as I loved them before, they make me feel so urpy, I no longer WANT them. The poop soup/constipation, along with the juicy toots kind of sucks, but I think some Probiotics would correct that issue. I don't drink when I eat, nor do I drink for an hour after and it's not killing me. I don't need regular water, and while I miss it from time to time, a squeeze of flavor drops or a splash of fruit juice works for me. My inability to drink wine sucks the most, but it's a small trade off in the grand scheme of things.

231.2

Current weight is 233. I may actually hit my goal for this challenge.

Great advice. Sometimes we want all the weight off so bad, that we don't acknowledge and appreciate the weight that has come off.
I am thankful to be down 74 pounds. And I am earning to change how I communicate that. Over the weekend my cousin asked how much I had lost? My response was I have lost about 70 pounds but I still have 100 more to lose!
I will stop discounting my sucess today. The next time someone asks my answer will be "I have lost over 70 pounds and I look and feel great!" Period. Because that is the truth.

Great advice. Sometimes we want all the weight off so bad, that we don't acknowledge and appreciate the weight that has come off.
I am thankful to be down 74 pounds. And I am earning to change how I communicate that. Over the weekend my cousin asked how much I had lost? My response was I have lost about 70 pounds but I still have 100 more to lose!
I will stop discounting my sucess today. The next time someone asks my answer will be "I have lost over 70 pounds and I look and feel great!" Period. Because that is the truth.

Sorry to spam you guys... Today is my 1 year out. Look at the difference! I don't even look like the same person. I was down 109.8 pounds this morning. I completed my first triathlon earlier this year. I can run miles. I just am in disbelief. Thanks for letting me share with you! And thanks for competing in my challenges. You guys keep me going some days, even when it's rough!

Great advice. Sometimes we want all the weight off so bad, that we don't acknowledge and appreciate the weight that has come off.
I am thankful to be down 74 pounds. And I am earning to change how I communicate that. Over the weekend my cousin asked how much I had lost? My response was I have lost about 70 pounds but I still have 100 more to lose!
I will stop discounting my sucess today. The next time someone asks my answer will be "I have lost over 70 pounds and I look and feel great!" Period. Because that is the truth.

I got a weave two weeks before surgery so I wouldn't have to deal with my hair and it would be easier for working out. That was in May.
Last week I has my weave reinstalled for the 2nd time and noticed Hair loss at my temples. I was disappointed and upset. My hair stylist (whom I absolutely love) asked do you want the weight back or the hair? He assured me that the hair would grow back and that the weight I have lost is a great trade off for the hair I loss.
So I will continue to wear weaves for the rest of the year. I will make a decision about cutting it after than.
Thank God for weave!!!!!!!!!!

I hate to break it to ya, but your friend will never keep her weight off eating like that. YOU, my dear, are doing things right! Keep up the good work!

@@her1981 - Well 50 pounds is great. Be thankful, slower means better chance of avoiding loose skin. Are you working out? If so work with the nut to make sure your body isn't in a "fat preservation/starvation" mode. Sometimes a calorie increase actually pumps up weight loss. Track and test it.
As to your friend...they will reap the results of eating crap. They will feel like crap. Ultimately if they lose weight, they will look like crap. Don't compare your weight loss to others. Dangerous thing to do.

237.4 today.