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Oh gosh, I would NEVER have been able to do this on my own. Until this month, I "exercised" at home and would not have earned nearly as many points. I joined a gym and am crazy about the classes...I push myself in them, whereas at home, I don't work nearly as hard!

Thank you! So far this week I have earned 24 points and because I am just getting in on this, I will pledge 6 points for tomorrow. Fun!

Girl, that sounds great, and since I moved away from Texas, I'm the same...the restaurants here suck. Boo! I'm going to make this soon. Thanks for sharing! Have you ever been to Chuy's? It is my FAVORITE tex-mex ever, and I just made a copycat version of their creamy jalapeno dip. It's pretty good and I like it over refried Beans with a low carb tortilla. I'll share if you are interested!

Alright, well I'm glad to say that I'm loving the classes still and now that I'm officially on summer vacation, my goal is to be in the gym 5-6 times a week. I've been 4 so far this week and have plans to go to the Cardio fusion class in the morning. I'm going to dread the end of my summer membership in August, but I think I have figured out a way to keep a monthly membership....and it's a little ironic, to be honest. About 2 months ago my sister gave me a lesson cake decorating. I bake all my cakes and Desserts from scratch and I'm really good at it...sorry if that's conceited! Anyway, I have started selling them and I'm making a good little extra money, so if the orders keep coming, I will pay for my gym membership by baking cakes! The best part is, i make them and then they leave my house, so i can't be tempted to eat them!!! You can see my creations on Facebook if you are interested. Keep in mind I'm still a novice! Link to my facebook profile is in my sig.

I have a digital I got a Wal-Mart for around $30, I think. It gives me different readings, but usually they are very close to each other. I noticed one time I had my arm up resting on the window and it read about 2 pounds less than what I really weighed, so I have to make sure I'm standing completely still and my feet are centered on the scale. My husband has an old analog scale and it is about a pound different than the digital. I prefer to see that number come up.

Okay, so one hour of exercise is 6 points? Just making sure I'm thinking correctly! I'm on my first day of summer vacation and I don't plan to think much. HA!

Congrats on your success! That's awesome!!!

Well, normally it isn't too bad, but this has been teacher appreciation week. I do much better at home than at work, so bring on the summer! This morning class was good...it was a lot of step with some body sculpting thrown in. Evidently, I am pretty uncoordinated because I couldn't get some of the step moves...one girl offered to stop what she was doing to show me. I declined and just did my best. Burned almost 800 calories!

I went to another class yesterday, and it was a smidge easier (I burned 700 calories instead of 800), and I don't know if it was just because I was still sore, but it was rough! I'm sore today too and am taking the day off, but I'll be going tomorrow morning for another class. I'm going to try them all out to see what they are and how well I can keep up! Now if I could just stay out of the miniature candy in the teacher's lounge! (HA!)

You skinny bitch! LOVE IT! You look amazing. AMAZING, I say.

You are too sweet! I don't have any recent pics, but let me see if I can find something. Since I haven't lost but about 2 pounds in the past few weeks, I think I might have something....I will post something new to my album in a few.

I mostly have been exercising at home. Until this week, I was not a member of a gym (just started group fitness yesterday), so I did a lot of walking/jogging with my dog outside. I also did some DVD workouts...Zumba (way fun), Jillian Michaels (I have 3 of hers), and that's about it. Now I'm going to the gym and yesterday I worked harder in class than I ever did on my own at home. I feel like I can eat A LOT more than I did right after surgery. But, I eat between 4-5 oz now depending on what it is I'm eating.

Hello everyone! I just thought I'd share an update since I had my 9-month follow up appointment last week. My surgeon is very pleased with my progress so far. I've lost 109 pounds in 9 months, and he said that's awesome for a sleever to do in even 12 months! All my labs checked out great and I had a discussion with him about becoming pregnant after I reach goal. He's all for it. :confused1: I'm kind of in a stall right now, but mostly because I haven't been exercising. I'm determined to lose as much as I can this summer while out of school, so I joined a gym this week and am excited about going to classes with friends. The Dr said I would just have to concentrate on cardio and good food choices to get to goal. I don't have my measurements with me right now, but here's what I do know: Pre-op weight: 351, BMI 46.3 Current weight: 243, BMI 32.1 I'm 6'1" and my personal goal is to weigh 190 and I'm hopeful I will get there this year. My surgeon told me to just get to 210 and then decide if I want to lose any more, but I really want to see a 1 as the first number in my weight! I am so happy with my sleeve. It has improved my attitude, my marriage, and it's just been the best decision I've made for myself in my 32 years of life.

So, I have not been a member of a gym since my surgery because I couldn't afford it. There is a local gym here that offers a summer special for teachers. It's $130 for May-August. I can do that! Anyway, I signed up and went to my first class yesterday. OUCH! I'm in major pain today! This class was like Jillian Michaels 30-day Shred on CRACK and every other illegal substance that will kill you. I mean, I've worked hard at home with Jillian's DVDs, but this class but tputs those to shame. Even though I've lost over 100 pounds, I was still the biggest person in the room. All of the women there were skinny, hard-bodies. I have to say I was proud of myself for mostly keeping up, and I burned 800 calories in 55 minutes. That class really showed me that I have got to get the rest of this weight off. I can't go to a class today, but I will be back on Thursday! I'm excited to be a member of a gym, and I can already tell I'll be more motivated to go because a lot of teachers from my school go there too. I just wanted to share my PAIN! It's all over...toes, thighs, butt, abs, arms...what a workout!

Wow, I sure hope I can remember some off these if I need them! Only one person (that I can think of) has said something about me cheating, and I can't remember what I said in reply. She was joking, but it's stuck with me.

A friend of mine is looking into bariatric surgery and she lives in Pearland, TX (near Houston). If you have had surgery in Houston, will you please tell me who you used? Thanks!

I will say that since I've lost weight and my husband hasn't (he's still over 300 pounds), it's hard for me to BREATHE during sex because he crushes me!! He gets a little frustrated with this, so I try very hard to hide it. But, now that I've lost a bunch of weight, I say things like, "Feel this BONE right here" and he laughs at me because everything is way different now. I can't imagnine what it will be like when I get the rest of this weight off!!!

When I hit the three week stall, concentrating on getting in all or more of my water really seemed to help. I was feeling funky and once I started getting in all the water, I felt much better and the scale started moving again. Congrats on your loss so far!

I eat Peanut Butter occasionally (like once or twice a month) and it doesn't give me trouble any more. I am 8 months out, though. I remember being about 3-4 months out and it felt like it was stuck. It was just a little discomfort, nothing major. I don't lose consistently any more. In the beginning, I lost 4-6 pounds a week, then it slowed to 1-3, and now it could be anywhere from losing nothing in a week to losing 3-4 pounds a week, depending on how strict I am with carbs and how much I exercise. I haven't been exercising this week, and work has been crazy, so I think I might even be up a pound come Monday. I have a few more weeks of teaching left before summer break, and I'm looking forward to being at home because I don't snack at home like I do at work. Hopefully I will see a lot of weight come off in June and July! Congratulations on your milestone! You're doing great!

Well, I do a lot of Jillian Michaels workouts, which are tough, but there is something she does a lot in her workouts, which is a basic punching motion. Like you are hitting a punching bag. She bends her knees (in squat position) and just punches away. The only reason I mention this is because she says that kind of upper body workout is great for people who have lower body injuries. I thought it was kind of silly, but it really does get your heart going! She also does upper cuts, which is in squat position, punching straight above your head. I know you can't do punching alone as a workout, but this might help some!

My husband once told me that if I didn't get skinny, he'd go have sex with a skinny girl. Seriously. We'd only been married about 5 months when he said that. And the thing that made me so mad was that HE needs to lose over 150 pounds himself. Luckily when I brought up surgery, he was okay with it, but we went round and round for the first year of our marriage about MY weight and how I needed to lose it and he swore I couldn't do it with Weight Watchers or anything else (I had lost about 60 on WW years ago and gained it all back), and he'd YELL when I'd by those 100 calorie Snacks. It was awful. So now that I've lost so much weight he reminds me that he was the one who married me when I was fat. Like he did me a favor. I don't mean to put him in such a bad light, and we are happy now, but that first year of marriage was tough for us. Now he's gaining weight and I'm losing it and it's getting to him. Thanks for letting me vent too! I sometimes forget about all the fights we've had about my weight, but then when I see someone else having trouble with their husband, it comes right back to me! Just do it, girl. Do it for YOU!

That's so awesome! congrats :lol0:

I have to say I took a "nutrition vacation" the past 4 days when i was visiting family in TX. It was pretty bad---the things I ate! I felt like my "old" self for a couple of days even though I couldn't finish that big plate of burrito like I wanted to, HAH! However, I'm back home now and back on track as of right now (just woke up). Having my Protein bar as I type. Going to the store later to restock the fridge...the hubs actually cleaned it out while i was gone!

I've known for a while that a new pair of jeans was going to have to happen soon. I have one pair that "fits" and by that, I mean that they are long enough on me. I am 6'1" and it's HARD to find women's pants/jeans that are long enough. The one pair I have can be taken off withough even unbuttoning and unzipping them. That being said, and this might be more in the category of JUST PLAIN SAD, I took off running after my puppy yesterday and MY JEANS CAME DOWN IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD! One hand was tied up with her leash and the other was holding my pants up. SAD, but fun at the same time! HA!

Here's what I know from my personal experience: I spent close to $5000 in a year on a personal trainer and nutritionist. I lost 30 pounds. I gained it back without even really trying. I had the VSG in July of 09 and I lost 100 pounds in 8 months. Now, I know there are many who have complications, but I have not. I followed doctor's orders and now that I'm completely healed, I feel amazing. You do what is right for YOU and as long as you have your husband's support, go for it. My husband encouraged me to do it long before I was mentally ready. The sleeve gives me that will power to stop eating when I'm full. I never could do that on my own. And believe me, I'm full FAST. I still have days where I snack between meals when I shouldn't, but those days come and go and I'm still losing. I think you have a lot of support here. Best of luck to you!