Angera

I know it's too early to tell what my body will look like in the end, but I could use some advice. I am noticing that the part of my stomach below my below my belly button into my private parts is looking really good, nearly flat and smooth. The part from belly button up on the other hand is still bulging, i'm noticing my skin getting a little wrinkly. I still have a little over 100 more pounds to lose, what do you guys suggest I start doing to work that part of my tummy? It's always been where I carry the most weight and seems to be the part that's giving me issues now. I thought that once I reach goal, this part of my belly will definately go down, but what can I do now to start helping it out. I'm hoping to avoid plastic surgery and live what what I got. I know being well over 200 pounds overweight and overweight all my life, i'm not expecting a miracle of skin shrinkage to happen, but i want to help it out as much as i can. any suggestions? my exercise routine right now is a biggest loser dvd and walking. Thanks!

Thank you all for the kind words. I was truly taken back by the happenings of this week. I had gotten so consumed with numbers, smaller clothes that I lost focus of the most important aspect of this journey...........my health! It's so easy to get lost in a world of "being skinny", but at the end of the day it's the "being healthy" part that matters most. I've been with my family the past few days and it's so overwhelming. Too much food everywhere and i'm not used to eating the way they do anymore! My dad and his siblings (9 of them total) grew up very poor. In their adult lives, they've always had problems with "excess" when it came to food. They never wanted to go hungry as they did when they were younger, so they tend to make too much or buy too much food. I think this is the root or where my food problems arise. My dad had a tendency to always buy so much food and cook so much and well I ate so much! While thankfully, I have never known what is it to go hungry because of a lack of resources, I've had to retrain my brain to think that excess isn't always good. Tonight is my uncle's memorial service, I can truly say that my time here has been such a great experience. I've spent a lot of time with my dad's siblings. I love looking at my family and seeing how each one of them have shaped the person that i've become. I am truly blessed. I've heard people are shaped by the things they experience in life. I've experienced so much sadness and I know the best is yet to come. I firmly believe through all the sadness will come my greatest happiness in life.................living it to the fullest in my "healthy body"

In 2004, I lost my dad's eldest brother to diabetic complications, he was on dialysis and an amputee. Today I can't help but flash back to December 22, 2005. It was the day I lost my dad. He was diabetic, overweight, and suffered from every ailment under the moon when it came to his weight. He was nearly 450 pounds when he passed away at the age of 54. He never took care of himself. The night he died I remember him telling me he needed to work on his weight because it was getting out of control. I was 21 years old and at the time probably weighing 340lbs. Within and hour of that conversation with my dad, he was dead. I have a cousin that was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, entered her adult life and kidney failure hit, dialysis set it, and it was downward spiral. She passed away on Sunday of complications from her dialysis. We had her services on Tuesday. I prayed and counted my blessings that I have not yet followed in her footsteps. I'm going to miss her terribly, she was 29. This morning, I had a phonecall from my brother. He said "Uncle Ray just died." So many things ran through my mind including the thought that it was a joke and wasn't happening. It was that feeling I felt when I lost my dad. He too was diabetic, on dialysis, and suffered from all the same ailments as my dad but worse. Today, I see how precious life is and how important this band is in allowing me to live another day on this earth and become healthy.

chicken salad, tuna, and chili are always my go-to meals. I am able to make a lot of it on one day and store it in small containers for lots of meal throughout the week. When I can, I like to prepare extra meat with dinner to make sure i have left overs. I also keep kashi oatmeals in my desk for emergency breakfast situations. Another thing I do once a month is boil some eggs and keep them in the fridge, always ready when i'm in a rush and need something FAST! Hope this helps!

Thanks everyone, it just really threw me off that my family was weird about it! I figured living 5 hours away from them and physically not seeing them in 5 months, they would've had some sort of reaction! It's o.k. though, my mom is really happy about everything and she was just thrilled about my progress. Mommy always knows best

DId anyone see the biggest loser last night? The final four went home to reveal themselves. It really got me thinking. It's so made for T.V. right, do families really react like that? I mean, it got me feeling terrible about how unresponsive my family has been about the fact that i've shed over 80 pounds. I hadn't seen any of them since about two months before surgery, I went home for thanksgiving with an 86 pound weight loss and I truly was expecting the "WOW, OMG, you look great!" the shock, but it was so the opposite and made me think that I hadn't done enough................I know I should just aim to please me, but a little family reinforcement and positive feedback would be nice!! Perhaps i'm just being oversensitive, but I really felt like for once I had a huge weight loss accomplishment and it was just another day in the neighborhood for everyone else...........is it wrong for me to have expected my family to have had that "HOLY COW BIGGEST LOSER REVEAL MOMENT"????? Am I being oversensitive? I had one aunt say "yea, i guess you've lost some weight, but not a lot". I had my 8 month pregnant sister saying "oh no, you might catch up to me on weight" and I had another aunt saying "yea you look o.k., but you should cut your hair different".............good grief, it's like i was damned if i do lose the pounds and damned if i don't! I guess the good news is, my husband thinks I look amazing and i agree :wub: On another note, I cannot wait for the finale next week!!! I'm hoping Ada makes it to the final 3!!!