So I'm a little confused. 15 pounds ago I felt better about my body than I do now. I've lost just over 100, have 22.5 left to goal and yet now when a pound comes off I feel worse. The only explanation I can come up with is that I am 7 pounds heavier than I was all through high school and my body looks SO much bigger than it did then. And my stomach doesn't seem to be getting any smaller. Is anyone else running into this? It's frustrating to go from feeling better with evry pound o worse. Any suggestions? HELP PLEASE!

Have you been building sufficient muscle? Your body fat percentage might be way different than it was in high school, and that can make a huge difference with how you look at a given weight. Here's a progress pic of a woman (admittedly thin to begin with) who gained ten lb of muscle:

http://i.imgur.com/uqHFK.jpg

I went through this and still do. body image is one of our nemesis. We will always want to be what we were when we were a teenager. But is that possible. For some maybe. But in reality we need to remember w are not longer teenagers...

I wrote an article about this recently in the article section. It will be one of the hardest things to except that we will never look like we did when we were in high school. Those days are gone.

The focus needs to be on health and well being. Not looks. I still ask my hubby if I look fat or if I look like I gained weight. He does not roll his eyes at me. He just softly tells me that I look great. That I have my life back and that is what it was all about...

Learn to except you as you are now......And who you are becoming.....It is not about the scale or pounds totally. It is about body image and how you must learn to be you now! Okay!

Love your comment, RJ.

Since I've been losing weight after the surgery, my husband never really noticed any change of my body even after losing around 20 lbs (seriously hehe) but today we went shopping for groceries together and he mentioned, wow you walk really faster than before. And for me, that was the best compliment I received. I stopped my meds, my blood pressure is normal, I can move faster! I feel so greatful for the WLS.

Not sure how old you are or how many times prior to VSG you've lost weight, but here's my experience ....

There are just some weights / proportions I look better at than others. It's like a haircut that's growing out -- sometimes it looks better at two weeks out than three weeks out.

Just keep doing what you're doing. You'll find a place that you like. HOWEVER, don't expect to measure your satisfaction (even at the same week) in weeks or even months. Your body will be shifting for some time to come.

And, of course, your satisfaction will depend on the exercise you're doing, how long you've been doing it, and whether you're challenging yourself enough.

(Hope that makes sense.)

Fat is not an emotion, so one cannot "feel fat." You need to look deeper and find out what is really going on emotionally that is making you feel that way. Maybe as you near your goal, the sensation of being in a smaller body is unsettling after years of being overweight?

If you are having a physical sensation, try pinpointing what it really is. Are you sensing that you're bloated? If so, is something new in your diet that could be causing it? If you have loose skin and it is affecting the way your clothes look, does that evoke emotions or other physical sensations? A little time for self reflection will probably help you start to work this out.

Our bodies morph over time, with age, childbirth, etc. Funny, but I have found the opposite of your experience. I find myself looking thinner at my current weight than I did in my youth. I attribute that to lots of loose skin and what I call "dripping fat" that seems to pool in the loose skin, lol!

One other thing - our skin and supporting structures take a while to bounce back. My neck was worse at 50 pounds lost (at around 2-3 months) than it is now at nearly 150 pounds lost at 18 months post op. Also, I haven't lost any significant weight since January, and people tell me all the time I look like I've lost more. A plastic surgeon also told me that after people have plastics, they continue to improve for 2-3 years. So, I'd say give it some time and things may shift and tighten.

Bloat seems to be an enemy. As I lose a pound or two I can't seem to get rid of bloat and that is making me feel fat!

Thanks for all the good thoughts! I love reading people's responses because there always seems to be a tidbit to take out of it that is a little different than my way of thinking. Definitely got some good things here!