Next goal: 169. Not being obese anymore! At 187.2 now. Anyone else have this goal next or remember hitting it?

[Selina333 48]

I was just thinking about this. So looked it up on a bmi calculator. I will at least know my health is better and I have a greater chance of living longer if I get to the 160s. Yes, less than that will be great also. And had a follow up today. Went well. I speak with the plastic surgeon about skin removal on my stomach in 7 more months (at year mark) and have to have weighed about the same for 6 months, so at 18 months is when they'll consider surgery. Excited about that as well. Would love to hear your experiences with getting under being obese and also about plastic surgery. I heard Aetna will cover it. But no telling until we get to that point. Not going to worry much about it right now. Happy to be in the 180s after being in the 220-250 range most of my life. 🤗💗

[catwoman7 11,270]

I'm not sure about Aetna, but a lot of policies won't cover skin removal unless it's causing health-related issues (e.g., chronic rashes that don't respond to conventional treatments). If you have something like that, be sure to see a doctor about it so it's documented in your medical file, since the insurance company will want documentation that it's causing health issues.

as far as experience with plastic surgery, I had lot of it (lower body lift, breast lift, arm lift, face lift, neck lift). Lower body lift (LBL) is pretty painful since they do both liposuction and muscle tightening with that (if you just get a pannelectomy (sp?) rather than a full LBL, it's probably not as painful - but the LBL has more extreme and natural-looking results). The rest - arms, breast, face, neck - weren't too bad. Arms were kind of a pain, though, since you can't reach up for a while - which is really hard to remember to do! Plastic surgery can be painful and expensive, but I'm glad I had it done.

[SpartanMaker 1,218]

First of all, great job so far. You're doing fantastic!

My understanding is the same as @catwoman7 regarding insurance companies. They typically don't want to pay for anything they don't absolutely have to and that definitely includes anything they consider purely cosmetic. Aetna may be different, but I doubt it.

Up front, I wanted to mention that not everyone actually even needs plastic surgery. The younger you are and the less weight you had to lose, the more likely it is that eventually your body will adjust to the weight loss. Yes, it can take a few years, but you may find in the long run you're better off not going down that route.

I also wanted to comment on your timeline. I think there's a bit of a misunderstanding that we somehow stop losing at 1 year, 2 years, or some other defined date. That's rarely true, so I would suggest not thinking that your weight will stabilize at 12 months. You may get to 12 months and decide you'd like to go lower. Heck, I'm 2.5 years out and still losing (albeit really slowly). I'd suggest waiting until you you feel like you want to start maintaining, rather than just going by an arbitrary date. If your weight stays stable for a while (I personally would go longer than 6 months, but that's me), then looking to plastics may be appropriate.

I mention this because I think it would be awful to have plastic surgery, especially if self-pay, then lose even more weight and still end up with sagging skin that you dislike.

[WendyJane 42]

I have aetna, getting plastics is not in my policy. I'm also not ready for skin removal but, wow, if they pay you must have an expensive plan. I don't with Aetna, and getting the surgery was hard enough.

[summerseeker 2,349]

7 hours ago, SpartanMaker said:

I also wanted to comment on your timeline. I think there's a bit of a misunderstanding that we somehow stop losing at 1 year, 2 years, or some other defined date. That's rarely true, so I would suggest not thinking that your weight will stabilize at 12 months

I took 2 years to get to my weight of 180, then 12 months to master maintenance. I had some issues and needed surgery and my weight then dropped to 165. I thought at my age I looked shocking and so much skin. I decided to increase my weight back to 180. Just some extra cals a day did the job in 3 months. I feel better at this weight.

I am living with my skin, I dont really have a choice, as I could only afford one round and I feel I would look stupid half fixed. In the UK, we wear lots of clothes most of the year and I look ok in clothes. Its just now when on holiday, I wish I could.

[AmberFL 1,039]

I actually got below my goal weight around 7–8 months post-op—down to about 161–163 lbs—and stayed there until I got my boobs done (lol). I had the surgery just before hitting my 1-year post-op mark, and honestly, I wouldn’t change that decision for anything. I know people often say to wait until your weight stabilizes, but my plastic surgeon only required that I’d maintained my weight for at least 6 months, which I had at that point.

Right now, I’m sitting on the higher end of my weight, around 170–173 lbs, but I’m also lifting a lot more, so some of that is definitely muscle (and the implants, of course). I still fit into size 4 pants and S-M tops, so I’m trying not to stress about that number. (Easier said than done) I work out consistently, with a mix of heavy lifting and cardio.

Eventually, I’d love to get a 360 body lift, but one thing at a time, plastics are pricey! Even if I could afford it right now, I’d still want to wait at least another year. I had to take seven weeks off lifting weight after my surgery, so I’m focused on rebuilding and seeing how much I can tighten up on my own before committing to the next step.

You're doing amazing! keep it up!

[Dub 9,986]

💪Huge congrats on your results. Looks like you'll be in the driver's seat and have the options available within your desired timeline

I'm ignorant to the intricacies of the skin surgery but do have experience with your other question...in getting below the "obese" BMI labeling. It was a major rush...almost surreal. It was especially noted when I would go shopping for clothes. Being 6'4" and obese my normal stores were simply big & tall stores. Upon hitting closer to the normal height-weight range my options opened up exponentially. Felt pretty damn good to roll outa a dressing room and hand stuff back because it was too large. Too Large...wow.

Life was a pile of fun living at that weight.

A family health crisis occurred and it completely changed every aspect of life as I knew it. My health was such a distant concern as to have been off the radar for a few years.

Getting back on the road towards normal height-weight range has been like riding a bike. All the tools, principles and prior methods are familiar and fairly easy to resume. The hardest part was getting my head wrapped around it.

One thing I had to get firmly set in my mind was this:

It is not selfish to focus on your own health, it is selfish not to.

That is now hardwired in my noggin.

. Keep on hitting those home runs. Winning always feels GREAT . 👍

[SpartanMaker 1,218]

39 minutes ago, Dub said:

Felt pretty damn good to roll outa a dressing room and hand stuff back because it was too large. Too Large...wow.

So true.

Sometimes I'm still not used to it though and it's weird. I now buy jeans in a 30in waist and medium shirts, whereas at my heaviest I was wearing a 44in waist and xxl or even xxxl shirts. Sometimes l will pull something out of my closet and think there's no way I can fit in that, yet I do.

Edited to add that sometimes I even buy a small in some things! That's just unreal to me.

Body image distortion is real.

Edited 5 hours ago by SpartanMaker