"Really, you have that much to lose?"

[It's_Christine 0]

This thread is so accurate. Seriously, when you finally open up and tell someone you have XX amount to lose why do they tell you that you are wrong that would make you too skinny? How could you not know how much you had to lose to reach a healthy weight? That's simple subtraction which all of us have been doing since grade school. Also, which of us does not dream of the day when we would actually be told we were too skinny and it was accurate. I am dizzy with the possibilities of how I would chose to gain a mandatory 10 lbs!

This is why I smile and thank people for noticing my weight loss. If they persist in wanting to know how much I have lost I tell them I don't pay attention to those things. OK that is a lie but I know it is one I will be forgiven for!

[Jonnycat1 0]

I totally agree with this. I was just talking to a friend about my upcoming surgery. He asked how much I have to lose and I told him, and he looked at me with dinner plate sized eyes and said "You weigh 360??" I actually weigh 376, but I didn't tell him that. I just said "close!" He couldn't believe it. I just carry it/hide it well with smart looking clothes, I guess.

I've got to lose about 180 lbs. Even then, I'll still weigh about 220. At that point, if I get below that weight, my rib cage and collar bones start to stick out and I start looking sickly. (Took off about this much weight back in college by working out about four hours a day, living a vegetarian lifestyle and having the metabolism of a 21 year old!) I was caught in the mindset that according to the height/weight charts, I needed to weight about 175. I just couldn't let it go. I was getting emaciated and looking very gaunt. Finally, after much urging by my friends, I had a hydrostatic dunk test and was told by a nutritionist that I was far underweight at 212 (8% bodyfat) and that I needed to put just a little weight back on in order to be where I needed to be.

Still, to tell someone you've never met on an online dating service or over the phone that you weight 212 instantly turns a person off and makes them think that you are an overweight slob. Far from it. I look at pictures from when I was that thin and feel ashamed that the man in those pictures never saw himself as he really was. He only saw a number and that number meant that he was grossly overweight according to societal standards. I wish I could be that weight right now and as fit as I once was. I don't think I would have ended up back where I started nearly 15 years later. Oh well. Banding date of January 2nd! 30 MORE DAYS, FOLKS and I'll be on my way back to a much more appreciative, healthy individual!

[keepingfaith08 0]

This is all so true! Every time I was down about my weight before I got my band, my skinny friends would be like, "You don't need to lose any weight! You look fine!" I would be like in my mind, "well you don't know how much I actually weigh". People just can't grasp that I have to lose 120 pounds at the least. I tell my friends and they're like, "You would be waaaayyy to skinny! You would die! You would be emaciated!" It's crazy to me how much people don't know how to gauge weights on people!

[iowamom 0]

A girl at work told me yesterday that the 20 pounds she wants to loose is just as hard as the weight I want to loose (225 pounds). Right. (I wanted to say...) Because when you loose that 20 pounds then you are done, but 20 pounds off my 225 means I still have 205 pounds to loose. Right.

[BethFromVA 5]

My boss asked me one time if I had gotten over 200 pounds. I was like, uh, yeah, my highest was 289! I mean, wow, no doubt I was over 200. I couldn't believe she wasn't sure... and I don't think she was just being nice.

[theidle 0]

I just hit 296.6 this morning down from370 im very proud of that but yeah people think I weigh less then i do

I lost almost 75 pds and still have 126.6 left to go.......maybe more if I get good at this but I think 170 would be good for me.

[PrincesaJenE 0]

The first doctor I went to told me not to get the lapband because someone as big as me could not lose the kind of weight that I needed to loose (200 lbs exactly). He said the LB was for someone needing to lose 40 or 50 lbs. I was so discouraged - I really didn't want to do gastric bypass because the band just seemed so right for me. He discouraged me so much that I didn't pursue the lapband for another 18 months. I am so glad to read about you all doing so well. It reaffirms that I can do it. Imagine if I had done this 18 months ago? I'd be on here with you all writing my success story! 7 weeks banded 25 lbs lost! I'm on my way. Stay tuned - Success Story, June 2010?