Well this is the question I have been wrestling with lately. Am I done? My goal weight is about 35 lbs from here but I have lost about 108 lbs. I started a size 24-26 and I am now a size 12. (I'm sure a size 10 if I could get a tummy tuck.)

I have started to plateau. It has been tough the last month and especially the last few weeks. I haven't been as strict as I used to be. Part of me feels like I should be happy with my weight. I am happy. I feel more confident. Of course I would feel even better if I lost at least another 15 lbs. I know that.

Is is so bad that I feel happy....dare I say the word....satisfied with my weight? I am 177. I am 5'4" with a BMI of 30. I want to weigh in the 160's for the first time in 20 years, but then why am I doing more of a maintenance diet than weight loss diet? That is the only thing that I can think of. I am happy enough with where I am.

I am having a hard time admitting it. Maybe it is because I am SUCH as goal oriented person and I haven't reached my goal. Maybe I need a break until after my vacation at the end of the month and just work on maintaining. Maybe I need to quit making excuses, quit cheating every other day and get back to the grind. I don't know.

After 8 months...9 if you count my pre-op diet maybe I am just burned out on folowing the rules. It is hard to keep motivated when the scales aren't moving. It is hard to get the scales to move when you cheat.

I wish I could find my will power I had in the begining. Maybe I need to put old pictures of me up, but I know I don't look like that now. Maybe I need more pictures of my now so I can see how much I still need to lose.

Any sage advice for a not so newby?

WOW you have done so great! What an inspiration!! I'm just about 3 months post opp so my advise is not worthy but I would push ahead. I think you can and should feel so great about how far you have come in such a short time. It really is amazing. I'm not sure how I'll feel when or if I ever get there but I would think I would want to hit the number if that is still the goal so it doesn't weigh (no pun intended) on you.

Best of luck and keep us posted!

Well, you helped me get started here, so what do I know, but here's what I think...I set a 10# range for myself as a goal. If I get there and I'm a little higher than the range and I'm feeling and looking good then I'll have no problem stopping...the goals we set for ourselves at the begining are weights most of us haven't seen in a long time, so really it's a 'best guess'. I'm as goal oriented as you get, but who knows what the goal should be exactly. Also there's nothing wrong with a plateau when the band is there for a lifetime. If you're burned out on something, let's say going to the gym, take a month or two off and get exercise this summer doing other things...I'm not saying cheat or stop everything, but maybe you just need to switch things up. As important to me as losing this weight is, it's equally important to be able to live this as a lifestyle and not another diet that I'll eventually get burned out on and then gain the weight back (done that).

OK, that said (and you DO look great/size 12/10 is wonderful!). I'd be asking myself if I've met all my health goals...do you have any medical conditions left...are you still taking medicines for any obesity related reasons...how does your body feel? Then I'd take a hard look at that BMI...you're still (barely) in the obese category. Now, you're younger than I am, but I'm exactly the same BMI today (30) at 202 pounds. I can tell you at my age, this is NOT a healthy weight for my body...my back/osteo still hurts from the excess weight, I'm still on my blood pressure meds from the weight, my adult asthma is still a problem, etc. Being in the 'Obese' category, or even the high end of 'Overweight' puts us at risk for all kinds of health problems...maybe not now, but as you get older. My focus has always been on getting healthy.

Give yourself a few weeks or a month while you 'maintain' (not gain) and then reassess what you need to do. And take some bathing suit pics of yourself now to get motivation going again. You might not need to lose 35 lbs., so it's OK to reset your goal... take a close look at the BMI chart and set yourself a new healthy goal and go for it. You truly are an inspiration!

-BG

OMG....U LOOK GREAT!!! I just look at your last pic. Even though u just lost 4 lbs. I can still see a different. I know its hard. That's why I'm not on this site often. I don't have anything positive to talk about and i don't want to be a complainer so thats why I haven't wrote in my blog in a while. I think u need to take a break and maybe excerise 3 or 4 times a week for now. Your body has hit a platueu like you said. Google p90x. Read about that and they will explain muscle confusion...to get u out your plateu. I brought the work out dvds and they are really intense. I just haven't done them in a while. When was the last time u had a fill? I had my last one 12 weeks ago. I am going July 20 to get another one. I have no restriction now. I gain about three lbs. So I started back today excerising. I understand about following the rules. I am tired of that myself. U have done good going by the rules this long.

I think that if you can inspired so many people like us, why not inspire yourself, you can do it, and you look amazing now, but if loosing 10 or 20 more pounds will make you happy, go for it, you said it, you are a goal oriented person, so keep with the good work and you will suceeed, just think of people like me whom are just going to start this journey and for whom you have became an inspiration, and that will give you the push to continue. You are the motivation of so many others, then go ahead and push a little harder and you will see how you will succeed. You are so closed to your final goal that I feel jealous (in a good way) Don't give up, don't discourage yourself. You Can Do It.

Julie, you have come a long way. Be happy with that. My advice is put up an old picture right next to a new picture and leave a space for your goal picture. I got my surgery a couple of weeks before you and I have stalled too. but we have to keep in mind that we have come a long way and yes we still a little way to go but we will get there.