LindaS

Stairs weren't out of the question for me. I regularly climb about 6 flights of stairs at work -- it is so much easier since being sleeved. (Before being sleeved, I used to take the elevator up and the stairs down; now I use the stairs both ways.) The only restriction I had was that I couldn't pick up anything over a certain weight, and I couldn't do exercises that targeted my core area. I had to wait for that.

After watching the infomercial, I saw Genie bras at my local Kmart and bought two to try. They were about $20 for 2. They are great. They are comfortable, smooth out my back fat and make my boobs look good. Plus it ends the morning hunt for a bra that fits. It was getting very difficult trying to find one that would fit since my old "normals" looked half full now that my boobs have shrunk. I've seen the bras sold on TV, and I think Kohl's sells them too. They are worth a try. I'll be buying more at least until I reach goal.

I don't know how, but I'd ignore the 9 pound weigh-in since that was not at the normal time you weigh. Besides six pounds sounds more doable -- time to exercise!

I thought for sure my breasts would be the first to go. I was pleasantly surprised to find that at first, I lost the most in my butt/hips area. It was a much needed loss!

Cris, My husband was a bit freaked out about it all as well. He was worried about me -- specifically that something could happen during what was an "optional" surgery. He was very worried. He was supportive but also let me know that I didn't have to go through with it. I had my surgery in August. He was in my room with me right after surgery and witnessed some pretty low blood pressure and heart beats (down to the 30s and 40s). He said I looked like I was on death's door. I improved quickly, but he was not prepared for what I looked like immediately after surgery. I was up and walking around that night, so I really did improve fast. My nurses and surgeons were not worried. Now, my husband is very happy that I had it done. He says I am happier. I also don't have problems with my ankle like I did before, and I have lots more energy.

My weight loss has slowed, but I am still losing. I think it helps me lose more when I do a better job of getting my water intake in. I am still trying to figure this all out though. I have also started exercising regularly, which makes it easy to get the water in plus has other bonuses like more toned body, etc.

Try mixing it up. I was doing really good at first exercising on my own, but I noticed that I was starting to slack off. Plus, life was getting busy. I recruited my teenage daughter and started going to Zumba, and I had motivation again. It is a group thing, and it is fun. Plus, now I have my daughters asking me if we are going or not, and they get so excited when I say we are going (they are 16 and 17, so it is a big deal for them to be excited).

I had to take a class before surgery too, and I had to pay for it for the same reasons you mention. Mine was about $175. It basically was to teach you how to read labels and prepare me for the pre-op diet. During the same meeting, we also talked to the physical trainer and the nurse that is in charge of the post-op floor. The trainer went over exercises you can do while healing like standing push-ups against a wall. The nurse went over pain levels and showed us the drain and answered questions about the hospital stay. I had another class (one on one) in the hospital and a group one after my surgery that covered post-op diet. My surgery costs also include two post-op (one on one) meetings with the nutritionist. I haven't used those yet. She frequently attends our support group meetings as well. I had a sleep study test, an ekg, a psych eval with test, an appointment with my regular doctor for referral and some pre-op appointments with my surgeon. I think that was everything. I also had to come up with the money for the anesthesiologist (around $250) and my share of the entire surgery (about $700) before my surgery could take place. This was to cover my copays and deductibles.

I just spent $48 at Goodwill yesterday. I went through the rack at the size smaller than I thought I was and pulled off every pair of pants that looked decent. For me, this meant I was grabbing size 14s. I then took the whole cart full of about 20 pairs of pants into the dressing room and started trying them on. I was picky about how they fit/felt. I ended up getting about six pairs that fit great. I also tried on about 20 coats and didn't end up buying any of them because I just didn't like them. I even stopped by a real store to check out the coats thinking they might be on sale. They were, but even at 40 percent off I wasn't ready to spend that much. It is so weird seeing how wide the range is in clothing. I tried on a size 4 coat that fit but decided I didn't like the design. I also tried on extra large coats that were too small because of the cut.

I loved your blog, and I agree with Longer Life -- you look like you have lost much more than 100 pounds. I love that your kids gave you a tiara.

I love my Zumba game on the Kinect, but there was a learning curve for me to get it all figured out. My 12-year-old helped me set up facial recognition to make it easier. I have bought a lot of dance games to help me work out at home. I have games for the Wii and the Kinect. I like Dance Dance Revolution 3 and 2(requires a pad for the Wii), Just Dance 2 and Zumba. Right now, we have Just Dance 3 and Dance Central 2 under the tree. I have three teenage girls, and we really have fun playing the dance games. I really like it because I tend to kick their butt. :-) We have even started going to real Zumba classes together.

They are supportive enough for me, but I am on the smaller size for boobs especially since my weight loss. Did you use the insert, SouthernSleever? I was a 40 D and used band extenders to make that fit me before I lost weight. My band size is now a 32, and I am only about halfway to goal, so I do not want to buy a bunch of bras. I'm not sure what my cup size is now, but it is probably still a C or D. I paid $19.99 for two at Kmart. This was the price I saw them at Kohl's for as well. There is a pad thing that you stick into the cup that gives them more support and does a great job of hiding my rather large nipples. I haven't noticed that they aren't good for support. I teach for a living, so I don't do a lot of bouncing anyway. I have worn it to play some dance games with my kids and haven't had a problem. I bought a large, which is what I am wearing in shirts. It pulls over my head. Sometimes though it rolls up in the back, and I need my hubby to help me unroll it. My breasts are strange anyway, in my opinion. They don't meet in the center. I have a gap between them that is more than an inch apart. This bra has done the best job of giving me a more normal-looking cleavage. And more than anything, I like how it smooths out my back fat.

MyFitnessPal has been promising me that in 5 weeks I would weigh below 200 pounds since September. It was not accurate. Initially, I thought I would get below 200 before Halloween, but it didn't happen. Then, I thought it would happen before Thanksgiving, but it didn't happen either. I was beginning to think it wasn't going to happen before Christmas. I was hovering just above Onederland. My scale kept saying things like 200.4 and 200.6 and even the very cruel 200.0, but it was not showing anything that started with a 1 until today. I had started telling myself that I was very happy with losing 55 pounds, and I felt great and even if I never lose any more, I am happier than I was 55 pounds ago. I have also started thinking that I don't care if I ever reach my goal of 140 pounds. I am thinking that anything below 180 is going to be gravy for me. But I don't want to change my ticker yet. Plus, I have finally gotten below 200. It wouldn't have happened without exercising.

Thank you everyone! I just packed up another huge bag of clothes to donate.

How exciting!

Congrats! Thanks for sharing your success with all of us.

I had thought about weight loss surgery previously, but I had major reservations about the banding and absolutely did not want the gastric bypass. I had even signed up to attend a seminar about a year or so before I went through with it. I didn't go to the seminar. This year, in June, I had had enough. I signed up for a seminar and attended it. I learned about the sleeve, and I knew it was the one for me. I had surgery less than 6 weeks later.

I think it does. My husband has commented lately that I am "bonier" in that area. He said it is hard to describe, but he can feel a difference from just a few months and 55 pounds ago. In addition, as the gut deflates, it makes certain areas easier to reach.

I get it from BariatricChoice.com. I like the Protein Fruit drinks because I find myself getting really tired of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavors. My favorite flavor is the Peach Mango. Linda

I count Protein, and I don't have a lot of room for anything else once I get my protein in. Still, I do watch my carbs. I try to keep it under 50 a day. It seems to work well for me. If I do go over one day, I don't worry about it. I know it isn't normal.

Mine went pretty fast. I went to the initial seminar the last week of June. I was on vacation the first week of July, and I came back to scheduling my first appointment with the surgeon. The rest of the appointments took up a lot of my time, but they went quickly. My surgery was less than 6 weeks later on August 9.

You can get a protein fruit drink that is lemonade flavored. It has 15 grams of protein and is made by Bariwise.

I actually found the day after Thanksgiving to be harder than the day of Thanksgiving. We had family around and things were hectic and not normal, so I didn't stay on my regular eating schedule. I had to guess amounts and probably ate too many nuts and olives that were sitting out.

I like the content, but the font size and style make it very hard to read. I had to copy and paste it so I could see it. Can you try to make the font size larger?

You are definitely a success! I just read your blog post "fatty boom batty," and I love what you said about self image and weight. Excellent!