CowgirlJane

I am very near 25 BMI. Surgeon said it is a healthy weight, exceeded his target for me. Friends say I look right...not fat, not thin. One friend says just right amount of curves. Part of me wants to be in the low 20s BMI and drop another size or two but I think that is too hard for me to maintain. I also dont think I will look any better. They are just numbers and I am feeling pretty at peace with the 150-155 ballpark and I am 5'5". i was also obese for a lifetime so presumably still have heavier innards, bones etc then typical. So I think many of us reconsider our goals...

I remember my first pair of skinnies too... i felt like I was let into that secret world I had never had the key too...LOL I love it!

Well, it can be water weight, intestional bloat and maybe a small regain. Either way, getting back on track will make you feel better..

You look amazing!!! Thanks for posting - you have done really well!

Tues/Thurs are my normal fast days but yesterday just got blown out of the Water. It's weird, but I have made a couple of platonic friends in my rather lame attempts at dating...lol. anyway, I have somehow turned into their shoulder to cry on, translator of all things women/relationship. I have mixed feelings about this I am now realizing, but yesterday BOTH of them reached out to me and it was emotional! Friend #1 called me and we talked for a long time about this woman he needs to break up with but is feeling wretched about it. Friend #2 had asked me on Monday if we could go to dinner Tues and so I was saving all my 500 calories for a light meal of appetizers. He had a really whirlwind romance that broke his heart, but what he was really upset about was his brother's suicide. As far as I can tell, because I am very articulate... wordy... I am able to tell them what they are feeling... put words to the emotion which they find comforting somehow. I am not sure what I am getting out of this, but, well I did get a nice dinner and friend #1 is going to take me to a movie...LOL. I don't know if this is all related, but I was so hungry yesterday I simply could not fast. I decided that if I tried to go without until dinner I would likely overeat, so decided to make it a "normal" day. Ok, but what was Not a great decision was coming home and eating a bunch of candied nuts after...sigh, Anyway, I woke up starving this morning I think from too many carbs yesterday. Even my normal days are typically fairly low carb but yesterday was not. I have had about 150 calories, it is 9am and I am satiated for now. I am not sure if i will just have alight normal day or really try to fast. Thursday is my typical fast day and I intend to keep that - so I guess that answers my question. Today should be a normal eating day. One thing though, my plastic surgery is 2.5 weeks away and I am definately emotional about it. I am most of the time eating as healthy as can be, really trying to be ready for the surgery and as strong/fit as I can be. I wonder if I should continue the 5:2 until surgery or give it a rest until after I have recovered? Surgeon is of little help in deciding this, he just says my bloodwork is good, eat healthy, eat a lot of Protein in the coming weeks.

roaming... I love it. roaming is often hand in hand with grazing.... Isn't that how they fatten up cattle? works for me!

I had my 18 month labs in July ... and then just last week partial labs in preparation for surgery. Everything looks pretty much the same - all good. The difference I noted was that for the surgery labs they didn't have me fast so the blood sugar was in the 90s. My fasting blood sugar was in the 70s.

Nothing silly at all - great job and congrats! You CAN DO THIS!

I do not share these expectations of perfection. I would go so far as to say that I sometimes intend to eat food this is not ideal "diet food" but what i don't do is go off the rails and eat bad for long stretches. I guess that I have been working for awhile to sort of eat a little bit normally, listening to my body and all that. I am doing the 5:2 as well but on normal eating days, I let myself have a little something if it is what I really want. I find that if I stay too low carb day after day I simply can't work out, do my horse stuff or ride my bike etc. When I feel drained and i feel hungry, I eat and generally add in healthy carbs like whole grains or something then. That is not daily, but perhaps weekly? I avoid trigger foods though - the last really serious derailment i had is when i was on vacation. My son bought a small container of ben and Jerry ice cream and when he was done with it he handed it to me for a bite. I finished the whole thing and then felt horrible for hours... physically, not due to guilt.

Besides, struggling at 6 weeks out is quite normal. Even with the sleeve... I was just returning to feeling somewhat normal at 6 weeks post op... Surgery is a HUGE decision, I am not judging at what weight it makes sense - we all have to decide for ourselves and there are many factors that go into it.

Hoosiergirl, can you show me examples of this? i haven't seen those photos. What I see is that the incision line is low so it keeps that overhanging tummy from becoming your "mons" area.

If it were me, I would speak to my surgeons office. 5 weeks out is early days... treat that sleeved tummy like a newborn baby. Be gentle, eat small quantities slowly, don't over eat. One reminder is that nerves were hurt during the surgery, you might not even "feel" the fullness but feel it as naseua.

I recently put this quote in my siggy because as a person in maintenance - which I have failed at 100% of the time in the past - it is easy to think we are done... as others have said...we are never DONE. Normal weight people don't see their health as something they work on for a little while and then move on - we are in this for life! I have changed, am changing and will change the very person I am because although there are many wonderful things about me (I am not modest..haha) there are also some really sucky things. I want to permanently change how I deal with things about my health, about my relationship with food and taking care of myself, it is about my relationships with other people. It is about how i want to live the remaining time I have on this Earth. “Transformation is not a future event. It is a present activity…That is why you must bring everything that you have to give in every moment…And it doesn’t have to be perfect, it’s not about perfect, it’s about effort. When you bring that effort every single day, that’s where transformation happens, that’s how change occurs.” – Jillian Michaels

The vets forum is JAM PACKED with ideas, tips and support! What I want to say first isn't advice about losing weight, but it is more about the mental part of this. I think that surgical technique has helped some of us more then others. I discussed this with my surgeon at my 18 month. He was giving me all the credit BUT also mentioned that with band to sleeve revisions like me they sometimes cannot get a good tight pouch (that is still safe and not so small you have constant reflux) and he felt that in my case, we got a little lucky there. I also want to say that losing and maintaining weight loss for women over 40, especially post menopause is a whole different ballgame then for some others. Finally, there is this other... sort of wildcard... like that right combination of everything coming together. I was so determined to make goal, but, I also won the getting an amazing NUT to work with lottery, supportive friends, finding this bulletin board... really a bunch of things. I more or less turned a year of my life over to losing weight and now that I am maintaining, I am making my weight and health a very very high priority. I wasn't able to do that when I was banded. i can bash the lapband as being the medival torture device that it was, but, in truth, I also didn't do as well with "my part of the bargain". So, don't kick yourself too hard, you can STILL do this. Realize that we all have our own journey and any one of us could have better or worse results. Even though I feel AMAZINGLY successful, I still sometimes wonder why i didn't get to a 23 BMI... you know what I mean? It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that someone else has it better, did it better or whatever... truth is ... this is our own journey and we all just do the best we can. Having said all that, I did a bunch of different things over the course of the journey that got me to success beyond my widest dreams. I changed things up, tuned them, listened to myself and others to figure out what is needed at that particular time. Should i find myself in your situation, I would basically start over. Eating just like a post op - high Protein, low carbs, small quantities (use small plates!) , get fluids in - all the tricks for newbies is also the best way to start over. Do NOT EAT SLIDERS. A donut is a classic example of a slider. I bet if I ate them i could eat a whole one and be hungry in an hour... I just.don't.do.it. It is like a physical addiction - I hate crappy food, don't even enjoy it, but once I start on it, the siren call is strong... very strong. i eat as clean of food as possible - protein, veggies, some limited fruit and very low on healthy carb sources and the occasional "treat" like when I go out. If I have the "munchies" like I just have to eat even when it isnt really time I have a piece of turkey, maybe with some cheese! If I am still hungry, maybe I have some salad greens or another piece of turkey meat. As far as exercise, alot depends on your fitness level and your level of "wanting it". High intensity interval training is how I got from the 170s to the 150s - I don't think i could have done it without it. However, that is HARD and just getting out and moving more might be a better option until you are really fit enough to do it.

Most/many of us didn't evenhave to do a bowel prep since this is not surgery on that area. I think you are fine.

I had exetreme anxiety - I am prone to that around medical procedures. My questions in terms of readiness would be: 1. Have I honestly tried to lose/maintain weight without surgery? 2. Have I considered the risks and benefits of this surgery and still think the tradeoff is right for me? 3. Have i educated myself on what it will take to be successful? 4. Have i educated myself on what to expect post op so the peaks and valleys, stalls, and other known and normal events don't surprise me? This also means realistic expectations - losing weight won't make you a super model, won't solve all of life's problems and may in fact rock your boat a bit. 5. Am I ready to accept that I need to make some permanent changes, not just to lose weight but to maintain it... but that i need some help (ie the surgery) to get there. I could honestly say yes to all of those things and I have had incredible success - I feel like having the surgery literally saved my life. And yet, i was terrified, petrified and obsessed in the weeks before surgery. It was fear, but i as ready.

Welcome to the club. Luckily, my skin doesn't cause health issues, but I don't really need enough skin for two women, so I am having it reduced! I am off to see Dr Sauceda in 3 weeks. i will share my story/results... so stay tuned.

I am going to Dr Sauceda in Monterrey Mex in 3 weeks... countdown!

Perfect! You know what is intersting is I am digging out clothes that I wore late winter. Some of them I felt very self conscious about back in Feb when I hit goal - like they were too revealing or something. Now I put them on and wonder what I was thinking - I look great! HAHA Part of the dismorphia i had was always feeling like i needed to cover up, or i am too old to wear something or whatever. What came along with that is when I wore something form fitting, or a little shorter I felt a little foolish or something like "who is that old fat lady kidding" sort of thing. I think posting here for wardrobe feedback is a great idea. So many of my girlfriends are overweight, married and just plain stodgy. They wear black brown and gray unisex kind of clothes (fleece and jeans, the Seattle uniform) and so I don't really trust their judgement either...LOL I want to look stylish, but not outlandish or ridiculous if you know what I mean.

there are a lot of different theories on this.... local surgeons I saw wanted me to stage over 3 surgeries. I can't take 4 weeks of disability off every year for 3 years! One local surgeon was ready to go out on a limb and stage my work over 2 surgeries, but the thighs we NOT combined with anything else due to the difficult recovery from a long thigh lift. I decided to go to a surgeon that has alot of experience doing jumbo procedures, and uses a different anesthesia so it is lower risk to be under for longer. Anyway, what I was told by USA/local surgeons was to not do arms and thighs together - especially not with a tummy tuck because getting up and down you need to be able to use your arms or legs. In the usa, well at least in the Seattle area, you get zilch nursing care unless you can afford a private nurse - they send you home the same day - that is part of the problem. In Mexico, you stay in the clinic for 3 days and then have nursing care at the hotel for the next week or so.... makes all the difference of being able to recover from multipe procedures at once. Bottom line there is no single answer to this but remember when you have the arm work you can't raise your arms over your head (ie grabbing a plate out of the kitchen cabinet becomes problematic) and a long thigh lift has its own challenges for recovery. I am likely getting a small thigh lift (groin scar only) even though it means not as good as results. I just don't want the difficult recovery and big long scar. Victoria secrets wasn't gonna hire me anyway, so I reckon the small thigh lift is a good compromise for me.

I lost 150+ in 14 months 100 of that went in the first 6 months You can be sure that by the end... it went pretty slowly. You'll get there, you are still pretty early out!

So glad this turned out well! I had this same trepidation... i warned this man so much that when he finally saw me naked, he was a little puzzled about what i was talking about... bless his sweet heart. Perhaps he is blind? i don't know... perhaps "lust is blind"? He was kinda like... well... all women our age who have had kids and stuff are a little jiggly... haha. He always tells me i am hot. So, I often keep a sexy bra on - not for his sake, but for mine. Somehow the boobs with no breast tissue in them anymore is what bothers me the most. Well, my inner thighs bother me even more and you will laugh at me, I tried hiding them with stockings worn up really high.. he peeled those suckers off so fast i didn't even have time to protest... so I got over being self conscious about that. I think that at some level we have to let go of the self consciousness... and just enjoy.... glad you are able to with your boyfriend!

I do have coffee... although I am weaning off it due to my upcoming surgery. BTW,I am not a model 5:2 citizen - I don't track food or calories. I know that isn't exactly following the plan, but I have my own personal reasons that i needed to move away from obsessive tracking. I worked with a NUT on this and I know it isn't the right way for everyone, but it is what works for me and keeps me from becoming crazy. What I do is mentally count Protein and roughly estimate carbs on normal days. I don't call them feast days because that isn't a healthy word for me to use... i call them normal days. On so called "fast" days I do keep track of calories in my head and estimate carbs, and don't worry as much about getting the protein in. I am still eating protein first, so I think I am hitting 60g on those days, but maybe not always. I make up for it on normal days when I am closer to 80g or more. I have to agree with Georgia, this isn't a diet, it is a way of eating that seems to reduce my hunger, helps me stay restricted feeling even on normal days. I am a member of 5:2 but I seldom remember to go to that forum because I have to dig around to find it....

Click on my profile and look at my before and after pictures... honestly, I didn't have a choice! I was huge, having health problems, felt physically miserable and frankly had become pretty shut down and detached. I have to work at maintenance, but I struggled mightily when I was 300# to try to keep from getting to 350#. I struggle much much LESS today then I did preop. It has been more then worth it, and while i am likely to have the normal weight maintenance challenges, my life is just so much better.

Thanks to 5:2 and upping exercise, I am losing weight again (slowly). I initially started doing 5:2 because my weight had bounced back up to the low 160s, and I easily got back to my goal range of under 158, but had been stuck there awhile. I can't believe it - I finally broke the 155# barrier and now weight 154 - several days in a row...haha. Anyway, my starting weight before the 2 week preop diet was 308 - so that is half! My lifetime high weight (that was ever recorded anyway) was 332, but that was several years before my surgery so i don't count that. Wow. Just wow. As you know, I am getting ready for plastics and I would say 6 months ago I had a certain...loathing for that extra skin. this morning I was looking at it in the mirror thinking... not bad considering it used to hold the weight of TWO women not just one. I am excited about looking better, and getting rid of that low belly, but, not bad all in all. This morning doing my Julian Michaels DVD (dusted her off the shelf) - I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes from her - paraphrased "Transformation is not a future state, it is a current activity" That is just so true.