CowgirlJane

I don't even understand the question....

I used exercise to help me get to goal. I had quite a bit to lose, so felt I needed "everything" to attain my health and weight goals. Well, I did better than I dared dream - hitting my goal over 2 years ago. For a variety of reasons, I have backed off on intense exercise over the last 6+ months and Saturdays shopping trip was quite an eye opener. At the same weight, I wear 1-2 pant sizes bigger than I did when I was working our regularly. Worse than that, the gain in inches seems to be mostly in my waist, so I am losing that "younger shape" and getting the middle aged thicker waist look. yikes! Well, I am middle aged, but I am fitting the thick waist as long as I can. My arms no longer get that - wow, you have beautiful swimmers arms... they still have some tone to them, but not that youthful defined look. My calves are still quite defined, but i am guessing they are next if I don't get on this!!! i remain "active" and when I get back from an upcoming vacation, I am returning to my tried and true exercise program. Glad i noticed sooner rather than later. So - my study of one person did prove that all those crunches, planks, pushups and sprint cycling etc etc DOES make a difference!

The power of forgiveness is amazing. Holding a grudge is toxic and takes away from your quality of life. I am a mother to 2 sons in their early 20s. There are.many things I wish I had done better as a parent but one thing I did right was raise them to be grateful. I love that world view. As a practical matter, on way to not be so bothered by all this is to not live there.

There is no magic but you should know we all fight this every day. You aren't alone. I truly believe that a big component of food addiction us the physical response to eating crap and being fat. What I mean by that is when you eat clean, your cravings drop. Also if you have hungry since nearly the beginning you might have excess acid. Try taking a PPI. I was an "all or nothing " thinker too. I see you deciding you can't exercise because the gym is impractical. Did you know you can get an excellent workout at home. I leveraged a spinning bike and workout DVDs. It's very hard but you can do this.

I was "healthy fat" until I wasn't. I don't mean to sound scary but you developed obesity consequences over 20 years younger than I did. I urge you to make health #1 - obesity was killing me. When I was about 21 I lost 60# and had zero excess skin, working out left me toned...I wore a bikini with absolutely no "muffin" When I was late 40s (post sleeve) I lost 160# or so. I am grateful my excess skin wasn't even worse but I had it! I worked out and hit goal with great muscle tone, and yet excess skin. Really there are many obvious factors (age, amount lost, genetics etc) and you should work out but it doesn't prevent excess skin. All skin looks better of over toned muscle. I will say that when I was maybe 20-30# heavier the skin was much less of an issue-so one option is to get to a healthier weight without necessarily being "normal weight"

@@BLERDgirl is this what you are talking about? http://www.amazon.com/Cover-FX-Compact-Foundation-Setting/dp/B00I6DXD34/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1429893345&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=Coverfx+cream+compact Like I said I have been happily using tinted moisturizers for a couple of years and getting lighter and lighter all the time on the coverage. I just need to knock down the red that shows through my Irish face. It is still good to see what else is out there, particularly that is skin healthy! I am 50 and wanting to keep as much youthfulness as possible. yikes!

I am still at goal, but as I have shared a little annoyed at being "bigger" and less fit. I want my "guns" back..ha! Apparently not enough to return to doing pushups and planks etc etc YET Anyway, I stay around because i do want to inspire others as others inspired me, but also to keep this a focus. It is soooo easy to go back to eating like people around you do. If you have been obese a long time, eating "normal" makes you obese again... sad to say.

I think alot of vets have just stopped posting much. Many just never worked through the navigation changes on this site.

I had about 10 weeks between my band removal and sleeve surgery. I was incredibly hungry. It removed any doubts I had about needing the sleeve.

I find the older I get the less foundation I should use. I have switched to tinted moisturizer instead. Some of those can be shiny so you have to select carfully.

What do you guys think of bare minerals? A girlfriend buys only their stuff at their store but I wonder if they are worth the price.

My BMI was over 50, I had "failed" with the lapband previously and have been obese or super morbidly obese MOST of my life so I was not an ideal sleeve candidate according to first surgeon I consulted with. Due to my horrible experience with the band I was very frighted by the gastric bypass - I visualized a repeat of having part of the stomach sort of sectioned off and still feeling that constant hunger. I think I was poorly educated on it - but at the time I just could not do the bypass. I found a surgeon who thought I was a good candidate for sleeve. My band was in bad shape - been in there for 10 years so I opted to do it in two separate surgeries (band removal and then sleeve were almost 3 months apart). The surgeon did a good job, I got lucky and I worked my ass off... and was able to get to a normal BMI with the sleeve and have been maintaining for 2 years. I lost more than half my body weight...whew... I am so grateful. My backup plan was always the DS - but I am so happy this new, less risky DS is available for people now. I hope I never need it, but if it had been around 3 years ago, it would have been a great option for me.

Is this what you are looking for? http://BariatricPal.com/index.php?/topic/327438-About-8-weeks-and-counting-and-coping-very-well#entry3700138 I am not very computer savvy. And I searched under your name and your 8 weeks and counting. But thank you for the thought.

I just came back from a 2 week vacation to Costa rica. I am just a hair under goal, but up from my very lowest. In the attached picture from our "mud spa" I was standing between two young women (half my age) that I considered overweight. When I saw us standing together in this photo I recognized that I LOOK OVERWEIGHT too. On the one hand, I am forever grateful that I am no longer obese, but on the other I was slightly disappointed in my "chubbiness". A big part of this is that I haven't been working out so I am actually bigger than i was. I am managing some physical issues that I have used as an excuse (all started by the personal trainer I hired a year ago that caused an overuse injury) to not be as fit as I want to be. I guess at 3 years out, I am re-evaluating my fitness level, my weight and how I feel about it all.

Challenged to add the intended photo!

Well, I was wearing these high rise boy shorts swimsuit bottoms for modesty but they really don't look that great - I think I would have been better off in the bikini bottoms. And yeah, my size zero friend was hiding in the back. I still don't like that i have lost much of my "tone", but here is a before picture from about 10 years ago that paints perspective. I am in the white pants and hawaii print shirt. I was so miserable that day - it was a rare 100 degree day and we were all dying but me especially.

I hadn't heard of this so "googled it" to learn that it is a modified DS. Very interesting - looking forward to hearing how this goes for people! http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Obesity/48868

I live just outside of Seattle - have lived my whole life in the Puget Sound region except for the 2 years I lived and worked in Germany. I am a "young" 50 with two grown sons who have both moved back in with me! I live on a small farm - grew up on a bigger farm - where I keep 2 horses, 2 dogs, a cat and my youngest son owns a small collection of reptiles. We are animal people! I try to stay active and continually discover new things to try. I feel like I missed out on SO MUCH in my younger years. Obesity was part of that, but there were many other reasons I didn't learn to ski, go dancing, play sports.. etc etc. It is still something I am working out in my own mind - how do I want to spend my time now? My main hobbies are horseback riding, and socializing with friends. I also like to hike, go out listening to live music, go dancing, go to little festivals and events. I also like travel! I was "married" most of my life. I married my high school sweetheart and he turned out to be a pretty crappy husband and terrible father. I divorced him, but it was a lot of trauma and drama for both me and my kids. Next, I was in a long term relationship with a man who is a wonderful person, but we are better friends than life partners so I have been on my own for awhile. I grew up in a big family, surrounded by Peeps so that has been a big adjustment for me. It continues to be an adjustment - living life on my own. Dating generally speaking sucks but I am seeing someone now (have been for a few months) who is a pretty cool guy and it doesn't suck. We shall see. As I said before, I am a little uncertain what I want in the rest of my life, so my thoughts about a serious relationship are also a bit "mixed". He has many good attributes but one of his best is that he is a "do-er" and gets stuff done! Both my previous relationships were situations where I felt that i had the whole weight on my shoulders. what a change to be with a go getter type person. One of my areas of focus is thinking about early retirement. I have ALWAYS worked, i was raised to work; not play so as much as I want this I also have some angst about it. Would love to connect with an online resource of people who retired young and how that has all worked out. Let's see, what else. I like things like gardening, photography, movies, reading etc but there are not enough hours in the day so I am pretty lame on all those subjects these days. I am a very happy sleever - it's an effort, but I feel like I have finally managed to get control over my health... after a lifetime of obesity, morbid obesity, even super morbidly it is just amazing to be in the range of normal.

Dorrie, I am feeling really fat too... but only when I look at pictures ha. Now that problem is easy to solve (covering eyes!). Truth is we are all doing great and that self criticism didn't serve us well when obese and doesn't help much now either. Just keep on keeping on!

@@Chimera Have you complained to Alex? I don't use the email notifications so it doesn't bother me... I always click on "content I follow" to see if anything has happened on threads I am following. does anyone know how I became a VIP while I was away on vacation?

I am under goal (just barely!) and on a daily basis remind myself how happy, lucky and fortunate I am to be worried about whether I am in the 150s versus 140s... as opposed to my previous realities in the 300# weight class. I remind us all that EVERY single woman in America, especially the middle aged among us, fight with those few pounds. Be a bit gentler with ourselves ladies! Please! I saw pix of myself from a recent vacation and I thought i looked fat in my 2 piece swimsuit... it nearly killed me to see the photos. My dear sweet boyfriend thought I looked hot all covered in mud from the natural mudbath/hotsprings.

this is not directed at anyone in particular and in fact was inspired by multiple posts over nearly 4 years... I find it freaking annoying that people post that they cannot comply with XX because they are "picky eaters". okay, lets get real. How did you possibly get morbidly obese (ie 100# or more overweight) being a delicate eater? Okay, let's imagine that happened. Now, you are in the battle for your freaking life, and you will let something like "that didn't taste good" interfere with your success? Really? I so understand how hard it is.. but really????? Do you think I don't dream of snickers bars and have a bit of Protein drink in my coffee instead? I have read about how people hate to choose shrimp and chicken over "yummy food" when going out... I get that it is venting, but honestly, what did you expect? (besides, shrimp skewers are delish!) I actually want a serious answer to that question. Do some imagine that by the sheer act of stomach reduction that lasting weight loss was guaranteed without changing your eating patterns? ok,, vent over - carry on!

I realize this is controversial, but some of us are very carb sensitive. During the weight loss phase I drastically reduced and even eliminate all sugar sources. That included fruit. When I got smart, i even eliminated Protein bars (too high carbs). Examples, if I ate a taco, it was wrapped in lettuce not a taco shell. Yogurt - looked for lower carb/less sweetened high protein greek yogurts. No fruit, lots of low carb veggies. No shame in eating 4 to 6 "mini meals" a day - that is the right thing to do. They should all essentially be protein and veggies with just a smidge of a carb source. How is your Water and Vitamin consumption? do you know about water loading between meals to help with hunger?

I suspect once you are a few years post op you will no longer view this as "the easy way out". For me, nothing easy about it... I view it as "the only way out"

Back from a wonderful vacation, but feeling kinda weird. Happy Birthday Coops!