gettinthinner

I just want to say to all who have replied to my posts, that I am so greatful. I have written sometimes when I need perhaps a kick in the pants for not remaining optimistic. The words of encouragement I receive have made me stop and re=evaluate my progress and often just in writing, I end up giving myself the answers I need. It is so good to have this place where we can share and not be judged and receive such great support. Thank you to everyone.

Hi: Thanks for the encouraging words. I am not sure if you should compare my weight loss to what you can expect. I say this because I just got off the phone with a friend who had surgery the same time as I did. We became friends postoperatively. Anyway, she has had a different experience than i regarding excess skin. What I have to admit, keep in mind I am a bit critical of myself, is that I am saggy compared to any other time in my life when I have weighed this weight. BUT and this is my big but, ha, ha, in fact I have little butt left, is that I believe this may be related to age more than weight loss. I hate to admit it. So if you are not my age which I will tell only you, (another chuckle) is 56. My boobs have turned to saggy, empty looking things. But I tell myself that a padded bra fixes that problem well enough. My legs are saggy at the very top which upsets me as I have always, maintained good legs even when I gained weight. Now the tops are flabby. Of course my upper arms are flabby but were before the surgery too. My face which thankfully no longer looks like it might explode, now shows wrinkles and I deserve them living in the sun and perhaps being 56. But it does shock me to see them. I hope I haven't sounded too negative. I am convinced that it is my age, combined with weight loss that has left me with some saggy parts. But I am happy to be thinner. If you are younger, and have more elasticity in your skin, and are more inclined to exercise than I have been, then perhaps you will not have to worry about these complaints. Now that I am saying this I wonder if this thinking is what I need in order to get on track with the gym and find out what exercises I need to do to help eliminate the saggy bits. My stomach is flabby but I am trying to remain hopeful that exercise might tighten some of this up. I have a friend who lost 180 lbs. three years ago and wow, she has loads of hanging skin on her legs and I think her stomach. But she is as happy as can be knowing that she has lost that weight and kept it off. I try to think like her and am glad to have lost the weight even if I lost my rear end and boobs. Isn't is the way.... we lose first the parts that we don't really need to lose! My stomach is still hanging on! I am wishing you well in your surgery. Time flies by and before you know it, it will be a distant memory as it is for me less than 3 months later! It is all so worth it but as I tell others, it isn't all easy and it does require work and for me, a lot of mental adjustments, with old habits hard to change and crazy thinking sometimes cropping back up. Good luck and don't worry too much about any negative aspects. The weight loss outweighs the side effects. Perhaps other members can tell you how to avoid having saggy skin. I should look for that advice myself!

I cannot offer you a solution. But I do want to tell you that I, too, have had some bouts of craziness. I have found that since my surgery I have had many times where my behaviours have been a bit irrational. First I seemed to be feeding my family meals that I wanted to eat so was kind of vicariously eating through them. Then I found myself angry that they could eat things I wished I could eat. Then the cravings kind of left but I was still finding ways to behave inappropriately. I find myself so short tempered and ready to explode at any moment, for any reason. My daughter even suggested that perhaps I needed to eat. Perhaps there is something to hormone imbalance mixed in with some psychological issues and perhaps even vitamin deficiencies. Let's keep a positive outlook and try to find ways to sort through our emotional and physical changes. As far as the hair loss goes, I hear that it is part of the process and my nutritionist suggested that taking vitamins will help prevent it. I haven't experienced it yet and I too, have thick, curly hair. I joke and say that less of my wild hair might be a good thing. I haven't been taking the vitamins because, it sounds crazy, they are so big! I think that I will start taking them as your story has made me realize that I must take care to follow the advice given to me. Just like a bad hair cut, I have been told that the hair will grow back. Good luck to you. Keep your chin up!

Wow, what success you have had, I appreciate that you say you have had some challenges with eating too fast or too much. I am less than three months but do wonder why I seem to be such a slow learner. I continue to eat too quickly or without paying attention to eating and then feel uncomfortable. I don't seem to recognize that I have eaten too much until I have eaten that one spoonful too many, But hearing your success story is just what I needed to hear today. Way to go! Thanks for the inspiration.

I am just wondering if a person starts at less than 200 lbs. therefore maybe having less to lose than some others, is their rate of weight less than heavier folks? I want to appreciate my progress and know that is better than wishing for perfection. But I do get frustrated when I seem to eat so little yet lose only one pound per week. I read about so many who lose so much weight in a short time. I do feel happy that I have lost 50 lbs in less than 3 months but it isn't exactly dropping off lately, I still have huge problems with getting enough Fluid and wonder if this is affecting my lack of loss AND.. I am so constipated all the time. I have finally started exercising and expect that I am going to have to be serious about exercise to lose my last 25 lbs. It is hard to be patient and hard to read about people losing 75 lbs in the same time that I have lost 50. My nutritionist told me that I wasn't eating enough or on schedule so I am trying to ensure that I do eat Breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is hard to believe that I should eat more in order to lose weight. It sure is a challenge to adjust my thinking after having tried so many diets etc. I guess it has left me with not the most sensible approach to eating. I still have so many issues that I struggle with: - getting enough fluid - eating three meals per day especially when not necessarily hungry - finding the discipline to exercise - being patient with weight loss - feeling confident about my success thus far. Oh well, I will catch on eventually. It is difficult to be patient and I am anxious to reach my goal. I know I have to be patient. It is just hard to remain hopeful and believe that I will reach my goal, I suppose after so many years of dieting that I probably am looking for the end of a diet as they always have ended in the past. Oh, ended with eventual failure and weight gain. That's where the new thinking must kick in. That this is a life long new way of eating. I haven't been reading the forum lately and realize that it is so helpful and offers such good support. Perhaps I just need to spend some time reading through the helpful advice and experiences of others. Thanks for listening!

No,I didn't tell people I was having weight loss surgery. Because so many of my friends are long distance, I did announce on face book that I was going to have minor surgery, nothing to be concerned about. But I did not mention what kind of surgery, to what part of the body etc. I wanted to be able to talk about my hospital experience a bit since it involved travelling and family etc. But now people want to know what kind of surgery I had. They are not satisfied enough with me saying that it was successful and not life threatening. I guess I will have to find a polite way to say mind your own business. Perhaps i never should have said anything about surgery. Now I made the mistake about mentioning my weight loss and I guess this confuses the issue. Some people do know but there are others who I just don't wish to tell.

I am just wondering how people have handled telling others about their surgery. Several of my friends on facebook know I have had surgery because I commented on it several times. BUT, I didn't mention what kind of surgery I had. I told a few close friends but find I don't know how to handle others who have seen me or have heard me mention weight loss and want to know what kind of surgery I had. I won't lie to them but at the same time there are people who I do not wish to tell - people who will disapprove or think it was unnecessary. I know that people who do not see me often, who I see only when I travel, are bound to notice a difference in my weight. Should I tell them I had surgery or just say thanks. I find myself not wanting to tell anyone I had surgery and locally feel upset when I discover the rumour mill has spread the word. I know that people think it is the easy way out but we all know that it has challenges and it not really so easy. Is there a way to tell people to mind their own business. I have one friend in particular who keeps writing me and asking me what the name of my surgery was, because she thinks she might want to have surgery as well. I never told her I was having weight loss surgery and I would like to tell her that my surgery details are private. Any advice. Do others feel it is private and not want to reveal that they had WLS? So far my weight loss has brought me down to a level that I have reached through dieting before so people see me and may say that I am looking good but not say I have lost weight. I am hoping very much that I will lose more weight, more than people have seen me reach before and then they will start wondering how I am losing the weight. Do I have to tell? I am living in a small place where people could find out without me telling so it could be a bit awkward. It s not a big issue but the one friend who keeps asking me via email, without seeing my weight loss, is starting to get on my nerves. I do not want to discuss my surgery with her and wish she would just be happy to hear that I have been losing weight. Grr.

Here I am at almost two months and i have had lots of questions answered on these forums. Now I have a new situation. I have not been getting enough liquids and some days not even my two Protein shakes. Since I found the timing tricky about not drinking before and after eating, I find it just easier to not bother with eating. It seems pointless when the amounts are so insignificant anyway. Do you think this will slow down my weight loss and/or create problems. I would like to think that not eating would make me lose more weight but I figure it couldn't be that easy. I want to take advantage of this time of decreased appetite as I still worry about enjoying food too much and possibly eating too much later on. I have it stuck in my mind that many people do not reach their goals and that I was told the surgery expects 60% loss of excess weight. I keep saying I want to lose 100% of my weight. I guess I am not confident in my ability to maintain the new lifestyle and worry that I must get the good habits firmly in place before the time comes that I can and will want to eat anything. Nothing to this point, has bothered my stomach and I do enjoy everything I have eaten. I just figure that for now I am more concerned with getting in the fluids. I do have to watch myself when it comes to not drinking before or after eating as I do get heartburn. Fortunately I look forward to my choices of what to eat and feel like I have more food than I can eat. That's another story.. I enjoy all foods and am happily eating what I like. Just NOT these past several days when I have chosen to eat nothing. Advice?

UPDATE: I cleared off the treadmill and it still works! First hurdle overcome. Then I actually got on it and walked for 45 minutes. I was only in the warm up mode but it seemed like a good walk and at a steady pace. I plan on trying to do another hour tonight. It's a start!!! I WILL use it daily as it is right in my bedroom and it is a huge eyesore so it will be difficult to ignore. I am hoping that it will be the start of my exercise programme and that I will add to it with other forms of exercise. Still trying to decide if I should join a gym. But I will take step one in that regard and go check one out tomorrow. I liked Curves in Canada but here it is run by a man who sits in the middle of the action (it is a women's only gym) and does not have up to date equipment so I paid for one year of membership and went only twice. Guess I don't want to waste any more money. Thanks again for inspiring me to get started.

I agree. This was a good video. Internet access to videos and these forums sure are helpful and I find I am relying heavily on them as an excellent form of support.

Interesting to see that so many of us feel the same way about the Bariatric chewable vitamins. They don't make me sick but I feel I am being tortured when i try to chew them. There must be a better solution. I am wondering at what stage we are allowed to just take a normal. multivitamin and swallow it whole? I would much prefer that and find I don't like dissolving or chewing any form of medication. Yuck.

I can relate. I LOVE Easter chocolate, especially those Cadbury mini eggs with the candy coating. I was thrilled when they came out in various forms year round. I must be like your mother and despite my daughters being 23 and 17, I still make easter baskets and fill at least 100 plastic eggs for a hunt. But this year, after they told me they didn't need a stocking full of Xmas candy, I have decided to stop the tradition and acknowledge that they are grown up. What fun that your mother still makes you a basket at age 29. For your sake, I hope she doesn't give you chocolate. It is too hard to resist. There are some things that we should try to resist and I think chocolate may be one of them. When I was doing Atkins, I used to eat the sugarfree chocolate and it was very good. Can't remember the name but it is found in Walmart. I wonder if we are allowed to eat that? It has net carbs of 0. I made muffins last night and out of habit licked the spoon and mmm that batter tasted good. I think I just have to avoid putting myself in situations where I am facing the big, old temptations, at least until I have reached my goal weight and hopefully by then I won't crave those things anymore.

After reading all your posts full of encouragement and stories of success regarding exercise... I feel very motivated. I didn't think anyone could say anything to get me motivated as I knew it had to come from within and I sure was fighting the idea of exercise. Now I am pulling on my treadmill and trying to get it set up. Let's hope it still works. Last night I tried on many old clothes that no longer had fit me and I was thrilled to find them fitting and looking better. I know the next step towards reaching my goal is to exercise and I think after receiving your replies, i may have found the right mindset to do it. Thanks so much for all your support. I hope to become a good role model such as all of you have been. Maybe one day I will report that I enjoy exercising. Now that would be a real accomplishment. I have to be grateful for being able to have the surgery and feel that incorporating an exercise routine is my responsibility to show that I am doing my part to work at the weight loss. I think people expect that having surgery is an easy way out but I believe that it is more difficult than I initially realized. As everyone says, it is only a tool. Thanks again. I love these forums and find they really have become my biggest source of support.

140 lbs lost on Weight Watchers. Wow!! You definitely have willpower and discipline. I have been begging my husband to walk with me early in the a.m. before it gets so hot here. He absolutely refuses. I don't want to walk alone. I DO have a treadmill. Shame on me. I am going to open it now. It has been a hanger for the past 3 years. I have my concerns that it may no longer work. i live on the ocean (I know I can be walking on the beach), and my patio doors in the bedroom where the treadmill is located, are open for several months a year and I bet the rust may have gotten into the mechanism of the treadmill. But I will never know if I don't open it up!! I will get back to you on whether it still works and if it does... no more excuses from me for not at least using it. Did I mention that I live in the Caribbean yet HATE to sweat. Go figure. Makes exercise very difficult and there is no amount of air conditioning that will cool me down!

You did make me smile. Another rebel perhaps? I am laughing most about your eh? Are you a displaced Canadian such as myself, Eh is supposed to be a Canadian expression but I am happy you use it too. I had my surgery in the hopes that it will prolong my life and I will enjoy better health. This sounds wise coming from someone who can't seem to get myself into exercise mode. My goal was to live long enough to have grandchildren. I am in no hurry as my children are 17 and 23 and both still students. I guess I started late in the motherhood role and now must ensure I do live long enough to be a fantastic grandmother., I guess we all have our motivations and bravo to you for wanting to play with your grandchildren. I don't think my goal is to raise my future grandchildren but congrats to you on being willing and able to do so. Maybe you are also getting more exercise than you think. I bet you are picking up lots of toys!