JustWatchMe

Oh wow. I just realized that I started out super morbidly obese. I passed through morbid obesity and now I'm merely obese. Just a wisp of a lil' thing, I am.

"Bariatric bozos". This made me smile. I need one of those red noses. (Does anyone outside of Chicagoland know Bozo the Clown?)

I'm a bander. I hit a plateau and actually started to gain a bit before I got refocused. The first hundred pounds came off quickly, in the first seven months. Then things slowed way down and I got complacent. I added foods and drink that are not weight loss friendly. I'm happy to say that today, 14 months post op, I am refocused and have started exercising. I WILL get this final fifty pounds off. It is definitely more work now, but without constant hunger like I had pre WLS it can be done. Thanks for this thread.

Both girls are home for the summer. This mama is happy and can relax now. Yesterday I had more chips than I planned and had a different main dish, but left about 1/4 of it on the plate. As I drove home later, I was amazed that the new me is able to leave a Mexican restaurant without a "full" feeling. Just a regular not-hungry, not-full feeling. It was so odd to recognize it. I looked down at my lap in the car as I drove and didn't see a bulge. It was exhilarating. Today I had two cheese sticks for Breakfast. lunch will be in a park with a friend. I'm bringing a Jimmy John Unwich. dinner not certain yet. However, before dinner I'm headed TO THE GYM for a 5k. Gosh, I love saying that. Me. To a gym. On a Friday. Go figure. @@bacon, you started all this trouble with your exercise challenge. I hope you're happy with yourself. So!!! Where are my peeps???? @@enjoythetime? Where ya been, lady?

A victory is a victory! Good for you. I gave up movie crapcorn. Small victory? I think not. Major change letting go of a comfort food/crutch.

How did it go at the doc?

Pre op I clenched my teeth and followed directions to the letter. Post op for me was six weeks of liquids. Hard, but I did it without choosing to break the momentum. And momentum was the word my doctor used. He wanted maximum weight loss and a good start right out of the gate. I lost fifty pounds before my first band fill. As the weight came off after that, the high of losing quickly kept me choosing healthy small meals regularly. As time went on, I added foods I hadn't had before. I added alcohol. I added popcorn. I added carby Thai food. I stopped losing weight for five months. I tried a variety of techniques like 5:2, etc. I'd lose and gain the same five pounds over and over again. When I gained eleven pounds over a couple of weeks, it woke me up. No way was I going to lose my focus and return to my old life. I needed to get my food in order, lose the crap that was holding me back, and in order to lose this last fifty pounds, I knew I had to do the hard thing I was putting off. E x e r c i s e. I didn't wanna. But I gotta. If I want what I want, I gotta. And I wanna reach goal and stay there. So I chose to take this next step. I dropped the popcorn, the Thai food, the alcohol, and picked up exercise. I paid for twelve sessions of personal training at the gym I joined. I now exercise. I eat better. I feel better. I know this will get me where I want to go. It's all choices. I wasn't ready until I was ready. I'm glad I stayed around people who are motivated while I floundered around for awhile. In my old life I would have given up and gone back to eating and isolating. No longer.

Waiting at O'Hare for my youngest's plane from Madrid. It's been a long winter without her! So excited!

My last three fills were 0.1 cc each.

I opened it when we launched premium VIP Membership. I added VIP membership to some select members that have assisted us or contributed in some meaningful way (you know who you are.) Thanks Alex !

You may find that you go in and out of green over the first year. I did. Your weight loss each week is impressive. I don't advise too tight either but listen to your doc about why he wants another fill. My NP talked me into two tiny tiny fills I didn't think I wanted and she was right. I also have found that, a year out, I cannot lose while eating or drinking more than 1200 calories per day. And I have started exercising. Middle age sux.

I saw this and thought, "WLS?"

@@bacon, holy cow! So glad you're walking and talking. Please take care of yourself. Just so you know, remember when you threw out that challenge a few weeks back about a 5k? Well I mentioned I'm signed up for one in the summer. But I walked a 5k on the treadmill at the gym this week. Woo hoo! I do 5ks now!! I am so darned excited today. My baby comes home from Spain. She's in the sky right now. I can watch on FlightTracker. Taking half a day of work and picking her up with my older daughter. Today I had bacon for breakfast. I'll have some cheese or beef for lunch. Not decided yet. dinner will probably be at youngest's favorite restaurant. She missed Mexican food. Lol. So I'm committing to only a few tortilla chips with salsa and no margarita. I'll probably get a fajita plate with rice and Beans. And tortilla Soup. Have a fantastic day everyone!!

Your voice is very needed here. I understand what you're saying but I sure hope you stay. I think online everything can be such a mixed bag. If not for the anonymity of forums such as this, I wouldn't have had the courage to share my struggles and my frustrations, much less the emotional rollercoaster I'm living with my divorce. However, that same anonymity fosters a culture of hit-and-run. People feel free to slam others without repercussions. Long time vets and newbies alike don't get the pause before the reply that they deserve. Part of the problem is phone apps. No kidding. I use my iPhone for nearly all my BariatricPal posting and rarely go to my PC anymore. The problem with that is that I never see the person's bio or stats along with their name. Another problem is that I don't know what forum I am in. It's just a side effect of the way the app works. I see notifications but if I looked at them on my PC instead of my phone, it would show me the person's signature, ticker, surgery type, etc. None of which is immediately easy visible on the phone app. I hope you stay but you don't owe that to anybody. Just know that you've helped a lot of people (me for sure) and are a breath of fresh air in a crazy, impersonal world.

Good for you. I'm divorcing an emotionally, mentally and financially abusive narcissist after 23 years of marriage and two kids. It isn't easy, but going to sleep each night NOT exhausted by crazy talk and wondering what shoe will drop next is worth the pain of divorce. My kids can breathe, I can breathe, and the dog doesn't vomit three times a week anymore. Stay connected here. It helps me a lot.

And we keep choosing. Every day. Every meal. Every workout.

Congratulations!! This is very inspirational. I love to read about people with long term success, especially banders. You do work at it, no doubt about that. If you can do it, it gives me hope that I can do it too. Great post!!

Yeah I was ok with the cancellation. I knew I wouldn't get a fill, so I'll just see her next month. I walked a 5k at the gym today on the treadmill. I'm pretty happy about that!

My NP cancelled so no doctor appointment today. Straight to the gym. (Did I say that?!)

Beautiful!

Welcome back! Never ever ever give up on yourself. Keep posting!!

Sometimes I need to say it out loud (type it out loud?) to jostle myself into reality -- i.e., if I'm not losing weight could it possibly be the tub of buttered popcorn I was eating weekly? Hmm? That said, IMO it's a choice. I don't think in terms of cheating. I'm only cheating myself by staying in denial. As time has gone on since my WLS, I'm finding that I can make changes and stick to them, but incrementally. For example, pre op I stopped TV eating and have never gone back to it. Then recently I gave up the buckets of popcorn that were doing me no good. Last week I joined a gym. Doesn't sound like much, but each of these changes was a big hurdle and I had to be really ready for them. Once I was ready to make a certain change, I committed to it. So no, not cheating. Every day, every action is a choice.

I was OP yesterday and had my second fitness workout with a trainer. Loving this decision I made for myself. Today I see my NP for a fill check. No fill today. I'm tight enough. I'll hit the gym for some treadmill walking after the doctor. food today is yogurt and nuts and seeds for Breakfast, edamame seeds and a meatball for lunch, and leftover beef in tomato sauce from yesterday for dinner. Oh I also asked my trainer to take body measurements so he did. He will take them monthly.

Just discovered Mio Orange Vanilla water drops. This tastes exactly like a Dreamsicle. I'm pretending it's just melted ice cream.