JustWatchMe

Good luck!

I couldn't walk a block to church or stand in one place for more than a few minutes without horrible back pain at 302 pounds. At 198 I have zero back pain. I don't even take my Tylenol most days now. I was living on prescription NSAIDS for years. Good luck.

I never had headaches.

Perfect.

Living well. That is all.

Ginger, I love how BariatricPal "unnecessarily censored" your post. Cracks me up.

Good for you! My most recent was realizing that for the last two weeks I've been wearing my first ever pair of designer jeans. Gloria Vanderbilt size 16. I got them at Goodwill off the 18w rack and didn't notice the size. Or the label! I never fit into designer jeans when I was a teen.

Went jeans shopping Sunday and size 16 is where I am but now it's hard to find a good fit. Lots of belly skin and belly fat to squeeze into these designer (!) jeans. I didn't purchase any. Maybe next week. I'll take that problem over the problem of weighing 103 pounds more. Fasting day today. I'll bring some cheese to work for lunch and combine that with a Quest bar and some almonds. Although leftover roast beef sounds good, I know it can be too difficult to get past my band on a fasting day.

I answered you on the November thread. You got this. You GOT this!

I wish I could show you a glimpse of your life next year at this time. Becoming banded was the key that opened the door to me being able to live again. The weight loss is tremendous, of course. But getting control over my uncontrolled eating was the first piece of the puzzle in putting myself back together. My official pre op diet began eight months ago. Nine months ago my life took a devastating turn. My marriage disintegrated and I felt hopeless. I clung to my upcoming WLS as a life preserver. It was so hard to let go of overeating while I struggled daily to make sense of what was happening and what I was going to do. The grief and anxiety was so strong that sometimes my appetite was literally gone. It was not pleasant. I knew that getting control in my otherwise out of control situation was necessary. It was my motivation. It worked. I made it through the pre op and the surgery and the post op six week liquid diet. I exercised. I followed the rules. I was desperate. It was hard but with every success it was easier. With every victory over old habits I grew stronger. I found my power. I was powerful and it had been buried under binging and despair. I found my power. I unleashed that power. I nurtured that power. I feed that power today. I am so much stronger than I was nine months ago. Ha! I feel like I birthed a new me during these nine months. WLS was the necessary tool I needed to stop binging and start taking control. Health is my new addiction. I am addicted to self care. Self love. Self protection. Self preservation. I won't give away this power again. You don't know this yet but nine months from now you will be a new person and you will be telling your story of struggle and conquest to a newbie. I am proud of you. Believe. It is going to happen.

As gowalking said, for me it took a chunk of weight for people to notice and/or comment. My boss knew about my surgery and at one point said it looked like I'd lost at least twenty pounds! At that point I was down more than sixty, but I just replied, "yeah, thanks!" I was and still am uncomfortable talking numbers with people. Don't want to watch them do the math in their heads.

I didn't try those for a long time. Once I did, I discovered chips are sliders for me and I can eat way too much and not get a stop signal. It was hard to not have them at Mexican restaurants so I avoided those restaurants for a long time. Now they don't call my name so much so I just pass them up and have my entree.

I lost 130 pounds when I was age 28 without WLS. I couldn't keep it off but I will tell you that my confidence increased so much that I knew in my heart getting and keeping the weight off at age 53 with WLS would change my life. It is changing my life. You have wonderful things in store for yourself. Be patient and treat yourself the gentle way you would treat a dear friend. Your whole life and outlook is going to change and then you will see and believe about yourself all of the beautiful things your friends say about you already. We finally finally finally begin to love and value ourselves. For me there's no going back.

198.6 today. Lost less than I expected. Just 0.2 pounds. That's okay. My body changed a lot this week so I kind of expected a 2-3 pound loss. I shared a popcorn with a friend at the movies Friday. This small theater uses Orville Redenbacher and it wasn't bad. I didn't feel guilty about it. But I realized how hard it is for me to share food. Eye opener. It brought back memories of binging as a teen and buying two bags of everything. One for my family and one for me. That way they would stay out of my stash and leave me alone in my room. I'm in a good space and dropped a size this week. The only pair of jeans that fit me are now a size 16 and all of the plus size jeans 18w are too big. Fitting into my 1x shirts and giving away my 2x shirts. Headed back to Goodwill this afternoon for more clothes for work. Cooking a roast beef for tonight. Happy Sunday, everyone.

Hi! Glad to hear from you! Keep on truckin'!

Sharp dressed man! Congratulations!

Good luck to you. Hoping for great success.

These videos are amazing. You are an inspiration!

Good luck!

After I wrote the above post, I changed into my jammies for the night. I looked closely at the tag on the jeans I took off. The reason they fit is that they are a size 16. Gloria Vanderbilt size 16 jeans. I must have found them on the plus size rack at Goodwill last time I went and never noticed they were not 18w. They were snug when I bought them and fit now. So I am already wearing a 16. I am shocked.

I had an interesting jeans experience today. I've gotten into the habit of checking out Goodwill on weekends because I've been giving away my larger clothes and have to replace them. I have one pair of jeans that currently fit but, God willing, will have to replace them in a few weeks if my weight loss keeps its current pace. Today I tried on 8 pairs of jeans. 7 pairs were too big (18w). The final pair was a junior 17 and was way too tight. It was hung on the wrong rack. I went back out to the racks and looked for 16w. There was no 16w. I looked and looked and realized that for jeans, I no longer have plus sizes to try on. At least at Goodwill. This was a nice thing but rather scary for me. So scary that I left. I wasn't ready to walk over to the regular racks and attempt a non-plus size pair of jeans no matter what the number was. I may go back tomorrow and try jeans in the regular sizes. I still wear plus size blouses so I'll try some of those on. But it was a weird, weird day today. I never expected to be so unsettled and scared of a regular size. I've been obese for so long that I feel like an imposter looking in the regular racks. Side note. Last week a young man in a store called me "Miss". Not "Ma'am". That hasn't happened in years. I thought about that for days.

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Good for you getting the test. It's a nasty nuisance but saves lives. I know a man whose life was saved by early detection. They found colon cancer and he has been through two surgeries so far but is doing well now.

I think it's a positive message and well done.

Bander here. My appetite is dimmed and cravings really are gone. I'm eight months post op and down over 100 pounds with 53 to go. I eat delicious food but I don't crave like I used to. I'm not hungry between meals since I found my green zone but I do get nervous and agitated and jittery from stress and now I notice that instead of eating it away. I'm practicing self care in ways other than eating. It takes tons of practice. I stopped tv eating before surgery and never went back. So when I eat I eat. I think the dimmed appetite and lack of cravings is mostly from new habits and a properly filled band. Mostly new habits. I truly believe if I started eating sliders/more food regularly I would start craving them.