Forsythia

So, is there anything you have ever wanted to buy but thought you were too fat to wear? Or that you were afraid to wear (maybe you were always one of those "If I wear all black no one will notice me" girls?) Post a picture of yourself in something you thought you could never wear, or an item you want to buy when you hit a goal. I'm about 18 lbs from being below 200 lbs. So I've decided that when I get below 200 lbs I am going to treat myself to this Kensie dress from Macy's.

After almost a year my feet have gotten smaller. From a 9 to an 8.5. Even with thick socks my feet slide around in all my shoes. I bet you thought this was about me having my surgery didn't you? That was last April. LOL. Also, I'm 3 lbs from 199. Slowly creeping down. Lots of this has to do with being unemployed and being sedentary and not having the money to go back and forth to the gym via public transit. The good news is that I am working again and can rededicate myself to it since I have an income again.

You can't change how people react to you. But you can change how you react to the comments and attention. Try to think of it as people curious about your success. Just try to keep your answers impersonal. You are under no obligation to tell them you had a sleeve. Tell them you are doing a low carb high protein diet and working out. This is not a lie. Wash rinse repeat as necessary. When you refuse to offer more details, they will move on to gossip about who the boss is having an inter office affair with.

I had my first drink about three months out. Red wine doesn't agree with me but I can do mixed drinks and white wine fine. I don't like beer so I have no idea about it. Sorry!

Regular caffeinated coffee daily with a scoop of body fortress vanilla protein and a shot of hazelnut or caramel sugar free syrup. Coffee is fresh off the brewer when I make my drink. So quite hot. Body Fortress mixes in the best of all the brands I've tried. Other brands don't mix very well without me pulsing the mix in my blender. Don't like going through all that.

I use Splenda in my coffee and hot tea, but that is it. When I bake and cook I use regular sugar. I had type II diabetes pre op, but have gone into complete remission since. But I don't think sugar was my issue as much as bread/pasta/rice/potatoes was my issue. I ate a lot of white carbs. I avoid these now.

Every day. But then I can track a pattern and notice if I'm slacking off, or regaining. I don't actually record said weigh in down. Just mentally, I make a note of it. But if it's making you cray, put the scale away. Oh look, I rhymed.

Coffee. Every. Day. With creamer. Coffee was never banished in my program. Not a smoothie girl so I've no opinion on that. I use straws with no issues. Again, not something that was banned in my program.

I was hoping that the hairs that I have to pluck each month on my neck and chin would go away or not come in so dark, but 8 months later, I still have to pluck every month. My mother also has some hairs like this on her neck, so I'm not sure how much of this was due to my PCOS diagnosis or heredity. But those hairs.. still there.

Yes, you do have to skip if you are not going to buy. But you can buy at any time after that. So just remember to log on and skip the month. In fact, I skip every month. But then sometimes I buy later anyhow.

I've always had fine, thin hair (its naturally curly, but as you can see I flat iron the curl out to within in inch of its life). I have not experienced any significant loss. And I did NOTHING special. I took my vitamins. I generally got at least 60 g of protein each day, and mostly got my water. But I was not particularly hardcore about things if I was only 57 g of protein on one day. Hair loss is how your body reacts to trauma like surgery, and anesthesia. So if you are following the rules and eating correctly you still might lose hair depending on how your body is going to react to things. Rock a wig. Get creative with hats and scarves. Know that hair will grow back.

I love my measuring tape. I'm a daily scale person, but whenever my scale stays put I always check my measurements because they go down when the scale sticks. It's such a great motivation to see those numbers go down because they correspond directly to smaller clothes where weight is arbitrary when it comes to clothing size! Congrats on your measurements. You're doing awesome.

If you are talking about the lips, having uneven skin is normal and the perfectly symmetrical hoo has that are out there on porn stars are surgically enhanced. If you are talking about a puffy mons, you will lose some weight there like everywhere, and it may or may not bounce back like the rest of your skin depending on age, your weight, how long you have been overweight and genetics. Own your honeybun, darling. LOL!

Let me preface this by saying I'm no HIPPA expert. I did work in a doctor's office where we did use health questionnaries for patients, but again, DOCTOR'S OFFICE. Ask them why health questionnaire is necessary. Are you working in a position that requires heavy lifting or exposure to hazardous chemicals or something? I do not see how your personal health information is relevant to the job. My gut is telling me that this is not information they are entitled to have.

I think the dominant app/website people tend use is my fitness pal. You can sync your fitbit to it and lots of apps like MapMyWalk or MapMyRun. And you can customize your nutritional profile. So you can set it for 90 g of Protein if you want to. You can also have it showing Fiber intake if that is important, or whatever. Download a couple apps to your phone. Look at them and play with them. And remember that you are going to see an overwhelming list of foods for something as simple as "roasted chicken". Don't fret over that otherwise you will never be successful at logging your foods (this is what I initially did - I freaked out at not seeing the EXACT sub I had at subway or whatever). Pick one that is a close approximation to the kind you had. Make sure it has all the nutrient profile filled out and move on. Know that unless you are scanning barcodes (which is a handy feature in MFP), calorie counting is an approximate thing - everything depends on how you cooked the item, the flavoring and seasonings you may have used. It is not a hard an fast science!

Only 60 more to go. Lol. I feel at this point I really have to make sure my diet is on point and the exercise has to be there. When I first started I would literally drop lbs doing nothing. But now it's easier to fall back into old habits because I'm so far out. So cardio and weights at least 3X per week. Constant vigilance.

I still eat too fast. If I eat too fast and don't chew well enough, I get nauseated and it comes back up. So have I mastered eating slower? No. The best I can do is be cognizant of it and try to eat slower. Having said that, use a baby fork or spoon. Smaller bites will slow you down.

I usually eat between 1000 and 1200 calories a day. Also I'm 8 months out and down well over 100 lbs. I don't really count carbs. But MFP has my carb count at 120g per day. I don't typically get that close to it. Maybe 80 or so? I really only track Protein and calories and casually eyeball the carbs and fat. Seems to be working. I'm still losing.

One day I went into Sephora with a friend. And they were playing Britney Spears. I knew all the words to the song. ALL. THE. WORDS. So there is no shame in my game. Also, I saw N'Sync in concert at Soldier Field. I went with a friend, not as an escort for a 12 year old.

Sometimes it is nice to buy something new and fabulous - I got this Kensie dress that makes me so happy. Enjoy it while you can and move on. But yeah, I get what you mean. Normally everything I get is from Ross or the clearance rack (Like, $95 pants for $16 clearance). Or basics from Old Navy. Congrats on crossing the century mark in weight lost!

So happy 2015. Let's do a recap! Surgery May 5th, 2014. Program start weight 312 All time high 335 Current weight 210 Goal weight 150 Height 5'5" Age 37 going on fabulous. I feel like I'm in the home stretch. My immediate goal is to be 199.5 by February 7th. Why February 7th? That is my birthday. And my birthday is my favorite day, ever. So this year I want it to be fabulous by me being under 200 lbs by that day. I have a month to lose 10.5 lbs. Can I do it? Hell yes I can do it! (Despite my general downer attitude about society as a whole I'm remarkably positive about myself and my own motivations. LOL). I didn't gain any weight over the holidays, but I also did not lose any. But I'mma be honest, I had way too many coconut rum balls and I have no one to blame for those rum balls but myself because I made them. Dealing with ones own demons and weaknesses never gets easier, no matter how far along you are. Those weaknesses resurface. I got rid of all my old clothes. There was a post on the forums where someone wondered why they were keeping their old too big clothes. I had bags of too big clothes in my closet just taking up space. I kept saying I was going to donate them, but I never did. It was the fear. I took the step to throw them out. I was just keeping them as a crutch to my fears. So bite me, demons. I am not giving into the fear. I am not keeping those size 28s anymore. I will not go back to wearing them, ever.

I'd still be sitting in the hospital 8 months later, then. I hate fish! Lol. I had orange jello in the hospital. And chicken broth.

I didn't have a liquid diet at all. Just low carb, like Atkins phase one, only veggies were okay.