LoseIt!

Keep your chin up, VG! I know where you are coming from, but 5 pounds gone is 5 pounds gone. Giving a little super focus to your menu and work outs...I have no doubt you will have a stellar month! The fact you are so close to 100 pounds is just wonderful. Keep at it!

To me having fun on vacation makes everything else worthwhile!! Now you can work on yourself until it is time to go on the next one.

Under "User CP", "Edit Signature", you should be able to enter your code. It will show up on your forum postings, but not your blog posts. You can enter the code on your individual blog posts as well.

Sounds good, girl! 60+ pounds is nothing to sneeze at. You are going the right direction on this lifetime journey. Keep it up!!

That's awesome, HB! It is so great to have a good support system. Glad you can move forward the way you want!!

Good luck, Maggs! I try to be stylish, but I remember not caring about much from the time of surgery until about 2 days later. Ha! Can't wait to hear how it goes!

I don't usually post on the weekends, but I had to today. My scale read 234.2! That means I am down 50.8 pounds. YAY!!! I am so very excited. 50 pounds in 150 days!! I realize that I have a way to go, but this is such a big goal. I just have to stop and take a moment. Have a great weekend!

I got up this morning and stepped on the scale as I do every morning. I weighed 235.6 which is six tenths of a pound from my next major goal of losing 50 pounds! Still have a bit to go. No worries. I continued to get ready and as part of that went to the bathroom. Without TMI, a lightbulb went off above my head and I weighed again. 235.2! Only 2 tenths away from my next goal! I almost wanted to cut off a finger. Ha! But then I realized that whether my scale read 235.6, 235.2 or 235.0 this morning, I still look the same this morning. My true goal is to feel better and to look better. That .2 will come off and when it does I will be very excited! But no frustrations, because things are moving steadily in the RIGHT DIRECTION! And that is what is important. I hope you all have a WONDERFUL weekend!!

Oh, Lucky, I'm SOOOO excited for you!!! What an amazing journey and results. You are an inspiration!! Lots of good things to remember in your post.

I LOVE SYTYCD! Such a great, fun show. Good for you on all the exercise!!

Oh goodness, do I know how you feel! When I first started with my trainer, it was all I could do to focus on the task at hand because I was thinking about everyone looking at me. The more I went and better I got...I don't even think about them anymore! Keep on, keeping on!!

I eat almost everything my friends eat. I don't eat a lot of bread because it gets stuck. Honestly, I wish I could have given up bread before the surgery, but I never have the will power. Now I have no choice, but I'm okay with that. If you would have told me that pre-surgery, I don't think I would have believed you. You do have to be ready to change, but if you are careful and pay attention to your body, you can eat most anything.

I'm glad you mentioned photography, because I was a little concerned about the poor lady in the vintage dress that you are going to shoot! Keep up the great work!

It is so hard to be patient with this process, but the truth is that you are doing well. I know there are people out there that have lost twice as much, but there are also people out there that have lost half as much. Everyone has a different pace. Keep your head up and keep doing what you are doing. At your pace, you are still losing around 60 pounds a year and there is nothing wrong with that. Chin up! You are doing well. (Your doc on the other hand doesn't seem to be all that great with the bedside manner.)

You probably aren't letting yourself see it. I know that as I gained weight, I never really saw it when I looked in the mirror. However, when I would see a picture it would almost kill me! Try taking progress pictures. I do that once a month. It is hard to ignore it when you are looking at visual evidence!!

I hear ya, sister! Sometimes I just need my Hagendaas. I have some very skinny friends and they eat ice cream too. In fact, I eat WAY better than most of them. Good for those who can eat perfectly all the time. Truly! Kudos! For the rest of us...we can lift each other up and keep each other going. Sometimes the "superwomen" as Butterfly called them are inspiring and sometimes they are annoying. I really think it depends more on OUR mood. Just keep on YOUR journey and you will do just great!

You are such an inspiration, BG!!

I have such a love/hate relationship with fill week. I love it because it never fails to jump start my weight loss. Looking back at the last 5 months, most of my biggest weight loss weeks have come on fill weeks. To me it is so motivating to look at the scale on Monday and be several pounds down! However, I also hate fill weeks. I do liquids the first couple of days and no matter how much I drink, I can never just quite quash my hunger. I'm not horrificly hungry, but just that nagging little hunger that never fully goes away. Plus, it is hard for me to get good exercise during that time. I just don't have quite the same amount of energy as usual. So, typically I don't do as much. Today I plan to work out on the elliptical for a half hour at lunch so that is something! Bottom line, the negative part of fill week that I hate is temporary and fades after a few days. The positive part...the weight loss and the better restriction...is much more lasting. So, all in all, yay for fills!!

I completely understand being excited about no longer being Morbidly Obese. I hit that milestone in May and I think it is a very big deal! Think how awesome you are going to feel when you are overweight!! Keep up the good work.

You are so right, the anticipation is indeed the worst! If you can stick to the liquid pre-op, I have no doubt you will be able to kill the post op. Once you start getting fills, you will go to town! Kick butt, Preppy!! Ha!

One thing I have learned is that with the Band, you have to be patient. You have to follow the fill protocol in order to make the Band work for you. If you are falling off the wagon because you are hungry, then go get a fill! If you are falling off the wagon because of emotional issues, a fill is probably not going to help. You will need to look inside and figure out what is driving you to eat. I was banded 5 months ago and have gotten frustrated at least once a month. But when I break it down and do what I'm supposed to do, it is all working out. Good luck to you!!

Today is my birthday and it has just been the best birthday in a very long time! This time last year, I was beyond miserable. I did not like myself, I was sick and I was probably close to depressed. This year, I have lost 47 pounds since 1/14, I'm starting to fit into my "skinny" clothes, and I'm starting to feel like I'm actually in some kind of shape! I have no regrets. Part of me wishes that I would have started this process last year. By now I would be at my goal! But I realize that I had a journey to go through to come to this decision and if I would have done it too soon, I may have not been successful. In April & May, I worked out 18 hours and 17 hours, respectively. Assuming roughly 4 weeks in the month, that is over four hours a week. I'm feeling pretty good about that! Let's see if I can top both months in June! My favorite achievement so far is that I have made it out of the Morbidly Obese category! I'm now merely Super Obese. Regular Obese...here I come!!! :thumbup: At my current rate, I would be in spitting distance of Overweight! However, I will not be dissatisfied with any result as long as I'm doing the best I can and I'm going in the right direction. As I believe I have mentioned before, I plan to jog a 5K in September. My progress is not as I would hope. I did jog 1.25 miles on Thursday, but I was unable to do so either Saturday or Sunday. I just couldn't seem to go longer than 3 or 4 minutes. Hmmm... Tomorrow I'm getting a fill. I had hoped that I wouldn't need one but I get hungry after about 2-3 hours and I seem to want to eat quite a bit more than the prescribed amount. I feel sure I haven't stretched my pouch or anything, so I probably just need a tweak. I'm always cranky the day of my fill, so I decided to just take the day off. It will be a good day to go get my drivers license renewed. Nothing like being cranky at the DMV! Every 4th of July weekend, I visit my friend's family in Louisiana. Right now, I'm about 25 pounds lighter than I was last year. I would love to lose about 10 pounds in June so I would be about 35 pounds lighter. I think that is quite doable. A. I have my fill tomorrow which always jump starts my progress. B. The last 3 weeks in June I'm scheduled to Jazzercise twice and be with my trainer twice each week. C. After 5 months, I'm still motivated!! I feel quite sure that has never been the case for me. Next Monday it will be time for picture updates and that is always fun!! Hope you all have a great week!