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Hey! I'm SO glad your pain is better managed now than it was a few days ago! I totally hear you about the passing gas (and btw I need to go back to tagging multiple people in a reply, feel like I spammed this board >. ) I'm nervous about taking too much stool softener because I know with the SADI loose stools can be a thing but at the same time with all these danged protein shakes I'm just not sure the colace 2x day is doing enough. I hope bowel movements level out for me soon; I've gone from one extreme to the other once already and don't want to do it again lol -- We made it to the other side, though! I'm so happy for you and hope your recovery continues to go smoothly. I'm interested in the binder thing people keep talking about - I wonder if they didn't do that with me because I had the SADI/SIPS instead. (For those not familiar with the SADI/SIPS, it's basically just starting with the sleeve and the surgery they most commonly do to revise it by shortening the intestinal tract beneath in place of the Gastric Bypass right off the start - I chose it because I wanted to eventually be able to take NSAIDS and there's a thread here that discusses the SADI/SIPS more. My surgery was still laparoscopic and recovery has been about the same from what I see, just fewer points of connection internally to heal) I'm also excited for all the rest of you folks with upcoming surgeries! I don't want to spam anymore but did want to say to @Singingbarista and @AndreaJD that the insights you've offered were super helpful, especially in terms of 'telling others' about the surgery. That's GREAT advice - to say you've been working with a dietician and weight loss clinic. You're so right; it shouldn't matter what others think but women especially have long been taught to seek approval. It's just another thing to relearn and the amount of support on this forum has been absolutely fantastic. I finally got a delivery of Premier shakes this evening in flavors OTHER than chocolate, French vanilla, and Mocha and oh my goodness it's SO nice to taste something strawberry-ish! I didn't want to keep responding to each post independently but to those who had very little notice about the surgery date - that's for sure a mixed blessing! Less time to prepare, but less time to be nervous about it, I guess? Sometimes it's easier to just plunge in (as long as you feel educated and ready!) To all of you going through the liquid diets, especially if you feel hungry during it - I'd suggest you might really want to consider trying some of the 30g protein shakes. I was very worried that I would be hungry but those are surprisingly filling, especially if you drink a lot of sugar free flavored water / Gatorade / Powerade of some kind. And don't forget you can enjoy sugar free popsicles, flavored warm broths, fat free cottage cheese, sugar free pudding, sugar free jell-o, and sugar free yogurt (usually - I mean, obviously follow the guidelines you were given by your surgical team!) The pudding can be made with protein shakes to help with your protein intake instead of milk, and if you match the flavors it's actually quite tasty and filling.

1). I lost 16 lbs the entire first MONTH, and I went on to lose over 200 lbs. Most of us seem to lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range the first month (yes - MONTH). So unless you're an outlier or the size of someone on "My 600 lb Life", you are doing very well! 2). sounds like you are experiencing the infamous "Three-week stall" right now - right on time, too! The vast majority of us hit our first major stall within the first month or so after surgery - and it's usually the third week;, hence, the name. If you google the site for the three-week stall, you will find something like 17,000 posts on it (and no, I am NOT kidding). A slight bump-up in weight is not unusual, either. It's almost certainly just water weight. The best thing to do is to continue to stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days. As long as you remain compliant with your program, the stall will break and you'll be on your way again. It usually takes 1-3 weeks. 3). you won't feel much (if any) restriction or "full" until you move to solid foods. Liquids go right through you, and purees pass through pretty quickly, too. Plus you had nerves cut during surgery, and it takes awhile for them to start to regenerate. You'll feel it fairly soon. However, "full" doesn't always feel the same way for many of us that it did before surgery. I don't feel "full" the same way at all - it's more a discomfort - sort of like pressure - in my chest. Once I start feeling that, I know I'd better stop eating or I'm going to be sorry. Others have even weirder full signals - like a runny nose or sneezing.

I feel like as long as it doesn't bother you (in terms of digestion, or mentally/emotionally), it's fine. I love what @NickelChip said about it being a "planned indulgence". Back when I was in my twenties, one of my nutritionists said that it was good to have one moderately high calorie meal a week (ie a couple slices of pizza) because it would keep your body from going into 'starvation mode' in which it thinks it needs to save and store any calories it can. It made sense at the time, but I was also at the healthiest weight I had ever been and she worked for a local gym, so take that all with a grain or two of salt. For me, I know I can't have a planned indulgence, at least not without being pretty darned strict about said indulgence. For example, I 'indulged' today in a piece of soft-dried sweet potato -- but because I know it's basically just a little strip of 'healthy; sugar and carbs, my dinner tonight will be lower carb to make up the balance. My personal issues are less of a willpower - slippery slope but more of a mental anguish thing. In the past, whenever I've felt like I've done something 'wrong' diet-wise, I usually would end up either in a depressive spiral in which I blame myself, harangue myself and then end up eating my feelings -- or I'd end up punishing myself (either with more unhealthy food or by not eating at all for a few days -- neither of which were healthy reactions). ((I've been on both sides of the eating disorder spectrum, lol)) I feel like I'm probably in a good enough headspace these days that I could avoid all of that (from not feeling like I've done something wrong to begin with) but I'm just not confident enough to want to put myself in that position.

100% with you! I mean technically, there's no "normal" weight loss in the sense that all our bodies are different to begin with, all of us have different health complications or diet restrictions, etc -- but I think you're doing really well if it helps! I'm 2 months post-op myself and have had two 'short' stalls of about a week each time. I think at the time, one of the members in the forums mentioned that the stalls are basically your body doing a bit of a reset/reboot to find a new equilibrium before moving forwards again. Don't get discouraged! Keep at it, or maybe juggle a few of your meals/proteins around to see if a small change can kick you out of the stall. (For example, I was really reliant on greek yogurt and lowfat cottage cheese well past my puree stage. I avoided them for a few days after I noticed a stall, and ate more plant based protein and fish in the meantime -- and I honestly feel like my body responded like "oh, some new puzzle to figure out!" and shocked me out of my stall. I'm not saying change everything up but if there's a meal or a protein that you're really leaning on right now, maybe switch it up a bit and see what happens.)

Thank you! I thought I had already responded to your post. Apparently I didn't hit submit reply. As I've mentioned in other post's. My weight has been stalled. However I weighed today and I'm down 4 lbs. I'm at 245 lbs. I'm not sure if the scale is playing with me or not. So I'm going to wait a few days before testing it out again. My biggest progress that I see is in my clothes. I'm in pant sizes that I haven't been in since 2002. The other big plus I see with you and everyone else. We've just started this journey. In the next 6 months all of us will look dramatically different. I intend to post more pictures along the way. I hope everyone else does as well. Your progress pics look great. The progress is real and will only get better. I wish you and everyone else the best with progress to your goal. 😃

Hi everyone, I had Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy in September 2023. my starting weight (on the day of surgery) was 102 KG and today march 27th 2024 I am 70.6 KG so I've lost a total of 31.4 KG. My height is 165 cm. so I believe I'm almost close to my weight goal. I want to lose maybe 8-10 more kilos and I think that's good enough for me. I took photos of my body on November and yesterday I took photos as well to compare both. however what I'm noticing is that although weight number has gone down, I do see difference in shape of my body (legs, arms, face, back) but I have an issue with my stomach. it has gotten better and smaller, however for someone almost going into 60's I don't think my belly should be looking this big. Do you guys recommend anything to do or try or should I see a doctor about this? please help! I don't want to struggle with reaching my goal weight and having a big stomach still.

Dang. That eliminates what I would say. I will say this, though. Did these same people tell you to your face you were "too fat" when you were obese and your weight was actively trying to shorten your lifespan? Or is it just your skinniness that worries them? Because you are right in the middle of a healthy weight range right now. You could drop to 125 lbs and STILL be 100% healthy and normal weight. So, if these people weren't telling you every day when you were 262 lbs how worried they were about your weight, I don't think I'd trust their judgement where weight is concerned. I'm not saying the comments don't come from a place of love, but they do seem to come from a place of ignorance.

This is true on body types, but snacks are what encourage grazing and not eating properly at meals. My 'snack' if you want to call it that are cucumber, broccoli, or at most a measured portion of 2 ounces or less of chicken/turkey/low fat, low carb fish. That's it. Bananas are high carb. I had suggested the weight/measure of food and drinks earlier. That's a hidden way of getting in calories. Total agreement on greens. Fiber ditto that also. Fruit we are warned on, we can have an ounce now (7 months out) but that's it. 2x a day, 2 ounces and only low calorie like berry type of things. The program is pretty tight but very very successful.

My surgeon told me at my 6 week appointment that I needed to start doing more exercise. This week, I'm happy to say I've gotten out my little walking pad treadmill twice in the evenings and have been walking while watching TV. I've gone from a daily average of about 3k steps to more than 5k this week, and I'll be working toward 10k steps each day for the coming month. I can hardly wait as the weather improves to allow for more outside walking. I'm really hoping the additional activity will give the scale an added nudge in the right direction. Once I can hit 10k most days, I will start looking at ways to add resistance bands to build muscle, but if I'm honest, I have been almost completely sedentary for several years and need to pace myself for it to be sustainable. Today, I am less than 4 lbs away from the lowest weight I've recorded on my app in the past 7 years (which was 203.8 after doing the nutrition program at my old weight loss center). 203 lbs is the next milestone I have my eye on, followed by making it to 199 lbs, and then hitting 185 lbs to officially no longer be obese. I chose my weight goal of 155 lbs somewhat arbitrarily, though it's the lower end of the estimates I saw for how much I could lose on various calculators. But when it feels impossibly far away, it helps to have some smaller goals to focus on. Oh, and it's almost time to swap out my winter clothing for spring stuff, which means I will have a lot of items to take to the donation bin. Many of my long-sleeve tops are swimming on me and several pairs of jeans are hopelessly baggy. Purging my closet will be an awesome feeling!

I am so glad that you are still reaching out to your team and posting here. I won’t get too far into my story but because of “confusion,” about my mental health, interactions with meds and embarrassment the help I got from my team was not working for me and I gave up. I continued to gain and now I am back here facing revision weighing a little more than when I started this journey. People here are very helpful and understanding but your team should be giving you answers too. Sounds like they have a plan for the next step if need be and that’s great. if all else fails, The phentermine is the one medication that I could try which did work amazing during the day for me but I suffer from insomnia and when I can’t sleep I eat. So, the meds worked wonderfully during the day but at night, with my larger sleeve and being awake so many times, I was able to consume too much for the whole day and I still gained. But I can see how if you sleep throughout the night it really could work. I didn’t get to try mountjourno or any of the other brands it’s sold under because of financial reasons but if you can swing it, I have heard AMAZING things about that medicine too (there are some side effects for some people to consider). People claim they think they must know how skinny brains feel after taking it. They just don’t ever have to think or worry about food. One lady has to set alarms if she is busy to remind herself to eat something. Another drawback is how long you have to take it. Some say when you go off it you start to gain. They are doing studies now where they are trying to work out a maintenance dose that may be less than the regular dosage though. There are also places that are starting to “compound” it at compounding pharmacies. I wouldn’t necessarily trust the stuff from random sites online but my PCP was telling me they were working on getting it in their office and it is less than half the normal cost that way. I don’t know much about the other weight loss drug options because I couldn’t take them with my bipolar meds Interestingly, i just seen an ABC special Oprah did on weight loss injections the other night. (Ironically it was the day I went back to see my surgeon so I thought maybe it was meant to be which is why I inquired about them with my PCP). I’m really hoping that reached someone that has the power to change how accessible these meds are. I asked my pcp and she said it’s probably going to take a little while like everything else and she thinks at this point I shouldn’t wait on surgery for that but if your interested keep asking questions because these things tend to just change in the middle of the night and the word takes a while to reach you if you not the one asking. Anywahs, kudos to you for not giving up. Let your team do all they can to help you and keep posting here!!. I think when I stopped that I lost all hope. I was so isolated. Surrounded by skinny family and having only one heavyset friend who is perfectly content being that way I don’t have a lot of real life people who understand me the way that this community does. I felt so ashamed and I didn’t want to drag down the vibe here with my failures. Since I have returned I have been welcomed with open arms and honestly don’t know why I ever doubted that I would be. Keep doing what your doing and you will work this out. I know it. 🤗

Exactly this. A lot of Baritastic patients go into this thinking its a "diet" its not! Its a new LIFETIME way of eating. It is nothing more than nourishment to keep your body healthy. "Diets" are meant to be a temporary way to lose weight, bariatric surgery is a permanent way to eat. I'll try and heed your words of warning!

If you eat less calories than you use then you will always begin to lose weight. With exercise, your body adjusts over time and compensates for the lost calories (saving them elsewhere) meaning that exercise becoems less effective over time. It's still best to combine both though. Exercise has many offer health benefits.

Oh, that's interesting. So many sources say you start out much faster and then slow down at 3 months and again at 6 months, but it's encouraging to know that isn't the only way it can happen. My highest weight is what I show as my starting weight in my stats, but I lost about 13 lbs from nutrition changes while waiting for surgery, and another 15 lbs from the pre-op diet, so in the 5 weeks since surgery, I'm only down 12 lbs, with a one week stall at the 3-week mark, like clockwork. Patience is not one of my virtues.

You look amazing @ZeeGee!! And you look STRONG! @brandycsiz You are not the only one. LOL I went on vacation for 4 days for my birthday and managed to gain 6 lbs! Logically I know that I didn't gain 6 lbs of fat, it is mostly water, but it still panicked me and made me feel like my progress was stunted for the month... Part of it is my fault though. I was eating out for every meal so that means more sodium and more carbs. I wasn't hydrating well. I didn't hit my protein goals. And the bed was awful so I wasn't sleeping well. Life happens! I took yesterday to feel depressed about it and panicked over breaking my surgery. LOL Then this morning I got up, made a protein shake, and had lots of protein for lunch (baked chicken thighs and green beans). I made a tall glass of sour watermelon flavored water and am plotting dinner. Carbs are under control. I slept in today to help offset my sleep debt. And tomorrow when the weather clears up I'll be back walking... The issue is not that we get off track sometimes. The issue is that in getting off track we lose hope, start to get down on ourselves, and want to eat a whole cake. 😂 But if you know better, you can do better. So gently but firmly course correct in the ways that you can each day. Make steady improvements back towards your goal. And see these acts as self care rather than harsh discipline. In this, as is with most things in life, our journey is much more important than our destination. Journey well my friends. We can do this!! 😍

It looks like we're the same height and I had the goal weight of 150 too. How did you know or decide to change your goal?

So far I keep getting mixed information about the two procedures in terms of malabsorption. Do they both cause the same amount of malabsorption or does the MGB cause more malabsorption?? I remember my surgeon saying that life long supplementation is only needed for duodenal switch!!! And all other surgeries only need supplementation for the first couple of years only! Also read somewhere that RNY is really restrictive only. And 78% of the fat , 100% of the Protein and 100% of the carbs are still absorbed. And the huge loss of weight is only caused by restricting the calorie intake. That's why there is always a chance of regain several years later. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Hello everyone! I'm checking in - @ShoppGirl- It sounds like you've really been through the wringer! You are a superstar for managing both chemo, a virus, and surgery recovery all at the same time and I hope you're being gentle with yourself and giving yourself lots of pats on the back! @Chatterbox - YES - portion sizes have gotten more flexible; for me taking an ADEK supplement has helped with the hair shedding; I've gone through that to a point as well and typically have VERY thick hair and I've noticed some extra shedding but even with that it hasn't thinned my hair dramatically. @Justarwaxx - You're doing great!! Please be kind to yourself! With increased activity level the calorie consumption does have to go up so you can keep up your energy! Now that I'm using my Fitbit I am able to better see my activity levels - I haven't hit 10k in a day but I got close a couple of days and my average went below 5k per day while I was sick as well (Gosh it's going around!) but I think the important thing is to LISTEN to your body, give it fuel, and just try to have more calories spent than you take in. I'm burning over 3k calories more days than not so if I eat a few carbs, a piece of bread once in a while, a half a sandwich, some veggies - that's ok. I think a lot of it is knowing and understanding the difference like so many have said on 'head hunger' vs 'physical hunger'. Usually at a given meal I eat maybe a total of a cup of food; I try to aim for at least half of each meal to be protein, then veggies, then maybe a little rice or other starch. I'm hit and miss on my food logging; I slipped for a few weeks and am trying to reset. I wanted to repost these recipes I used during the puree period because I don't know about ya'll but I tend to find things that work well and then totally forget they exist! Lately I've been doing lots of soups for myself and my family. I made an easy chicken noodle soup yesterday with half a rotisserie chicken breast, I steamed carrots and celery in the microwave until they were soft, sautéed some diced onion in garlic and onion with a little chicken broth, then added it all together with the cooked chicken breast cut up and more chicken brother. I threw in a small handful of egg noodles and let it all simmer. When I do something like a soup with meat I try to serve myself up a bowl that is heavy on the chicken and light on the veggies. You can do basically the same thing with broccoli, cabbage, and canned or fresh diced tomatoes. Fluids and healthy veggies with a protein is my go to; and I'm doing pretty well with my personal progress. You all got this! Don't get discouraged when you go through stalls; some weeks I will lose about 2 lbs and then the next week I might lose 6 lbs; it's all a process and the weight loss will slow and become more steady as long as you watch your calories, eat healthy at least 80-90% of the time - it's about getting your nutrients and staying at a calorie deficit. ❤️ Reposted recipes from earlier: "I'd say the hardest part for me continues to be the 'No drinking 30 mins before/after meals' but I use the Baritastic app to set a time. I also use the timer to make sure my 'meals' take at least 30 minutes. Want to make sure I don't rush and end up feeling poorly afterward. Things that have worked well for me during my puree stage include egg drop soup, chicken/tuna salad made with puree chicken or tuna, light mayo, and sometimes a bit of relish, and for added protein a boiled egg or two, with or without the yolks per preference. (Dill relish is healthier than sweet relish). I did allow myself 2-3 saltines with those, usually about 3.5 oz of the tuna or chicken salad makes me feel sated. Other recipes that have worked include the ricotta bake and unstuffed cabbage rolls, pureed low fat/0 sugar yogurt or cottage cheese with Genepro powder and cooked, strained strawberries or blueberries (I added a bit of 0% Milk to make it more of a smoothie), Riccotta pureed with either a bit of fruit or avocado, small serving of oatmeal pureed with fruit (test yourself with an ounce or two less than you normally eat for oatmeal because it sits heavy and often swells - add some zero or skim milk to make it thinner if needed. Other recipes include homemade no-noodle chicken soup of sorts with rotisserie chicken, chicken broth, and pureed carrots w/a little bit of onion powder or diced onion. I also made a homemade 'philly cheese steak' filling of sorts with some sautéed bell peppers and a bit of diced onion, some roast beef lunch meat, and cream cheese. Others speak highly of pureed refried beans with a bit of seasoning to taste more like taco meat, adding either a bit of mild salsa or a combination of onion powder and perhaps a bit of cumin. That's a personal choice, and definitely suggest going slow with your seasoning due to possible heartburn. You could add a bit of shredded low-fat/skim mozzarella or even low fat sour cream to round it out. Today I made 'chicken pot pie w/no crust' which was basically just cooked carrots and finely diced celery and onions with finely diced rotisserie chicken with a can each of 98% fat free cream of celery and 98% fat free cream of chicken. I haven't had any yet because I'm a little unsure about the celery, even cooked, but pureed and in a small serving I'm sure it would treat me fine. The Ricotta Bake I made was super simple and I know there are a lot of variations to the recipe online. I made my own marinara sauce by peeling about 5 smallish tomatoes, dicing them, and simmering them with a little less than equal parts water, Italian seasoning, and a bit of diced onion. The ricotta mixture was easy; just used 8oz ricotta cheese, 1 egg, 1/2 cup of grated parmesan (I used the shaker but fresh is better) and 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese. I put a layer of half the mix on the bottom of a buttered baking dish, topped it with 1/2 lb cooked and seasoned ground beef, then put the rest of the mixture on top. Poured about 3/4 of the homemade marinara over it then covered the dish with aluminum foil and baked at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. It's basically a no-noodle lasagna. The Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls I made were equally easy - I used a rotary grinder (Works SO well, bought on Amazon for around twenty bucks) to grate half a head of lettuce. Instead of canned diced tomatoes I once I again peeled about 5 small/medium tomatoes and diced them, adding to the skillet along with maybe 1/8 cup diced onion and another 1/2 lb of the ground beef. For seasoning the recipe I used just had me add a packet of Italian Dressing Seasoning mix. The family enjoyed it and after pureeing the ground beef a bit I found it fine to eat, although slowly and very well chewed. Both it and the Ricotta bake probably make about eight 1/3 cup servings with about 22g of Protein each.

Hi everyone, I had Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy in September 2023. my starting weight (on the day of surgery) was 102 KG and today march 27th 2024 I am 70.6 KG so I've lost a total of 31.4 KG. My height is 165 cm. so I believe I'm almost close to my weight goal. I want to lose maybe 8-10 more kilos and I think that's good enough for me. I took photos of my body on November and yesterday I took photos as well to compare both. however what I'm noticing is that although weight number has gone down, I do see difference in shape of my body (legs, arms, face, back) but I have an issue with my stomach. it has gotten better and smaller, however for someone almost going into 60's I don't think my belly should be looking this big. Do you guys recommend anything to do or try or should I see a doctor about this? please help! I don't want to struggle with reaching my goal weight and having a big stomach still.

I think the OP means into the 60kg range (basically under 150lbs!) not in their 60's age wise!!! But I agree the weight loss is phenomenal and inspiring! well done @Megan Black

@LindsayT Looking amazing! Did you track your monthly weight loss totals? I'm really curious what the progression looked like for you. And has it finally slowed/stopped? I know you were nervous about losing too much.

Long story short - had gastric bypass in July of 2019. Highest weight 400. Current weight 167 to 173. I still feel some restriction to this day. Meals are small and I don't eat high fat, high sugar food. 2 yrs ago, I started having right sided pain. It felt like ovarian pain so saw OB & had 2 ultrasounds nothing showed up there. Pain worsened & had gall bladder removed 1.5 yrs ago. Adjusted diet again to deal with gal bladder being gone and things seemed ok. A few months after the right sided pain returned. About 4 mos ago, pain got so bad at times I'd be in a ball on my bed considering going to ER (which I HATE doing). Went back to primary got CT scan. Nothing found. findings. Then he referred me for colonoscopy & upper GI. I thought finally 'this was it, we've ruled out most other things'. I also had seen blood in my stools and it was old blood, like coffee grounds so I thought ok, not hemorrhoids? Just got back home from colonoscopy & upper GI. Good news is no polyps or other concerning things. Bad news is main finding was on bypass "Patient's surgical anastomosis noted to be widely dilated, raising possibility of Dumping Syndrome as a cause". OK, we know what dumping is. Thought it was post surgery when we ate food (i.e. sugar, high fat) that processed too fast, etc. & you had dumping. Is the type of dumping they mention different from post surgery dumping? They recommend I see revision specialist. Has anyone else had revision NOT due to 1st bariatric surgery not being successful but for a "medical reason" like this (other than GERD, heartburn). I'm not even sure insurance will pay, but I have 2 yrs worth of history on this. Even it if does pay, I dread what this means - more hair loss? If I do this, will I need another in 5 yrs?. I also still feel restriction kick in although yes, nothing like 1st 2 years My highest weight right now hovers at 173. I hoped I'd get to 150 but closest I've come is 167-168. Is revision another 'nuclear detonation option'? ANYONE have a revision specialist in the North Texas area they can recommend so I can at least get a consultation (north texas = Fort Worth, Dallas, Arlington, Keller, Bedford, Euless, Hurst and Denton) I've also wondered if there is a chance of some straggler/stone from gallbladder surgery 1.5 yrs ago that should be considered? Any input would be appreciated. This is causing issues on my job as the pain hits out of nowhere (not X amount of time before OR after a meal, that I have been able to discern. Thank you!

Sorry to hear about the struggles. Only issues I'm having so far is how slow my weight loss has been since surgery. I'm going to eat two meals and add protein soups and shakes for my other meal and snacks. I've been getting at least 1000 calories and 100 grams of protein a day. Along with doing exercise daily. My Dr said it's expected to lose slow. Just seems odd to me.

I have bad knees, no cartilage in either, which I have been told will need to be replaced in the years to come. I see you don't have a pool close by that is not cheap but I do aqua aerobics once a week and feel the benefit of it so if you could even afford a class once a week it might do you the world of good. I am lucky that my hospital run the class so I just have to pay about €100 by way of membership for the year and the classes are 50 weeks of the year. I also have an exercise bike that I go would go slowly on for about 20 minutes three times a week. Now that I have lost more weight and the weather is improving I find I can do short walks of about 20 minutes/1.5km. My knees do ache afterwards at night but not as bad as before when I was heavier so I feel it is worth it, put a bit of gel on them and it helps me sleep easier. I now also do the Svelte 'One and Done' exercise program, just the beginner level, three days a week. There are some exercises I can't do as they require knee movements I can't do but from what I have seen so far there is always an alternative exercise shown if movement is not possible. You could always check out their YouTube site as they have plenty of exercises that you don't have to pay for. Even though my weight loss has slowed down I can see where I am still losing cm's.

you could always get a Dexascan to see how much fat, muscle, etc you have. Not the kind you get at the doctor's office - those only check for mineral (bone) density. You need the kind they have at some sports places (some university sports labs have them) or at commercial places like DexaFit. Those scans will also tell you how much fat, muscle, etc you have. I got one when I weighed 146 lbs because I wanted to see how much more weight I could lose. The technician said nope - I was done losing. I had 21% fat at that point, which is pretty lean for a woman (unfortunately, I'm not that lean anymore!). but I found it pretty helpful. I think it was around $100.

Roh! (this is French for discontentement) I've just got home from Athens and got on my home scale - I'm back up at 70.6kg (155.4lbs). I know from the Athens scales that my weight hasn't budged since the 15th - so 9 days. My brain knows that this was going to happen but my heart is upset (Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait point ... The heart has its reasons that reason ignores.). This means that since I left home 15 days ago I've only lost 1.9kg (4.2lbs). Breaking back into the 60's is really important to me and I just can't make it. So I'm upset ( and tired and overworked right now I think, my flight was delayed - I left where I was staying in Athens at 3.45 am, my flight was slightly delayed, and luggage delivery took a whole hour so I had to go straight from the airport to a meeting with very very little sleep). I'm home now but just have time to do laundry and unpack and repack because I leave for the UK early tomorrow to see friends in London before a conference in the north next week. I just want it to be the summer and to be on holiday already. I want to spend more that 24 hours in my own home. And I want to see a number starting with a 6 on the scale. I'm doing the best I can with food. I'm walking and being as active as I can. I'm just so so disheartened. I think I just need a nap.