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My newest NSV's I had 3 different guys tell me how nice I looked yesterday, 2 of which I don't associate with all the time. Today I'm wearing a pair of misses 16 sized pants. I bought them about a week and a half ago and they were tight. Now they are just right... but the scale hasn't moved. So weird??

Knockouts - y'all are awesome!! I LOVE hearing these!! My NSV for the week - I went shopping, looking for new pants - it was pretty crappy weather (rain/snow) and I was on my bike, but I had layers on and was warm and I was LOVING IT...I was so muddy and blasting thru every puddle - it was so FUN!!! Outside Sears, I had a guy in a WHEELCHAIR tell me that me being on my bike in the rain was an awful way to get around that day...Excuse me? UR serious? UR in a wheelchair? I was so estatic that I could even MOVE, that I could even get around....last summer I had constant back pain, there's no way I would have even had enough ambition to do that! Never did find any pants I liked?!?! Just think.... where was everyone at 1 year ago today???? I know I was so so unhappy and miserable.....

Awesome NSV's 40. I vented a little last night to my man because no one that I work with has commented on my weight loss... Well, finally today, one of the guys I work with said, WOW, look at you, what's going on?! Now, I feel a little better. While I was venting to my man last night his comment was, "Well, they don't get to see you naked:thumbup:"! He He He... I'm just so tall that 40 pounds doesn't show much, which was a blessing when I was heavier, I guess...

Yep, this is a problem for all of us. It is quite an adjustment to make. But your not done yet losing weight, your body is constantly redistributing the fat.... Take a deep breath when this happens and remind yourself how far you have come. You will have excess skin when you reach your goal, but it will look better and feel better than all that fat that use to be there. you have more energy and can do more things. You have many more NSV'S coming your way..... Sit back, smile, and enjoy the journey, you Rock!

Capt Derel, Tell them to go pound sand!! I'm thrilled that you're so close to meeting that first goal! Isn't the sleeve an amazing tool!? Coops, you do look fine in your new picture. You inspire me to keep on trucking, even when the scale seems to be moving achingly slow. You're also the person who taught me about NSV's and paying attention to measurements more than the scale. Dorrie, I'm now losing again, at a slow but steady pace, but the inches have just melted away over the last couple of months. I'm amazed at how good I look and feel...and I'm looking forward to more of both!

NSV: No seatbelt extender for me on the plane! It was snug, but I could pull the loose tab 3 or 4 inches if I needed to; it's so nice not to have to ask for that extender! Vegas was WONDERFUL. I've honestly never had so much fun, and as "silly" as it was to get married on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, it ended up being a very meaningful, religious ceremony, and a memory I'll treasure for life. Here are the wedding photos taken by the Star Trek people. http://images.mellette.net/wedding/bridge Jonathan

Congratulations on both the marriage and the NSV!

I went to a support group the other night and we discussed setting up goals and non-food ways to reward yourself for reaching said goal. I have started working on a list of goals for myself, may be a nice little project for other people that are banded or soon to be banded. Starting weight 377 Goal 1: 350 - Pedicure Goal 2: 300 - Facial ( I have a gift certificate I am holding on to for this! ) Goal 3: 250 - Full body massage (another gift cert from a patient :banana ) Goal 4: 200 - All new sets of scrubs for work in normal girl sizes Goal 5: 175 - 2 new outfits that are NOT from Layne Bryant :laugh Goal 6: 160 - This is my goal weight, I am 5'9" and have a big build so I can't see myself going any lower. When I reach this, I am going to take a trip to here: http://galilea.nikmills.com/ :cheeky :Bunny I am also going to get back into hiking and joggin, which I used to enjoy. It seems like it will go so fast when I write it down, but I know that it will be hard work. Hence why I know I will have time to save for the trip. I figure all that money I have spent on junk food, restaurants, and Snacks can go in a savings account for vacation. I know there will be smaller accomplishments as I lose, the days where I will have those little NSVs, but these are for the big goals of 50lbs.

I feel like I've been seeing the changes all along, even in the first month post-op. But, I also am doing a weightloss scrapbook. I do a page for every month w/pics and the printouts from my doctor's scale. Sometimes I write NSVs in there too and printout entries from my blog. I know it probably seems a little self-centered, but its fun to go through and remind myself how far I have come.

Every NSV counts! And if I am reading your ticker right, you have lost 103lbs in 5.5 months! That is incredible!! Congratulations!

After years of having to buy adjustable necklace chains, I am now able to wear an 18" chain!! My neck has gone from 18" to 15" since June 26th!! Now...if I could just get the scale to show something less than 251!!!!! ;-P

Well I finally found out that after wearing a size 52 in men's jeans , I tried to fit in a size 38 , well I have a little more ways to go but I now know that I fit in a size 40_42 & that's in a men's Levi jeans so I would consider that a nsv I guess I went down about 10 sizes in 2 year the size 38s just didn't want to fit over my hips just yet .

Love, love, love these! My NSV? I like me like this. I feel GOOD! Thanks, CG.........

It's been an awesome past two months. Major life changes that never would have happened 50 pounds ago. I had my surgery last August, and the weight loss has been SLOW. But I'm hanging in there and the rewards have started rolling in. I decided to try online dating in March, after I was able to get some pictures of myself that I felt ok with. Two weeks later, I met an awesome guy and we're so happy together. Right about the same time, some networking paid off and I landed a job interview. The company was pretty slow with the interview process, but last week I was offered the job! The company is really dynamic and high-energy, and I know I wouldn't have been an ideal candidate if I had been at the weight and energy level that I was before the surgery. I'm not saying they wouldn't have hired me, but I KNOW that the weight loss has helped, if nothing else its helped my self esteem and the way I project myself. So, while the scale is slow, and I'll probably never be one of those people who gets to a size 4, it has given me a new outlook on life, and it looks like 35 is finally MY YEAR!!

Not as far out as you are, but from what I've been reading around here, we're all likely to hit several of these on our way to goal. The recommendation of vets is usually to stay the course, look for NSVs, and don't forget to take your measurements periodically, look at before and current photos, review your #s, etc. so you are reminded of the progress you have made regardless of what the stoopid scale says right now! There's a blog post around here somewhere that claims including avocado (particularly substituting this healthy fat for a not so healthy fat) can be helpful. When I've hit stalls during weightloss prior to surgery, I've always changed something to break it. I'd reevaluate my diet: have extra calories snuck back in or am I maybe not eating enough? Do I need to readjust my macronutrients? Too many processed foods? Eating the same items day after day? How can I eat "cleaner"? And reevaluate my activity: Too much, not enough, not enough variety? Has my fitness improved and therefore my output/effort decreased? Too much cardio and not enough weights? Getting bored and complacent? Need to find something new? There is also an article floating around multiple places here that explains what is happening during a temp stall, your body is replacing glycogen and water. Weight doesn't drop at that time, but once that replacement period is over, you can expect to lose again.

I WISH I'd taken many pictures before surgery, but I only had a few. I'd suggest definitely taking some photos now, before WLS. See post here: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/310322-are-you-pre-wls-take-pictures-now/. I also wish I'd taken measurements pre-op. My first measurements were 2 weeks post-op. Do it now as a baseline. --I only post and read messages here at BP. --I keep a small [5.5" x 7.5"] notebook on my bathroom countertop and I weigh every day, or every other day, and record numbers in columns: Date/POD#/Wt. At the end of each month's mark (my surgery was Dec 4th), I might tally my weight loss for that month. Oh, that notebook has my SW and date noted somewhere in the beginning. Also, on the back pages of the previous logging page, I sometimes have notations about [whatever--NSVs; potato chips I ate; how much I "danced, and wow, look," etc.] So the notations are opposite the page for the curent weights/dates. --Every month (or two), I measure myself: Neck, breasts, waist, abdomen, hips, rt/lft thigh. And just last week I added measurements of my ankle and a wrist. I want to see the tally of pounds and inches at one year.

What a great NSV. Keep up the good job.

I cab from the train station to the office and most of the regular cabbies know me pretty well. So yesterday I got into the cab and since I've been out a lot because of the hip replacement surgery, the driver hadn't seen me in a while. English is not his first language so I have to remember that he meant it as a compliment when he told me that I was skinny now and not big fat any more. What could I say except thank you... LOL.

I'm back from my long weekend with DS2. We had a great time with my family. We left early on Friday and arrived in Columbus for an early lunch (white-knuckled trip with pouring rain until we were almost there). I was supposed to be on mushies the whole day and then start solids Saturday (post-fill), so I chose some cottage cheese for lunch. I brought flowers from my garden and between those and Mom's we made about 8 arrangements and took them over to my Middle Sister's to start prep for the party. We worked until dinnertime and I was able to get down a little thin crust pizza and mixed fruit salad back at Mom's. Saturday found Mom and I (and two of her Herb Society friends) on a two hour trip down to a lavender farm for a festival (sorry, I forgot my camera but found these pics of the farm online-no, I don't know that cute little boy). It smelled like heaven as we pulled into the lavender field to park. She'd signed us up for two classes so we went off to the 'Mediterranean Cooking with Herbs' class. As I've said before, I'm not the chef in our family, but I was excited for this class. I have a nice herb garden (most cooks would kill for…my neighbors do come to take snippings occasionally at my urgings) and I'd like to learn to use more of them. I always dry some herbs each year (mainly for show in my kitchen and basement rack), but the only things I really use fresh are the basil to mainly make pesto or my mozzarella/tomato Italian flag salad, the tarragon for a chicken bake dish DH makes, and occasionally some chives, dill, or oregano for an occasional recipe. The teacher is the regional cooking expert for Macy's department stores (I think she works a lot with brides, etc.) and she was very knowledgeable. I'm inspired to try to incorporate the fresh herbs more now while they're in season. We had a meal of bread, salad, chicken, pancetta, and cookies all incorporating the herbs at the end of the demo. I almost had a stuck moment as I was carefully eating the herb salad (I thought I chewed very carefully). I was trapped at an inside table with people all around or I would have gotten up as I could feel the sliming about to start. I was panicking and I'm sure the folks across from me saw my eyes watering…but then it passed in a few minutes. I quickly gave Mom the rest of my salad saying I'd taken too much…whew…that was a close one! The Lavender Festival was wonderful, but small (about 20 vendors and the classes), so then we found ourselves with about 3 hours to kill before our next class. It was almost 90 degrees out so after the 'cut your own lavender' trip to the field and shopping the vendors (I bought; 5 plants, a pair of beaded earrings for DD's birthday in August, and 20 wooden garden markers for DS2's vegetable garden that he can decorate) we looked for a shady spot and bought some lavender ice cream from the Mennonites who had an ice cream and baked goods booth (they had a small John Deere engine attached to the ice cream maker…cool to watch). I asked for only one scoop…OMG that ice cream was wonderful…fresh cream from the cow…a scoopful of heaven! Our last class was making a framed picture from pressed flowers and Mom is going to be doing this at one of their Festival's at the herb garden she volunteers with weekly, so she was very excited. We were done in record time (the heat made us work fast) and we were back in the car for our trip home. Then off to Middle-Sister's for my nephew's HS graduation party (he's in a college program now to become a police officer). It went perfectly; no rain and lots of fun. We collapsed after pitching or bagging up the extra food around midnight. Sunday we stayed until late morning so I could spend some more time with Dad for Father's Day. I gave him a nice box of smoked salmon, which he loved. Unusual gift, I know. DH and I (and the kids) twice visited DH's sister and her family when they lived in Alaska for 2 years. We took my only brother on the second trip. He loved it so much that he and DH arranged a fishing trip there (in a motor home for a week traveling the area) a few years later and they took my Dad. He loved getting the salmon they caught smoked and so the salmon I bought him was labeled as being from one of the rivers in Alaska that they fished…he noticed right away. We got in the car for our 3 ½ hour ride home and DS2 said 'It was a great weekend!' and high-fived me as he said 'It was a nice trip with just you and I!' I forget that the baby of the family, even at 13 yrs. old can still need some quality one on one time. We played Mad Libs most of the way home and stopped at McDonalds for lunch (I ate ½ a grilled chicken club sandwich…went down fine). Had a nice evening of playing Frisbee in the backyard and grilling out for Father's Day back home with the family (Happy belated Father's Day all you Dad's). Tomorrow is the Jimmy Buffet concert with 2 neighbor couples (can't wait) and Thursday morning we leave for PennState with DS1 for our orientation (staying at the old colonial Nittany Lion Inn on campus overnight-run by the PennState hospitality program, so it should be fun). DH took off the rest of the week for all this, but I'll try to post some updates when we have some down time. I'm off to the Drs. (routine) with the boys and then on to DS2's guitar lesson (he AMAZES me with his talent...no idea where it comes from, but it's great for each kid to find something they're good at). Today is my two-month bandiversary and I'm down 19 pounds since surgery (most of that, just post-op though). I'm just hoping to keep losing or at least not gain during this 6 week wait for the next fill. Sorry I went on and on as usual, just catching up. Have a great week all!!! I'll post some pics I just took of my garden later.

@@Folly I hope you posted that in the valentines thread for Alex. Fantastic story. Ok I'm open for this conversation. I have been with my husband since I was in my 20's. Sex was amazing then. We got older and my weight increased and my health declined. Sex honestly became a chore. I lost my drive. My amazing husband has stuck it out through some tough times with my health issues. To have me back means more to him than the weight loss. Don't get me wrong. The weight loss has been a great thing for our sex life. He has seen me at my heaviest weight so loose skin is nothing to make me self conscious. I'm loving dressing up for him and going out on dates. I'm still getting used to him telling me I'm hot. Very sweet but I don't see it. He has taken me to Victoria's secret and walked out with size small pantie's big NSV. I'm very open, adventurous, loving life and in love with my husband. The sleeve has done a big turn around in our lives. SOOOOO thankful. The hair issue...Pulling my hair in bed in my 20's was hot..Now that I'm loosing hair with weight loss hair is precious to me.

of the days I can shop in the regular sizes, walk a lot and not get tired, have more energy, be more active, not worry about seat belts not fitting... I know there's a lot of these kinds of posts but when I'm having a bad day that's full of nausea and I'm feeling like a failure, this is what I think about. A small NSV for me is since I've lost 22 lbs., whenever I go to the store or go out and about, I don't get SUPER sweaty. I live in AZ so it's in the 100s right now, but I used to sweat for NO reason. Now, I only sweat when I'm in the heat for a prolonged amount of time. I don't sweat when I'm just walking around a store or anything. It's so nice.

I had surgery July 2018 and was 390 at my heaviest. The day of surgery I was 368 and today I am 257. I have lost 133 pounds! Weight loss is definitely harder at 9 months out. I am trying to go to the gym three times a week, but I can’t always make it due to my work commute and kid obligations. My goal is to make it to 230 by my one year anniversary this summer, but I am almost doubting myself. I lost weight quickly during the honeymoon period so at five months I had already lost well over 100 pounds, but sticking to a plan and hoping for a positive outcome. The best part is dropping six pant sizes. I use to be a 26/28 and now size 16 in regular woman section. The biggest NSV has been able to fit and ride in a roller coaster after almost 18 years of riding one for the last time. I rode 4 roller coasters with my boys a few weeks ago at an amusement park. Looking forward to traveling in an airplane next week without having to use a seatbelt extender. Congrats to all on your success!

Hey guys just jumping on for a quick second. Pat, thanks for the compliment. Just think how I would look with the massive amount of skin removed. (I tuck it into my pants right now) I could do without the breast lift.....Hubby says the girls still look really good. :confused: We went bowling with some people from a bike group that we belong to, and had a blast last night. It was nice to have some adult interaction. Abi went the the doctor yesterday and she has a sinus infection. We are back at the ENT tomorrow. I went for my allergy test today, good news is, no allergy. Bad news is I still have sinus issues with no real cause. I go for the cat-scan tomorrow. It was supposed to be today, but they had to postpone, the tech was sick today. I see the doc tomorrow, so we will see what he says. We got a ton of snow Sunday night, about 6 in. in a matter of a few hours. I shoveled the driveway, steps and walkway, and I didn't get winded at all. Talk about a huge NSV. We are expecting more snow again tonight....ugh! My neighbor is a real estate agent, we were out shoveling at the same time Sunday, and I told her that she had to sell me on staying here in this frozen hell. She just laughed at me, she says we have to stay cuz we are such good neighbors. She's the best. I also have big news. I ran for the board of directors in my subdivision, and last night I was elected onto the board. It will be a ton of work but worth it, I really do love my community. I'm off to bed. I'll check in later. ~Mandy

New NSV - I wore a belt last night and I was comfortable....amazing!

You guys are doing so well! I've shrunk completely out of most of my bottoms (underwear even fell down once--fortunately I was wearing pants!), so I went shopping last week. I bought all 16Ws! Along with 2 14/16 shirts from LB! I'm not a 16W in everything, and I'm definitely still an 18/20 in most tops, but it's so awesome to be getting into smaller sizes again. Other NSVs: --I took 4 flights last week and had room to spare on the seatbelt on every flight! --I can cross my legs again!! --Everyone keeps asking me if I've changed my hair and telling me it looks great. Thing is, I *have* changed it recently, but I don't think that's the only reason I'm getting compliments. Keep it up, everyone! It's not easy, but it's soooo worth it!