Low Goal weights! Please respond!

[Jachut 487]

Banish those old lady fat thoughts. Sorry for the tough talk back there, but the BIGGEST hurdle in this weight loss thing is putting an end to all the excuses and self justifications that make us fat in the first place. I dont know if its a chicken and egg thing but its a peculiar mentality that we all seem to share. Its the hardest thing of all to do.

Shortgal, you're not allowing for how much easier a lapband makes that task. Perhaps you havent gotten your head around it yet? But it really, truly makes it quite realistic and easy to have a BMI in the low 20's. Nobody's putting a figure on what you personally should weigh either, your goals as a menopausal woman are indeed different to mine at 40 and mine at 25 would have been different again.

Nothing makes me more frustrated than to hear people give up before they've even started. They read the statistics and think "hey, well I can only expect to lose 60% of my weight and then I'll rebound some" so they just accept that. Truth is, those stats are what they are because of the high rate of non compliance, medical problems such as slippage and erosion, lack of exercise and failure to change the lifestyle. For a normal person, even those of us older than 25, it is not at all unrealistic, if we want to do a few basic things such as eat well and exercise, to expect to be a NORMAL weight. There is no need to set a high goal weight unless you seriously want to weigh that bit more - for example when you are older you may find you look better with a tad more weight on you.

And I think many doctors ought to be shot. Where do they get off telling you those statistics and then not going on to say that if you do the right thing you'll blow them out of the Water?

If people want a magic pill that means they can eat what they want and not gain, well it DOES exist. Its called exercise. Within reason (if I ate an entire cheesecake a day, I would gain weight) I truly do not even have to THINK about what I eat on a daily basis, I eat what what I want and I dont gain. I've never ever been like that in my life before, exercise has totally changed how my body works and my trusty lapband has totally changed my appetite.

[shortgal 5]

I'm finding it hard to get rid of the old thoughts because I don't have good restriction yet and I know how EASY it would be to take another bite here or there. I am controlling my intake NOT the band, yet.

If I had and could keep good but not overtight restriction, then I guess I could start to believe it could happen. Right now, I know I could fairly easily go back to my old habits.

I know I will have to help my band, but if I could do all the work by myself, I wouldn't have needed it, so I need the band to work... and soon!

I also know while some exercise is needed, I don't expect I will ever commit to more than one hour 4 to 6 times a week and if more was needed, I would most likely decide a higher weight was OK for me.

I hope I'm getting close to first level of restriction... next appt 2/13!

The most helpful knowledge you gave me was the difference in calories in maintaining 125 compared to 140. That I can wrap my head around!

I also realize though that it will take much more effort to lose the 15 pound difference than it will to maintain the difference.

All I need now is restriction. And besides my DR is a male and why should I start letting a man tell me what I can and can't acheive.

I plan to re evaluate my goal weight as I progress.

[luluc 6]

Jachut, How long did it take "exercising" for your body, as you put it, change in how it works?

I've read in past threads you run, and I'm working on that part...Just was oftly curious how long after being banded did you physically morph to someone who for the first time don't have to think about what you eat while maintaing?

I'm short too - 5', My surgeon thought I'd do well to get to 135lb .. but If I wanted to get to 125lb (my goal weight), I might need plastic surgery to do so. I've not been over weight my entire life..Just the last 7 yrs added 75lbs to my average frame. I'm guessing I can get to 125lb with no problem - which would put my BMI to 24. I think that's totally reasonable too loose 100% of your excess weight....right now I"m just anxious to get there.

[Jachut 487]

Probably about 6 to 9 months of consistent effort before I really felt my body had truly changed. It's a slow process. It takes a lot of consistency. I also felt it was well over 12 months before I'd really changed as a person, my eating habits and thought processes. You know that line they feed you about how it takes 6 weeks to change a habit, pffft. Takes a lot longer than that.

To set the record straight, I dont exercise for hours every day either. Forty minutes to an hour four or five days a week, that's it. I dont spend hours in the gym. I put on my shoes, head out the front door, and do it. And I dont run (or really jog) any faster than my DH can powerwalk!

Its not some impossible task that only those with superhuman willpower can achieve. Just do something reasonably intense five times a week or so. A good fast walk is easily as good for most overweight people as a slow jog is for me. Just as hard, just as effective.

[Anyalee 0]

For me, it's my "ultimate goal." When I met with the Dr he said my ideal weight was 126, so I decided that would be a good ultimate goal. I haven't weighed that since my junior year in high school, but I was looking good then! I hope I can get dang close to that by literally working my butt off with exercise & my new best friend: the band!