Everyone has such positive reports so far! Yay all!!
I’m finally in the 170’s… 179.5 as of this morning, I started in october at 212lbs. I still feel like I need to lose at least 15lbs to be happy with my looks, but health wise I feel amazing, I haven’t been this light in a long time and I feel like I am much more capable.
I envy you and my hats’ off. Even if someone else offered to pay I’d never do it. WAY too scary and painful. I want you to be happy and safe, but I also caution you to make sure you have excellent doctors, very much including the anesthesiologist, you have it done in a hospital, and you prepare yourself for more than “discomfort”. I also hope you get an excellent result that makes you very happy. As I say, I envy you. I wish I had the nerve.
Moved two posts from Jan. thread to this one.
I got a bit of advice from a doctor friend of mine to do my homework before making a final decision. This means watching videos of the potential procedures, reading as much as I can not only about the procedures themselves but pre-op and post-op care, and making sure I take good notes and ask any questions I have of the surgeon before I commit to anything. I also have to build a case for the surgery, which means showing my “before” pictures, my weight tracker (which is easy enough to do, since all of my weigh-ins were done at Weight Watchers, so they’re better documentation than my home scale), and describing the skin problems I’ve got that are due to the excess. Finally, I have to go through a psychological evaluation to make sure that my expectations are reasonable and that I’m emotionally and mentally capable of taking care of myself pre- and post-procedure. The surgery will be done at the VA hospital, and the staff physicians are affiliated with the Penn State medical school so they’ve been checked out. As much of a pain in the ass as this is, I’m glad the process is there because this isn’t a trivial matter at all; I don’t want to be “sold” on surgery because the surgeon is in business to make money. I want to make sure that surgery is, in fact, a viable option. If it’s not, that’s fine too, but it’s still an educated decision, not one that’s based on money or fear.
I already know I’m a ways away from any surgery; I’ve still got about 20 lbs to go before I hit my goal weight, I’ve got to get a hernia fixed, and I have to quit smoking. (Smoking is a deal-breaker because it affects healing and increases the risk of serious complications.) But that’s OK because it gives me that much more time to think about it.
Absolutely on the smoking!! Lordy… My lay-advice is that you wait at least 12 months past goal and quitting smoking before you do it.
As a former smoker (26 years, 2+ packs a day- free for 12+ years and thoroughly happy about it since the day I quit) I strongly urge you to read any smoking thread I’ve participated in… you will find boatloads of information from me and others about a book that saved my life called “Alan Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking” which I don’t have time tofind all the links to…just know that it is NOT another quit smoking book that gives you all the same advice about replacements and patience and support and what the hell ever… it’s a book that, if you let it, leaves you eager and excited to lay down your cigarettes forever, knowing that you will be truly free.
Really, I’m not the only one. Look it up on Amazon, here and in the UK. Thousands of people, 5-stars, loads of passionate hyperbole because it really works.
Best of luck!
I’m doing a program with a coach. It’s not that I want someone else to quit smoking for me (OK, I do. :D) but I am more likely to succeed if I have the support of a human being. Thanks for the recommendation, though.
It’s the best feeling, isn’t it?
I’m still doing No S Diet and hitting the gym 3-5 times per week. I recently increased the weight on leg press, tricep kickbacks and seated cable row. I am not going out of my way to track my weight, because it usually results in me getting discouraged or sabotaging myself. In 2.5 months I will go for my formal weigh-in with the nurse. I feel awesome.
I just finished reading an interesting book that may have practical application to the weight loss issue. It’s called The Willpower Instinct: How Self Control Works, Why it Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It. The author uses the latest social and neuropsychology research to figure out how we can prime our brains to exert self-control. Now that I’ve read the whole thing through, I’m going to go through a chapter a week.
Week 1’s conclusion is that meditation increases willpower. So the goal is to meditate at least 5 minutes a day (like I should be doing that anyway), and also pay attention to and track any decisions I make involving willpower (giving into temptation, etc.)
I started the South Beach diet 3 weeks ago. I just dropped thru a Duece on the scale, and feel much happier being on the 100 side. My goal is 170 lbs. which is not overweight according to my BMI. I also like the Hacker’s Diet and use some of the information from there (strictly calorie control), I track my weight at that website once a day. It graphs your weight and also calculates the average trend, because water weight can cause large day to day fluctuations that do not necessarily reflect your average weight. It also tells you how many calories too few or too many you are eating each day. So it is an excellent maintenance tool once you hit your goal weight. It will quickly tell you if you are gaining, even by 1/2 a pound. It is also free.
This is my second time taking the weight off, and I am determined to keep it off. When I stop tracking each day I am in trouble, because it would mean I am losing interest, or do not want to see the results.
I love South Beach and am also following it. I eat Indian or Middle Eastern style food 90% of the time and this one has been the easiest to adapt to my palate. I also looked at Paleo and Dukan but I thought they were too much for me since I am not a big meat eater and can’t eat red meat due to religious reasons.
I made it to the gym today; I think it was the first time in something like a month. I’d been looking for a job, and so I sort of let it slide. Now that I have a regular work schedule, though, I can get back on track, exercise-wise.
I started this whole losing weight deal a year ago yesterday, and as of this morning, I’ve lost 129 pounds. I’m still not where I want to be, but I think I might be smaller than I’ve been since my freshman year of college. Though, dear Og, my arms are still an effing disaster. I think I could go as Rocky the Flying Squirrel for Halloween :D.
So awesome, AotL 
I lost 5# this week. You heard me. I was sick as a dog, with my new indigestion meds being completely ineffective. I took a week off from the gym and slept when not at work. I ate low cal and low fat and low carb and cut out caffeine and soy. So I lost 5#.
I still feel like shit. Today I just went and walked for an hour at the gym, just to get out of the house. Seven more days, hopefully can get some help from the gastro doc.
Haven’t weighed myself in weeks, the last time I checked I’d put 2lbs back on through a combination of shin-splints, laziness and being hit by the cold.
I’m back at it though - did a 5 mile walk last Sunday and this weekend, and back out with a local walking group today, then again tomorrow morning too.
I really need to get running regularly again though, I’m even thinking about signing up for a 5K this summer just to give me something to work towards.
I lost 2 lbs last week, for a total of 83.8. I am thinking seriously about become a WW leader, and my own leader agrees. So that’s something to keep me motivated.
In terms of the weight loss, I think the moderate exercise is definitely helping, as is being much more careful about what I’m eating. I’ve been planning my meals more carefully, paying closer attention to the big picture as opposed to one meal at a time. I haven’t been running out of points at the end of the day, and I’m eating enough at each meal that I don’t feel the need to snack. So it works.
OK, so I have stuck to the diet but I am just really dragging on the exercise. I am exhausted by the stress of the last week-I find out in two days whether my company won 2 separate venture capital competitions. I am dealing with potentially dropping out of business school (pushing back graduation) per the requirements of one of them, which I am seriously loathe to do. My classmates are posting pics of themselves in the Phillipines, while I have a full time job offer post-graduation complete signing bonus I should be out blowing, and yet, I have spent the last 2 weeks (no, the last year) working on my own company. Which is a pleasure in and of itself, but also makes me worry that I am wasting the remaining vestiges of my youth.
I don’t want to get off my ass and do p90x. I am sitting around biting my fingers and sulking. I am giving myself a bit of credit for not sulking with carbs, but I am probably 10 pounds away from being reasonably happy with my weight and cannot find the motivation to help myself get there via exercise. Like I said, I have stuck with the diet though.
I’m with you, Anu. I just can’t seem to get myself to do the exercise that 1) helps me, and 2) makes me feel better when I actually do it. Yay self-sabotage.
No significant loss this week, but that’s because I was pretty bad over Sunday-Monday. Keeping stable doesn’t suck, but I’d really like to see those numbers go down.
I have also now started saving up some cash for the eventual “I need to buy new clothes” thing that I’m dreading.
All right, I’m back to tracking calories. It’s the only thing I’ve ever done that actually worked. (It’s working.)
Been hitting the gym and getting stronger, but I’ve had to take it easy on cardio because my left leg is giving me all sorts of problems, especially the knee and ankle.
Yeah, what’s with that? I know I will feel significantly better once I get off my ass…but I just can’t find the motivation right now.
One thing I’m trying is recording a memo to myself after I work out. Something like, ‘‘I just got back from the gym, and I feel fantastic!’’ Then when I’m not feeling motivated I can listen to it and try to tap into that enthusiasm.
So far it seems to be helpful, except for the inevitable ''GAH! Do I really sound like that?" thing.
Great tip, olives! Maybe I should just tweet it out and then I’ll see it on my tweetstream when I check it the next day. I’m afraid it will come off a little Stuart Smalley though…
Your trainer should be keeping you motivated though, right? When I had one I’d show up just to make sure I wasn’t wasting her time.