8 months today and -141 lbs Long Post
Well, I just thought I would check in with my update. It has been 8 wonderful months since I finally got the WLS I waited so long for -- read my profile for the whole story.
* I am down 141 pounds and have gone from a very tight 32w to a (almost perfect) 16. 
* I have gone from size 5XL shirts that still clung to my enormous breasts to a size XL shirt that accentuates my smaller waist. 
* I have gone from not being able to stand up to wash dishes without feeling like I was going to collapse from the pain to being able to walk 3 miles without getting my heart rate up enough to even consider it exercise! 
* I have gone from having to wear slip-on shoes because the task of trying to tie my shoes was too daunting to being able to just about put my foot behind my head again! 
* I have gone from considering shopping an extreme sport (based on how tiring it had become) to considering Pilates a nice way to spend some relaxation time. 
* I have stopped saying "Mommy can't run around the yard with you" to my kids and begun saying "Catch up slowpokes!" to them as I run across the yard laughing. 
* I have gone from eating my dinner, seconds and my children's leftovers and still feeling like I was starving to being fully satisfied with a couple bites of my dinner and great conversation. 
Along the way, I have learned a few things about myself, too. I have learned:
* I enjoy cooking. Even if I cannot eat the food, I want to enjoy how it looks and how it smells, and I want to know that it tastes great. Cooking for me has always been a pleasure, but now it is a huge pleasure.
* I enjoy working out. I always did when I was skinny as a teenager, but that joy diminished as the weight piled on 
now, though, I again truly enjoy that miserable but ecstatic feeling you only get from working out with a skinny little Pilates instructor! 
* I have bones in my knees. I knew this, but haven't seen them in so long, I wondered if they had decided to leave me for a skinnier woman!
* Weight and size are just numbers. Sure, I have a goal weight of 125 lbs and a goal size of 7 (or smaller), but if I never reach those goals, I am still a success as long as I keep the weight I have lost off.
* Everything is relative -- if someone had told me when I was 24 and a size 7 that I would someday be *happy* that I was a size 16, I would have kicked them, but the truth is, now that I can buy my clothes in a normal store off the rack and not have a "W" after the size, I am thrilled!
I also have learned things about other people in the course of this journey. I learned:
* Some people just cannot be pleased -- when I weighed 325, I wasn't good enough to talk to (or so the other cheerleader mothers acted), but suddenly, at 200 lbs, I was worth the time. Strangely, though, the same women consider me to be worthless again, now that I am under 200 lbs and smaller than some of them. Explain that one?
* Friends are a blessing, and you have to deserve them to keep them, but associates can be a curse and you may wish to be rid of them. The difference between a friend and an associate being that a friend is happy for you losing weight -- even if you are smaller than they are, while an associate is only happy for you until you look better than they do!
* My husband loves me no matter what my size. This means that when I finally am skinny and have a tummy tuck and breast lift/reduction and whatever else, he will be the one *****ALLY gets to enjoy my body 
deservedly so!
* My kids know that I love them and they are proud of me because I am a good mother, no matter how much I weigh.
I am greatful for having been given this opportunity to improve my life, and I continue everyday striving to work my tool to the best of my ability. I know I have come a long way, and I know that I am doing great, but I also know that I have a long way to go and plan on continuing to do great.
I have become a walking poster-child for WLS and although I do not walk up to every obese person I see and tell them how much WLS has changed my life, I will not hide the fact that I have had WLS and will answer any questions they may have in order to help them decide if this is the path they wish to take.
Thanks for letting me share I hope that all of you have as great of success as you wish and we all can look back on these posts in a few years and laugh that we ever doubted we would be "at goal"!
--joanna
325/184/125(someday, I hope!!)
* I have gone from size 5XL shirts that still clung to my enormous breasts to a size XL shirt that accentuates my smaller waist.
* I have gone from not being able to stand up to wash dishes without feeling like I was going to collapse from the pain to being able to walk 3 miles without getting my heart rate up enough to even consider it exercise!
* I have gone from having to wear slip-on shoes because the task of trying to tie my shoes was too daunting to being able to just about put my foot behind my head again!
* I have gone from considering shopping an extreme sport (based on how tiring it had become) to considering Pilates a nice way to spend some relaxation time.
* I have stopped saying "Mommy can't run around the yard with you" to my kids and begun saying "Catch up slowpokes!" to them as I run across the yard laughing.
* I have gone from eating my dinner, seconds and my children's leftovers and still feeling like I was starving to being fully satisfied with a couple bites of my dinner and great conversation.
Along the way, I have learned a few things about myself, too. I have learned:
* I enjoy cooking. Even if I cannot eat the food, I want to enjoy how it looks and how it smells, and I want to know that it tastes great. Cooking for me has always been a pleasure, but now it is a huge pleasure.
* I enjoy working out. I always did when I was skinny as a teenager, but that joy diminished as the weight piled on now, though, I again truly enjoy that miserable but ecstatic feeling you only get from working out with a skinny little Pilates instructor!
* I have bones in my knees. I knew this, but haven't seen them in so long, I wondered if they had decided to leave me for a skinnier woman!
* Weight and size are just numbers. Sure, I have a goal weight of 125 lbs and a goal size of 7 (or smaller), but if I never reach those goals, I am still a success as long as I keep the weight I have lost off.
* Everything is relative -- if someone had told me when I was 24 and a size 7 that I would someday be *happy* that I was a size 16, I would have kicked them, but the truth is, now that I can buy my clothes in a normal store off the rack and not have a "W" after the size, I am thrilled!
I also have learned things about other people in the course of this journey. I learned:
* Some people just cannot be pleased -- when I weighed 325, I wasn't good enough to talk to (or so the other cheerleader mothers acted), but suddenly, at 200 lbs, I was worth the time. Strangely, though, the same women consider me to be worthless again, now that I am under 200 lbs and smaller than some of them. Explain that one?
* Friends are a blessing, and you have to deserve them to keep them, but associates can be a curse and you may wish to be rid of them. The difference between a friend and an associate being that a friend is happy for you losing weight -- even if you are smaller than they are, while an associate is only happy for you until you look better than they do!
* My husband loves me no matter what my size. This means that when I finally am skinny and have a tummy tuck and breast lift/reduction and whatever else, he will be the one *****ALLY gets to enjoy my body deservedly so!
* My kids know that I love them and they are proud of me because I am a good mother, no matter how much I weigh.
I am greatful for having been given this opportunity to improve my life, and I continue everyday striving to work my tool to the best of my ability. I know I have come a long way, and I know that I am doing great, but I also know that I have a long way to go and plan on continuing to do great.
I have become a walking poster-child for WLS and although I do not walk up to every obese person I see and tell them how much WLS has changed my life, I will not hide the fact that I have had WLS and will answer any questions they may have in order to help them decide if this is the path they wish to take.
Thanks for letting me share I hope that all of you have as great of success as you wish and we all can look back on these posts in a few years and laugh that we ever doubted we would be "at goal"!
--joanna
325/184/125(someday, I hope!!) 
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