Need some encougement please

My year anniversary is on Easter ...I am glad I made it this far with no health problems. I started at 285lbs now I am at 159lbs but I have been this weight forever!!!! I would like to loose 30-25lbs but dam it seems inpossiable. Am I a failure , I am scared I dont wanna be fat again..Has anyone ever been stuck for along period of time? At my 9mo check up my doc said I should beable to loose 30 more pounds in 9mos.. HELP!!!!!!!!!! Alice

Yo Alice! Take a step back and look at the big picture. You've lost 124 pounds in less than a year... helloooooooo... can we say FABULOUS ACCOMPLISHMENT!! I've been stuck for about four months but I've lost 100 pounds and believe my body is simply taking a break and adjusting to this weight. I want to lose 30 pounds too but I surely won't consider myself a failure if I don't reach an arbitrary number on my scale. Enjoy your success and don't make yourself crazy. Lynda

Alice: First of all you are not a failure. You are already a wonderful success and anyone would want to follow in your shoes to lose as much as you have in one year! Second, don't go by that crazy BMI chart for what you need to get off. If I took that chart seriously, I would need to lose another 10 lbs and I would be a stick at that weight. As far as re-gaining weight, are you currently on an upward trend? If so, are you keeping your daily journal of calories, protein and exercise? Are you exercising? Do you need to kick it up a notch since your body is really used to what you are currently doing? If you are doing the things you should, the weight will come off in it's own time, when your body is ready for it. I am currently trying to maintain where I am and since I have been sick with a rotten cold, I have been losing weight and that's not good either. I had surgery on April 12, 2005 and am down 113.8 lbs since then. I am enjoying life and most of the time I don't sit around and think about my weight anymore. I am so active now, and things are so much easier for me, those are the things I tend to focus on. Try not to be so hard on yourself. You are a success and will continue to be in the future. Just take a look at the pouch rules and what you doctor told you to do. Are you doing them? If you are, stop stressing yourself out! If you aren't, kick yourself in the behind and get going. You are the queen of your own destiny and can do anything you really want to do! Keep at it sweetie! Pam

ALice you are doing a great job. I too have been stuck at the same weight for weeks now and I was feeling like this is it. I'm done. No more weight loss for me. And then this morning I stepped on the scale and I have lost weight. It started again. It will start for you again also. Just be patient.I am less concerned about the weight loss and more concerned about the size I am wearing. I've been stuck in a size 18 for almost 2 months. That's frustrating but I just keep telling myself I have lost 120lbs. If you think about it You and I Both have lost a WHOLE Person. That in itslef is amazing. So Congradulations on the weight loss and just be positive. Keep yer chin up Sista!!!

You TOO!?!?! I started at 345...Im now 203. I wanted to be under 200 for my birthday in march...no luck!!! Ive been at 207-203 for 3 months!!!!! GOD its depressing!!!!!!!!!!!! When I look at it realistically Ive lost 142 lbs in less than a year...not to shabby I think...then that little voice says "Yeah but what have you done lately"...OH SHUT UP!!!! We have to realize our bodies just do things it's own way. As long as I know Im eating right and exercising it will come off eventually. Plus I'll lose 30 lbs in excess skin too YIPPEE!!!! Carol

wow Alice, are you kidding me here? You weigh 159 down from 285 and you think you are a failure???? I am overwhelmed at how much you have lost. I started at 296, was 280 at surgery and am 206 now. I think compared to you, I am a big fat failure. You are a champion. hugs from down under Helen