Thanks Jem!

Wanted to thank you for the honest and well written post about where you are at at this point in the journey. Sounds like so many are at weight plateaus, struggling with old habits and eating behaviors and even a few are struggling to not lose anymore (imagine that...and yes it can happen). For me...I consider myself on a plateau. I was down to 170 lbs (my lowest on this adventure) early last month and have been up and down the same since. Even was back up to 177 on day and that was NOT due to overeating, grazing or anything. No rational explanation for that other than my body having it's own mind and just wanting to mess with my head. My weight chart (I have a graph) shows these up and down spikes. Bottom line is that I have lost no net weight in the past month. I was 170...bounced up to various numbers a few times and now I'm back down to 170 again. The only change I've made is adding regular exercise into the mix. I started at the gym on 1/14, I believe. I haven't brought out the tape measure but I think there has been a small change there since I'm wearing pants I couldn't a month ago. I'll do measurements on my surgery monthly anniversary and find out. I am happy at my current weight but you know us post-ops...we always want another pound, or 5 or 10. I'm 10 lbs above the goal that I set for myself. With plastics, I'd be there. There are no funds for that so I'll just have to be content with where I'm at or where my body takes me (within reason, that is). Thinking back on the big weight losses in my past... 9 momths was the longest I stuck with anything! What about you folks? Seriously...9 months of low carbing in 2003, approximately the same on WW in 1988 - those are the longest stretches ever. Oh wait...I just thought of something. I do consider myself further out than 9 months. I may have had my surgery in May but I started my low-carb pre-op diet on February 18th, 2005. So I'm almost one year into my weight loss. I don't think I could have imagined being down 106 lbs in a year yet here I am knocking at the door of uncharted teritorry on the scale as an adult. Strange. Kathy

Thanks for your note! I totally hear you on the scale bouncing--I've been playing with 5 pounds from 200-205 for the last three or four weeks. I've actually stopped writing any weight down--I told myself until I hit 199 for more than one day in a row, I don't even care what the dumb scale says between 200 and 205. Yesterday, for example, I weighed 203, and this morning I weighed 201. Did I lose two pounds in a day? I think not!! I've done up to a year of WW before (a few times), but never with this much success. Usually, I lost 30-40 lbs in the year and had it all back on with friends in a matter of months. My dad is going in for WLS on February 28th. He's getting nervous as his surgery date gets closer, as am I! I think I'm more nervous for him than I ever was for myself!! But, I think it'll also be very helpful for both of us to be thinking back to square one (him for the first time, me for the second!). I know 70+% loss is a win in terms of WLS, but my thought is that if I don't keep trying to lose the last 40 lbs to be in the "normal" category, it will only be a matter of time before I justify that working so hard to still be "fat" isn't worth it and I'll pack on the 125 lbs I lost again. And, that would be DEVASTATING!! Anyway, I think that you have a very level perspective on this, I and appreciate you sharing! I've always hated the word "plateau" but I really felt like it makes a lot of sense that your body can only lose so much weight at a time before all your systems need a little vacation to equalize and then continue moving on. We'll just keep working at it! Jem