Success (a little long)

I don't post often on here but I am a veteran "lurker"!  I had my 4 year follow up visit with my surgeon yesterday and thought I would share.  My anniversary is this Saturday and at my lowest weight, I was WAY too thin.  I worked with the surgeon and nutritionist to gain a little back - boy was that successful!  I wanted to gain 10 and ended up gaining a total of 25 over 3 years.  Long story short...I went in to my visit yesterday thinking that she was going to give me a fit about my gain.  I got on the scale and it reflected a 15 pound gain since last year (part of the 25).  I was aware of the gain but seeing in right in front of me was upsetting.  I waited for her expecting the worst.  Instead, she really put it into perspective for me.  Here I am worrying about a few pounds gained and she reminded me that after 4 years, I have managed to keep off 95 pounds!  She said that she could think of hundreds of people who wish they could say the same thing. 

I guess success can be measured by how you look at things.  I can cross my legs, bend over to tie my shoes, fit in an airplane seat, and the list goes on and on.  I went into the whole thing hoping to be able to lose 50 pounds and get off some meds.  Well, I did that and then some!  As long as I have things back under control, which I do, why worry about a few pounds.  I guess I am my own worst critic! 

Overall, I am VERY happy and have no regrets...

good girl. I am glad to see your post

Congratulations on your 4 year surgiversary and for maintaining such a significant weight loss over that time - that's fantastic!! And it helps us that are not that far along in our journey to know that our tool doesn't break - we can still work with it and maintain our losses over the long term - something I could never do in the past.

Many congrats to you - and continued success!

Kathy

What a Great Post! I need to keep that prespective when I get my nose out of the joint about bouncing back and forth by about 5lbs. Thanks for sharing and congratulations on "successing". 4 years of keeping off almost 100lbs is nothing to sneeze at.

I think you are doing great!!! I firmly believe that our bodies settle where they are comfortable - the goal number the surgeons give us is just a goal - it isn't the absolute for everyone. Congrats on being 4 years out and 95 pounds down!

Liz

Congatulations on your four years of success.
Yes - I do believe that we are way too critical of ourselves at times.
Tammy

Thank you all for your support and kind words.  I wish you all the same or better success!

You are a real inspiration!

That's a GREAT post!  And it sounds like you are keeping things in the best perspective available.  I think we are ALL our own worst critics!

Thanks for sharing - I hope see more of your posts!

Pam

Cindy, it's great to hear of your long term sucess.

What would you say are the top 5 things that new folks should know/do to be as successful as you have been?