What % of your EW did you end up losing?

92%? You go girl!!!  I love hearing that people do, in fact, lose MORE then the standard average of 65-85%.  Take that surgeon!!  :)  Thanks for posting your experience and SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!

Ginger

Way over the 100 EW% if you are counting until normal BMI.  I am at 103 lbs. now and I am 5'1".  All the weight loss occurred in the first 6.5 months except for the last 7 lbs. that took about another 2 months or so.  I would not have been this successful if I did not maximize the first six months.  Although I think you can lose more weight after the first six months, I think it gets much harder after the first year.

I have heard many many times about this kind of "honeymoon" period of the first 6 months.  Although I have seen a lot of people still losing in the 6-12 month period and even from 12month-18 month period, I FULLY expect to maximize my first 6 months.  I'm gonna bust my butt and take no prisoners in that first 6 months.  I am going to try like mad to lose that first 100lbs in the first 6 months.  Yeah, I may have issues, I may falter but I will NOT fail this time.  Too much is riding on this for me to fail.  I've waited all my life to have this opportunity and I'm grabbing the bull by the horns and RUNNING with it!!!!!! 

I love reading stories like yours where you do lose the 100% (and then some).  It gives me hope and inspiration.  I'll never been 110lbs but I will be the best ME I can be.  :) 

Ginger

I am looking into my crystal ball, and making a prediction.  I have been around these boards enough to know what I am talking about, you are going to be a rock star.  You are going all the way.  All this takes is your dedication and a take no prisoners attitude.  You have it in spades.  No excuses, just make it happen.  I love reading newbie posts like yours, totally reminds me of where I was 20 months ego.  Take a look at my before and after pictures, that is your future.  Let me know if you need anything, it is an honor to pay it forward.

LOL  THANKS!  I know I'll need help and encouragement along the way, I know this won't be easy but I am so ready to fight back and overcome these monsters I have going on.  I refuse to fail. 

To be honest, I feel like I have really come full circle from where I was just 8 short months ago.  I thought I was ready then to get this done and start my journey but I didn't realize how wrong I was. 

The journey began when I started looking into my life and pinpointing everything that needed to change.  And guess what?  It wasn't just food!!  It was sooo much more then that!! It's been my way of thinking, it's been the way I view food and what food "does" for me.  It's been the way I cope and deal with things.  I could go on and on.  I really looked deep inside of myself and I realized so much ugliness about myself and the excess 165lbs was merely a symptom of everything going on INSIDE me.  I'm chipping away at the demons and knocking them out one by one.  It's not an easy transformation but its well worth it. 

Before I felt I had no worth.... I let myself go.  I felt the only thing I had done right in life was my kids... so I threw myself into that and lived solely to be a mom.  I wanted to be the best mom I could be and I believe I have been a good mom.  But something I've realized is that MOMS need to take care of themselves in order to be more then just a good mom, but to be the BEST mom they can be.  I just didn't see any value in myself at all.  I walked around in holey, unkempt clothes that were 5+ years old!  I walked around with my hair uncut for 2 years.  I never polished my nails and never took care of myself.  Once I realized that I am worth something, even at 350lbs I was worth something.... things changed inside of me.  I began really focusing on what I was allowing in my body.  Someone that's worth something doesn't eat junk 24/7.  I lost 25lbs on my own over the last 3 months.  I stopped with the sodas (before it was EVERYTHING I drank) and I stopped with getting fast food when I was out running errands.  I know that THIS will be the hard thing for me.  I tend to stop and get something to drink for the kids and I if we're out and about and sometimes it comes with a snack.  Better planning has changed that. Carrying a water bottle around with me helps.  Plus I printed out a picture of myself in the worst pose and position possible and mounted the picture on a piece of cardboard and literally hung it from my car's rear view mirror.  It's hard to go through a drive thru when you're looking at your big ol' ugly self.  LOL  It's something I NEEDED to do in order to overcome that urge.  I'm happy and very proud that I realized the issue, found a remedy (water bottle AND fat pic) and now I avoid fast food all together without any problems. :)  

So I've done a lot of growing over the last 8 months and before when I complained about the 8 months that I had ahead of me.... man, I never knew I'd grow so much in that time.  I thank God for the 8 months I had to grow, learn and research.  Now.... let the shrinking begin!! :) 

Ginger

Ginger,

 your story is inspirational in itself.  I am scheduled to have surgery on May 16th, and there are times when i take a step back and think "What the hell am I doing?!"  I havent really started changing myself yet... I feel lost sometimes like I am not doing the right steps like i read about people doing on OH.. Yeah I got the necessary steps for a quick approval completed, but i have been in a waiting game for over a month now with a surgery date...I didn't have to do a pre op diet, just follow the steps... You sound like you really have your head together or I should say you sound so ready!... and the soul searching and the self worth you have described has really gotten me to realize I need to look inside myself and start getting ready for this.. I keep questioning my decision, and after reading this post, I now know thatI need to stop waiting for the surgery, and start my new life now...I am going to use your picture on the mirror idea... I am 320 lbs and i need to lose 140lbs for my goal of 180.  I am 5'10.  My doctor tells me that they want my goal to be 210 but thats not acceptable... Like you, I have no idea when the last time i weighed under 200lbs.  It seems so far away, but the best thing that i see is people losing 100lbs or more in like 4 or 5 months... I want that to be me soo bad....I know we can do this!!!
Do you have a surgery date yet?

Thanks for sharing your experience thus far.

LOL Well it took me a few months to get my head in the right spot.  I was throwing hissies on a daily basis and being a bit of a brat until one day I was sitting here  looking at a picture of myself at my highest weight. One of the ONLY pictures taken and I looked deep within and thought to myself, "HOW did I allow myself to get to that point?" It took a lot of soul searching and I'll admit, it was painful.  I now know that this outward shell of a person (a LARGE shell be that as it may lol) doesn't DEFINE me.  This is a bump in the road to MY journey.  A mere chapter in MY book.  I honestly feel like I am overweight right now so that when I lose this weight and become a victor over it that I have a more powerful testimony as to what I can do and what God can help me do.  I'm not saying God made me fat or even allowed me to get fat ... if you think that, you're missing the point.  I'm saying that I'm not willing to use this a crutch any longer.  I'm going to turn this bad point in my life into something good.  I will overcome this and I will NOT bow down to it any longer.  

So use the time you have before surgery to really find out who YOU are.  For so many years I was the "fat mom" or the "fat wife" or whatever... but I'm ready to live as just me.... the best me I can be.  


You know, something I've learned in my journey so far is that I can do WHATEVER I set my mind to.  I didn't think I'd go a day without soda.... I did it.  I didn't think I'd go or even want to go a day without stopping at a fast food place for a soda and snack if I was out and about.... but I did it.  I didn't think I could drink 64 oz of water in a day .... but I did it.  I didn't think I could stop eating fattening foods like ice cream or whatever... but guess what? Yep, I did that too.  I am amazing myself at what I can do and for now, I'm living in that.  


Ginger

P.S. No date so far, but I"m hoping to hear my APPROVAL (I'm not even considering a denial) this week or next.  :) I'll get a date after that!  Hoping for mid May but hey, it's in God's hands and in His timing, man, it's sooo much easier like that! LOL 

Like Elina, I too am at 100+ EW%. To get to to a "normal" BMI, I needed to be 155 ... I was 125.8 as of this morning and a BMI of 20.3 ... Yahoo!

Wow! That is outstanding!!!!  A BMI of 20??? That is CRAZY GOOD!!!  If I was at a BMI of 20 I'd be 128-134.  That seems unreal at this point.  I have a large frame and I don't expect to get to that weight.  I don't even know what it will be like to be 160 yet!!  I honestly don't remember anything below 225.  I was 225 just 8 years ago and I hung out at that weight for a LONG time before it crept up and up and up. 

You've done great and I appreciate you chiming in!! Thanks for your inspiration!

You are welcome ... I have to admit, I was very skeptical going into this (not that I told that to anyone).  I had failed so many diets in the past.  And, when I did lose weight, I couldn't keep it off.

This tool +  a little work and determination on my part = SUCCESS.  You can definitely do this.  I weigh what I was in middle school so I definitely understand not being about to visualize what it will be like.  I still do a double take when I see my reflection or hold up an item of clothing and say "no way will this fit", but it does!

Best of luck to you.  It's not easy, but it is possible!