~18 month check up with my surgeon, ramblings

Thanks so much for your post!  I'm just starting out, and it's great to see your amazing success, your encouragement and advice!

Way to Go! Thats is AWESOME.... Congrats Keep up the great work!

Your posts are awesome! Faults and all you have done an amazing job!

I need to meet you.  Yep.  You are amazing.  Love your musings, thought process, etc...  I hope to be following in your footsteps soon!

Awesome post! I'm at a year and am felling "some sort of way". I'll figure it out later. But your post has inspired me to move forward and continue doing what I need to do. Thanks for sharing.

~Trina

Heh. You're one year out. I think that was when I hit one of my "I dunno, but this is weird" moments. I had every 3-4 months or so. The worst is one I'm still trying to come out of. Hang in there. xoxo

Dear Candy, first (and by far most importantly) let me tell you I think you ROCK!! I often read your posts and am so inspired. I am just tickled pink for you.

On another note, I must gently disagree with you that there is necessarily a "reason" someone loses slowly or that there is something a person could change if they would just stop making excuses. I am far from being a perfect person in general, but for the 3 straight months since surgery, I have adhered to a very strict weight loss approach to the letter. I am losing at a snails pace.

Now it's up to me to keep going, of course, and I will. However, all of us have fought many years ( some all of our lives) to fight stereotypes and assumptions people make about us. For the record - not all slow losers are making excuses or have mental health problems.

Did I say you are a hero to me?? I mean that, so I hope I haven't offended you - just needing to speak my truth.

Annie

Maybe my post wasn't clear :) People would tell you that *I* am a slow loser. We all lose a different rates. There are folks here who lost 200 pounds in 10 months and plastics by a year. And then there's those of us that plod along. You have to do what works for you. I'm ALL for that.

The doctor and I were talking about those folks that "stall" for 3-4 months or start gaining and "can't figure out why" at 9 months or whatever. Heck, he was telling me I was losing too slowly for the first six months. I was all "eh, whatever". LOL.

Anyway, it's just something that I see in my support group a lot. Folks "stall" for months and months at 220 or they start to gain once they hit 200 and once I really talk to them, they aren't logging or they are eating too much or they are drinking 1000 calorie coffee drinks or XYZ... that's all I meant :)

I think the downward trend is ALL that matters, if you're truly a slow loser, who cares? It's still coming off and you're learning about your body and your mind and food in the meantime. :) You're doing just fine, it sounds like.

Woohoo! You seriously rock.

Yeah, we end up with kind of a skewed definition of slow loser 'round here, no?

I think you can do the 150 or something close to it. I never thought I'd be normal BMI. My goal weight at 175 lbs/26.6 BMI seemed unachievable to me (I think I must be taller than you). But I made it all the way down to too skinny. Who'd a thunk I'd ever look in the mirror and say "huh, need to gain a few pounds chickie".

I am of two minds on the ticker/goal weight thing and which is right depends on your very own personality. I know which  would be right for me (see my ticker and you'll figure it out) but you ain't me and I ain't you:

If you leave your ticker as it is, the plus is that you're not likely to feel like a failure if you don't make it all the way to 150. The minus is that some folks are motivated by seeing that amount left to lose on the ticker. If you update your ticker, vice versa. The compromise is to bump it down 5 lbs at a time or something.

I'm 5'6" :) I think I can do it. I can sure try like heck :)

Yeah, I'm very number driven, I don't obsess (although I have my moments, of course!). I'm a bookkeeper in real life, so yeah. *laughing* I have a few days, at the very least, to figure it out, but I'm thinking of the 5-10 pound thing at a time. I know there could be some bounce back. It really doesn't matter what it says, it's a head game for me, I know that. LOL.

At least I'm AWARE that I'm crazy, right? LOL