Who or what has been your inspiration for maintaining weight loss?

Let me say that I started my research in 2002 and there wasn't much out in the internet world about WLS, especially the DS. I had my DS in Feb 2003.

Three inspirations for me. The first was my mother. She was living in a nursing home simply because she was too obese to rehab a broken leg. Her feet never touched the ground for 5 years. The bone never healed properly (because of obesity-related type 2 diabetes). I realized if I didn't so something soon, I'd be in her position and that wasn't going to happen.

Another was a co-worker, who had the RNY and lost 100 pounds in a year. She also didn't change her eating habits so she started gaining her weight back and ultimately gained it all back. So her inspiration was two-fold - WLS was definitely an option but I had to change my eating habits to be successful (that revelation came post-surgery for me).

The third was a group of people I got to know through the WL surgeon - we had monthly meetings at the hospital, and through that group about 15 of us met weekly at someone's house (I'm still friends with several of those folks). There were a few people who never quite lost all their weight and that inspired me to stick to the program, exercise, change my eating habits and it worked and has continued to work for 17 years.

Obviously there have been others over the years - doctors who made me recognize that I needed to quit smoking (which I have been smoke free for almost 14 years).

Find inspiration in many places - you'd be surprised what can inspire you.

I am sorry to hear about your mother. Sounds like you have had a lot of inspiration and also great support!

Congratulations on being able to quit smoking. That is so very hard to do for most people. And Congrats on 17 years of weight loss success!

I'm battling weight regain. The weight scale never saying 2 at the front is my inspiration. I want to stay in ONEderland.

I can so relate to weight regain! The scale is a good inspiration when you have set goals.

After having lost a lot of weight after my RNY (8/11/18) surgery during the quarantine and I began to gain some weight!!! I began eating more calories than I needed. I've now started the Optivia program and have lost almost 5lbs in two days. If I stay on this program for another week or two my clothes will fit comfortably and I can enjoy feeling like the best version of myself again. Optivia is a little expensive but it appears to be nutritionally sound and I just really don't want to go back. Best of luck!