Thanks for getting us started, Gwen!

This time of year sure can be difficult. I am still in the honeymoon phase, so I am counting on that to keep me going... :)

Welcome Amy Liz, it's great to have new people join us! Your results are amazing. Congratulations!

I stepped on the scale this morning and was thrilled - this is the lowest adult weight I have ever seen. I finally broke 242, which was my lowest adult weight reached back in 2001, and I hit last week. All week, I have been hovering between 242 and 242.5, so what a pleasant surprise when the scale read 241 this morning!

HW: 308

LW: 242

TW: 241

Next goal: Get into the 230s! Hopefully by next weigh in, and maybe even lost 70 lbs by then (238 - omg, I just erased that cause I thought I typed it too low, and redid "the math" in my brain, and realized I typed it correctly... me, 238? wow!!).

Ok... I'm feeling really happy with myself right now LOL.

I'm off to spread joy somewhere! Have a great day everyone!

Good morning,

Hw 368

Lw 171.8

Tw 174

Have a good week

Hi all,

It sounds like everyone is having a good week!!

IF... have an amazing trip!!

Traveling smaller: yeah, I can't wait! I have a trip booked in February and I am hoping to be down another 25 lbs... I should safely be out of seatbelt extender territory then!!! :)

Gwen, congratulations on your routines and losses. That's great!

I had a great week! So back in 2001, I had lost a bunch of weight, and my lowest adult weight was 242. A big goal of mine has been to get to that/get below that, which I have not been able to do again in my adult life. I've been watching the scale creep closer and closer all week, and today, I hit 242!!!! I am thrilled to be at my lowest adult weight that I remember. Now... onto beating it! :)

HW: 308

LW: 246

TW: 242

Have a great week everyone!

Great post Gwen,

My clinic, although great in some regards, really falls into this category. First, their expectation was for me to maybe get to 230.... Then, at my one year appointment, when I weighed in at 170ish, the NP decalred I was in maintenance, and that I was done losing weight. Just like that.

Some of this journey can be such a long slog, that hearing things like that can be the justification for allowing old habits to creep back in.

To be honest, 230 was coincidentally my lowest adult weight, and I know I could have been content there. But that weight wasn't good for my health, and was still MO.

Same with 170. Just out of the obese range, I could have used her declaration of maintance as a cop out. It can be scary to have so many changes happening and I'm definitely in new territory, the temptation to declare maintance was definitely there.

No thanks. While the weight definitely doesn't come off the way it did those first months, it is still definitely coming off.

I think we bang the drum on the first year so loudly, is because it really is the "easiest" time to maximize the loss. Our focus and will is resolute. the momentum of rapid loss is validating. When you go from losing 5 pounds a week, to 5 a month (if that), you need to switch gears, and find new metrics to feel like the effort is worth it.

I posted this in the VSG forum, but figured I'd post it here too because it's probably even more relevant to those of us who start off in the SMO range.

---

My fourth surgiversary isn't until March 2018, but I started the surgery process a bit over four years ago and I started in on lifestyle modification for REAL at the beginning of 2014. So I'm in that four-year time period and I wanted to share my experience with weight loss. I'll try to keep it brief.

I'm sharing this because I see a lot of comments that if you don't lose it in the first year, you won't lose it. Doctors say this - that you can expect to lose all the weight you're going to in the first year and then that's it. I see (and hear) people say, "don't waste your honeymoon period" and imply that if you don't reach your goal in the first year you're doomed.

I'm 5'4" and was 319 pounds at the beginning of 2014. This was my highest weight that I was aware of. I might have weighed more than this, but, if I did, I didn't step on a scale to know of it. [This put my BMI at 55.]

2014 - I started lifestyle modification at the beginning of the year and lost 27 pounds between January 1 and March 14 when I had surgery. In 2014 I lost 124.4 pounds total.

2015 - My dad's cancer spread to his brain, previous habits started creeping back into my life, weight loss slowed. In 2015 I lost 14.3 pounds.

2016 - My dad died, Binge Eating Disorder began to rule my life, but I sought diagnosis and medication. In 2016 I lost 8.4 pounds. (This is net loss. I gained weight during 2016, lost it, and lost 8.4 more pounds.)

2017 - While this year has been challenging due to college (finished my AA degree and started my BS!) and reconstructive surgeries (recovering from third and final one now), it has not been the complete emotional rollercoaster that 2015 and 2016 were. I attended bereavement group through the local hospice, I continued seeing my therapist on an "as needed" basis, I started going to a local professionally organized support group once a month, I exercised regularly for the first half of the year until surgeries waylaid mobility for the remainder of the year. In 2017, so far, I've lost another 24.2 pounds (skin weighs very little, so this weight loss cannot be explained away entirely by reconstructive surgery).

So I guess my point is, and what I want to try to convey to anyone reading this, is that you CAN still lose weight after the first year. The weight loss will probably never be as fast as it was in that first year without serious intervention, but the weight loss CAN continue. If you've stopped losing weight, or even gained weight, you CAN get back to losing.

Never let anyone convince you that whatever success you achieve in the first year is it and that you need to be satisfied with what you've lost by that point because it just is not true.

And if, like me, you get to the point where you find that your pre-WLS habits are taking control of your life, please, please, please seek professional help. You are worth it.