I wasn't sure if the excess skin would annoy me. I don't think I thought about it much because I couldn't picture myself small enough for it to be an issue.

There is a level of vanity to it for me. I wish I didn't care about it but I do. I want to feel as confident in my body as a am proud of what I'm accomplishing. When someone compliments me my first thought is "if you only knew what's going on under here..." which I realize is not the point of all this and I'm working on changing that thinking...but it's an ongoing battle.

I'm starting to have the inconvenience issues too, uncomfortable during exercise and in how my clothes fit. My torso and arms aren't made for the same shirt, which is unfortunately also true of my waist and legs... clothes are a challenge.

I understand feeling demoralized too. That's been on my mind a lot lately as the idea of more surgeries rattles around in my brain. It's hard not to regret what we put our bodies through, both in being SMO and in the surgeries to get back to "normal", but you're right, at least we're trying.

I also hadn't given much though to plastics pre-op. I figured that was something that other people did and that the excess skin wouldn't annoy me at all. But, ugh, it just gets in the way. I'm happy to wear sleeveless shirts - like I don't care what the skin looks like, it's just so inconvenient! It bounces and I have to compress all the things for exercise. And it makes certain clothing not fit right in some places even though it fits in others.

So, yeah, I hear you about not having thought about it pre-op.

In a way, though, it's also demoralizing. It sucks that I've screwed up my body so much that it's taking FOUR surgeries to fix it. (WLS + Plastics x3) But, at least I am doing something about it now.

That's why we all keep coming back to this forum specifically. There are a ton of great people throughout OH that we can relate to, identify with and learn from but for those of us who started out SMO our experience is going to be different.

There are people posting everyday upset with themselves for getting up to their highest weight of _____ (insert number I have yet to reach). I obviously can't identify with them all that well so I do my best not to compare but as Insert Fitness said that works...most of the time.

I think it's normal to reflect back on our own progress with mixed emotions; proud of what we've accomplished and continue to accomplish while being disappointed in ourselves for letting things go as far as they did.

Gwen, you're pounds away from being half of your starting weight and that's incredible no matter how long it takes!!

Another week done...

Exercise was up a bit again, I had a couple of days with some good miles and I'm just more active in general so all good there.

Food...staying on track and things are going smoothly.

Mood=yikes. It changes on a dime and it doesn't take much to send me in either direction. A combination of things has me stressed and anxious but I have to reel it in. I've been making some progress with the self talk during the down times which is good and just enjoying the up times which is also good but hopefully it levels out soon.

The scale was also unpredictable this week. It bounced all over the place but ultimately I ended up in the 230's so yay!

HW- 386

LW- 241.1

TW- 239.1

Next goal is 236 for 150 lbs lost and the big one after that is 220, lowest adult weight

I think the honeymoon phase is a myth - I have to believe that. I'm always going to have restriction, right?

I think it's just a honeymoon in that it's when you're most dedicated since you're losing quickly and getting lots of compliments and reinforcement. But it doesn't mean that we've got to stop losing weight when at the end of our first year.

Heck, I'm proof of that!