Huh. I hadn't realized my surgery wasn't posted . I'm just over 6 months out. Im still in active losing mode. I get what you're saying and is kinda how I've been approaching it. I'm just curious to see how I adapt.

It's funny you mention Gwen, SMO. Lately,

Instead of having smo brain, I've felt like queen of the world, I'm the woman who battled obesity, and is down 130lbs! Behold my awesomeness!

but then, just before my interview, I realized they don't know any of that! They just see a 250 pound woman. Still MO. Ugh brain. Pick a lane!

I don't know your surgery date, since it's not in your signature or header but it's an interesting conundrum. It was one of the things that weirded me out when I started back to college because I'd lost about 90 pounds (if I recall correctly) at that point. And there isn't a lot of overlap of students/teachers in all of my classes, so for any given class I'm in, the other people don't know that I used to be SMO.

And, for me, that was very odd. I'd identified as "Gwen, SMO" for my entire life and now, suddenly, there are people who will never know that Gwen. But.. I still identify as "Gwen, SMO" in my brain. So I'm sure I make comments from time to time that cause people to side eye me because I still identify as SMO even though I'm "only" overweight now. I sometimes wonder what label people have for me now, because it's no longer "the SMO one." That's just weird.

But, my point.. I had one. I'm three years out now and totally open about my weight loss and surgery. However, "open" doesn't mean "I announce it to everyone." What it means is that sometimes it comes up naturally in conversation and I don't avoid it when it does. It's just a part of who I am, just like anything else. If it came up in conversation that I was reading the Mira Grant short story collection - I'd talk about that. And if it happened to come up in conversation that I've lost 160 pounds and the methods by which I've done this - I'd talk about that too. So, for me, I don't stress about it and I don't go out of my way to hide it while, at the same time, not going out of my way to announce it out of context. (I hope this makes sense.)

Today was a great weigh in day for me!! For the first time in ever the scale did not ask me who I was. Lance and I have been bouncing around the same weight for a while now and, finally, I'm far enough below him that the scale knew that I was me without confirmation. Of course.... he did eat pizza and Chinese over the weekend, and I AM at my lowest weight ever... but I'll take it!

HW: 319
LW: 171.4 (huge spike post-race, this was not a "valid" data point)
TW: 165.6

Next Goal: 159.5 - half the person I used to be/working to lose as much weight as I can prior to plastics

Same.

I generally avoid big grocery stores because of it. I buy meat from a butcher, and most other things from a place that mostly only sells produce. I only head to a bigger store when i need pantry staples or things I can only really find there.

Glad to hear that you felt listened to and got a referral for counseling.

I can relate to the issues with shopping too. I miss grocery shopping in a really weird and unexpected way.

Monday, monday here we go again.

Crazy week for me, I had my biggest loss since my Optifast weeks and the reality is that I ate more and moved less. HUH?? I started adding protein to my morning coffee and that has meant an increase in calories but also an increase in protein so...? And my activity level was lower than it has been but I was pushing myself so hard to maximize these early months that I think I was going a little too far with it. So yes, technically I ate more and moved less but with purpose and who knows, maybe I would have had similar results anyway. It's a whole new week so I'll wipe the slate clean and start again.

I'm dealing with a similar situation myself. My BF keeps talking about going on vacation (not feasible right now anyway but the conversation persists) and I've mentioned a few times how uncomfortable I was when I flew years ago at probably close to 325 lbs. He hasn't flown since he was in his 20's and doesn't seem to realize what it would be like for him at his current size. The truth is that I don't know his actual weight but I imagine it's close to 450. He is tall yes, but you can't be tall enough to make 450 a comfortable flying weight. There have been a few other things he has mentioned too that I know he just wouldn't be allowed to do currently but he's blind to it. So the direct approach has failed me so far but the one thing that got our conversation going in a positive direction was me telling him about my mom and aunts, and their plan to do the zip-line at Niagara Falls. I was able to bring up the weight limit as it pertained to other people and when I played it off like I wasn't sure of the details he said he doubted there was a limit "because they can pull planes with that cable" and grabbed his phone to look it up. Well of course there is and he was surprised to see how "low" it is. Has it resulted in the required shift in his mindset? Of course not, but I think the added awareness has encouraged some small improvement. Struggling with weight is obviously so different for men and I don't think they often see their size as something that would define their abilities or opportunities so they don't even think about it. You said your husband seems "clueless to that reality" and I think that's exactly it, they're not in denial they've just never thought about it. I don't think my BF would ever consider surgery and at this point I wouldn't even encourage it because he's not there (and likely never will be) but I'm hopeful that we can keep building on his motivation to get healthier. Baby steps I guess. It's a tough one but I hope you can find a way to approach it that works out for both of you.

HW- 386

LW- 256.8

TW- 249

Well getting under 250 was my birthday goal so that was surprisingly reached this week. Next stop 239 just because and 236 to be 150 lbs down.

Have a great week eveyone!