61 lbs Down

Haha I'm finally down below the 60lb mark w/o any surgery.

hahha! tell me your secrets!

Woot!

Good for you, congrats!!!

That is great!!! Congrats!! You must tell everyone how you are doing it. You never know it may help someone else on the board :) Congrats again keep up the good work..You can do this!!

Awesome job!!  Really - I want your secrets too!!  I have been trying to lose the same 40lbs for over a year and that's just the intial goal.  Keep up the good work, we all know how hard it is!!

Have a great day!
Colleen

 That's fantastic!!!

Take advantage of your age.  Your body can take on lots of exercise, your metabolism is still on very high gear.  You can lose all your excess weight and keep it off as long as you keep on top of it. 

Eating several (5)small healthy meals (or three healthy meals and 2 snacks) several times per day is the best way to go.  Diet diet's do not work in the long term.

My niece who is 23 now has lost about 90lbs and has kept it off for 4 or 5 years now.  She eats healthier. She walks, bikes, or skate boards to work and just constantly moves around and keeps busy.  She is having a ball with life, with her youth.  Before when she felt bad, she would binge now if she allows herself to get to feeling that bad, she goes out dancing.

I too had good success in my early 20's.  For about 3 years I maintained my loss with watching what I ate and exercising like a lunatic(I was a crazy girl with exercise).  Then tragedy struck in my life and I just didn't know how to deal - learn how to deal if you are a user of food.  I gained to 235 and pretty much stayed there with the exception of a few diet periods.  I wasn't uncomfortable, I danced and did everything I needed to do.

Fast forward, a couple of years- of course I want to lose weight, I'm trying everything.  I do incredibly well with Atkins Induction time and time again BUT I never, no matter how hard I try can get past the induction phase - I just resume to eating healthy too large portions of food and gain back the approx 15lbs I've lost. 

So even with my weight, I'm on top of the world.  One day I'm in the final dance class and I have to do a jump, kick, and spin.  God, I was flying - in my glory.  I seemed to be going so fast, so high and I came down and my leg popped so loud, I felt it inside of my whole body I heard it against the drums that were playing in the studio.  I didn't know it then, but my life was over as I had known it. 

Well I had the best of the best surgeons reconstruct my knee.  I thought I would make a full recovery (I lost 40lbs to relieve the pressure off of my knee so that I could heal).  Two years of not so good turned to dreadful pain.  Prognosis: more surgery.  This time I didn't understand it I just got depressed.  Every time I tried to exercise there was pain and not just after the workout, it would linger.  I wasn't going to be an actor like I had heartstakingly planned.  It was over for me.  I couldn't move too much, stand too much, walk too much, I couldn't dance, I couldn't run anymore in my lifetime. Food didn't require that I do any of those things.  It seemed all I had when it really came down to it.

I gained to 267lbs.  I was winded walking up stairs.  My back hurt all the time.  I hated the way I looked, my face looked deformed, I had a hump on my neck/back.  I was developing insulin resistance.  I was too young to be hopeless.  To be ashamed of who I had become.  I had to have a new dream for me or I'd die completely.

Crazy coincidences happened which led me to  a certain doc.  I had researched the Lap Band for years BUT I was never going to have WLS.  I was going to get stronger and do it on my own and be one of the 2-3% of people that lost weight and kept it off.  Meanwhile  I was dying physically and more so in spirit.  I couldn't get good workouts in and I just couldn't stop eating because I was feeling so bad and eating is the thing I do when I don't feel good.

I got banded!!!  I lost and the initial 30lbs (I felt great, it was magical)and then had "issues" with the Band. Eventually It wasn't working for me.  I played with an additional loss of  around 20lbs. It was dieting all over again AND I just couldn't diet anymore.

Long story, I didn't intend to tell you about all of this- SORRY!  I was all ready for a WLS revision and by some miracle of God, my band began to work as intended. Combine that with WW and I'm down a total of approx 90lbs.  I feel great, like I could run again, like I could dance again I'm so high.  I'm so thankful for all the things that I've overcome.  I feel blessed.

You can continue to lose and keep your weight off, you can be one of the 2-3% of people that lose with diet and exercise alone as long as you don't slip up for long periods of time.  It is important to get counseling or some type of support so that you will know how to deal when life gets off track.  I believe that would have helped me.  I had profound resentment when I lost in my 20's - I kept thinking "why didn't you like me before I lost the weight, "why do you want to know me now", "I'm the same good person but you didn't want to look past my fat".  I didn't know how to deal and that eventually caused me to gain the weight back when I needed comfort and to feel safe, and to just disappear.  In my 30's I can't lie, I still have issues BUT there is no turning back for me - I have a dream for me and it is big.  I need a body that will get me through old age dancing and just happy.  I just want to be happy despite what is going on in my life or in the world.

Sweets, I wish you the very best.  You can do this, you can go all the way.  You've got a young body that can take you wherever you dream.

God Bless,
Leila

That is fantastic! I ahve lost 50 w/o any surgery. I know we can do it!