What is everyone doing for their journey????

Hello folks, My name is Donna and I have a profile that is public to read and find out how I ended up here. I too was fully immersed in the WLS process until I spent some time with myself. I'd love to know what others are doing to lose their excess weight. I started South Beach on July 6 and to date I have lost 38 pounds. I am averaging about 5 pounds a week. I lost the water weight, the first 20, in the first 3 weeks. My doctor and I were both happy about that. The next visit was 12 lbs, about 4 a week. I am sure it will slow down. So far this week I have lost 4 more. So I am in it for the LONG haul. I have about 140 more to go to a doctor specified goal weight of 160. Frankly I wouldn't mind being at 200, but we shall see when the time comes. I haven't seen either number in YEARS so I'll take either I haven't REALLY been successful on a program in the past because I never really stayed on one long enough to see the full results or to do the maintenance needed. Being honest with myself about that particular issue is what lead me to believe that WLS was NOT the last resort for me. After reading the WLS board for a while I decided to change my head, which I am proud to say I have been successful in doing!!! I am anxious but patient to see this through to the end. I'd love to share my experiences and tips with anyone that wishes to hear, because I know there is a ton of stuff I'd like to know about some of your successful journies. Look forward to meeting new people sometime soon. Donna

Hi there Donna, I was also totally immersed and following the path to have WLS. After 3+ years of research, I did some soul searching and came to the conclusion that it was not the path I wanted to take. I was successful in losing weight several years ago. I lost 60+ pounds and kept it off for 2 years (even through a healthy pregnancy). I then started going to college, and I let my lifestyle completely changed for the worst. Ugh! Why did I let that happen? owey! So here I am today, I have now lost 50 pounds! I use fitday religiously documenting everything throughout the day. My average calorie intake is about 800 calories, and I do take vitamins. I hit the 30 pound mark and stayed there for a while, wavering within a couple pounds. The thing that kept setting me back was overeating on the weekends with my family. Heck, we just love to eat *laughing.* Now it has been 3 weeks that I have been eating very healthy and sticking to my plan, no extras.. and boom - dropped to the 50 pound mark. I have to say, I'm on a roll and so excited with my progress that there is nothing that tastes good enough for me to go off this healthy eating plan! It's kind of funny what I do in the evenings. Sometimes I get hungry and have a couple hundred calories left within my plan to use up before bedtime. I walk through the kitchen, looking through every cupboard and the frigerator, trying to decide what I want to use my alloted calories on. It takes only reading a few food labels and seeing the calorie content, then I just grab a piece of fruit or something and call it good. It's an evening ritual - but it has really made me conscious of what I am doing. Another thing I have been doing that is really helpful. Whenever I feel the need to just graze (not real hunger), I just get myself a big glass of ice water, crystal light, or diet iced tea! I'm still getting something into my mouth and feel it in my tummy, but it has little to no calorie content. I do have some health concerns at this time of my life, this just makes me want to succeed even more so! *sleep apnea *migraines *back injury. My neurologist is confident that these will go away within the next 50+ pounds, so that is truly something to look forward to! I look forward to meeting everyone and sharing experiences. Have a wonderful evening!

I am so glad to see this board and I hope that others will come out and join us soon!! I keep the board open, reading all the new posts. My other half says I am obsessive, but I feel like I am constantly staying on track if I keep the proper mindset. I have been tracking my food on self.com, which is affiliated with Self magazine. It's free to me if I am a subscriber, so I use that. I use fitday.com to track my 13 year olds eating. We are working on this together!!! I know how you feel about succeeding. I also consume anywhere between 550 calories (on a bad day) to about 900 calories, which is where I like to stay at. Sometimes I hit the 1000 calorie mark but I hardly think that's an issue, considering all that I ate before!!! I have stuck very religiously to this program because I am an all or nothing type of person. I figure that in my lifetime I have eaten at least one, if not two (damn cinnabons) of every food the world has to offer!!! I am committed to sticking to this now. I haven't fallen off the wagon in almost 8 weeks. For me if I do I am not so sure I will climb back on, mostly likely I will get crushed by the tires!!! I try not to eat much at night, and if I get hungry I just ride it through and usually end up on the other side not hungry!! I have really reduced my appetite to almost nothing, which is sometimes pretty scary. I don't want to become obsessed but I truly love that scale moving down. I will break the 300 mark at my next doctors visit and I truly can't wait!!! Good luck and continued success. I'm sure we will be talking more again soon.

Hi all, I am here because I am in limbo. Do I or don't I. One big obsticle is that I will be self pay, taking out a loan on my newly paid off mortgage. The other thing is I'm just plain scared of the surgery. I have had major surgery before. I know about the pain, the drain tubes. I know it only lasts a short time. As for yuor question, I am just stating to decide what diet to do this time. The 800 calories sounds good but I am not sure I could stick to that many, I seem to be hungry all the time as it is.Our local hospital has a healthy solutions plan, that is about 1200 calories, all prepackages foods, for 110.00 a week. Sounds a little rediculous to me. Anyway I thought I would loiter around here with you all for awhile.

Well Hello Donna B.! And this is a great idea...I have been thinking Lap band but my Insurance is not having it...ha...I really don't want surgery at all due to problems with meds...I can't tolerate alot of meds and my stomach doesn't tolerate liquid meds well at all...so I have been on every diet known over my pass 53 yrs...and yes they worked but I always gain what I lost then some...Whats motivated me now..a beautiful little baby boy...my first grandchild...grannys knees are gone and I have a navel hernia they want to wait until my weights down to repair...well I am tired of all this weight related junk and starting next week I'm going to get busy on losing this weight...Because of knees and hernia exercise is walking 5 times a week around wal-mart which beats nothing... but I hope this site takes off and good luck to all of us...

Hey everybody! I am so glad this board was created! I, like Donna, never successfully stuck to any sort of plan of eating. I would stop maybe after the 1st or 2nd day. I want to take control of my life. While I am still going to do my consultation with the surgeon, I really want to explore options for a lifetime of healthy eating. My love for food won't allow me to have surgery, and that is DEFINITELY an issue I have to address! I look forward to hearing everyone's stories.

Finally a place where I belong! I am NOT a WLS person but I say I started my journey on June 12, 2004. I wish I knew how much I weighed but I don't. My dress size was 20W or larger and I am only 5'4" tall. I knock on wood to say that I am a success story, I wear a 10 stretch jeans and 12 or so for everything else. I'm going threw a low now but with support I know I can keep on this journey to the end. My key to losing weight is good nutrition and great supplements. I also devised a fat buster plan (3 day ) that works. I'm going to frequent this site a lot so let's all share our experiences. su