Haven't taken before photos yet...

That is one of my big goals, actually. To not hide from the camera, to smile in photos. I barely have any memories from my past, because I always refused to let others take my photo.

On day three of OPTI here, and still haven't taken one before photo. I know it's important. I know there will be a time when I will want to look back, to see how far I have come, to remember this journey, but there must be another part of me, that just wants to forget. I guess that's what stops me from taking those before photos.

But I will, this week, I will take them. Deep down, I know I will regret it if I do not. 

I as well as so many others here simply hated having photos taken. I took a few the day of surgery and then every month. Now looking back, I have to say I have a difficult time seeing, I mean REALLY seeing the weight loss. I know, sounds absolutely nuts, but when I catch myself walking by a window or mirror, holy crap, yes, it's me, almost 170 lbs less. 

Take those photos, have no regrets, your life is changing and your head sometimes has a hard time keeping up with it so photos are a great way to have that reality check! 

Click away and NO REGRETS!

Annette 👍😄

I know you're right, I think I will have moments where I may feel like I haven't lost weight, or am not doing good enough, or don't think I see changes, so I am sure the before photos will come in handy. And just to remember how far I have come, once goal is reached. I don't think I should try to forget it completely... 

Thanks for the wise words! 

Measuring certain parts of your body is a good idea... I did my neck, upper arm, wrist, chest, waist, hips, thigh, and calf. If you are in a stall, you can check your measurements and likely still be losing

I think they are doing my measurements tomorrow at my last pre op appointment, so I will be jotting those down as well :) As my starting point!

I have never heard of the centre taking the measurements... I would do them for yourself. 

I was going to suggest you have someone take your measurements. Glad to see someone else make the suggestion. I suggest someone else take the measurements, if you have someone constant in your life that you can trust, because it is easier for someone else to measure than doing it yourself. When you hit stalls the measurements will still change and they will help you through the rough patches. 

I am going to try my darned hardest to not obsess over the scale. Of course I will in the beginning, check it more than I probably should, but I have goal outfits... I plan on using clothes and how I feel in them, more than anything else.

Thank you!

I weighed myself at my 1 week follow-up then waited till my 1 month follow-up. I did not want to obsess and get upset about the dreaded three week stall. So I waited. I am really glad I did.

You mean how quickly clothes fall off? You will be amazed!  

I am looking sooooo forward to being amazed! Especially since I did take my before photos today, and UGH, everything looks way worse than I ever did see in my own mirror. Mind you, I did choose to take them in tights and a sports bra. Now, I am wondering if I should take some in regular clothes too, because I don't think I would EVER want to show these ones to anyone in the future. EVER.

Three week stall sounds terrible, since that is the time when I will probably be obsessing over it, the scale, I mean, and progress. I would love to only weigh myself once a month...We will see how it goes