Losing the last 40 lbs!? And motivation??

Hey all, 

I haven't posted in quite some time. My surgery was 1/22/15 (so just over a year out) and I have lost 95 lbs. In that year, it has been NONSTOP NSV's. It was 100% the best year of my life filled with new love, more career opportunities, happiness and health. 

I definitely got comfortable, for instance I sometimes go weeks without tracking my food, and I also haven't been on here or my VSG instagram account in about 6 mths. My whole life, despite my size I was ALWAYS an athlete, obsessed with sports and honestly quite good at it. Now, I find myself clueless at the gym and self deprecating. 

Honestly I think I became so happy that I was finally a size 12-14, considered healthy, lost my back pain, didn't feel like an eye sore and found the man of my dreams and got a bit lazy in my adherence. I think about my sleeve every day and feel so blessed to have it, but I don't want to lose the magic so to speak. 

Has anyone had experience with this? It's as if I forgot how miserable I was (and I keep all my emails to remember just how much I hated being unhappy and unhealthy). I was so used to being heavy and pretty much the elephant in the room and no i sit cross legged on the subway and take up an average size, yet I still definitely need to lose 40 more. 

**I have never had to lose "just 30-40 lbs" My whole life I went from being a kid to needing to lose 100-150 lbs (it seems) so, I was never someone worried about a couple dress sizes. It always felt like I had to lose a person. So in some small way, I feel like "eh, it's just 40 lbs" but I know 40 can become more, and it's also 40 more that I never want on my body. 

-What do you do in the gym? 

-What keeps you motivated when you've lost an amount of weight that is no longer making you feel like a spectacle, and more like a "normal" person? 

-How many calories? I still hit 90g of protein, but struggle from being pescetarian and on a budget. 

-Do you recommend the sleeve test and adjusting to a more vegetarian approach and being how that goes? 

Basically, life is good, I no longer worry about my heart and blood pressure, but I want to look good in a bathing suit and feel like I have energy and determination to stick to a routine gym plan instead of the once a month burst of feeling like running a mile. 

Any helpful tips or suggestions or even links to topics would be appreciated, thanks all! 

Check out this site. https://www.thumbtack.com/

it can help you find a personal trainer in your area, you basically give it your details and it can help find someone that you can afford. If you aren't working out much that may be the thing that you need to help push you towards your goal weight. A personal trainer can get you started and then after a month or 2 you can be/get comfortable enough to work out on your own and not feel like you have no idea what you are doing in the gym. Also you mentioned meeting a new love. Perhaps invite them to work out with you. Go on hikes (depending on where you live) go for bike rides etc. Make fitness a fun thing and that the 2 of you so can do and be a way of spending QT.

Thank you so much for your response. 

SUCH GOOD ADVICE. My boyfriend and I are starting to call each other each morning to go to the gym (we live about 40 mins away) and are looking forward to hiking together. We both were rugby players in college so we want to get back into that. Biking would be fun too. 

The gym has definitely been helping me stay focused, but I'm not losing the pounds. I will keep at it. thanks again! Be well. 

You can't out-exercise a bad diet. Workout calorie counts are notoriously inaccurate, and even sustained strenuous exercise can't offset a diet that's too high in calories and/or carbs.

Sleeve test is pointless. It's another fad diet, just like all the ones we tried pre-op. Go back to basics-- lean protein first and foremost, maybe a bite of veg after-- instead of trying to live on shakes.

As far as targets go, your loss phase should look like 600 - 800 calories, 60+g protein,

Hey! this is a year later (almost to the day!) I wonder if March is my panic time of year.

Anyway, in YOUR opinion, do you still think at 2 years out I should go back to 600-800 cals with 60g protein a day? I'm trying all sorts of things now and I take any and all advice since my own is not working right now. I am doing 1,200 cals with 120 g protein a day. I wonder if i'm just eating too much even though I work out 5x a week intensely.

600 - 800 cal might not be enough at 2 years out; our sleeves have "matured" and we can eat more. 800 - 1000 might be a better target at first.

I'd suggest going for as much protein as you can get, 80g+ if possible. Eating almost exclusively meat and dairy for a week can be a good way to get back on track, especially if your carbs have creeped up.

Thank you! I really appreciate it. I will do exactly that. Take care