~~What do we do NOW??~~

Hello family, Most of ya'll know me, I am Teresa White and I am a little over 2 years out from Lap RNY. My heaviest weight was 354, I was 292 the morning of my surgery and now I am post abdominoplasty, brachioplasty adn breast augment. My goal is 110-115 and I am 118 currently however both my WLS and My reconstructive surgeon say this will happen with my next surgery being my thighs. OK so my question is. What do we do now that we get to goal?? I have been so focused on loosing loosing loosing and now it is like bam its all over, the excitement and all. Dont get me wrong I am thrilled chitless to have lost all the weight, but will I be able to hang on without having to focus so much on what I do and dont eat?? How are yall managing as long term posties and goal reachers do you forget about WLS and just live or what?? I cant really express into words what I am feeling and trying to say so I hope someone out there understnds. Hugs T

Whats weird for me is I never logged anything, I could nver figure out fitday so I just did the what did yall eat thread and wrote what I ate there. I eat mostly protein but dont count any protein that I eat toward my daily requirement only my shakes, I got from 90-120 daily protein from shakes and then whatever food I ate was a bonus lol. Worked great for me. Hugs T

Hey, I know exactly what you mean. I know how to lose and boy did I get gaining down pat for a while. But the maintainance was a new area for me. My surgery was 1/15/04. And I hit 9 pounds under my goal at 11 months out. So I have now been in maintainance for almost a year now. I still keep a food and exercise journal daily. When I first started to maintain, I decided what my exercise schedule was going to be. I chose 3 to 4 days per week which is something my hectic schedule can live with. And then I just added a few calories each day until I no longer lost but did not gain. So now I know how many calories I can eat in a days time and not gain or lose weight. I am not phobic or obsessive with it. I just keep my journal and guestimate close to that and I have maintained my loss so far. I want some plastic surgery. I want to have my arms and tummy done. Did you have a good experience with all of your surgeries? Did your insurance cover them? How much weight did you lose with your plastic surgeries? Melissa Taylor Lap RNY 1/15/04 277/136 -141 pounds

HI My reconstructive surgery experiences were great, I had a wonderful surgeon who did not accept insurancebut his work was so good I went with him anyhow. So I paid upfront for all of my surgeries and the insurance reimbursed me for what part they paid on my abdominoplasty. I paid for the brachioplasty and breast augment and the removal of skin from my neck out of pocket. After the swelling left I weighed 118 and I weighed 134 the morning of my TT, there was 19 pounds removed from the absominal area. I hope you have wonderful luck with your PS journey also. Hugs T

I'll take a stab at it... How can I live my life like a normal person? How in the world do people maintain their weight? Who am I if I am not somebody who needs improvement? How can I be done? What does that mean? Wow, am I really going to be able to do this thing? Who do I answer to? With all the focus on numbers, what do I focus on now? What if I blow it? ...there are a million more questions I am sure... I am not a professional, I have worked pretty hard at looking within from the very beginning of my post op WLS journey. So, I offer these suggestions, take 'em or leave 'em...no feelings hurt, I get my love at home: You are incredibly successful. You have made a commitment and you have stuck by it. You must remind yourself every day how much better you are today than you were when you were morbidly obese. With that, you must also remember that you are the same person...only thinner. You likely have new energy, confidence, health, attitude and on and on. You can never ever forget where you came from! You should just live, but you have to live with a bit of baggage...you had surgery and you were once really fat. You can never be fat again. Do you have awareness regarding level of hunger? Food likes and dislikes? Calories required to gain/lose/stay the same? Do you know which foods are comfortable and which foods cause you pain/gas/distress? Do you know what led to your being morbidly obese? Have you changed those fat habits and replaced them with new, normal people habits? (OK, now I am probably making you feel like there are even more unanswered questions!). I guess my point is, that the focus and the control is all about you. You are in control of your choices, your success and your challenges. You are not controlled by food (hopefully!) or fear, or your MD. You are responsible for the rest of your life, you are in control, and you can look within to face the challenge! Karen

You summed it up. Well said. Melissa

Hi Well somethings I have discovered during maintence is s/f candy with malitol is evil, and bread is still evil for me as well as pasta and sugar. Hugs T

wonderful answer!!! our own inner strength is the answer to so many things

Teresa, Funny you should post this . At 17 months out .. I too am wondering .. where the heck time went .. I still weigh everyday .. and for the most part is to make sure I have no gains and no losses .. Maintaining .. I remember how good it felt to see the pounds come off . I guess now I need to focus on working the tool .. keeping myself healthy and holding on to the loss that has happend over the last months .. I do miss how it felt though... I asked someone the other day .. " what's next " ... Our biggest focus now that we have made it .. is to continue with all of our regimens .... and being happy like you said .. Now .. I just sit back and let life happen .. and I have found such an inner peace now .. Hugs to you on a journey well done ! Natalie