Reached my first goal. Onward ho...

Some time in the past day or two I passed the weight loss goal that I set for myself (and that my doc told me might be possible with my starting BMI) when I started this process.

Who knew it could be possible to lose 190 lbs in less than 10 months?

I wrote you all for advice about what do set for my next goal.  After lots of thought - I'm resetting my ticker for 180.  Let's see how it goes.  I imagine it will take me about 6 months to get there given the way my weight loss ebbs and flows these days.

Thanks for all your support.

Hally

Hot damn!  You are on fire, woman!  Gimme a High f*ckin' Five!

  You'll have to settle for a clap, that's all I could find on the smiley chart!

Thanks!  It used to feel that way.  These days, no so much.  It's more like a slow burn.

You are doing so awesome.. please share your secrets for your wonderful success!

Sublimate.

I'm not sure that I really have any secrets.  But here is what I am doing:

Exercise 5 or 6 days per week - with an effort to burn around 400 calories per exercise session.

Eat high protein, low carb diet.  I used to think I was eating about 30 carbs a day, but just for fun I decided to start tracking my food (for the first time) a few weeks ago, and it looks like I'm eating more like 60 per day.

Trying to follow what my stomach is telling me.  After a lifetime of never experiencing what it felt like to be full (I had to take social ques about when it was the right time to stop eating) it is so liberating to have a stomach that finally let's me know when it is finished.

Set lots of mini-goals... like going swimming with the whale sharks, learning to scuba dive, walking a 10K; but also weight related ones... like hit 200 lbs lost by my surgiversary.

I eat a little bit of dark chocolate every single night.  I can't imagine my life without something sweet in it.

When I go on vacation or have a special occasion, I loosen the food "rules".  I still try to start and fill on mostly protein... but then I allow myself to eat reasonable amounts of other things.  For example, I was on vacation in Malaysia last month and ate noodles at several meals.

That's pretty much it.  What I find so fascinating is that at this point out I still have great restriction on some days, and what feels like very little restriction on others.  And sometimes it varies by time of day.  More and more I feel like I'm on a diet - meaning that my sleeve is not doing most of the work.  And just when I start to despair, the restriction kicks back in - and I haven't been doing anything different.  But I definitely have more tools and motivation than I did before, even on the days when my restriction is not as great.  But also, probably my perspective on food has changed quite a bit.  Even thought I may feel like I'm eating a lot - it is not really much compared with other people at the table.

And that's all..

Hally

Thank you.. that all sounds similar to what I do and what I have experienced and is very informative!  One question I have though.. what is your typical calorie intake?  That's one area I think I may need to tweak to get your results.

When I started tracking it turned out that I was eating around 1,000 calories per day - with some days closer to 900 and a few up near 1200.  It seems that when I go below this level it causes me to stall - especially when I'm exercising regularly. 

That's great! Sorry I have one more question.. how much protein do you get each day?  Thanks for answering all of my questions!  Love your photos!  Love all of your adventures and travel and blog!  Hugs...

On a typical day I take in about 70 grams of protein. 

That's amazing! Congratulations to you - you should be really proud of yourself!