Question:
Anyone above goal and satisfied?

I'm 17 months post op, down 130 pounds and still losing about 1 pound per month. Currently I'm 5'3 and 186 (size 14) - still too heavy in my opinion. I still have about 30 pounds to get to my personal goal though I'm at my surgeon's goal of 70% of excess weight lost. I eat about 1200-1400 calories and 50g carbs per day (35 net carbs), 100oz water, 80g protein. Since July, I get to the gym 5x per week doing 40 min of cardio and 20 min weight training (workout designed by a professional trainer and modified every 2 months). I do need to have a tummy tuck and sure that will take care of 10 pounds of it. Here's my question. Is anyone this far from goal and satisfied? I'm not complaining at all about how much I've lost or how great I feel and I have a fantastic quality of life now. But since I was little, all I ever heard was calories in vs. calories out and since I'm working so hard with exercise and the food plan, I just don't understand why I can't get off these last 30 pounds. Thanks in advance and have a great day!    — Yolanda J. (posted on March 21, 2004)

March 20, 2004
I am 5'3 also I started at 260 and now down to 138 I almost at my goal I wanted 135 but happy were I am at I know when I get to have my TT it will take care of the rest I have for the last mth been able to maintain my weight I am in a size 3 jeans and I love it I had never imanged getting in a size 3 my goal for jeans was a 6. Congrats on the great weight loss keep up the good work Take Care Huggs Beth
   — wildbrat

March 20, 2004
I'm 10 months post op. I've lost a total of 118 lbs. I'm 5'2" started at 282 lbs, now at 164 lbs. My original goal was to lose 150lbs, but you know what? If I didn't lose another pound I'd still be happy. I look good, I feel good, and I'm healthier than I have ever been in my life. Would I love to lose another 30? you betcha!! And I'm still sticking to the basics, with a little slip once in a while. I lose anywhere from 2-6 a month so far. I excersize intermittenly, I'm sure if I excersized more, I'd lose more faster. Bottom line is, make sure YOU are satisfied, and healthy. Good Luck to you :-)
   — KellyJeanB

March 21, 2004
Yolando, I am 19 mos out (8-15-02) and I was 305 pre-op and am now 183. NO, I am not satisifed, will I eve be, probably not. However, after I have my Plastics in May, I think I will be well on my way. Someone asked me recently, would you rather weigh 150 (my goal) or weigh 183 with a FLAT stomach and a nice ass (hence, my Lower Body Lift)....I'll take the latter anyday, whats 150 with all the skin, Forget about it! Good Luck!
   — heathercross

March 21, 2004
Well next month I will be one year out and I wanted to get to 160-150 lbs. I am 5'10" started out at 311 and that sounded like a miricle number to me. As of today I am in the 190's I just had a tummy tuck and breast lift done on the 15th of March. I cant believe my tummy is so flat and gone. Am I happy where I am at without reaching my goal HECK YES> I would of been happy without the plastics done. My doctor took off close to 12lbs in my tummy area alone. Who knows what I will end up once this swelling is gone. It only looks better from this point on in my books. I wish you the best of luck with your new adventure in life.
   — Holly B.

March 21, 2004
I'm 10 months out and seem to have stalled around 160 which is 10 lbs away from my personal goal. With excess skin, I'm sure I'm at goal. I look good in clothes and can wear from a size 4 to an 8 depending on the clothing manufacturer. Satisfied? I should be, but I'm not. I work out 6 days a week at the gym... 1 hour of intense cardio, and 20 minutes of weight training (weight training 4 days a week). Maybe when plastics are done I'll be satisfied. Surprisingly, it's not my stomach that hangs, but my legs and upper arms. When I look at my back, I see ribs and spine sticking out... when I look at my front, ,I see flat hangy boobs and a protruding sternum. I'm not unhappy... it shows me now I have bones and that makes me happy, but I still get "urked" at that "160" on the scale. Lisa A. Lap RNY 5/13/03 291/160/150 -131
   — Happy I.

March 21, 2004
Goal "weight" is something we set that may or may not be achieveable. This process is not 100% in your control. I'm at my goal, 200 lbs but I set a goal that I knew was achieveable (revised it from 250-200 after 6 months and already at 290) and more importantly maintainable! Your final goal should be based on how you feel and what you are able to do. It's the quality of life that should make that final determination, in my opinion. <p>By the height weight charts I should weigh 156 as I'm 5'9. It ain't gonna happen. My upper body is slightly more than a skeleton with skin as it is, very little fat over the bones, so tbey show more than I care to have them. Not to mention without padding over the bones it can get painful at times as the bones end up hitting everything. I could stand to lose more from my thighs down, but there is no way to control it so I am staying basically where I am. I went into a lower body lift at 217 and came out at 198, based on the 19 lbs of skin they removed. I have yet to weight less than 200 due to fluid etc. I have 2 more PS's to do and I suspect around 12 lbs will come off and that puts me in the 180's, so that's it for me. If I got to an "ideal" weight I might make some chart maker happy but I know I would not be happy. I would be so self conscious of my body being so undernourished looking. Everyone keeps telling me I am skinny at 200 lbs, can't imagine what they would say at 156. Even my WL surgeon said than 180 should be the absolute bottom for me, based on how I carry my weight. So I will never make it into a normal BMI category but just being in the overweight category is something I haven't experienced since like about age 11, so I'm way more than happy. <p>Numbers on a scale is not what makes us happy. Sometimes we have to accept that our bodies know what's best and trying to force it there might end up working against us. <p>One last thing, if the 1200 calories is right then you are eating 76 grams of fat. Try eating more protein and cutting back on some fat. That might get things moving a little more, but at 17 months PO things are going to be very slow. You have done wonderfully, so enjoy life and don't sweat the lbs. Like you said PS will take care of some of it and maybe that's all you are meant to lose. To me it's not worth living on a diet in order to get to some number that just isn't meant to be. Good Luck!
   — zoedogcbr

March 21, 2004
Our MO bodies work hard to adjust to the excess weight. Strong heavy leg muscles and bones. Think of our pre op lower bodies as being weight lifters 24/7. All the extra bones and strong muscles are heavy, which helps prevent of from getting to chart weight. The number on a scale is just that a number... What matters is our we healthier? Thats what WLS is all about getting healthy!
   — bob-haller

March 22, 2004
I know exactly how you feel. You and I are just about the same-- except I'm 5'6". My goal is 155 (per my surgeon) and I'm at 182 right now (have been for the last 3 or 4 months). I have slacked on the gym thing. I'm thinking a panni will also take care of maybe 10 pounds. But you know what? I don't think you and I are that far from our goal weight at all. What's a measly 30 pounds (20 if the TT helps)compared to the 130 pounds we've already lost? Sounds like you're doing everything right-- I don't eat that many carbs-- maybe you could replace some of that with more protein? You're taking a day off between weight training days, right? Maybe do a lower intensity but longer cardio workout only 3 or 4 days a week? Have you talked with your trainer about this? Maybe he or she can make some more intense modifications? I wish the numbers on the scale didn't irritate me (and you) so much, but the numbers don't tell the whole story. Even if you don't reach the "goal weight", by working out the way you are, you're going to be healthy no matter what. Good luck!
   — lizinPA

March 22, 2004
I'm 18 months out and haven't made ideal weight and have strong doubts that I ever will. I started at 360 and I range around 179 to 183 now. To get out of the overweight category, I need to get under 170 and this site lists my idea weight as 156. Am I bothered by this? A little - but in a good way, I think. Really, if I can maintain where I am, I'll be pretty happy but I think it's good that I have this goal that I'd like to lose 10-15 more. Maybe it keeps me honest and from being too self-content and reckless, if you know what I mean! I have the same problem as a poster down below. I honestly don't see how I can lose much more in my upper body, and it won't look good if I do, but that's where it comes from first! If I get plastic surgery, I think it will take care of most of the excess pounds and I'll be much more pleased with my body. I'm mostly in size 12s now, sometimes a 14 and once in a while a 10. I'd like to be solidly a size 10, because that's medium and that says to me "average" or "normal" which is all I really ever wanted, LOL! But if I never lost another pound, I'd consider the operation an overwhelming success, and I do worry that if I lost much more I wouldn't be able to maintain it comfortably anyway, and I'd only yo-yo up and down. So I think it's good that you keep trying to get to goal and set that challenge for yourself, as long as you take satisfaction and joy in what you've already accomplished. We all might never end up at ideal weight, but then we usually look like we weigh much less than we do and I think how you feel and look is more important than the number on the scale.
   — sandsonik

March 26, 2004
I am 15 months post op and down 160 pounds. My start weight was 345 and ideally I am supposed to weigh 147 pounds. But if I don't lose another pound I will be happy the way I am. I don't look like I weigh 185 pounds and when I tell people I still want to lose 20 pounds or so they look at me like I have two heads. I may not look that big with my clothes on, but it's not a pretty sight with them off. All of this extra skin makes me feel like I still weigh 345 pounds. 12/23/02 345/185
   — tat1997

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