4.5 months out - half way to goal!

I had my surgery on 3/29 at a BMI of 35. My surgeon's goal is 150lbs, and he wants me there by 10 mo post opt. My goal is 115 (I'm very small boned) and I want to be there by post opt 1 yr.

This morning I weighed in at a smidge under 160lbs, which means I'm half way to my goal, and ten lbs from my surgeon's goal!

Most of my goals are more physical than weight focused but that number on the scale is so damn easy to track that it can't help but feel important.

Here on OH, my goals were to run a mile without stopping by late August, and I can run almost 4 miles without stopping!

I know that losing the last half of the weight will be FAR HARDER than the first half, but I'm so excited to be this close! And yes my valued vets, I do know that keeping all the weight off will be far harder than losing it in the first place.

My main goal is to arrive at my personal weight loss goal, already living a very sustainable life that incorporates much more physical activity than I had in my obese life and a very healthy and sustainable diet. I want to use this honeymoon phase to build the long term lifestyle needed to sustain and enhance the benefits of this short term fix.

My "improved" lifestyle goals includes the following:

1. Walk/Bike to work 2 to 3 times a week. (currently biking to work twice a week)
2. Swim laps 2 to 3 times a week. (doing this now)
3. Run 2 miles or more 2 to 3 times a week. (doing this now)
4. Walk my dog a minimum of 2 miles every day. (Puppy will need to grow into this, borrowing sister's dog now)
5. Walk 1 hour throughout work day (building this up now - mostly a scheduling challenge)
6. Lift weights 2 days a week
7. Eat between 80 and 100 g of protein and under 50 g of carbs daily (loose calorie goals of between 900- 1300 per day long term but it will depend on my metabolism)
8. Cook my own meals 5 days per week (2 or 3 days now, mostly because I seem to live off of yogurt and protein drinks)
9. Participate in tri type events 4 times per year (first 5K in Sept, mini tri in October, first half marathon in April, open lake swim next July)
10. Plan/ pre-pay for active travel (Hiking in Nepal, SCUBA in the Red Sea, Rain-forest Restoration in South America) This is likely limited by finances but I'm going to shoot for two major trips per year, plus local to North America day and weekend trips for hiking.

HI,

Congratulations! I am really impressed by your level of physical activity! For me, that was the thing that kept my weight off until I stopped due to health issues. I am perfect about my food but horrible with the exercise.

And FYI: I own a travel agency and travel around the world 4-5 times a year. If you want active travel, book with me! LOL

I just found tickets from Chicago to Cairo for $500!!! I don't have that at the moment but I'm hoping they'll still be there when I do!

Oh are you going to love flying! Just wait until your fasten your seat belt for the first time after surgery!!!

I'm so jealous; how amazing that you got to travel around the world once, let alone 4-5 times a year! Wow!

I'm worried about having something happen that will end my exercise dense lifestyle goals. I just signed up for a running class that will start in Sept, and is all about safe running technique. The focus is on pre and post work out with warm ups and stretching etc... and the instructor is a marathon running machine who has never had a running injury. I told him how slow I am (over 17 minute miles) and see seems to think I'll still do OK in the program.

Was your health issue caused by your physical activity? Any advice?

Congrats! I will say, as a fellow light weight, that the second half of my time to goal was no harder than the first. It's actually been harder to stop losing and start maintenance than anything else.

I love hearing this!!!

I'm trying to prepare for the horrors I hear from most veterans here on OH, so it's very refreshing to hear this positive side from you :)

I've been getting a lot of (well meaning) angst from folks here on OH for not sticking to the 400-600 calorie diet that is very low carb (25 g /day) and very strict on any non essential calories while I'm in my honeymoon stage. I make some pretty dangerous choices that I get are foolish, but aside from those, I really do want to build a wide range of healthy foods into my daily diet so that as I progress out of the weight loss stage, I'm not feeling so deprived and limited that I suddenly want to "cheat" with carbs. I'd rather have some fruit, some veggies, the occasional whole grain bread and/or pasta in my diet now, while I'll lose either way, and then add some calories back in as I near or pass my goal weight.

If it's as impossible as the vets say to maintain after the honeymoon phase, I'll make any adjustments that are needed. I will be successful if it means I eat 500 calories a day post weight loss, for the rest of my life - I just hope very much that if I build this active life and healthy varied diet, I won't have to!

Well, to be fair I think some of the ease I've had is because I've been so compliant with "the plan". I very slowly crept my way to 600-800 calories and didn't average 700+ until after 6 months out. My regular diet still contains no grains at all and is low carb. Now that I'm working towards maintenance I'm getting 950-1050 calories per day. I had an RMR done and at this point, I have not quit losing with those calories. I figure it will take me a few weeks to get to a point where I stop. I did cut my loss in half from last month. Now that I'm in maintenance I've had bites of things that were off plan, but I don't do bread, pasta, rice, etc in my planned food at all. For me, it works best to make home a "safe zone" where I don't bring in things I shouldn't eat and don't allow myself those things either. That way if I want to have something when I go out, which for my lifestyle isn't often, I can.

I was originally working out really hard, but I opted to cut back because I didn't feel like I could continue to maintain the level of work out I was doing long term. I work full time, have two children (8 & 11), and I'm enrolled in a degree program. So, now I'm doing 2 days per week with my trainer and also getting in plenty of walking/hiking as part of being a generally active family. I'm thinking I'll enroll in a lunch break kettle bell class when the semester starts.