One year ago today...!

I to tally get the regain scare. Believe me, I have nightmares about it.

Yiu do whatever makes you feel comfortable that you have control over this.

People like us used food as drugs, but the problem is we can't stop eating. So we handle it however each one of us can.

I am proud of you!

Thank you so much, Sheila. I truly appreciate your understanding and support!

Au_Contraire,

I get the cushion because of unintended weight gain. Have you considered you also need a cushion in case of severe illness?

My Mom went thru this she got sick and could not eat properly... kept getting foods" stuck" refusing to digest.2 decades...post her surgery...She lost 10 lbs over 2 weeks.. She was both frail and weak...after that rapid loss.

for sweetner,I use Pyure brand Stevia, it is a natural and is processed from a certain strain of the Stevia plant that does not have as much bitterness. I have not found a plant to buy this year, but have kept them in a pot thru the winter in the house.. just take a leaf and add it to a cup of coffee. It is processed cleanly without chemicals. I get at wally world. I put a few servings in a spice shaker and drop in my purse./certain pocket...for just in case i get caught out and need a sweetner. all the others hurt my stomach...except cane sugar.. and I avoid it as well.

That's a good point, and it's why I'll have another Dexa scan at around 150 pounds to figure out just what my body fat percentage is. I definitely want to be strong, resilient and healthy!

I think a lot depends on your bones and muscles. I'm also 5'6". I weigh 150 and look fine, but I'd love to get to (or below) 145 again. At one time I was 138, but I think I looked a little too thin at that weight. 145 was ideal. My MIL is also 5'6" and weighs 110. She looks too thin, IMHO, but I think she'd look great at 130. I think 150 - or 145 - would be way too heavy for her.

anyway, I have a large frame, she has bird bones. My muscle alone (according to my DEXA scan results) weighs 117 pounds - so I'm pretty muscular, whereas she's not. As I recall, the normal BMI range for someone 5'6" is something like 114-154, so we're both technically OK (well, she's slightly under). So there's a really wide range of "normal" for any given height...

When I was in my 20's, I weighed 124 #, but I think I would probably look haggard and crypt-keeper-esque at that weight now. I really just want to be feel pretty and be healthy. I can carry weight pretty well up to 165, even 170, but anything above that immediately shifts my appearance towards the matronly and dowdy. That being said, I look better at 150 than 170, and better in the 140s than the 150s. Still I am open, all I really want is to look tall and slim (but not emaciated!), and to be strong and healthy. In any event, I have a good way still to go!

I'm 5'8" and currently weigh 123 lbs. I do not appear too haggard or crypt-looking, and am in my 50's. The best part of being slim is the major reduction of joint and arthritis pain. People who knew me as obese are the only ones that are concerned I'm too thin. My doctors are fine with my current weight and new people that meet me do not comment that I need to gain weight; they all think I look great.

OP: Don't let others shame you or negatively influence your plan to get below 150, 140, or 130. The normal BMI range for someone 5'8" is 122-164 lbs so your weight goals are well aligned.

Thanks! I will see where I feel I look best within the normal range. When I weighed what you do in my 20s (though I was a little taller then), my diet was a constant effort requiring rather extreme dietary restriction, interspersed with bouts of fasting. Though I want to be and, God willing, will be slim, I hope to find a weight at which I look and feel vital and good, and which still allows me to have a less draconian (though still very mindful) diet. I will endeavor to find my best range, then go a little under it so I have some wiggle room as I transition. I will just have to see how I look and feel, but will pay attention much more to my own analysis (plus my doc's, plus the Dexa info) rather than to anyone else's comments about me being too thin. Actually I never recall anyone saying that to me even at my thinnest, except for a couple of comments about my face looking too drawn at a couple of points when ultra-dieting in my 40s and 50s.

It's interesting that people who didn't know you when you were heavy simply accept you as naturally slender and fine, whereas some who knew you heavy object that you are too thin. Not sure what that's all about! Regardless, I admire you for transforming so profoundly and beautifully!

Congratulations! That is fabulous. Sorry I can't give up the popcorn, but eat much less than I used to pre-op.

Thank you so much, Julia! I was never that into it as a snack, so it wasn't hard to comply with what my doc said about popcorn. Yes, changing the idea from more-more-more! food as always being preferable to viewing meals as lean yet high-octane fuel, not more, is an ongoing challenge. I still find myself at times thinking about portion sizes weirdly. For instance, a while ago I bought a pound of shrimp. Really? I live by myself and bought it for my own consumption. But shrimp is highly perishable, and there is no way I could have had even half of it before it spoiled, nor would I want to! It was a miscalculation the fat girl inside of me found to be second nature. Anyway, I try to be very cognizant of those thoughts and to deliberately examine and correct them. There are so many mental and emotional components to conquering obesity!