I went to the surgeon today for my nine-month check-up. She seemed please with my progress except (always!) she wants me to exercise more. I asked about a goal and she wanted to know what I thought. I told her 160 lbs and she said fine. She said the original goal of 130-147 is off the Metropolitan Insurance chart and that a lot of people think they are too low.

There was a bit of disagreement between the dietician and doctor on what I should be eating. I went to the dietician first and asked whether I was eating enough. I average 850-900 cal per day. She thought I should be eating more, striving for 1200 cal! She suggested adding a couple of snacks since I usually don’t snack. When I told the surgeon, she was appalled! She said what I was doing was working fine and that if I wanted to stop losing, I should up my intake. She was pleased that I was still losing about 10 lbs. per month at 9 months out. I guess I’ll play it by ear. Some days I think my metabolism is slowed down because of the low intake and when I periodically increase my calories, I seem to lose better. Maybe with the exercise, that will speed up my metabolism enough to not need more food.

Before Labor Day, I bought 6 visits with a personal trainer. The day of my first appointment, the trainer left town to go to Florida to be with his daughter. Three weeks later he was still not back and they had a new trainer. The new trainer is only working one day per week so I ended up with the club manager who is also a certified trainer. I think I got a better deal than the original. I went today for my first “real” workout after the eval. and I haven’t sweated that much in a long time! I need the push that he gives me. Hopefully after the 6 visits I will have established it as a habit and will continue on my own. I have been going to work out (without the trainer) 2-3 times per week for about six weeks. It’s hard to work it in, but I’m making an effort.

At 198 lbs (unclothed), I am now wearing a size 18W. I also have a few 16W that I can get in to. I am blessed by lots of friends who have given me clothes. My best friend has cleaned out 3 closets so far and I have bags and bags of clothes to prove it. I’m trying to off-load my larger clothes to make room for the smaller ones.