I hit my 4 month surgiversary on my 45th birthday - and also made it halfway to my goal that day - 61 out of 122 pounds lost in total!!

During month 4 my weight loss seemed very, very slow - I lost 6 pounds total - and I was feeling very frustrated. After a few delays, I did get started last week on a serious exercise program with a personal trainer - 2 days of weight machines / free weights (with trainer for now) and 3 - 5 days of cardio: at least one hour of swimming, water aerobics, treadmill, elliptical, bicycle, or walking.

For what it's worth, only one week into the routine, I have dropped two pounds and am seeing a reduction in measurements as well. It will be interesting to see how this effects weight and soze lost during this month. I have been eating a bit more - now that I am being much more active than before, I have been feeling a lot hungrier - but I am still focusing on protein and limiting carbs.

I have pre-purchased a couple of items in size 14 - jeans and a smashingly gorgeous red rainjacket for the fall. I am solidly into an 18W now, from a 26 pre-op, and I am confident that these will fit for the fall and probably into the winter.

Labs came back and look pretty good, although I am meeting with a chiropractor / nutritionist this week to fine tune some things - to me my iron and B12 seem a little low, though within normal limits, and my D3 was high. I didn't have pre-op levels for these, so I don't know until my next set of labs if things are trending low. I have always been slightly anemic, so I am increasing my iron and B12 for now, and then we'll see how the next labs, at 6 months, look.

I was happy to see that liver function tests, kidney function tests, fasting glucose, and lipid profile all look good and have improved since the last time they were checked.

I am going to be in the UK for a week at the beginning of July and am looking forward to surprising friends who have not seen me since before my surgery!

I lost a total of 9 pounds this month, despite a 16 day stall. Today my weight is 227, from a high of 282 (weight on day of surgery = 269), for a total of 55 pounds lost!

Measurements: See attached spreadsheet.

Since surgery I have lost a total of:
6 inches from my bust,
9 inches from my waist,
9.5 inches from my hips
11 inches from my ribcage, and
9 inches from my thighs
Plus forearms, calves etc have all lost as well...

BMI has dropped from 42.9 to 34.5.

Average nutrition for this month:

Average daily calories: 722.8
Fat: 32.1g / 38.9% of daily calories
Fiber: 7.2g
Carbohydrate: 30.5g / 16% of daily calories
Protein: 85.4g / 45.4% of daily calories

Flew to Southern California to see my dad last week and 1) fit easily into airplane seat, with extra room in the seatbelt;   2) spent 10 hours walking all over Disneyland with no fatigue and minimally sore feet - NO arthritis pain!; and 3) lost weight on vacation (three pounds in a week). Pretty cool!

Still walking and swimming. Have decided to buy 5 sessions with a personal trainer as my reward for 50 pounds lost. My arms and thighs are looking REALLY flabby!