Questions for those who have 2 + years in DS land

So when I started this journey the Surgeon advised on his website that between the 18 and 24 months, your body finds is natural weight (if you have followed the rules). So I am a month shy of my 2 year anniversary. At my lowest I was 165 and I have been currently tracking between 176 and 182 for the last 6 months. Goal weight was 170. So is this “natural weight" thing true? Do you guys think my body has found its place?  Has anyone else found that they gained around this time? Is this natural?  I know this sounds silly but just this 10 pounds – I find it almost depressing and I am more critical of my body image which had never been an issue for me before but now it is like – Argh look at those thighs and tummy.  Realistically I look great for my height and am in a size 8, 10, 12 depending on the style so AWESOME – this is my rational self…..but there is a part of me that see’s myself in the mirror and thinks – what is up with those thighs? Is this normal for where I am in my journeyn  - Both with the 5 pounds up and down and the emotions that are with it?

I might mention that I have found out recently that I am now in perimenopause.  Whatever I am feeling now might not even be related the DS Journey but hormones but I wanted to reach out and see if I could get some advise and support. Thank you in advance.

 Hi!  I think you have done amazing :)  My  lowest was 136 and I am now at about 145-150, so yes I had that 10 pound regain and it doesnt matter what I eat thats just where I stay.  Very recently I have added about 5 pounds (the 150 from the 145)  but I know that if I cut back on my carbs just a little bit I will lose that quickly.  Up until this recent time I really sat about 145 all the time.  

I see myself naked and think I look horrible but then put on clothes and feel great!  I think you are normal, at least I hope so because I want to be normal too :)

Thank you Kristi

 MY lowest weight was 116, and it only lasted for about two weeks.    I weighed in the 120-122 range for the longest time, and at about 2.5 years out, I popped up to about 125.   I now seem to weigh in the 123-127 range pretty consistently.    At my age (50) I really needed those few extra pounds.    

I hit an all-time low of 132 just past my first year surgiversary. I slowly gained back to 145-147 and have sat here for about 6 months (I'm 2 years out next week).

I'm almost 23 months out.  I hit 139 and then stayed under 142 for several months then I gained up to about 145 and stayed there a while.  THEN I hit 149 and had a major freak out and have been seriously low-carbing since June 3.  My weight has not flown off but I have lost about 3 lbs in those 3 weeks.  My personal goal is to see 139 again.  But realistically it may not happen.  145 is the top of what I will tolerate and I hope to at least settle in between 140 and 145.  But if I eat too many carbs I know I will creep up towards 149 again so I have to be pretty rigorous about what I eat.

I am sure that if I was happy in the 150s I wouldn't have to watch my carbs so carefully. 

~Becky

You have had a wonderfully successful journey it looks like to me.  We really are our own worst critics. I think that we wouldn't be 100% honest if we said, "Oh, I ONLY wanted to lose weight because of my health."  Of course, health is primary, but who in their right mind feels completely comfortable about their looks when they're MO, SMO, or SSMO?  Heck, even natural born skinny minnies have moments when they think they're too heavy.  Turn yourself around and give that back of yours a great big pat!

  As to the "natural weight" notion, well, IMHO, how could that be an across-the-board fact?  How can that be true if you're starting at 550#, for example, and you have have 400# to lose, and 18 months p/o you're down to 300 and still losing, sometimes a pound a week, sometimes none, sometimes 4?  Somehow just doesn't seem too logical to make such a broad statement.  The farther along, sure, the loss slows, even seems to flatten, but if we don't let Sugar **** jump into bed with us every night and Carbo Man take us dancing all day long, then we WILL eventually get to where we want to go, and by golly, even stay pretty close to that for the rest of our lives. 

I think that while we're heavy, we tend to avoid the mirror, avert our eyes when we walk in front of store windows, and sometimes we won't even undress *near* a mirror.  After surgery, suddenly this changes.  We watch ourselves through a microscrope focused not only on pounds, but ounces.  Scales become the arbiter of our emotions.  Uh oh!  Up a pound. Uh Oh, nada, zip, stalled for a couple of days/weeks/a month.  Yikes! 
. 
The DS is the emperor of all WLS, but even with it as our armor, there are limits to the battles we can win.  Eventually, we will not prevail if we chow down on 200+g of carbs a day day after day.  Count on it. 

I understood that there could be regain after a few years, so I refused to accept where my beloved surgeon thought I should stop.  Instead, I focused on being 10% below the low end of my weight range.  That has served me well. 

At my lowest, which was about 5 years p/o, I weighed 114# because I was traveling and not eating enough.  When I got home, I put back around 5#.  Today, I float between 119 - 123.  "They" (LOL) say I need to put on another 10, but, I don't want to because I just don't feel comfortable at that weight. They threaten "enzymes" and I just say, "Oh, heck, that's what chocolate malts are for." 

I have observed over the years that those of us *****ally love our carbs (and, frankly, are there very many of us who don't?) and start the day with toast, rolls, etc., will tend to not have such an easy time getting to goal, and will also tend to gain more easily. 

There are so very many factors that effect outcome, age, diet, exercise, and so on, that instead of taking a precut pattern and trying to fit it on us all in some sort of mystically determined fashion, the reality, it seems to me, would be better found in the fabric of what *we* want for ourselves, and what "we're" willing to do get the right fit for ourselves.

Thank you so much to all those *****sponded.  It may seem like a small thing to you but I really needed you guys today.

I feel so relieved and I will just stick to the program and not get discouraged.

Thank you for the support - it is nice to know I am not alone.

In my close circle, I am the one who had surgery before the other three so I appreciate you all reinforcing that I am right on track.

yeah!