Fun with medical professionals

Oh enjoy your massage!

Don't stress about the voice in your head.  You are dedicated to this.  At the end of the day, I think our bodies decide where we should end up -- obviously we need to do the work or we can sabotage that.  I think it is really hard to understand/decide what our goals should be.  You got this!

My massage was glorious.  I kept thinking, "Oh, I should ask my therapist how she's been this last month, but I'm too relaxed to move my mouth."  :P  It's amazing how much better I feel now than I did when I started getting massages in December 2013.  Massages used to leave me sore and achy and now I just feel amazing and relaxed.  

The voice in my head is a nasty bugger :P  

ohhhh I think I need a massage.... but this pinched nerve in my ASS is kicking my tail.

the same thing just happened to my husband. He's going to see a spine specialist tomorrow. However, he tells me that the heating pad is really helping. I hope you feel better. That's not fun at all!

Massages are the best invention to mankind.  

Okay, here's the trick to interpreting what the doc said....

They are not really interested in your final weight, they are interested in reducing your medical risk.

So in simple terms, extreme obesity is like a train wreck waiting to happen, it's just a matter of time.  However, by reducing your weight from it's starting point, down to 180 pounds, you've more than likely reduced your medical risk by 90% or more (that's a real percentage and not a guestimate).  In their eyes, that's enough.  Especially when you factor in the positive lab results which just confirmed the risk reduction.

So, the rest of the weight loss comes down to vanity, more or less, and we all have some degree of it.  Your thoughts aren't unlike so many of us here on OH.

You are probably right that 180 is a number you can beat.  I tend to believe that most of us can get to a normal BMI.  It really takes a lot of excess skin to prevent that from being possible, but there are some who will struggle with it.  Mostly we're all just so conditioned to have low expectations that reaching a normal BMI seems like a huge dream.  Fear of failure also sets in and gets compounded often by past weight loss failures.  Bear in mind that the journey to a fully normal BMI can take time and may come with a few bumps in the road.

Now, whether the 120 is doable or not depends on a series of factors, some of which you can't even evaulate until you see where you're sitting when you reach a 25.0 BMI.  Remember, you might not appreciate this comment right now, but being skinny isn't really the goal.  You can get skinny and not look healthy (or "good").   You will need the right muscle tone for the best look, and trust me when I say that is what you really want.

The range of from the top to the low end of BMI tends to vary by 40 pounds or so.  That would make an observer think there's plenty of space to operate in.  However, how you fit into that range depends highly on what your body fat percentage is as you reach a normal BMI.  Once you reach that range you will only have so much "fat" to work with, and you just aren't going to be able to go lower than certain percentages no matter how hard you try.  However, once you reach that point you can do some calculations which will help you determine what might be possible from an optimal point of view.  That should give you perspective on whether 120 is doable for you or needs to be adjusted.

Lastly, just remember, if you reach that point you've already won the battle, but staying there will be twice as hard as getting there.  The more important thing (beyond the medical improvements) will be how you look and getting fit.  Neither of those factors will be determined by a scale measurement.

Thank you for sharing your opinion.  I'm not very interested in getting skinny, but I do want to be athletic.  :D  It's why I have so many goals on my journey - I figure I can reevaluate as I get closer and figure out what the best weight (and, imo more importantly, body fat) will be.  

I'm just amused by my doctor's comments.  I wasn't expecting them from her!

I'm going to post a help picture in a few minutes under a new tread.  Check it out, I've found it to be a very accurate translation of body fat percentages.  It will help with the perspective you're looking for.

I've found this post to be very helpful when I've been thinking about body fat -- http://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men- women/

That's the best one, it's been a fairly good predictor for me.  I was trying to post a copy of it, but the upload compatability isn't working at the moment.

The scale won't work for everyone but it does a great job of putting in context what each percentage means for women and men.  You also have to factor in some adjustments based on age, amount of weight loss, likely skin elasticity, etc.

Based on the chart, and a pile of scale data via my Fitbit Aria, I built a table that pretty much nailed exactly what I could and couldn't loose.  Eventually, the body fat percentage lock you down at a certain minimum weight.  That's what I noticed on my first run through.

I'm currently retesting those limits based on some nutrition and fitness alterations.  My hypothesis is that I will end up more or exactly how my table predicted, only this time I'll have more muscle and less body fat.  If all goes as planned, that will translate to two less inches on the waist.  I'll let you know in two months LOL.