Doldrums of WLS

I was thinking about how slow my weightloss has been over the last couple of months. I am looseing approx. 10 lbs a month now.  I know that it is alot compared to other diets I have been on. But sometimes it seems like its taking forever to loose this weight.  How did you "experienced" WLSers get through these times with a good attitude about it. I have lost 134 lbs but still I am fat. I weighed 333 this morning. I think about KIX and others who are 2 years and more out and I wonder how they kept going. Not that I can stop doing this because physically I just cant eat that much. But sometimes my attitude wavers.  It also doesn't help that my Mom is in the hospital with Kidney problems.   I think I am just feeling week and need some support. 

I know how you feel I get like too.....I think I heard a few others about as far as we are out saying similar things....I lost 145 lbs and I am still fat I have another 80 lbs or so to lose and its like I can't even imagine being any smaller than I am now......But the truth is when I really look at it...The things that have changed because of the weight I have lost is really amazing...Jens 9 month post put alot into perspective for me yesterday....Look at all the things you couldn't do 7 months ago...and those 7 months went by like that!!!  How many summers did I spend in the house because I was too fat to go outside and i'm smaller yes ....farr from a "Normal" weight.....but what will it be in 7 more months?   I have a feeling its going to fly by.... keep smiling!!  I'm between 7 and 10 lbs a month too .....we are only a week apart in our surgerys :)  Estelle

It's a strange process, because the day-to-day weight changes are, all things considered, pretty small.  And since we see ourselves every day, I think it's hard to see and feel the changes.  We just continue to feel like ourselves, and like not much is different....   I think that's part of the reason people find it helpful to do 3-month, 6-month, 9-month, 12-month posts - it's a checkpoint to see just how far we have come.  Even as post-ops, we're not going to build (or unbuild!) Rome in a day, so to speak.  But by sticking with it day after day, we will see long-term, sustainable results.   One of the things I've done is keep a pre-op picture of myself on my refrigerator.  When I'm having a rough day, it helps to see where I started and how far I've come.   Perhaps some other posters will have suggestions about things they do to help manage the day-to-day doldrums of being a post-op... Keep your chin, up, girl - you really are doing great!!! Kellie

It isn't easy.  That's why I get so angry when I hear people say that WLS is the "easy way out."  There are good days and bad days, and on the bad days, I'm cross that I'm not yet below 200 lbs.  On the good days, I revel in my renewed life and all I can do now that I've lost 300+ lbs.  At my last WLS support group, I listened to some woman grouse that she was ONLY down to 160 lbs.  I thought, "Bint, I'd walk naked through Kaiser if I weighed 160 lbs."    When you're having a bad attitude day, just keep walking down your WLS path one step at a time.  Eventually, the day will be over and the next day will be better.  I've had times in my life where I had to adopt that philosophy and the next day wasn't better, or the next, but eventually, the next day was better and I survived.  I'll send good thoughts your way for you and your mom, and we're here for you any time you need us (and any time you don't too!) Kix

Great post Kix...I don't know if that helped her.....but it sure helped me!!!!!!!!  Thank you!!!!  HUGS

Its really tough sometimes.  I am struggling with the same things.  I've been in this process for more than a year now and I'm just reaching the weight that a lot of WLS surgery patients are STARTING at.  Its hard not to be down about that sometimes - I definitely have my days (yesterday).  Honestly, once clothing finally started changing sizes it helped a little, but its so confusing.  I look in the mirror and don't see a difference, even though I know there is one.  I am genuinely surprised when I am no longer the biggest person in a room.  Like you I am losing 6-10lbs a month now (from about month 6) and sometimes it seems like soooo little, but just think, that means in less than a year you'll be down another hundred lbs.  That's a lot of lbs, and it took a heck of a lot longer than a year to put it on, I bet.  All I can say is day to day.  Kix is right on the money there.  And when you have a bad day, whether it be your outlook on life, food mistakes, life mistakes, whatever - the next day is a fresh start.  I am really trying to look at things that way, especially when I have a bad day.  Concentrate on the little things, a lb at a time.  Every time I buckle the seat belt I smile.  Every time I take a flight of stairs I try to remember how it used to feel when I got to the top, out of breath and straining.  I make myself remember every single day so I can try to see the positives that have come from all this.  If I never lost another lb, I'd still be a lot happier than I was.  I wish you and your mother the best, and hope tomorrow is better.

This is why I love this forum so much... You all are such inspirations..  Tommi you don't realize what an inspiration you were by posting this discussion.. 10 lbs a month is close to or more than double what the average person losses in a month.. Most people would give their right arm (literally) to loose 10 lbs in a month.. And to loose 134 lbs would be a dream to most non-WLS people... What you have accomplished is magnificant..  Were all going to have our 'stinkin thinkin' days... when we need our friend .. our true friends to be honest with us and tell us the truth (that is coming from my own personal stinkin thinkin this morning.. where I got slapped in the head with a reality check from one of my BFF's).. and Kix thank you for putting it in perspective for all of us.. No today may not be a good day, nor tomorrow but there will be more good days than bad days and the only thing we can do is keep plugging along...  All I can say is (and no this wasn't an original thought on my part)....  "Inch by inch.... Life's a cinch..... Yard by Yard... Life is hard"... Let's worry about our inches and not not so much about our yards... I need to work on that one too.

I needed to hear that you all go through this too!!!!  Sometimes I think I am in this alone.  I feel ungratefull at times, I know I should be thrilled about being given this opportunity.  Yesterday my son said gee mom your not Fat anymore.  What?????  I am still Fat. But to him I seem more normal. Just like the seat belt, I can wear it now and with room to spare.  I am going to focus on the positives.  I just need you all to help me once in a while. Thanks for your support!!!

I'm still fat, too.  My family keeps telling me I'm shrinking, but all I see are fat thighs.  When I bought a bunch of clothes recently at the Lane Bryant sale, I bought size 18 blouses and jacket.  18!  I haven't worn an 18 in anything since my pal Dunnybocter was born.  Kix