JulieSHelms Member

Thanks fmps5. Nicest. Compliment. Ever! Over the whole journey, women have been vocal, but very few comments from men. Thanks to everyone for your encouraging words. I have gone from decades of feeling at worst hideous and at best invisible, to now feeling...normal (if that makes sense). It makes all the sacrifice and hard…

Send me a friend request. I think the PM system isn't working reliably right now.

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Compared to others I talked to, my recovery was very fast. But to be specific here is how it went: I was actually supposed to go home the same day of surgery. But as the dr. was filling out my discharge papers I began to bleed through a drain hole. That man stood there in his suit and tie ready to go home, for an hour,…

Is 3/4 all still for belly? Men don't usually have butt issues.

I love how you clarified which dimples you were referring to--Lol! The ones south of the border are gone now. :D

Ha! I got you beat on that one--10 years ago (at 275 lbs) I had a reduction because, well, watermelons, and that was 9 lbs of breast tissue removed! (3.5 on one and 5.5 on the other, so very lopsided watermelons :s )

I do a lot of weight training and my arms aren't bad. Probably this is a genetic thing--but the weights have got to help. Here is a pic of me from behind. You can see the little bit hanging from my arms. BTW, this pic is from a few months ago--pre-surgery, so you can see the extra padding around my middle [that'd be all…

I forgot to mention in my original post--total weight for skin removal was 3.5 lbs. What a bummer--I thought for sure there were 20 extra lbs hanging there--sure felt like it!

He would agree with you. He wasn't at all arrogant but at my consult he encouraged me to visit with other plastic surgeons. He said--"But you won't find a better one in this state (PA), well maybe in Philadelphia...No, not even there. But please go visit around." Lol.

Hi Rachel, If you are ok with maintenance friends, send me an FR. I found the community here at MFP very helpful through my journey! 5'8" SW 300 CW/GW 170

Hi Rachel. I'm actually in maintenance now but found great support here at MFP throughout my journey. 5'8" SW 300 CW/GW 170 Feel free to send me a FR if maintenance friends are ok. :smile:

I lost 130 lbs eating one serving of hershey kisses every day. 190 calories but it kept me on task till the end and I never felt deprived! ETA: Ha, that sort of sounded like that was ALL I ate. My point was I fit them into my daily calorie goal. :smile:

I don't know if it's because I don't have a photobucket account, but I don't see any pictures here...

Apparently I represent the upper end of the spectrum on here--all these weights look so low to me. I'm 5'8" and 170 (down from 302). Since I am technically still 'overweight' according to the BMI chart, but friends and family were universally telling me to stop-I went to a dr. to sort it out. He told me to stop losing,…

Hey Sara, I don't think I have a naturally healthy relationship with food, so I continue to track it on MFP even though I've been in maintenance for 8 months--I'm afraid of reverting to my old ways if I don't keep intentional about it. As long as I'm paying attention I do fine. That's my big whopping advice--keep tracking!…

5'8" 302 lbs down to 165 lbs I lost the first 50 with reduced carb and no calorie counting or exercise for 9 months. Then hit a wall. Joined MFP (CICO only) and the gym and lost final 85 in 8 months.

Hi, American here...but of Scottish ancestry (MacAskill from Skye). Does that count? :wink:

I was a little discouraged today when swimming laps. I had to stop after half an hour because of some tendonitis in my arm. I normally aim for 45 minutes. As I was getting out of the pool, the woman in the next lane over stopped me and told me that she was amazed at my endurance. We got talking and I told her all about MFP…

Hey y'all. If any of you are discouraged about the amount of weight in front of you to lose, please see my post. It can be done. YOU CAN DO IT! I never thought I would be able to, but I did it and have maintained about 9 months now. Persevere!! My journey:…

I lost 135 and have been maintaining for about 8 months now. My first piece of advice is not to focus on that 120 number. Break it into smaller increments (maybe 10 or 20 lbs) and celebrate the reaching of each goal. As time passes you will suddenly see that all those increments added up! Also, realize you aren't going on…

Oh, that's good to know! I don't have a clue what my bf is but it isn't anywhere near 12%, maybe 20%. Which at .8 g would be 108g. Pretty close to my daily 100 if I just figured that all out right. :smile:

Same problem here. Much of what I've heard/read is that for strength training I should be aiming for 1gm protein/lb. I weigh 170, so 170 g of protein is called for. I have no clue how to practically get that much protein without going over calories (1500). I am happy if at the end the day I hit 100g.

I had an emergency microdiscectomy. (L5-T1 [I have an extra vert.]) It was for a completely extruded disc with three pieces traveling down my spine. Loss of bladder/bowel control was imminent. I can't comment on the exercise following surgery because at the time (10 years ago) I didn't do any. But my recovery was…

9 months ago, I was ten pounds from my final goal (-135 lbs) and decided to give running a try. I made it about a tenth of a mile on the treadmill and then wanted to die, or at least throw up. I was pretty sure this new endeavor of mine was going nowhere. But one thing losing weight taught me was to never give up, never…

I started at 48 and finished (-130 lbs) at 50 1/2. I walked into a gym for the first time in my life on my 50th birthday. I still had 80 lbs to go, still morbidly obese. It has been the best thing I've ever done (weight loss and discovering working out). Wish I had done it decades ago, but I get a kick out of knowing I am…

I agree with what everyone is saying. I started at 300 lbs and didn't get to 1200 calories till somewhere like 210 lbs. I think I started at 1750 calories.

130 lb lost over 2 years 8 months in maintenance now. I still love working out--strength training 3-4x/week, running 3x/week, swimming 1-2x/week. Going in for skin removal surgery this month, since I have a large quantity around my stomach, butt, and thighs. The dr. said I've gotten rid of as much as I can through diet and…

This IS an odd statement. Just looking at the human beings around you, you can see there are differences in frame size. I'm 5'8 and 165 lbs (overweight on the BMI chart). I was upset that after a 135 lb loss I could not lose any more--just hit a brick wall. But everyone kept telling me to stop losing weight, that I looked…

Take back control. You CAN do this, because you are the one in charge. And do it now while you are still young! I didn't start to lose my weight till I was 49--I wish I had started a decade or two earlier. It won't be easy and it won't be overnight, but it is completely doable one step at a time. Feel free to friend me if…