***WARNING*** Loose skin ahead!!!

Dec 30th 2013 

Jan. 1st 2014

FIRST OF ALL HAPPY 2014!!!!

Don't you just love how much clothing can cover/hide. I'm now down 139lbs and feel great. I'm going to be honest this post has got the be the hardest for me out of any post ever because this has to be the most personal post I have ever posted. We are going under the clothing (somewhat) and revealing the dirty truth of what it looks like to loose large amounts of weight in a short time. 

O.K. here we go

It's not easy to show others how you really look but I know it's only going to be temporary. It won't be this year (at least I don't think it will be) but I will be scheduling a full body lift so that I will be able to get rid of all my excess skin. I'm also planning on having my breast lift. I have been big all my life. Yes I have gone up and down like a roller coaster but have never been a healthy size. I still remember my 8th grade picture in the college park year book when I was on the yearbook staff. I was 220lbs then. I finally decided if I was going to do this I was going all the way. I don't just want to feel good in my skin I want to feel great about all of me (and I so totally do but still have more to go). So far I have gone from morbidly obese to finally being a healthy weight (I've lost 139lbs so far). I'm proud of myself regardless.

Thighs:

I kinda wish I had taken before pictures to compare with but when you feel huge and ugly you tend to hide from the camera. Even though I have gone from a size 26 jeans to now 9-10 I still have big thighs. I know once I have the lift a lot of  this will be gone and I will actually look like I have a butt..lol. I used to have a huge hunk of meat on the inside of both my knees, Which I still have a little but no where near as much as there used to be.

Belly:

My poor belly has been through the ringer quite a few times. About 16 years ago I had to have surgery which resulted in a long scar starting at the top of my stomach and ending at the very bottom. I've has my gallbladder removed, tubal ligation, and a hernia repair as well as my first gastric bypass done laparoscopicly and then finally I had my gastric bypass repair that resulted in my having to be opened up and leaving me with another huge scar. As of right now my belly is nothing but a scared of hanging mess of loose skin. I will be so happy to have this removed and tighten. Secretly I hope most of my scar can me removed when they do my belly.

Arms:

This is one area that isn't really easy to hide 

with clothing. I've been trying to tone this area but the more I lift weights the bigger the muscle gets but the skin keeps getting saggier underneath my arms.

Neck:

All I can say is gobble gobble gobble!!! lol. This lovely dangily skin actually runs in my family I didn't get this gobble till after I starting loosing weight. My Dr. did give me hope by telling me that it for the most part would be temerary. It looks this way because I lost so much weight so fast. She told me it may take six months but since I'm still young-ish  the collagen in my face/neck will tighten up on it's own. 

 (for the most part).

This is a picture taken today of myself and my 15 yr old son standing in the pants I myself weren't even able to fit back in Jan of 2013 because they were to small. These are the only pair of fat pants I kept as a reminder of where I used to be. I was actually in a 26 when I started but somehow ended up keeping a pair of my 24s. It's mind boggling to look back at the old pictures and compare them with pictures taken today. I hardly look like the same person. I of course see myself as bigger than I am until I see photos side by side but in the mirror I still struggle with grasping the fact that I am so much smaller than I think I am. I do feel healthier, more energetic, and whole lot happier but I guess in time I will be able to accept my lighter self and see myself as I truly am. Till then thank goodness for cameras :)

BMI and SUCH

I started this journey with a BMI of 50. 48 which put my in the in the category of morbidly obese. 

BMI is over 40 (Obese Class 3 : Morbid Obesity)

**With a BMI of 40+ you have an extremely high risk of weight-related disease and premature death. Indeed, you may have already been suffering from a weight-related condition. For the sake of your health it is very important to see your doctor and get specialists help for your condition.**

After surgery not only have I kept track of my weight, I have also tracked my BMI very closely. 

  BMI (Body Mass Index) is a measurement of body fat based on height and weight that applies to both men and women between the ages of 18 and 65 years.

BMI can be used to indicate if you are overweight, obese, underweight or normal. A healthy BMI score is between 20 and 25. A score below 20 indicates that you may be underweight; a value above 25 indicates that you may be overweight.

As of today My BMI is now 24.9 and that means I am no longer overweight!!!

BMI 's between 18.5 and 24.9 (Normal Weight)

**People whose BMI is within 18.5 to 24.9 possess the ideal amount of body weight, associated with living longest, the lowest incidence of serious illness, as well as being perceived as more physically attractive than people with BMI in higher or lower ranges. However, it may be a good idea to check your Waist Circumference and keep it within the recommended limits.**

As the BMI calculator suggested I then checked my waist circumference which now is 33 inches. I wish I had done this before so that I would have a past measurement to compare with. My next step was to check my waist to hip ratio.

Your waist to hip ratio is an important tool that helps you determine your overall health risk. People with more weight around their waist are at greater risk of lifestyle related diseases such as heart disease and diabetes than those with weight around their hips. It is a simple and useful measure of fat distribution.

Use a measuring tape to check the waist and hip measurements.

- Measure your hip circumference at its widest part.

- Measure your Waist Circumference at the belly button or just above it.

The Waist to Hip Ratio Calculator indicates your probable health risks. People with more weight around the waist, face more health risks than people who carry more weight around their hips.

My waist as I said measures at 33 inches and my hips are now at 41 inches. My ratio came out to be a 0.8.

Waist to Hip Ratio Chart
Male	Female	Health Risk Based Solely on WHR
0.95 or below	0.80 or below	Low Risk
0.96 to 1.0	0.81 to 0.85	Moderate Risk
1.0+	0.85+	High Risk

Your health is not only affected by how much body fat you have, but also by where most of the fat is located on your body. People who tend to gain weight mostly in their hips and buttocks have roughly a pear body shape, while people who tend to gain weight mostly in the abdomen have more of an apple body shape.

If you have an apple shaped body rather than a pear shaped body, you are at increased risk for the health problems associated with obesity, such as diabetes, coronary heart disease and high blood pressure - that's something you inherited, and have had since birth - but you can take special care to keep your weight at a healthy level, eat nutritiously, exercise as appropriate, and maintain other healthy lifestyle habits.

As long as you avoid excess weight, being an apple shaped body or a pear shaped body doesn't put you at special risk - it's just one of those things to keep in mind. And even pear shaped people should take particular care to keep their weight within normal limits, to avoid the health problems associated with obesity.

I personally have a pear shaped body as you can see in my photo above.

People with a Pear Body Shape have hips wider than their shoulders because their bodies store fat there and on the thighs. Pear shaped bodies carry their extra weight below the waistline, and do not seem to have as high a risk of developing health problems like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, ... than people with an Apple Body Shape.

Pear shaped people usually lose fat in the upper body, so their overall shape doesn't change much when they lose weight.

I was a little disappointed to read that my body won't change to much with weight loss but that still won't deter me from hitting my goal weight. I am shopping around and researching the possibility of having a full body lift about 6 mos or longer after reaching the weight I like. right now my goal weight is 130 pounds but I may go back to my original goal weight of 120 pounds. 

Right now I have 10 pounds to go and I'm pretty sure these will be the hardest 10 pounds to loose in my life. But as always I am keeping my eye on the prize. Wish me luck!!! :)

Motivate me Monday!!!

Everybody could use a little motivation.

Life has it's ups and downs but as long as you stay tough and keep your eye on the prize it will all be worth it in the end :) Keep Smiling!!