Omega's journey

Hey Margaret,
So happy to hear that everything seems a-ok with you! You've lost so much weight, how did you stop from getting loose skin? Yay on your boob job! How exciting! *Sigh* I haven't been able to fit into a Victoria's Secret bra in months!

Congrats on the new low! Also, I should mention, I have replaced my Flax oil with the fish oil you recommended, I ran out today, so your timing was impeccable!
 
Thanks for visiting.

Kelly
Now you can see why I tell you that cuddly girls with a mission to lose weight are lucky if they are pear shaped! Although my tummy and hips have some loose skin - they have a lot less than my boobs. I think it is because they are weighted with whatever contents are left. I have to say that my boobs do sometimes feel heavy if I do not have a very supportive bra on. Luckily Bravissimo caters really well for the bigger sizes like that. Not everywhere has bras that go up to 36J. I have been pretty lucky with my arms. I did little exercises with hand / wrist weights every day since last summer and it meant that my upper arms got more muscle than flab. I shared photos a couple of weeks ago on page 124 of my diary. Unfortunately I have not been able to do any exercises with handweights for the past 16 days since my operation and I can see my arms looking more flabby already. I will start my exercises again when I am allowed to do so - and I am sure that they will be ok again.

Kimberly
I think that the doctor was a bit disgusted that she had not been told anything. It is 26 days since the ultrasound - surely that is long enough to get an email. I honestly dont think it was her fault - just the system! The idea of getting a boob job on the NHS is great - it finally looks like I will get some return on all the money I have paid in over the years with precious little to show for it. They have done a great job over the past 20 years of acting as gatekeepers. You can tell that I am no longer a "second class citizen" to them. What a difference a BMI change makes around here. So wrong really - but the way it is!

You make the prospect of tummy tuck surgery sound most appealing. I think that I will get the boob job out of the way before I think about any other cosmetic surgery. She had no idea of how long I would have to wait for a boob job so the queue might be comparitively short or it may be quite long. In all honesty - I have no idea how a boob job would reduce my weight and I am near enough to my goal - that I would be happy to have the free surgery at any time. It might push me to nearer goal and I really dont think there would be a problem if I lost a bit of weight afterwards. It is tricky when you have no idea whether you would have to wait 3 months or 2 years. I dont want to delay getting on the queue in case the rules change and I no longer have a case for getting it done on the NHS.

Thanks for the congratulations on getting a new low. If we could have a new low because we want one and have worked hard we would get them most days. In my experience there is a lot of luck attached to when they come along. The fact that they happen is hard work - the timing is pure chance. Thankfully they coincided with the challenge.

Carrie
I am pleased that you have got your oils all sorted out now.
In all honesty - I do have loose skin - but it is frankly less than I would have expected to have (or many people say deserve to have) at this stage. It is surreal to think that my skin used to contain effectively an extra person my size since I am half my start weight. I have adopted pretty much everything that I have ever seen recommended as beneficial for skin in weightloss.
- I drink my water (1 fluid ounce for every 2 pounds of my weight) which calculates out to be quite a lot of water and we all struggle with it at first. The good thing is that as you lose weight the calculation gives an ever smaller result so the task gets easier as you go on. If you cannot handle the quantity - the concept of "as much as you can drink" holds really well.
- I take all the vitamins / supplements that I have ever seen recommended for the skin in weight loss. In addition to omega-3 fish oil I have seen zinc and starflower oil recommended. I also take a good general daily multivitamin and some other supplements.
- I believe in massage helping the skin. Until I had my op I was very good about doing daily creaming. I have let things lapse since then. My creaming was as follows:
---morning use of day-time moisturiser on face and neck
---bedtime use of night-time moisturiser on face and neck
---bio oil massage to abdomen officially twice a day but it went down to once a day in Autumn.
---body lotion massage of thighs
---body lotion massage of buttocks
---body lotion massage of upper arms
---firming cream massage of breasts
In addition I believe that factors such as genetics, your age and whether or not you smoke affect the skin's elasticity. Unfortunately I am 48 so that works against me. On the positive side - I have never smoked.

Take care
Love
Margaret
 
Thursday 01/05/08


General Data:

Morning walk = about 7.0 miles
Round the block = 3 times plus
Extra exercises = none
Weight = 10st 5.6 lbs (i.e. 145.6 pounds)
Steps = 26,596
Distance = 10.28 miles
Remembered to take normal vitamin / supplements
No creaming regime – apart from morning / evening moisturising face
No ankle exercises

My Food / Drink:

Basic eating plan

1 banana 2g prot
3 weetabix, sweetener, 350 ml skimmed milk 17.3g prot
1 handful honey shreddies 2.9g prot
1 handful honey shreddies 2.9g prot
1/2 handful honey shreddies 1.45g prot
1 clementines 1g prot
1 clementines 1g prot
1 pear 0.5g prot
1 pear 0.5g prot
1 apple 0.45g prot
40 grapes 0.9g prot
2.5 litres of cold water
some diet cola

Salmon fillet 33g prot, sweetcorn 4.4g prot, peas 7.2g prot, small amount of olive spread
2 plums 0.9g prot
1 plums 0.45g prot
1 plums 0.45g prot
1 kiwi fruit 0.3g prot
 
Friday 02/05/08

Calculated the speed at which I did my morning walk and I was going at approx 2.7mph. Under the circumstances (post op) I was pretty pleased with that speed. It shows that I am not pushing it – but not ambling along quite as slowly as I thought.

General Data:

Morning walk = about 7.3 miles
Round the block = 3 times plus
Extra exercises = none
Weight = 10st 5.4 lbs (i.e. 145.4 pounds)
Steps = 27,805
Distance = 10.75 miles
Remembered to take normal vitamin / supplements
No creaming regime – apart from morning / evening moisturising face
No ankle exercises

My Food / Drink:

Basic eating plan

1 banana 2g prot
3 weetabix, sweetener, 350 ml skimmed milk 17.3g prot
1 handful honey shreddies 2.9g prot
1 handful honey shreddies 2.9g prot
1 handful honey shreddies 2.9g prot
1 pear 0.5g prot
1 pear 0.5g prot
1 apple 0.45g prot
40 grapes 0.9g prot
2.5 litres of cold water
some diet cola

2 thin pork loin steaks 33g prot, baked beans 17.6g prot
1 plums 0.45g prot
1 plums 0.45g prot
1 peach 0.6g prot
1 peach 0.6g prot
 
Margaret!

A boob job on the NHS *faints*
Thats so excelent =D your GP must be one of the good ones. Well done on the new low aswell, hopefully you will get the all clear to start excercising again soon.
 
Hi Becky

I must admit - I wouldnt have thought that there was a cat's chance in hell of getting a boob job on the NHS until Camy wrote that she thought that there was a good case in my diary. I raised the points that Camy mentioned.

I think that it will be another month before I get the all clear to exercise again - but I am happy now that I have my walking at a decent level. I know that I wont get fat if I watch my food and walk 10 miles a day - and I should still get some weightloss.

Take care
Love
Margaret
 
Hi :)

That's great news abt the boob job! Im glad you are healing well from the op - cant believe that you are walking 7 miles so soon after! I love reading your diary, you have lost so much weight and have lots of great advice :)

Does Bio-oil work? I have heard some great things aboout it but thought it sounded too good to be true!

Allie x
 
I agree that it's a good idea to get on the waiting list for the breast reduction asap. God knows how long they'll make you wait. :rolleyes:

I have done a little bit of research, and it looks like the cost of the loose skin removal here in the States would be between 2500-5000 pounds depending on what you had done. By the time you are ready to have that surgery, we should definitely have a house.hahha...so you would be more than welcome (Rod too) to recuperate with us if you'd like. :)

Well done on the challenge. You did a fantastic job. You lost 12lbs!! :party:
 
:party:Looking great, Margaret! I checked out your pics on p 124 and YOU LOOK FANTASTIC!!! Well done! And what great news that you may get your reduction surgery covered by your health insurance - that would be grand. You mentioned someone traveling all the way to Vancouver for a tummy tuck - do you mean Vancouver BC, just 4 hours from where I live? If you were to go that route, I truly would make the trip out there to meet you in person :grouphug:

Keep up the great work! congratulations on your new low!

Best wishes
Janice
 
Thanks for visiting.

Allie
Thanks for the compliments. My recovery has gone so well because I have become so fit over the past year. It truly is amazing how a very very big lady can turn herself into an unlikely athlete by simply building up exercise (in particular walking) from nothing and by eating healthily. I was told at a gym in January that I was in "tip top shape" - but the operation has really shown that was correct. I wanted to get my walking back at decent levels after my op and really could not have hoped to bring it back any sooner.

It is difficult to say about bio-oil! My tummy has been covered in stretch marks since my rapid weight gain in my mid twenties - so it is hard to say how many more stretch marks I have gained. Having said that I knew that I needed to feed my skin as best I could to encourage it to shrink - with my age working against me. Although it is not cheap - it is not too expensive (about £20 a bottle that lasts me a little over a month) and I feel that I am doing the best that I can.

As with all things to do with skin creaming - I personally believe that the key thing is more the act of massage than the cream/lotion that is being applied. I think that the rubbing stimulates the skin which works in our favour. So many creams are very similar - and you pay for things like brand name, perfume and packaging. I happily use whatever cream I find around the house or buy inexpensive creams and normally spend the best part of half an hour a day massaging all my key areas. I really am convinced that it helps.

Kimberly
I think that you learnt with the ultrasound scan that the queues here can delay things a little. There really is no point in waiting until you get to goal weight before you join the back of the queue. If the doctor is willing to put me forward I am happy to get into line.

Thanks for the kind invitation. By the time I get through the boob queues you probably wont just have a house - you will probably have a house full of kids! We are looking quite a way into the future here.

We all did great on the challenge. It is so nice to be on the winning team. I have to say that I am delighted with my weightloss over the period. That is pretty good for being deep into a long term project. Hard to believe really when you consider the hospital trip and everything.

So - do we pick our own teams for the next challenge - or is it one where the teams get allocated randomly? It was really fun picking our own teams and I think that we made a good job of it.

Janice
Thanks for the compliments on my photos and weight congratulations. I must admit that the fact that the doctor thinks that I should be able to get my boobs done on the NHS was a very positive piece of news. I suspect that I am one of her favourite patients at the moment. I suspect that my weightloss will look very good on her statistics and recent events have proved that the bulge that I raised with her was a valid problem - not time-wasting. I certainly got an unexpectedly long appointment on Friday. I booked the last appointment of the day and she spent over half an hour with me instead of the standard 10 minutes maximum.

It is funny that tummy tucks are so much cheaper elsewhere compared to here. Irrespective of where I go for surgery - I have made so many friends on this forum that I will certainly have to travel to the new world eventually. It would be great to meet up with everyone.

Take care
Love
Margaret
 
Hi there, good for you! I think it's amazing that you've already lost 148 lbs!! What an achievement! I was tested last week for PCOS as my periods have gone haywire but it came back negative. I firmly believe that you will be an inspiration to your husband as he sees how well you are doing, get him to come with you on a walk sometime, the first step is the hardest as we all know on here but with someone like you as a diet buddy nobody could go wrong!!!!
 
Margaret,

I'm so happy that things are going so well for you!!!

I knew you would heal up and be back to normal in no time! And now the exciting news about the boob job?! Awesome!

I'm so happy for you!
 
That is excellent news about the boobies Margaret. You really deserve it..you shouldn't have to go through the effort of carrying all that around everyday. Hope you're having a nice Sunday. Say hi to Rod for me!
 
Thanks for visiting.

Vintage-fan
Thanks for the congratulations on my weightloss. I spent many years thinking that it would be impossible for me - I never really got anywhere. You are lucky that it is not PCOS for you because it is a real pain. Maybe when you lose a little more weight - your periods will go back to normal. I would really love my husband to be motivated towards weightloss in the way that I am - but he is certainly not in that frame of mind yet. I regularly ask him if he will go for a walk with me (his choice of distance and speed) - but it is some while since he agreed.

Tyly
Thanks for the words of encouragement. I must admit that I was surprised that the doctor was of the opinion that my boobs would qualify under the NHS. I have sailed through the last surgery so well that the prospect of more surgery is not really too daunting. My boobs are currently so deformed that I really like the idea of them looking normal.

Take care
Love
Margaret
 
Of course you are sailing through the recovery! You have more determination than anyone I have ever known! Plus, you are a fit(!), healthy woman now!

I am looking forward to the boob job for you, because I know that will only add to the happiness you feel towards your body. You are such an amazing woman!!!!
 
Claudia
The day is going very nicely here - I hope that it is there too. I said "hi" to Rod for you. It will make a nice change not to have to cart the boobs about with me. It seems "for ever" since my boobs were "normal".

Tyly
You say the nicest things. I will admit that I am a fairly determined person and I am certainly on a different scale fitter than anyone would have thought that I could become from where I started.

I have known for some time that my boobs could never become "normal" without surgery. After the boob job and tummy tuck all I need is a magic wand so that I can look as young as I feel.

Take care
Love
Margaret
 
Thanks for the tips about the massaging in and the bio-oil and all that. It's something I'll definitely have to incorporate into my routine. You are so close to your goal, you won't run off and leave us, your devoted followers on the board, Margaret-less will you? Right?
 
Hi Carrie

Believe me - I am going to be here for a long long time!!! I need this forum as much as anyone.

The thing is getting to goal is really just the end of phase 1. I have been worrying a lot about maintenance for several months now. I havent had an experience of maintaining a healthy weight for a very long time.

A lot of people can go on a diet for a few months and get to the size that they want to be. Then they can say "end of diet" and depending on why they gained and how their body is - they have a chance of staying there or thereabouts.

I have a track record of being very big, going on diets and struggling to lose a little weight, abandoning diets and putting all the weight back on (and sometimes a little bit more).

If I take my eye off the ball I am going to be back at 21 stone before I know it! I really really really really dont want to do that!!!!!!

I have got to the stage that I am actually more worried about my ability to maintain more than my ability to lose weight. I have lost a lot of weight and part of me thinks that if I keep on doing what I am doing - I should get there. My weight is already near-normal enough that some people would stop where I am now. I know that I no longer look like a really big woman.

Maintenance would be the next thing now whether I continue or not. I have done too much to go back.

A number of people have voiced concerns about maintenance - the fact that when losing you get the reward from the scales of a new lower weight, you get the reward of clothes size - the joy of getting into clothes that were too small before, the reward of the positive feedback when friends and acquaintances. All these rewards disappear for maintenance. The most that you get is that the previous scale and clothes rewards might not disappear. The fact is that you need to work just as hard (monitoring food and keeping up exercise albeit at different levels) and you get no nice motivating rewards.

I know that I am going to need this forum more than ever. I actually think that they should expand the forum with sections about maintenance - as I know people that are actually struggling now with this.

All this is why I am planning on joining Weight Watchers very soon. I know that I am going to struggle with maintenance. At least they have a lot of experience at helping people go into maintenance and if you are a member when you lose weight and get down to goal - you get free membership as long as you stay within so many pounds of goal.

I am sure that I will still be here when you get to goal and start to struggle with maintenance yourself.

Take care
Love
Margaret
 
Saturday 03/05/08

General Data:

Morning walk = about 7.0 miles
Round the block = 3 times plus
Extra exercises = none
Weight = 10st 5.6 lbs (i.e. 145.6 pounds)
Steps = 25,579
Distance = 9.89 miles
Remembered to take normal vitamin / supplements
No creaming regime – apart from morning / evening moisturising face
No ankle exercises

My Food / Drink:

Basic eating plan

1 banana 2g prot
3 weetabix, sweetener, 350 ml skimmed milk 17.3g prot
1 handful honey shreddies 2.9g prot
1 handful honey shreddies 2.9g prot
½ handful honey shreddies 1.45g prot
1 pear 0.5g prot
1 pear 0.5g prot
1 apple 0.45g prot
40 grapes 0.9g prot
2.5 litres of cold water
some diet cola

171g Stewed lamb 34g prot, 230g cauliflower 8.3g prot, 30g broccoli 1.3g prot, carrots, onion, celery, spring greens, gravy
(other veg contain protein but already at the required total)
1 plums 0.45g prot
1 plums 0.45g prot
1 peach 0.6g prot
1 peach 0.6g prot
 
Hey Margaret,

I once lost 60 lbs, and I gained it all back plus more because I took my eye off the ball. But at least you realize it now and you're waiting for it.

Expanding the forums is actually a great idea. A maintanence part for people that have lost the weight and are keeping it off. It would also teach people that are losing weight what to expect once they get down to their goal weight.

I told my friend about you. She has PCOS and finds it very difficult to lose weight. I dunno if she'll read your journal, but I hope she does cuz it might give her hope.

Dani
 
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