Re : never say never

So here I am 2 plus years out and having good days and bad just like everyone else. I have been hovering around 160lbs for about 8 -9 months.....was down to 150lbs around aug sept 2011, Tonight I was really craving some chocolate ..not something I really eat ,,,,I'm a salty girl. Well I had brought back a bunch of bars from ireland for my hubby but could not resist one...ya I ate the whole bar and now I am starting to feel like crap...starting to get sweaty ......my own fault of course ...the last few months have been torture ..I want to get down to 130bs and still want to do my tummy tuck at some point but I feel like some days the whole watching  what you eat is just too much...it feels like I will never reach my goal in fact all I feel is all I do  is try to stop myself from not  gaining weight....am  I the only one who feels like this ....I realise it was easy in the beginning and now I feel old habits coming back and it feels awful to sabotage all the good things reached ....why does it always have to be so hard...I really want to lose 25lbs and have a tummy tuck before june but I feel like I have fallen into a really big hole andI I will never climb out. I know in my head all the work I have put into my journey is sooo worth it and it will always be the ongoing battle but its really tiring and some days it feels like I wi**** was a ittle easier  ..anyway just having a bad week...I am going to set my sighst high and have a good week and perhaps start fresh tomorrow and make it like a new challenge ....enough of my rants ....
cheers everyone
Cathie

 Cathy, I know how you feel. Sometimes it feels never-ending. To me at 15 months out, it feels very much like a diet. It is an everyday chore. I feel it to. I find it especially hard when you have a busy life. With 3 kiddos, you are busy. You'll get there. Now that I've gotten so close goal (22 lbs.), it is going so incredibly slooooooow. It is frustrating. I sympathize. 

 so to the both of you.....if you knew how hard it would be when you first got surgery would you still have gotten it???? 

Absolutely.  Rereading my comment, it sounds very negative, but I would not change a thing.  If I hadn't had the surgery, I'd still be struggling with the same thing, just at 329 pounds and climbing.  I think that sometimes, you just have those tough spots where it seems like a lot, but it's just a matter of getting through that rough spot, picking yourself up and picking up your pace.  It's definitely not all roses and rainbows on this side, but I would NOT change it for a second.  This has given me a whole new life and the benefits FAR outweigh the negatives.

even tho you werent asking me, i'll reply too. 1 year out. It's hard as hell, to get these last 25 lbs off. That being said, worth every bit of hardship to have gotten this far.

Even if i don't lose another pound (and i hope i'm not jinxing myself), i thank the powers that be for this surgery. I would have never been this close to my goal without it. Never.

while your eating tons of protein to get rid of the carb cravings.....remind yourself of all the positives; how far you've come; your size now;things you can do now. Embrace what you have accomplished, then you'll be able to move forward.

Wow Cathie you stole those words out of my head last night . I was wondering the same thing will it ever get easier?

I'm 8 1/2 months out, and I, too, feel the bad habit monster lurking.  I think we're all fooled by how easy this process is the first six months or so - even though we know this is just a tool to assist our own efforts, its easy to fall into the trap of believing the surgery will fix it all.  Especially when the first 60+ pounds just seem to melt off.  I'm finding my losses much slower now, and I really have to pay attention to what I eat, so the "work" part of this is really coming into play now.  It's a pretty nasty trick that WLS plays on us, making the first part so easy that we come to expect it to be like that all the time.  Have to accept that reality is finally settling in, and it's not going to happen unless we make it happen.  Let's all hang tuff!

Cathie, I get the struggle.  I fight with cravings often and give in at times, and I have many days when I don't stick to my food plan.  I'm glad you've come onto the forum; I don't recall seeing you here in the year that I've been on regularly.  Do you track your food?  Are you within the guidelines for calories, carbs and protein?  Do you get any exercise (yes, I know that's nearly impossible with 3 kids)?

You might want to join us on the daily What are you eating/doing thread.  It can be very helpful for food ideas, and makes you accountable to yourself and others.  We'd love to see you there.

I'm also wondering about your goal.  How tall are you?  Is 125 a realistic goal?

Try to give yourself some credit.  You've lost over 120 lbs; that's an entire person!

Yes, it's hard sometimes, but I would still have made this decision even if I had known that it would continue to be a struggle at times.  Hell, the last 30 years of dieting were definitely more of a struggle than this, and much more discouraging.  At least I'm not going back to my previous weight and beyond  like I always did before!

Hang in there, get back on track.  You can do this!

Hugs, Cathie

It must be really frustrating for you, at 2 yrs out. Karen M. said she didnt reach goal till 3 yrs out, so take some heart in that.

Why don't you participate in the "what are you doing/eating today " thread, it might help you keep on track.

Nothing worth doing comes easy, apparently.. i dont know why it has to be that way, but it is.