gastropod's Journal, 06 August 2021

Congrats on your hard work. May your progress continue... 

Awesome! 

Yes! Can’t wait for the before/after pic. 

Nice! 

Congratulations. Retail therapy is called for. Have a great weekend. 

Congrats....victory is sweet!  

Very impressive, congratulations. 

Awesome progress. Looking forward to the pics 

You're doing wonderfully! I am going at it like this as well, making goals and adjusting after I feel confident at one. It seems to be a good way to go about it. How do you think you'll determine your maintenance weight?  

Congrats. SO HAPPY FOR YOU! 

Congratulations Gastropod!! I don’t think my line will ever be blue!🥲 So happy you did it!!💪👏👏👏 

awesome 🔥 

Thanks everyone. Your support means so much. Warning, what follows is excessively long. Terseness is not one of my virtues. Kellagh, regarding a maintenance weight, here are the things I've been considering. I'd be curious to know if your thoughts are similar or radically different... 1. Mirror - At this point, no, this can't be the finish line. But, I doubt I'll be happy with the mirror at any weight, even if was to be 170. 2. BMI - at 244 I'd still be "obese," 31.6. To get to the top end of "normal" I'd need to lose 200 and be 194. Seems like a reasonable weight right? But I think I recall you mentioning the issue of, "the skin". I will probably end up with 10 to 20 lbs of excess skin that I don't see myself having the surgery to remove. I've probably spent the better part of 40 years between 350 and 450. My skin accommodated that weight and is not willingly conforming to my current, much lower, volume. While onderland does have a strong appeal, I'm not confident I can maintain that if I'd hove to weigh the equivalent of 174 to 184 + "the skin". 3. Degree of Difficulty - As I've walked this path, I've expected my rate of loss to gradually decrease such that I'd asymptotically approach a natural maintenance weight. Not so. My loss rate has slowed some but is not asymptotically approaching anything. As I reflected on that, eating less than 50% of my FS RDI + lots of cycling probably translates to being able to reach a much lower weight than is healthy for me. Doing what I'm doing, the loss rate will not stop itself. I'll need to eat more and/or move somewhat less to stabilize at a weight of my choosing. 4. Clothing Size - My pants size has diminished from 58 to 44. Massive improvement but still puts me in the men's big & tall section. That may end up being my reality but right now, I'm not ready to surrender the battle of shopping in the regular section of the store that tops out at 42 waist. I'm very close to that and should hit it with a maintenance weight > 200 without a problem. 5 What feels right - All of the above will factor into a number that feels right and makes sense. My GP retired at the end of June and I've got a 1st appointment with a new younger guy later this month. I'll raise the issue with him. I wont be surprised if I get scolded for a. losing too much too fast and b. eating too little. Thanks for asking this tough question. Its been helpful to marshal my thought and write them down. 

Gastropod: so sorry for the delayed response. The old depression has hit hard this several days and I've missed a lot. Thank you for all the effort in that lengthy and honest response. As per usual, I am on the same page with also all of it myself. You can and will shop in the regular section, I know it!! Size is just a number but that number opens up a lot of accessibility as well as being more cost effective generally. I have been "plus" as long as I can recall, with the short and narrow dips into "normal" here and there along the way. Yes the SKIN! I am fully in that boat and by the time I am maintaining I will have lost close to 200lbs, I don't know what weight of excess that leaves a human my size and age with but it's not pretty. I would LOVE to get those surgeries done with every fiber of my being but it won't be financially feasible. Unfortunately. It would cost more than I've managed to save in my life and no Dr is going to finance to a swim coach.hahaha. cry. Anyway, as always it's such a pleasure to keep up the correspondence. With loads of love and unending support. Hugs!!  

Kellagh, you are the best. I'm sorry to hear about the depression and pray that you've got some good medical oversight and meds, if needed. I have tremendous respect for who you are, what you've overcome, what you've accomplished and what your doing now. And by that I mean everything - single parenting, prior weight loss, battling and overcoming ED and depression, freelance artistry, current weight loss, swim coaching, mermaiding, and cooking creative and healthy meals for you and Jeremy. Your journey is an inspiration to me and, I'm sure, to others.