I went to the college and weighed myself this morning and I am officially at 168.6. My goal weight was 169. I am very proud of myself for losing this weight, I've not exactly followed the guidelines from Sparkpeople, but I have followed my Dr's orders. She told me to eat approx 1200 calories a day and exercise 5-6 days a week, so that's what I am doing.

I've lost the weight but in some ways I'm not really happy with it. Don't get me wrong, mostly I'm thrilled!! But I have a lot of "Fluff" around my stomach still, some of it is still fat, but some of it is loose skin and nothing short of surgery will get rid of that.

You know how on those commercials for weight loss surgery like the lap band, the woman is saying "I lost 87 pounds and went from a size 22 to a size 10." or something like that, well I've lost 50 pounds and only went from a size 18 to a 14-16. What's up with that???

If I were ONLY using the scale or what size clothing I now wear to judge my improvement, I would be very depressed. 50 pounds and only went down TWO sizes?? But what I'm really using is how I feel, my energy level is higher, my mood is much better, and I've learned to NOT use food as anesthesia.

So......Just what do I plan to do about it? Well what I'm planning to do is continue the exercising (strength training ) and gradually increase the calories I eat until they balance out. What I'm hoping to do is to strengthen my core especially, and tighten up the muscles that are still a bit flabby. As for the skin, there isn't much I can do about that, but I'll see how much that will tighten up also. I figure at my age, not a whole lot.

I'll have to talk to my Dr. and see if the insurance will let me have surgery to remove the excess skin, maybe if I keep the weight off for a certain length of time???? Doubtful, but it can't hurt to ask. What are they gonna do? Take away my birthday?