Tag Archives: 70% EWL

Being at 70% EWL, or, Within Striking Distance

On the eve of my 11-month post-op mark, this happened:

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On the left:  me, minus 215 pounds.  This represents what I’ve lost since I weighed my heaviest.

On the right:  me, minus 172 pounds.  This represents what I’ve lost since I began this process nearly a year ago.

I am at exactly 70% of my excess weight lost.  I’m aiming for 90%.  As I told my surgeon last May when he said that most of his patients lose around 70% EWL, “That’s not good enough for me.  I am an ‘A’ student.”

I am within 5 pounds of my surgeon’s weight goal.  I will get there before my 1-year appointment next month.

I still have 55 pounds to go to get to my goal.  I have no reason whatsoever to believe that I won’t get there.  It just won’t be in record time,  and I’m okay with this.  My objective is to be healthy above all else.

I’m aiming for March 2015.  This is not unreasonable.  With the exercise I’m doing, continued therapy and support group attendance, and staying with my current eating plan (with tweaks here and there), I fully believe I’ll get there.

It will be the second best birthday present ever.  Having my surgery was the first.

You Know You’ve Lost a Lot of Weight When…

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  • People continually tell you that you are “wasting away to nothing.”
  • You are told pretty much every day that you look great.  Especially by people who didn’t pay you much attention before.
  • Your husband has a tough time picking you out of a crowd because now you look like everyone else.
  • You have to work even harder at the gym to achieve the same burn that you got when you were 50 pounds heavier.
  • Men who are not your husband check you out.
  • Men who are not your husband open doors for you.
  • You now wear a smaller bra than you wore when you first started wearing them as a kid.
  • You complain about your clothes not fitting properly now, not because they’re too small, but because they’re too big.
  • You find that getting dressed every day is a challenge only because you now own so many cute clothes that it’s hard to pick which outfit to wear.

And finally…you know you’ve lost a lot of weight when:

  • Your own doctors don’t recognize you.  Today on the way to my support group meeting, I ran into the doctor who did my last two followup appointments, and he flat out did not recognize me.  He gushed about how great I looked and couldn’t stop saying WOW.  Before we parted ways, he asked me how much I’d lost to date, and I told him and he pumped his fist in the air.  I told him I’d see him in July at my 1-year follow up.

Hopefully by then I’ll have at least another 10 pounds off and be inching my way down to my goal.  I’m already at 70% EWL and aiming for 90%.  To get to 90%, I need to lose 50 more pounds, which puts me squarely in my desired weight range.

Summer is coming, and this will be the summer of kicking ass.