The Depo shot is evil!! I took it years ago after my first daughter was born. I gained weight and had breakthrough bleeding the whole time. After six months I told the doctor there was no way I was going to continue.

Darlene, you make journalling sound great. I am much to impatient to write my thoughts on paper, but I can type them as quick as I think them and that is good. Keeping a journal might do me good. I used to food journal. I don't have to anymore, because I know exactly what is going in my mouth and how much and if I am overdoing it. Although, sometimes when I am stuck food journally is a good slap in the face of reality to say, "hey, cut it out".

Basic, I am down to 195, a 50 pound loss, and my tummy in paticular is not changing. I have tons of flabby skin near the bottom from having kids. When I look at that in the mirror it feels like I am not changing either. If it was not for that skin I would be able to by smaller pants. This is skin I can't do anything about unless I have it removed surgically. I don't think any amount of toning is going to make it go away. Also with age our skin loses it elasticity. Maybe your view of your body is a mental issue. Like I can still look at myself and not recognize any weight loss when it is apparent to everyone else that I have lost weight. So, it could be many things that make you see yourself heavier than you really are.

Oh, Tammy, I have the same problem with flabby skin since I had my son, and I haven't even lost much weight yet. I want to have more children, so the problem will probably get worse. I wonder how much plastic surgery is?

Darlene, I know it is pretty expensive for plastic surgery. I want to have one more baby, so I'm not even going to worry about it for another 2 or 3 years. My husband has already given me the go ahead then though. He knows how much it bothers me, and it bothers me alot. I know everybody has there on take on this but that is just my opinion. I don't want to look at it for the rest of my life. Somebody here listed some prices before, but I can't remember who it was. Now I have to get busy and save for it..I have a few years, probably take me that long to come up with the extra money.

Yikes, Tammy--I found this on a Maintenance sticky

Well, I might have to be saving for 10 years!! By then I probably won't even care anymore. We have military insurance and they pay for plastic surgery if you have had a gastric bypass. I don't feel that is very fair. I do it the hard way and cost them no money by not having gastric bypass yet they won't even consider me for plastic surgery. Might get stuck with the pesky extra skin and just have to deal with it.

When I was on the depo I ate everything in the house. My husband thought I was going to have another baby. I didn't know that when you loss weight that your belly stays like that. I see that some of you have also stop smoking could you tell me how you did that to because i've tried but every time i start smoking more.
Thanks for the help.

Hey there basic! If you seriously want to quit smoking then I suggest making a few changes to help. 1. Identify your smoking weaknesses, such as driving in the car or after eating. Mine was taking a bath! I would always smoking when I was taking long hot bath. 2. Smoke only outside until you can quit. If you have to go outside it makes smoking a concious thought and you are apt to smoke less often if you have to think about it. 3. Check into the nicotrol inhaler. It really helped me through the first week and it was not a pleasant thing so I used it only when I needed to. 4. Get some sugar free candies or gum or veggie sticks to help with the oral fixation that comes with smoking. I quit 5 years ago and I am still smoke free. Once you get a game plan it isnt as bad as you expect it to be!!

Thanks for the help. I know i've came to the right place. To many friendly people for me to be in the wrong place

Heya Basic, there are a couple of people right now here quitting smoking. I quit six months ago and remain smoke free. Julie hit the nail on the head with her advice. By the way, I thought I was the only one who used to smoke in the tub.

My tub is my guilty pleasure. I fill a nice hot bubble bath and take my book and something warm to drink now instead of cigarettes and I am set for a hour or better. Sometimes I even watch TV in the tub because my bathtub is in an alcove of my bedroom and I can see the bedroom TV from the tub! That is my total me time!

I was wanting to quit but I thought that it wouldn't be a good idea to quit smoking while trying to loss weight. I feel like i'm trying to make so many changes at once. Starting a diet, trying to quit smoking, and finding the right kind of exercise to do. A lot of changes for a women her husband says she never finish what she starts which is true so far. Today i looked a exercise machines but seems to me they all do about the same. Going to get one next week maybe. I would go to the gym but It's hour away I'm an hour away from everything. Thanks for being there.

I also made the decision between losing weight and quitting smoking but I quit smoking first because usually quitting smoking will cause a weight gain so I didnt want to lose a ton of weight only to regain it when I quit. So I tackled that first and now I have been smoke free for 5 years in the last 2 years I have lost 190 lbs. It really is possible.

I quit during my weight loss. I gained 10 pounds when I quit. It would have made more sense to quit before I started losing weight but that did not cross my mind at the time. Either way I am smoke free and have lost the 10 pounds that I gained. Let us know when the big day comes when you decide to quit.

Julie, to funny, I watch TV in the tub also. I can turn the TV and see it through the door of my bathroom in the bedroom. My husband thinks I am nuts.

I had a very long bath the other night because I got into the tub as extreme makeover home edition came on and it was a really good 2 hour special I had not seen. I did not want to miss anything so I stayed in the tub the whole 2 hours!