Anyone can answer this, but I thought that maybe those who have lost a lot of weight might be able to answer my questions...

I started at 250, now weigh 187, it took a year...My body has made a lot of changes but there are a lot of things that I need encouragement with still. And I know everyones' bodies are different, but I would love to hear your answers based on your personal experience.

They say that the belly is the last to go. What I wanna know is WILL IT EVER GO? If I keep at it, will I actually EVER be able to wear tighter shirts without this huge bulge still lingering?!?!?

I have forty three more pounds. Size changes for my first 67 pounds was slow-going. Will size change come more rapidly as I approach my goal? I feel like I will be stuck here forever!

I have had decent losses every month...the lowest month being 4 pounds. I have heard that as you get closer to your goal it gets slower. Should I stop expecting a 4 - 8 pound loss a month and be happy with a 1 - 4 pound loss?

Those of you who have met your goal weight...are you now happy with your body or do you still have issues? Anyone met their goal weight but are considering some sort of plastic surgery? Anyone now COMPLETELY happy with their results?

I am so inspired by success stories, like ones I read in People, Weight Watchers, or the Curves mag Diane, but I always have these questions that I wish I could actually ask people.

So, thanks in advance!

Alicia

80 pounds later and I've still got mine.

A friend of mine who is more of an avid exerciser than I am has lost a great deal of weight as well and has never lost her 'sticky-outtie' tummy. But that's not to say someone else won't lose theirs. I've just never lost mine. Yes, it's smaller, but it's still there.

Yes to the first one, I used to lose 8 - 10lb per month and now I lose 3 or 4. That's still a pound a week, but it's definitely slowing down. Partly though that's because I've mentally switched more towards maintenance mode and I'm being far more relaxed about what I eat and drink.

I'm not quite at my goal (not least because my goal has just moved slightly), and no, I'm not perfectly happy. I am a lot happier than I used to be though, and there's no way I'd go back to what I had even if that means accepting that my body will never be perfect. It works a lot better, it can run and do all sorts of healthy stuff, so I'll put up with a couple of visual reminders of obesity. I have scars from (non-weight related) surgery too, and to me the slight sagginess in some of my skin is no worse than those. It's ugly but it's better than the alternative.

Hi Alicia and a huge congratulations on your weight loss so far!

One of the best things about 3FC is that we have members here in all different stages of weight loss and maintenance, so ask as many questions as you want and you'll get answers!

About your belly - everyone has one last spot that holds onto fat for dear life. Mine wasn't my stomach, it was my butt, hips, and upper thighs. I had always been two sizes bigger on the bottom than the top and assumed I'd end up that way at goal - just smaller. But what actually happened is that the last twenty pounds came 100% off my lower body trouble areas. So I ended up with size 4 hips, much to my total amazement! For me, with time and patience, all the excess fat came off. Your body has to give up the belly eventually when there are no other stores of fat to burn off.

Weight loss slowing down - it happens to almost everyone as you get near goal. Kicking up the exercise can keep the pounds coming off. And yes, you should be happy with any loss!

Body issues - a lot of people still have body issues once they get to goal and there have been some threads in the Maintainers Forum about this recently. It's hard to get your head wrapped around a smaller-sized body, especially for those of us who were obese for most of our lives. As for skin issues, I had plastic surgery for excess skin removal after I got to goal and stayed there for a while. There's a Weight Loss and Skin FAQs sticky in the Maintainers Forum that you might want to check out - I posted about my experiences (as did others) there. My body is far from perfect today but I'm thrilled with it and would never go back.