I see the doctor tomorrow for my first post-op appointment; it will be exactly two weeks since my surgery. I'm advanced to soft food already!

I even tried on some jeans I hadn't worn in months because I couldn't get them past my thighs, and today, I not only got them on, they fit perfectly!

Still, I feel like I ate a full Easter dinner on half a Lean Cuisine! LOL. Who thought that would ever happen?

EDIT: HOLY COW! I just got the statement from the hospital today for the total cost of my surgery, including hospital and medical costs, and all I can say is, thank goodness for insurance! The surgery itself was reasonable--$9,362.00--but the whole tab came for the 24 hour stay came to $26, 084.10!

Just a quick hello right now, I had my weekly weigh in today, and I'm down 6 pounds! Very encouraging!! I hope everyone else is having a great day

Brenda-I sometimes wonder if I will ever be ready to have treats. Everytime I do, I not only go nuts, it throws me off for days afterward. My body chemistry just seems to be forever altered.

Lesley-I tried to keep things frozen in the freezer, but I just ended up almost breaking a tooth on something I had to have right then.

NewGrammie-Welcome, and dive right in.

Sharon-Thanks for letting us know about Annie and Ammi. I was really worried about them. I have actually put off necessary grocery shopping just to avoid looking at all the chocolate.

Lillion-You are not a bad mom. At his age, making a big deal out of his birthday might have actually been a bummer for him. It sounds like you had a grown-up night with him, and a cell phone, well that is worth some serious mileage. Have fun on your anniversary. Himself took me to the Fairmount in Banff for ours, but he had finagled the trip by giving a speech, so trade-offs.

DJCJ-I’ve had workout partners do that too. I think it is a subconscious sabotage because there is always some inherent competitiveness involved in having a buddy. OMG corn dogs. The only decent corn dogs are the ones you get at the state fair that have been in the fryer long enough to crackle. If you’re going to blow it on something, might as well make it worth while.

LEELEE-That’s 6 pounds you never have to see again. Congrats.

NewGrammie: Welcome to the list! We look forward to hearing more from you.

Leelee: Congratulations on that loss!

Carolyn: Thanks for those vibes. We'll probably go back someday, my husband's mother's family is in Oregon and we can't completely ignore them (though we'd like to try). Honestly though, his mother is getting a little better in her tumored brain, so if she passes before she comes down here (which she says she'll do in about 2 years), we'll probably go up for her funeral. Also, the kids' bio-maternal grandparents are up there, they're coming down to see the kids this year, but we may have to go up in a couple years, just to be fair. My hub will be going up solo to drive a friend down next year, one of his friends will be migrating to Austin, for now, the kids and I are avoiding the concept.

Lesley: Which new Disney movie? Yes, PCOA is a PITA!! I would definitely ask your OB/Gyn about it. It can be difficult to diagnose and there isn't really a catch-all treatment, but it can help you feel more sane to know that it's not just your willpower or lack thereof. I didn't start gaining any excess weight whatsoever until I hit puberty at around 11. I struggled for many years, in denial about my weight. The biggest problem that I had was that while I knew I didn't make the best food choices, I never had and didn't understand why there was a difference in my weight.

In fact, when I was a kid, the only thing my doctors ever really worried about was how little I weighed. When I was 10, I weighed 52 pounds, then by the time I was at my 11th birthday, I weighed 84 and I jumped 30 pounds per year like that for several years. Also, I was a highly active child and when they started diagnosing kids with ADHD, I was accused of having it. My mother told them no way, she'd seen me sit and read for hours at a shot, something an ADHD kid wouldn't do. Her theory was that I sat still so long reading that I just had burts of energy to burn off to make up for it.

With all the weight gain and surrounding emotional struggle, I did start overeating. Even then, I didn't realize I was overeating. I had "normal" portions, you know, Big Mac, super-size fries, super-size drink. Then, one day I realized that those weren't "normal" portions and that was my problem. Of course now, I've been so used to eating that way that the struggle is retraining myself. I'm definitely much better, I only once every few months get so crazy that I eat that much food and I always feel like I need to vomit after. I still eat too much, however and that's my problem.

Ah yes, vacation. I'm not sure I did mention it. Well, most of my family lives in PA, so first, we're going to drive there and spend a few days there with them. Then, most of my husband's family is in NH, so we're going to head over there next and see them for a few days to a week. Then, we'll drop south and see NYC, none of us have ever been to the city itself, only been through upstate. Then we'll drop into see DC and an aunt I have in MD, near DC. After that, we'll take as leisurely a drive as possible through the states in between there and TX to come home. We'll be gone at least 3 weeks, though we'd like to take longer.

As for eating, I'm doing much better. I ate every single meal at home yesterday, in fact, I didn't even leave the house all day, it felt good. We hard-boiled some eggs for Easter (never did get around to decorating them) and then my girls said they were going to make egg salad. They asked us to get mayonnaise (we don't keep any in the house) and they went on about how they had made it several times before. I (stupidly) assumed they knew what they were doing, so I bought mayonnaise with the groceries on Monday. Then, they set to make the egg salad and turns out what they thought was egg salad was hard-boiled eggs mashed up with mayonnaised mixed in. Turns out that's what their mother made. The woman has an unnatural attraction to mayonnaise, puts it in everything. Yuck!! I had to go in and rescue their "egg salad." I pulled up a recipe cause I wasn't sure we had everything to go in. Turns out I was right, but we managed to flavor it well enough with our well stocked spice cupboard.

So, I had an "egg salad" sandwich for breakfast and lunch yesterday, nice and well proportioned. Then, my husband made dinner and we had baked ziti, garlic bread, and fruit for dessert. Our veggies had wilted because we had been eating out and I didn't think to get more when we went shopping on Monday. I finished off the last of my portion of easter candy yesterday, so I don't have that around to tempt me anymore. I had a scrambled egg and half a bagel for breakfast this am, so far so good.

We're getting our house cleaning done today in case we do leave on Friday, we want our house to be in order so we don't come home to a stinking mess. I got a head start on it last night by giving my tub a good hard scrubbing. I noticed that noone in my house knows what a clean tub should look like, sadly not even my husband of 9 years. There was months of accumulated grime and in the end, I couldn't even get it all off. Today, my legs and butt muscles hurt from all the physical work of being balanced on my knees to scrub the tub. While I was at it, I scrubbed everything else in the bathroom and then I showed my family what a clean tub looks like. I also toured them into our main bathroom to look at that tub as well so they could see the difference. They all said, "Yuck!" I told them I was going to sit on my butt today and watch them clean, but that will never work, if I sit down all day, so will my husband, then nothing will ever get done (except for the kids' work). So, buh-bye, I gots to go do housework.

Andrea

Just a quick post. It is my 45th birthday today, and unless I put on a LOT of weight in the next 12 or so hours, I will have reached my original goal, which was...

"To have maintained a 'healthy' weight for 12 months by my 45th birthday."

I started my journey at the beginning of 2001, when I was 41, so that wasn't a bad goal to be making way back then. I had NO idea of how quickly the weight would go, but I suppose it was realistic for me in the long run. I have put on a few pounds since losing the first amount, but I am most definitely still a 'healthy' weight, and I am lighter, fitter and healthier than I have been for most of my adult life, so I am happy.

Now, off to work for a day of (supposedly hard and boring) Professional Development. I will try to post more later.

Take care,

Zelma

Hi ladies
Its been a few days since i posted, i have been extremely busy. just wanted to pop in and say hi
I am proud to say that my wt loss competition is over at work, and my team came in 3rd out of 50 teams, i am happy. we won some prizes and a gift card. anyway, my journey is far from over, but this was a good jump start. i havent weighed this week yet, but i will before the end of the week. Welcome to all the posters i havent said hi too, congratulations to all the losers Happy Birthday Zelma, you look fantastic!!
well i need to go excersise, i will definetly be back more this week
Take Care

Zelma -- Boy, that's the best 45th birthday gift!!! CONGRATS!!!

I will hopefully have a great 50th gift 8+ years from now. Before I started this journey, at 39 1/2, I thought "I want to be fitter when I'm 50 than I am when I turn 40." I lost a bunch of weight between 39.5 and 40, but I think I CAN meet that goal! I think I weighed in the 230s, and had only just started light weight training when I turned 40.

Zelma, Happy Birthday.... I hope you had a WONDERFUL day !!
Bren aka "NewGrammie"

***HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZELMA*** I hope you have a fantastic day & hubby spoils you rotten with presents!xxxxxxxx
Nothing much to report here, my tummy is in a lot of pain, I've taken some fibre stuff AND laxatives but nothing much is happening, sorry if that's TMI, lol. I get weighed tomorrow & according to my scales I've lost nothing!!!! I feel really upset, I've made the effort to keep active, doing heavy, hard jobs in the garden Steve usually does and I've been busy doing stuff round the house whilst everyone eats lunch & diner. Sorry to be so down, I'm sure the scales have to move, after all I'm only consuming just over 500 cals per day!!!(it is a VLCD under doctor's supervision and contains everything I need to stay healthy)
I hope you're all doing well, staying active & being happy.
xxxxxsharon
ps Lisa, how are youi doing?

Sharon - sorry that the scales aren't budging, u are doing so well with not eating normal food and being active, I'm not sure I could do it. Maybe u will be suprised at the official weigh in? hope so.

Lee lee - well done on your weight loss thats amazing

Kymberely - you have done amazingly well - good for you you deserve first place in my book!!

Zelma - Happy birthday well done on all you have acheived and I hope you are feeling alittle better now.

I have just done another gym session, this one took 70 mins, its so hard it really is but the feel good factor afterwards is worth the effort!!

I found out today that I have passed another assignment, I only have 16 weeks left to complete for my registered adult nurse qualification, I can't beleive I have nearly done it and all being heavy too just goes to show you that things can still be done even with the burden of extra weight, so don't let it hold you back!!

Sandy, Ammi, Annie, lots of love to you girls xx

Good Morning Ladies!

I'M BACK!!!

I can't believe how speedy this thread is...I feel like I have missed about a month's worth instead of a week! We had an awesome time with my parents...Florida is so beautiful and relaxing. I can't wait until my hubby's retirement comes through (LONG story) and we can move down there. As a matter of fact, it is frigging snowing here right now!! Just enough to taunt me that I was in 82 degree's yesterday, while it is 40 degrees here now. And of course there is no chance of keeping up my tan for when school starts again next Wedsday!!
Despite all the off point eating (Krispy Kreme...yummmmmmmm...all the ones here have been shut down, thank goodness) I was doing 30 mins of pool walking a day, sometimes 2x a day...and according to my scale this AM, I am down a pound!!! I am not really going to count it other than in my head because my next official WI is not until next Thursday. But it still makes me happy though!
I don't really have time for personals today, but I want to send a big

to all the new members...I hope you love it here as much as I do and get the support, laughter, and sometimes tears that you need!

Have a great OP day!
Donna

PS-Zelma!!!!

Happy Birthday Zelma!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Zelma!!!


It has been a really busy week for me, plus I have been really exhausted in the evening. I don't know if I am fighting something off (a cold or something), but I have really been wiped out. Hopefully tonight I will get a bit of a break and be able to catch up with some things including personals.

I totally overate last night after two solid days of being on plan. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory, and while I feel I made good choices (Thai lettuce wrap appetizer and jerk shrimp dish), I really overate. I don't know if it goes with the exhausted feeling, but I was SO HUNGRY. It is just so frustrating because I feel like I take one step forward and then one step back. Needless to say I was actually up another pound this morning for my weigh in, but I think it is from all the salt last night so I am allowing myself a do-over for Saturday morning. It will be a tough weekend for eating out as my parents are coming up Saturday afternoon and we will have dinner somewhere and then also go out for breakfast on Sunday morning.

I have been having trouble with my knees this week (since last Thursday) and the elliptical has been trickier than usual. I have been trying to up my cardio back to an hour on days I don’t do weights, but the knees haven’t been cooperating. I had switched shoes from wearing sneakers all the time to an actual Oxford shoe, and maybe that is the problem. I have switched back to the sneakers for now to see if that helps at all.

Hi guys
Just got back from my weigh in. I maintained this week. I had expected a gain considering for the past 2 days all I have really ingested was sodium. I am feeling... unwell I guess is the word. No appetite, no flu bug but man I am awful. I left work early last night and took tonight off as well. Hopefully after a long weekend I will feel more like a normal human being. I know my weight is down but because of the lovely boxed chicken noodle soup that I have been eating, the scale didnt budge. So I am having some blueberries and some yogurt and bran buds cereal. Then I am off to bed till hubby comes home. Maybe by then I will feel more like eating.

Have a great day!
Brenda

Happy Birthday Zelma Hope You Have A Great Day!