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Dear food, You have been a source of refuge and comfort for a long time, something to warm me on cold winter nights and to celebrate life's milestones. But sadly, our relationship is no longer working for me. You've become an obsession, an unhealthy and unproductive millstone. So I've decided that it's time to say goodbye. There are some special mentions I'd like to make...good bye massive bowls of spaghetti, blocks of chocolate, cheesy pizza and my old friend, coke. Though over the coming days our parting will be difficult, and I will no doubt long for the days when I would indulge in you with impunity, I am excited to let you go. I will get an opportunity to explore life beyond this obsession. So with sadness but absolute determination, fare thee well, old friends. With no regrets, Lila (I start my pre-op diet in the morning And I am actually feeling excited about it! Wish me luck!!)

Hello! Well, I don't blog as much as I should or would like to. Life is just super busy and super wonderful! I am finally under 200 lbs (this morning the scale said 197!!!). I know this sounds like a lot to many, but I am thrilled. I haven't weighed under 200 for my entire adult life. Starting out at my heaviest at 270...it is a HUMONGOUS change! I really feel great. I have tons of energy. I used to say I wasn't a night person, but...I just might be now. Before VSG, I could go to bed at 8pm and wanted to. Nowadays, I look at the clock and can't believe it is already 11pm and I'm still up and going! I do try to get to bed by 11-11:30pm though. I do like my sleep and need it for health and to rest, due to the great workouts I've been doing. I work out 6-7 days a week. I do something different most every day. Here is a sample of what I have planned for this week's workouts: Monday (today): 1 hr Spinning class and 1 hr Yoga class, after spinning Tuesday: 1 hr Medicine Ball workout; 1 hr power walk Wednesday: 1 hr Outdoor Bootcamp Thursday: either 1 hr Spinning class or 1 hr Bootcamp indoor Friday: 1 hr Spinning class (early morning); 90 min Yoga (lunch) Saturday: Bicycle Ride - 25miles Sunday: Hiking - 8-10 miles I've been following a really healthy plant based diet, 90% of the time, along with doing some yummy green juicing. The other 10% of my diet has included some dairy (greek yogurt and some cheese) and some seafood and a bit of chicken (I just can't turn down a few bites of my husband's amazing jerk chicken). The weight is coming off, whoop whoop, but it has slowed. Now 8 months post-op, I definitely can eat more now than I have been post-op. So, I do have to watch most everything I put in my mouth. I just eat real healthy - no or very minimal processed food, dairy, animal products. In retrospect, it is amazing how much food I used to eat. More amazing is how little food I eat now, need to survive and to loose weight. I have a follow-up appt in September with my doc. At that point I will post before and after photos. Live is GOOD! One Love.

I am a newbie, no surgery yet. I've read your posts and it sounded like you were doing well. What happened? Maybe you are just having a bad day. From what I have read, it's common to be very emotional the first month or so. You've taken a huge step to be healthier and happier. I hope you feel better about your decision tomorrow.

Good luck! You on your way to the best journey of your life and sooner than you think you won't miss those old friends near as much as you do now!

Good luck. I did 2 weeks of optifast before my surgery it was hard but worth it.

Good luck Lila! When is your surgery?

Good Luck on your Journey!!! My surgery is this Wednesday the 22nd of September!! I had a 30 day pre-op diet and I'm glad it's about over! LOL God Bless you!!!!

I am in the same boat with you. You are right, each step seems to break us down a little more. But perhaps this is like military boot camp. We need to be broken down in order to be remade in a better way. I now have Lee Ermey screaming in my head "you will eat, sleep, #^%, @*&$%, WLS! Do you hear me private?!" Sir Yes SIr! I swear just the seminar ruined me on the majority of food out there. If it's not protein or a good veggie, I feel bad and a bit guilty when I eat it . Oh well, I'm ready to feel good about my food- and soon, about me. And Planet Fitness is a pretty good place. They pride themselves on being a place where normal people workout.

Week 17 Last week’s weight – 204 This week’s weight – 202.8 Total weight lost this week – 1.2 lbs Total weight loss since surgery – 43.2 lbs Average weekly weight loss since surgery – 2.4 lbs I am very happy to see a loss this week. I lost the .2 I had gained last week and another pound. I am past the WOW stage of weight loss (where I see a massive amount of weight – which I say is anything over 1.5 pounds – melting off of me). I’m now in the “recommended” level of weight loss – approximately .5 to 1 pound a week. I’m still exercising (walking 3 miles most mornings) and I started adding in some light weight training afterward. I use the exercises in the book 8 Minutes in the Morning by Jorge Cruise. His basic premise is if you add in some very moderate weight you will see a bump in your weight loss as muscle burns more than fat. I’ve only done it six mornings so I can’t really give it a solid review (I’ve had the book on my shelf for YEARS). I didn’t like the order of the activities so I cut out the exercises and rearranged them so they made sense to me (essentially I don’t want to have to get up off the floor to do a standing exercise so I do two floor exercises instead). There were some complaints about that on Amazon after I bought the book so I thought I would solve the problem myself (although I hate cutting up a book L). I had a training class that involved eating out every meal for three days. I thought I did pretty well with my low carb choices and I kept at least half of every meal for breakfast the next day. Lunch was a cold cut sandwich bar and I just steered clear of the bread. I did have wine several nights (the hotel had a free happy hour – hard to turn that down!) but I made sure to exercise while I was away. I weighed myself when I got back to see the damage and I had lost the .2 pounds I had gained last week. I don’t tend to weigh myself everyday but I do weigh myself once a week. I have a girl friend that doesn’t weigh regularly and she recently stepped on the scale and was in shock she was at 220 (from 180). I think the weekly weigh in keeps me accountable (as well as posting on this blog). I bought a new bathing suit at Kmart this week (all their suits were on sale I bought a regular size 18 bottom and I couldn't find a matching size top so I got an 18W top - I need to have my mother-in-law bring up the straps in the back so it gives me more chest support but still from a size 22 that is not bad!). I had to donate my size 22 one from Lands End because it was too baggy. My other suit is all black and I wanted something more colorful. A friend took this picture of me at the beach. Normally I wouldn't have let her but I figured I might need a comparison shot as we go into next summer and I am hopefully at my goal weight. My challenges this coming week – Going out with a friend to Olive Garden (already looked up low carb options and will limit myself to one glass of wine). In a training class two days and it most likely will involve lunch out both days Taking a friend for a medical treatment out of state and will be eating out 4 days (hoping the hotel has a workout room). I’ll let you know how I do next week!