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Surgery was July22, 2013; recovery time four weeks. No major problem other than morphine is not my friend. The weight is coming off at a rate I can enjoy. Any faster and I'd have to go to work in a sack. Lol the slow weight loss allows me to purchase a few new clothes. All of my 22-20 size pants don't fit and I can assume my skirts won't either. I don't get upset if the scale does not move. I just look in the mirror and can see the difference in the inches I've lost. Best advise, follow the program outlined by your doctor, go to all follow up appointments, ask when and how often you will need blood work done. Continue to get your fluids in everyday. Take your vitamins and supplements, they are very important. Eat protein first. When you are unsure, ask your doctor. We are all different so the way your doctor may have trained and performed the procedure will be different and the instructions you follow will be different from someone else. That does not make it wrong, just different. Join a support group that is up lifting, I don't stay on this one much any more due to some bad vibes of folks and I've had to block them. I do check in from time to time because there are good people asking great questions and need help. Have more than one support outlet. Lastly don't judge. How and why we became over weight is personal. How we opt to lose the weight is personal. When you start to judge, please stand in front of the mirror to ensure you include yourself in the mix. If anything play it forward, be a good mentor and friend. There are some out there that will truly benefit from it. Stay true to the journey. Karen

I have been lost in thought for awhile, running all kinds of emotions. So I thought I will do my old standby. Make a List... a List of Why I am wanting to keep my head up & not cheat, not give in to my belly... all its moaning & groaning of thinking it wants something Sweet or Salty... or something besides Shakes, protein, veg's or a single piece of fruit.. things I want to be able to do. ~sit in a both when I go out to with my family. ~not have to worry about whom is driving, due to the seatbelt issue. ~ride any fair or amusement park ride. ~be able to go buy cloths that don't come from The Big Girl section (basically anything without a X or few) ~be able to not have fear of people asking when I'm Due. ~for that matter no terrible comments or remarks. ~to be able to actually Smile without hiding the pain of something. ~to not have to worry if I drop something & have to pick it up in public. ~be able to go swimming at a public pool without giggles. ~when family & friends gets together to not worry about a chair breaking. ~to be able to ride the dirt bike. ~to be able to wear high heels again when I feel like it. ~to do a 5K without walking. ~going skiing. ~go tubing. ~go rollerblading again. ~ride a horse without extra stress. ~go on the zip-line. ~go golfing without getting to tired. I have many more that have rolled through my head & now that I sit to type they have disappeared. This Journey is for me, for my Health & Happiness. Sometimes I just have to remember that. this was just a quick rant. I'm so ready for this change. Happy Trails to everyone on their own Journey!

Better late than never, but we did a family dinner for the Jewish New Year last night. It was very nice, 28 people. My son's, their wives and my super wonderful 3 grandsons were there. I haven't seen some of the people for real long time and of course came the: you look great, how much did you lose, how did you lose the weight questions. I told people I do not share my weight loss with any one. They were disappointed. I said I know I was very fat and still fat and don't need people saying, boy, Arlene was very over weight. When it came to my dinner plate, one woman said to me, you have no food on your plate. I said I have plenty. My husband explained I eat around 4 oz of protein then the other foods. My sister-in-law (the wicked b***h "c" word) asked me about my 'diet'. I only said I use a dietitian. Enough words for her. About the SIL, my husband is 63 and for the first 50 years of his life he did not talk to her. They now talk only because he made an effort. She loves my oldest son and treats my younger son like s**t. Enough said about her. So, back to the subject, I feel the surgery is my business and I just can't share it with everyone. I still feel like I am a failure because I needed the help of the band. My first surgeon said I was not a failure because I knew I needed the help. I just can't get that part into my head. I did have a very small sliver of chocolate birthday cake. My youngest son's b. day was Wednesday, age 35 and the next day his wife was 35. I brought a super wonderful cake from BJ's for them. Today the hub and I get to baby sit the 9 month old. He is the perfect baby, teething and never complains. He has 8 teeth all ready. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. The weather in Boston is super great this weekend.

Made Sourdough Waffles for the family this morning, they were so light and smelled so good that I knew with enough butter and syrup they would be a slider food for sure. two small bites later and NOPE. Fed the sewage system and will have a shake before Church.

Sooo For the past 3 weeks I have been going from 229 - 226 up and down up and down. So what happened 3 weeks ago? Well I started work. So I'm thinking that my stalling of my weight is stress related??? And I have no idea how to begin to fix that. Other than that I have lowered my calories and increased my activity While teaching I move around ALOT Breakfast is ALWAYS yogurt (100-150 calories) Lunch is ALWAYS Tuna ( 200 calories) Snack - Varies Dinner - Varies So I dont know what my body is doing but I can estimate my calories have gone down from 1500/1600 to now 1100/1200. We will see what happens with the scale later. On another note. I am 1 pound away (on some days) to my 40pd mark! 1/2 to my doctors goal and only 2 months out of surgery

Last day of Solid foods. I can say I am ready, a bit stressed but ready. Extra Dessert Delights are my saving grace, normally when I get stressed I eat, this time I go grab a stick, break it in half & chew till the flavor is gone... that & drinking lots of water, today. tomorrow is 4 protein shakes & 64oz water. the end is in sight, just have to make it through. so many epiphanies! I am thinking its all part of the process. I got the fridge stock for the family & a weeks worth of meals for them, 3 casseroles & 4 crockpot meals, all just have to have someone bake them or put them in the crockpot. so in reality they should be good for awhile. plus I got some broths, sugar free jello's, case of water, powerade zero, crystal light, isopure premade drinks, some powder mix with anything protein & of course chewable vitamins. washed my sheets, brought a couple more pillows in my room, have a bunch of books, dusted off my running shoes (for walking) also have a nice broken in pair of crocks (if my feet are swollen) pulled out the Huge heating pad, found my rice heating bag. also had the best idea ever, no I did not read it on a thread here, although i'm sure lots of others had the same idea, I pulled out a couple of the small shot glasses to use to measure the liquid intake. also dug out my kids baby spoons for a few weeks down the road. I am sure there will be something, somewhere that I forgot or overlooked, but for the most part lets get through this misery of surgery & recovery. the end result will be worth it. God Speed to everyone that is going to go through this surgery.

So this pass Thursday was support group at the Barbaric's.Office. The place was packed! Between post Surgery and pre surgery patients and some support friends there had to be 200 people in that room. This month there was a panel of 6 people who had the surgery 8 months out or longer. We had about an hour of question and answer time. It was so helpful to hear their experiences and see how well they were doing. I am looking forward to one day sharing my success story. I was lucky enough to spend this weekend at the beach. It was a challenge to not want all the great food on the boardwalk, but I was strong. The 11th is fast approaching, I can hardly wait to start this next phase of the journey.

Yesterday, July 8th started the first day of the liquid diet my doctor requested before surgery. Day one was not bad at all. I was so busy that I did not realize I had not eaten. Today is a different story. I had my breakfast shake and while riding to work on the train I had my crystal light. My mid-day consisted of another shake followed by another crystal light. I didn't feel bad at all. For lunch I ran to the doctors office to pick up my FMLA paperwork. Once I was back in the office at 1 pm I had another crystal light then half and hour later had another shake. At about 3pm my head is hurting. But I press on it wasn't bone crushing but a dull ache. I get home from work and have yet another shake. I am in the process of moving this week so for two hours I loaded and unloaded my car and worked up a good funky sweat. Lol. It was a good work out for sure. I need to take something for pain and I did make sure it was not aspirin or ibuprofen. Once I get showered, I plan to have another shake, the last one of the night, anything else will be crystal light. For tomorrow, I will be so busy with moving that I know I won't have time to focus on food or lack of food. But I have to maintain my strength so that means getting my shakes in. Well off to the shower I go, these old funky bones need it.