M2G

I am getting "fuzzy" teeth all the time. It is annoying. I am sure that it is because of the Protein shakes, but eeeeew! It will go away for a little bit (if I chew gum, more so if I brush) but it keeps coming back and it is driving me crazy! Anyone else?

Wow, Sheryl thank you so much for the awesome recap of your year! I'm so sorry about your implant and the cancer scare. That is such a relief to know that it was NOT cancer, but scary living through the what-ifs. And hip replacement doesn't sound fun either, but at least getting strong in the next few years will do nothing but help improve your chances at a good surgery/recovery. My mom had a complete knee replacement in Oct 2014 and once the initial pain/swelling/staples were gone, then she says she doesn't go a day without thanking the Lord and her surgeon that she went ahead and fixed it. I know hip is much more complicated and involved and the worst part is the possibility of living with the pain until you just can't take it anymore. Thanks for the advice about fighting the desk job. I swear I thought I would have this all figured out by now...almost 1.5 years later and I still can't seem to manage. Although coming up soon we should have free nights on Tues and either Thurs or Fri (hopefully will know the schedule soon) and I really just need to find a night class at the gym that I can at least take once a week. To do something. Glad to "see" you too Cathy and Denise! Hoping 2016 is starting out right for you both. Anyway, my "free" time at the computer is over...off to take my oldest to what else, volleyball practice!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! My Christmas present to myself was jumping on here and reading and trying to catch up. Well, I don't like having to read almost an entire year's worth of posts, so maybe I should check in here more often!! I know I can't catch up, just wanting to pop in a say hi to you all. I've missed you all so much! I'm still at the same job (almost 1.5 years now) and I love the job but still commuting 2+ hours a day. I did finally get one work at home day a week, so that is helping but it's still a huge drain to be driving so much and sitting so much. I LOVE the job, hate the commute and feel as if the job is literally killing me because I sit all the time. I'm up at least 20lbs in the 1.5 years I've had this job. They keep renewing my contract and I keep saying yes. I've got to figure out something to take the weight off, any suggestions are welcome. I'm considering doing a Medifast-type diet but the Wonderslim version (has anyone tried that?) I had good success with Medifast in the past but of course the weight always came back and I just don't think I want to do it again. Not that Wonderslim will be any better but it will be different. Both of my girls still play volleyball so that involves MORE sitting. I haven't worked out in 1.5 years which has been horrible for me. I used to be SO GOOD at working out....before I got this job and do nothing but sit. Other than that life is good. I'm shocked even with my horrible gain (that is on top of my original regain from hitting my low at 18 months post-op) that I'm only up one size in pants. Shirts are harder and I'm back into plus sizes mostly just because I can't stand tight clothing. So I usually pick up a 1x on most things and sometimes a 2x. So so so sad. I passed my 5 year mark in Oct and never saw my dr. Have a couple of goals for 2016 mainly getting some weight off, but also getting in to get labs done and seee my surgeon. I chew ice all the time and I think it's because my iron is low. It was always low post-op but never low enough for my med dr or my surgeon to put me on iron supplements. Does anyone take iron? I know I need to get my sh*t together but haven't a clue where to start. If you want, please give me an overview of your 2015...I would love a recap of what I've missed!!!!

Hey girls ...I have zero time to read and catch up, but wanted to pop in to say hi. I'm up up up...hate it. I have got to figure something out. I'm still commuting 2+ hours a day for my job 5x a week and my weekends are consumed with sitting and watching my daughter play club volleyball. So I sit in the car for my commute. I sit 8 hours a day at work and I sit in the car for the ride home and I sit every weekend watching my daughter play VB (seriously long tournaments every weekend) all the sitting is catching up to me and I can't stand it. Other than getting up at 4am to hit the treadmill, I just don't see being able to squeeze in time to work out. But I gotta do something, because the inactivity is killing me. Maybe I will try the 4am thing like 2-3 times a week and see what happens. My goal for 2015 is to MOVE more. Miss you ladies and wish I had free time to come here and visit. On a positive note, I do love the job and the pay is awesome, so I can't complain about that. Hope you all are well and just know that I miss each of you!

Coops girl...missed ya! That is awesome about your son doing the NY thing. Prayers for a safe trip! Florinda, if you are going to be anywhere near Denver for the wedding let me know! I'm 4 years post-op TODAY! And if I'm being honest, I'm only maintaining around a net-65 loss. Boo. But I can't say that I'm all that upset about it because I know myself and I know that statistically and realistically, MOST patients do in fact regain "some" weight after hitting their lowest post-op weight. But it's still not an easy pill to swallow. One thing I've decided to quit beating myself up about is that "low" weight. If I'm being honest, I only hit it ONE time when I was about 18 months post-op. So yes, technically it was my "low" weight, but realistically it was a one-time-low-bounce time for me and I really maintained about 7-10lbs higher for MOST of the time that I was near that weight. Anyway, I've definitely gained weight this year BOO, but in the grand scheme of things, I would NEVER NEVER NEVER go back to the way I was before surgery. Did this surgery allow me to lose some weight and gain some perspective YEP YEP YEP. If they had told me at the beginning you would only lose -30, -40, -60 lbs would I have still gone through with it. YES. (Plese don't get me wrong, I think it's upsetting that someone who really has about 30lbs to lose would do this surgery that is NOT something I'm on-board with ...for instance someone who is 5'6" weighs 180lbs and they want to weigh 140lbs...I do NOT think that this surgery is designed for that type of person but I digress...) I'm happy I had surgery and I feel like it has been a big gift and a blessing in my life. I would do it all over again even knowing what I know now...and what I know now is that this is certainly not the easy way out. The struggle is real...but I'm thankful I have a group of ladies to take the journey with and who GET IT!

Anywhere near Denver? If so we should meet up for coffee or something Florinda! I'm popping in to say I've been sucking it big time. My mom had total knee replacement surgery on Oct. 6, so I took the week "off" from fasting...and wouldn't you know it can't seem to get back on track. So I'm determined to fast today. Got up at 4:45 am to hit the treadmill and burn a few extra cals. Other than walking the dog my life of exercise is NON-EXISTANT. UGH! I hate not working out. Funny I will be 4 YEARS post-op tomorrow. And at my highest weight since hitting my low at about 18 months post-op and my FIL said to me the other day "you and your hubby look like you are losing again" ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, that was the funniest thing EVER! We are both up!!! LOL. Anyway, trying to fast today. Gotta hold strong!

I'm in Centennial, closer to Aurora than Denver...I love living in Colorado! Where is everyone else at in this beautiful state?

Only fasted one day this week. Better than none, but not as good as I can be. Still trying to find balance of being away from home 10+ hours a day at work (with commuting time) and kids sports heap on another 2+ hours in the evening, and crawl into bed exhausted only to get up and do it all over again. I will find time to exercise this weekend (like right now instead of sitting drinking coffee and surfing the boards, I *should* be working out!), even though we have a jam packed weekend. UGH!

The headstone is lovely, and that is a great way to honor his love of trucks. I love Chelenka's suggestions Lisa. Take small steps. Do one good thing for yourself today. Sending you a hug and praying for you...

Kelly, you need to update your profile pic! I would have never guessed they are the same person! You are so cute and tiny and quit hiding behind your hubby. LOL! I keep forgetting that you and hubby both had sleeve just like me and my hubby. Okay, this is short and sweet, but I ACTUALLY COUNTED MY CALORIES TODAY....AND DRUMROLL.... Clocked in at 649 for my fast day....I'M COUNTING IT!!! (sure do miss those dancing banannas!!! lol!)

Well, you always have been "famous" to us, so no surprise there!

Well I had 2 "loose" fast days this past week, I say "loose" because I didn't actually count calories, it was a guesstimate. Maybe I will up the ante this week and actually COUNT calories on my fast days! Chip Butty...sounds interesting. Much more interesting than vegemite (not sure I spelled that correctly) but that stuff sounds positively yucky to me. LOL!!! Went to the movies with the family (Maze Runner, oldest dd has read ALL the books...new one to come out in 2016) and really enjoyed the movie. Bummed that I have to wait a year for the next movie. May have to crumble and read the books. lol. Anyway, ate popcorn, AND licorice. Sheesh. Back in my days of being strict I would have smuggled in a protein bar and a bottle of water. ha ha ha that feels like eons ago!

Don't have much time, just popping in to say I did a fast day today, which was a yogurt, a protein bar, half a piece of toast, salad, and shredded pork (from my crockpot, yum) ....and a TON of water! Oh and coffee, oh and 2 pieces of small candy. Ugh. there you go. Didn't track calories, but my estimation is probably ended around 700ish. Thanks for the motivation ladies!!!

Lisa I've been away from the boards for a while and I'm sorry to learn of your loss. You wrote a beautiful poem and I can't even begin to imagine your pain. I'm just so sorry. Hugs.

Okay ladies, I'm going to try and commit to checking in here at LEAST once a week! With our crazy schedules and being gone 10+ hours a day for work, then lump another 3 hours for sports on top of that at least 3 nights a week...gah! No wonder I don't have time to sit here and visit, but I NEED this so I plan to carve out time for it at least once a week! I definitely NEED a reboot. SO I'm down with what Georgia posted. I'll repaste it here for anyone who missed: 1. Commit to 5:2 week. REAL fast days 2. Set a Reasonable goal you want to reach/achieve. Even if just to get back on track. 3. Weigh in each week. Other group does Friday. So whatever y'all decide. 4. Be connected and help motivate each other in the next month toward healthy eating and lifestyle. And I think Sept 22 is a great day to start so COUNT ME IN! I have GOT to get some of this regain weight off. It just keeps slowly creeping the wrong way and even after all the years of nutritional counseling, and dieting, and then having surgery, and on and on and on, you would *think* that taking it back off would be intuitive, but why is it so fricking fracking hard??? But I know 5:2 worked for me in the past, and I liked how I felt when I was actively doing the 5:2. So that is a good place for me to start. Coops I missed you too! Thanks for saying that. Your daughter is just beautiful...you continue to inspire me my friend! Kelly, I wish you the best of luck with the job search. It's SO easy to get down on yourself ...trust me I looked for a job for the whole 18 months that I went back to school and NOTHING, ZERO, NADA, until I found this job. It's HARD work looking for work. I hope the bookshop is IT for ya! Kim, I'm so so so sorry about your mom. I can't begin to imagine the huge hole that leaves in your life. It's never easy stuff and I'm sorry I missed it and wasn't here for you but I'm glad there were others here to lean on. Sheryl, I have totally missed out on the dating deal for you...who is Theo (just a recap please!) With all the dating, I wonder if you like dating so much or you really would like to settle down with that one special person? Not to be nosy, but I'm just curious if it's the thrill of dating or if you want that end result of something permanent? You don't have to answer, I'm just thinking out loud. Florinda, speaking of dating, AWESOME way to see the new city, you are clever! I think I missed the boyfriend deal? He was no good? Glad you are getting out there, and hoping you eventually find that special person too! And no acid at all for me...ever. Just lucky but I think it is a big problem that you should not ignore. Sarah, missed you girl...have you been able to get back to working out since plastics? YOU ARE SO SKINNY!!! Congrats on the plastics, you look fab!!! Denise, sorry I missed the whole Bill thing too...is that on or off? Sorry to make everyone recap! Dee...please come back and talk to us. Sometimes just talking it out helps. I'm sorry you are going through a miserable time. We are here for you (at least once a week. ) I'm having a miserable time with my weight, but my life is in a good spot. So I can see how having trouble in life, + trouble with weight can = misery. Hang in there please!!! Wanda? Are you around? Georgia, thanks for the reboot challenge. I NEED IT SO BADLY!!!!

Hello lovely ladies! I have been GONE so LONG that I won't even pretend that I can try to catch up! But hello to you all and sorry for all I have missed! I started working a temp job this summer, it was a crappy data entry part-time gig. Then BOOM, I finally found a great job in my career field of Graphic Design, working for Time Warner Cable! Woo hoo! Love love love the job, hate hate hate the commute (2 hours, 1 to the job and 1 home) annnnd it's a full-time job so I'm basically gone 10+ hours a day. Waaaah! Right now I'm trying to find balance. Trying to find balance with my working, my exercising, my eating, my family and not to mention juggling everyone's schedule which includes two very active daughters who play sports. So that is basically my update in a nutshell, my weight is up (highest that it has been post-surg) and I feel awful. I just can't throw in the towel but that is kind of what it feels like I am doing (in regards to eating, exercising and my weight.) I refuse to throw in the towel so I gotta figure this all out. Anyway, sorry it's been so long that I have been here...will try to catch up but know that it's my own fault for not following along. Hope you guys are well, and know that I missed you all! Hugs!

WOW JUST WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awww, Kim I'm so sorry about your mom, I'm glad she is okay but I understand what you mean about not being able to do this for the long-haul ...aging parents are a difficult situation for many people! I love the photo of her as a young teen...WOW, what a stunner! Also thank you for sharing your beautiful photos of your recent kayaking with us....aaaah, it's like we were there with you. One-eyed hawk sure makes petty whining seem pretty silly, glad the hawk has adapted! Sue...yes it's a 6 ring circus here (my my doubled the 3 ring because there are 4 of us plus 2 pets!) Life is crazy! I'm sorry you have been feeling blue...are your kids out of school yet? We finished early June and kicked right into summer sports, with a crazy jam-packed schedule. And adding on to this ...I FOUND A JOB! It's frankly not very exciting but it's something. It's data entry part-time and temporary (although I don't know when the "end" date is, I imagine one day they will say thank you and goodbye!) ha ha. So it's only 4 hours a day but everyone is having to adjust to me being gone part of the day, so I'm not the cook, chaffuer, maid, pet-feeder, etc. The timing is crummy, would rather have had this come through when the girls are IN school vs during the summer, but sometimes in life we just don't get to pick these things.

Awww, Sarah and Wanda, I'm sorry about the aging parents, there is just no one SET PERFECT way to deal is there? Sarah, I'm sorry some of your hubby's siblings don't agree with the rest of you...that sure does make it even harder doesn't it? Wanda, I feel for your mom...I hope you can bring her in with you soon and that it doesn't cause a rift between you and your hubby. Florinda, that is good that you were honest with your mom...as the others said being a mom you always are heartbroken anytime your child has to deal with anything difficult, but now ((hopefully)) she can give you some emotional support. Hugs to you! I agree with Kim, you have to set your goals for what you want in a relationship but there is no such thing as PERFECTION. You have to agree to disagree sometimes and you have to find common ground. And when both parties are on equal footing then the little stuff doesn't become a huge hulking disaster. For instance I KNOW my husband ALWAYS runs late. I'm the one who would rather be 30 minutes EARLY than 5 minutes late. He is the opposite. It used to drive me crazy but now I accept that it is part of who he is. I've never been good at lying so people who say "oh just tell him to meet you at 6:00 when he really doesn't have to be there until 6:30..." yeah, I've never been able to pull it off. So instead if it's something that MATTERS, I'm like "listen we need to be THERE ON TIME, so do whatever you need to do to MAKE it happen" lol...other times if it's not such a big deal then I don't worry so much. Georgia...fasting...what the HECK is that? Aaaargh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL but AWESOME for you that you had a fast day!

I agree that there is a combination of both. Restriction is still strong for me at 3.5+ years later BUT it's certainly easy to eat over my daily caloric goal. (My goal is about 1500 calories a day but it's easy to creep towards 1900!) The other day I was eating fast food (I know, I know, not the best choice!) but at chick-fila I had 4 chicken nuggets and about 3 waffle fries and that was it. There was no room for anything else (their salad w/grilled chicken would have been a better choice!) So restriction is still there but the healthy eating HAS to be part of the equation too. I'm sure in my pre-sleeve days I would have no trouble eating a 12 piece chicken nuggets, large fries and a diet coke, plus room for more, like an ice cream cone, etc. So yeah the sleeve does still force portion control for me anyway.

Congratulations beautiful lady!!! Thanks for sticking around and sharing your ups and downs with us!

I am interested in your results from your macronutrient testing...please keep us posted on what you learn!

New baby pictures: And while I'm at it...just celebrated 18 years of marriage to my hubby...on June 1st. Can't believe we've been married 18 years and together 22 years! That's over HALF of my life!!!!

Okay, sort of caught up around here. Our desktop died and I am not a fan of the laptop, and I don't like using the phone app, so anyway, finally back on here checking in! Apparently I like a lot of chaos (not really I'm normally a low-drama person) but we got a call about a kitten who needed a home and we offered to keep her. AAAARGH! She is little (estimated at 4 weeks when my moms neighbor found her) pretty sure her mom was feral and either walked away, or went out looking for food and was taken by a coyote or hit by a car etc. So we said SURE we'll take a new baby in our house. So our house is a bit chaotic right now with the new baby upsetting our previous baby (the puppy Piper is just shy of 6 months old and was happy being the center of our universe, lol). Anyway, at least the new baby (Nala is what we named her) doesn't need bottle feeding but she is soooooo tiny, and Piper wants to lick her and maybe take a nip at her here and there. Ugh. I know this is all just excuses but I seem to NEVER run out of excuses as to why my eating is crappy. It's been crappy pretty much this whole year and I'm not sure how to just pull out of this funk that I'm in. To top it off I took a break from my women and weights class for the summer because I didn't want to waste money and I don't think I will be able to be so strict on attending when the kids are out of school for the summer. But on the bright side my 13 year old can go with me to exercise now and we did that together on Wed. this past week! Sarah, OMG....PS? How exciting and holy crap woman you are totally a different person in that before/after. HOLY COW you look amazing! Sue, so glad you had fun in London...and Sheryl, I love it, let's all meet up in London....woo hoo! That would be so much fun! Georgia, congrats on your 4 year!! You look amazing and thanks for paving the way...I know Sue (coops) is coming up on 4 years in July (I think that sounds right) and I know I will be 4 years in Oct. Praying to get my shite together before my 4 year anniversary...sheesh. Kelly, glad you are still with us...hope your summer is going well. What's going on with the job situation? Kim, love that you bellydance...that's awesome! Wanda has the play started yet? Florinda...?? Where are you girl? Cathy - I think the new house sounds great. We call those something different here too...the lights...I can't think of what they are called. Ugh. All I can think of is port-hole but that is a window on a ship. Ugh, but if you need light I think that is a great way to get some natural light. Denise - I hope Bill feels better soon. Glad he got all fixed up and is on the mend. Sheryl - thanks for the link to your nutritional analysis...please share your results when you get them ...I think we should all do something like this! It sound expensive but it might be worth the $$$ if you can figure out what is going on. I know I'm forgetting some of you...so sorry. Feels like we are missing some of our crew!

Awwww love the Jack & Florinda pics....you are BEAUTIFUL Florinda!!! WOW!!! Sarah, glad to hear from you, sorry about your friend, that is just so sad. Nothing like watching someone "throw it all away" when there is life to be lived. I hope she changes her mind soon, just know that YOU can't change it FOR her. Hugs my friend. Kelly so glad to see you pop in here. I'm very sorry about your job. What is on the horizon next? That really just stinks the way everything went down. Sending you a hug too! Well I *FINALLY* had a fast day yesterday...ended around 587 cals...woo hoo! Only bad thing was my 13 year old saw it on my fitbit app on my phone and was like "what the HECK!!!???" I don't talk about doing the 5:2 thing around the girls (hubby knows) but the LAST thing I need is for my teenage daughters to starting trying to "diet"...we push healthy eating etc. but certainly not restrictive like this. She was like "Mom I probably ate 350 calories just at breakfast alone!" So I told her it was just a low-cal day and that I accidentally skipped lunch while visiting with my neighbor. Ugh. Anyway, LOVE how I feel when I'm fasting...may try to do it again today! WOO HOO!