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Wanda, I wanted to say that I agree about the 10 pound thing and not putting a time limit on it. I didn't put time limits on my weight loss. When I lost it, I lost it. I had surgery in Mexico and my surgeon didn't even talk about a goal weight or anything. I would come on here and read about people losing all this weight in 6 months and I tried not to let it get to me. Wanda+working out(Curves)=BrownDoesAll! You really are doing all now because you are taking care of yourself!

Sheryl, when is the ex leaving? I hope soon! If he really is going to live in his car then why can't he go tonight and take his bacon with him? Hang in there. Sue, glad you are feeling better. Will you be able to go back to work next week? Dorrie, go and have fun. Enjoy. Denise, this is so exciting about Bill...please share more. Us, married ladies love to hear all these stories! Brings back memories... So, I am doing this weight loss challenge thing with the girls that I do boot camp with. We have a month and whoever loses the largest percentage of weight will win 5 free sessions with my trainer. We also each put in $5, so whoever wins will get the money, too. Not sure how much is in there. It's been going on for a few weeks. Next week is week 4. I have to get weighed on February 10th. I am trying hard to hunker down to win this thing. I am starving!!!! I eating my normal amounts but I want junk so bad. Sugar, sweets, donuts, cookies...you get the picture. I haven't had anything this week, I'm hoping I can get through the weekend. The bad thing is I have PMS and this is the time of month that I usually indulge in some junk. I wish sugar didn't taste so good! I wish it made me sick! When I was looking into surgery one of the surgeons I met with told me that if you have gastric bypass you can't eat sweets because it will make you sick. Not sure if that's true or not, maybe I should have gone that route???? lol

Thanks, Kim! That made me smile.

Sheryl, I forgot to say that I love your new profile pic! Georgia, Sheila, Kelly, Cathy....giving you all a shout out just because I can. If I forgot anyone, I apologize. Happy Wednesday, Ladies!

Dee, very happy you are finally moving back home! I am sure this is a huge relief to you. Hopefully things will settle down for you a bit. I have a feeling the stress is what is causing you to not lose anything. I believe stress is huge in hindering weight loss. Sheryl, you look amazing. Your scars are incredible. I can hardly see them in the pics. It is so interesting how we see ourselves. I look at your pictures and don't see what you see. Your body looks great to me. I feel like I look fine in clothes. I always, always wear spanx type things under my clothes. This helps hold all the skin in place. I look forward to the day that I can have plastics and not have to wear them anymore. I can't go without them, especially when working out. I hope I have as good of results after plastics as you have had. The corset looks great, too! Dorrie, sorry you are having a hard time lately. I can relate. Hugs to you, my friend. Florinda, congrats on losing the 30 pounds. Very exciting. No sense trying to hide it if you only lost a pound or two, waiting for big numbers. Girl, we get excited over anything in this group!

Coops, hope you are back to feeling better soon. I'm sure your students are missing you and are worried about you. What grade do you teach? Kim, as usual, I love reading what you write. You know just how to say things and have such an encouraging way of looking at life. I feel the same about you, Wanda. Wanda, so glad you are working Curves into your schedule. I know you don't like exercise but you just have to make yourself go because it's good for you. So happy to hear the scale is moving down even if it is slow. Oh, I was also going to suggest that you take measurements and write them down and maybe do them every month or so. I have a feeling you will see a big change in inches with the working out. Now to try to answer your question about goals. Like, Sheryl, my first major goal was to get under 200 (started at 270). Once I got under 200 I really started noticing a difference in the way I looked and the things I could do. This is when most people really started to notice my weight loss. Some people noticed before that but once I was under 200 I would get the, wow's and what happened to you, things like that. My body got down to 160-165 and I was very happy where I was. Because of working out a lot I feel like my body didn't look too bad. After being there for a while and really looking deep inside I knew that I was holding on to some of the weight still for some of the same reasons I became obese to begin with. I wanted that to change. That's when I started 5:2. 17 pounds later and I still would like to lose 10 pounds. Why? One thing is that the 17 pounds made a huge difference in my workouts. I am lighter and I can run and move easier so I think 10 more pounds will make even more of a difference. Also, this with this 17 pound loss I know from my body fat numbers that a lot of that was fat loss. I still have a little fat that I would like to try to lose before I have plastics. Finally, to be honest, I just want to see my weight in the 130's again. It's been 20 years since I have seen that and I would like to see it again. As for where your goal should be, only you can answer that. You will figure it out. Not done yet but I'm going back to reread...

Whoa! So much to catch up on. First off, thanks to all of you for your kind words and encouragement when I wrote about my friend on drugs. This has been weighing so heavily on my mind and I am still having a hard time with it. The fact that nothing can be done is a hard one for me. I know I need to learn to cope but, wow, it's hard. I honestly don't know how you all do it who have gone through this. Dorrie and Georgia with your sons...my heart aches for you. Florinda with your dad, so sad. I keep praying that she will stop before she kills herself. Kim, I think it was you who asked if she has any family that could help with an intervention. Honestly, my family and my extended family have been her family for the past few years. She has a mother and step dad who live right by her but they have their own issues and she has never been close to them. There is no way they would do an intervention. She's married but her husband is an enabler with the whole drug thing. He is such a good guy and she is just throwing her life away. With the weather and a lot of other stuff going on it's been rough for me. I know I will be ok. I spent 3 days in bed. 3 days! What a waste. I had no ambition to do anything at all. We have had such cold weather here that school was cancelled again for 2 days this week. Wind chills were -30-40. I'm just trying to keep my head above water until Spring is here. I made myself get up and work out on Monday and that made things better. Exercise is such a stress relief for me. I've been doing my fasting days and they have been fine. I fasted on Monday and tomorrow is another fast day. I'm getting blood work done tomorrow and I'll find out my results next week. I have a thyroid problem so I get blood work every 6 months but I like to see where I am with things. Ok, I'm going to go back and try to respond to everyone.

Denise, I agree with what Kim said. Give him space and time to figure it out. He might really like having 2 women fighting over him. If he's interested in you like that then you deserve respect. Keep us posted. Sheryl, thinking of you. Yes, sometimes it takes everything in you just to get up and get through the day. Wanda, so glad you joined Curves. Did you work out when you joined or just sign up? I'm anxious to hear what you thought of the work out. Fasting today. I want to eat but I won't. Having a hard time today. I finally heard from my friend that is on drugs. She's not doing well. I don't know how to deal with this because this is the first person in my life that I am really close to that has had a drug problem. We actually met in Mexico and had our surgeries on the same day. We instantly clicked and have been close ever since. We think of each other as sisters. Shortly after surgery, she came here and stayed over a month to detox from pot. She's had a rough life and has done other drugs but at that time it was just pot. She had been clean and doing great for over 2 years and then started up again. I found this out because I had not heard from her, we always would txt every day. I knew she had started again, I could just feel it, but I drove to Texas and surprised her after work one day. We talked and it all came out, this time it was pot and speed. This was in November. While we were there she threw away all her drug stuff, said she wanted to stop. I had to come home and we talked every day again until before xmas. When communication stopped I knew she was doing it again. Finally heard from her yesterday and she confirmed what I knew was true. I don't know how to deal with all of this. I know in my mind that the drugs take over, but my heart hurts. I love her and it kills me to see this and not be able to do anything about it. I know I can't change her. I just wish I could help her somehow.

What M2G said is the exact same for me. About 2 years out I noticed hunger return but it was and still isn't like before surgery. 5:2 also reduces hunger for me.

Denise, hope you come back on here tonight and tell us how things went today with Bill...I'm waiting to hear all about it! Sheila, we (we meaning my husband and kids because I'm not a football fan) and blue and orange fans too, but, we are Bears fans! Bears fans living in Packer country. My husband was actually at the last Bears/Packers game where they lost. He was bummed. Have fun at your party. Kelly, my thought process would be to eat really good all week and then not worry about what I eat at the party on Sunday. Get your fast days in and you should be good to go. Now, I know that doesn't work for everyone but it seems to work for me when I have things coming up. I can also understand about your hubs being able to eat more because he works out a lot. I can eat more snacks/junk because of working out, too. The thing is when I add in too many snacks my I just don't feel as well as I normally do when I am eating clean. Sheryl, I've been thinking of you today. Hope you are doing ok. You sound sad in your post. I can only imagine what you are going through...all the emotions. Your ex was an important part of your life for many years. Even if the relationship isn't healthy I thinks it's still normal to feel the things you are feeling. Stay strong. He will find his way, he will have to because he doesn't have you to fall back on anymore. Hang in there. The potato soup incident last night scared me because I wolfed it down so fast and didn't feel a thing and after I was done I was thinking that's how I used to eat everything. I don't want to ever go back to where I was. I think it's a good thing it scared me because, hopefully, that means I will think about it more next time I am starving like that. I don't usually let myself get so hungry, it kind of just happened after I was done working out. Still cold and snowy here in WI. I begged my hubs last night to please, please, please move us further south by next winter! Happy Wednesday, Ladies! Cathy! I almost forgot to mention you. I had to come back and edit. Congratulations on the 171!!!! The 160's are right around the corner, I know you'll get there!

Feeling a lot of restriction seems to be common with those doing 5:2! This is one thing I love about it!

I find that I do have to eat more carbs while working out so much. I don't count calories except on fast days so I don't know how many I get in on regular days but I do eat more because I am hungry and my body needs it. Be careful, don't do too much. Especially when you are stressed out. Stress causes havoc on our bodies.

I made potato soup for dinner but I didn't eat any before I went to boot camp. When I came home I was starving and I downed about 3/4 cup of it. I ate that so fast, just like before my sleeve and it didn't bother me a bit. Honestly, that scares me.

Kelly or is it Kelli? I was wondering, too, if he is gaining? Wanda, I love how you were getting everything in before your battery died! You crack me up. You can do it, Georgia! I know you can.

Thanks for all of the kind words, everyone. Thanks for all your encouragement through all of this, it really is helpful. Coops, the sausage and chips sound delish! Are chips like french fries? Save some for tomorrow when you aren't fasting. Wanda, I think you'll like Curves and I bet adding some exercise will help with losing. Too bad there aren't more hours in the day to get everything done. Cathy, congrats on getting to your lowest! I have a feeling 171 is going to stick any day and you can shout out your new low! Dee, get some sleep. Any word on your apartment yet? Is it almost ready so you can be home again? Fast day was fine for me yesterday. My next fast will be on Thursday. Boot camp tonight, I don't want to go. It's so cold here I just want to stay in the house. I will go though, because the girls are fun to work out with. I have to keep myself moving and exercising or else the winter depression will take over. Happy Tuesday, Ladies!

Next year maybe you should try to submit a new self portrait of the thinner you!

OH MY GOODNESS, I almost forgot to share my really, really exciting news with my favorite 5:2 peeps! I'm going to post this on the public 5:2 board, too, but had to share with my favorites first! Ok I started 5:2 I believe in August. I forgot to write down the date. Here are some exciting stats for you... My start weight was 165. I am now 148. That is a 17 pound loss!!!!!! I would like to lose 10 more pounds. My pants were a size 8. I am now in a size 6 jeans! I have some 4 skirts. Shirt size is the same, size small. I'm very small on top. I have lost a total of 10.5 inches all over since starting 5:2! This is the best part of all, my trainer finally gave me my body fat number this morning...ready.....!!!!!!!! Started with a body fat of 24.25. My body fat is now.......18.5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is considered athletic! I am so excited about this. Can you tell? I work out on my fast days and I really think this has something to do with the fat loss. My trainer was saying that my body is going right to the fat and burning it on fast days. I am so happy so far with my 5:2 results!

Sheila, happy belated birthday to you! The cake thing is funny...hey, whatever stops you from eating it! Coops, what does the lip look like? Will you post a picture? I can't picture it in my head. I think it would bother me, too. But then again, wait and see what the surgeon says, maybe it's not something that can be fixed. Florinda, I'm sorry about the guy. I just wonder if he was feeling guilty because he was becoming attached emotionally to you and he knows what he has back home. Glad you were able to make a decision about staying. It will be nice to have the money when you do come back to the states. Denise, did you get an email from Bill? (I think that's his name, hard to keep track of all of the men!) Sheryl, you don't need to feel guilt about the ex living in his car. I know you know that and it's easier said than done. The guy has had long enough to get his stuff together and find a place. This is his decision. He has got to move on with his life and get better. Hang in there. Wanda, is there still a low on the scale? What about Curves? Did you check it out yet? Kim, sounds like you had a great time last weekend. I always say that I think your life sounds fun. I'm sure it's not always fun but your attitude towards life and the things you do is something I wish I had in my life. Fasting today. Doing good. I'm also doing a double work out. I worked out with my trainer this morning and I'm going to the Y to take a step class tonight. We'll see how it goes. I'll be thinking of you, Sheila, with my double work out tonight! Happy Monday, Ladies!

Kim! How fun! You look great...love the purple hair, too. Corsets must be what's in right now, huh? Is that your art that you're standing by? It looks like a self portrait from a while ago. Did you go alone?

Congratulations!

Georgia, yum. Those do look really good. I'll wait for you to try them first and let us know how they are before I try them.

I, personally, would not do 5:2 with the hypoglycemia. I wouldn't risk it with everything else you have going on.

Ladies, I posted this in the vets forum but I wanted to post it here in case anyone missed it. This really touched a deep part of my soul today and I wanted to share it with all of my closest "Pal" friends. (I stole that from you, Kim!) I just experienced the best NSV ever! This just happened... My 10 year old was playing in the basement, he came upstairs and said, "Mom, I found some pictures of me when I was little and you were in them. You look really different now. Your face used to be so puffy. Mom, you lost a lot of weight, I am really proud of you!". He then came over to me with a smile on his face and gave me a big hug. My heart melted. He was only 7 when I had surgery. I asked him if he remembered me when I was big. He said he didn't. I was glad. He also told me I looked really sad in all of the pictures. We talked for a while about being healthy and about never making fun of fat people. He then asked me how our lives would be different if I wouldn't have been fat. (Where in the world this little guy came up with a question like this is beyond me!) I told him that was a really good question and asked him what he thought. He said,"I think you would have been a lot happier and your face wouldn't have looked so sad in those pictures.". This was a very touching moment for me, I don't want to ever forget it.

Wait, I'm confused...I thought he was the drunk??? Let us know what happens tonight!

I just experienced the best NSV ever! This just happened... My 10 year old was playing in the basement, he came upstairs and said, "Mom, I found some pictures of me when I was little and you were in them. You look really different now. Your face used to be so puffy. Mom, you lost a lot of weight, I am really proud of you!". He then came over to me with a smile on his face and gave me a big hug. My heart melted. He was only 7 when I had surgery. I asked him if he remembered me when I was big. He said he didn't. I was glad. He also told me I looked really sad in all of the pictures. We talked for a while about being healthy and about never making fun of fat people. He then asked me how our lives would be different if I wouldn't have been fat. (Where in the world this little guy came up with a question like this is beyond me!) I told him that was a really good question and asked him what he thought. He said,"I think you would have been a lot happier and your face wouldn't have looked so sad in those pictures.". This was a very touching moment for me, I don't want to ever forget it.