Well I am new to this forum my friend told me to check it out, so here I am... I just had my surgery on Sept 7. Doing pretty good. Getting along with the protein drinks fairly well. Just tired of the sweetness of them. Blah... Maybe that will take care of my lifelong sweet-tooth. I have lost 16lbs thus far. Not complaining by any means. I am sure it will take time to feel/realize the weight leaving my body. So initially when I started this process it was about three years ago. At that time I needed to jump thru some flaming hoops that I wasn't ready to do. But through the course of events in my life, I jumped through fairly easily with out a lot of effort. I started at my heaviest weight of 293lbs yikes still hard to believe.. I quit smoking and lost 50lbs by way of a pelvic surgery and acid reflux. Which caused me to change my diet. So now having the surgery is another path in my life. I am excited. Now I think one of the hurdles is the time for the weight to come off. There so much pre- surgery work to do. That now I am having a little difficultly seeing the prize. But my eyes are on it...