Search the Community

Alcohol is a diuretic so sometimes I weigh less after drinking.. But maybe you should track for a day or to to make sure you are eating enough. Shit if I thought I was jipping myself out of food I'd change that in a hurry! Oh yes Jane details on the dates (you too daisy) Like maybe we can see their profile pics so we can live vicariously through you! Lol! you have to give us old married people some thrills

Isnt it funny how insight can strike when you least expect it - I was cleaning the cat boxes and realizations, or words I guess started to flood. I wont go into gory detail - but I had a horrific childhood, filled with terrifying violence and sexual abuse from my alcoholic step-dad (he died from cirrhosis long ago.) I have done a lot of time on the couch, and on meds and am good. I usually keep it to myself, but it is also not a secret with those closest to me. I guess I feel like I am starting to wake up - 50 this year. Feels like I am just opening my eyes - I too must be getting into some of the serious stuff. This just poured out in the last 30 minutes - I apologize if this feels triggering to anyone. "Always living with a vague expectation that enlightenment and a healing of the old, old wounds would strike one day like a bolt of lightening - or maybe gently like awaking from some bad dream. The longer I am alive I am coming to understand that this probably isn't going to happen. That everyday we fight, some days we gain ground - some days we lose it - a little on some days, some days a lot. It is little victories over time - each adding up. All the years of therapy, self-help, support groups...its one moment at a time - over time. Years of hiding in pain, burying yourself under blankets, under hundreds of lbs of unburned calories, behind the walls and doors of your home - seeking solace in your surroundings- being made fun of for being different by the people you trust the most. again, and again, and again. Just be numb Just don't look maybe then it wont be true what is real and what happened will cease to be so Learning to not turn away - not to hide is hard work. Bravery is not for sissies. What is courage? Why so much fear of what happened lifetimes ago? What you put up with from others How poorly you treated yourself for so long. This is like learning to see to speak to walk to feel for the first time maybe. Is that old me true? Is that still me? What am I? Who am I? I looked at a snapshot of the August 2009 Goddard residency and I can finally see how malignant my despair and mistreatment of myself is - in my weight - the symptom that becomes the focus and the problem. A heavy horse collar of shame - its like being imprisoned in the stocks - immobile, every step pain, every glance from others cruel - like being flayed alive every moment of every day. Maybe if I am lucky this fire of shame will burn me right to ash. Deep, deep sadness and hopelessness Try so hard to change - and it never seems to stick - I cant win. I could never win. I am doing the same thing to myself now with my belief in my abilities as a teacher and an artist - hardly a day passes that I am not wracked with fear, doubt, and the battle against my own weaknesses. Here you are again, more exposed even now. No matter how hard you wish you had that magic lamp that would take away the anxiety, the panic, the terror you feel everyday at just breathing - there is no such thing. It is part of you it IS you Where is my strength? Do I even have any? The only respite will come from within yourself - for yourself. How the f**k do I fix the broken stuff I weep now at even being able to access these feelings. Fraught Frightening Breathe Dig the knives out of the back and stand up straight. Look it right in the f**king eye step forward step up Let go"

It's good if your levels aren't up isn't it? Well after a try on 5:2 last week I'm down 2lb, not an enormous amount but still down. The fast days were fine it's the weekend (wine and snacks!). One of my fast days will be Wed this week as it is Ash Wed and a natural fast day for me (I'm RC). Hubby has suggested no alcohol for lent and I think I agree with him. It is certainly our weak spot. Kim where are you? Out travelling on that bike of yours. Check in and make us jealous of your trips.

Christmas eve party with the neighbours, sausage rolls (x2) peanuts (protein!) sour cream and chives pretzels and quite a bit of alcohol. To be fair though, I ate very little beforehand and its only the second time I have had alcohol since my sleeve 7 months ago

No pasta, bread, rice, raw veggies, alcohol or anything with sugar. I can eat all of the meat and fish that I can handle. I love cooked veggies, but I am trying to limit my intake of the starchy veggies.

No bread, pasta, rice, alcohol, caffeine, root vegetables or carbonated drinks. Reduce fats, carbs & sugar as much as possible. I slowly tried different foods over time to work out what my tummy could tolerate. The only vege I could eat for months was microwaved cabbage & cauliflower but didn’t have issues with any meats. Best advice is follow your surgeon’s plan & slowly introduce new foods when your ready. I can eat most things now. I follow what I call an avoid, reduce or limit eating plan. I still avoid bread, pasta & rice. I reduced my alcohol to maybe once a month & limit the sugar I ingest (only naturally occurring sugars like in fruit where possible & no sweets, cakes, etc.). The only carbonation I have is the odd tonic or soda water & only caffeine comes from green tea (which I’ve drunk for years). Limit carbs to small serves of multi or whole grains. I keep my protein up & eat vegetables, salads & a piece of fruit each day. Good luck with your surgery. I love my sleeve.

What I’ve noticed from reading posts on this board is that nutritionalists offer a lot of conflicting advice. It can be confusing. I would tell my dietician if I disagreed with her advice or if it wasn’t something I could follow in my life & I’d ask for alternatives. What is your goal weight? Does your nutritionalist know what it is? What do they say to explain your lack of loss on the higher calorie diet? Sure, as you get closer to your goal your weight loss does slow but not losing any weight over 2.5 months at your weight sounds like maintenance to me. How active are you? Keto was my recommended 2.5 week pre surgery diet. My personal view is Keto is good for kickstarting your weight loss but not as a long term diet. There’s research about the risks from the high fat component of the diet & also that it can cause issues for diabetics with erratic insulin levels because of the low carb aspect. Just something to consider. I’m all for a balanced diet. I eat about 2 serves of carbs a day (rolled oats & multi grain crackers only not including naturally occurring carbs in other foods), 4 serves of fruit/vegetables, 2-3 serves of dairy, 60g protein & am low fat. I avoid added sugar & artificial sweeteners wherever I can & have a glass of alcohol about once a month. I will have a protein bar if my protein is a little low. My portion sizes are about 3/4 of the recommended serving size or I have fewer serves in a day (like 4 serves fruit/vegetables not the recommended 5). I was told my maintenance protein level was 1.2g per kg of body weight because of being a women in her 50s. I don’t take multi vitamins. This is working for me. It took me a while to discover out how much I could eat in maintenance & I kept slowly losing for 12 months. You will need to work out what works for you in relation to the point at which you can lose & the point at which you can maintain. It will be different to other people’s diets. You may be able to eat more carbs or may choose to go down the plant based protein route. You may need more or fewer calories. You also need to work out what food choices allow you to live your life - dining out, having a glass of wine, travelling (whatever that will be like), work, etc. It may be time for some straight talking with your nutritionalist about your goals & what is achievable for you & your lifestyle. Good luck.

I will start out by saying that never have and never will be pro choice. I am very pro life, and I dont understand why on earth ANYONE could kill their child under any circumstances. HOWEVER!! DONT WRITE ME OFF YET! I do support my friends in whatever they do (unless its like drugs or something much more detremental). I so happen to have had a roomie one time that I met through her going through an abortion...I do not believe it is morally right, however it wasnt my decision for her to have it, it was HERS and she did what SHE felt was right and what her heart led her to do. I understand WHY she did what she did, however, in some ways I dont. Now let me tell you my story...Im 20 years old, Im 13 weeks pregnant, the father is a pathological schizophrenic symptom exhibiting alcoholic drug-addicted Jr. High Drop OUT LOSER! He all but forced me to get pregnant through his mental control over me. Im all alone now, he's gone, he found a girl that will let him do his drugs and drink his alcohol and wont make him keep a steady job and believes his lies, so he chose her instead of me and the baby. Needless to say, he's really screwed up in the head. But I am SOOOO happy and excited about having this baby! I cant wait to find out what it will be! Ive been excited from the beginning, and abortion NEVER crossed my mind as an option what-so-ever...that is until I called my ex-roomie, and she proceeds to tell me exactly how to "get rid of it" and how much it costs....she automatically assumed that just because I supported her decision and was there for her through her "thing" that I would choose the same option. Honestly, that was one of the hardest things Ive ever put up with in a sense, because she actually had a sonogram pic of the baby inside her, and she showed it to me after she had had the abortion, I almost cried, but I just remained silent for a few mins, I just couldnt get my mind of off the fact that she KILLED her child because it wasnt convenient for her to have one right now....Well then she shouldnt have had unprotected sex...same with me...I could have prevented getting pregnant had I really made the effort, its not entirely HIS fault, he just is a lot of it. Let me also add in that I have been raped, and it was only about 5 months ago...Even as I went to get the pregnancy test/STD test at the clinic...I never thought of abortion. Its not that precious little life's fault that it was created when it wasnt the best of times for us. I would live my life in total regret if I had aborted my current pregnancy, every year I would have wondered what the child would have looked like...would it have my blond hair, its father's green/blue eyes, my fair skin? I just couldnt live like that, knowing I threw away another life just so I could live or more commonly live more comfortably. Me I Mind you, that although this is not an option in my book ever, I do understand why some women do choose this option, and Im not a biggot over-conservative about it. Im not going to yell and scream and pout when someone gets an abortion...but it does make me sad when I find out someone that I know has....HOWEVER its THEIR decision, NOT mine...and like I tell all my friends "YOU do what YOU gotta do, to have whats best for YOU". I just saw this thread and thought I would add to it:p

Riley I need to go to Disneyland more often. Great motivation to walk......I walked from 6am to 12am two days in a row with my shape ups. Sore today. But I would love to keep this up I am feeling great!!! How to fit ten miles in when I am working .................. Riley I did the internet dating thing and meet and dated an alcoholic for 2 years!! I am afraid of the internet dating scene now!! Took him about six months for the truth to come out and another year and half for me to kick him out the door..............everything he said online turned out to be a lie. So be careful girlfriend!! Don't be letting them pirates get to close to your jewels!! LOL. YOur tough though I doubt they could out pirate you!! Just be careful. I am headed back home tomorrow. NOt sure is I will be around by Sat but I hope to be. I miss everyone!! Well off to bed!!

Mark: I think the problem in this discussion is that we view some words differently. I think of "Christian values" as universal and good, i.e. kind, helpful, charitable, etc. "Core values" means the same to me. I am not talking about denominations and maybe that is what is troubling you. The founding fathers came from countries that repressed and punished people for their faith. They saw their individual rights, property, fruits of their labors taken from them. Christianity is about the dignity of the individual, and I believe they got their ideas to form a free country from those beliefs. I appreciate the separation of church and state. I am not suggesting that prayer or a particular religion be forced on anyone. EVER. But the fact is that the Christian values of the earliest Americans helped them make a unique, generous and welcoming country. I can understand that if one does not have a belief in God, it can sound worrisome to hear that. But I think our history has shown that no one is forced to believe in anything. It is also interesting to note that in communist countries the opposite is/was true. Believers were forced to renounce their belief in God or die. The leaders of those countries knew that a person with a strong belief in God could never give over all their allegiance to them. I think maybe the founding fathers knew that also. Let me reiterate---the word "God" or "Creator" is a benign word. They use it in Alcoholics Anonymous and other self-help groups. It does not imply a religion, or force a belief. I think it is used more as a universal code for "something bigger than ourselves", or "a benevolent force that cares about us." Of course, particular religions view it in their own ways, but I don't think the word should make anyone afraid. I hope I explained this better than before.... it is such a difficult subject to discuss via the internet. Thanks for your input.

I'll answer - No, I don't think she should have legal consequences. Public opionion alone, should shame this woman. I brought up guns/alcohol as examples of "legal" abuses than can take place, such as in this case. I don't necessarily care for those - but since MANY on the Pro Life movement have brought Slavery / Science / Religion to name a few in the discussion; I'm not taking from the topic to address similarites - so long as I don't take this thread 3 pages to proove my comparison. It is just that. I find, Ms Flipflops your comment below uncaring for those who may have NOT chosen to have sex - rather sex was forced on them. Also those who DID choose birth control and it failed. "I'm Pro Choice too- I believe that women have the right to not put themselves in a position where they get pregnant and can't have the child. They can CHOOSE to have sex and have the possibility to conceive, or they can CHOOSE not to and remain 100% positive they won't have a child." What remains paramount to many that are Pro Choice is that a Woman be allowed to determine her outcome should a Unplanned pregnancy take place. I feel we've given this Woman from Yale enough coverage & she is WELL in the minority.

Sounds like everyone is doing well Started my new job and I love it so far - even if it is a bit daunting with all of the new systems to learn - everyone is super friendly and it is wonderful to get to talk about books all day. I am glad that I get to be on my feet for many hours at a stretch again - I think not working during the summer - even though I have been getting more movement in than ever still makes it rough to keep that scale from creeping up if your diet isn't perfect. I saw a thing on T.V. with Oprah's trainer guy - Bob Greene and he mentioned that it sucks but if you are a woman your diet needs to be almost prefect if you are not going to exercise, and if you do exercise you need to do it most days of the week - whereas men can get by with less working out and eating can be worse because of the muscle mass - bah! Looking at my calendar I am down a little over 3.5 lbs from the same day last month - I will definitely take that! I would love to drop back down into the 170's by the end of the month - that's about 3.3 lbs - it isn't much by man my body is stubborn at giving up the weight these days. Hope you guys have fun with all of the dancing - sounds wonderful! And Sheryl I would not want a Mormom BF either - I think I have a bit too much heathen in my past lol. It's interesting many of our family situations - thinking about Cathy's post - my mom was pretty much a single parent in the 60's - other than the decade she stayed married to the raging alcoholic who tortured us. My own mom is pretty cold and distant - we have never had that warm and fuzzy mom daughter relationship and I know we most likely never will. I think most of the time I have felt like I was a burden and an annoyance to her - there were those times when I was younger, and a huge pain in the ass that she let me know that she wished I had never been born - I know this has to be incredible frustration venting from one who doesn't know how to handle it any other way. But its not something that ever is erased.The longer I live the easier it is for me to see the connection between the innate sense of unease and panic I have always had (when nowhere and nothing is safe) and using food for comfort - bury me under a blanket of bread and gravy haha.

OK with the holidays I've been nibbling on the cookies. Still losing weight and still tracking numbers. I won't be able to get completely on track until after oldest son bday. Today is youngest. Rumchata cheesecake for him. Jan 4 is next one. Rumchata caramel flan. Avoiding alcohol still (4m postop). So just a bite or two but still a cheat

Ok so I have a real question for all of my fellow cheaters: Say you knew before surgery that you were probably never going to be an exercise fanatic Running/biking/hiking on the weekends or never giving up chocolate/alcohol/donuts... Whatever Is it then a cheat or is it just your lifestyle and you lose what you lose taking into account your lifestyle?

I haven’t cheated at all food wise but have allowed myself much more alcohol than I should.

Phew, it took me almost 3 hours to read the NINE pages that got posted since Thursday! I took TWO PAGES of notes because otherwise I would not have remembered a tenth of what I want to respond to! So here we go...... I woke up this morning and weighed myself, no change, rats. Then around 1:30 I went to the bathroom and uh, was so successful that I um, weighed myself again ...... I fully expected to be er *rewarded*, but I was ALMOST 3 POUNDS HEAVIER THAN WHEN I WOKE UP! Now, I have known for years that gravity, water intake, etc. always make you heavier at the end of the day but seriously ...... I love British tv, moreso than American usually. The UK version of Being Human was way better than the American, IMO. I was devoted to it, the Aidan character was killed off btw so that he could go film The Hobbit! He plays Kili, one of the dwarves. Another great show was Survivors, I think it was way better than The Walking Dead is now. Survivors really went into the changes in humanity after a calamity and WD just seems to be devolving into just special effects. Laura and SarSar - you are both straight up genuinely skinny, so yeah whatever is goin' on is goin' on upstairs *taps temple*. But you already know that, and you are both aware of the generally great state of your health so I'm not worried. Is the denim jacket up to a vote then? If so then Coops I vote no, that dress is too darling to hide under a boxy jacket, and so are you!! CGJ - You know, I grew up with my Father ordering for my Mother and myself and it never ocurred to me to be wierd or anything in fact, I accidentally did it to a guy on a date!! He had never been to the restaurant before and we were just ordering dessert and when the server came I ordered for us! I nearly snorted when you mentioned purple jeans! For a former model (Steven) I'm sure they were quite alarming! . Oh and uh, what was the first thing my pervy mind did when you called Frasier the Pipefitter?? "yeah ... Pipefitter indeed, heh heh heh!" Remember bizarro world, from Sienfeld? You have the Bizarro Frasier of Seattle - opposite of the TV Frasier in every way not a bad thing. ODenise - This Jonathan sounds a bit passive aggressive, like he might even be setting you up on purpose with the conversation lag/interrupting thing... Laura - I had already taken the notes "have daughter committed?" before I saw Feed's suggestion of the 5150. There is so much obsession these days with respecting children's rights that people forget that parents - every human really- have rights too, namely the right to not feel fear within their own home. And the Army? Perhaps it is the ticket for her, I do know plenty of soldiers who admit readily that the Army saved their lives. But one thing you must be able to muster on your own is self control, the Army has ZERO TOLERANCE for a person who cannot control themselves. I haven't gone to Germany yet, I don't know if that is even a possibility but if it is, it won't happen till February. Speaking of the job, there is a possibility that I may get a 6 month extension. I am conflicted, for obvoious reasons. I should go Stateside, I know that, but the money! The money .... Somebody mentioned something about how Former Fats often seem to think that we will finish losing and be able to walk away from It - weight care, monitoring, etc. And that many Never Fats know that this is not the case. It stuck with me because it reminded me of my Father, when he was getting ready to leave rehab (alcohol). That is exactly how he talked, like all of this was some nonsense that was behind him now and not worth a second thought. Less than 4 months later he was gone. I filled my hole with food, he papered over his pain with drugs and alcohol. Christmas this year is so many things, so much pain to relive, so much sorrow, since it was Christmas last year that was the catalyst for his death. I feel so much responsibility, so much sorrow, for the stupidity I displayed. I tried to bully him into better behavior, not knowing it was too late for tough love, too late ..... January 9th will be one year, and only recently have I for the first time felt anger. I've just felt sad this whole time, my Mom went to the anger right away and has stayed there, only now starting to move away from it. *deep breath* As for Seattle - Having a job before I get there would be awesome, I don't relish trying to find a job "last minute". I am looking on CL for a place to live, I wanted to live alone but it looks like my best bet will be a houseshare. I want to live within walking distance of yoga, coffee, and either a farmer's market or co-op. I have an awesome bike and would like to operate as carless as possible if possible. The school I want is Antioch, but it is private and I don't know if they will fully fund a doctorate, whereas State schools do so, so I may need to look at UDub as well. You know, technically I am the same weight now that I was in my profile pic, but I KNOW I am nowhere near as firm and strong as I was then, I was doing crossfit 3x a week, plus yoga 2x a week and tango 1x a week, plus running with a friend outdoors. Now, I do Insanity 5 days a week and after 2 weeks I am still a marshmallow. AND WHY AM I NOT LOSING ANY WEIGHT, MUTHREFFER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brown - so glad you are not giving up, please show kindness and nurturing to yourself, the same you show to us. Phew, okay, I think I got about all of it, if I missed something/someone sorry, I'll take better notes next time! PS - knew I'd forget something! I wanted to comment on what a huge difference arms make - my profile pic I look so fit because I purposely angled my arm in such a way that it looks normal sized. when I take a selfie now, and use one hand to hold back all the upper arm pudge, it completely and radically changes the look of my entire body. I go from looking like a pudgy middle aged soccer Mom to a fit woman. Okay, NOW I'm done!

Ended yesterday at 592...not so great for a fast day, and yeah...that hard cider I had at the end of the night, unplanned, is what did it. I'm struggling with emotions and stress right now and definitely need to take a closer look at my coping mechanisms. My inability to relax or let things go for the moment without a glass of wine or alcohol is very troubling and is something I'll need to work on, especially if my husband does go play soldier sooner rather than later. Up on the scale after my fast day but I'm not terribly surprised. I kind of don't expect much out of the scale anymore! Hubs says that the scale is bonkers, anyway. His unscientific test on it the last two days indicates that it shows weights within a four pound range one after the other. I just bought the darn thing, too. I'll replace the batteries but it would be nice to believe that I'm not having as much fluctuation on the scale as I thought. So, down from weigh-in on Sunday by eight tenths of a pound. Up from yesterday. Bleh. Dumb scale. Normal day. Lots of cooking and baking today. A yummy, healthy dinner of shakshouka, salat yerakot (Israeli salad), freshly made pitas and hummus. Yum. This is a meal I need to keep in mind because it's ideally suited (sans pita) for fast days, too. Not too many calories. I won't go into detail about the baking as a courtesy to those fasting. Good luck, fasters! I'm glad to read that everyone is experiencing some measure of success here (extra special shout out to coops and M2G!) even if it sometimes seems frustrating to me. ~Cheri

Congrats Traci Here are some pics from my Friday. Thankfully I have now recovered from what was my worst hangover ever. Funny how this damn band will make me puke up a cheeseburger but when I want to throw up excess amounts of alcohol it just leaves me with the dry heaves. There are more pics on my myspace. MySpace.com - Stacy~Australian for Beer - 28 - Female - Taylor, Michigan - www.myspace.com/mythbusterstacy

Best of luck Denise - I hope things are going well and you are on the mend already! I dont mind sharing what meds I take - not at all. I currently take Wellbutrin SR - the Sr stands for slow release I believe, I am supposed to take one in the am and another later in the day but oneseems just fine. I was prescribed this medicine when I wanted to stop smoking (which I did on November 1, 2010 after 28 years of a pack and a half a day habit.) My doc prescribed Wellbutrin because I have anxiety issues - mentioning that the other popular smoking cessation drug Chantix, could send folks with anxiety into a tail spin ( meaning it can really ramp you up). I asked my GP how it works and she said with a chuckle that they really aren't sure why it works so well to help quit smoking. It is not an SSRI, I have a long and diverse history with those as well. The nice thing about the Wellbutrin is that it does not have the heinous side effect of killing the libido or making it so that one cannot reach climax - which I hear is common. My docs at the WL surgery office have kept me on the Wellbutrin, as it also has a positive effect for folks trying to lose and maintain their weight, I don't notice a huge difference in how I feel with it - I do know that I seem to be on a much more even keel than in the past. I'll take it. I also take a lot of anti-histamines for allergy and dermatological issues - I worked with accelerated solvents and oxidizing chemicals for decades and I am hyper sensitive to my environment. My skin, eyes, and mucous membranes are super easy to irritate - so it is a continual battle to keep inflammation at bay. Interestingly enough - anti-histamines are also considered useful in the treatment of generalized anxiety symptoms - which I have along with PTSD/acute anxiety (i.e. panic disorder) in a nutshell, a brutally abusive childhood spent with a raging alcoholic stepdad and a horrifying car crash in my early 20's that put me out of commission for a year are big elements of where this all came from - 'hi, nothing, nowhere is a safe place to be.' and welcome to using food as a substance to soothe and disappear. I take Klonopin when life is just too edgy, and when I know I will be in the passenger seat of the car for a long trip. I used to take this one daily just to get through the day in the late 90's when I finally found my way to the therapists couch. The potent cocktail of drugs I used to take daily were Zoloft, Trazadone at bedtime, and Ativan and then Klonopin(Clonazepam) on a daily basis. I was in rough shape back then, confronting issues for the first time. I went to therapy 3 times a week and then was in an eating disorder group as well - which was challenging as most of the other members were anorectics and bulimics, which while very similar to bingers/compulsive overeaters (meaning that one can turn into the other pretty easily they say.) those folks can be very hard on those they few as inferior. So now I just use Wellbutrin and the clonazepam as needed, and a lot of anti-histamines - hubby and I take the Safeway brand sleepy medicine - which is just Benadryl but a whole lot cheaper - if you look at the price on Zeequil, its the same stuff and they just charge an arm and a leg. Diphenhydramine is the anti-histamine. I have heard good things about L-methyfolate and ​Sam-e. I recently went off of melatonin because once its built up to a therapeutic level in my system I get serious nosebleeds - which seems to have happened to a lot of folks. Sheryl I have also taken the 5HTTP, seemed like good stuff but I was using my other regular meds so I am not sure if it makes a lot of difference. What is interesting - when I was in bad shape all that medication make me feel normal, My normal from waking until sleep was like being on fire without meds - I wanted to die - just dart out into traffic and have the pain just stop. Now - one Clonopin knocks me on my ass - I really feel it - whereas before I was in such a state that it just made the day tolerable enough to get through - so I could do the work needed in therapy to get a little better. I know that I am permanently imprinted by the bad things that happened in my life, that I will always be afraid of things - but it is better than it used to be. I have considered trying that flashing light therapy to help with the PTSD - I have heard good things about it.

"But terminating the pregnancy caused her so much pain that she tried to cover it with "drugs, alcohol, partying and a promiscuous lifestyle," she told radio host Rich Buhler in an interview with KBRT AM-740." Great piece of "news" from our favorite "news" source: Fox News. Anyone besides me think that this could be another couple who are doing all they can to further their argument against women's right to choose, rather than a sincere effort for the man to "adopt" dead tissue - which, btw, makes no sense at all on the face of it. It's shocking, I'll give them that. But then methinks that is the idea. Last point being, I'm sure that she did no "drugs, alcohol, partying" and didn't have a "promiscuous lifestyle" prior to her first pregnancy. She was a totally virtuous young lady, who was simply taken advantage of by some big bad boy. Only after the first abortion did she ignorantly choose to have unprotected sex that resulted in a second unwanted pregnancy and second abortion. Great story. Heart warming.

I'm fasting today. Head is not in the game. I just have too much going on. I don't do well with uncertainty and we won't know about when my husband will go for another week. It could be anywhere from three weeks to six months from now, and until that's settled I will stress. We also have a never-ending stream of guests, because everyone is thrilled we're in the states again. It's nice but also stressful. My stepson's girlfriend came in to meet us and all they've done is bicker since she's been here. Needless to say, I'm hoping that she doesn't join the family permanently. My father-in-law and hubby's stepmother will be here tomorrow night...and then I have more guests at the end of next week. I was up three damned pounds on the scale for no really good reason this morning. Not so thrilled. This puts me up over my where I ended the last week. I hope it falls off quickly. My non-fast days are full of imperfect foods but I'm hanging in my calorie range pretty easily. So long as I stay away from the alcohol, that is! Glad to hear everyone had a pretty decent day yesterday. It's good to see you around, coops! Daisy, I can think of so many wonderful things to make with all those cherries! In Bishkek we had cherry trees in our yard and it was wonderful. FYE, I've had some days like that. In fact, I had leftover tiramisu for Breakfast yesterday, with a huge latte. Massive calories first thing in the morning. Oh, in case anyone was wondering, tiramisu IS a slider and YES the dairy will bother a person with lactose intolerance. Hope everyone has a great day. I'm doing a fast but admit I broke it early today. I normally don't do my Protein Shake until at least after ten but I woke up and just needed to jam food in my face. So I compromised with myself - no, I won't eat that last square of tiramisu but I will have my Protein coffee at 8:30 today. It could be worse. ~Cheri

Good job Georgia! Brown OMG I could not be that strong! Chocolate anything would drive me over the edge. Ok she's gone!!!! OMG I took her to a two hour doctors appt today. It was very stressful and the doctor and I confronted her on her alcohol use (not what any of us expected especially her) She's an alcoholic but became clean and sober after my brothers death. But she's back to drinking every night and is pissed and says lots of normal people drink wine every night. Yeah... I tried to talk to her about my food addiction and that even though I'm smaller now I'm still an addict. I told her for instance I'm so stressed out I could eat a package of Oreos today and that after she left I will be fighting a secret binge. Even though "normal" weighted people can eat Oreos, I can't. She wanted to know why I was stressed Ok no binges today and I'm at 426 so far.. I might MIGHT make it...

I've had alcohol. I talked to my surgeon and he suggested rum and diet coke. I'm following a low-carb plan, so he recommended it over a glass of wine for me. I felt the effects of it quicker than before surgery. And I felt really dehydrated and crappy the day after. But I probably overdid it that night too.

Florinda sounds like HE is the confused one. I too would feel bowled over but you know he wasn't the one that brought you hope and all those things you said about him... being with him just helped you find that within. Hang onto THAT and let him just fade away. I took a gun safety and basic shooting class with my friend Mary today. Super fun, learned alot, and we are both good shooting students. Seattle Seahawks are going to the Super bowl!!! The sad freaked out I am sick over it news...My EX plans to live in his car. He made me promise not to tell people we know so I have to carry this burdensome knowledge. I am horrified and mad because he has options. He has reasons for his insanity but does it even matter? Counselor says I am in classic co dependant relationship but without the traditional alcohol addiction. Maybe that is why I feel guilty beyond reason.

Where do I begin? I know, WAY2GO Juli! Great job on the A! So I just relived my youth. I have some great Lighthouse pics for you guys when I get back. I found a note this morning it was apparently written by my liver late last night. It wants to know what it did to piss me off and cause me to punish it with so much alcohol! Can you say modified Japanese mach 3 hangover? J,BG, be jealous of my ability to eat a turkey burger in 3 bites no more, Iam getting a right proper fill tomorrow morning in St. Petersburg. Will update l8ter. Difficult to type on this phone. JC