gowalking

OMG!! I'm such a New Yorker..lol. I saw the title of this post and had to read it to see what the OP was talking about. How does one tolerate the subway? I thought she was referring to the underground trains we take. Then of course I realized she meant the sandwich. Hahahaha!!!

Pink Dahlia, if you are a baseball fan, go to the Hall of Fame. I have to admit that when I went to Cooperstown, that's all I did. It was a day trip and I had no time to do any other exploring. But I do recall that the area was very pretty...I'm sure you can take advantage of that even if it's just exploring the area.

So sorry for your loss Arlene.

Oh I can so relate to the line, 'I love my mother, I just don't always like her.' That's our relationship for sure. She and my dad tell me all the time now about how proud they are of me. I can't help but wonder if that means they weren't proud of me before. I never heard how proud they were of me for raising my children alone when my husband died. Or how I created a second career for myself. One that affords me the opportunity to live better than I ever did when my husband and I struggled to get our business off the ground and profitable. This too, is a frequent discussion with the therapist I see. Somewhere along the line, this relationship I have with both my folks has given me a terrible self esteem issue...even though I know logically that I look very nice these days. I've already appologized for all kinds of things I did to screw up my kids. I don't even know what some of those things are, I've just accepted that I must have done them...lol.

You just started this journey. Don't have expectations and you won't be disappointed. Once you are healed from the surgery, you can focus on losing. Good luck!!

Stupid jerk. Should have told him it wasn't just flat, but small too. LOL.

Just focus on the positive aspects of eating healthy rather than having them worry about the negative things. I bet once they see you happier and healthier...and able to do alot more things with them rather than just watch on the sidelines, they won't care about what they can't or shouldn't eat.

You are so right about the F2F support. It's why Lisa and I co-lead the NYC/LI/Tri-state Local Support Group. It's time consuming but we understand how much it helps not just those who attend, but it helps us just as much.

Aww...thank you for the birthday wishes.

food anesthetised me. When I ate, nothing bothered me. But I paid big time for it...ballooning up to nearly 270 lbs. on a very small frame. I was morbidly obese and heading towards life in a wheelchair. I absolutely could not walk away from a half eaten meal. I could eat copious amounts of food and I felt entitled to finish all of it. I'm working on the core psychological issues with a therapist now because I fear gaining it back even though I've met and exceeded goal. I know that I have a problem that is both physical and psychological. Just today, I went into the fridge at work to portion out some eggplant parm and spaghetti that I had leftover from lunch yesterday. Even now, it was hard for me to throw away the extra spaghetti. I really wanted to eat it even though my life is 1,000% better than it was a year ago. I see it as an addiction same as any other addiction. If I was an alcoholic and found a bottle of booze in my fridge...I'd probably have the same issues with throwing it out as I did with the spaghetti. But I'm not an alcoholic and many a time, I've poured the lefover wine in a bottle down the sink because I didn't want to bother putting the bottle back in the fridge with only a glass or so remaining. Wish I could do that as easily with food. I see this as a lifelong battle and am just hoping that now that I have my life and mobility back, I never take it for granted again and use that as my incentive. Good thread! Thanks for letting me respond.

Did you see the PM I sent you?

Go to the state medical board website. That should help you alot better than just random comments that you really cannot validate. Don't go with your gut.....not with something as serious as who is going to cut you open and rearrange your insides. Get real data. Good luck and let us know what happens. If you have to postpone the surgery and see someone else, do it. This is serious business. When I was told I needed my hips replaced last year, it was the head of orthopaedics at NYU who told me. I still went to see the head of ortho at Beth Israel before consenting to such an invasive procedure.

Great idea. I'll start I guess. My before/after pic is attached. This is what 140 lbs. lost looks like. Can't wait to see all of your pics as well.

Thank you for sharing your story. You are an inspiration and it never hurts to read over and over again, how so many of us have abnormal feelings/relationships with food. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the taste of food but many of us turn to food for emotional needs that we are not getting from somewhere, or someone else. I've also done the easy part....losing 140 lbs. I'm still doing the hard part....sitting in a therapist's office once a week dredging up terrible feelings and memories that I hope eventually help me to not turn to food if/when my life goes a little or a lot off the rails. I never want to be fat again. Never. And therapy is part of the process for me.

Good luck. Even with a high BMI, you can be successful as long as you follow your doctor's instructions and stay compliant. I had a BMI that was over 50 which made me morbidly obese and I am now a normal weight...and I can do anything and go anywhere I want to now.

Same here. I'm the same weight as I was when I got married in 1977. Obviously, I'm not the same size...not after 37 years and two children. But I haven't been 125 lbs. since getting pregnant with the first one...who just turned 36. I look at myself in the mirror or in a window when I'm walking outside all the time. Not because I'm enamored of my new figure....but because I don't know who that skinny girl I see in the mirror is. 125 lbs. and wearing a size 6 yet all I see is the morbidly obese woman I was prior to surgery. I'm also a work in progress.

I kept it quiet at first but as the weight started to literally fall off, I knew that most folks could figure it out anyway. I must say that all the comments have been positive so that's a good thing. But for me, it was an obvious medical need as my mobility was in jeopardy. I used to use a cane and was in terrible pain. These days, I walk unaided and nearly normally again so there's no reason for anyone to be negative. Good luck...as long as you are good with your decision, that's all that matters.

Good morning friends. I haven't posted any pics for a while so I thought I'd post pics from my day yesterday. I went to Queens to watch the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Races. It was fun to watch but the bestest part of the day was my being able to walk from the shuttle drop off well into the park where the races were being held. I never could have done that a year ago. I wouldn't have even been able to go. I know that one day, this will all become ordinary for me, but for now, I thank my band and my orthopedic surgeon every day for giving me my life back. Today is my birthday and for the first time in a very long time, I am looking forward to a future of endless possibilities.

I had to lose around 50 lbs. to go down one or two sizes...but once you start to get smaller, the sizes change much more rapidly even though you are losing less weight. Once I hit around 150, I was in size 12 or 14 jeans but now that I'm 125, I'm wearing size 6 or 8.

This post is a personal attack and there is no place for that on this forum. I will ask Alex to lock this thread as it's not at all helpful.

Congrats.

Usually.

You bet they do. I didn't think about it until I went from an 8 1/2 wide to a 7 or 7 1/2 regular width. Another plus is that I have ingrown toenails and they used to bother me all the time. These days, I don't have to see the podiatrist for several months at a time.

I'm so sorry for your problems. You need to find another doctor because this one does not have your best intentions. The fact that he got angry shows he is a bully and no one should have a bully take care of them. Please let us know what a new doctor tells you.

Hi Ceema. I can't help you personally with the clothes...I gave most of my stuff away to another NYC forum member but I think it would be a good idea to look to organize a clothes swap when we have our support group meetings. I'm going to discuss it with Lisa, my co-leader. We just had our August meeting but maybe we can include this in the next meeting. We've had gals who are all sizes and I bet we could have a pretty good selection of items to chose from eventually.