When I lost the weight, one of my most memorable moments was going shopping and buying a size 2 pair of pants! I just about passed out right there. I couldn't believe I was able to get my rear into a pair, let alone the rest of my lower body. (Personal moment)

Professionally, I was promoted after my weight loss (Not that my weight caused a non-promotion, but it was a highlight during that time). Also professionally, I complete a tactical class that no other woman had completed before (for the agency I work for). This was a major accomplishment for me! This was also the same week I was promoted.

Personally - completed my first half marathon, did a swim around the florida keys, and completed a number of triathlons.

What is your biggest accomplishment? Proudest moment? Or what are you striving to do? Would love to know

@I will what I want -- love your name! The Green Zone is about the adjustable Lapband procedure. The band has saline in it and we get fills to find the zone where our appetite is dimmed properly. In the beginning, it's a process.

Thanks, Rose, for such a positive and inspiring thread -- and congratulations on your successes. I love reading these stories!

Let's see -- there's so much. First of all I'm proud of my willingness. Just choosing to have surgery was such a big deal for me. I had never been an overnight patient in a hospital before and I'm a bit "anti" as far as western medicine. Electing a surgical solution was a big step. I'm proud of the brutal self honesty it took to understand I needed this. And I'm proud of the degree of serious research and dedication I brought to the process from the very beginning and that I continue today.

Choosing myself first has been amazing. Sometimes old habits are hard to kick, but I just kicked and kicked until I got myself at the front of the line. I'm keeping myself there! There was very little resistance -- my family trained up quickly and of course they all benefit from this big change. My happiness is pretty irresistible, I have to say, and now I have so much energy for pursuing FUN.

I'm proud that I have learned how not to say "yes" to other people's needs all the time. I have extricated myself from a couple of major projects that were really too much, an imposition. I am no longer in the business of letting other people impose on me, professionally or personally. I joke, "I do what I want" which is said in quite a sassy little accent, hand on hip and a gaze that means it. We all laugh but you know what? It's true! I'll be 53 next month and for the first time I really do just what I want. What a release! Yes, I still do my for-pay work. At home I still produce beautiful meals and make sure our child's school forms are all set, etc., but it's an attitude shift. "I do what I want!"

A size 10 in jeans! (Wait, did I just type that?!!). In the very same brand I am down from a very tight 18. I'm proud of my height and my long legs looking so fit. I just picked up some new cotton camisoles. So proud to watch these sizes going down, down, down. After two decades, I wear smaller underthings again. Bridget Jones really had it right about the Mommy underwear! I love having on skimpier things. (Shhhh.....quiet......just between us.....I initiate love-making now and it's pretty great. We can't wait until the house is empty.)

Yesterday I bought two new pairs of sneakers. I had a lot of fun joking with the guys in the shoe store about how I'm getting two new pairs because, well, "being an athlete and all....." But I'm burning through shoes and inserts and I'm stretching like crazy. I can bend in ways I couldn't for twenty years. I wake up planning my exercise for the day rather than planning food.

I signed up for a 5K in September. I have joint issues and won't be running, but I am one hell of a fast walker. The 5K part is a little silly because I do more than that each day. But being out in public with a bunch of people focused on an exercise event? Me? YES, ME! I am ridiculously proud of this. I'm not even competitive and don't care about my time (okay, I do not want to be last, eeek), but I am just so excited about this event. I want the t-shirt! And we're going to a dance that night as part of this whole thing, a benefit. I love to dance. And you know, I'll get to rub shoulders with my athlete peeps. Lol, I love my sense of humor and I'm loving being me. Not apologizing or shrinking back. Oh, on the walking thing, I'm also doing a walk for campaign finance reform. Forgot about that one. If any one had told me I would turn into a walking fiend, I'd have laughed in their face (then gone and hidden under the covers).

It's a miracle -- or I am the miracle, my determination. I feel so empowered now. It's a little strange -- I am taking up more space because I'm smaller. I feel like I belong. I am welcome and deserving. I'm losing weight but not trying to make myself smaller in other ways. I throw those shoulders back and walk into a room like I never have before.

What's next? I want to take some dance classes. This is something that was a big part of my life in my twenties, but then thirties to fifties I was less and less able to dance. I want that back! I want to go somewhere and snorkel. I want to feel my strong body moving lithely through the Water and I don't want to give a rat's ass how I look in my bathing suit. I want to find a little black dress that looks well on me and I want to wear it out on the town. Many towns, including getting back to Europe soon. I want some photos. There is so little evidence of me having been here -- I want to change that with some really great family pictures and a couple of glamor shots of this white-haired fifty-something looking very fit and happy. Yes!

Oh, I also got a bike. Yippee! And I signed up for a week-long art workshop that we can't really afford but I'm doing it anyway and I'm taking my bike. I'm getting away to make art for five days with some one I have wanted to work with for a long time. Speaking of long, this is getting ridiculous. But I'm writing this for me. I have loved being a part of this forum and seeing the patterns of successful people. Here you are all are. Very glad of that and proud to be part of something like this.

@@Bandista, I'm speechless. *applauds*

My family and I traveled to the Black Hills in South Dakota for the Independence Day Holiday. We climbed to the top of Harney' s Peak (highest peak east of the Rocky Mountains!).

I have lost of 205 pounds. At 331 pounds I would have stayed behind and read a book while my husband and son enjoyed the day and the amazing views. It was such a magical day being able to experience that with my family. I had celebrated my one year surgerversary - I can't express just how life affirming that experience was for me!

Carol m

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGG! Fantastic turnaround for you and your family! Congratulations!

Bandista - YOU ROCK!!! We have all had surgery and done the work so we could LIVE! Enjoy life!! You have earned it!

Proud of all of you! I am early on in my journey and expect to be posting my significant achievements in the near future!

Thank you so much! Having been brought up with a lot of "pride goeth before a fall" kind of crap, I am just so stinking happy to feel proud of myself -- out of the low self esteem trenches!

Bandista - YOU ROCK!!! We have all had surgery and done the work so we could LIVE! Enjoy life!! You have earned it!