OCTOBER 2014

[LisaCO 169]

I did it! My first 5K. It was awesome a year ago I would of not considered to attempt this. We rock girls!!!!

[Shadow427 272]

Yeah! LisaCo! Hot stuff! So very proud of you! Inspirational!

[Shadow427 272]

@@Beni, tacycakes, amylynns, pink, brown eyed, Bronx LisaCo, Luna, and EVERYONE who posts on this page . .

I think I love you!

[PinkPolkadot619 337]

@@LisaCO Good Job!!! looks like you had so much fun! Who knew healthy was such a fun lifestyle :-)

[PinkPolkadot619 337]

@@Shadow427

Love you all too!! It is so nice having people who are at the same place I am in this journey! I am the founder of two local FB groups, but there is just something about you ladies that is so amazing! yay Gladiators!!

[Shadow427 272]

I got the job! So excited! Director of a organizational Development. Had to go buy a whole new wardrobe because its been 6 months since I worked in an office setting! And, shopping was fun!!!

[PinkPolkadot619 337]

congratulations!! @@Shadow427 on the job and new wardrobe!!

I got the job! So excited! Director of a organizational Development. Had to go buy a whole new wardrobe because its been 6 months since I worked in an office setting! And, shopping was fun!!!

[Beni 1,484]

@@Shadow427

Fantastic news on the job. We love you too.

I love all my fellow gladiators like sisters. We went through the fire together and we came out the other side. The scariest, bravest thing I ever did was WLS. Even braver then becoming a mom because on that one I didn't know what I was getting myself into. With the surgery, I knew things could go really wrong. But I had faith and hello, I couldn't be happier with the results. The fears were mostly because I am a worry wart. Yes things can go wrong but we just need to look at the statistics and they are pretty good.

Went shopping today and I am a size 8 pants. I have not been a size size 8 pants since college and even then for maybe only 5 minutes.

I am actually trying to eat more because I am losing more weight then my goal. Never, those words "trying to eat more" have been uttered from this mouth before. WOW!

[Beni 1,484]

@@LisaCO

Congratulations on your 5K. Well done, isn't it amazing what a year does after WLS. You look so nice and your flushed face after the run is one of victory and I love it.

We are all new people. So many times I meet someone I used to know and they don't recognize me at all. Jeez I don't even recognize me on some pictures. Was I really that big?

[Beni 1,484]

So, people are flirting with me. Not something I am used to. It has been so long since that happened I have forgotten how to even react. Mostly I get shocked but I hope my face doesn't show it. How is all that going for you all?

[Beni 1,484]

@@tacycakes

Loved your post on your relationship with food. It was wonderful to read because I too do the same things. I look back on all the food funerals I had before surgery. They were really food funerals for the person I was back then. They are not for me now. The person I am now is not that hungry. Yes, I enjoy eating but something light and refreshing. Blueberries and greek yogurt are heavenly. A bite of some thing sweet is all I need. I would never have ever dreamed that a chocolate bar could last 2 months. I ate it all but one tiny bite at a time. Remember the days when a favorite desert would barely last a day? Now it sits like your chocolate eclair in abandon and neglect. How dreamy is that.

I think we (I certainly did) used food as a blanket of protection. It was our friend it loved us because it made us feel good. In part deep inside we needed love but we didn't know how to get it or nurture it. We substituted with something that felt good. Food will do that, then, it became a habit. Now food is not a blanket, it's just food, that what we need to live. That's what food is supposed to be. Now we can move on to some other way of nurturing our inner child. That fragile human being that needs love and acceptance so very desperately - mostly from ourselves. Really, it is not until we can love ourselves that we can be free. For me, loving me will be a life long pursuit, I am sure but I am well on the road to recovery. I am a "Recovering Obese Person." That's a thing and we know it!

[tacycakes 127]

@@Beni

We are "recovering obese people".

I like that because it was real. We were overweight. Fact. You may not be able to see it anymore but the scars are still there.. Literally and figuratively. It did happen. And I remember what it felt like to be that person. I didn't like it at all. I didn't like who I was, (shy, no confidence, a wall flower, ignored, embarrassed, big clothes that were still too tight, out of breath, wouldn't look in a mirror except to critically inspect my features, etc etc etc..) and I don't think anyone cared to know me either, or give me a chance. People pre judged me.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, I still have the compassion and humility of my overweight person, but the confidence and new found joy of the thinner person. I think it makes me a better person because I know where I've been and know where I want to go. I now have the correct path to follow. And I want to bring people along with me and enjoy the view!

An aside: when I typed 'thinner', I thought of a Stephen King movie that I saw a longggg time ago called Thinner. It was so crazy. The more he eats the thinner he gets because of a curse placed on him. Gotta love Stephen King.

[amylynns 802]

@LisaCO---Way to go on your 5K!!!! You look amazing!!!!

@Shadow427--Congrats on the new job!! How's it going!? Gee, "too bad" you had to buy a new wardrobe!! I'm having to buy all new Fall/ Winter clothes too. I can't believe it's coming up on a whole year here (for me, the 20th) for us!!!

I agree, I LOVE you all and you all feel like family to me. My family has been supportive, but they don't really understand what I've gone through this last year. It's not only a physical transformation, but total mental transformation also.

I absolutely love the new me.

I know a lot of people who end up gaining back some or even all of their weight after bypass, and I just can't believe I'd go there again!? It is SO NOT worth it to put junk in my mouth. For WHAT?? Not that I don't take a bite of a dessert, or have a snack size candy bar once in a while---but to over do it, time and time again to the point you're out of control. I just can't grasp that. I know life happens, and people fall into bad habits. But I don't know...I guess I feel like I've worked this hard, for a WHOLE year and I am committed to never going back.

Sorry, rambling on and on there.... I have a friend who had the sleeve and she's gained back a good 25-30 of the 100 she lost. It seriously makes me angry. She KNOWS what she needs to do, but makes excuses constantly why she's not doing it. I try to support her, invite her to work out with me, invite her to the monthly support groups we're SUPPOSED to be going to at the surgeon's office....and she won't do it. I NEED to just let it go. It's her choice, her battle....right?

[amylynns 802]

Help me out with this.....I've been getting Breakfast at Subway 2-3 mornings a week. I "feel" like it's not a horrible choice, but it very well could be... I get a 3" flatbread with egg white, half slice of provolone, one slice ham, green peppers, onions and spinach on it. It's 200 calories. 12G Protein. But 22g carbs, 8g fat. I just logged it in My Fitness Pal and I see it comes up and says, "This food is high in saturated fat."

I've just not had the motivation to plan well for Breakfast at home....and I think I've been justifying having it because I'm at 149, below my goal and I've had 3 people in the last couple of weeks who have asked me if I'm sick....cuz I've lost "too much" weight. I hadn't seen my mom for a couple weeks and she stopped in my office and first thing out of her mouth was, "You NEED to stop losing weight!" UGH....

[amylynns 802]

@Beni---I love your post where you said: "That fragile human being that needs love and acceptance so very desperately - mostly from ourselves. Really, it is not until we can love ourselves that we can be free. For me, loving me will be a life long pursuit, I am sure but I am well on the road to recovery. I am a "Recovering Obese Person." That's a thing and we know it!

So,, so true!! I am so glad I started therapy after my surgery. I KNEW I needed to learn how to love myself or I'd fall back into my eating habits. I think that's really why I feel I have control over my food addiction now. I don't "NEED" food now. Other than to survive, LOL! And for me as well, loving me will be a life long pursuit, a constant work in progress! That always makes me recall a song I learned as a little girl in Sunday school, and my Dad used to sing it to me when he played his guitar. "He's still working on me, to make me what I ought to be.....There really ought to be a sign upon my heart, Don't judge her yet, there's an unfinished part." It's not a song intended for my weight loss battle, but the words to me fit in well! :-)