Mary I am so glad that you are back and that your visit went well with your family. What is your sister's name? I will call my family and friends to put her in their prayers as will I. Just keep us updated on your sister's progress. Everything will work out. From what I understand there is a test but you have to ask them to perform it each time you go in for a pap. Alot of women don't know this and no one tells them. You are truly motivated and your motivation keeps me going. Please check in and share with us every now and then. Love Ya Annette

What a crazy two weeks for me. We had an wonderful time with my brother and his 18 year old daughter (my niece). The 3 of us all have had WLS. Brother 5 years ago, niece 3 months ago, and me 2+ years ago. So interesting to see how differently each of us eats. We were on the go constantly. Walked thru museums, art galleries, tourist attractions, malls. Swam once or twice a day. So really got in lots of exercise. Just after they got here, we heard from my sister. She has endometrial cancer (uterine cancer). She will have surgery at the end of this month (complete hysterectomy). They feel it is stage 1 cancer, but will not know until her surgery whether or not it has spread. I was amazed to learn that this cancer often has no symptoms. Also this cancer does not affect pap smear results either. Last week Hal had kidney stones. Very painful, but doing fine now. So the last couple of weeks have been filled with wonderful times and stressful times. Would you send positive thoughts/prayers out for my sister, I would really appreciate it. I know that I won't be on the boards as much for a while, but I definitely will be checking in. Please keep up the weekly check ins, and I hope more of you will participate too. I rode the exercise bike 5+ miles yesterday morning then worked out in the pool for 30 minutes. Trying my best to lose some more weight, but my body isn't cooperating like I hoped it would. Eating less carbs, drinking lots of fluids too. Know I can break this plateau, just going to take time. Mary

Lee, Finally, I found someone who is willing to say that they are having a problem with maintaining weight. I am having this problem too. I have been going to doctors trying to get some help. I have an appointment with the dietician today.... but I know the response will be to eat more. That's eaiser said than done. I have some other appointments with doctors next week. I did get a response from someone on the board, they suggested an IV nutriental drip. I am going to talk to my doctor about it. Please let's stay in contact, and exchange some ideas, maybe we can get some answers together about our concern. Hope to hear from you

No one has mentioned that I've gained weight other than my husband who said I "look thicker" than I used to, but he's not complaining. It's mostly that I can see and feel it in my clothes. I don't really want to even consider plastics. It's too extreme for the minimal kind of problem I have. Someone else suggested it may just be that menopausal spread that every woman has to worry about (I'm almost 48 yo). So.....I'm going to get off my butt and get moving. I just started doing a 20 minute Pilates DVD in the evenings; It's about to kill me, but it's supposed to be great for strengthening and trimming the abdomen, so I'll let you know how effective it is.

Anyone else found that while their weight remains steady, they're spreading? I've added 1.5" in my abdomen and across my derriere in the last couple of months even though my weight has stayed the same. Granted, this is ALWAYS where I carried my weight prior to surgery and I was delighted and shocked to find that I lost weight there post-op. First time, I felt normally proportioned in a lifetime. Is this just my body readjusting to it's "normal" weight distribution? If so, I've got to find something to halt it in it's tracks! Julie (2.5 years post op) by the way...I still lurk alot but post little. New job, very busy. You ALL look wonderful!