WOW !!! great new photo. Mary

Hi Nick, thanks for posting. We've missed you. Support groups whether local or on line are very important in our journeys. They let us know that others are still going thru what we are --- that we are not alone. A friend is 5 years out. He never got all of the weight off but did well. He saw his surgeon a couple of weeks ago and the surgeon said that the stomach was the size of an orange AND was still active with regards to WLS --- meaning if he got back on the protein first and exercised he could again start losing weight and keep it off. It was good to hear that we can still be losing weight with this great tool even 5+ years out. The power is definitely within us. Eating right and exercising can be hard now when in the beginning it was so much easier and we weren't hungry either. Changes along the way, but our tool will still function and helps us if we just let it. I eat too if I am overly tired especially on the nights I get a case of insomnia. I'm trying to do fruit instead of bread and keep some always cut up and ready to go in the fridge. Hope you have a good weekend too. Mary

Hey Mary - I figured seeing as the posting is dropping off, I'd actually post something for a change instead of just lurking - there are still a lot of us reading, but a lot of times, things stabilize and we know a lot of the answers, even if we don't always follow them. Thanks for keeping posting even though a lot of us haven't been as good at it - based on our local group experience and online, at this point out, a lot of people fall off the support boards, and it's good to have someone still posting to kick us in the *** to keep talking, sharing I haven't gotten back into an exercise pattern yet, even though I know it's something I should do. I am pretty stable at the 240 range in regards to weight; not where I exactly wanted to be, but it beats the heck out of gaining I've been going plus and minus the same 10 lbs (20 lbs range, from 230-250, on my scales) for a while now. My A1C overall glucose range is good, but I still notice I spike up above 200 sometimes and crash down to the 60s, esp around eating and esp when I'm either overtired, get my work schedule shifted for network upgrades (I work in computer networking, and the only 'downtime' we get is overnight every 3rd weekend of a month), or, alternatively, throw the rules out the window and 'get into something I shouldn't' and then end up dumping... If I can manage to actually get exercising again and be 'good', I can probably drop some more weight and maybe a few more sizes, it's definitely not too late, and I can even identify what I *should* do to get to the point where I need to be... Now if I can actually do it Anyways, gotta run do some family stuff, so I'm going to close - hope all have good long weekend, (and that it's actually a long weekend for y'all ). ...Nick

Not sure if any of you knew JoAnna Lund, but wanted to let you know if you did that she passed away on Saturday after a long battle with breast cancer. She wrote over 2 dozen cookbooks on healthy eating, appeared often on QVC, and even had her own cooking show on PBS. She and I had corresponded for a number of years, and I will miss her greatly. http://www.healthyexchanges.com/ Mary

Hey, I am glad the week went fast for you cause it felt like it took forever to me. I am doing water wonderfully, before each interview at work I stick the bottle in the freezer and when I am done it is just right, nice and icy. I bought a new bottle of vitamins on Saturday every new bottle means an accomplishment for me that I finished the old bottle. I have been trying to walk everyday and have been sucessful. My goals this week, more water, protein, vitamins and walking. Hope everyone meets their goals for the week. Annette.