First I want to congratulate you on your one year anniversary, you have done an awsome job. Second, I want to say I am sorry that you feel so blue, but glad you are getting therapy and hope that you can work things out. You can get back in control, try not to focus so much on the next 6 months but on continueing using your WLS tool to your advantage. If you have made poor choices forget them and start again. If you have not had time to exercise try and find time to start again it will not only help lose weight but will help your spirits rise. You have had a successful first year and can continue with that success into the next. Wishing you all the best. Sher

I haven't had that happen. I have had times where I've thought "why couldn't I just stop eating so much?" but overall I'm very happy I did this. Even with all of the restrictions and new nutritional demands (vitamins and protein supplements) I'm very happy I did this. When you said my bedroom is a mess, my life is a mess - that really struck a chord with me. I know when my house is messy I feel like my entire life is in chaos. To me clutter creates chaos. I just can't stand it. It really affects my mood. I used to have a hard time staying on top of my housework and clutter. I used to think I was just lazy but then I found Flylady ( www.flylady.net ) and her program is a lifesaver. It puts you on a schedule with your decluterring and housecleaning. It really helped me a lot. Are you taking pictures so you can see the difference in pictures? I can always tell when I look at a picture of myself. Hang in there. It's not too late to lose some more weight even if it's going to come off slower now. I started at 333 and I'm at 208. I would still like to lose 30 or 40 more pounds. Lizzie

Congratulations Sue and Joan! One year gone by and along with it many pounds of excess weight. You both have done such amazing things over this past year and have been very succeessful using your WLS tool to it's full advantage. Sue try not to be too hard on yourself if you stray from your plan. If there is one thing I have learned over this year is that we are only human and will make mistakes and not follow the plan as we should or eat something we really shouldn't , but for continued success we need to forgive ourselves right away and just start again doing things the way we were taught. I know in the past if I cheated I would just give up and blow the whole day or just give up totally. That is why up until this year I was never ever to lose a significant amount of weight and keep it off. Wishing all of us to have continued success in using this WLS tool to get to our ultimate goals and to maintain our weight loss this coming year and every year there after. Thanks to everyone for their support here at OH. Sher

happy anniversary

Anybody else feeling blue around their anniversary? I literally crashed on Monday. My anniversary is on the 27th. On Monday I had my 1 year visit with the Weight Control Center - Dr. Zalesin. She is awesome by the way. Anyway, she just in passing said "No eating or drinking at the same time for the rest of your life." and "You will always be at risk for gaining weight." That just hit me square in the heart. Kind of like: What have I done? It was the first time I truely realized that this is up to me now. The tool is there but it will slowly stop being a main player in my life. According to everything I've read 18 months is about it for the big weight loss. So it's Oh my gosh I only have 6 months left. Plus it doesn't help that I haven't lost in about a month. I've been staying at 233. I also have slacked off on eating and exercise in the past month. So I know that is why I haven't lost. My job has been crazy and my schedule has gotten switched around. On Monday it just hit me that I am OUT OF CONTROL. And it just seemed so huge and overwhelming. My bedroom is a mess, my life is a mess. Luckily I had a therapy appointment on Tuesday and was able to work through some of the stuff. Then I went and talked to my boss about my job and basically had another hour therapy session. Two hours of crying! I felt like I could cry for forever and I still feel like if I get started it may take some time to stop. So where am I at now? I've gotten my bedroom cleaned up, I went to the gym today and I think that I ate pretty well. I also bought easy food stuff that will help me not skip meals. My job is still crazy and there is still a nagging sadness hanging on. It also doesn't help that I can't see what all I've accomplished. I know the numbers: 401 highest weight, 368 surgery weight and 233 currently, I just don't SEE it. Ugh! I hate this feeling. And the weird thing is that I celebrated my anniversary last weekend. I went out with some of my family to this awesome restaurant that I had been wanting to go to for forever. We had so much fun and they gave me a great card talking about how much I had accomplished. I felt great then but then just crashed. So anybody else been feeling this way or am I the only one??? sarah