I'm Inky and I'm a regular pokey lurker Sometimes I don't have a chance to post or read until the weekend (work is craaaazy!) but I'm here for the long haul. Of all the forums on OH, the A-Team 2007 forum has given me the most, so I hope we stick around - no matter how few. I am 48 years young, 5'4" tall and born at nearly 10 pounds, have battled obesity all my life. I weighed 322 pounds at my consult, 309 on surgery day (two month later) and this morning I am holding down the fort at 188 pounds. A total loss of 134. I am still losing, averaging around 3.5 pounds a month the last 3 months. I currently wear a 12/14. I am in the best health of my life, off all my blood pressure meds, down to a very healthy cholesterol level and energetic and happy. Aside from a pesky case of frozen shoulder with a little rotator cuff tear (I wanted to be like Lisa!), life is pretty damn good. My husband starts his GS job as a System Administrator at an Air Force Base this next week and we love where we live. Our next goal is to take swing dancing lessons!! That should be some good exercise and there are many places locally with a good swing/lindy dance scene, so we are excited about that. Hugs to all of our A-Teamers, Inky

I know that I have been away for a while, but what's all this talk about a marathon ??? Someone fill me in please. This may be something I want to get into. Prove to myself that I am a new person now. People would have killed over with heart attacks a year and a hal*****o hear me say that I would consider doing a marathon. Even when I was in high school and worked out everyday, running was not my thing, but I think I would like to give this a shot. Tiff

Soda is not something you should have in your diet. It is full of sodium, the caffeine (if you choose one with it) is not conducive to losing weight and it has no nutritional value. I was a terrilbe soda addict before surgery. I went thru some horrible withdrawals. Anything that does that to your body is full of chemicals that just plain do not help you in any way. Our Dr's office did an experiment with a can of soda and a balloon. The soda kept the balloon inflated for MONTHS! The only reason it finally blew was due to the corrotion of the balloon. So, think what it would do to your pouch. Soda is used to clean battery contact points and it will take the ring right off of your toilet. I know this seems like overkill but I just want to make sure I get the point across. I satisfy my drink craving with a flavor added to water-whether crystal lite or I like the walmart brand 'great value'. Good Luck!!

Oh my gosh Mary, that was so well put. I started reading it and kept thinking, I feel the same way. Thank you for writing it down and giving all of us so much to think about. Congratulations on your wedding. That is fantastic!!

Love love love this post. It gave me alot to think about. I think we are finally realizing how much more our journey is than just about losing weight. I get really down about my excess skin and especially about the girls hanging so low and sad. I have always felt we were our own worse enemies. We can be so hard on ourselves. I think so much is related to feeling we were to blame somehow for our condition and the shame is very hard to let go. Great job for putting into words what I could not..