Happy Weekend Everyone! The clinic I went through for my WLS is hosting a Holiday Luncheon today with Star Jones as a guest speaker. I'm excited, I don't get to get all dolled up that often. So yesterday I went for a haircut and got my nails done and I'm feeling mighty fabulous. I even bought a Spanx power panty to help me fit into my skirt. My stomach pooches out a bit and didn't look good in this straight skirt. I tell ya, that powerpanty is a miracle. It looks like I have a flat belly. I also just found out I don't have to go to work tomorrow at 4 am, so I am thrilled to death. I get my whole weekend to do some holiday baking. Yes, I said baking. I make fudge and goodies and send some off to my three sisters every year. Then I put a few pieces aside and take the rest to work. I know, it's a terrible tempation for someone who has been struggling with good food choices, but I've done pretty good the last few days. I've been focusing on protein drinks again, my pseudo 5-day pouch test. When I am doing the protein drinks, I feel in control. There are no food choices I have to make, I just have to pick which flavor do I want. Y'all have a great day! Diane

Thanks everyone. I just can't get this silly grin off my face, though I suppose it will go away the closer I get to the actual surgery date. It is going to take some arranging to get my kids and dogs looked after while I am recovering. Hope is a terrible thing to lose, but when it came back it was absolutely delightful!

ok how's about this for ultimate bull pucky's I have actually made very good choices this week. I bought the (3) outfits I need for my sons bar mitzvah and the 4th outfit needs to be planned out but it's casual for Sunday brunch so i'm on the straight and narrow path because I want to fit into the clothes i bought...so i weighed this morning and i'm up almost 2.5 lbs. Weight keeps going in the wrong direction i fear there could be a hostage situation! One of the woman i work with and I are going to start on the right path on Monday...eat hard this weekend Andi because Monday looms large. You are SO not alone my friend. ANDI

((((((((Holly))))))))) Mazel Tov what great news for you. You can begin to imagine a life without pain, imagine what joy each day is going to bring for y ou. ANDI

on one hand I am doing fantastic. It takes me 1/2 hour to get down one egg and 1 slice of toast, so my pouch is still a good size and I rarely over stuff it. over all I appear to be still dumping when I get too much sugar or fat, which was the whole point of this exersize. I am still a size 4 and my clothes fit nicely, not binding and still no 'elastic' waists. on the other hand, I had a hand full of nuts as usually yesterday and ended up with a stricture, puked my heart out until I get the culprit back up and had to start over with my food intake for the evening. overall I was not in a good mood, so I had one budget gourmet pasta microwave meal and was done for the evening. I would say that nothing has changed in the last 9 months, my intake is the same, equal to my expenditure of energy and calories. my exercise is also just not an option, I walked a few miles the other day and thought that my hips were going to explode and I ache all over three days later, so no more of that stuff. which is actually fine with me. I totally didn't want to have my weight to be dependent on exercise anyways. but still I know that I do not eat enough each day to accommodate any additional expense. right now I have accomplished a balance of energy in and energy out. occasionally I get the hungries, but they seem to be totally related to fluxuations with my cycle and not consistent.