Okay...WHERE IS EVERYONE????????

"Is anyone alive out there???" I took a break from posting my "behaving like a gastic bypass patient" thread cuz it was lookin like Ginger Locks was a hoggin up the board..... but then..... no one posted Is everyone okay???? Are we just busy Christmas shopping?? Going to parties??? How'z about we all check in ... *sniff* *sniff* I miss hearing from everyone..... Me? Well, I've been doing a lot of Christmas shopping - sounds worse than it really is - it's actually taking me longer this time because I'm trying to stick to a budget and not go overboard. So far, so good. I'm not done. I'm going to brave the crowds Christmas weekend to get the last couple of things (probably gift cards at this rate). I went to another Christmas party tonight. I worked my tail off in the kitchen mostly. I did have a little bit of fun in the kitchen with a couple of friends and a tray of jello shooters.....and a half a glass of red wine - Merlot - my favorite. As far as food at the party - I was fairly good. Not great. I had some ham, meatballs, salami cheese n crackers, a couple bites of lumpia *ouch*, couple bites of marinated chicken skewers, a bite of brownie w/ caramel *ouch*, a cookie...... and LOTs of water. I started feeling so dehydrated. I had worked all day - then stood on my feet for 5 1/2 hours at the party. So - even though i wasn't nearly perfect - I feel a little better knowing that I probably worked every last bit of it off. HOWEVER, I've got 3/4 of a tiramisu cake and a platter of cookies, fudge, rum balls and merange kisses on my kitchen counter now. Thank God for teenagers!!! This is when I need them the most!! My feet and my back are killing me! I was really surprised that I didn't dump on the jello shooters or the wine - but ONE bite of that brownie and owie owie owie!! I did okay with the cookie too. My system modifications will always amaze me and keep my guessing I suppose. But TO THIS DAY I have not found ONE thing that makes me have the potty trots. Not one dag blasted thing. Every once in a while, that might me a nice feature.... ya know? Okay - yeah - I'm tired when I can get all philosphical about poop. Nite all! Check in okay? I want to know how everyone is doing!! Love & Hugs, Pam

Hi Pam, I know I'm still out here, been lookin' for your posts, so I could keep up with you...Done with the x-mas shopping thing, got to wrap the kids gifts this weekend (since they are teenagers too, there aren't alot, you know get older, gifts cost more, get less in numbers)... Been following your posts and trying to be better myself...The holidays seem to bring out my stress level and I've found my food issue is stress eating (strange before this surgery and even during last year, I never realized I stray the worst when I'm stressed out, always thought it was because I was bored, or it just sounded too good to pass up, that I overate in the past)...Anyway I finally got back on fitday and logged in ALL my food for a day, writing it down made me realize HOW much I was really grazing, with all the snackies I packed in 2089 calories that day ...Decided to follow you down the road and get back on track, cause it amazes me I'm not putting on the pounds eating like that (and that was not a untypical day in my eating life since Thanksgiving, been eating like that ALOT)... Anyway, I'm doing much better, still snacking a little bit, but really trying to watch my p's & q's, because in the end, "I am a recovering food-a-holic, a gastric bypass patient" and I make the final choices about food that control my life - I am never going to be obese again !! Thanks again, just know I'm out here checking in...MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hey Alesia! I'm glad to hear from you! Isn't that the truth about teenagers!! Champagne taste - beer budget! My poor parents were asking what they wanted for Christmas... it was like pulling teeth out of the kids to get them to come down out of the rafters to give g'ma and g'pa a wish list. If they can't wish for the big ticket items, the only thing they can think of is clothes - and the grandparents HATE buying them clothes or giving them giftcards for Christmas - it's no fun for them that way. I spent an hour and half on the phone with my parents trying to come up with ideas for them. You know it was really freaking me out how many calories I have been getting in too! I too, have been hitting over 2000 cals in a day and was wondering how the heck I wasn't gaining - then I gained 5 pounds!!! But back in my previous life - I would have gained non-stop anytime I took in more than 1200-1400 calories in a day. So mind boggling. It seems like my hold steady range is now 1400-1600 calories a day now. I think part of what made me gain was the choices I was making AND how often I was grazing. There for a while - I was eating anything and everything I could get my hands on - all day long AND until I was stuffed. How stupid is that????? I like how you said it "I am a recovering food-a-holic, a gastic bypass patient" THAT is so true for me too. I was completely back-slid into being my former self - Forgetting all about the behavior modifications I had put the past year into establishing. Thankfully, I realized what I was doing before too much damage had been done. Could you imagine waking up from that spell a year later and after a year of bad habits had wreaked havoc on the body and mind? It would have been another story about a girl who had wls and gained all of her weight back. I don't want to see that happen to me or anyone else. I'll keep posting..... there's strength in numbers .... having a support network of people in the same boat....a community of people like us.... I think it helps. It helps me knowing that there are other people out there like me and I get help and strength from that. I'm not like the "normal stomached" people and I can't behave like them. So I need to fellowship with the people who ARE like me and gain my strength and acceptance from there. Merry Christmas to you too!! Hugs, Pam

Well, I think everybody is very busy with the holidays and all, I know I have been! Gonna be working and baking all week this week, plus tomorrow is the plastic surgeons second visit(yeah!) and tuesday I get to find out if I can finally have sex again after my last surgery!!!!!! 4 weeks!!! Been awhile! TMI sorry guys! LOL! So as you can see, I will REALLY be busy this week As for the food problem FORGET IT!!! I was at my mom's this weekend and there is just no eating right at my mom's! She is a feeder and I am an eater, bad combo! Ugggghhhh! Part of the reason I was so fat! Hopefully I will have a date for the plastics sometime within the week!!!! Yeah! Scared but excited too. Especially since my belly button hernia popped this week and now it is bigger and sore. Hope more people update too Pam! Happy Holidays to everybody! Wendy

Dang girl! You have a LOT going on right now! Good luck at the PS office!! I hope they take care of that hernia as soon as possible. That just worries me and I'm sure it's no fun for you. Funny - when the doc tells me that I CAN'T have sex - I want it more than ever - when ordinarily, I can forget about it and not even realize it's been a few weeks. Let us know how it goes this week! Hugs, Pam