I had my 3 year checkup back on July 7. The good news is that all my blood tests came back absolutely fantastic. My cholesterol was only 127, my blood pressure is now 115 over 65, my resting pulse is now 59 (was 90) and all my "levels" were in the good to excellent range. Not quite as good is that I have gained back about 20 pounds. My doctor didn't seem too concerned with this. In fact he said it was typical. Still this bothers me quite a bit. I sure as hell didn't go through all this just to gain weight back. One of the things I noticed is that I can eat quite a bit more food than I used to, and more than I thought I should be able to. I told my doctor this and he suggested that we do a EGD scope. I had the procedure done last Thursday and found that the stoma from my pouch to the small bowel had dialated from it's original 8 mm dia. to about 16 mm dia. The doctor did some shots around the stoma to shrink it down and I have to go back for another scoping in about 6 weeks to make sure it took. Meanwhile I've been on liquids only for the past 3 days and will be on soft foods for the next 2 weeks. The doctor also found I have a small ulcer so I am also on Prevacid for a little while. At least I've lost around 5 pounds the last few days, a result of my liquid diet. I'm glad I caught this when I did and with this slight adjustment to my "tool" I will be able to lose the whole 20 lbs. On a brighter note, I've been helping a friend of mine fix up a HUD house he is buying. Today we were trimming the Cherry tree in the back yard and a branch we cut got stuck about half way up. So what do I do? I climbed the darn tree and went and got it. I CLIMBED A TREE!!!!! Something I haven't done in about 35 years or so. It wasn't even difficult. My friends were all laughing at me but nobody was laughing harder than me. It's official, I'm a kid again and in this vein of youthfull exuberance I now challenge all my July 05 friends to climb a tree! Take care all! Remember what we went through to achieve all that we have and enjoy every second of our second chance. Peace Tim

Tell me about it ... I lost a few pounds by going low carb and exercising right before my PS surgery. It worked, but I didn't keep it up and although I very often fall into old habits, I keep on trying not too ... thankfully I haven't gained anything but I'm not loosing anything either. There is the protein first, lots of water and portion control rules ... easier said than done I know. Just keep it up (also exercising of course) and I'm sure you will see some results. I can't give much advice since I'm having the same problem, but atleast know that I'm in the same boat as you ... Good luck though!!!!!

Hi Gina! Congrats on making it to the three year mark. My story is very much like yours, lost great, have kept it off, and now feel like I have gotten too off track back to old habits, not planning, skipping protein etc. When was the last time you kept up with how much protein you got in a day or how much water you drank? I had not in over a year and when I decided to re-think what I was doing, I got out my old notebook and wrote down what I ate and the protein in each and all the little things we did early on. (which made our weight loss successful) I found I was so off track it was a wonder I hadn't gained 100 lbs back. So that is what I am doing, just trying to go back to the early days for a while, hoping that the good habits we learned will come back out to play with me! LOL I even stopped at the vitamin store and bought my old protein powder I loved using early make a shake and thought "this is really good, why did I stop drinking these?" My biggest fear is regain, so I am making these small changes for a time to "re-set" my thinking and also getting some much needed plastics to help with body image and such. The journey continues...... Debbie

You're welcome! Please let us know how it goes! You can do it!! Michele

thank you so much for showing me this im going to start it on friday because well thats pay day lol so then i can go to the grocery store thank you