1. What types of food did you eat this week? salads, mangos, grapes, apples, salmon, yogurt 2. What types of exercise did you do this week? walking, gym 3. How much weight did you lose? Total loss? -1, -97 That same pound I keep gaining and losing . . . . argh! 4. What was your biggest challenge? Not snacking. The snack demon has been after me this week and I gave in a few times. All my snacks are healthy, but it is the behavior that bothers me. 5. We should all be 13 months out, where are you with your doctor's goal? your goals? I need to lose 14 pounds to hit my Dr's goal. I'm 5'4" and his goal for me is 134. I'm 3 pounds overweight at 148, so I'd still like to get to the normal range for my height. I've only lost 6 pounds in the last few months, but I've lost 7 inches, so I'm good with that. Time for the scale to start moving again, though . *Fun bonus question: Give us some guilty pleasures: food, movies, music, hobbies? Shopping. I have been replacing my wardrobe and while I know I NEED the clothes, I feel guilty buying so much. I feel like I should be saving this money or paying off my GBS (I was self-pay). Also, I've spent a lot of money on vacations this year - went to Europe in the spring and am leaving for Maui on Sunday. I also went to visit my grandchildren, but I don't feel the least bit guilty about that trip .

1. What types of food did you eat this week? Lean protien, though with a strong hamburger tendancy, since we were low budget. I actually consumed more carbohydrates this week then I usually do, though still not a LOT of them. I've been baking and fresh warm bread is absolute heaven. I've had more protien bars to help me get through the afternoon "hungries" then in a usual week, and I'm ashamed to admit a drastically lower total amount of veggies. 2. What types of exercise did you do this week? Walking, LOTS of "heavy" house cleaning with scrubbing and such. Light exercise ball exercises, mostly oriented on my back. 3. How much weight did you lose? Total loss? This week I finally got under my 2 week platu of 175 I'm now at 173. That's two pounds this week. From my heaviest weight of 335 (+) It's a 162 (ish) pound loss 4. What was your biggest challenge? I'm still dealing with vertigo, and since my bloodwork came back clean (yay!) I now need to run through a gauntlet of other tests. I do NOT look foreward to these. 5. Are there any relationships in your life that have suffered/or gotten better because of your surgery? How are you dealing with them? My husband and I haver ALWAYS had an exellent relatrionship. He has become MORE attentive and sweet with me since my weight loss. The major change I've seen since the weight loss is he's sudeenly started treating me as if I were fragile. He often gets worried about the little things, and since the vertigo started has really voiced his concerns about my health. This, to me, is silly since, despite occasional dizzyness I FEEL way way more healthy. My relationship with my mom is slightly strained by her jelousy over my weighing less then her, and she's suddenly putting on more weight then she's ever had on her body. This really worries me, but she refuses to talk about any of it. My dad is more affectionate with me, and has been one of my greatest supports outside of my husband. I'm dealing with it all as well as I can, accepting the positive support gracefully, and trying to ease down the negitive. I plan on continuing the occasional conversations with me mom to work out the route of her problem.

Thanks Allison and Michele...that is great advice...I will start tracking my foods again...I have gotten way off course with that...I normally don't count calories per my dietician, but I always count my protein... Let me know how weigh****chers is working for you if you don't mind...I was thinking about joining them but when I called and spoke to a representative she said that I would have to follow their plan and get in all my points...I find that very scary...I am so scared of gaining back the weight I lost... Thanks again. Becky

I feel your pain. I am in the same situation. I have been gaining and losing the same 5 lbs. for about 3 months. All I can say is to be VERY HONEST with yourself. I know that one of my issues is that I re-introduced carbs and sugar to my diet. I believe this is one of my biggest problems. Are you grazing? Even the little extra snacks that we think wouldn't harm us are slowing us down. I became so frustrated I joined Weigh****cher last week. Hopefully this will give me the boost I need. I encourage you to just keep doing what you know is right to do. Go back to the basics that you started on right after surgery. High protein, low fat, no sugar, low/no carbs. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Hey all...sorry to be a pain again.... I was wondering if anyone else is/has been on a plateau for 6 months....I have been the same weight +5 lbs since Feb 07 and it is really starting to annoy me... I have called my dietican and she said to up my calories, eat pot pies, macaroni and cheese, get protein in daily, and take vitamins daily, and exercise. Well I went to the Dr and he don't want me running/jogging or anything that is hard on my joints so I bought an elliptical machine and I use that everyday 30 - 45 mins, I walk the stairs at work 3-4 daily at work ( I work on the 4th floor), I do 60-90 grams of protein daily, vitamins, and my calorie intake is anywhere between 900-1100 daily...I also mow my grass and I have 1.5 acres and I mow it with a push lawnmower once a week...I do drink 60 oz of water or more daily. I live a very active lifestyle and always have....Don't get me wrong I am very pleased with what I have lost (75-80 lbs)... Am I just a failure when it comes to this? Should I be doing something differently? If anyone has any advise I am all ears since the dietican can't help me...I just don't feel very comfortable with her telling me all this and she is suppose to be training in GBS....Scary. Thanks for letting me ramble about my problems but no one else understands....