Count me in Amber. I've never reached goal, but I'm kinda happy looking as to where I've been. I desire to be less than 200; my lowest weight has been 218 and currently 226. I've been trying to do better. Ree Ree

It's so good to see familiar faces that are still around. I apologize for my absence, my schedule just doesn't permit me to post regularly anymore. I see that our 2 year surgeriversary is coming up and I imagine we will all be posting soon. I also see that we are all having similar problems and I hear that its completely normal to be gaining weight and flexing back and forth at this stage in the game. It can be completely frustrating. I know that I just need to make some adjustments and keep moving forward in the right direction. I started at 300 and I got down to 179, which people thought I was entirely too skinny because I'm almost 6 feet tall. I still look great and I feel great physically. I'm currently back up to 190 and the thought of hitting 200 again is terrifying me. I know that this weight gain is nothing but my own fault. I had surgery in January and had to quit exercising for 6 weeks. Depression got the best of me and I haven't been back to my gym since. Last week my boyfriend and I started walking every night, once its cooled down. It's getting me pumped up to start exercising again. I have no doubt that once I get started, I'll start dropping again. I just want to be back in the 180's and I won't be myself up. I think my bigger concern is am I eating too much? Sometimes I can really eat a lot in quantity. My appetite has definitely gotten greater and I'm not nearly as full as I used to be all the time. I'm still on target with my supplements, I can thank being on crazy meds for the rest of my life for that. Routine, I suppose. I think that helps and drinking a lot of water still. So my advice if you're still struggling like me, go back to basics. Get 30 minutes of exercising every other day, up the water intake, up the protein, forget "the numbers", take your supplements, and use us as your support system. Maybe coming around and reporting in (being accountable) will get us back on track. Whose with me? Amber

Can't give you any suggestions just wanted to let you know that you're not alone. I was at 377 got down to 247 and now I'm around 258-260. My life is so stressful, caring for an ailing mother-in-law, going back to school, working and life. Something had to give and unfortunatly it's my health and now my mental health is going too. I have my 2 yr appt coming up soon and I'm afraid to go. Good luck, wish you the best. M

Hello all, well its only taken me two years to post and ask for some help. A little background. My WLS was in July of 2006, at that time my weight was 376 as of this morning it was 255. I have been as low as 243 and went back up as high as 262. Last July I had a partial Thyroidectomy which interrupted my excercise schedule and once I recovered from that I found that I did not have the energy to excercise, it started slowly with stopping the gym ( cause it was summer) and then I stopped riding my bike and walking the dogs etc etc. It got so bad that by December I went to the doctor becuase I was falling asleep at work. I had also stopped drinking fluids (pretty much entirely) and was chewing on ice like it was going out of style. I found out from my Dr. that my iron was so low that if I had waited any longer I might have needed a transfusion. Within 6 weeks I was getting my energy back, getting my eating back under control and in March of this year I decided to tackle the last 80 or so pounds with diet and excercise, so I hired a personal trainer, after a slow start I have now been consistenly working out with him for about 8 weeks, 2 hours per week with him and 3 to 5 hours per week of Cardio without him. I bought a heart rate monitor that calculates my calories burned etc., and I have been tracking what I eat. I've been using a free website called thedailtyplate.com which tells me that I should eat about 1850 calories per day in order to lose 2 pounds per week ( this is even without excercise) it then nets my calories as I add in my excercise. Since beginning this program ( 8 weeks ago) I've lost 5 pounds, I very rarely go above 11,000 per week about 1500 calories per day and my excercise usually burns about 3000 calories per week which nets me 8,000 cals per week. My Basal metabolic rate calculates at 2,650 per day or 18,550 per week, this means that I should be losing almost 3 pounds per week = 3*8 = 24 pounds to date but I've only lost 5. I'm getting very discouraged! I have noticed an increase in my stamina and my cardio workout is on a crosstrainer. 8 weeks ago I could do 15 minutes at level 1 resistance 1 now I can do 60 minutes at level 3 resistance 9 and then work out for an hour with my trainer, so I am seeing results that way, but I'm not losing any inches ( according to my jeans). Has anyone gone through this?? I'm beginning to think that I'll never be able to get the rest of the weight off. Any Ideas??

I've thought the same kinds of thoughts....I've "only" lost 60 pounds in the past year (160ish total), and most of those happened in the first part of last year. I'm still above 200 which is so hard for me mentally. Sure I look great, feel great physically, people tell me I look great....so why doesn't it feel that way???? My brain still sees a 2 in front and says "failure"....sad huh? Of course, I've had THE most stressful year of my life this past year as well....and the Cheez-its are my downfall....as is the sporatic exercise....so I know the things to change, but I still have a hard time doing it. I'm glad you have hope and are looking forward to Japan...that sounds exciting and like the fresh push you need....and you'll be "exercising" with your husband more right!? heehee... Christina S