Is any one coming to the Detriot Obesity Help Event. I so want to go, but money is short, but if any of you are coming please let me know. I will surely try to come if I have to borrow the money. Toya

Hi Lori, Great new pic! Sorry about your grandmother, but I'm glad she ended with peaceful thoughts. Congrats on getting to the latest goal. That has to feel wonderful! Keep it up and I'm quite sure you'll get to 135 before August! Dawn

Hi everyone! I know it has been almost 2 weeks since the event, but I have been so busy since that time. What a great thing to meet and greet folks that you see on OH boards and then get to meet and hear some of the workers and staff of OH. Bo, Amy and Jeremy were a few of the familar faces that I saw. Bo is a person full of energy and enthusiam and always ready to give encouragement to anyone he meets. He was awesome and I loved his stories and inspirational talks as he hosted the event. Amy is a behind the scenes gal and loves being online but not in the limelight at these events. She is so sweet though. Then there was Jeremy. What a caring and concerned person. He spoke to us about the importance of cardio exercise and getting that heart rate up. It was interesting because he stated that 30 minutes a day for 5 days is optimim, but that you can break it up and it all counts toward burning those calories and keeping fit and maintaining the weight loss. He genuinely cares about the OH community and those who are working to loose weight in their lives. Dr. Jawad from Ocala, FL came to speak on RNY and other surgeries and what we need to do to maintain success. I didn't realize that I haven't been eating enough protein (he recommends 70 to 90 grams of protein a day), drinking those liquids and those vitamins. I learned a lot about the vitamins I've been taking and have changed things around a little. He said that calcium needs to be taken twice a day at different times. I had been taking mine at the same time and he said the body will only absorb 500 mg at a time so anything over that is waste. Now I take one in the morning and one in the evening to get the most out of my calcium. He also stated that B-12 is best taken sublinguialy or by injection. Pill form is not broken down and is also a waste to us. I will be seeing my PCP on Tuesday to discuss this with him. Dr Jawad and his staff have a wonderful after care program and he has you come to see him once a year for the rest of your life because you never know when something may happen. Is a wonderful doctor. Dr. Shuster from Hollywood, FL was the Plastic Surgeon they had and he was compassionate and very informative. I have decided that I will be going to see him for a consult when I get the timing together for it. Several people asked about lower body lift and if insurance will cover this. He stated that he had insurance pay for it once and that was due to a clerical error, so if you are looking to have lower body lift done, it will most likely be out of pocket for you. He had some wonderful pictures and stated that whoever you see should be more then willing to show you pictures and give you names of people to hear how their experience went. Of course they will have given him their permission to do so. There were several people there that had Dr Shuster as their surgeon and it was nice to see how happy they were with his work. I look forward to meeting him in the near future. There were several vendors there and lots of free samples. I really like the profect in the vials (protein drink). They have 20 grams of protein and its about 4 1/2 oz of liquid to drink. I had blue raspberry and it was really good. I am going to get these for boosting my protein intake as they are quick and easy to use. If you have any questions, let me know. I'll try to answer them for you. It was really a good weekend for $20 and it included lunch!! What a bargain!!! Lori 293/185/150

LORI!! I am SOO gonna kick your butt!! I love yur tiny little butt - so I am gonna kick it with love. GET your butt back to exercising. I know easy for me to say- because I never abandoned it- but guess what? I never got down to your weight either..so I have remained working out and now have a trainer. U know what you need to get going- and get whatever help you need to keep you there. You want me kicking yur butt everyday? I will send you emails!!! Honestly? It sounds like you are suffering from depression and are real unhappy and covering it up. THINK about it. Only you know what issues may be going on in yur family. This is not meant to imply anything- but think on this. WHEN we were overweight- issues made us depressed and unhappy with our lives and we consoled ourselves in food and drinks etc.. SOMETHING is triggering your unhappiness and you are BACK at the same behaviour. This does not make you a bad person- it just means- you are "comforting" yourself- or maybe "mourning " your former food/ love life..or maybe without realizing it you are "medicating" yourself numb, because something is difficult to face. I'm just offering you the advice I'd give myself - if It were me facing this. You need to start a new road to Recovery. Just take a new day- commit to your body and your exercise. You sound unhappy that you have arrived where you are. Maybe WLS didnt have the changes you wanted in your marriage- maybe your husband doesnt appreciate you the way - some single guy looks at you- whatever the reason. Put yourself before everything- Your health- and be glad you are on God's green earth to see another Spring and Summer- get your lazy butt off the chair and walk like you used to- start small and grow into it. Connect the good feelings with walking and working out. Make that connection stronger than yur desire to drink. You want to be sociable? Order a diet coke with lemon & touch of rum. I'd rather you drink diet coke than beer. (that is what I did in Vegas btw- I allowed myself to drink DC in the casinos- when everyone was getting drunk or I would have lost a lot of $$ LOL) You know what? I still keep walking around with water..I am thristy all the time and drink @60+ ozs without realizing it- everyday. You cannot abandon all your discipline and NOT expect consequences.. so either deal with what is going on- or deal with the consequence of gaining weight and BUYING bigger clothes. YOU CHOOSE. You know I will help you anyway you want. Just let me know. Donna

You go girl, Yes it does feel good when you finally get to onderland. It seemed like it took me forever. I finally hit 189 three days ago, held there for 2 days now Im at 191 . I think I'm just full of mess though, if you know what I mean. I've been taking iron like crazy because I've been really anemic (per my doctor) and it's been so hard to go. Haven't gone in day's, that's what I meant when I said full of mess. So when this finally lets up I'll probably be 185 lol . Keep up the good work, I am so proud of you. I'm so glad there is still hope for me yet. Toya 284/191 /165