I am so excited for you...NORMAL!!!! Wow! a dream come true. Those 4 pounds will be gone before you know it! Keep up the good work. I still have a long way to go for myself and it is harder everyday. But, I am happy and have begun workout at a gym. It is so much fun, I wish I had joined before now...can't take back the past, so I'll just move forward. Lori 293/180.5/150

Hi Everybody!! I dont post much here but i lurk here everyday. Iguess i must be the only SMO here here on the August 2005 board but anyway i have about 30 pounds to go to meet my surgeons goal and only about 19 to meet my goal, but i am sure that once i got under 200 pounds i would want to lose more weight. I started at 362 i am now at between 215-218 so i have lost a lot but i want to be under 200 pounds. So i guess it is time for my confession, i work in the OR at a hospital and we have alot of food and junk food all the time and i cannot control myself i wish i could but i cant. The holidays this year were bad for me and i am not exercising so it is time to buck up and be accountable for my actions and do something about it. Somedays are good and somedays are not so good. But i have to say they are not like they were at all. So thank you all for being there for me and listening to me babble and whine. Because i have really needed to do it. Nanette

I'm having a pity party for our 18th months out. I was feeling so good at a year out, then WHAM. I've got severe anemia and my Thyroid went whacky. I'd love to loose another 30 lbs, but haven't been eating the best since I've been feeling so crappy. I've stayed between 178 and 175 for the last few months. Except when I did my prep for my colonoscopy; I went down to 172 lb. A four lb drop in one day. Scary. Torrey (281/177/160)

My confession is in my profile under Jan. 1, 2007. I really screwed up my optimal weight loss time. I really screwed myself up. However, I've done a complete turn around since Dec. 29 and have lost 14 lbs since that day. I have a ways to go (13lbs to my surgeon's goal STILL, and 26 to my original goal I set for myself) but I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing and working hard to get where I could have been MONTHS ago if I'd stayed on track. I can almost taste the century club again, and I can't wait! I only saw 100lb loss for a couple of days last year, and that was my all time low weight in my entire adult life. I'll be back there, and lower, no matter how much work it takes or how long it takes. I'm done allowing anything but ME control me or my life. I'm back to enjoying the right foods when I eat and excersising daily. I've even started using our Bowflex, which I never did before, in addition to walking/jogging 2 or more miles a day. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to come to this board and admit I was our August failure, the one that threw it all away. But now I hope to continue down the right track and be a success too. Lori, you've done so well, I know you'll get that last 15 lbs off. It sounds like you're doing really well, I'm sure some warmer weather and being able to go on walks again would make the difference you need. Water intake is a problem for me too, I'm living on Crystal Lite these days. That and decaf coffee to try to warm my bones every now and then! Thank you for posting this. I've been stressing that '18 month' honeymoon period coming to a close, but this past couple of weeks has shown me that there is no magic time frame for us. We can still lose the extra pounds, we just have to work harder than we did in the beginning. But we can do it! I wasn't sure originally about posting in my journal about my problems, but I hope that eventually my story might be able to help someone else. Love and Hugs to you all here on the August board ~ Connie 269/176/163 Surgeon's goal/150 My goal

Hi Kim, I know you are scared but happy all at the same time. I know what you mean when you talk about the doc touching your stomach and breast. They do it like it's nothing. I went to a platic surgery last November and he said I would'nt be happy with just the panni. He said I really needed the tummy tuck and I have a hernia in my upper stomach that needs to be remove. Now the thing with that is my insurance will pay for the hernia and cover the hostipal and after the hernia doc is finish the plastic surgeron will do his thing which is the tummy tuck and he is charging 4 thousand dollars. If I was just having the tummy tuck the insurance wouldn't pay for the surgery. My company has change insurance this year they went back with aetna so I have to start over with the insurance thing. I wish you good luck with your surgery and I'll be thinking about you. Carolyn Jc C.