I hadn't really been paying much attention to things lately. I was pursuing the site and decided to check out my BMI etc. When the result came back, it put me in the Overweight range. I am just overweight!!! I am in awe of how this surgery has changed so much for me in my life!!!

I wish I'd fainted! And I wish I hadn't lost confidence in this new doctor...but that pain, god, it was just so awful. Part of me is afraid to even see anyone about the pain, as I have so much pain already that I don't want anyone touching me, know what I mean? Lisa

Lisa, Because I had a hysterectomy at age 30, some of my recollection may be slightly vague. But I do recall a similar test, but I was lucky and fainted. The doctor was looking for irregular cells. I think he found his way to China though. My cycle was NEVER regular, from age 10 when I began to menstruate. So, I'm probably not a good comparison. The multitude of doctors I saw never figured out the problem. They did enough D&C's on me to pay their way through medical school. Maybe with todays technology they would have answers. about the pain - if it gets bad, don't hesitate to be seen. You are smart to take it easy, but don't ignore anything. Pain is often a signal that something is not right. Let a doctor make that determination. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. Annette

Good topic, Felicia. A few months back, a pretty young thing who'd recently put on 20 or so "extra" pounds (though damned if I could see it!) asked me for suggestions on taking it off. I asked if she had ever been on a diet and she told me she had not. My first and most adamant advice to her: "DO NOT go on a diet. Ever. NEVER EVER!" Dieting is where all that horror began. I was on my first diet before I could recite my ABC's. Learning how not to diet has been a challenge that I am still working on...you can't go 40+ years of binging and starving and just give it up overnight. But I am trying and I'm doing pretty well. I do not diet and I will never diet again. I limit my sugar intake to avoid dumping and because I have found that I just feel better without all that crap coursing through my blood. I limit bread for the same reason - I feel better without it. I have not eaten popcorn yet because it was one of my 'mindless eating' foods and I have not been ready to re-introduce it yet...but I will at some point. I like good food and I enjoy it now like I couldn't a year ago, when every bite was laden with guilt and self-loathing over my 'weakness.' I don't go overboard with fats, but I eat them...butter on an ear of fresh corn...yum, you bet I do that. I buy bacon, but wrap up two slices at a time and have had the same half pound in the freezer for ages now. I eat every kind of cheese and love it. After treating myself to a spa day last month, I stopped and picked up a piece of sea bass, some olives stuffed with blue cheese, and a Godiva sugar-free chocolate bar...no guilt...it felt good to add these treats to my day. I didn't go through the surgery and everything so that I could endure the same quality of life I had before surgery. Life is to be enjoyed. Good food is an enjoyable part of life. So is good exercise and good health. I'm reaping what I've sown. Lisa...off to cook up two slices of bacon and an egg

Welcome, Annetta! Happy to have you here. Lisa