You're right this has been a great journey. I can hardly believe it is happening. I just saw some people I know that haven't seen me in a while. Let me tell you they almost didn't recognize me. People i've known for 15 years walk right pass me now. I have to say "Hey aren't you going to say hi?" and I keep getting the same response.. "OMG I didn't know it was you" kind of feels good. Last night, my pastor's husband told me I look 20 yrs younger!!! Well of course that made me feel wonderful!! He has known me since I was 15. So between the compliments and the health issues basically dissappearing, I'm in pure wonderland! or Onederland whichever..LOL God is Good!! God Bless, ~Angel 255/222/148/118

Hiya Mic, I have a few questions for you, if you dont mind.... How tall are you? What is your goal weight? How much more do you have to lose? What kind of exercise do you do and for how long? I only had 100 lbs to lose and I am 13 lbs from goal so maybe I am at a different perspective but I think I can understand how you feel. I know we all want to continue on this wonderful quick weight loss that we have experienced but I think that at this point we are, or should be eating more "normal" portion sizes (and more normal foods) and the weight loss should continue to slow down, but it should continue. (I remember the first two months out of surgery losing a lb or more per day - now if it is a lb or more per week I am lucky!) But the thing is that we ARE only 6 - 7 months out so we WILL continue to lose weight if we are carefull of WHAT we eat - like the low calorie low fat foods you speak of. The biggest thing that concerns me about what you wrote is this "freak control mode" you talk about. Do you think that you will be able to stop this control mode when you are closer to goal? Do you think that perhaps anorexia or bulimea might be a result? I hope you do not take this the wrong way. I am concerned about you and it appears that you have concerns about what you are doing or you probably wouldnt have posted what you did. I think what might help is putting it all in perspective. I know we all want to be at goal yesterday but that is not reality. You might want to spend some time looking at profiles of people that were near your starting weight and your height who had similar goals, and seeing how long it took them to get to goal and what they did to get there - plus with the excess skin, you probably wont be able to lose all the weight to get to goal without the plastic surgery because from what I understand that excess skin can weigh a lot. I hope you do not take offense to anyhing I have said here - I mean no offense. About your Carb and Sugar Alcohol questions - I have some magic numbers that I use also - I try to keep carbs under 10 per meal and sugars under 2. I have not been watchng fats or calories closely but I do need to start that I think. Why do you want less than 5 sugar alcohols and what about the glycerins - I guess I am not up on these two things necessarily A lot of my foods have higher sugar alcohols because they are sugar free - I know what this can do to our "output" but are there other concerns about sugar alcohols? God bless you and keep you, ~Andrea

Hey Andrea, You are doing great!!! Keep up the good work!!! Interview went extremely well... just waiting to hear back about a firm offer with some $$$ attached and negotiate timing. Havin doubts today though.... Thanks for responding B

Heather, I am torn.... vascillate between loving the results and hating the results of this surgery. I have not yet gotten to the point where I can honestly say I feel good -- I feel like something the cat drug around for two days on any given day - especially if I attempted anything like normal activity -- I still need my naps like a new post-op - My blood levels are fluctuating and now it seems that my weight loss has stalled as well. I am in the process of investigating the psychological component of this since I have no where else to go. My surgeon says "each in his own time". I do know that the weight I am at now is approaching scary levels for me since I haven't been this little since college or after some long drastic diet (but only for a minute). I am convinced that we really don't know enough or get enough help with the psych aspects of this surgery.... and for people like me who have been obese for all of our lives.... there are definitely some issues that need to be confronted as we go along. I also just want to be happy again and wake up looking forward to a day.... All of this doesn't mean I want my BP meds back or the pains in my limbs or any of the other comorbids I had goin on... but generally it sucks most days! Hope things get better for you as well.... I am holding fast to the promise of my surgeon that things WILL get better and for some... it takes much longer than others for that road uphill.... he says he has had some patients who have taken about a year.... a good friend of mine said it took her 9 months before she began to feel good and stop regretting.... I keep that in mind and hope that my entire life doesn't disintegrate along the way!!! B

Hiya Heather, I am so sorry you are not feeling well. I havent experienced anything like you have so I cant give you any advice except to continue to try to search out the cause. I will be praying for you. God bless you and keep you, ~Andrea