I take other meds in pill form. I take my vitamins in CHOCOLATE chewables so I can get my chocolate fix every day. Labs are all good. I could go to pills I think without any trouble. But I think that would lead me to CHOCOLATE trouble so I stay where I am. It would be cheaper to go with a pill but at what cost.

I don't know, this may help you. I am eating JUST about any thing I want. The catch. I fix my plate as if I am getting ready to feed a baby. When its gone its gone. I don't care how good it was I CAN NOT have seconds. Oh I get mad at myself for wanting it. Then I see my FINE self in the mirror and keep going AWAY from the FOOD

Oh, Petty, that is RICH! Congratulations! It took forever for me to stop perusing the Lane Bryant and Catherine's catalogs that came in the mail. I don't have to shop there any more, YAY!

Hi JoAnne, I had my surgery on 12/16/05 and have lost a little over 100 lbs. and very happy with it. What you said about your friend gaining weight after surgery really got my attention. That scares me to death. I am having trouble with wanting to eat more and am scared that I will gain weight again. Has your friend been able to get her weight gain under control again? I hope so.

Jody, that was a great image you gave us, about falling down in a ditch. I'm going to keep that thought in mind to keep me from going from a slip to a major falling off the wagon! I've struggled too, and I'm also in the size 16-18 neighborhood. The compliments have stopped coming in, except from people who haven't seen me in a long time, so that motivator isn't there any more. Some of the changes I hoped would take place due to weight loss -- ie. in relationships -- haven't happened, and I've had to deal with that disappointment. The honeymoon period ended months ago, and now it's serious work--and sometimes I don't take it seriously enough, or I feel too depressed to make the effort. (It has been hard to get my meds right, maybe because of the malabsorption issue.) Anyway, I've been thinking about the weeks right after surgery, when I was very aware of taking care of my new digestive system and "mothering" myself. Gradually I have let that kind of care and attention to my needs move to the back burner in my life--which is partly how I got morbidly obese in the first place. I'm realizing that, for me, a half-hearted effort just doesn't cut it. I have to make it Priority Number One, keeping a food diary, not bringing trigger foods in the house, writing about emotions in my journal, and so on. Another thing that would help--and I have been resistant to--is keeping in touch with other post-ops. (That's one reason I am posting this.) I also need to give myself credit for the good things I've done, like seeing a therapist and going to the gym four times a week, even when the food was out of whack. I've just read THE EMOTIONAL FIRST AID KIT BY Cynthia Alexander, and I recommend it wholeheartedly. ... Thanks all of you for being there.