Regarding the ONLY low point of the conference

Gosh this brought tears to my eyes ~ I remeber the feelings of rididcule all too well! Yvonne and Kary and all the other long term posties~ ya'll look gorgeous~ I can't believe grown people would carry on like this. I teach my children not to make other people feel less than what they are cuz I do remeber those feelings of hurt and worthlessness cuz of other people making fun of me while I was growing up. It just sickens me really! Girls I apsire to be you someday! Although my body does not allow for that! I would love to wear the bikinis and such but not for this ole' gal~ I have the thunder thighs from hell going on and the loose skin does not look pretty! Ahhhhhhhh well you never know! Anyways, again you posties are an inspiration and for those who made those rude comments shame on them anyways~ you Go Girls and I am wagging along close behind you! Shelia 236/145/220

ooooooooops! Now I really wanna cry~ no never again~ lol! In regards to my weight goal ~ I posted it as 236/145/220! Shelia 236/145/120

I wrote to you earlier Yvonne....I was the gal sitting next to Jen at the last table during lunch. Anyway, I have emailed you before too and asked you about your success, ect. I am sorry that I didn't get a chance to meet you this weekend. You were Miss Busy Bee and sometimes I get shy...it's selective! I wish I'd had a chance to REALLY meet ya...I would have on Sunday but I didn't make it. I'm sorry that some people were catty. I certainly hope when they are at goal and can wear the clothes they always wanted to wear that they won't get treated that way. Love ya girlie! Tracy -87

Okay that sucks! It is unfortunate when a group gets together that something always gets said. Each of you post ops are an inspiration to me. Never in my life can I imagine looking like Yvonne or Kary, but that does not mean I am not going to work my a$$ off to get to be the healthiest person I can be at a size 10 or a size 2. Both of you have had tremendous success in this journey, how could I not be happy for you and excited for my journey. I can see being intimidated and awestruck by such a beautiful group of people but not catty or negative. Each person there was and is going through this journey, whether post op or pre op, it is still a battle you fight every day. Seeing each of you accomplish your goal and living the healthy and happy life that we are all entitled to is a blessing. Keep up the awesome job of just being yourselves and inspiring pre-ops like me waiting for my journey to begin. Tina PreOp 315 Surgery Scheduled.

It makes me really sad to think that ANYONE, post or pre-op, would say negative and catty things about another OH member. I don't care if that member is post or pre-op - comments should only be loving and positive. I didn't get to meet you or many other of the beautiful people that have made it to goal. However, I did get to meet a lot of the other beautiful people who are still working at it or pre-op. You are all beautiful to me! I am not the kind of person to go up warm up to people I have never met before. However, I felt very comfortable meeting everyone I had communicated with on this board. I can say that all I could talk about at the conference was, "WOW! He or she looks great! I can't wait until I can look like that!" I think I said that at least 1000 times over the weekend! As far as the swimsuits at the luau go, I say, "If you got it, flaunt it!" I know I would. I missed the fashion show because I was in Dr. Rod's Q & A session but I would have loved seeing all the models. It gives me strength and inspiration that I greatly need facing this surgery in July. Someone else said it best - We're not in high school anymore. Let's not act like it. Lastly, I would like to say that I greatly appreciate those post-ops who give advise and encouragement. I love each and every one of you. My prayer is that no one forgets they were once just like me and realize that words do hurt and that pre-ops or those *****cently had surgery doesn't get jealous of those who are at goal. They would have been, too, if they had gotten this help earlier. The only person they have to blame is themself. Remember the golden rule. Kathy

I can't believe that this was going on. I only heard positive things, for which I'm glad. I know that I was in total awe at the progress some of you have made! The only negative thought that I ever had was that I would never see the results that some of you have been able to accomplish. Of course, I'm thrilled I attended because seeing all of you in person just gave me more motivation to continue being focused on the goal I made for myself. Thanks to all of you for sharing your stories and for not being shy. I just wish I had made more of an effort to get to know some of you. I kind of just sat back this year. I'm hoping next year I will be more confident and willing to get to know some of you. Hope to see you all next year!!!

Yvonne I saw you and you were so busy I never got to tell you how beautiful you are and how inspired I am by your journey. My Eddie kept tell me about the car guy and how his wife had had wls, I finally put 2 and 2 together and realized that you were her. I thoroughly enjoyed the parts of the convention that I was able to attend, and wished I could have been there for the luau and fashion show but had a few other obligations this past weekend as well. I am sorry if anyone feelings got hurt, we should all be here to support each other whether pre-op or newly post op or long term post op. We have all worked very hard to get to where we are at. Thanks for being such and inspiration to all of us and for taking the pictures and for just being you. Maureen Yvonne (that's what first led me to your profile...your name is the same as my middle name.) aka Maureeniiiieee

Yvonne, I met you early the 1st day of the conference- I told you that you were cuter than a bug- maybe I wasnt the only one! I had been sent a bunch of back issues of ObesityHelp's magazine a week ago and havent had time to do more than thumb thru them-- and saw your story but hadn't read it yet- was just amazed you looked so WONDERFUL after such a weight loss--I was truly amazed that skin can really go back to what it was!! I am so very proud of you and your accomplishment- I so hope your feelers werent hurt by anything you heard there and I so hope the people responsible will do some soul-searching and realize they are repeating the SAME hurt that was visited upon them on many occasions in their lifetimes- You are a real inspiration (and I hope you KNOW Ill bother the stuff outta you for your secrets!!) as I have real hopes that I, too, will reach my goal in 29# and a few months-- There was real commradery at the conference and Cathy is right- I took off the towel and danced like I havent in the 23 years I have been overweight-Thank you all for such sweet acceptance! ANd to the two ladies I saw on the way to the bathroom at the Luau who said I "looked good" I love ya like crazy! Kisses- Tamera in Mesquite PS- your Sweety is so proud of you- its too sweet to hear him talk! I found MY Love a few years ago too (All when I had a big a$$! so I KNOW he must see SOMEthing in me!) and there is no greater joy-live la dolche vida-

I am amazed at all the wonderful posts and let me be first to say that I'm perfectly fine and I was mainly concerned for someone who got hurt. My passion of the first post was to get this stuff out of the closet, discuss it, try to educate and improve and go forward. I was named after my angel of a mother that I lost to cancer. If you didn't see the story in OH mag, you can read it here. http://www.justyvonne.com/wlsobesity.htm And yep, I'm busted. I'm the CarGal...wow someone knew. For those that are just totally confused, Kevin my husband co-hosts the CarGuy show on Saturdays on WBAP 820am 9-11am. I read who the sponsors are and occasionally get to comment. That being said, I'm ready to help someone regarding plastic surgery if they want. My surgeon is in Plano and has done some incredible WLS reconstruction. I think I'll post this info under a new topic so more can see it. I love you all and I thank you for bringing me back to the board.