Hello all

Hey there, I have been lurking around for a while. I am Crystal Lewis, just wanted to introduce myself. I had WLS 2 yrs ago, I lost 150, I have recently gained 20 lbs that I am trying to lose. If anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate it. I am an emotional eater, so it is hard to control at this time b/c I am going through a stressful divorce so please pray for me and my son during this time, I appreciate it. In the meantime I look forward to getting to know you all! Crystal

You'll get truck loads of prayer from here, starting with me. Stress always makes everything more difficult. Try to use that time for a nice long heart to heart talk with the Lord and let Him take care of you and whatever problems are happening. Karen

Crystal, Welcome to the forum! I am happy that you decided to introduce yourself. Congrats on your weight loss. I am sure you will be able to lose what you gained back, stress is always tough on the body. I will certainly say prayers for you during this difficult time. Terisa

Welcome Crystal! Congratulations on your weight loss. I pray that God will work all things out for you and your son during this very difficult time of transition. Just rest in know ing that God loves you and He is concerned about everything that concerns you! So, cast all of your cares on to him b/c He cares for you!!!!

Thanks for the prayers. I dont know what I would do w/out the Lord in my life, He is blessing me daily and making this transition easy on me as possible. I just pray now I can get a handle on my eating habits and not let them control me. I hope everyone is doing well today! Love ya Crystal

Hi Crystal, I am new to this forum, just heard about the other day and was happy to find my brothers & sisters in Christ who are also on the WLS journey! I'm sorry to hear of your divorce. I've never been married and get depressed over that fact, even more often now that I'm not 'stuffing' my feelings. But, my heart and head tell me that the Lord knows what is best for me and if He wants me to walk this life alone, He must have His reasons. One thing they used to suggest in OA was to take a "Thank You" walk with Jesus - for us this has double benefits - the exercise as well as the reminders of what is good and going well in our lives. With each step, think of something or some one that you want to thank Jesus for. As far as suggestions for kick-starting the weight loss, what helps me is to eliminate any/all carbohydrates (not to mention sugars) and increase my fluids, especially water. When I don't have any carbos in my system, I don't get hungry - head or real hunger! It takes a couple of days to purge your system, but the extra water helps, big time. Going back to low-carb protein shakes for at least one meal per day helps, too. Fnally, I hope that knowing that He is holding you in the palm of His hand and we are holding you in our prayers, will comfort you and strengthen you for your new journey. God bless, Laurie

Hi Crystal, Welcome. Lets talk for just a minute about the weight. I am not any where near where you are in terms of time post surgery, but what I find helps me is routine. If I start each day with a prayer, a cup of something protein and then some time on this site I don't suffer so much from emotional eating. Another thing - confession is good for the soul and is pretty well grounded in Biblical principals. I would get myself into a recovery group - something along the lines of AA. My group is called Celebrate Recovery and is written by Jack Warren of the "Purpose Driven Life" series. Finally - I don't know the age of your son, but I certainly would put him into my routine as far as "lets take a walk together and talk about how he is feeling". When we focus on someone elses pain it helps us to less focused on our pain. Do not share your pain with him, he is the kid here, but certainly listen to him and validate his feeling or dispell any misunderstandings he might have. If possible - try in include your husband in weekly family dinners. If a kid can see his parents behaving decently towards each other it will help them as well. I know what I am talking about when it comes to the weekly family dinners. My husband and I started to go through what would have been a very messy divorce about 10 years ago - I won't go into details, but trust me when I say it could have gotten very ugly and personal. I simply chose not to participate in ugly and with that decision my kids never knew the extent of my pain, my husband's pain and even though their world had been completely rocked to the core they funtioned as if nothing really bad was happening. After a few months of our announcing our divorce, my husband and I were able to work it out and he moved back into our home. Yes - I believe that there are some situations that lend themselves to "not even trying" such as physical abuse or dangerous and distructive behavior, but if possible try to at least be able to sit down and eat a meal with the dad in front of your son. It might not make a difference in your marriage, but it will make a huge difference for you child. Praying for you - Sally