yes, he did it the same way, and they all look good and dry.  thanks!

Michelle !!           It was great to see you at the meeting on Monday!

We're here for you!  ALso, give me your e-mail address and I will send you the shakes recipes you asked for!

I hear you on the hunger issue ... I feel hungry myself, A LOT, so I don't think I can give the best advice at the moment but I can sure try!  Hunger is a ***** ... grrrr 

On the gym issue - I know I definitely feel more hungry each time I work out and I go home and eat breakfast and a snack!  I feel like I just erased the good workout I did by all the food I just ate!!  Make sure to eat a good protein snack before you go to the gym - it might help a little bit.  Also, since we are exercising we do need to eat a few more calories throughout the day.  Lisa, Lynn and myself can get all crazy on you if you want and make sure you come to the gym with us!!!  We will hunt you down and drag you there with us if we have to!  LOL =)

You are not whining, so don't apologize for that!  We ALL go through these same issues and we all struggle at some point!!!!  :)

"regular" people will not understand.  We look fine in our clothes, so how could we be freaks underneath???  We are.  I lost about 120 lbs, and have a butt that wrinkles to my the back of my knees.  I can pull the bottom of my butt out the top of my pants!  I can do party tricks with my skin.

anyway, I'm learning to accept the skin.  I've been denied by my insurance company for any kind of plastics, and I'm just not in the position to pay out of pocket.  someday, maybe. 

The good news:  i have a sense of humor about it.  I love the new me, and I'm confident that I'm an awesome person, without or without my freak skin suit. 

I hit the dating scene post-op, and hoped that I'd be smart enough to know a good guy when I saw one.  I DID!  The right guy won't care about the skin....He knew about my surgery and weight loss before he saw it...but I never told him anything about the skin... I just kept up my confident attitude and prayed.  He doesn't care about it... he loves ME.  A few men did experience the skin before Mr. Wonderful, and none said anything about it.  

Congrats on your success so far!  Keep your chin up and believe in yourself!

if I move a certain way or try to bend or lean to the right it feels like there is something there in the way and it hurts.  I'm not really sure how to explain it, but maybe like something is swollen, but sometimes I don't feel it and sometimes it's really painful.  could this be normal because I'm just 2 weeks out or is something wrong?

Hi all,

I cannot believe how my hunger has come back over the last week and I cannot stop eating.

I have RARELY been physically hungry since my RNY in 9/09 and now I am thinking about food all day.  I'm starting to get depressed and am FREAKING OUT that I am going to gain plenty if I can't get this under control.

I am looking for any suggestions you may have to curb this hunger.  I mean, is this how I'm going to feel from now on?  What have your experiences with hunger been?

I feel like I am being a big crybaby but this is affecting my mental health.  SPeaking of mental health, my doctor put me on Celexa about 3 weeks ago but weight gain /appetite is not supposed to be a side effect.

I have gained 8 pounds in 2 weeks after losing 123.  I did need a little 'gain' as I had gotten down too low for what looks best on me but I do NOT want to gain one more pound.

I'm even doing some gym avoidance because my hunger is so much worse when I go, even though it makes me feel SO much better mentally to go. 

I feel so out of control where I had felt so (somewhat) in control of my weight for a while there.  Now of course I'm fast forwarding in my head to a year from now, with all my weight gained back.  (such a defeatist)

SOrry to whine so much. ANy help is appreciated.  Thanks, Michelle