Back from the dead
Hi guys 
It seems like forever since I've been here and even longer since I even lurked. New job is kicking my butt and of course i am still working my second job. Thanks to Brenda and Neecee for missing me!!!
I hope everyone is doing well and working their lifestyle, whatever they choose. I also hope everyone is enjoying the summer, except for Em who is hopefully enjoying her winter!!
I am doing well, hanging in there. Working out 6 days a week and watching what I eat on a continual basis. It has been 3 years since I started my journey and 2 years since I reached my highest weight loss. I have put back on a few pounds but haven't changed sizes. Working out really works folks, take my word for it. I am comfortable where I am but I will never turn down the opportunity to lose more weight.
I have discovered that my "new" body allows me to feel things I hadn't felt before. Now that I am not just eating everything in sight I am able to figure out how certain foods affect me. For instance, I know for sure that white flour carbs give me wicked gas. Bagels, cookies, cakes....anything like that and I have indigestion and gas. It is definitely enough to keep me from eating those foods on a regular basis. I have found I am particularly fond of spelt crackers with hummus and a slice of turkey, one of my new favorite lunches. I have found a new friend in the health food store!!! I have also determined that artificial sweeteners REALLY affect my bladder. I was finding out that I was having an "urgency" problem and it was very uncomfortable to have such a sensitive bladder. I have stopped drinking crystal light type drinks and now I am back to normal. I don't have the urgency and I am drinking straigh****er. I am searching for some drinks to use at meals because I hate water with meals. I haven't drank diet soda in over 4 years so that's out too. I found an ooh-lang peach tea the other day with 53 calories in it. I prefer not to drink my calories so this has proved to be an interesting venture.
I wore a two piece the other day to the beach, it felt great and I wasn't even self-conscious. I saw myself in pictures the other day too, I still don't take a whole lot of them, and I was amazed that I had nothing critical to say about myself.
One last thing and I don't want to cause a huge controversy, but in the past week there have been two deaths on OH. One was a woman 4 years post op that I met on the Plastic Surgery board. She died of a bowel obstruction. The other is Gary Viscio, the lawyer who has advocated heavily for WLS patients. They don't know why he died at this point but it makes me wonder if it had anything to do with his surgery. I was talking to a girl the other day who said she wanted WLS. I told her to do her research and figure out what she needed to do. She is a young girl and I told her that there is just not the medical research out there to determine how this is going to affect people 25 years in the future. I know, nothing is guaranteed in life, and 25 years for some people is a lifetime compared to the life they spent as obese individuals. But I often wonder at people who get this done at 25, what type of life is going to be there 25 years from now. I hope and pray that they remain healthy and full and happy and that nothing at all comes down the pike. I know that two deaths, at least that have been public, in the past week is a mere drop in the bucket compared to the tons of successful surgeries, but I guess I just wonder. Perhaps some would say it's not my place to wonder since I haven't had WLS. This is not a flame by any means, just a thought process.
So anyhow, thanks for listening to rambling. I hope everyone is doing just great!!!
Donna
"Accountability first to yourself, then nobody else matters"
1)They can occur in any people with extra abdominal space from large losses in weight. These herniations occur when a bowel moves or twists, making it impossible for food or gas to pass. They are not caused by weight loss surgery specifically. You see them more in WLS patients (5% of us) because we're more likely to lose/ keep off large sums of pounds than other groups of people. It could happen to you as well-- any of you, so everyone should be aware.
2) They can also occur in people of average size, although with less frequency. I have heard of two deaths from this happening in normal-sized people.
You are essentially correct, however--- weight loss surgery is dangerous and risky. So is morbid obesity. If you can lose the weight and maintain it without it you're most certainly better off. Not everyone can- so you go with the risks you think best offer you the quality of life you need.
"Oh sweet and sour Jesus, that is GOOD!" - Stephen Colbert Lap RNY 7/07-- Lap Gallbladder 5/08--
Emergency Bowel Repair 6/08 -Dr. Meilahn, Temple U. Upper and Lower Bleph/Lower Face Lift 12/08
Fraxel Repair 2/09-- Lower Bleph Re-Do 5/09 -Dr. Pontell, Media PA Mastopexy/Massive
Brachioplasty/ Extended Abdominoplasty (plus Mons Lift and Upper Leg lift) / Hernia Repair
6/24/09 ---Butt Lift and Lateral Thighplasty Scheduled 7/6/10 - Dr. Ivor Kaplan VA Beach
Total Cost: $33,500 Start wt: 368 RNY wt: 300 Goal wt: 150 Current wt: 148.2 BMI: 24.7
Also, you are on the money about working out.. It is working for me, i'ts just hard to look forward to it when you are plump but now that has all changed for me.
Holy crap Shari.. you look wonderful
The working out is what keeps me in the sizes I am in. I have friends who weigh the same as me and they are in 3 sizes bigger. There is much to be said about building muscle. And I really really like working out. It's part of my day, it's what I do, it's like eating breakfast. If I don't go to workout I feel badly and I feel like I have missed a part of my day.
I'm glad you are continuing on with it. It does make a difference and it is invaluable from a health perspective as well.
Donna
"Accountability first to yourself, then nobody else matters"
I did go back to read former posts of yours after seeing this and saw what you had gone through. I am so glad you are doing better after all of that.
I guess I am just wondering at the long term, not just in terms of bowel obstructions. We just cannot know what types of conditions are going to exist 25 years down the road. Again, though, it's a crap shoot. For many that don't get the surgery there IS no 25 years down the road.
You look great and from what I have read you feel even better. For me that was the best part, feeling better. The looking good is great, wonderful, but in the end feeling like you can do things that you hadn't been able to do in the past is by far the icing on the cake.
Donna
"Accountability first to yourself, then nobody else matters"
D my love...I missed the Hell outta ya!!! 
It's so good to see your cute li'l face. And I'm glad to hear that you are able to workout and eat right even with BOTH of your overbearing jobs.
A two piece huh? Well a girl has GOT to show off the new tatas! And not having to roll 'em up and stuff 'em in your top makes you feel like you're eighteen again! Work it girl, work it! 
Mary
Hey my beautiful Mayreeeeeeeeeeee!
I had a few minutes before my job this weekend to catch up as much as I possibly could. I am responding now in the short time I have before I go to work again today!!! AAAAAarrrrrggggghhh.
John said something to me last night that got me major depressed. I said I was tired of the running around from job to job and to the gym and to do things for my kid. He said "I see us always having to run around." Dear god I hope not!!! I had a vision of myself at 70, running to the gym in spandex -- don't ask why i saw my 70 year old self in royal blue spandex but I did -- LOL --
yes the tatas stand up nicely in the bathing suit and it was nice wearing a two piece. But did I mention anything about these thighs Mary!?!???! LOL
"Accountability first to yourself, then nobody else matters"
I am hanging in there too, lately ~185. Trying hard to get over this hump. This weight is where I *always* seem to stick once I get my fatass below 200. Arrrgh.
Anyway, about wls death, Shari about said what my bottom line is: morbid obesity, esp Super MO is no picnic either. In fact, I personally would choose death over years incapacitated if there is a choice factor. And to think i did it to myself by staying fat would really get me reaching for the trigger.
WLS in young people makes me cringe, as it seems that you do also. I try hard to talk a young person (my yardstick: under age 40) into trying to live better, make the right choices, typically they have been on again, off again, so for once, they should try to go for it until they do get it right. I too also worry about long term. At age 40 plus, you ain't got much long term left.
My other feeling about wls is that in terms of risk for death, in my limited IRL experience, when i went to the informational on WLS with my young healthy fat friends who did go on to get approved, the *other people* in that room looked like death warmed over: gray freakin pallor, decrepit souls using canes, so fat they looked like they were about to burst, some looked like they had burst and were growing new bubbles. I mean sick people; i could not speculate if obesity put them into that state, but good chance it wasn't helping anything.
So, to get WLS before THAT point would certainly decrease risk of death. Those poor folks had nothing to lose by throwing the dice toward WLS fa cry eye.
Anyway, glad to see you my buddy!!!!!
You and I are at the same point, the plodding along every single day just letting all this sink in. You know, it is the way we are now. This way of life is just the way that i have to live from now on. There is no back peddling, there is no "tomorrow", there is just the being present in every single moment at every single meal and just working it constantly.
Like I said in the last post, I am so much more in touch with what affects me food wise, and even drink wise. My body responds so much better to high protein and very whole grains than anything else. I get so uncomfortable with gas and indigestion when I eat some foods that it serves as a HUGE deterrent in eating those foods again, believe me.
Your experience with those wanting WLS are far more than mine, so thank you for that look into the room of those at the informational meetings. I have had nothing but good experiences with people who have had WLS, they are happier and healthier and more in love with life then they were as MO. It's just that future, without sounding like a broken record, that makes me wonder.
Donna
"Accountability first to yourself, then nobody else matters"
I meant to acknowledge your discovery about grains - I have known that also about my body since my WW experiences. I am down to about 1-3 actual servings, not the 1-3 c piles I used to have on my plate - really 1/2 to one cup servings outside - servings of grains, hopefully things like barley & oats, but quite frankly, moreso buns, breads, rice (which is brown at least half the time).
My body is legendary in my family on the gas thing...now after all these years I finally know why. It is also related to over eating all foods - my system loves having small amounts of food at a time. When I think of how I stuffed myself for so many years, i feel lucky to be only 185#.
