Thanks Tess

Thanks for the computer help.  I was skipping a step.  I was clicking on messages instead of the discussion button.  Now I  can start a thread.

I didn't want to hijack someone's thread with off topic stuff.

This is what I want to know....

I enjoy reading everyone's posts but I don't know anything about you.  If you  would care to share I would enjoy reading about you.

My name is Linda.  I am 65 years old and had my rny in September of 2006.  I started at 297 pounds and lost pretty well.  I wanted to get to 175 but never made it.  I weighed 198 for about a minute then bounced back to about 205 and stayed there until I started creeping up again.  I was still able to loose any regain because I got back on track before it got out of hand.  Last March my sister was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer and I have had an emotional roller coaster ride ever since.  She has completed 36 grueling weeks of Chemo and surgery.  She is in her 3rd week of radiation and has 5 to go.  I started eating and didn't stop until I reached 279.  I am now working hard to get back to my original 205 plateau.  I will then decide if I really want the 175.  I want to have the mobility to  do as I wish.  I want to be able to buy off the rack in a "normal" store.

About me

I grew up in a small  town in south Louisiana.  I married a Texaco engineer and we moved like a military family until 1988 when I divorced and moved back home to Louisiana.  In late 89 I remarried and after a couple of moves have settled in Houston, Texas.  My husband is recently retired and I stopped teaching in 2005.  I enjoy traveling and seeing new things.

I have a son and a daughter, both are married and have children.  One is in Dallas with my two grandsons and one is in Auburn, GA, with my grand daughter.  I will be seeing all of them this weekend.

I enjoy music and sing with a the college chorale.  We have about 80 voices and do classical music.  I used to sing with a women's pop group but it no longer exists.  I like all kinds of music and enjoy attending the opera, musical theater, and country concerts.  I love the rodeo.  On my bucket list is learning to ride a horse and going on an African safari.  I may have gotten to old to make the safari but who knows.  I am taking Spanish classes because I want to spend some time in Ecuador. 

How about you??????????

Hi Linda:

I don't mind sharing at all.  I have been a Mississippi gal all my life.  I have been married to a wonderful man almost 30 years (end of this month) and have two great kids.  My oldest is my daughter who is 26 and is married and now lives about 15 miles from me, no children yet, and my youngest is my son who will be 18 and a high school senior in the Fall.  Both my parents have past away and I have one living sibling, my sister who is 69.  I am 53 and the baby in the family.

My weight throughout my life has had many ups and downs.  I figured one time that I had lost a total of 630 lbs. over my life time, not at once, mind you.  I had my open gastric bypass March 14, 2006.  Best decision I ever made.  I lost a total of 155 lbs.  In June 2008, I had an incisional hernia about the size of a baseball repaired.  In September 2010, my daughter got married, stress city.  During the previous year and half, I gain 40  lbs. back due to mass anxiety, to weigh in at 195 at the wedding.  Afterwards, I had a bout of depression which I added another 30 lbs.  Depression and anxiety loves food.  In May 2011, Mother's Day, my daughter asked me was I happy, such a simple question, with a devastating answer, I was not.  I immediately came back to OH and looked to see what the newbies were doing.  If they could live on 600 calories a day so could I.  I drank protein shakes and ate bars and I walked.  I bet I walked 500 miles that Summer and Fall.  I lost 70 lbs. in 8 months back to 155 lbs..  Sheer determination.  In May 2012, I had a Anchor cut Tummy Tuck with another incisional hernia repair.  I have maintain 155 lbs. within 5 lbs. since then.  I weigh in this morning at 157 lbs.  I am scheduled for a butt lift/outer thigh lift on April 18th.  This will finish the lower body lift and repair any areas from the tummy tuck such as dog ears, scars etc.  I am so exciting about finishing my plastics journey.

I am a Broker Associate for a Real Estate Company in Mississippi and I am a Office/Manager for a Construction Office here too.  I enjoy my job because it gives me the flexibility to be a mom when needed for school outings and such.  I enjoy the theater, Vampire diaries and Bones on TV and I am hooked on Criminal Minds.  I love visiting new places but I am always glad to get back home.  I have been very blessed in my life and I thank the good Lord for it.

I'm so glad you started this. We've got a lot to learn....about weight loss, our families, ourselves and each other.

I'm Iris. I'll soon be 46 (according to the calculator at least) I feel more like a teenager stuck in an old person's body. I am a Carolina girl through and through. I consider myself blessed to have been an only child. My father was a commercial fisherman so I had the opportunity to grow up on the water. My Moma and I crewed the boat for my Dad for years. We shrimped, crabbed, fished and oystered. I truly have had a unique life.

I married my highschool sweetheart and we had 2 beautiful boys born 15 months apart. We had our share of struggles but it was the perfect marriage for us. 2 days short of our 12th wedding anniversary Kevin suffered a massive heart attack on his way driving to work. He died instantly. He was 33 years old. That was 2001.

There's sort of a blur in my life until 2004. Life was starting to regain some semblance of normal. Then don't you know my Daddy had a heart attack in our backyard and died 19 days later. I was convinced that life as I knew it would never be the same.

By this point my sons were teenagers and that brought a whole different stress level, especially as they had "growing pains" and way too many run ins with the law. My Mom started dating and remarried within 3 months of starting a new relationship with an older fella (he's 20 years older than her). My "old maid" aunt, who's legally blind, became my responsibility. I was in a very unhealthy realtionship with a fella who had drug and alcohol addictions. I was a mess. 

Add in a diagnosis of Ovarian cancer & Diabetes right in the midst of this turmoil. Honestly that diagnosis saved my life. I had a choice - I could either give up and die or I could fight. I fought. Some of you may not agree with what I'm about to say and that's okay (to each his own) but I gave it all to God. I turned it over to the greatest Father and Physician. I went into surgery having been diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer (in the lymph nodes but not other organs) I woke up in the recovery room surrounded by doctors and nurses who were smiling and crying. They removed a tumor & several lymph nodes and sent them to pathology. While they waited for the results, they had prayed over me. The results were astonishing. There was no cancer. It was time to make some changes. And boy did I.

Gastric Bypass. Ditched the "bad" boyfriend. Cracked down on my kids. 50 lbs into my weight loss and I decided to test the waters of dating again. That's when I met my David. He'd been sober for 2 years and decided to try dating. We clicked and we've been together ever since. Now we are in the process of trying to get custody of his 2 kiddos (13 yr old son & 8 yr old daughter). I'm excited about our future and look forward to growing old together.

My sons are now 22 (lives in the mountains of VA) and 21 (eats dinner with me most nights). My Mom lives about 2 miles from me. I am blessed with a wonderful family.

I've always been BIG. I wore a size 18 jeans when I started Jr. High. Guess what? I wear 18s now too. My heaviest was 315 lbs. The lowest after surgery was 208. I really want to get to Onderland. My regain started happening when I had to have emergency surgery for a pacemaker. Once again it was a wakeup call about the life I was taking for granted.

I may whine about the weather from time to time (I NEED MORE SUNSHINE!!) but I am one of the most positive and upbeat people you'll ever meet. I try and live my life as if it were an open book. Feel free to read it.

- Iris

Iris

I can surely understand why a few years of your life is a blur.  Your husband's unexpected death at such a young age had to knock ya for a loop.

My brother died of a massive heart attack at 47 and I have a hard time remembering the funeral.  It was just surreal.  I grew up in an area where a lot of folks made their living from the waters of the Atchafalaya Basin and the gulf.  Both my kids were born in Morgan City, LA.  Big shrimping, crabing and fishing area.  Oil came to town later and they co-exist beautifully.  the best fishing etc spots are around the rigs. Oops I forgot crawfishing, that's huge also.

I had a medial scare also at age 22.  Twelve years later after multiple "cures" that didn't work I had a hysterectomy.  At 22 I  doubted I would live to be 35.  At 60 I got a blood clot as the result of surgery, threw many pieces to my lungs and should not be alive.  Does make you think.