Wednesday November 1

Weight ?, Calories 1654.

Hard to believe it is November already! Only 1.5 weeks left for work and 2.5 weeks until we leave for Florida. Of the other 7 people in my department, 1 is retiring, 1 has an accepted job, 3 have likely jobs (waiting for official offers), and 2 have nothing. Of the last 2, one has been a long time extremely valuable employee who the company is a fool to let go (more valuable than most of the others). The other one without a job reports to me and has not worked for the last month due to a family crisis and is now not responding to email, calls or txt messages. So I had to get HR involved. Our plan is to put her on a medical leave which will mostly be covered by vacation time and will still allow her to get severance even if she doesn?t work at all by the last day. It will keep her benefits intact though she will lose the chunk of unused vacation pay she would have received had she worked. I think it is a good way to handle it, but really didn?t want to have to go through this before I left. My manager and I were going to count all the days as work days as long as she handled a minimum amount of transition work (a few hours a week remotely). Her dropping out of communication for the last few weeks pushed the issue.

And OMG, I saw my PS yesterday and I?m going to get my eyes done on December 14. I never thought I?d have any type of PS, but once I did the TT and facelift, my eyes sound easy.

Have a well-balanced Wednesday!

Woohoo Liz on almost single digit work days! Are you doing the eyelid lift thingy? My mom and dad had that done and it was covered by insurance because of vision.

Now having had PS I believe in both the power it has and its limitations. I see PS after wls a little differently than other PS. But in all respects I take an attitude of "do what makes you feel content." The limitation I have experienced is that not all of my "feeling comfortable in my own skin" issues can be fixed with PS or even my weight on the scale. That's something that I've had to learn.

Weight: 173.6. Still really high, but not increasing, and I'm feeling less bloated today, which makes me feel less funky!

Maybe it's time to stop weighing. Idk. To some extent, seeing weight gain almost makes me feel like "screw it." But today I decided to give myself permission to gain weight. Even if it's above total weight gain during pregnancy. Maybe that sounds counterintuitive. But I need to focus on eating right. And knowing myself, I know that I'm more likely to begin eating disastrously if I feel I've lost control. So in an attempt to regain control, I'm making this weight, and my total weight, acceptable. Anyone else know what I mean? If I allow myself this concession, then maybe I won't lose as much control.

We had a successful night last night. About 110 trick or treaters. We actually ran out of our full sized candy bars and used most of the mini candies left over from our party! Favorite costumes was a family where the little boy was Groot, the little girl was Rocket, and the momma was Gamorra. (Guardians of the Galaxy). But the most precious was the pink troll girl who didn't notice our decorative spider until she turned around to leave, and backed up clear into our foyer with fear :) I'm definitely getting excited about the idea of having my own little pumpkin next year and forever.

Happy November!! Christmas music starts playing today. How do y'all treat Thanksgiving/Christmas separation?

-I love both holidays. Honestly why can't Christmas be in January?! Trouble is it's so much work getting all the decorations out and up, plus shopping, plus parties, etc. I'm definitely a fan of putting up (but NOT turning on) the outside lights early-mid November. Especially since waiting can mean ice storm and no outdoor lights. But we typically wait on the tree and other decorations until after Thanksgiivng. But this year we have family coming for Thanksgiving--and they're staying essentially 2 weekends--which really cuts into our decorating time! Plus, it'd be nice for them to see the tree. So idk. As it stands right now, company will leave the Saturday after T'giving, and then Monday my husband will leave on international business until Thursday, and then we're hoping to take a "babymoon" that Friday-weekend! So if I don't decorate early, I will essentially have on Sunday after Thanksgiving to do so, or at least the scary-tall-ladder stuff I'll need my husband for. Ahhh so torn. I love my pilgrims and pumpkins and cornucopia but I don't want to wait until mid-December to put out Christmas stuff either.

It is easy for me. I don't do Fall decorations and Christmas decorations are only moderate. We usually put things up Thanksgiving weekend. Didn't do outside decorations last year and probably won't this year either. We live on a long driveway with just our house and our landlord's house on it. No neighbors to see the decorations anyway!

I don't do much for fall decorations either and over the years have pared down Christmas. This year there will probably be even fewer as we will only be home from 12/11-1/5 (in Florida before and after).

Yes I am doing the eyelid "thingy", plus an eyebrow lift and having the fat pads under my eyes removed. The PS discounted it by 33% because I used him previously and I am an easy patient (follow instructions to the letter and don't whine and complain - of course there was no need, so that was easy). So it is a good deal and I'll look younger for a while.

You are going to be such a fun Mom, BB!

We always do a last minute thanksgiving with DWs family. This year it is going to be well planned. BIL is a planner. As far a Christmas goes I hate to say it but i'm a bit of a Scrooge about it. I think one year I wrote bah humbug on the window with snow in a can. The kids always had a good time. Overspending had a component to it. I think I'm getting better about it. Christmas music playing at the dentist today and I enjoyed it. We ran a children's home for a while and it was fun to see the generosity of people when the knew of a need. I put together 12 bicycles one year. That was a fun year.

Hi everyone! I am just about to start maintenance (1.4 pounds away) and Liz suggested I check out the VSG Maintenance group. So I wanted to introduce myself...

My VSG was on 2/22 and today is my 9 month surgiversary. I've lost over 100 pounds three other times in my life pre-surgery (120, 100, 170 lbs) and have never maintained my losses for any significant period of time. So needless to say, this part is really scary for me. I don't want to mess this up! And I don't really know how to do this. I asked my surgeon if I needed to add calories in to stop losing and he said it should "just stop" when I get to my goal weight. Considering I'm down 7.4 pounds for the month, I'm thinking it's not just going to stop on its own.

I wouldn't mind losing a bit more fat and gaining a bit more muscle back, vut staying the same weight. I have a Dexa scan scheduled for Friday so I should have a better idea of how much fat and how much muscle then.

I'm rambling a bit so I'll stop here, but any advice you have for transitioning to maintenance is very welcome!

Welcome to the VSG Maintenance Group! We are a close knit little family here but love to add new members! How exciting to almost be at goal. Maintenance does have a learning curve and most of us continue to learn daily. We have some here that are many years out from surgery and are maintaining, some that are just a year or two out and maintaining and some of us (me included) that have had some re-gain and are trying to find our way back to a "happy" weight. Please join in on the conversation and don't be afraid to ask questions - we have a lot of collective wisdom among us!

Welcome Cecile C to the VSG maintenance group. It is a good group to share with and support each other. Look forward to your input.

Hi Cecily'

We suggest you track your calories and gradually add back in 100 per day until you stop losing. Then you will know your target calories. Many of us track food daily. I did so for over 4 years and should probably get back to it as I have had a little regain. Its all about finding your sweet spot. And don't forget to include a little fat in your diet. We had a long discussion last night about how its needed for brain function! Diane S

Welcome Cecily! I'm glad you've joined!