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Kim - I think I too believed that if only I could loose weight - and regain my health - that everything else would fall into place....and that has not at all been my experience.  My life in the going on three years since surgery has had more ups and downs than at any other point.  I've had the hardest losses mixed with the most amazing blessings.  RIght now I'm struggling with a relationship that was new and exciting and provided me with the attention and passion I was so craving - and it's in a crisis.   I"m heartsick....and scared.   The last thing I feel like is a warrior!   This man was the warrior in a very real sense who entered my life and saw my strength and drive....and now that he's retreated - my sense of strength and drive has shifted.  I'm not overeating - like you I'm undereating...and the only thing I can say I'm doing well is my exercise.  I continue to train no matter how little sleep I've had  - and it's been spotty- or how sad I feel.    I go back to the thing I am most grateful for.  My health.  No matter what else is going on - my health is so wholly different from what it was 3 years ago - when nothing seemed possible - that I know with time I will find a new path.  It's easy to be a warrior when all things are in place.     The meaning of the concept is to find strength and courage when you are frightened.   I'm am so solidly residing in fear right now it's gripping me.   Life is a ever-changing...and rich with lessons.  I"m trying to focus on the lessons in this experience because the only thing I am certain of is that there are things to be learned here.  You are right - tomorrow is a new day and our lives emerge in every surprising ways.   Thank you for posting.   Susan

Susan,
I have been thinking about this very thing lately. I am at 6 months post surgery and reflecting on what it is I have learned about myself.  What has changed in me that I now feel like a person who is in control of my own life. Clarity has been a huge part  but with clarity came something else- accountability! That for me was the hardest thing to face. My role in this whole mess I created (meaning the abuse of my body****il I began to hold myself accountable, I was powerless to do anything about it. With that realization came the clarity of knowing that yes, I played a huge part in the abuse of my body but I also realized I had the power to change it. That like most things in life it all comes down to choices. From there I was able to formulate a plan and then work that plan...sometimes better than other times.  Doing it perfectly imperfect!
You ask that we contribute one thing we are struggling with. For me that would be the voice inside my head that surfaces from time to time to tell me "don't get too ****y, you have always failed before."  I fight that by reminding myself daily that I'm not the same person I was a year ago (when I started this journey) and the realization that I can make the right choices. That I am not powerless. That I am indeed a woman warrior.
So glad that you started this group. Thank you!!

-Angela

I have learned in the very challenging two years since my WLS that life is fundamentally about choice.   I don't think I understood this before WLS.   I felt powerless over my compulisve eating problems and the way I dealt with issues in my marriage.  I was forced to make decisions and take action in the last year or so that required two things - 1. Clarity,  2. A plan.     Clarity was the harder part for me - making a decision about what I needed to do was an enormous struggle - but once the answer was clear - the worst of it was over for me.   Once you have clarity - it's a matter of figuring out how to proceed.   I find the hardest thiings to face become easier once clarity is found.   I'd like our first discussion to revolve around one thing we are struggling with - and it can vary as widely as we ourselves do.  It might be related to your weight loss process, it might be related to a relationship, or a job, or something else entirely.   Let's explore those issues and help each other find that clarity.  I welcome your thoughts.