Well a couple of days ago was my six month suriversary and I could not be happier with where I am. Saw Dr. Jossart yesterday (he and my surgeon dr. Cirangle trade off on follow up when they travel to our area). Jossart is such a nice guy and a pleasure to work with. He seemed to think i was doing great and to just keep it up. He thought my goal should be revised to about 145 which would put me at bmi just below 25. Originally we had a range of 130 to 150 but he thought having extra skin would make 145 reasonable. I weighed 140 for a short time in adult life after one of many diets and it was a good weight.  we shall see. he said it was ok to lose only 5 lbs a month and in 4 months i would be at the new goal. well i wanna lose more and faster (cirangle wants that too) but we shall see. But meanwhile i am down 82 lbs from peak, 65 from surgery date and feel a zillion times better. I am so glad i did this. Can't say enough good stuff about LapSF and am really glad i chose them. they get A + from me for results. Since I am in a rural area, we have started a little support group to trade protein drinks and just talk. one meeting so far. its fun and i hope we can keep it going. I really depend on OH and it has become part of my daily routine to check in and see whats up and to blather about anything i have an opinion which is pretty much everything. but it helps remind me that dealing with weight is an everyday thing and gets me started in the right frame of mind. A good thing.

My birthday is in four months and I would love to celebrate it by having a bmi of under 25 making me officially not overweight. gotta lose 20 lbs to do it. wish me luck. D

This trip was a big adventure in many ways. There was the challenge of spending time with a mostly overweight family, seeing old friends and waiting to see if they noticed weight loss, traveling and eating in restaurants and airports, and attending a very fancy wedding and dinner with gourmet food. It all worked out great!. I took my protein powder and some protein bars and had one shake per day. I ate eggs when i could for breakfast at family home and shake for breakfast elsewhere. Managed to eat an egg McMuffin and toss the muffin, get grilled chicken and toss the bread , low carb burger at Carl's Jr. which comes wrapped in lettuce, and things like that. Had a couple of bites of most things at the wedding and rehersal dinner. There were little rack of lamb hors d'oevres and i was in heaven. Tasted the wedding cake and a little of the candies served. This wedding was at a very fancy famous hotel. We had a normal double room reserved and checked in late. They had some problem with the room (I though we were going to get put in some super crummy room) but lo and behold, they gave us the Presidential Suite at no extra charge. It was fabulous and everyone was envious. We let the bride and attendants come dress there and had a great time. Even ate about a third of a piece of pizza for one meal. didn't have any trouble staying within reason on all things. Everyone was super complementary about my weight loss. Was able to help losts with the rehersal dinner and other preparations that I know I could not have done a year ago - especially at higher altittude. Danced and had a super time.

My family seemed pleased and accepting of my procedure even though i had not told my mother ahead of time due to some dementia she has. She accepted it well and seems ok with it. Has probably forgotten by now. The only sad note is I was hoping to get my very overweight brother interested in doing this but he just could not have been less interested. NOt sure why.

Found out one of my long time friends has a lap band she got a few years ago. we were always the two fat girls in our crowd in school. It doesn't appear to me that she has lost any weight with it. She says it feels fine and it keeps her from getting worse. I am so glad I didn't do that and did what I did.

Airplane travel was uneventful (3 flights each way). Just kept getting plenty of water, got lowfat milk when i could and ate protein bar as needed. worked out but I am glad to be home with my normal routine.

And the best part is I weigh 4 lbs less than when i left. hot dog!!!