Down 151 from surgery beginning
BMI was 40, now is 23
fat% now is 27.5

Wonderful numbers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I never thought I'd see them.

I saw Dr. Schlesinger last week for my 2 year checkup.  He's my new bariatric surgeon here in Phoenix.  I really like him because he thinks the way my other surgeon/practice did.  I think that everything I learned keeps my on the right track.  That doesn't mean I don't "cheat" every now and then.  I do have sugar free/fat free ice cream on the weekend.  What a treat!!  I just don't eat a ton of it or I pay dearly the rest of the night.  I have learned to eat in moderation, read labels, count fat grams more than calories, though I do still count calories because they do add up.  I exercise about the same (added swimming instead of weights because of my shoulders).  

I always say that I never regretted having this surgery.  I wish I had done it earlier but I might not have had the same outcome.  I was truly ready and I was ready to change my thinking and life to accommodate it.  I am very proud of what I have done and so is my husband.  Not only have I become healthier, so has he because he eats the same as me (just more).  His cholesterol is wonderful and his heart doctor is very pleased with the exercise level and how he looks.  I can and do take credit for that.

It's less than a month away from the reunion.  I'm very excited but also scared.  I know I have changed but have the rest of the "kids".  They were very cruel to me and it's taken a long time and a lot of work to get over that hurt but I have moved on.  I now figure if they don't like or accept me, so what.  I don't have to live with them.  They don't pay my mortgage and best yet, I can erase them from my mind as quickly as they come up.  I spent too many years trying to drown that hurt and it didn't do me any good.  

I now live life on my terms and I make sure that I do what I need to for me and my family.  Look forward, not back.