I can’t believe it’s been more than 3 months since I updated my profile – time really does fly! I’m still maintaining my weight at 160, down from a high of 332.

I am able to eat pretty much anything I want, it is trying not to want it that is the problem. I track all my food in FitDay and I am eating about 2,000-2,300 cal per day. I eat an avg of 110-130 g protein per day and about 250 g carbs per day (my goal max on carbs is 200 g per the dietician). I also track my activity in FitDay and there are only rare days where my calorie intake exceeds my outgo. I eat at least 5 times a day, usually more, and this seems to work for me. Some of these “meals” are just pretzels or fruit, but the continuous calorie flow seems to keep my metabolism in higher gear than if I have long gaps between meals.

I do fight to control my sweets cravings and some days I win, some I don’t. My intake of sweets is nothing like it was pre-op, but I still wish for those early post-WLS days where they did not taste good!

I am probably 75% satisfied with my PS. I still have a diagonal roll of skin (from gallbladder surgery 20 yrs ago) that wasn’t removed and hangs over my belt. My lower abdominal area is mostly flat and free from excess skin, but there is a bulge at the belly button level that never goes away. It is larger later in the day. The PS and my new PCP both say it is not a hernia, but rather a thin area in my abdominal wall that is allowing the colon, bladder, etc. to bulge out. (I thought that the PS was supposed to tighten up these muscles during the abdominoplasty, but evidently he didn’t). My butt is better than it was, but I still have rolls of skin at the leg fold. All in all, the after PS outcome is better than without, but I think the surgeon was a bit too conservative in his skin excision.

I am continuing with my personal trainer. Some people think it’s a waste of money at this point – I know what to do after a year – but working with him keeps me showing up so to me it is worth it. The trainer does vary the routine a bit so that I don’t get bored, but he tells me he is running out of ideas since I am doing most of the advanced exercises. I have had shoulder tendonitis for about 6 months. Ortho doc gave exercises and offered cortisone injection. The exercises improved it but it would not go away. In September I went to a chiropractor and 5 sessions with him have really settled it down. I have occasional pain now, but it is much improved.

My best friend and I went on a Caribbean cruise in September. This was my reward to myself for all the accomplishments of the past two years! We were supposed to leave from New Orleans, but the hurricane hit less than two weeks before. The cruise was diverted to Galveston TX and we left on 9/11/05. The weather was perfect – not even any rough water – despite there being 5 tropical storms heading our way. Another hurricane hit Galveston less than a week after our cruise. I feel very fortunate to have been able to enjoy the cruise without bad weather – many of the others on our ship were transfers from the Carnival Cruise ships that were taken for the relief effort. During the cruise, I ate whatever I wanted, just lots less of it than before. We got a lot of exercise and I got home at the same weight I left… a major accomplishment.