woo hoo sheila!! you go girl!! don't you love this! Steph

Dorthe, I was so glad to see you on this board. yes, It will be one year on 02/16. It has flown by and I feel terrific. I am down 105 pounds and stabilzed at 161. I could probably stand to lose another 20 pounds but am not stressed about it. I wear size 12-14 pants depending on the style and med blouses. This is good for me. I work out 3-4 times a week. Mainly walking due to back problems throughout the year. My back is finally stabilizing but when I was losing so quickly - OH MY - I thought I would die. I even started taking narcotics just to function. Better now. I get a B12 shot every month, take 1200 MG of calcium per day and a woman's vitamin from GNC each day. I also take a vitamin that is for strengthening the hair as I lost so much during the weight loss. Everything has stabilized now and going well. I eat normal food - mainly dairy products and protien. Love veggies and try to eat them every day. I eat fruit but not much. I seem to get very full on fruit. I drink coffee, herbal tea and lots of water every day. My staples are peanut butter, yogurt, cheese, deli meats, crackers, popcorn, cottage cheese and nuts. I don't seem to get bored with it so am doing well. Emotionally, I am right on track. I feel good about myself and feel secure in who I am. I was bulimic as a young woman and know the obsessions about food and body image. God has removed it from me and I am so grateful. I enjoy life like never before. I love my family and most of my neurotic and obsessive behaviors have disapeared. I am so glad that you are doing so well. I have not come to this board in a long time. I mainly stay on the main board and only go on a couple times a week. I find that when I don't connect with people on the boards I don't do as well. Oh, all of my labs are great. No more diabetes. My doctor is very glad for me although I don't see her as often now. I am down to 3 meds a day and they are for my asthma. Before I was on about 10 for all kinds of things. Keep up the good work. Love, Sarah 266/161/140

hi corina: thanks for sharing. congrats on making it to where you want to be. i'm down 175 so far but still need to drop another 95 pounds or so. sounds like what you're doing is working well for you, though. i'm glad the holidays are over, too. but for really different reasons. i didn't have too much trouble with food and goodies, but it was the first year without my dad and brother. that totally bit. exercise is going easier too, (knock on wood). i've finally managed to make it to 3 mph for 20 mins a day and i'm very glad i got there. my goal for the treadmill is at least 20 mins a day at 4 mph. sooner or later i'll get there. for right now i'm just happy with what i'm getting done. again, corina, thanks for sharing your input. take care. i'll look forward to hearing from you soon. dorthe

hi dana: thanks for checking in. i'm finding it hard to believe it's been a year, too. i'm actually ok with where my exercise is right now. i was out with the flu for a week but am back at 20 mins at 3 mph daily and very glad i'm there. i can eat more, too, but try to make good choices and stop when i'm full. i remind myself it's all about life choices, not dieting. i doubt i'm getting in enough protein, too, but i'll wait to worry about it until after my followup results are in. really am looking forward to hearing from all the feb 05 people. thanks again for letting us hear from you. dorthe

Kate, It sounds like you are doing fine! I started out at 362 and am now 208. I've been stuck here for 4 or more weeks. Have you hit a plateau? I feel like I eat too much sometimes, but I think that's also because we could eat so little before. I can eat 1/4 to 1/3 of a sub when my hubby and I split one every once in a while. I think it's OK to have a carb-y treat a couple of times a week. My favorite thing is pizza. The kind we get is really thin crust and I can eat a slice and a half and I don't feel really full afterward. Last night, I ordered extra cheese and tried to eat the same amount and felt really sick for an hour after. At least I know the pouch still works. Today, I had a slice of pizza for breakfast, a protein cappuccino for a snack and I just had a lasagne frozen dinner for lunch. For dinner tonight (we work late so as a staff we order sandwiches) I usually get a chicken cheesesteak -- they use grilled chicken and I'll be able to eat 1/3 of it -- about 4 inches. I just make sure I stay under 1,300 calories for the day and I will do that even having the cheesesteak. I feel great and I pray more weight will start to come off. I go to Curves four times a week and walk three miles on my treadmill the other two days. I take Sunday off from exercise. Today is a weird day for eating, just so posters don't think I eat junk everyday. We work at a newspaper where Tuesday is the deadline. I usually eat a lean cuisine for lunch and have a big salad at home for dinner. Does everyone have the same thing where it seems you can eat a lot of salad?? Well, Kate, I just wanted to let you know it sounds to me like you are doing fine!