Thanks sweetie! For the record, I didn't eat it. I posted in the MN board a follow up when I found more info online on an athletic site: Hi there MN!!! I just found a site that helps us make more use of the great info we get from Dan Carey. {http:}//motionworksfitness.com/bmr.htm (Note - people who haven't lost to goal yet or who are under 18 months - close your ears - this can't apply to you yet) In a nutshell what it says is this: Your Basal Metabolic Rate is the amount of calories you MUST eat in a day to ensure that you aren't burning muscle tissue. (while you're a newbie post-op this would be damn near impossible to achieve, rest assured. . .this will become easier) Your Active Metabolic Rate is the amount of calories you burn through your customary lifestyle activities in addition to your BMR. Any additional exercise you do over and above your normal amount are additional "bonus" calories to eat. (Once you're over a year out. . .man alive it gets easier to eat and with all my running - I want to.) Applying this new information: Ok, so for me here's how I used this websites tools: My lean body mass (measured by underwater weighing) is 154.2 My height in inches is 74.5 My Age is 28 My Activity Level is 1.3 (30 minutes of activity every day) (I count my running as extra/bonus activity since I don't do it every day). It estimates my BMR as being 1776.6 (Per Dan, it is actually is 1887) It estimates my AMR as being 2310 - for a difference of 533 additional calories burned by my daily walkies. SOOOOO. To me this says: 1. As long as I'm doing my daily walkies my real AMR is probably about 2420.4 (I calculated by adding my Measured Basal Metabolic Rate to the difference between my estimated BMR and estimated AMR). Therefore: 2. On a running day (at my weight 45 minutes of running = 466 calories) I can eat 2886.4 calories before I have eaten more than I burn off. (note - this means that the day I was UBER eating and wedged in 2700 calories. . .I actually was still within calorie load that my body can process on a running day). What this means is, now I understand why the scale still hasn't shown any kind of punishment for my misdeeds 2 days ago - and further I understand why I am so CRAZY hungry on Running days. This may not make any sense to anyone but me - but I feel MUCH better about my food crimes this week now - and I know that while I CERTAINLY can choose better options to eat if I'm going to eat that many calories in a day, I know that I didn't actually go over the line and give my body more fuel than it can reasonably use in a day. *PHEW* Sorry if I've confused anyone, but I'm feeling much better now! {end MN post} So, I'm feeling better, and now I understand why I'm so freaking hungry on run days. I enjoy sugar free ice cream, I was just uber pmsy and freaked out. Thanks for the reality check! ~Lara

Yahoo! I know how you feel. I just tried my on about 3 weeks ago. Its snug but I could zip it up with my hubby's help. I don't have a current pic with me in it, but I think I have an old wedding pic in my www at the bottom of the post. We were so excited after I tried it on (the box it was in also had some of my old lingerie...so we had a fashion show from days gone by...he loved it!) Thanks for sharing

Lara - Oh man, BTDT. I fight the food demons daily, hourly, minute-by-minute. I am a huge addict. I'm glad it's food as opposed to something else, but it is all-consuming and driving me nuts. If I do not think about eating, I eat myself into a blur of near-dumping and gain weight. If I do think about it, I maintain. If I obsess, I lose! What a drama, right? -Beth http://meltingmama.blogspot.com/

Yesterday was a rough one food wise. All I can say is thank the gods that I 1. have a really high metabolism (1900 calories) and 2. Ran 3 miles (466 additional calories to get to eat). Bless me board for I have sinned - yesterday is right time for the headtrip that is a PMS-like situation. Yesterday = EAT FEST 2005! OMG, I mean I can't believe how much I ate. I did a quick Fitday on it to check since it felt rather out of control. . .I'm not proud to admit that I managed to wedge in 2701 calories. From Fitday: Calories Eaten Today Total: 2701 source grams cals %total Fat: 149 1338 50% Sat: 44 394 15% Poly: 43 387 14% Mono: 47 421 16% Carbs: 215 796 30% Fiber: 16 0 0% Protein: 134 536 20% Great god. . . At least I ran 3 miles (and was REALLY feeling great about it). The good news is, I knew I was flailing - so at least I had presence of mind about it. The bad news is, I went ballistic on Francesca over a flipping ice cream bar. We're PMSing. . .and I was Sobbing about it. The quote of the evening is as I was sobbing while washing my face before bed is "Those fricken roasted almonds. . .it looked so good I wanted to claw my eyes out". What pissed me off most is not that she ate in front of me - because she should be able to eat whatever she wants. What pissed me off is that a year after fricken surgery, and a loss of over 210 lbs, and a committment to a new healthy life - its still so FRICKING hard. I was sobbing and Francesca held me. She reminded me how far I've come, and when I spoke of giving up she reminded me from whence I came - that eating the crap made me as sick then as it does now - just the killing kind instead of the dirreah kind. Then she snuggled me and held me as we watched fell asleep. I guess what I'm saying is. . .I'm still a food addict, but I'm working on it. And while I ate about 300 calories more than I should have, I didn't throw things totally out the window. I know where my opportunities are, and I'm forgiving myself for being human, and picking up today and moving on. 3 mile run tonight - and I can't wait. Food is planned and should be much more under control (feels totally different already) Water is going in much easier today. Here's to forgiveness and new beginnings, ~Lara

Amanda, When I got engaged 18 years ago, I went wedding gown shopping, I weighed about 155-165 lbs (Might I add I was probably three or four months pregnant at the time of sizing) and found a beautiful yet simple gown, I was sized and a 12 fit almost perfectly. We actually put the wedding off because after I had my daughter I weighed 204 lbs and I wanted to loose the weight so I could wear this gown, but I never got to wear it. I gained so much weight that I hit 236 lbs and the dress I wanted could not be bought in a size 22 which is what I then needed. Of course this is the beginning of my weightloss struggle. I had to choose a gown I did not like that that was too tight in the arms and too big in the abdomen and be miserable because I wore a girdle too. Two years later I was divorced and swore to myself I would never get married again unless I could wear a size 10 wedding dress. I wore a 12 pregnant, so I wanted to be one size smaller. I did not want my bridesmaids again looking better than the bride. Well now I wear a size 6. My friends are saying I guess you will get married now. I just say nope, not unless I can wear a size 10 wedding dress. Lori Beginning weight 258 Goal weight 148 Current weight 141