She has my prayers. It is not an easy task. I, honestly, could not do it without the support and the accountability I am receiving from Metabolic Research. They are amazing!! I am so blessed to have found them. I thank God everyday that Dr Beaver made that suggestion when I didn't qualify for WLS. Sherri

Yeah, I was awol. I think the problem is that I get into a habit of checking certain boards and forget about this one because it's been so inactive for so long. I'd love to see it get going, so I will make a better effort to check it more often. It's the busiest the board has ever been...thanks to you guys! Like I said earlier, I'm not a poster as much of a replier. I never think of great subjects to talk about much. But all the successful boards I've been on have had one common thread and that is there have always been a couple of people who go in every single day and post something and respond to nearly every post. They are the glue that keeps those boards together...and it's a tough job. I've managed boards before and I sucked at that! So, big huge pats on the back to all of you who check in frequently and post. It is you who will make this board thrive in the long run! Dina

Oh Sherri - don't fret too much. The one thing you are right about is getting back on the wagon. Regardless of whether you have had surgery or not, the struggle is the same around the holidays....making good choices and not letting the pounds creep back on. I am battling it as well at not quite 2 years post op. But get rid of the all or nothing thinking and realize that those 2 lbs are likely water gain and you'll see them go away soon enough. And I know what you are talking about with the family. My father's side of the family are Southerners (Arkansas) so I know that guilt feeding thing. On one hand my grandmother would tell me I was too fat to find a man, and then turn right around and get upset if you didn't eat enough of the food she put out. Ahhhh.....my family. It puts the "fun" in Dysfunctional!!! Dina

Paula - Congratulations on losing your shirt, so to speak. I would love to see your dispatch center one of these days. I have never observed a large city in action like that before. It would be neat to see how it works. We have a max of 7 dispatchers and 2-3 calltakers and a supervisor on during busy times so that would be quite the change! I'm so happy to see an update from you. I was wondering how you were doing. How much have you lost so far??? Dina

Paula! There you are! I was wondering how you were doing...I'm slowly making my way down the list of posts so maybe I'll see your update in a bit. Glad to see you back and posting! As for the holiday off, well, I am 2nd in seniority and I *finally* decided to take 2 weeks off at Christmas. I always tried to be nice and just take a day here or there off so others would be able to have time off too, but it always backfired and I always got ordered to work overtime. So this time I decided to be selfish and took off 2 weeks. Only problem is the minute I took off work, I got sick. My son and I have pneumonia and my husband is quite sick also, but not pneumonia. Ugh. Dina