What is .......

.......the toughest part of the WLS journey for YOU?  The not drinking with my meals thing.  I'm getting better, but it's definitely the hardest part for me!  .......one thing you never expected of WLS journey?  The transfer addiction I've developed - for COFFEE!!!  (Could be worse!!  )  The amazing friendships I've found through this journey - the depth and strength of the love we share.  The amount of LAUGHING we do!  HIP BONES!   Hoping I'll get asked to sing in a wedding in Alabama!!!  (Or Minnesota, I guess... could go that way...) .......the most unforgetable part for you thus far?  My friends here, whether I've met you or not yet, and at PNC.   My son being proud of me.  Fitting on any dang ride I want to go on - and I want to go on them ALL!!  (I HAVE NO FEAR!!!)  Holding up a pair of jeans thinking "There is NO FREAKIN' WAY..."  ....   and then they fit! You ask the bestest questions, Sandie!  I'm seriously gonna hug you up off the ground next week, honey - you'd best brace yourself!!!

......I'm a bracing!!! I love your answers!!! 

Toughest part --- fighting the stress and nothing better to do eating.....hoping that the warm weather will help so I can go for a walk!!!  But I'm almost 6 months out so the honeymoon is over and the tough part now starts!!!  At least the wonderful people on this board have helped me prepare for this through their posts --- THANK YOU!!!! Never Expected -- looking forward to being "normal".  And how people really do treat you different when you are thinner.  People who never said hi say it, people who never included you in their "group" ask, etc.  I'm totally surprised by this.  Gesh -- aren't people just people??  Bugs me!!! Most unforgetable -- last weekend when I ran into people (two different times) I haven't seen for years -- when I used to be thin.  They said I hadn't changed a bit......man did they miss a lot!!!  But they actually recognized me -- otherwise I doublt they would have.  That was amazing to me. XXOO

Hey Hon! ~yep, people are people!!  It's amazing!  I use to have 2 little girls and a baby and MAYBE someone would open the door for me out of sympathy NOW when I don't need the help because they are older and walk by themselves people go outta their way to open the door!!  CRAZY

.......the toughest part of the WLS journey for YOU?  Becoming smaller, yet far more visible to unwelcome unsolicited advice and  suggeestions.  Seems 'everyone' suddenly knows more than I supposedly ever did about WLS and I tire from educating the facts and try not to be defensive.  Very tough! And especially differentiating between genuine hunger versus genuine thirst, which is usually the culprit.  Getting concerting looks from people I know who are heavier and have seen me shrink away, and I cannot suggest unsolicited suggestions to them for fear of being hurtful. Accepting that my no longer 'puffy' face no longer masqueredes the wrinkles after twenty-plus years of smoking, that I embrace them and would not go back to on overly plump face again just to appear younger!  I feel younger now at 52 than I ever did in my 20s, 30s, or 40s!  Immensely enjoying feeling incredibly free!

.....the one thing you never expected of WLSjourney?  Confirmation of genuine friends, and am constantantly looking forward to meeting more people from the boards.  Never, ever expected my four siblings would distance themselves from me because (per my mother), they all had lost weight 'the hard way!' Ech!  adult sibling rivalry at its worse!  That even strangers treat me better, opening doors, kind greetings, and getting 'hit on' way too much that it's sickening! 

.......the most unforgetable part for you thus far?  Rediscovering and reclaiming this new life!  First, the shoulder blades, the collar bones, the knees, hip bones, tail bone (ouch!), and all the continuous Wows!  At twenty-one months out, am still discovering Wows, and it's fantastic!

HUGS!! HON!!!~  I just got told that I took the "easy way out" by my sis too!  In which I replied "hmmm, easy way out?  Yeah, that's what I call being morbidly obese, getting to the point of unable to lose, the pain of surgery and recovery, the emotional rollercoaster's of not being able to eat but wanting to, gettting to eat normal food only to find out the new pouch doesn't like it and you dump or puke, going thru changes so fast that your mind doesn't have time to catch up and the struggle that leaves, realizing that people treat thin people different when on the inside you are still you, always having to take vits/calcium/B12/protein, being at greater risk for dehydration, (at which point my mother says"alright SAndie that's enough"~GRR)". That sure is the easy way isn't it! PFFT!  LOVE it when people say that!!  So I told mom "well, if she thinks it's so easy why doesn't SHE do it" THen I was in BIG trouble and left the room!  Family!  Ya love them but sheesh!! HUGS!

.......the toughest part of the WLS journey for YOU? Being the first RnY patient at my hospital.  We all learned together and there were a few snags but we pulled through.  Everyone there kept thinking I was a band'er :-) - also the head hunger; I never realized how much I was controlled by it! .......one thing you never expected of WLS journey? the pain.  not from the surgery itself but from the after effects of losing the weight.  The butt, legs, hips for me are terrible and I only hope they ease soon!  lol .......the most unforgetable part for you thus far? being able to shop where I want - weighing less than my husband (he can stop the fat jokes now!) - just being able to move!  OH!!!  being able to walk through a turnstyle and not have to turn sideways or go through the side gate!!!

WOW! You were the first!??!  Awesome!  CONGRATS!!