Good Morning Ladies

I had my RNY in September of 2006.  I lost right at 100 pounds.  That allowed me to realized a dream I'd had since grade school.  In 2010 I went to the Galapagos Islands for a week of exploring.  It was definitely a once in a lifetime event.  I live in Kingwood, Texas and this spring I am gradually developing web feet and feathers.  We are flooding for the 4th? 5th? time this spring.  I am high and dry but there are roads close to me that are not.  I have 2 grown children, a son, Matthew, and a daughter, Staci.  Matthew and his wife Keely have my only grand daughter, my sunshine and my bright and shiny star.  She is a hot mess and very independent just as a girl should be.  My daughter and her husband Mike have my two grand sons, my wonderful, athletic, love em to death, boys.  My husband, John and I will have been married 27 years in August.  We are both retired and travel a lot.  I am 68 years old.

My first goal after RNY was to reach onederland.  I did that for about 30 seconds then settled in around the 205 mark.  My ultimate goal was to reach 175.  I never did do that.  I have gone up and down over the last 10 years and I am more up than down right now.  I did come to my senses about 6 months ago and I am downward bound but it is slow.  My tool is there and any issue with weight is mine and not the surgery's.  I don't think I will ever make the 175.  I don't think I am motivated enough.  I do want to get back to my lowest point.  I just finished my sessions with a personal trainer and now feel competent to go into any gym and be successful.  I go to the Y for weight training 3 times a week and I go to line dance classes 2 times a week. My aerobic capacity needs improvement but at the moment 2 times a week is all I can muster.  When I first started I had to sit for a few minutes after 2-3 songs.  Now I don't need to do that.  I still need to break between songs because I get overheated and need water.  I also walk on the days I dance.  My goal is to walk 10,000 steps on a walking day and 6,000 steps on a non walking day.  This all comes with a caveat.  I live in Texas, the hot and humid part of Texas.  I can't tolerate heat.  What that means is I have had an active spring because the weather was glorious.  Summer has come to Texas and I am struggling.  My walking is suffering.  I am not much of an inside walker.  Give me a hiking trail with fresh air and bird song.  On the plus side I go to Atlanta to see my grand daughter in a week and she will definitely keep me active.  I return home on the 18th and 10 days later go to see my boys in Dallas.  We leave Dallas and head to Wyoming and I will have cool weather and mountains to play in.  This year we were not able to get accommodations in Sheridan until mid September so will be staying in Cody instead during the summer months.  Yellowstone will be my playground.  We have national park senior passes and get in free so I will be hiking as many trails as I want as long as the bears leave us alone.  I will definitely leave them alone.

To sum up.  I am human.  I have had successes and failures.  My atta girl, and my fault.  I have benefitted from this forum.  In the beginning I learned a lot that kept me healthy.  Now I still learn occasionally but mostly I find support.  I am not here every day, I am out living my life.   

Carla,

You are so busy and that is great. The reason I still live in AR is because of my grand babies. I love AR don't get me wrong but if my baby girl was a few years older, I'd so head over to the Middle East and teach for two or three years and totally retire wealthy; however, I cannot leave my babies...so I will forever be middle-class...

I'm always amazed at people who camp. Two of my graduate students have spent the last two weeks camping all over AR...and I admire the hell out of them for doing it but the tent thing and outdoor thing would kill me...Be safe out there cause you know, if you watch Criminal Minds, there are some crazies....

Hi Julia, Carla and those to follow. . .

I have been posting here on and off the last couple of weeks, but to let anyone know who's not seen those posts, I had RNY 9 years ago, come October and my life has been anything but boring the last couple of years, unfortunately, I have regained a lot of my weight and sad to say it is just as it was when I was trying to lose it post-WLS, stubborn and not wanting to be lost.  

I am in therapy, probably something I should have done a while ago, but thanks to my daughters, who suggested I might benefit from some outside help to deal with my grief of losing my baby brother, who was 10.5 years younger than I, almost 3 years ago, and for whom I was very much a "mother" to, by the way, his death was listed as obesity related, as well as the issues surrounding a 7 year abusive relationship that I left 13 years ago, but never dealt with and the scars it left, things my grown daughters say, have changed me greatly, so I found someone who is helping me regroup. . . I am someone who eats to soothe feelings, stress eats and boredom eats, so that is pretty much a tough nut to get a handle on, I still have restriction from my smaller stomach, but slider foods can and have done their damage to my scale and dress sizes.  I also turned 60 last June and while I didn't think so, that kind of woke me up in a way that has me thinking about the future and wanting that future to be one of health and the ability to travel and do things I've thusfar been unable to do.  

Otherwise, life has presented me with a wonderful family, my grown children are all doing well, last year presented me with 2 awesome additions, my youngest grandchildren, Wade, now 14 months old (my son Jeff's dividend child, because he was a surprise since their oldest were 9 and almost 8 when he was born), and Juniper, 9 months old.  My youngest daughter, Angela, married Easter weekend to a wonderful man, who treats her as she deserves, with respect and great affection and she now lives less than 4 miles from me (moving from Florida last February).  My oldest daughter (middle child), Marlene is doing wonderfully and is getting married Thanksgiving weekend and her daughter, Sammi, my oldest grandchild has just graduated from High School and will be going to Florida International University to become an architect, she was accepted in the accelerated program, so she will graduate with her masters in 5 years. . .

Additionally, I am now working (almost 3 years now) at a wonderful job, with people who totally think I am wonderful and at a company, where we all work hard, but are rewarded well for our hard work and made to feel valued, my last job, the one I was grateful to have after having lost my job in the downturn of 2008/2009, was horrible and I worked there for 4.5 years, I got this job right after my brother's death, matter of fact I interviewed for it 2 days before he passed and got the call for a 2nd interview the day after, which I had to postpone, which is one of the reasons that I never dealt with my grief, I had to put it on the shelf to show up and perform at my new job. . .  anyway, life is GOOD, just giving the details of what's been happening for any who've not seen me on Facebook or know me from here. . .  

I did have surgery last year, RNY related, twisted intestine that caught up in my hiatal herina, it happened quickly and I am grateful that I didn't postpone going to the hospital longer than I initially did or I could have had a whole different outcome.

I am grateful to this board, the people who supported me on my journey back in 2007 through whenever it was that I stopped coming on here and honestly, part of the reason I think I regained weight was the accountability factor of being part of a group that understands the ups and downs of this post-WLS life, along with the changing of jobs and it changing my routines in such a way as not exercising regularly anymore, plus some health issues that also contributed to my lack of exercise. . .  

Life is good, I am not one to easily give up and so I will find my way back to a healthier weight and I wish and hope that all reading this are healthy and doing well in their lives!

Kind regards to ALL!  Gotta get ready for work now . . .

Laureen

Here we go! It's time to catch up with our friends from the Over 50 Forum, Past and Present! You can start posting now and we can go on for days if you'd like... Feel free to tell us how the hell you are, any news you'd like to share, whatever... I hope everyone is well and happy, but if not please let us know if you need any support at all. 

It is time to post! 

I'm here! Where do I post?