Sheri A.

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It's a new year and hope for all it will be a good one...2007 had it's challenges but for the most part for me at least, it was a great year...a year that I reached a normal BMI and slimmed down to below goal weight. For my husband it brought the sad news that he has Parkinson's Disease and for my son who is presently 23, the news of RRP, Recurrent Respiratory Pappilamotosis that brings tumors to the vocal cords causing him to not be able to speak above a whisper. On Dec. 12 my dad passed away suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 82. We did see both of my sons graduate from law school and college and my dad was there to see it and for that I'm so glad!

My weight has pretty much stabilized at approximately 130 lbs. I am wearing a size 6 and living with the flabby areas on my abs and stomach and thighs. Thank goodness for shapewear!

I am still so addicted to shopping and have a huge amount of clothing and so much to pick from! My favorite store is Chico's and I never pay full price there! I've been getting some great deals!

I am going to the gym as often as possible and I find it a huge stress reliever and a social outlet.

Today is my one year surgiversary! I am writing this from Los Angeles CA, where I came to spend this wonderful milestone with my "angel", Cheryl. Cheryl and I met on OH in August of 2006 and it has taken us all this time to finally meet in person! We are having a great time together, and plan to make this a tradition of celebrating every November! This morning I weighed in at 127.6 for a total loss in one year of 95 lbs! I actually purchased a size 4 pair of slacks out here on the clearance rack! What a feeling! Cheryl looks great too, she's lost 100 lbs and has kept it off for one year! Check for pictures here soon!

The year has just flown by and I am feeling so good! I have energy and strength I never thought I'd have. My loose skin issues are livable.

Cheryl and I have been reminicing about our experience and how much OH has helped us and still continues to help us. I am blessed with a wonderful new set of friends that have become a very important part of my life, many that I've met through my surgeon, at the peer to peer support group I run and through OH!

My diabetes is under control with meds and my doctor hopes that my pancreas will continue to produce insulin as long as possible so that I will not have to take injectable insulin. although it could be inevitable 15 years down the line. In the meantime, I must work hard to keep myself healthy and continue my exercise at the gym.

I received some great news while I am out here that my son passed the NJ Bar! Of course, we are extremely proud! I am blessed with a wonderful family; two adult sons who have grown up to be fine young men. My husband of 30 years is amazed at my progress and especially likes people telling him that his wife looks like a teenager!

Although I've been lax at keeping up with my journaling, I hope to at least try to post once a month! I welcome your comments and questions.

Wow the time has gotten the best of me and I again haven't posted for a few weeks. Things are hectic now with work and stuff...my weight is doing well, I am down 93 lbs and weighed in today at 130.4. I am a little concerned that I'm getting too thin but I know it's just a temporary situation. The gym has been good to me and one of the reasons I'm still losing. My main goal is to tone and maintain my weight. I finally cleared my closet and even took out some size 10's that were too big! I took alot of clothing to the tailor and she did a great job of taking in my 12's and 10's! I am wearing 6's and 8's and small tops. My closet is getting full again! This weekend is my 35th HS reunion and no one from the class has seen me in 5 years...ya think that they'll be shocked??? I wasn't heavy in HS so maybe people will remember me that way. I may wear my sigrid olsen skinny jeans in a size 6!

in november I will be flying out to los angeles to meet my "angel", cheryl...we are counting the days till we meet face to face. cheryl is my sister that was separated from me at birth! we are going to be together for 4 days having lots of fun! we will be celebrating our surgiversaries and cheryl's birthday and we promised to buy something overpriced and extravagent in a boutique!

Hi! I haven't posted in almost a month. My weight loss slowed down and there wasn't anything to report. I was exercising at the new gym since the beginning of July...today the scale showed that I have lost 90 lbs! So I'm almost 2 lbs below the goal I set which was 135. Size 8's are fitting well and small tops are getting smaller! It's still amazing that I am losing even though I'm adding more carbs and eating more often. My appetite has definitely increased but I still get full on bulkier foods. The hard part starts now, trying not to graze and eat carbs all day!

As of this morning I have a normal BMI! It's on the high end of normal, but it's still normal. My weight was 136.4 with a total of 87.8 lbs off! I had my check up today and the doctor and nutritionist were pleased with my progress. I lost 9 lbs in 6 weeks! I can start to maintain now and eat a little more. The doctor said that I may lose another 10 lbs without trying and then gradually get back up to where I am now and then I'll stop losing altogether. I'm still swearing by exercise and I hope to tone my flab so I won't need plastics.

Another week has come and gone and I am glad the scale showed another 1.2 lbs off. 86 lbs total in 34 weeks! I was at the gym every day so that definitely paid off. I see that my "honeymoon" phase is over and I am able to eat more often during the day. I still can only eat a small amount but I still worry about consuming too many calories. If I am careful, I could be at normal BMI in the next 2 weeks!

Down another pound this week.  I finally joined a real gym and terminated my membership to Curves.  I will be meeting with the trainer soon to outline a program.  This is a good time to start since I am summer hours at work and I have the extra time to go.  I hope to tone my abs, thighs and arms to avoid having plastic surgery.  

My friend, Robin and I formed a peer to peer support group a few months ago.  Today we had a record # of people attending. (10)..all ladies - from 4 years post op to one pre-op!  We had a great discussion and learned and supported each other.   We meet again on August 4 so if you are in the NJ (Union county) area, come by.

I am trying to figure out how to put up another avatar since the one I am using is outdated.  Stay tuned, you may be seeing it shortly!

Hope you all have a great week!

The scale was kind again this morning!  My exercising paid off big time...I am 139.8 as of today!  Wahoo!  I didn't post last week, I was down from 141 last week, so this past week I lost 2.4 lbs!  Total of 84.4 lbs off and less than 4 lbs to my personal goal of 135!  I really didn't think I'd hit goal till the end of August but maybe I'll be surprised and hit it at my 8 month anniversary!  My thighs are so jiggly, they are probably my worst area.  Second worst is my abdominal area and third are my arms...my neck has lots of loose skin, but it also can be age....I am looking for a non surgical neck lift cream!  I am going to meet a fellow bariatric patient this weekend, I'm excited about that!  Since I'm thinner, the heat isn't bothering me near as much as it has in previous summers!

Hooray!  I am down to 143 today, my BMI is 26.2!  According to my calculations, I'm between 5-8 lbs from goal to have a normal BMI and not be overweight!  My total loss as of today is approximately 80 lbs!  I'm thrilled.  Everyone tells me not to lose anymore.  I would like to be a true size 8 and that would be a good size for me!  I saw the gastro doc yesterday and he thinks I'm doing ok since my ulcer was detected last week.  I have to get a CBC done next week and a repeated endoscopy next month.  No dietary restrictions since the ulcer was not diet related.  I hope this is the end of my medical problems!  I ate filet mignon for the first time and I had no trouble with it, totally delicious!  I am enjoying wearing my skimpy summer clothes and my loose skin bugs me but I know that no one notices it, I am lucky that the weight is pretty evenly distributed.  I can feel all of my ribs and hip bones!  It's amazing!!!!!   

Hi all!  I've been a busy lady!  We went on our cruise last week and it was alot of fun.  I found it hard to keep to my program, no snacks or shakes, hard to find good protein choices that agreed with me but I did ok.  I ordered full meals at dinner and ate a small bit, like a tasting...they had sugar free desserts but after gaining 4 oz. I decided that those were probably full of carbs.  I was surprised at how tired I was and dismissed it as really needing a good rest...I slept great (better than at home) but found myself nodding off during the day and in the evening while relaxing listening to music or at the shows.  I did try to do exercise...there was a 24 hour gym that had a current pool, also did the sauna and steam bath and had a great facial!

About 2 days after returning from the cruise, I experienced two episodes of dizziness and fainting.  At the insistance of my doctor, I was admitted to the hospital with a low blood count of 7.4!  (Normal is 14).  A rectal exam revealed blood in my stool and the doctors needed to see what was causing it.

I had to get 3 pints of blood in a transfusion and an edoscopy showed an ulcer!  I was taking a low dose aspirin, enteric, and that could have been the cause.  Once the cause was detected and treated and I got the blood, I felt much better.  I was in the hospital for 2 nights.  Now I'm on nexium and iron.  I hadn't been taking iron and that was a mistake.  No more aspirin for me either.

Ulcers are common for us bariatric patients.  A word of warning, don't dismiss any symptoms, no matter how small....I'm glad I didn't or I would have been a very sick lady!