Hi everyone!  It's been so long since I've been here that I actually forgot my password.  :-(

Anyway, hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.  A bit about me--12/11/15 was my one-year surgiversary; I had the Roux-en-Y.  I'm 5' 2" and my stats are:  HW 264, SW 245, Lowest W 181 (well, that was Halloween), CW 189 (fell into the holiday treats trap and I'm pissed!!!)  Started at a size 24/26 and am down to a 16/18.  Still have about 35-40 lbs to my goal but I don't have to shop in the plus-size section anymore!

The good:  Have lost enough that people I haven't seen in a long time don't recognize me.  I don't look much like my driver's license picture.  I can cross my legs and not just at the ankles.  Flew out of state for Thanksgiving and didn't need a seatbelt extender.  Can tolerate most foods--some more than I should, but have no problem whatsoever asking for my meals to be prepared the healthiest way possible whenever we go out, which drives my kids nuts but makes me smile.  Clothes shopping is a dream come true.  I wore a slinky red dress for Christmas, for the first time ever!  I can walk long distances without pain.  The creaking in my knees these days is not caused by my weight anymore; it's just good ol' Arthur Itis--the new man in my life thanks to age and heredity. 

The bad:  I have fallen off the wagon with food diaries and exercise, so it's no surprise that I gained eight pounds.  I know how it happened, I know my part in that, and now I  know how to take those pounds back off.   It won't be easy but I CAN and I WILL do it.  I've discovered that, although my body is doing better, my head hasn't and I'm allowing myself to be tricked into thinking that eating just one or two (insert favorite sugary food-like thing) won't hurt.  Well, guess what?  It DOES!!! 

The weird:  Whenever we go somewhere for vacation, I pack a couple of wire hangers.  Let's just say that they work better at unclogging toilets when I'm done with them than a plunger does... (sorry, TMI!)  And on that same subject, sort of, I haven't drunk milk since November 2015.  I am not sure I want to find out what it does to me now.  I do put small amounts of it in my coffee, and of course I use it in my protein shakes, as well as with the sugar-free instant pudding that I make for myself.  Those don't give me problems, but for some reason I can't make myself drink it straight yet.  I have a turkey waddle for a chin now and wrinkles on my forehead, and I attribute both of those to losing so much weight in my face that my skin isn't stretching out to...ahem...smooth out those wrinkles like it used to.  I have so much loose skin on my upper arms that I joke about playing a doubles tennis/ping pong match all by myself.

The possibly amazing:  My husband, who is 6' 3", 400 lbs and dangerously unhealthy, has been asking me a LOT of questions about the procedure and how hard it is to maintain the new lifestyle.  I have been praying for him, hoping he would make this decision for himself.  Perhaps it's time...but I don't know.  Only he does.

The really amazing:  Several months ago I'd posted about a friend of mine who was considering WLS because he'd seen what it had done for me.  Well, he did it!  He had the sleeve on 12/15 and has lost about 25 lbs so far.  I'm so happy for him!  He's an opera singer and I'm a pianist, so we're considering doing a joint concert together this year to celebrate our new selves and the journey we took to get there.  :-)

That's it for me.  Thanks for reading this far!