Dear Dawn:
Two of the aspects of being successful with the weight loss
surgery that are often under recognized are the addiction that
most of us have with food, or rather an addiction to the way
eating makes us feel, and the idea that a power greater than
ourselves can relieve the obsession we have with food and
eating.I am not talking about some condemning God that remem-
bers every little think we have done wrong, I am talkin about
a loving father who whats us to be happy. Dawn you may need to
get some professional counseling, I know it really helped me
deal with the addiction part. Just because we make out stomach
smaller the mental and physical addiction in still there and
unless that is dealt with, we can easily go back to our comfort
of eating. Dr. Nichols is not angry with you, you are angry
with yourself and you need him to confirm your anger. You need
to be willing to go to any lengths to deal with your "disease"
of obesity. Surrender to a different way of life where you do
not have to beat yourself up every time you make a mistake.
Remember the pain and disgrace of being so fat you are ashamed
of yourself. You now have the power to change your life. Learn
to love your self. Stop making excuses about exercising. You can
find many areobic workouts that do not involve walking. Simply
standing in place and moving your body up and down with your
knees will give you a great workout if you do it long enough.
You can find a way to workout if you want to. I am an addict of
food, and anything that will alter my state of mind. I just choose
to egnore my impulses as much as possible and when I fail, I
on and try to do better next time. Be rigourisly hones with
yourself. I think your find that once you accept that fact that
you are an addict to food and seek spititual solutions you can
succeed.
Well, I have my 1 year follow up with Dr Nichols on April 1 (oh what a day) and I am worried that he is going to rip into me again about not doing what I am supposed to be doing. I have been really good lately about making sure that I only have the 3 meals and not snacking. I am drinking my water and really watching everything that I put into my mouth...The biggest hurdle I have had is not being able to walk or ride my bike that much. You see on March 1st I noticed blisters on 2 of my toes and my foot (they are from new shoes and walking 6 miles aday), well since then I have been doing wound care(I am a type I diabetic) and taking more and more antibiotics...I have noticed that all this has maybe some weight come back on. When I last saw the doctor at 6 months I hadn't lost any weight since my 2 month follow up...Now I worry that he will be very mad at me, and I just don't want to disappoint him again. How do I go about explaining things to him about what has been happening for the last month. Up until I got the blisters I was doing so good getting the weight off again and proud of myself, now I am so disappointed in myself....am I just worried because I was bad for a little while? Or that he will think that I don't really care at all. I might have not been losing pounds but I have been losing inches....I just don't know what to do and all that is stressing me out too... 
