Colleen (regarding your friend who is considering bariatric surgery): I think many people who are obese have mechanisms in their body that are not firing correctly (thyroid, insulin, allergies, whatever) that simply eating microscopic amounts won't fix. I have a lap-band, and I probably owe about 50 lbs loss (needed to loose 2-3 times that to be at my ideal weight) to it during the first year or two when I kept it so tight that I was barely eating and throwing up daily. As soon as I loosened it enough to only throw up once a week or so, much of it came back (and while I was not eating perfect, I was definitely not existing off fast food, junk food and sugar... tried to get produce and protein in like I do now, just not as successfully). In reality, nothing but avoiding carbs/sugar was going to allow me to lose weight. Right now I'm lower than I've been since probably middle school (and about 10 lbs lighter than when I was barely eating), which to me means that hcg is nearly magic (well, paired with hard work and a lot of lifestyle changes, which she would need to do anyway to be remotely successful w/ surgery). I've been overweight since age 9. If anything about her is similar... she's obese and has been that way for a long time... I would strongly urge her to reconsider bariatric surgery. Gastric bypass patients are infamous for gaining their lost weight back after a couple years because their pouch stretches out as they slowly increase their food volume (plus any health issues as I mentioned before). I hope she realizes that bariatric surgery is NOT the magic bullet that it sounds like.

When you fail, all you can hope for is that it taught you something and that you can help others avoid the same mistake. Exactly like what you do for so many people on these boards! Oh wait, not that you failed lol... I mean sharing your knowledge of what works and what doesn't from what you've learned (in your case, from a lot of data collection since you don't seem to make any mistakes!).

Eating some cashews is hardly a failure! ;)

God is Great with the weight. Ra Ra Ra. (Can you tell I'm an encourager?)

I have had a gastric bypass and was extemely successful.... I lost 170 pounds with it... NEVER gained anthing back. I had every test done to figure out why I was heavy, well tests dont detect an emotional/closet eater!!!! If I would have know about this protocol 7 years ago, I prob would have choosen this. People that generally gain there weight back after surgery havent figured out why they put on the weight in the first place. Same will happen here. Which ever tool you use to help you lose weight you need to figure out what cause it first- medical, emotional, whatever. Not saying surgery is the fix for everyone cause its not. Just want people to realize people dont always fail with it.