I'm glad you found a solution. I don't believe in one size fits all for weight control. As you implied, sometimes the body fights going below a certain point no matter how much you diet and/or exercise. My only concern with your particular solution is that you could regain weight disproportionately, but you made it clear that you were never even going to get to the point of finding that out without the surgeries.
So congrats and good luck!
Daria 166/under 145/under 145 sugar-free since 2/1/04 low-carb since 2/17/04
