donali

Yeah, being here with DeLarla is like riding in the last car of the rollercoaster with your hands held high over your head! Scary and thrilling and envigorating all at the same time!! lol You just want to keep doing it over and over and over.... :D We <3 DeLarla...

Thanks again, everyone - your messages are so welcome, and really touch my heart. If my sister's cell phone works in Mexico I'll have her get the word out that all went well. Don't freak if you don't hear anything, 'cause you know how cell phone reception can be! I just talked with Dr. Carmen. I should be home Saturday, Sunday at the latest, and I will come here and post in person as soon as I can. See you on the other side of the other side! Love, The Bandless Wonder

We've missed you too, Jennye! Hope things are getting back on track with you, now that your Mom is doing better. *hugs* Sandy and Terry, welcome! And anyone else I might have missed. I love reading everyone's bios, too. I'm just not very good at remembering much of anything...

I thought I was the funniest person on this site. :D waaaaaahhhhh!!!! lol Everyone loves DeLarla the best... It's just not fair.... *sniff*

Welcome back, Francesca!!! Glad all is well with you AND your PC again!

I'm so glad I didn't have to diet BEFORE I got my band!! Drink lots of hot liquids - you can almost convince yourself you ate something... Well, okay, probably not, but it always helped me, at least for a little while. You're almost done!! One day at a time!!! Whoo hoo!!!

Hi Denise!! Welcome.

Hi Sandy, and welcome!! Congrats on your wonderful progress!!

Whhoo hooooo!!! She's BANDED!!!! Welcome back, Darcy! Now the fun begins!!

Roy - Sounds like a great meal to me. Did you feel satisfied afterwards? Are you still feeling hungry? How long will you stay satisfied? You should be able to stay satisfied on a reasonable meal for 3-4 hours - so if you're getting hungry sooner than that, make your doc give you a little more fill. If not, sounds like you're at a good restriction. I have to constantly tell myself that just because I DON'T choose something less nutritious today, doesn't mean I can NEVER choose something less nutritious... If that helps with your mindset at all...

SHELLY!!!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!!! :D

How much are purple-slutty gloves???? lol

Hi Roy - Everyone here has given you great advice - particulary Megan, when she suggests that you stop beating yourself up. If you are indeed eating the way you are because of a lack of restriction, then that problem will be resolved with additional fills. The band is a physical tool, and it is a powerful one. However, it cannot help with the psychological changes we must make to become successful - our whole relationship to food must change. There is no "cheating" - there are more nutritious and less nutritiuos choices. The band is for life (for most of you, anyway!! ), so it doesn't matter if you've gotten a slow start - it is never too late to change your habits. You do NOT have to be perfect. Following the suggestions of eating your Protein first, then veggies, then other stuff as room allows MOST OF THE TIME will get you back on the right track. You do not have to do this perfectly - just MOST of the time. As far as your wife thinking you may be jealous that she's having the bypass, you may indeed by subconsciously jealous. She will be dropping weight quickly and effortlessly. At first. Believe me when I tell you this, though - if your wife does not change her relationship with food, once her body adjusts the malabsorbtion portion of her surgery, her weight will start piling back on. My sister had the RnY, and she has regained almost ALL of her weight. I agree that it will be much easier for you to make healthy choices once your wife is also being mindful of what she can eat. I am certain that you can succeed with this. Congratulations on getting your tool, and for figuring out how you can use it to best suit your needs. Good luck, and keep checking in!!! Support really is a huge part of success.

Hi Sultana - I think if you let it default, it changes by your number of posts. But you can change it yourself by editing your profile. Then you can make it say whatever you want...

ACCCCKKKKK!!!! I was sitting at one of the tables inside the local Major Market in front of the deli counter. I was eating my roasted chicken, when BAM! DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS. I had no idea where the restroom was. A young mother had just sat down at the table next to me with her 5 year old. I sat really still, hoping, praying that it would go down. No go. Finally I grab the paper bag my lunch had come in, and whoosh! Out it comes. I thought I did this very surreptitiously, but when I looked up the Mom and kid were NO WHERE to be seen... lol

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!! Penni, you have the best ideas!! Are you volunteering to be in charge???

You were really hypnotized, and your mind was implanted with the impression that you had a band. Unfortunately, "pizza" is your code word, that lifts the suggestion. (play creepy music in the background - do do doodoo, do do doodoo) Now your mission, if you choose to accept it, is discover the magic code word that reapplies the hypnotic suggestion that you were banded.... This message will self-destruct...

Terry - lol

Thanks, you guys... *sniff* Your support is so wonderful and appreciated. Terry, I'm 17 months out, so I have not been losing gang-busters. I'm happy with my loss, but I get the impression you think I did it in SIX months, not 17... Many thanks for your prayers that I keep the weight off - I know exactly what you mean by addiction, since I have the same problem. I think almost all of us do. The compulsion to eat is almost unbearable at times, even when we KNOW and FEEL that we are already full. There is nothing wrong with looking for inspiration to recommit to our weightloss journeys. This is a lifelong struggle, and we will find inspiration to continue on every where, if we are open to it. Just 40 more hours.... And then I'll have to change my tag line to "Bandless Wonder" instead of "POM lover"...

Yeah, I hate that feeling... lol

lol

Carmen, HUGE HUGE HUGE Victory!!! Whoo hooo!!! pizza is one of my trigger foods as well. One of the empowering things about having "permission" to eat what we like and NOT diet, is that it's not as scary to stop - we know that the next time we're dying to have pizza we can have it. There is no more gotta eat the whole thing NOW so there isn't any left to tempt me tomorrow. Once we really believe that we can have our favorite foods when we REALLY REALLY crave them, their power over us is diminished. It really is very freeing. Lisa, I call them "pizza bones" too! lol The fact that you have been so restricted lately, and then can eat 1.5 pieces of pizza, is a prime example of how your restriction can fluctuate. Please do not freak out over having eaten 1.5 pieces. You do not sound overly full to me. Somedays you'll be tighter than others. And the first PB is almost always a complete surprise - it will be after you think you've got it all down, and then one day you'll be in a hurry and eat too fast, or not chew as well as you should, and suddenly your eyes will get big as saucers and you'll freeze - "deer in the headlights" look all over you. Honest. Carmen, congrats again!!!! :D

Kimber-lilly - Crossing my fingers for you!!! It never occured to me to buy smaller clothes when I first started out. Maybe that's because I already had so many that I'd grown out of still...

The Healthy Choice fudge bars are my very favorite - taste just as good as the real ones!!

lol - Sometimes it's hard to remember that children that young are not making judgments - just observations. In that vein it is good to be able to laugh at ourselves. It is disconcerting to hear such phrases, as we are quickly trained by our horrified parents to NEVER make comments about people's differences, which is a shame, in a way. It kind of becomes the "elephant in the room" that no one talks about, whether it's an obese person, a person with disfiguring scars, someone with a speech impediment, or various other physical handicaps. I love talking about being fat with people - that may sound weird, but I do. I want to educate as many as possible that my affliction is just that - an affliction, a burden, that I have struggled with all my life, and that there are not any simple answers about why it happens or how best to "fix" it. I find most people fascinated to learn what it's really like to be obese, and how I think I got to be this way. At least, they seem fascinated... lol Maybe that's a glaze over their eyes, and not a gleam of interest... Anyway, my whole point in bothering to tell people about this is to help removed the judgment of people who are MO. I know that realistically, it is IMPOSSIBLE for people to NOT notice that I'm MO! I certainly notice that other people are! And that they're too skinny, or have no boobs, or their boobs are really big, etc., etc. Noticing is not the problem (IMO), it's the judgment that then seems to follow the noticing. So it is refreshing to hear children who have not yet been taught to judge make observational comments. And I am always surprised at how vulnerable I feel when I hear them... A thin friend of mine told me that when her son was young, he was obsessed with fat people. He wanted to BE fat!!! I loved that story. Teresa, it sounds like you handled the situation with grace and wisdom. Kudos, girl!