kyethra

Hi all. Well I haven't weighed myself latley, will probably do so tomorrow. I also haven't been keeping track of calories the past few days because I wanted to focus more on eating and getting food and stuff in me and just resting and healing. But I am starting to feel better! I don't think that counts as a NSV since it isn't really related to weight loss directly, but I'm sure happy about it. A couple of days ago I had some chopped beef brisquet for dinner. It was yummy. Then when DH was eyeing my left overs (I always have plenty these days) I told him not to touch them cause that was going to be dinner for the next day. So he started mumbling about how he needs to start ordering more so he will have left overs too. The past couple of days I've been on a cold cereal kick for some reason. It just sounded really good. So I ate some cap n crunch. Then I remembered I had some healthier stuff like grape nuts and kashi. And cold cereal goes down well! I can eat a whole bowl of that stuff. I was surprised because once I wasn't even full after eating a bowl. Shocked is more like it. So I was thinking to myself that maybe I was starting to lose some of my restriction since it seemed like I was eating more of stuff. Then today for lunch I decided to have a burger- a fastfood one since DH picked one up (he worked from home yesterday so he gets to be a bum today I guess). I got a angus burger for burger king, with cheese, but no mayo. Took the top bun off because all that bread is just too filling. So I ate half the burger (no fries- I don't have room for fries!) and then massive PB, evil golfball feeling. Even half a burger with just half a bun was too much I guess. So I suppose my restriction is still pretty good. Cold cereal and stuff like that just slide on down apparently! So I guess I should stick to my oatmeal-- that stuff is sticky. Eitherway right now I am not that concerned about gaining a few pounds. I know that sounds strange and I don't want to gain weight in general, but I feel that I need to focus on just healing now and getting better and making sure I eat. (sometimes its easier to not eat esp if I wait too long and then I feel nauseated and won't want too, etc) Then once I feel stronger and so forth I get back in the saddle, so to speak and refocus on the specifics of the foods and calories. I'd just been feeling so very tired rundown sick plus I feel like I've had great weight loss so right now the numbers aren't my focus. I am sorting through some old clothes I have though- keep, give away, throw out. The keep clothes I am then going to sort by size so when I do go down a size I can just go to the right pile instead of having to sort through all of them. My size 22 jeans are just too big on me! I can take them off without unfastening them! That is a good NSV I think. I hope everyone else is doing well! Keep up the good work!

I was misdiagnosed as having apnea before (I don't have it). What I understand is that even if you still are stuck with the machine you might be able to have a lower pressure after weight loss. You can ask your doc about an autopap- that will adjust the pressure based on how you breath and typically also results in lower pressure than traditional CPAP.

mention the joint problems! If you need to see doc for those, then do that. Lower body joint issues and back problems are related to weight. Doctors have certainly told me enough times to lose weight for my fibro and my occasional lower back problems. Also, some people might wear weights when they go in the future to be weighed (a few rolls of quarters in the bra, a weight in the pocket of cargo pants, etc). Not that you should do this, I'm just saying, I've heard of this... Plus the menstrual stuff might be. Hypertension is definitely a comorbidity. Its one of mine. I also have reflux that I will always have, but it is worsened by weight. And I do think they look at family history and everything really. I was asked about that. So I explained that before my dad had cancer he was over 300 pounds and loved dairy queen (one of my earliest memories is eating ice cream with him in the middle of the night. I love dairy queen too). And that my mother was morbidly obese but when I was on college she lost 120 pounds with weight watchers and kept it off. I tried weight watchers and it drove me crazy, etc. She is hungry all the time, sort of obcessed with food I think. She says you get used to always being hungry. I don't think I can live like that-- I think that would just drive me crazy since I've tried so many diets that were like that and those didn't work because I was hungry. For me this was a big point of concern, as was future health. Everyone listened.

I actually gained a couple of pounds in the first few days post op due to swelling. At first this surprised seeing as clear liquids wasn't many calories... Once the swelling went down the scale sort of jumped. Two months out I'm down about fifty pounds. Once the scale started to move it really moved-- so don't be discouraged. Just focus on healing and walk when you can and watch the sodium and get in tons of protein. Then after you are all healed if you still aren't losing you can see if you are adequately restricted and so forth.

http://www.indigoworld.com.au/weightlosstips1-eng.htm#BodyType Another version of weight loss for your body type sort of thing. Only this one seemed different to me from most of the ones I usually see (where they give you three body types only). The quiz I find sketchy though. But I thought it was interesting, taken with a large grain of salt, naturally. Probably because I am a type D and I was a vegetarian for nine years and I sure do love my dairy. I actually digest dairy better than other things (like I respond to lactose better than fructose or something). But according to this, I need to eat more veggies, something I already suspected

I tend to fall asleep on my back and wake up on my side. I use an autopap because a medication I am on decreases my breathing, so I have to use it if I take that (its a very strong hypnotic). I can't sleep on my stomach with it though. but I was sleeping on my tummy without the autopap a week after the surgery. You might want to take your CPAP to the hospital with you. I heard that they put apnea patients on one of theirs sometimes.

darvocet is also ok to take. You can take opoids with tylenol.

Congrats! Good luck with the thesis. I actually like to write certain papers, depending on the subject matter. So far all my grad school papers have been on Peter Pan.

I got a bikini wax once and loved it. It was so clean. I'll try brazillian at some point. I was actually thinking earlier that I need another bikini wax. I wax my legs and under arms myself. I get the wax strips from nair where you don't even have to heat them up, just rub them between hands. I use them while I am watching tv. I love wax. I'll admit that ripping up those little hairs by their roots is very satisfying. And to me it hurts a lot less than a nick from a razor, plus I get a lot less ingrown hairs that way. Any areas I may I have missed I go over with depilatory creme in a couple of days before I hop in the shower. I won't wax my own bikini area though. Legs and arms, and even eyebrow maintenence, no problem. But I do not do that and I shouldn't. That needs to be done professionally. I also get much nicer underarms from waxing. My eyebrows aren't thick so I don't do much. I neated them with wax and go to a pro about once a year for that. For hands: I put on some hand loiton when I got to bed and then I put on some cotton gloves. I find this helps me get softer skin. The moisturizing gloves they sold for this purpose were always too small for me (I have man sized hands) so I bought cotton inspection gloves. For my face: I like my microderm abrasion once or twice a week. I also use a toner and loition and suncreen for face. Then, at night, I use 5% benzoyl peroxide. Helps with acne (I get the bumps under the skin otherwise). But with that I do have to be careful about my face and bleaching stuff. For hair: I condition before I shampoo. I have very thick hair thats wavy (not curly but has wave) and I also dye it and its long so it tends to be dry. I read a tip someone to put on some conditioner before the shampoo then deep condition. Well I did that and it helps! Then I deep condition. Then once I get out I use leave in conditioner of course. I also never blow dry my hair or use heat on it. Because its long I want to protect it so that means I have to minimize that sort of damage. I also only wash it 2-3 times a week (maybe 4). I never do anything with it really though so I need to get some baretts, big ones. It can get boring. The best hair tip I have is one that has served me well since I was 18. Stop dictating every little thing to your stylist. Go to the best place you can afford (or maybe even a little better than that). Tell them to make you look nice. Give them any general guidlines you may have-- like more than x number of inches off, I hate banges/a fringe, I want something sexy, etc. Then tell them to use their best judgement. I've gotten some really great haircuts by doing this. If my stylist thinks I need lots of layers then she's right because whatever she does always looks so much better than anything I would come up with-- she has been dealing with hair professional for years. I, on the other hand, know nothing about hair. Pedicures I am absolutely incapable of doing on my own. I lack the fine motor skills. SO I go two, maybe up to four times a year. I use a pumice stone and loition at home. Manicures I'm mostly helpless on as well. I can file my nails (but sometimes I forget to keep up with it and they get horrid looking and catch on stuff and start to break...). I leave my cuticles alone. I can't stay in the lines when (or in the nailbed) I use nail polish so I tend to use colors that are easy for me to paint on or ones that clean off easily with a pointy q tip. Or I use clear polish. The whole basecoat and topcoat and all that stuff is really beyond me. Oh I do have a dip cleaner for my rings so I can keep them looking pretty. Makeup: I am fascinated by it. Not that I wear it usually. But still... Did you know they make eyeliner in more colors than just black? I just learned that last week. They make it in all sorts of colors apparently. Who wouldn've thought... That doesn't mean i can draw a straight line and put it on neatly, but still its a nice idea. For general makeup I like almay since they are hypoallergenic and back before zyrtec some makeup would give me a bad reaction. I also adore their long lasting lipstick and the fact that they have lipstick and lipliner and lipgloss in colors that coordinate. Apparently one does use all three at once. They also have coordinating eye color makup stuff, its like makeup for dummies, except they don't have anything for my eye color (I have grey eyes). For mascara I love diorshow. I got hooked on that stuff after getting sample. I have some powders by origins that I like. Origins in my favorite skin care brand and I just love some of their stuff-- I've been using them for years. And while now other places are starting knock off some of their stuff for what are sometimes cheaper prices that quality is less enough thats its worth it to me to just buy the origins. Foundation is something I need help with. I usually just buy the palest shade and hope its pale enough (it isn't always. Cover girl doesn't go pale enough for example-- their palest is too dark for me) and so forth. I think I need to maybe start using an expensiver brand of stuff. I hear good things about bare escentials for eyes and stuff too. I also use dior or lancome eyebrow pencil-- my eyebrows get bleached so the color is off (for the acne treatment). Don't be embarrassed to go somewhere. They have had someone hairier, fatter, more whateverer before. And even if they haven't, then you are good experience for them. They are professionals. I figured if I was the first 285 pound women they had worked on then they sure were leading sheltered lives. Sometimes I like massages too. But I'm cheap-- its one of those perpetual student things. I can pamper myself. Some things, like hair and other services I shoudl spend money on. Other things I need to spread out though or find ways to pamper myself a littler more affordably.

I like a lot of things-- I could live without it, but I sure would miss my bath tub. A good shower is nice to have too. But my bathtub is special. Its a sok overflow tub. Its soaking goodness at its best. I put in some bath salts and get in and turn it on and I have bubbles and water and I turn on the jazz and the candles are lit.. Good times. Plus its big enough for two.

Unless my arms become amazing elastic, they are getting lipoed and lifted a few months after I get to goal. The rest will have to wait until after I have a kid. Then I can see where my body is at and what needs to be done (like the boobs).

There are lots of people who are young around here. I got the band about a month before I turned 24. In the two months I've had it I've already lost 50 pounds and the weight is still comming off. I kind of wish it had come off a little slower at first since I lost my gall bladder and that made me really sick and recovery from that has been sort of rough, but other than that, I think its great. I haven't even had a fill yet.

Yes. Of course. I would regret not getting it. And I'm sick in bed because of it! Well, because of the my rapid initial weight loss which causesd an evil gall bladder... As far as sweets go, I adore sweets. Salty Snacks aren't my thing. Give me chocolate! But I have found my hunger levels so much reduced and so forth that I am doing fine with not eating too many. Plus I read a study shortly before I was banded saying people who like sweets do just as well. Obviously there are times when I have to confront head hunger and then I remind myself that if I really want something sweet I can have a couple hundred calories worth tomorrow or the day after that.

One thing I am doing, partially to help cut down on landfill waste, is stop using tampons and pads. I ordered a keeper online. Its a reusable cup. I had never heard of that sort of thing until recently and then after I did someone I know mentioned that she switched to one and liked it and so forth, so I've ordered one. I'm excited about its arrival. Pads are just uncomfortable and can be messy. Tampons there is risk of toxic shock and you have to be careful to have the right absorbancy, etc (I'm always running out of my lights). Plus you have to have more with you when you need to change them, they really are just contributing to garbage, etc. I figure if one rubber or silicone cup lasts a few years thats going to down on waste. If most women did that, imagine the difference it would make! DH and I were talking about putting a windmill in the yard since I'm big on green power but current ones are too big for where we live. So now I'm back to wanting some solar panels. If I were to build a new house or something like that I would get all sorts of stuff in it, like a heat pump. I think those are really cool. I like to plant trees, I'm thinking maybe a maple or a willow would go nicely in the back yard. I unplug chargers, etc. We have a tankless Water heater (its awesome), use the compact flourescents, buy energy efficient appliciances when we do have to replace them, and are always adding more insulation to the house for increased efficiency in heatng. The environment is actually something I think a lot about. If/when I ever get a car (I don't drive currently and would like to wait as hubby recently got a newer car) I would be getting a hybrid or diesel. One thing that upsets me is that they make so many diesels (and those are more fuel efficient, and with biodiesel, friendlier than gasoline cars) that they just don't bring over to north american. I'm sure there is more i can do. I'll get to it when I can- right now though the house is so messy and life is chaotic that is has to settle before i can figure out what strategy is different or better. Course I haven't seen inconveniant truth yet either, but I have the DVD. I did read some of Gore's writiings on environmental stuff years ago in one of my biology classes and I was impressed with the level of scholarship/thought. I heard that all of his stuff wasn't as good, that some of it was even a little out there though. But thats ok. What i did read has stuck with me.

I dunno... My tatoo is the celtic knot for creation and it has an oroboros (if thats spelled right) wrapped around it. I know exactly what it means and why I got it and so forth. I had actually planned on getting that tatoo (that knot) since I was sixteen, but I didn't get around to it until my 23rd birthday. Either it wasn't legal, or it wasn't the right time, or I couldn't afford it, or didn't know where I wanted to put it or something before then. Now I don't plan on thinking of any future tatoos I may get for quite so long, but I do plan on being equally careful about them. What will happen to the colors-- what about the design, the placement, professional issues, changes of heart, saggage, etc. It is something to think about though because it is permanent. There is also the pain issue. I didn't think it was that bad, but I'm twitchy/spasmy sometimes. I have fibromyalgia-- sometimes somethings are worse than others. Having to hold very still- that was hard. A couple of times my calf muscle would just twitch on me and that would move my foot. I felt bad about it-- I didn't know when it would happen so I couldn't inform the artist either. Or I might flinch a little when the tattooing first started- I don't know why-- it honestly wasn't that bad, its just one of those reflexes I guess and like I said my body can be odd (I find it impossible to relax for manicures, exams, etc. Its just the way I am). So those are all good things to know as well.

I don't tend to mine descriptive. I had my gall bladder out a couple of weeks ago. Now I sure had some interesting stuff come up prior to that. I never knew a person could throw up the variety of colors I did in such a short time-- and I did all of that without eating a single thing! Silry, I'm sorry to hear about your fill issues. I wonder if maybe you are losing fill? I get what you mean though... I tend to be an overachiever in certain things where I wish I wasn't, at times. I hope it gets better for you. I'll be thinking of you. Personally, I like long needles. Thats cause I assosciate them with pain relief. One of the treatments for entrapped nerve endings in the abdominal wall is trigger point injections--naturally during the injection itself you want to rip the doctors face off. But twenty minutes later once it has kicked in you want to sing hallelulah!. The last time I was in the ER the blood drawing guy (can't think of name of profession) asked if I was afraid of needles or blood. I said that actually I liked to watch the blood come out of the needle into the tube. He said "that's different".

I can eat bread and tortillas and so forth just fine. But the bread tends to pretty filling. So the past time or two I ate a sandwhich for lunch I just put some mustard on my cheese and roast beef and at them straight. I like bread, but got to get the protein in and some veggies. I can only eat so much... Juli, I'm working on getting my MS in Library and Information Science. I'm taking this summer off. I've been part time the past year, but will be starting full time in August. I couldn't imagine working full time while going to school. I'm looking for an assistanship, but only a 25% one ( 10 hours a week).

ice cream is my most favorite food. Now its also one of those danger foods. So now when I want to eat it I have to be careful. I can only have a little bit at one time because its high calorie. So I have to figure how much I am allowed based on calorie content (200 calories worth). Then I measure out that amount. Then the ice cream gets put away. Then I go eat my ice cream. And then I think, that was good! I have different kinds too. I have plain vanilla. I have low fat. I have sherbert. I have Ben and Jerry's. So depending on my needs I can have the variety that best suits them. And I don't eat it every day. But I used to. And if its not satisfying me then that tells me I need to eat something else like protein.

I know that it can take a while to recover from gall bladder surgery for some people... I lost a bunch of weight really fast, got gall stones, got sick, got my gall bladder out. And all in the past couple of months! Since my gall bladder surgery I have been a little nauaseated off and on. I sort of expected all the nausea to go away. From what I read I'm a bit suspicious of bile reflux. Are there any bandsters with experience with this?

I do think that there are some women who don't bother getting the morning after pill and then they don't want to be pregnant for nine months and then give the baby up, so they abort. But I think those women are probably the minority of abortion users. I think it should be legal. Who is to say until they are in that situation? I know that women would have them anyway even if it were illegal and that that would be dangerous and people would probably die. Even as a married woman I can't say theres no way I would never have one. What if I found out my baby had tay sachs or something like that early on in my pregnancy? Or doctors told me I should abort for a variety of good reasons?

I think a tax on say, foods with trans fats in them, would be quite reasonable looking at all the stuff on them that indicates how bad they are for people's health. So it would make sense that people who eat trans fats are going to develope more cardiac problems than people who don't. And that is certainly going it be expensive. Of course someone who buys more trans fats is going to pay more. Just like someone who buys more cigarets is going to pay more. But right now we don't have people pay taxes on the state of their lungs or things like that-- they get taxed on what they buy. I also think pollution is bad. I recycle- we have our paper bin, our cans, our plastics, our cardboard, things like that. I try to be environmentally friendly-- I don't buy antibacterial soap or flush tampons or excess pills, for example. As mystifying as those sorts of things can be, or even easy to ignore, I think that air quality can be one of those things thats impossible to ignore. When I was a kid my home town had this HUGE debate about leaf burning. It sort of reminds me of the smoking ban issue only I can understand both sides of the issue with the smoking ban in general. What I never understood back then was how so many people would get so passionate, angry even, about their right to burn leaves in their yeards. Nobody would have cared if the smoke stayed in the yards too, but of course it doesn't. So it would become hazy. And then there were people like me who didn't understand why leaf burning didn't become illegal years ago because it certainly seemed like we should be able to breath-- and unlike choosing to enter or not enter an establishment, this was smoke that was everywhere. There was no choice for those of us with asthma. This is different (though people who smoke in doorways of campus buildings and the like really do need to stop doing that. I don't care if they wan't to go light up in their apartments or whever. I'm not telling them not to smoke. I'm just saying, don't get smoke in the air I have to breath). There is common curtesy (which is one of the reasons I don't run after tanned people handing out samples of sunscreen even though I watched my father die of Melanoma and I think they would like to avoid it), but a lot of people aren't curteous. And people do have addictions and problems and other issues. So we legistlate things. I'm not sure that we should. But we do.

its great to see how busy everyone is! I finally finished up the semester. I'm just exhausted. This getting my gall bladder removed has been hard on me. Some days are better than others. I'm just focusing on resting now and trying to be healthy--I'm losing weight at what seems to be a good rate, so I'm not worried about that (Its stopped comming off at the rate where it was worrying me).

I'm going to get a necklace I think. At first I wasn't going to. For a long time, years actually, I had thought of one due to allergies (I'm allergic to most antibiotics). But then recently I figured I wouldn't because I thought you had to fit all the stuff you would want someone to know on them-- my neck would get heavy between the allergies, the band, and another thing or two I should list. But then someone told me that just the most urgent type stuff gets put on it and there is a number they call and they number has all your information including current meds, allergies, freakish medical conditions, not so freakish medical conditions, etc. So now I do plan on getting one.

I have plenty of time to figure out what to get done. I figure I'll try to get preggers or something after I'm done with grad school. I imagine I should be able to do my arms before then (even if I get put on months of bed red that won't be likely to affect my arms-- and I'm not being melodramatic, looking at my family history and stuff I know I will probably find pregnancy highly unpleasant, but i hope not). I figure everything else would wait until a kid comes out anyway. So most of whatever I get done would be a few years down the road (got to lose the weight and get my masters, figure out family planning, do that, lose that weight, etc). But it does help to get an idea money wise, psychologically, knowing what to do, the steps, etc. Its also a nice idea/imagine to have. That sure I may be bummed out about certain things now. Some things I just have to deal with. Others I just have to plan for and finance.

Yes, I hate it when people smoke at doorways. I've seen it before where there is smoker on either side. Like Dragon's guarding the castle. On occasion, I've yelled at them (I couldn't get close enough to talk). I wanted to go to class. To do that I had to get in the building. I didn't want to disturb class with coughing and not breathing and stuff. If we lose tax money because people are smoking less (and therefor buying less cigarets) then I think that is great. I think most people would think that would be great. It would mean less people are going to develope complications from smoking and second hand smoke and medicare and medicaid will be able to spend less on smoking related complications too. I imagine that will help to balance it not. If not, then they would find the tax money elsewhere. No one is ever going to say, "oh gee, how I wish more people were smoking".