WASaBubbleButt

The last thread was deleted on accident. It wasn't intentional. We can easily recreate it if need be.

Thank you! Much appreciated!

Of course, everyone is welcome over here. But one thing we have noticed over time is that often when someone from OH comes over here they bring their drama with them and that doesn't fly over here well at all. The mods don't put up with it and most of all, the members don't put up with it. Many came here to avoid the OH drama and teasing. There is a great deal of support and information here, but no drama. If we disagree we keep it here in R&R, nobody protects Sandy over here, truth is a big factor on LBT. The biggest issue I have noticed is that people are free to disagree around here. If Protein shakes become a topic people are not shit piled for admitting they drink them. Over HERE we recognize that there are no hard and fast rules for bandsters, most here tend to see them as guidelines and if what they are doing is working, they are healthy, they are getting nutrition in, their weight loss is not too fast or too slow... the rules can go screw themselves. People are unique and individual and what works for one isn't going to work for another. That's not how it is on OH. The mere topic of Protein Shakes brings about heated disagreements and verbal fights. Over here we tend to feel differently, we agree with our docs and not an unlicensed nurse that pretends she is something she isn't. There are a lot of differences here vs. there. Some like the belittling and bickering, they tend to stick with OH. Some like the support and camaraderie and they like LBT. It's a personal choice.

I still think it goes back to social skills. A lot of fat folks isolate themselves and they never really learn to get along well with others. If you ask some of the "followers" on OH why they behave as they do a few will tell come right out and tell you that this is the first time they have ever had friends and if they don't go along with the "leaders" they won't have friends anymore. I think they have been picked on for so long that it's almost a "pay-back" to pick on others. It's that cheer leader mentality from high school. You do as you are told, think as you are told, believe as you are told, and you'll be fine. Go against the group and you'll be toast. But the thing those folks just don't understand is that at 40 y/o and 300#, the cheerleader effect is gone, it's just plain not there. They are nothing individually but as a group they believe they have power. The only power they have it to demean fat folks. And OH is supposed to be a support board for fat folks? Hardly. It's a place where the fat social misfits gather and attempt a pack mentality. LBT is so much better in so many ways. All the people that gag when reading OH want to come over here. So it works out quite well. We get the normals and they get the weirdos.

Nope, I rarely get it all from food but I don't really care because I enjoy the protein shakes. It took some time to find the better brands but now that I've found them it's fast and easy.

Most of them you can get in liquid form. No worries there.

I want FOOD! I want garlic alfredo sauce on top of anything! I want pizza, chocolate cake, I want food and I want it NOW! But I can't. I have three freak'en pounds and they MUST be gone by 10/6/07. That will be my 10 month bandaversary. Okay, I don't know how to spell that but you know what I mean. That will mean 102 pounds gone in 10 months. Tummy tuck is scheduled for 12/3/07, that means banding on 12/6/06, -102lbs, and plastic surgery in a year. I MUST do this, it's been my goal from the very beginning. I want food and the only reason I want it is because I can't have it. If I could eat any damn thing I wanted I'd be fine and wouldn't want it. I've been looking at menus on line trying to find something yummy with no calories. It's not happening. I want to meet my goal, stop me from food PLEASE! I'm off to have an ef'fing Protein shake. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!

Take it easy, life changes with good restriction. A little swelling with GOOD restriction can be verrrry bad. But I'm thrilled for you that you have the restriction you want!

I don't believe anyone. If anyone tells me I'm done I don't believe them. My doc was teasing me when I was in Mexico with a friend a week or so ago and he told me I needed to lose another 40 pounds. I totally believed him, I had no clue he was kidding. Now he knows I'm whacko too.

HA! I didn't used to count 1/2 pounds. I always went up to the next highest whole number. NO MORE! I want credit for that half pound. Thank you.

That's fantastic! Congrats!!!

Congrats to you! It's an amazing feeling!!!

I did in the beginning. The more you have to lose the easier it is to lose quickly.

It seems that most people know a person who had WLS and they really only research what their friend/family member had. So they are pro "whatever WLS" their friend had. There are sooooo many misconceptions out there about all procedures. I prefer the band over RNY. I prefer a sleeve over RNY. Those are my preferences, others feel differently. But NONE of the procedures are easy. One strong opinion I do have about RNY and DS is that I don't believe they are forced to learn better eating behaviors like a banded person is. I see so many RNY folks that regain their excess pounds and my personal theory is that an RNY person can lose weight sitting on the couch. They don't absorb calories the way we do. Their dumping doesn't typically last forever. They eat and lose weight. Within 18 months to 5 years their intestinal tissue begins to regrow and they can absorb fat and calories again. Since dumping doesn't usually last forever they go back to fat and sugar again. I don't believe they have typically learned the better eating behaviors that we have. This isn't true across the board of course, and it is just my opinion. I think if I lost my band today I would regain but I don't think I would be my prior size. I have learned much better eating behaviors, my obsession with food is gone, and a good example is if my doc told me I had to go on liquids for a month for some reason it just wouldn't be a big deal for me. I could do it. Not sure I could have done that pre-band. But each person has to do what is right for them. But it is critical that they research and understand everything there is to know about all the procedures otherwise they can't make an informed decision. My best friend was banded in February and there was a lady that had surgery on the same day. She was asking me questions that she should have known the answer. I mean, these were seriously stupid questions for someone having surgery in an hour. She didn't know the basics! I asked her how much she had researched this and she said she didn't, there was no reason to. Others researched it and they had it so it must be okay. OMG! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I asked if she heard the lectures from the doctors the previous day and just 20 minutes prior to our conversation. She said she was daydreaming and no, she didn't really pay attention. Then she called me on day #4 after surgery and said she just ate chewy candy and fried chicken, her stomach hurt. What did the doc do wrong during surgery? Needless to say, I was miffed and I let her know it.

Huh??? Liquids do pass quickly.

Yeah, I have to agree with you. Maybe one contributing reason we ARE fat is because of the self esteem issues. It doesn't go away quickly.

I think most of us don't really know what number we want in the end. We can take a guess but who knows where it will end up?

Remember the "tents" we used to wear? My friends still tease me about my "fashion statements" today. I wear a spandex tank top and jeans but then I wear a D-Backs jersey over it BUT!!! The jersey is unbuttoned! HAHA Hey, used to be you wouldn't catch me dead in a spandex anything! So when people gave me a hard time about the jerseys I thought it was because I looked sloppy so I changed the jerseys to a Ralph Lauren fancy shirt unbuttoned over the spandex tank top. I'll tell you, it's a weird feeling when your bariatric surgeon gives you fashion tips. People keep telling me to dump the unbuttoned shirts (including Dr. Aceves) but I can't bring myself to do that yet. Maybe after the TT.

Photos? People have fat photos??? HA! I don't.

BTW.... I have to thank Jacqui once again. Had it not been for you I would have called hubby at 2AM one morning to see if I was crazy. Honestly, I have no words to express how horrible it would have been to call the psychiatrist who I am separated from at 2AM wanting to know if I was crazy. It would have been really really bad. I would have paid dearly for that one later. Thanks, my dear!

Someone... not sure if it was this thread or another mentioned the aluminum foil trick. For those of us that can't see the difference today vs. yesterday... someone wrote about wrapping the newly thin person in aluminum foil, cutting it up the side, the fat/thin person steps aside and then they can see what they look like by seeing the aluminum foil wrapping. Just wanted to let that person know... I am having such a horrible time with this issue in my life. Tonight I finally called a banded friend and told her I need this. I need to try this. I can keep going if I can see a difference but I'm getting really frustrated being the only person that can only see a 252# person in the mirror. We are going to do this in the next few weeks. Please, cross your fingers and wish me luck, this has to work! Thanks for the person that posted this suggestion!

I am floored at how differently I am treated. Oh, I knew it was an issue before, but I had NO clue how MUCH of a difference there is. It's not just people I know, mostly it is people I don't know. I used to think stores just had really bad customer service. Today I know differently. FAT people have a different type of customer service vs. normal sized people. I didn't realize until recently just how obvious they make it. I went to costco for glasses a year ago and he passed right over me to a thin person. I went for an eye exam again a few days ago and suddenly the fat person was passed over so I could obtain service quickly. I walked out. I didn't make an issue of it in front of the fat person but I damn sure wrote a customer service card and explained why I was dumping my CostCo card. I didn't explain that I used to be the person passed over, I just explained what I saw. CostCo... never again. I shop at Dillards for clothes. I have to say, CS there is great regardless of size. I am color deficient, something rare for women. I can't pick out my own clothes. Regardless of size I go there and look for a salesperson that looks nice and professional. I pick them and ask for help in picking out clothes. I choose the styles, they choose the colors. I STILL make it a point to stop at the customer service dept. and I fill out the card to compliment employee that helped me. I am annoying and difficult because of my color issues. What looks gross to me looks normal to others. They help me choose what I can live with as well as those that see color the normal way. For the most part, YES! There is a HUGE mega difference in CS for fat folks vs. normal size folks and I, for one, will NEVER forget that. I will never forget who treated me like a human as a fat person vs. a normal size person.

My sis works for the City of Denver and she does motivational lectures for those trying to find jobs. She PMed me the other day telling me that she used me as an example of someone motivated and at the end of the story I got a standing ovation. Wish I would'a been there.

My very favorite NSV is when my boobs and stomach were no longer a single entity.

As of two years ago it was illegal for an atheist to run for public office. Not sure if that one ever changed or not.