Daisalana

I had another.. opposite of NSV. This month I've been tracking my calories, staying between 1,100-1,900. I know I feel restriction. I threw scale away so don't know the weight. Haven't taken my measurements since June 6. So, since I'm anxious, I know I've lost weight, I can feel it.. I took my measurements last night. Not a single inch has changed since June 6. :rain::think :faint: How is this even possible?

Ok my exercise goal for August.. I tried setting one of these goals before, and I fail because let's just admit it--I'm a lazy person. So I'm going to start small. I stopped going to the gym here, I really hated being sweaty at work afterward, and I get off early since I ride with husband to and from work. I could drive my own car, but I have a convertible gas-guzzler from hell, so I avoid driving it as much as possible (damn economy). So here it is. and I know I will stick to it! I was going to say I think I can.. but I'm going to know! YAY! I am going to walk my dog around the neighborhood at least 3x a week. I know, it's small compared to all you ladies busting your butt, but it's a big step for me who still isn't getting up and exercising these days. I plan to do it at night once the heat is gone, cause me and heat don't get along. My dog will thank me for it, and this way I can get her to be worn out at night. Going to go make a ticker for it, 3x a week every week in August.. that will be ...12-15 times this month.. depending on how I look at the calendar. So there. About celebrities admitting (or denying) surgery.. I see people on this forum who don't tell ANYONE, etc.. they are the same way I guess. I don't relate to either group, I told anyone and everyone.. I'm excited, I'm not ashamed, if someone wants more info on it, I want them to know there's someone they can ask! It sucks when I stalled last month and everyone kept asking how it's going, and I have to say 'It's alright'. But this past week I've had a lot of people comment that I look like I'm losing weight. Woohoo. Darn scale.. I really do have an obsession. The only people I felt weird about knowing, was the in-laws. And I am not quite sure why, I guess because I had a boyfriend years ago.. whose mom was easily 500lbs.. but she had made a comment to him that I was a big girl compared to what he normally dates.. and he actually told me that (yeah he was a big jerk)..and so now I have always been paranoid that people I date.. even though they may not care, I don't want people talking behind my back about what a big girl I was.. and then I have the illusion that they didn't know I was big till they found out I had surgery. I know, I'm crazy.

I bought spanx from torrid.com once.. Even the biggest size (3x/4x), I couldn't get up my legs. I found something somewhere else, that is like a girdle for your thighs.. its spandex shorts with lots of spandex-y.. I wear that when I have to wear skirts so I don't chaff my thighs.. I wore them with jeans once, and from the gut holding in, it made my pants fall down constantly. Without getting into the detail, husband and I had our biggest fight in 3 years last night! I was feeling so horrible, I wanted to eat and eat and eat. Luckily, I didn't.. I just smoked half a pack of cigarettes in 30 minutes! Yuck. Paid for that this morning. And my eyes are swollen like crazy. I've been looking down a lot so people don't notice. I was in the bath last night till about 3am. Woke up an hour late for work No one said anything thank god, I didn't feel like coming up with some excuse. It's officially time for smaller jeans. I had this one pair of jeans I loved how they fit.. so I had bought 5 pairs, and I wore them 5 days a week. Well, they officially DO NOT fit. Belts make me break out in a rash, so I can't wear one all day... and these jeans..when I stand up, they slide down.. when I walk, I feel them moving down my butt. I ordered 3 new pair of pants from Alloy (thats where i get them.. they have the long inseams).. Normally, they have 2 brands that are super small (one is the NSV jeans I'm waiting to wear, lost since I moved, so they may fit, I don't know).. and 1 brand that was small but not too small.. So I always wore size 25 (the 5 jeans I have I always wear).. I ordered 1 22 and 2 23. I bought shorts before Vegas, and I got 20-22's that fit fine. Woowoo. I was knocking on size 30's door before the surgery, and now I'm into 20/22's. Still haven't weighed myself, I don't know why I forget when I go to my parent's house. I guess I'll just be surprised on Aug 6. Wedding Reception is saturday.. just finished up the final plans for the cake. It's going to be 3 tier, rounded corners, and round.. pale blue (delphinium) buttercream icing, with white swirly patterns all over.. and some blue baby's breath and white carnations on it (fake flowers). The tier we freeze is buttercream icing and filling, almond pound cake. The middle tier is fresh raspberry filling in almond pound cake with the buttercream icing. Bottom tier is half coconut-cream, half caramel buttercream, almond pound cake with the buttercream icing. Hungry yet? LOL We couldn't decide if we wanted caramel buttercream or strawberry, so the cake lady brought samples of both at 9am the other day, so I tasted it.. and it was so delicious.. and I made a point to take small bites.. despite the fact she brought about 1 cup of cake! Then she's like 'this is yours, eat it!'. I kept nudging husband to eat it for me. I had a couple more bites.. ho hum. Jen- Good luck on prospective new job :scales: Tracy-Your face is looking so skinny! Time to go fill my water bottle up..

I told anyone.. It's not a secret for me, I don't care who knows. During our smoke breaks I like to be able to rant about it sometimes

I know it's too late now.. just noticed this thread, but in the future.. pajamagrams are great google pajamagrams, they deliver it in a nice keepsake hatbox, they have plus sizes, etc. it's like the florist places, but it's.. pajamas!

Lady at my doctor's office never called me back yesterday (such a pet peeve of mine.. if someone says they're calling you back, you trust them, so you don't call them back and bug them, then they don't call you back and you dont' get the info you NEEDED!) So I just called them back.. they said I have to be filled at the hospital under fluero, so they can't do it next week.. I don't know why, so I said, well my apt. is Aug 6, can I get in the hospital that day?? (I am not wasting trips with as far away as it is), and she starts talking about insurance and self-pay and blah blah.. so I asked again, does this mean Aug 6 I go to the hospital? And she said, you come here first. And I said.. ok, so then what? She said if they decide I need another fill, they'll send me to the hospital. So why can't they do that next week??? I'm so confused. I also asked why I have to do fluero again, she said since I had to last time. But the 1st time I didn't have to. Hm. They've really confused me, when they sent me to the hospital last time, it was a spur of the moment decision, they were trying to fill me in the office, didn't work so we went to the hospital. Why is it next week they can't do it, but Aug 6 they can do it last minute? If they didn't have an open appt. to see me next week, she could have just said it instead of making me all kinds of confused.

Hey, I don't check this thread often (I don't ever see anyone local!!) I'm in Huntsville, AL.. I have BCBS of AL, but even though it does cover the surgery now, my policy excludes all obesity treatments.. I was banded 4/16 by Dr. Freeman in Anniston, AL.. He's a great guy.. the hospital he uses though, I wasn't real excited about.. NE Regional Medical Center. I am looking to find a fill doctor closer to me though, so if anyone knows of a doctor closer to me than Anniston, let me know :confused: The ones actually IN Huntsville, will not fill patients banded by other doctors.

LOL!!! I just called my doc, to see if I can move my next fill to next week. Just 1 week earlier, I don't know why I care, but I guess I'm anxious. They were asking me a lot of questions.. how much do you eat? Hm.. dunno, less than my last fill definitely, but more than I think I should be. Then she asked what I weigh now (she pulled my chart).. I said.. (in an emberassed tone) I kind of threw my scale away! And she laughed and said that's fine.. so they're going to call me back. I don't know what the big debate is over there! She said it's too soon for my next fill.. I was last filled July 2nd.. it's been 3 weeks.. shrug.. it's only 1 week earlier than I was planning to go.

I found out the other day I can get an AA in Liberal Arts if I take 3 more classes. 3 specific ones I need. The college is in New Mexico, so I called and they told me I can do distance learning for those classes. Sounds good, right? So I log in today (registration day) and go to sign up.. they're all full! BAH HUM BUG!!!!!!! I've been hitting 'retry' and re-logging in every 15 minutes (that's when it boots you) waiting to see one damn person drop each of these classes. I don't need the AA, but hell if it only costs 600 bucks to get it, it'll look better on my resume, in case CD's and DVD's become obsolete (which is what it feels like we're getting to). I'm at work and I have major upset stomache.. dunno why.. it hurts, I feel like I got diarhea, but my body will not let me go in public, so it's going to be a loooong day. I did quote a big job coming in soon though, for Nokia (or Nikon) I always get those confused, cameras. Oh my poor stomache. Sounds like everyone's doing good.. love the pic of you ladies together, wish 3 of ya'll lived here so we could do that!! When I came into work this morning, my mom and an accountant were outside smoking and my mom said "Someone looks skinny today" and the accountant said "Someone sure does!". I'm wearing my Cirque du Soleil shirt-- which was an NSV I don't know if I mentioned. We saw the Beatles LOVE Cirque while in Vegas (awesome, awesome).. and I refuse to wear men's t-shirts.. I don't like the unflattering-ness of big baggy tees. But of course in most the world 'women tees' are for the anorexic. So in the junior/womens tees, I can only get them if they run 4-5x. They only had up to 2x.. so I got one I liked in 2x, which is like a damn medium in my brain.. for 'when I lose the weight'. It ends up I can wear it! It is fitted, but not bad fitted where I'm stretching it or looks bad. So, I'm wearing that and some black bell bottoms.. and it makes me look skinny. SCORE! Oh god my tummy..

Ohh since you bring up menstruating.. did I mention my doctor did call me in meds and I got them before the wedding? I had been taking them, she didn't tell me I had to stop my b/c.. but I read the meds, and it's something that is suppose to make you more fertile I think!! From reading it, it said like.. if you naturally would have had a miscarriage, this drug keeps you from having a miscarriage, so you could have kids with defects.. (not word for word, but what it said). So I was scared, sounds like a fertility drug. As soon as it stopped my periods.. she gave me 3 months to take.. would keep me from bleeding for 3 months to get me re-regulated.. but after I stopped bleeding I stopped taking it. I am afraid it's going to get me knocked up!! I don't want kids right now. I did keep taking my b/c with it, but it said it was an anti-estrogen I think.. and my b/c is estrogen.. so how the hell does that work..

Tracy I love the rings you picked out!! That's the style I wanted.. diamonds on the band. But the jeweler said a ring in my size (11 at the time), with diamonds on the band would be too out of 'shape' and the diamonds would likely fall out so they couldn't warranty it. I was sad, but thats why I got the wedding ring that goes on both side with diamonds. It's a size 10. They are both too big now.. the 10 was fine, it held the engagement ring from falling off (I had a ring sizer on it before the wedding).. but now.. they're both too big, my engagement ring is always turned backward and the wedding ring slides to the side. I'm afraid to have the wedding ring re-sized, since it's got all the detail.. they have to take diamonds out to resize, so I wonder if the designed gold is going to get messed up too :car: Hopefully I won't go down too many more ring sizes, I have big hands cause I'm tall regardless.. I think 9 would probably be as low as I go from weight loss.. Who knows!

Morning all! Kat- I really enjoyed the stories, and you're right. My biggest problem was timing. I didn't expect the 'or worse' part of the vows the day we got home. It's over now, he took his brother home last night, when he got home, I showed him how nice it is to have our house to ourself I showed him all over the place.. the kitchen table.. the living room couch... ho hum hehe! I started doing myplate again. I dropped off on it since I wasn't restricted and irritated.. but I started 3 days ago, and I put my goal as 1200 calories a day. I'm not hitting that, BUT.. I am staying under 2,000 which still makes me happy. I did 1,400 3 days ago, 1800 2 days ago, 1600 yesterday. Shrug. That's better than the 4000-5000 I was doing pre-band, right? Hopefully this next fill will get me down to 1200. And yes, since my back pain is gone, the lap-band was already 100% worth it. It's funny how irritating people can be about planning wedding stuff. We made it much more casual (the reception on Aug. 4) but still doing food and cake. Well I asked everyone on invitations.. RSVP by yesterday. This morning I had final consult with cake lady to decide how many people. I knew to do at least 10 extra for slack people that come last minute. Well, I had 40 rsvp and made the cake for 60. This morning alone I get 4 more RSVPs'.. and this girl I work with, who is a friend, never RSVP'd, never mentioned to me, but I was surprised she wasn't coming. Instead of confronting her and making her feel weird.. if she wasn't coming, of course that's ok, but I figured she would, so I had to get someone else to question her and find out casually without making her feel weird. So it ends up today she IS coming, she just forgot to RSVP. People. I don't get why it's so hard to RSVP. I always RSVP immediately! If you don't know till last minute, then don't come cause people are TRYING to make a head count. For goodness sake. I know, I rant a lot. After Aug 6 (after reception and next fill) I should be pretty upbeat hah! Also, my kind of aunt (married my uncle and had a kid then divorced all before I was 5) who was best friends with my mom growing up.. well my cousin got married 2 years ago, we went, my mom and her cried talked about how babies growin up, caught up, etc (they don't get to see each other much anymore).. we sent her an invitation and no RSVP, no acknowledgement, etc.. My mom's feelings are hurt, she doesn't understand why she isn't getting back to her. There's a few people I invited that I am shocked they didn't at least respond.. I guess that's the way it goes?

On a new side note, Tracy you DO have a good memory LOL! You commented about how well I'm doing with such a picky eater I am. I don't think I've complained about how picky I am in a long long time. Water and water is all I've had today.. 3:30pm now.. me and DH are goin to get early dinner.. HE IS TAKING HIS BROTHER HOME TODAY! THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! New rule in my house, no one is ever, under any circumstances, allowed to stay at our house, unless I have OK'd it. That's that.

Wow... well, I plan to start having kids in a couple years, so I like to read these threads.. But raynie, you came up with questions that never crossed my mind. I have heard you get an unfill and life is normal till after the baby is born.. I never thought about where the port goes, or 'pushing' too hard, etc... Got my brain going now I'm paranoid LOL!!

It just dawned on me, I'm not LauraJ anymore lol! Tracy- That looks like a lot of fun!! Are you going to do the ceremony on the docks??

<p>Yeah I posted a long post, and just had to follow up with kity LOL.</p> <p>The DAY we got back from las vegas, his brother, who got out of jail the day before, some reason got pawned off on us. I do NOT get it.. so I thought a couple days.. couple days turned into a week.. so this past Saturday my DH was to take him home (2 hours away). Well, his parents called and they were going out of town again (had already left actually) and want us to keep him another week!! I went ballistic on Saturday. I'm furious with her for thinking we want to raise a teenage boy.. a bebe one for that matter. He's not my responsibility, we're not rich, we work hard.. and yet for almost 2 weeks we're having to foot the bill, feed, (and some reason hubbie buying him beer and smokes, which I put my foot down about), etc. So, don't get me started on our 'honeymoon', I have been in a daze about all this with him in town, sex of course hasn't happened since we got back with him in the house. I can't believe my in-laws are doing this to us. I told dh, this will NOT *EVER* happen again in the future. And of course, we've been fighting a lot this past week because with his brother in town, they are playing video games every waking hour he isn't at work, and I am feeling REALLY put out. So there. No busy with honeymoon! I promise I've been trying NOT to vent, but since you brought it up <img src="http://www.LapBandTalk.com/images/smilies/wink.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Wink" smilieid="5" class="inlineimg" /></p>

A little reflection. I have been pretty blah about the band lately, so I was thinking about something I wrote somewhere else.. I wanted to share the blip, because it makes me happy and reinforces my decision to have gotten the band.. and thought maybe all of you would benefit from it Since I slowed down on the weight loss--a month post-op, I've been antsy, doubtful, anxious, disappointed.. and everything in between. I have days where I am excited that 'today its going to kick into gear!' and then the next day when I go 'this isn't working, I hate myself..look at all the money I wasted'. Well.. There is a rainbow through the clouds, no matter how small it may seem, it means the world to me really. I've mentioned blips here and there about this but.. When I was about 20, after gaining back my 70lbs from Atkins I had lost + 30-40 more pounds.. The back pains I had were unlivable. I would literally spend my nights in the bathtub, sobbing and trying to find the courage to cut my legs off with a kitchen knife. I was delirious with pain. I couldn't walk from my car to the grocery store without being blinded by the pain, much less actually walk IN the store. On top of this, some reason every doctor doubted my pain and refused me pain meds. So there I was, slowly trying to kill myself because I couldn't live with the pain. Around this time, I was on a bowling league with my husband and we loved to bowl. Due to the back problems, I had to drop out of the league (very emberassing and sad), and just watch him bowl. This league pooled the money through the year and sends everyone to Vegas for a weekend. Well.. That time had come up. We went to Vegas and due to my back problems, I can't even explain to you how miserable I was. It is even surreal for me to think about now.. this was my 'worst ever' time.. before anyone helped me. I couldn't get through the airport without crying.. without begging for a wheelchair. So we get to Vegas, and we all know how much you are suppose to walk in Vegas.. wasn't going to happen for me!!! I can remember certain times, where I couldn't believe myself.. a 300ft walk to a monorail, was the end of the world. I remember laying on the floor, sobbing and begging my husband to just leave me, because I couldn't move anymore. I remember wondering how I'd ever get back to the room so I could just get in the tub and soak my back. And I just turned 21. I sounded 90 or something! So anyway.. shortly after this, I visited home for the summer (my parents in Alabama.. we were living in New Mexico at this time). My dad who also has back problems, found a pain specialist clinic in town that put you to sleep and did epideral/cortizone injections in the spine. I was ready for anything that promised help!! I did the shots.. they took the edge off the pain, but the crippling pain was still there. I could walk 10 minutes instead of 3-5. I went back 6 months later when I came home for Christmas. This time, since the injections didn't work, they did an epideral in several spots, letting it just drip in. It worked! For a year I only had dull back pains.. sometimes it would flair up for whatever reason, but I was back to living life. That was Christmas 2005. By July of 2006, the pain was slowly but surely coming back full fledge. By this time, we had moved back to Alabama. So I made an appointment to have more injections this year (2007). Right around the same time, I was looking into RNY/Lap-Band because I needed a better solution. All my doctors said if I lost weight it would help.. I had herniated and bulging disks, and scoliosis and my sciatic nerve was pinched, etc.. they said if I lost weight, my spine would essentially 'heal' itself because the pressure would be taken off. Sounded great in theory. But not being able to move much, I was only gaining MORE weight. So in March I had my next injections, with my lap-band surgery planned for April. Sadly, the injections didn't work this time. They did what they did the first time (just the shots). So I was still in pain.. I thought, I'll wait till after lap-band and see what happens before I schedule the epideral part. I don't remember WHEN exactly, but the excruciating pain stopped sometime since April. I really noticed it when we went to Vegas for the wedding. There I was, in record temperatures of 115+..walking up and down the strip, for miles and MILES AND MILES! Up stairs, down stairs.. up the strip, casino to casino, show to show.. we only took Taxis to get to and from our hotel which was off the strip (Rio).. once we got to the strip it was all leg power (AND BACK POWER!). And I tell you, not once did those killer pains hit me. And that's when I had flashbacks of the last time we were there, when I couldn't have done 1/100th of what I was doing. I had usual aches that come with a lot of walking.. my legs cramped and back ached.. but nothing that stopped me from walking, or caused me to even complain to my husband. So in reflection.. I've realized, I've never been able to get to the weight (although it IS high..it's less than what I was), and STAY there. Even if I'm not losing rapidly, but I'm sure as hell NOT GAINING! And since my horrible back pains are gone.. I'm a happy camper!!! If I don't gain, my back pains won't come back. And so, this was a long post, but it was my roundabout way of explaining that this band has given me a better chance with life, even if I'm not becoming a skinny heffer overnight

I had to pay $500 for the 'program fee'. It was a kick in the teeth since it was ALL self-pay for me.. and they are 3 hours away and I've never been to and never would go to the support groups. They're all RNY anyway.. But I digress.. that sucks Sharon

CONGRATS TRACY!!!!!!!! Kinda sucks when it's over, I don't feel special anymore LOL! Kity- Hey! That's not true. I just am frustrated with having to log in everytime. Believe it or not, that irritates me everytime I come by so 3/5 times I just read, don't post. I'm not real proud of myself right now, so nothing to brag about in the band department. I'm feeling more restriction. Sandwhiches and bagels are fighting me more often. I was eating a bagel the other night for my midnight snack (yeah that's good right? Pf..) Every single bite was a struggle and fight to get down, no matter what I did.. so of course, I gave up and only ate 1/4 of it. Yay me. That's what I need, but it's so fickle.. happens 1/3 times. So 2/3 times I can eat the bagle. Boo. Same with sandwhiches.. had a ham and cheese sandwhich for lunch yesterday, only ate 2 bites of it.. even though the day before I could eat one with only mild discomfort, yesterday it was fighting like all hell. 2 bites into it, I was feeling exhausted from trying to chew enough, I just gave up. But then mid-day I can still eat more than I need to. So I went from morning restriction.. to periodic restriction, morning restriction, some late night restriction. Slowly but surely I guess. Next fill is Aug 6, hoping to crank this baby up! Like I said, threw out my scale that one time in a fit of frustration, and forgot to weigh myself at my parents.. so it'll be a surprise to see what I've lost. And.. for the record, if it's no weight loss AGAIN for a whole month.. I'm going to go balistic!!

That's what I heard too---that the hairloss comes with bypass and not banding.. then of course, read here that it's caused by trauma/anesthesia. I'm 3 months out, you've got me paranoid about next month. I lost a lot of hair when I did Atkins, and it never grew back--even though the weight did!! I went to a doctor about it back then and they just said it was 'weird'. Hrmph. 'some' hair grew back, but I still have a spot where I lost a lot of hair, that I strategically fix my hair to hide. I'm hoping not to lose more hair.. maybe I'll get the extensions! This salon nearby the lady said for 900 bucks I can get extensions to make my hair thick and full.. she said it would lost a year.. Hmmmm.. we'll see what happens next month!!

LOL. Hope you figure it out terri! I do have some miscolored spots from the surgery, but it looks like maybe where they had clamps holding my skin open that formed their own discolored scars. And they didn't show up after a fill. The tattoo thing does sound clever, but bubble is right.. it moves!! I haven't lost all that much, and on a daily basis, I feel it's moved. The first fill, doctor found it real quick. 2nd time, they could feel the whole thing, but some reason couldn't get in without a fluero.. which it then went straight in.

The children thing has been established.. I'm a little concerned about excess skin.. not concerned enough that I would have rather stayed fat, but concerned that I may want a tummy tuck one day, which I don't want to do. If mine's not that bad, I'm not gonna worry with it.. Just exercise and water! And of course, letting age help me in this matter.. and genetics (my mom was sexy in a size 0 bikini 2 months after giving birth to her 2nd child-me). She never got saggy.. So genetics working for me in that department. As for regrets, before I did this I read some journals where people freaked out and regretted it for the first month.. this never happened to me, I've yet to 'regret' it. Been 3 months for me, so far smooth sailing. I'm not restricted enough so I doubt myself that this is going to fail, but.. I don't regret it like it's ruining my life or something. Watching people eat around me doesn't bother me one iota. The day I came home from surgery when I was on Clear liquids, my fam that came with me went to a BBQ place. I had a tea while they ate, and for a while they did this guilty look thing. They felt like they were hurting my feelings when they ate. Reality was during healing, I never got hungry.. so I didn't care. Now, if someone is eating something I wouldn't eat now (really fatty/fried/etc) I just get a little disgusted with them eating it.. like my husband, when he eats really bad (and we both did before I was banded), I think.. wow he's a pig. LOL. I never envy it, or feel like I'm missing something. I don't feel the band in the typical sense. If you eat too big of portions or don't chew, etc.. you can feel the pain inside you, but it's not the 'band' you feel, its stuff getting stuck. No advice on diabetes.. And those doctors seem like they have enough experience under their belt. Good luck

awww what a great nsv!

Funny about the dream, were we thin????? I am getting antsy about not having a scale, I know I've got to be losing weight, so I want to see how much.. I want to update my ticker! I think I will weigh myself at my parents this weekend. That will keep me from weighing on a daily basis, I go there once a week and can do it there.. Hmmmm..

Lucky with the rain!! We've been in a horrible drought for months. I heard we got rain while I was in Vegas (much needed, we have new sod trying to root). We've been using sprinklers like crazy, can't wait to see the water bill. It looks like we might get rain today, fingers crossed. Last night, I made a recipe I was reluctant to try. I hate tomato sauces (ie. marinara.. YUCK), and generally most italian foods. But I kept seeing stuffed cabbage recipes, and one recipe says saurkraut, but they all say to cover it in tomato sauce. I was telling husband about it, deciding how I could tweak it without the sauce, and he said to just try it. So I did. Like I said, we went grocery shopping yesterday (and I got stuff to try the stuffed zucchini which I am making tonight, mmmm) so I bought all the stuff, made stuffed cabbage... wilt the leaves, put ground beef onions, rice and seasonings inside, wrap them like eggrolls, seam down in the pan (lined the pan with cabbage leaves), covered it in water and tomato sauce. It was AWESOME. I loved it. I only made 7 because cabbage is hard to tear apart without ripping..sheesh. Husband and his brother ate 2.5 each, I ate 1, and had 1 left over. I put it in the fridge for lunch sometime this week.. So, for something I hate-tomato sauce-I really liked this recipe. Next time I'll likely use another head of cabbage since the outter layers are only good ones for using.. I have 1/3 of the cabbage left but its the inside parts which don't peel apart.. can make a cabbage soup out of it, or boiled cabbage.. which I also love! Today for breakfast, 3/4 of a frappucino (180c, 8g protein if I drank all of it), a banana.. I brought a cobb salad (small one) with blue cheese dressing (which I don't like) for lunch.. it was prepackaged so I didn't get to pick the dressing, figure it will keep me from using too much since I don't like the taste very much. Some reason the chef salad doesn't have boiled egg, I don't get it!! Boiled egg is my favorite part of salads.. I tried bringing in my own boiled egg to add to salads, but it's never the same. I miss the McDonald shaker salads, wish they'd bring them back. For dinner, making the stuffed zucchini with vinagar-ed canned spinach. I couldn't find the sweet italian sausage, only hot and mild. I don't like hot, so going to use the mild. I've been watching Emeril's cooking show lately.. tivo records them, so at night I watch him cook and it gets me pumped lol. So glad to finally have a nice kitchen to cook in. Last night he made a soft shell crab po-boy sandwhich. I was really confused. He fried them whole, put them on the sub with lettuce/tomato, etc.. like you're suppose to eat the shell and everything? yuck..