Daisalana

Yeah, I use photoshop to shrink them down. You put in the size you want when you open a new document (and I can put 4x6 for example), paste the picture in there and resize to fit. Voila! You can even do it on paintshop (since most people have this).. open it in paintshop, on the top click on "Image"---> Stretch/Skew---> and normally if it's huge from a camera, making it stretch 50x50 works good. Then drag the bottom white part up to the picture so it's not just a picture on a white background. Save as-- And you're done :youcandothis:

ohhh those pics are pretty, how did you get it purple??? Oh my next problem is, how do you figure out what to do DURING the wedding. We've gone to several in the past year, and everyone does something different.. where is like a 'list' of what you can do at the wedding?? Like one of our friends were catholics so they did something about praising Mary, and then flowers to the mothers (i cant find info on this), and then another one they did unity candles, etc.. I'm christian, fiance is not religious, so we're having it in a neutral place with a minister marrying us...how do I know say--i know praising mary or whatever that was, was catholic exclusive, so how do I know if something isn't religion specific. I.e. I think I want to do unity candles, is that something only catholics do? Anyone know a good website that has information on different ceremony things you can do?

Tracy that's a great pic of you and dbf :youcandothis: Onto the wedding, last night we called family and double checked our guest list so we have a good estimate of how many people will be there.. we're at about 150, and I think about 120 will come. (It's really weird that 20 people on that list I've never heard of.. his parent's friends.. I guess this is what weddings are about!!) We called the people we want to be bride's maids and best men, etc.. and formally invited them (none of our good friends live here, so it's a big commitment if they want to come visit in Alabama or not) Not surprisingly, they were all so excited and said they would be there with bells on.. which is a good thing since I'm doing a Christmas theme!!! Lunasa- I'm doing the same thing, I have cutouts of things I liked taped into a notebook so I can reference them.. and I've been making lists and checklists, and all that fun stuff. E-mail your pics to me (I'll PM you my e-mail address). I don't know about a wedding coordinator, I was looking into it, but 1. I don't want to pay someone to do something I feel capable of doing 2. I don't see myself as a Bridezilla type, but if I had another woman (and all the ones I've seen are women), besides my mom putting input onto something I say I may or may not want, I'm likely to go ballistic. So far, so good.. we're going tonight to look at the Annabella, if it's big enough and I like the set up, we're going to put the deposit down.. if it's not, then I'm back to anxiety attacks. Have a great day violets

Hah just had to post, today we officially started making the plans for our wedding, and I'm already stressed out! It's in December, so we're going tomorrow to check out this place I thought might work.. everywhere I wanted (had a previous list), has something wrong with it that I wouldn't want it there (i.e. 2 of them don't allow alcohol). The one we're leaning toward is the only one that doesn't provide anything. They set up the chairs/tables but you have to bring everything else.. and they have a kitchen but it is not for set up, just storage.. so caterers have to come 100% ready. I wanted to elope on 7/7/07 in vegas, come home and do a fancy reception.. fiance said no cause he thinks I want a big wedding, but after all the researching I did today, I'm wishing he'd just let us elope.

Sugar-Free Kool Aid.. if you like kool-aid, you'll love it. Tastes like normal sweetened kool-aid. 5 calories per glass, 0 carb, 0 fat, 0 protein. I love tropical punch and grape.. they have new flavors now in sugar-free but I stick with what I love.

bariatriceating.com is the one that lost my order and didn't offer to do anything to make up for it (I ordered it 2 weeks pre-op so I could test things, they didn't arrive till the day after my surgery--only because I called them 3x's till someone finally said they lost my order). I won't be ordering from them again!! But they did include free samples with the order, haven't tried one of them yet.. one was vanilla cinnamon and I don't like cinnamon, and the other was a Cookies & cream matrix sampler, and it was disgusting.

thats not bad

WAS- I assume from INamed.. came with an Inamed packet that I got the stuff from.. but he had all the sizes ready when I went under, then used the one he decided would be best for me.. In the price breakdown for itemized list of costs, the band was listed for $1,200. The biggest bill I had was by far the hospital at a whopping $10,000. (had to pay all these people directly before hand). No more scams from me, it's all about me and the band :eek:

I'm just glad to hear someone say they did this.. I posted right after being banded, I just wanted to feel food in my mouth! I was so desperate, I put a crust from fiance's pizza in my mouth and just sucked and bit into it (like a baby's teething ring). Didn't swallow anything, but it made me feel better.. then I thought I was a complete freak!!

Just some info on my weird day. We've officially started planning the wedding. I had been collecting ideas since we decided Dec. this year (we decided Dec. of last year). I've narrowed the place down to 1 really, I called around a few places I was thinking about, and I only really liked the answers of one -- Annabella Weddings-Photos5 It's called Annabella.. it's up toward the mountains.. I originally wanted it ON the mountain, but everything for weddings is outdoor, and outdoor on a mountain top in December is just asking for something to go wrong. Annabella has a nice indoor area, for wedding (it says 'and/or' reception). I want the wedding AND reception there, but after wedding, where would people go in between time while they set up? I'm going to tour the place tomorrow night to get more information, if it all checks out, enough room, etc.. that's where we're going to book it. Then I realized there's sooo much to get together.. some places in TN offer like everything in a package.. Annabella only includes the place, chairs, and tables and they set that stuff up.. but I have to get my own caterer, cakes, flowers, minister, etc.. We don't go to church so I don't have a minister, so that's a big issue for us right now. I sent e-mails to a DJ company, cake company, flower company and caterer this morning to get more info.. DJ company and flower company only ones that got back saying to call someone else for info...this is going to be a big headache, day 1 of thinking about it and I'm already stressed! :eek: We started compiling the guest list too.. I didn't think we'd have that many, but just between he and I and our work friends, we came up with 80 names.. that's not including my parent's friends or his family's friends..

I'm with Bubbles.. I drink the IDS New Whey protein test tubes.. 42g in a bullet, so I drink half in the morning, and half at night if I didn't get all the protein I needed throughout the day (from meat or whatever). I don't do protein shakes since I got the new whey stuff. I can do 1/2 test tube in 2 gulps now, so I just take my 2 gulps, chase it with water and I'm done. Glad you brought that up, I need to re-order.. all I have left are the 25g test tubes, and getting a whole one down (of the blue flavor, which I do NOT like), is rough. Had to hold my nose, made me gag.

I got the sugar-free kool aid yesterday.. it's been a long time since I had anything but water! Mmmmmmmm me likey.

Hm.. well, I was avoiding myplate, afraid to see the total.. but I just put in everything I ate yesterday and I actually could have eaten 20 more calories.. so I had 1180 calories total yesterday.. Whew, I don't absolutely hate myself anymore!

I would have been banded sooner if I had known about Lap-Band. I had been looking into GB since I was 18.. It seemed too drastic so I did my yo-yo diets until this past December when I said enough was enough..so got back into the GB swing, and while doing research I found Lap-band.. read a lot of info on the forums here and knew this was for me! So here I am Wish I'd seen ads for Lap-band earlier though!

Sorry for all your bad news Pam On our way home from my parent's yesterday we pass a cemetary and I saw 2 young guys putting flowers on a grave and I had a teary-eyed moment.. must have been their mom So I briefly said something about it last night before bed, but I ate so much and so much BAD stuff yesterday. I don't know how it all got in there, I don't feel like it's backed up, but how would it not be stretching out the pouch?? I ate about 3c of food in one sitting.. I ate half of a bratwurst in a hot dog bun, and that's the only thing that gave me problems, and I ate that first.. I had to do small small bites. And then I was going to try my dad's burgers, but one bite and I wasn't hungry anymore.. so I had some chips and dip, and then I was able to eat (this is not an NSV moment.. I forget the acronym) 2 pieces of cake!!! I was trying to resist, but both my g'mas make their cakes from scratch and.. someone brought cupcakes, and I was able to say NO to cupcakes.. someone brought brownies, and I said NO to brownies.. and then the cakes came out.. and I thought, I'll just try each of them.. took a normal slice of one (someone else cut the pieces), and a tiny slice of the other (i cut that one)..But while I'm eating them, I never got the 'full' feeling.. ugh. So sad.. woke up this morning, bleeding heavy from period, so I'm hoping that's the source of my weak moment. I did do extra time on my Gazelle last night trying to work off some of those calories I packed in... but I know I still went way overboard. I can't wait till June 6th..

My MD priced the actual band from Inamed at $1,200. Now if I could get that sucker in there myself, it'd be a bargain! I've tried all the diet tricks, pills, etc. Yellow Jackets, though not intended for weightloss necessarily worked the best for me (out of the 'diet pills).. it was like legal speed (I imagine! Never done 'real' speed.) It made me wired and crazy and on the go-go-go.. and I never got hungry. I only stopped taking them because I lost my last bottle, and its $80 for a big bottle and didn't want to fork out more money.. actually it technically didn't make me lose weight, it just made me feel healthier.. As for Atkins, I will swear by the weight loss on it. I never incorporated carbs back in (which you're suppose to gradually do). I stayed on the first 2-week diet for 7 months.. absolutely 0 carbs. And the weight fell off like crazy.. was a miracle for me! But of course, it did not stay off, and in fact I wonder if there's way for body to build an intolerance on how to process carbs, because when I fell off the band wagon, I just went back to old habits, and gained it all back plus about 50% more.

Just checking in to say today I was bad bad. I'm trying not to dwell on it, and just move forward.. but I'm sad that I was ABLE to be bad bad.. I need a damn fill NOW! :help:

hah that's funny.

Oh crap, one thing I wanted to find out about, I thought this would hurt you when eating, not help.. the lady said 20m before eating your meal, take a shot of orange juice, because it will raise your blood sugar, which curbs hunger when you eat.. is that true? I thought it would make you hungrier??

Pre-band I ate steak-out salads for lunch quite often.. lettuce, ham, cheese, tomatos, onions, and vinegarette. Post-band, I've tried eating a lettuce salad with vinegarette, and it was too tedious to eat.. had to chew one piece of lettuce for a full 2 minutes, and it still kind of hurt going down. So I've opted out of salads for now. Fruit salads are still good though (but mixed with OJ instead of any form of whip cream).

Oh and to compare, if you are self-pay for RNY Gastric Bypass with my doctor the total is $18,000.

When insurance is paying, doctors/hospitals/everyone in the world likes to jack up the price. I was self-pay for exactly $15,081. I had to prepay everyone.. anesthesiest, doctor, hospital. They said there would be no out of pocket expenses other then this. I do have insurance, so they have it on file (it covered an x-ray and psychological evaluation), but my insurance won't cover anything for obesity treatment. About a week ago I received a bill from the anesthesia place for $1,500! I called to see what they are trying to charge me for, the prepay amount to them was $500. The lady had me on hold a while, but finally came back and said to disregard the bill and sent me a new statement saying I owe $0. My guess is they saw my insurance card and thought they'd take it for a ride.

Eating way too fast has been a problem of mine also, and since you're both pre-band I'm glad to tell you guys, the band has helped!! I was so scared to initially coming off of the liquid diets, but once I got into the swing of things, old habits die hard. The first time I ate 'normal' aka 'too quick', it got stuck, I PB'd and learned my lesson.. but not well enough.. have done it 2 more times since.. So it's like corrective behavior for me.. (and my PB's are violent thank god, so there's no heaving and jerking or pain, it just refuses to go down so it comes up). The feeling does make me panic each time though, so once I end up eating too fast, I PB, and slow it down!! In fact, 2/3 times I just stop eating. Woohoo!

What about mixing your own vinagerette? And, I have bought the 'light' version of pre-made vinagerettes (the one with the fruity flavors.. like red wine, raspberry, etc.) and they don't taste any different, they're quite good. As for other diet salad dressings, I can't compare because I've never been a solid dressing eater.

Well I googled it, maybe it's not too bad. http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c21T1.html 10 chips is (23g) is 115 calories, 16g of carbs, 1g of sugar. And the picture of the veggie pics, look like small round pieces of taro.. the potato chips are about half the size of my hand.