DeLarla

Awesome! Here's one that offers too much information, but I have to say it. On a rare and special occasion, my hubby likes me to go without panties. I'm not thrilled, but he thinks it's sexy. There's no way in hell I would go without them before, but now for a cheap thrill I can toss some jeans on and go commando. This goes hand-and-hand with the "more sex" part. My husband wanted sex all the time before I lost weight but I hated it. Now I'm all into it! I even started a whole new business based around sex, so he's finally getting his money's worth out of the marriage!

It took me awhile, but mine are yummy. I bought a $13.88 Hamilton Beach shake maker from Walmart. I use soy milk, 1/2 banana, some frozen berries and some bran cereal. I buy plain old fashioned, "Milk and Egg" protein powder from Walgreens and add a little. If the berries aren't sweet, a pinch of Nutrasweet does the trick.

Uh, does anyone see my point? HI PEA PEA!

So get rid of them, sell them all and buy a raft to float on! It feels so good to be free of all that useless crap because it was just a daily reminder that I wasn't using it. Different story if you actually use the stuff, but all my friends have the same crap, and I've seen the dust bunnies, oh yes I have! My point is to use what Mother Nature gave you! If she gave you motivation to use the gizmos you purchased, that's great. But if they haven't been used in a year, studies show they probably never will.

Babs hit a rough patch this evening & could use some good vibes sent her way. She breezed through her surgeries, although the first hour after waking up was excruciating. But then she had a great day, great staff, great hospital, till she had a bad reaction (hives) to Morphine. They just added a new Morphine bag with added Benedryl. She's taking her sleeping pills n' going nite-nite now, but she did eat real food today. She expects the true test will be tomorrow when they make her get up and walk around. Just think… waking up for the first time in life with no belly roll? Pain or no pain, sounds like Heaven to me. Please pass the hives.

Jack, I have no idea what you just said but I'm busting up over here. I was physically hungry after dinner, so I just ate 1 1/2 Cookies of the very evil Otis Spunkmeyer variety. That's what I consider "normal." If I can go the rest of the night with no food, then I'll just go ahead and weigh 250! Life shouldn't be such a struggle, plain and simple. I'm so thankful for all the encouragement and compliments here. Losing that weight has changed my life. I'm going to start a new thread about things people have accomplished since banding... meet me there, okay? Thanks everyone for the nicest words. Love, the Giant.

With the Upper GI they'll see exactly how the barium flows through the band. If the barium flows "around" the band, then there might be trouble. Cheers to a smooth flow!

If I read this 2 minutes sooner I could have spit out a cookie. I say SPIT!

Mysterious Romance (sorry, that one's too hard to pick one.) Spit or swallow (sorry, had to be done.)

Okay people, this one's either really super offensive and lame, or it's really funny. I can't decide. Check out this link and tell me what you think. http://www.illwillpress.com/fatkins.html

I can't believe it. She's living my dream come true. If anyone deserves this, Missy Babs, you're the gal. Can't WAIT to see you up n' at 'em running away from the guys! Michelle, thanks. I'm burning the candle at both ends and appreciate the update.

It's a piece of cake. Nothing to worry about. They need to know you're ready to accept a lifelong change. This isn't a diet, it's a way of life. If you tell them you refuse to eat slow, or obey band rules, then they won't operate. I don't know anyone that's failed. For example, my surgeon won't operate on alcoholics or drug addicts because people don't have good judgement when they're intoxicated. If you sit in your psyche evaluation and tell the therapist that you expect the Band to do all the work, then that says you are unwilling to accept this enormous change. If you aren't ready to accept a new way of living, then the Band isn't right for you. That's it in a nuthshell.

I come here and just feel better and better. And better and better. Every time I think I should take a break from LBT, ya'll say the most incredible things to me. It's all you gals and your compliments that got me to this point of acceptance. I'm so proud of us. And as soon as I get that science award for my theory of Delarlaism (bits of burrito flew out my nose with that one) then I'll have the resources for research and development of the ability to direct the fat on command.

I still believe and support and praise the band, but now I can let go of this huge sigh of relief knowing all you awesome people feel just as beautiful. I'm sticking with my own theory (still waiting for a science award on this one.) But the world has to weigh a certain amount, so any and all weight we lose gets piled onto other poor unsuspecting skinnies. If I keep losing, my friends have to get fat (sorry, but this theory doesn't allow us to direct the fat only to our enemies.) So, we are saving Earth from spinning off its axis and flying into another galaxy. We are super heros!

Hi Sonnie, something tells me I'll be in the same boat as you within the next year. I know how devastating that will be, but the only way to succeed is to try. You gave it your all, and you'll never be a failure. Would you mind sharing the exact reason the band had to be removed? Was it erosion, slippage? Who was your surgeon? A certain percentage of banded people run into complications, and I'm really sorry it had to be you. Peace n' love. As far as weightloss, my Band Buddie lost her Band last year and is still doing remarkably well on her own. Another one said even though her Band was removed, she still feels a little restriction from time to time. Keep your good habits, don't go back, and things will work out the way Mother Nature intended them to.

There's no way to answer that since we all heal differently. Most people heal pretty quick and are back to normal in a couple weeks. I, on the other hand, had an open wound for 8 months and never healed at all. Most people get their ports fixed and move on, while I had two port removals already. Just plan for the worst but HOPE for the best. I've always had a black cloud, so I'm sure you'll do great.

Why was the old "Liquid Vitamins" post closed? Anyway, just wanted to share a good one. My friend's mom owns an herbal store, so my friend is always pushing weird herbs n' junk at me. I usually don't use them, but she just gave me a bottle of liquid Vitamins that actually tastes really good, like thick mango syrup. It's called Floradix. I keep it in the fridge and add it to my morning shake to sweeten my shake. But I also take it alone sometimes, and it really goes down easy. It's like thick fruit nectar with just a hint of that vitaminy taste. Pretty good stuff. I prefer it over my new chewable Viactive vitamins.

And those furry bellies are darling, too. Nothing like a puppy! And thanks for telling me what a yurt is. Daddy, I want a Yurt. BUY ME A YURT, NOW!

All I can keep saying is WOW WOW WOW. T-girl, you are darling! You look so tiny in that boat, and your new avatar was worth waiting for. Seriously big congrads to you. You're glowing. Hey, pregnancies come in threes, and there are two other Band babies on the way... why are you glowing?? HAHAH, JUST KIDDING.

I was apparently confused the first time around, let's try this again: I need to make a sentence out of IWTBS, which is: Isn't Willy the bigest silly? (You gotta know Willy the bartender to get this one.) Now you make a sentence out of POOPY

Boy oh boy do I know your pain, sister! That happened to me ONCE only when I took a drink too fast from a frozen margarita. But that was pre-band. It's like an esophogeal-brain-freeze thing. Awful. Just sip slowwwwww.

I hate vanilla so I just tried plain soy milk. I hate when people wear vanilla scented stuff, or vanilla scented candles. (Funny, I have no problem when it's baked in cookies though.)

I got some rice milk. It's good - sweet and very light. I prefer the rich, creamy soy milk, but I think I'll alternate between milk, rice milk and soy milk for variety and to be on the safe side. My husband always makes fun of me because I mix everything up, so I'm using up the 2% milk by adding it to my new rice milk. The bottom line is I still LOVE soy milk, which really shocks me.

Thanksgiving. Would you rather live on the Moon, or in the ocean?

Tina, I'm not the one that coordinated hotels so you'll have to click through these pages or wait for someone else to respond. I think several people have reservations at the same place. Next week I'll start a new thread. For now, I have kept "my end" of the itinerary very simple because last year I burned my candle from too many ends and turned into a major stress freak. This year's itinerary is the same as last year: Friday night is dinner at Buca di Beppo. I'll pre-order the menu (I did this last year and everyone loved it.) It came to less than $15.00 per person, but everyone has to pay for their drinks separately. Most people showed up an hour late, but nobody went hungry (there's no way to go hungry at this place.) Saturday everyone showed up at my house around noon, though I was ready much earlier. A few of us went to the market, and the rest of the day we all cooked, laughed, drank, swam, played a few games, had a white elephant exchange, had a clothing exchange. Nothing was organized but we all had a blast. Other than dinner and the actual party, everyone kind of grouped up and did their own thing. Vegas is fabulous, so if you've never been here, don't try to plan in advance because the minute you see the lights you'll get hypnotized and will want to do 100 other things. This year I've asked for volunteers to organize the clothing exchange, White Elephant Exchange, a couple games, new ideas… Nothing major, but just a little structure so nobody misses out. One thing that was so special was almost everybody left with some kind of souvenir to remember the awesome time. Penni passed out "Winner" necklaces and Donali passed out cute German goodies in addition to gifts exchanged in the White Elephant game and clothes from the exchange. It's not my bash, it's YOURS, so wear a funny hat if you have to, but bring anything you want or nothing at all. Once again, I've had differences (okay, fights) with several people that want to avoid the Bash because of it, but I really hope we can put those issues aside. Don't show up for me, show up for you and your friends, and make some new ones. We don't have to be warm and fuzzy, but don't miss out on this over my big mouth. Water under the bridge. Bygones. Party on, Garth!