DeLarla

During my last talk with my surgeon about food, calories, dieting, etc., we talked a lot about "the Honeymoon Period." I asked him why it was so easy for the first 9 months, but now everything is so hard. He explained that the Band is just like anything else - when it's new, we are excited and motivated, which is why the weight falls off. But he told me my "honeymoon was over." That's when we have to get down to reality. I think some people are really lucky and they find a way to live the rest of their life in the honeymoon phase, but for me it's a lot harder. I'm sure getting a new port and a fill would be like going on a new honeymoon. But I still have so much restriction in the morning that I wonder if I even need a fill. Next time lightening crashes and the sky opens, I hope the answers fall out.

Dr. Billy told me to buy this book. It's around $30 bucks but I got lucky and paid $6.31 from E-bay, which included postage! So far I'm not extremely impressed since most of the information is stuff we all know (high calorie, dense food is more fattening than lighter choices) and there aren't as many pictures as I anticipated, but I was impressed with certain pictures. For example, there's a picture of a corn muff on the left page. On the right page it shows what you could eat for the same caloric price, which includes an entire pineapple plus an entire melon plus 1/2 kiwi, some grapes and 2 small wheat muffins. I wish there were more pictures of the slabs of butter. A couple pages show how many pats of butter are in certain foods. For example, it shows a small wedge of cheese (about 2 bites) but next to it is about 7 pats of butter. That's where the book gave me at least one meal of success so far. I brought a very small piece of calzone for lunch today. But when I saw the cheese oozing out, all I could think of were all those pats of butter, so I gave the calzone to a co-worker and ate a pile of raw veggies and a yogurt. I was also impressed that I could eat 4 ears of corn instead of medium french fries. So last night Chris asked if I'd like 4 ears of corn, so tonight I'm having a burger and 4 ears of corn... well, maybe just 2 ears. If you want the book, there's tons on e-bay for just a couple bucks.

Great, now I'm horny.

Here, read another trashy book. LARLA

This is going to be the last clothing exchange I'll be able to accomodate due to lack of space, so let's make it a good one! My house is tiny, and my only spare closet is jammed with clothes for the exchange. I need to make room for new inventory because I'm starting a new, fun side-business and need all the space I can find. I'll hold onto the clothes till after the Vegas Bash. If anyone not attending wants to donate clothes to the Bash Exchange, please start mailing them to me. Is anyone bringing clothes for the exchange? Maybe it doesn't sound like a big issue, but ask anyone who came to last year's bash HOW MANY CLOTHES THERE WERE! My guestroom was heaped sky high - the stuff kept multiplying. I had local plus-size gals rummage through the leftovers but still donated 7 huge garbage bags to Opportunity Village, so I need to plan for space. Any comments, suggestions, concerns?

Well, I really will be selling remote control panties, if you can imagine that! But none that have the electrical shock for torture (uh, kinda the opposite.) I guess anyone coming to the Bash will know the rest since I don't have enough closet space to hide everything. Just don't open closet doors if you don't want to know the rest! But honestly, I won't have room for any more clothing exchanges after this year - things are getting a bit cramped.

Kari, sorry I missed the beginning of your journey, but every day gets better. It really, really does.

CWTBB - Can We Take Bubble Baths? IHTFN P.S. Why the HECK didn't someone PM me and tell me I'm missing out on such a fun game? Hoyveh (sp?) with the poodles already!

P.S. Now please pass me the moon.

I call my band, "Buddy." I never leave the house without a friend. I guess the reason I stay so cheerful is because I cry when I need to cry, and I laugh when I need to laugh. Needless to say I either cry or laugh or cry and laugh, or cry while I'm laughing, or laugh while I'm crying EVERY SINGLE DAY! Somewhere in the journey of life I developed a sense of humor. I used to live in gloom and doom and point fingers and blame people for my unhappiness while wishing somebody would show up and make me happy and improve my life. Then one day Abe Lincoln kicked me in the ass. I saw a small quote of his, and now I live by it. "YOU ARE ONLY HAS HAPPY AS YOU MAKE UP YOUR MIND TO BE." Abe Lincoln.

Every doctor has different rules. When I got my band, my head was spinning from all the different opinions of what I should or shouldn't eat the first few weeks after surgery. I put all the suggestions into a blender along with the rules my doctor gave me and the rules from all the other doctors and came out with the following: Week 1: clear liquid, Jello, tea, popsickles, broth, apple/grape/cranberry juice. Week 2: cream soups puree'd in blender, thick juices, nectars, V8, milk, Protein shakes (no bits of food, puree.) Week 3: Mashed potatos, cottage cheese, baby food, liverwurst, refried Beans with hot sauce, anything mushy.00000000000000000 Week 4: Start slow with one real food but chew chew chew, slow, slow. If it goes down okay, add one new food at a time so you know what you can tolerate. Naturally, try the softest things first like fish, chicken, steamed veggies, etc. Easily summarized, one week of clear liquid, one week of thick liquid, one week of mushies, then start trying new foods one at a time.

But if all else fails, I sell lingerie with lots of Queen Sizes to chose from. But let me kind of double-quote the wise Vine, it doesn't get any more intimate than sharing your vagina. Start off in something sheer and sexy, which will end up flung onto the ceiling fan, which is about as much attention as the scars will get once he gets hold of your fun parts.

If you are still looking for an answer, instead of being worried about your scars, he should be worried about that funny looking twig and berries and his hairy back. We all look weird, especially naked. My hubby has a hot butt, but he's got scars and bumps and barnacles. Nobody is perfect so if he's into you, then he's not going to care about scars.

According to my original doctor, NO SNACKING. But then I started seeing a new surgeon, who told me to buy a book called Picture Perfect Weight Loss. I'm not telling you to buy the book, but just to be aware of caloric values. It sucks, I know it does. Even the smallest bite of fudge or a simple cookie can carry more fat than 5 pieces of fruit. If you have to snack, do some price comparisions to see the differences in calories. I haven't finished the whole book, but before I started reading it I'd snack on anything and everything. One thing that popped out in the book is I could either have one corn muffin or an entire pineapple, an entire melon and 2 small wheat rolls. Another picture showed a poppyseed roll as a much, much lighter alternative. Now when I'm hungry, I grab 1/2 poppyseed roll with a smear of Peanut Butter. Maybe that's not a good snack for some, but it beats the hell out of a bowl of ice cream, chips or Cookies in the calorie department!

This is what my whole thread called, "The Honeymoon is Over." Those damn demons are hard to beat, but according to so many people around here, they are beatable! I have gained back 10 full pounds, but then I lost five of those. I'm still up a few pounds, but the Band helps me get back on track. You'll have good days and bad days, but just remember the Band is there to lead you back to good ones. Even though I never made it to my losing 100 pound goal like I originally planned, I'm still glad for my band.

PM me your hospital name and phone. Let me know the minute you know your room number, too. If I didn't have to work, I'd be there in a heartbeat.

Kel, I will try everything and anything. I've got garlic and a crucifix, but I'm not sure where to get bat wings or eye of newt on a Sunday.

One of my scars formed a kiloid. I also have a very old one from childhood that docs injected with cortisone way back then, but I've just learned to live with it. I was told if they perform surgery to remove the kiloid, chances are it will come back worse. I'll be watching this post for ideas.

I have to call them sacrifices though, because you may as well stab a knife through my heart than to take away my ice cream. And it can't be light, sorbet, sugar free. It's gotta be the richest heart damaging kind. So take my spleen, take my liver, don't take my ice cream with a sacrificial ritual!

Damn, too tired to read now, but I take my thyroid med with my SOY protein shake. I'll read tomorrow. Thanks so much for the post. I ran out of soy & got regular 2% this time - maybe I had a premonition?

Jodie, sometimes I come here just to bitch and rant and rave. Any good therapist will tell you to grab a pen and paper and write, write, write. Keep writing, girl. Get all your feelings out, and don't worry about feeling bad. We all felt bad enough to get banded. Your life sounds like mine, with huge road blocks around every corner, so I don't want to tell you to cheer up (not yet, anyway.) Just keep getting your feelings out and soon your head will clear and you'll be ready for this crazy journey.

No, I haven't seen pics of the Carolina coast, and I'm feeling warm n' fuzzy that you remembered how much I'd like to see them (pretend I wrote this after you come back.) I can't wait. I'm all done with my mini vacations till next month, but I'm going to bed tonight imagining how amazing it must be. I adore the beach - any beach.

I just knew ya'll would love this little thing. Everyone loves their Magic Bullets, but this is just a little alternative for those of us with limited cabinet space or that just need a single serving. I'm buying a couple more this weekend in case they stop making them. Blueberry warning - carry whitening gum! I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror after my shake and looked like Violet Beauregard! Has anyone tried putting bran cereal in their shake yet? I'm waiting for your reviews since I really love it.

Lately I've been hearing a lot about new studies liking anxiety to obesity. Cortisol, I think, is the name of the chemical in the body that is responsible for keeping the fat on nervous wrecks. I have a long-term history of severe anxiety disorder. Right now, my anxiety is 100% under control unless outside forces sneak in or if I abuse alcohol or caffeine. For example, I'll be having a perfectly normal day, but my boss could raise his voice and set my anxiety off without warning, and I'll be left with my heart pounding and hands shaking (which is lame considering I couldn't give a rat's ass what my boss thinks since he's clueless.) Even 1 cup of coffee is too much for me, but I still drink caffeine in several forms because I'm a junkie, plain and simple. When I was in my 20s, I was spending more time in Emergency Rooms than at work, so my doctor put me on fulltime disability for 2 years. I couldn't leave the house without having a full-blown anxiety attack. It was awful, because I would try my hardest to mentally fight them off. I had nothing to be anxious about, nothing scared me, I had no fears, no phobias, but the physical attacks were debilitating, and according to experts, were residual breakdowns from an abusive youth. At one point I was taking four 1-ml Xanax a day just to keep from hyperventilating. If you ever took Xanax, four pills could knock out an elephant for a week. Today, I only take about 1/2 a month around PMS time, or I keep one with me for emergencies. I noticed "Corti-Slim" is a new OTC diet drug that addresses this problem. I haven't bought diet pills since Phen-Fen, so I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about this new discovery, or if Corti-Slim is any different than any other speed pill, like Dexatrim, for example. Normal diet pills give me major insomnia, but I took both doses of the Corti-Slim yesterday and slept like a baby. Any and all info/comments/warnings/suggestions appreciated. Alex, Donali?

P.S. Corti-Slim is the only diet pill I've taken that doesn't make me nervous or jittery. I've been taking diet pills since I was a teenager, anything from street speed (Black Beauties, Whites) to Dexatrim to prescription meds to PhenFen. They all made me insane. Corti-Slim doesn't have that affect. I'm sure the dangers of this new miracle pill will start to unfold in court cases across the country, but I'm calm for a change... imagine that?