live2canoe

Lisa - Honey - By any chance did you just get done reading "The Da Vinci Code"?? Just wondering..... :rolleyes

We hear you lins - not too many turtles join the weight loss challenges, or even keep a ticker for that matter. You seem to meet our criteria of losing less than a pound a week during your first year of being banded. Welcome Aboard the Turtle Train!! Just remember - the turtle won!

Love, Love LOVE the Land's End Custom fit service for jeans. Of course, now I'm going to have to go back and order more, since I've 'under grown' my last pair. Oh Well

I'll bet your husband was VERY proud to have you on his arm.

Candy - I pay for fills, too. And they are NOT cheap, so I hear ya. (and since my doc will only give a .1 cc fill at a time, I'm fairly sure I'm putting his kids through college, or paying for braces or something like that) I like your attitude about making the band work for you. I say - go get that fill! Work that band!

Jenny - Welcome aboard! You'll have to forgive us Yanks, though and convert your kg's to lbs Lots of us have emotional eating issues. You've come to the right place. Good Luck with your band

Megan - Glad your fill is working for you . Just be careful not to lose too fast, or you will lose your membership in our exclusive little group here! Can't wait to see the new two year thread.

You know - on that ride - you don't even have to BUY the picture, they will just e-mail it to you, if you had stuck around and typed in your address on the screen. Darn it! We want to laugh WITH you.

As a founding member of the Slow Losers thread here on LBT, I've been thinking about restriction - or a lack thereof. I would venture a guess that the proud members of the slow losers club have had a hard time acheiving restriction with their band. We've all read about the people who wake up from surgery, perfectly restricted and don't need a fill for months. Or the people who were able to hit their 'sweet spot' after one or two fills. I believe that these lucky people are the rabbits amongst us - and their restriction is what enables to run ahead of us. Most of the slow losers I've heard from haven't really been able to feel very restricted - sometimes it's a lack of money and they can't afford a fill, or they can't get to MX or wherever they get adjustements, sometimes they have very conservative surgeons who only give very small fills or make you wait a long time between fills. I'm here to say after my umpteen fills, I'm still not at my 'sweet spot'. I'm going next week for yet another .1cc drop in the band bucket. How about the rest of you slow losers? Do you agree with my theory that finding proper restiction has been slow and difficult to acheive? Would we all be rabbits if we had gotten real restriction earlier in our journey? Everybody chime in here.

Megan - Old Wise One of the Group! Congrats on your two year bandiversary (and you thought we wouldn't notice!) I'm happy you got your fill. Let us know how that works out for you.

I drink socially. I have wine with dinner a couple of times a week. Before this last fill, I could drink beer slowly. Now, I'm not so sure. I stick with mixed drinks mostly. I try to find low cal mixers for them. My current favorite is flavored rum (there are all types) and diet V8 Splash. Of course if you go out to a bar, they are not going to have that available. Try vodka and cranberry. Good Luck and have fun.

Holy Moly - you've lost more in a few months than I have in over a year. Good job I share a birthday with my only niece (I wish my brothers would hurry up and have some kids) isn't it fun? I love spending time with my family, too. I think we are very lucky. Have a great time and enjoy every minute of it.

Donali - Those are awesome NSV's. I wish I could have my head screwed on as straight as you have yours. I know that didn't come easily for you, either. Wow, wow, wow - I'm so impressed with your attitude and outlook on life and ability and willingness to help others! Thanks!

Here!!! I have a 'small band'. A 9.75 cm band with a 4.00 cc capacity.

Hey Candy - our posts crossed. Your math is right. You are losing an average of .4 pounds a week. I have not kept track of how many members the slow losers have now. We should do a roll call. Smart move not keeping a scale in the house!

Vines - I'll be the Mama - you be our Spokes Model! Let's see 1/4 of a pound is what - 4 ounces? (16 ounces ina pound, right?) You are WAY ahead of me with your super duper 5.8 ounces a week. I like the atomic unit thing - too bad I'm not smart enough to figure all that out. I don't think I'll go for the Stones idea( I have to admit, I've never heard of Sacks!) If I remember right, isn't a stone the equivalent of 16 pounds? If I'm losing 1/4 of a pound, that's only 1/64th of a stone! Too depressing. We have to go use the atomic units, or troy ounces or something like that.

I am the QUEEN of the slow losers! I just went today for my 8th (yes, count them - 8) fill in just over a year. In the past 6 weeks, according to the doctor's scale, I have lost ..... drumrole please......... 1.5 pounds!!!! That's right - .25 lb per week! At this rate, I'll lose just over 10 pounds this YEAR!! WooHoo!!! OK turtles - who's your Mama???

Sarah - .1cc's is all my doctor will give me! Imagine my frustration. I just went today for my umpteenth fill and I'm finally up to 2.9 cc's. It's been a slow, expensive process. Meagan - I'm with Sarah - Go for a small fill. It probably won't kill you, and the placebo effect alone is probably worth it. The Band is a tool - get that baby tuned up so it's running right for you. No sense in having the thing if it's not working right for you.

Yep - It took me a good 5 months and several fills before I felt any restriction at all and started to lose weight. It's been a year, 8 fills, up to 3.0 cc's, and I'm still not quite there yet. My doctor is very conservative about giving fills. I swear I should just book a trip back to MX and have Dr. Kuri top me off! Check out the "Slow Losers" thread on the 'support' section. You are NOT alone! Hang in there - it will happen!

Becky - Did you say the comments you get make you 'a bit angry'? You are a model of restraint my dear lady. I would be friggin' balastic! I hope you told the people at your office (after you had calmed down) that they were terribly out of line. I also hope that if they are ever rude enough to make any type of comment again that you can tell them it is truly none of their business! I really do like the approach of looking at them with a totally shocked expression on your face and saying in a voice filled with disbelief "I BEG your pardon??". Good luck with your boyfriend who apparently speaks before he thinks!

Kim - you'll have to let us know how it goes with your new fill. I'm happy you've decided to use your tool to it's fullest potential. I hope you enter the rabbit realm! That would be great for you and it would help further my theory that we're only turtles because we haven't been able to get to a good degree of restriction yet. TURTLE POWER!

I think that Miss Manners ( if you read her column) would simply look at the offending person with a perplexed look on her face and say "I beg your pardon??" and leave it at that. I like Alexandra's icy glare - and of course poking them in the eye! But I don't think Miss Manners would agree! Good luck at your convention! Let us know if anyone comes back sporting a new patch over their eye (aaarrrgh)

I'm a big fan of the Zicam and the Cold EEze. They both contain zinc as the active ingredient. They work better if you take them at the first sign of getting a cold, but will still help in getting rid of the cold faster and with fewer of the nasty symptoms. I don't think the Cold Eeze lozenges taste too bad.....

Hi Donna - Welcome to LBT. We're all thrilled that you've decided to do something positive for yourself. There are many people on the board who are diabetic, both type I and type II. They post often and report remarkable results with being able to lower the units of insulin they take, reduction in blood sugar and just over all feeling better. Keep reading and keep posting while you go through the process and wait for your surgery date. This board is a wealth of information about what to expect from the surgery, the recovery period and almost anything else you can think of. We're glad you're here!

The girls standing high and proud is definitely an NSV! So is the official retirement of the bigger shirts. Stand Tall - Stand Proud!!