Frustrated

Well howdy neighbor! I live in Frisco as well. We've been here for 2 years now and love it. It's a fast growing area though. We went away for 3 weeks over the Christmas period and when we got back there was a brand new building on the corner of the street.

I haven't got one yet, but my nutritionist told me that some doctor's will issue them to allow you to order of children's and senior menus. I'm definitely asking my doc for one. But not all restaurants are obliged to accept them.

Aunt Flo sure clocks up the frequent flyer points! She's due for a visit here any day now, which is good I guess. It'll put me mid-cycle come surgery day. My ovaries ache today (thanks for that PCOS ). That's usually a sign for me that menstrual cyclone is about to hit. Warning: If I suddenly start making threats of bodily harm and in the next breath offer peace offerings of chocolate covered pain killers, pay not attention to me.

Hey Felicia I didn't realise you were so pretty. You have more courage than me, I HATE having my photo taken because of my size. I just don't feel attractive at all, so avoid cameras like the plague. Good luck for your surgery on Wed, and to everyone else going in this week also.

I'm not telling anyone anything. There are a couple of people who know I'm having the surgery, a friend in Kansas City who has the gastric bypass last year and was very encouraging when I told her of my similar decision, and a university friend of my husband whom we spent time with in Montreal over the Christmas period. Nobody else knows, including our respective families, and I have no intention of telling them. Why? Because I don't want to have to explain and justify my decision. I don't want to hear things like "you don't need it", "lose weight the proper way", "there are better things to spend your money on", etc, etc, etc. I'm done defending my weight and my inability to lose it. I'm done taking two steps forwards and four steps back when it comes to weight loss programs. I'm just done with the whole thing.

I just got back from my pre-testing. EKG, Upper GI, blood (the vampires only needed to suck 3 vials from me) and a metabolism test at my surgeons office. Everything's looking good so far. *fingers crossed* The good news is I don't have to do a pre-diet. It's 5 weeks of liquids and mushies after that. I'm so excited! It's actually happening! I've been battling with my weight for decades, and with the insurance company for the past 6 months. I know it's been a lot longer for many here, but for the very first time I can see the light of hope at the end of the tunnel!

OnMyWay I live in Frisco. PattiC You had a minor setback and broke down for one meal. ONE. That is absolutely not a failure. Just jump back on the bandwagon and start anew again. We all have to remember that we're not perfect and there will be times when we do slip and will "cheat". If we see one indiscretion as a failure, we're not going to win the war. It's just one battle we've lost. We all lost more battles than we won to get to the point we're at now. Now we're bringing in the strong artillery to get us back on the road to victory. So keep that chin up Patti. We're all going to stumble occasionally and nobody will beat us up about it any more than we will ourselves. We're all future losers. Losers of weight! :clap2:

Pretty things! YES! Most of my clothing is worn to disguise or cover problem areas. My undergarments are built to hold things in, not to look pretty. Pretty is good. I remember pretty! (vaguely) As for your url, are you pasting it in the right place? It goes in the larger box in "Edit Signature", not the smaller boxes where "Signature Picture" is.

Welcome to the club Felicia and OnMyWay. :biggrin1: Where in Texas are you OMW? I live in North Dallas and you're right about the heat here, although so far this year we haven't had much of a summer. It's more like monsoon season lol. Mango24: There may be a quicker way to get your ticker in your signature, but this is how I went about it: - Click on the Private Messages link in the top right corner of the screen where it says "Welcome, Mango24. - In the "Control Panel" on the left, click on "Edit Signature". - In the "Edit Signature" section, copy and paste the url they gave you on the ticker site. -Click on "Preview Signature" to see if it's working. -Click on "Save Signature" and you're done.

That's bad news on the weight gain dieka, but the good news is you don't have long to go now until you're banded. My dream piece of clothing? There are so many! lol I think I'd like to get a little black dress and look good in it. Have it drop nicely over my body and not be distorted by any lumps and bumps that shouldn't be there, lol. I also want to be able to wear jeans or a nice skirt and not have the muffin effect happen. You know, where the roll of fat escapes over the waist band and just hangs there.

Gas X? A lot of the post-ops have mentioned the problem of gas.

I was 210lbs when I originally applied. I had to get my weight up to 236lbs. I did it in about 6 weeks. It sounds like dream diet; being able to eat whatever you want, whenever you want. But I'm not really a junk food junkie and at times I felt like I was force-feeding myself. I ate a LOT of chocolate chip Cookies. I'd graze on them throughout the day for the sole purpose of getting fatter and that depressed me. :cry I now weigh 238lbs. Consider that at this time last year I was at 185 and holding. But obviously not very well as it slipped over the next 6 months until my initial weigh in at the surgeon's office earlier this year at 210.

It's a little more challenging if you can't drive... Do you have any friends or family with a girl around the same age so you can all hang out together? Perhaps pamper yourselves with manicures. Go to a department store that shows you how to apply make-up suitable for her age; perhaps just a little lip gloss and a touch of mascara. Go to chick flick. An activity that the men/boys in the home won't be the least bit interested in. :confused:

Oh my! Here I was thinking it was an airforce reference of some sort. D M T Jet. The empty jet. :embarassed:

LOL at gladster's question. How is my closet organised? Into two very different halves! My husband's site is neat and organised. Everything is hung up on the same type of hanger, all the shirts facing the same way, long sleeves in one section, short next, then the pants. Jeans folded in a pile and on a shelf, sweaters next to them, then t-shirts. Shoes on the floor in pairs. My half? If it's clothing, it's up. Mostly. Up is good I think. Shoes, on the floor. Somewhere. It's fun to play "where the heck is my other shoe!" :eek: There are probably a number of abandoned craft projects in there somewhere. But rather than embarrass myself with them, I you discovered you can hide them with shoes and clothing.

Nice question Lynette! :eek: My screen name? :heh: Kind of obvious, but I'll relate the story behind it. I can't recall how I stumbled over the forum, but I reading over it and hadn't yet registered. Looking for information on my impending surgery. All the paperwork had been sent to the insurance co. a couple of weeks earlier. I'd taken a break and went to check the mail. There was a letter from the insurance co. denying me because it was deemed "not medically necessary" I called the number on the letter and was given the number for the person who actually made the decision. I was furious at that time and couldn't believe my luck at being able to talk with the ass who didn't know what the hell he was doing. Apparently I wasn't fat enough. My BMI was 36 and I believed because of my PCOS and insulin resistance, I was on the fast track to diabetes and more if I couldn't stop the pounds from piling on. He said I hadn't had an official diagnosis of diabetes, so I didn't qualify for co-morbidities, plus the fact I was only on one medication for it and they required I be on two. Was he serious? I was astounded!:omg: I asked right out "So I'm not fat enough or ill enough to qualify and I have to WAIT until I am?" He said, "Yes, pretty much." So then I asked him what I needed to do. He pondered for a while and said "Well if your BMI was 40, you would qualify without the need for co-morbidities." *blink* "So I need to get fatter in order to be able to get thinner?" He responded with "Yes, but there's no way you could gain that weight.*chuckle*" I don't know what bugged me more, the fact that all it would take would be to gain more weight, or the fact that this moron thought I couldn't possibly do it. I saw it as a challenge! I hung up the phone, had a good cry, complained to my hubby and got him to calm me down. Then I came online and was feeling "Frustrated" by the whole experience. The rest, as they say, is history.

My surgery isn't scheduled until the afternoon at 1:30pm. The thought of going that long without food AND liquids is daunting. It wouldn't be so bad if I could have a sip of water or something throughout the day. The hospital where I'm have the surgery done called today. It's about a 2 minute drive up the road! YAY! I asked them how long it would be before I could go home after the surgery, she seemed to think not until the next day *boo*hiss* I'm hoping I can skip the overnight stay but won't rush myself out the door too soon. Goodness only knows what impact that may have on my insurance claim! I've run the gauntlet enough with them these past several months that I really DON'T need to go there again anytime soon. *mutter*mutter*grumble*mumble* think positive thoughts.... positive thoughts..... positive thoughts

Congratulations chickb13. Welcome to the club to both you and JDKsbGirl

mmmm sausages!:hungry:

I have a Gazelle but never use it anymore. Lynette has an excellent point though, the swinging arm things could be an issue, so check with your doc before buying it or it could end up being just another hefty paperweight. After you're well on your way to healing though, there probably shouldn't be an issue. *shrug* I didn't like it personally. But if you have joint problems it could be the way to go. My cardio machine of choice is the elliptical. Low impact on my knees (which are an issue at the mo). But the woman who suggested I get one swore it was fantastic, and for her it worked well. At least when she made use of it. Why not check out some reviews on it? Type "Gazelle Reviews" into google or some other search engine and find out what people are saying about it.

I love these questions. They really get my brain working into overdrive. Does my weight embarrass me? Yes. I'm embarrassed when I can't fit into a booth at the restaurant comfortably. I'm embarrassed when my son's peers (they're certainly not friends) taunt him because his mother is fat. But embarrassment isn't the only emotion I suffer from either. I didn't choose my user name for nothing. My weight and my lack of control over it frustrates me. I can't do activities as freely as I'd like. I can't play rough and tumble with my son without fear of crushing him with my weight. I'm angry with it. It's caused me so many health problems. Problems I wouldn't have if I could get it under control! I enjoy exercise and being active, my ever-increasing weight is inhibiting my ability to do so many things I enjoy because I either can't haul my weight around to do them, or I run out of energy just as things are getting good. Oh and please don't get me started on the effect it has on my sex life..... My husband loves me unconditionally. And he's never, EVER made me feel like the extra pounds makes me less attractive. (WARNING: possibly TMI follows) But there is a limit to the positions I can enjoy, to how much I can bend my knees, how long I can keep them in the air, how much energy it takes to last longer than 15 minutes, how awful I feel with this huge tyre constantly around my stomach, how I don't even know any more what it looks like down there ... Doh! I got started, didn't I? Positive things about my weight? I'm not anorexic? __________________

So it seems the question of the day is 'what made you gain weight?'. I'm not quite sure if it was brought on by other health problems or if my weight was the cause of those problems. It could be a combo of both. Up until about 10 years ago I was very active. I didn't have a model figure, but I considered myself fit and athletic. I could predict my periods down to the hour. I never got PMS, I never got cramps, I never got mood swings. Then something changed. I relocated from one country to another. My periods went out of control. They were heavy, painful, had no sense of timing, and my moods changed up and down as a result of all these things. I think. I started gaining weight. The sports and activities I loved were no longer available to me. As the weight continued to increase, so did the health problems. I was diagnosed with PCOS which explained the period dramas. I became insulin resistant, which typically goes hand-in-hand with PCOS. I was told to change my diet and increase my activities to counter. Piece of cake I thought. So I did just that. Only the diet and exercise didn't work. So I started using over-the-counter diet pills in addition. Some small gains, but after a while the pounds started to pile on again. Off to the doctor for some prescription diet supplements. I took Meridia for 6 months and it was wonderful. I lost a total of 50lbs on that. But my insurance would only subsidise it for 6 months, I was probably 20 or 30lbs from my goal weight, so I figured I'd tough it out for the remainder of the weight. I came off the Meridia and my appetite sky rocketted. It was awful. No matter how much I ate or drank, I couldn't satisfy my hunger. I drank gallons of water to try and curb it, but that only made me bloated. And I was still hungry. I tried acupuncture with limited results. I tried Atkins and got some good results but also got a kidney stone to boot. I wouldn't wish that kind of pain on my worst enemy! My favorite diet has been the lemonade diet. I feel fantastic when I'm on it and my appetite somehow disappears and all I need to satiate it is another lemonade concoction. But it's not healthy to stay on it for any length of time. This is probably one of the reasons I'm not overly concerned about a liquid diet pre and post op as I know I can do it. I've recently been having knee joint problems and I believe (as does my orthopedic specialist) that it can be traced directly to my weight problem. I can lose weight, I know I can. I just can't keep it off. No matter what I do to lose the weight, it always finds me again and brings a bunch of its friends along for company. I want, no, I NEED something permanent if I'm going to have any hope of controlling my current health problems and avoid getting any more. Right now I know I have no heart problems. I've done a stress echo for that and it's as healthy as an ox. But I fear that'll be one more area on the hit list for this awful disease that is morbid obesity. It's not about will power, I have truck loads of that. It's not about simply getting up from the table. It''s not about beating yourself up on the treadmill. I can and have done all of those things without success. I need help. And I'm hoping this little device that will fit in the palm of my hand will give me the armor that I need to conquer this disease that is slowly eating away at all my freedoms. *climbs off soap box*

No way are you a wimp Dini. You had a rough time of it and came out the other side still smiling. You, my dear, are an inspiration for those who may not be fortunate enough to have a painless experience. :clap2:

Are you asking for suggestions to increase it or decrease it, and why? You're 15 days out, it's a little late in the game to make drastic alterations now, I would think.

Wow Lynette! That's impressive. :eek: Gives me something to aim for.