vinesqueen

It's your name, so I guess you pronouce it any damn way you feel like it. I mean, really, who's going to argue? Okay, my sister-in-law had a teacher tell her that her name was spelled wrong, and that her name wasn't really Laurie. The teacher sent her home in tears.

Orangeblossom Toadfoot Toadfoot???? My Spudboy is Bodo Toadfoot, but DH is Ferdirand Toadfoot. Them, okay, I can see the Toadfoot... Celebriän Lissësúl Oh, and Penni, Emeralds and Aquamarines are beryls.

I didn't throw a single shoe. I threw both of my shoes after kicking the building. Then I stomped around -- like 8 blocks worth of stomping. I got to the freeway and decided I couldn't stomp home, so I stomped the 4 blocks back. Then I pounded on the dashboard... not the most spectacular temper tantrum I've ever had, but ... at least there was no property damage this time. Oh, when I throw a temper tantrum, I do it right. DH handled it like a champ though. He didn't try to "do" anything to calm me down. It was the first temper tantrum he's ever seen me have.

Okay Estella, you've had plenty of recovery time... NOW ITS TIME TO POST PICS! We love ya!

first off, the weight may not just "fall off." You may be one of the slow ones. Just make sure you track your NSVs, they will really help. Second, man, that sux about your port. Sorry I can't offer any specific advice other than never let people dig around in you with a needle. YIKES! Sorry! Flower just had a port revision, you might PM her and find out some specificis.

We don't actually have a dedicated thread specificially for recipies. They are sprinkled throughout the food Forum. do a search, and you will be amazed at what you find

Okay, Maru, have you drawn anything yet? (poke, poke)

<3 Kare Bear, before I had the band, I wasn't sure I would last the year, let alone time to get to goal. Isn't being old better than the alternative? Like death?

I gained about 10 pounds between the time I had my sugeon consult and the surgery. I was on so much steroids just to keep me breathing. Dr. Montgomery just patted my arm and said something like "we we'd better get you patched up right away so you start feeling better." No recriminations about gaining. No scolding. Just sympathy and understanding. The purpose of losing the weight is so that there is room inside to work. The first bit of weight you lose comes off your liver, which is located right next to your stomache. It's not a test of your resolve. It's not a test of character or motivation. They would like you to loose weight, and strongly recommend that you do.

You can play as soon as you don't hurt any more, so basically, you can play as soon as you want to. And considering where the band is physically, uhm, if he's capable of doing anything that could disturb it... uhm, sell tickets? Of course, I believe he would pass out from lack of blood flow, you know given the hydrolics of the mechanics...

Mercedes honey, you will be okay. You won't actually starve in the next week or so.

well, obviously, chew to goo everything. Is absolutely everything getting stuck? If this is the case, you might need a slight unfill. Even a .25CC unfill can make a big difference. What food lube are you using? What foods ae you eating? Do you have trouble with mushy foods too? Cheers!

Hey Pam, I think the actual procedure took about 45 minutes. I stayed overnight in hospital, but days before my procedure I had to be rushed to the ER for asthma. Again. My asthma was litterally killing me. They were talking about putting me on oxygen. Again. DH was banded two years ago, he was the highest BMI NWWLS had ever banded. But then again, at a BMI of 81 ... 600 pounds... He's lost about 200 pounds but still hasn't broken the 400 barrier. But this weekend he spent all weekend re-building a friend's deck out at Long Beach. He is Mr. Energy these days. I think he just needs time where he is before he can go forward. Our insurance covered everything, so I can't give you any information there. Let's see, I haven't lost a huge amount of weight. Not yet. But, I feel better than I have in years. YEARS. If I'm late for the bus I will run for it. Yes, that's right RUN FOR THE BUS. I don't even cary an asthma inhaler with me anymore. I'm not even 5 months out, and you wouldn't even know I had asthma. In Early March I couldn't walk a block without needing to rest, now I'm running for the bus without thinking about it. I bought a new jacket this weekend -- a LARGE, not a XXL jacket. The downside? I see how fast other people are losing and I am frustrated that I'm not losing at the same rate. But I've had two other surgerys they haven't had... female stuff. So, instead of gaining weight on the meds they put me on, I maintained. That is the downside.

Welcome to the Banded Gentry!

Uhm, it shounds like your doc does lots of RNY. We don't "adapt" because we are adjustable. We don't have a time frame. RNY folks do.

Wait, he filled the band WHEN he placed it????? No wonder she had problems! She was already filled! How much did he put in it??? Plenty of folks have restriction right off the bat, and AFIK, there is no way to determine who will have initial restriction and who won't. I sure hope he pulled out all the fill!

Get a pix of you in a group of other people. As a general rule I don't think compairing ourselves against others is a good idea, but it really is important sometimes. This is why I think it is so important to change our self image. Changing the picture in our mind is the only way I can think of to change it. it is insidious and I don't know how to fix it. I only have ideas.

I actually need to reject it because it is a false image. I need to replace that with a positive image. As a general rule, yours is probably good advice but it doesn't work for what I am trying to achieve. If I don't reject it and replace it with a realistic picture and positive picure then how will I ever have a positive self picture? I know where I've been. I know what I've been through, but to go somewhere new, I have to have a destination in mind. For me, that destination looks like a size 14 or so. I have always had a fat woman living in my head. My body dismoryphia has always had me fat, even when I clearly wasn't. The picture of me in my head was/is fat. If I change that picture to one of when I normal, then perhaps it will be easier to get there. If we have never been to a city like, Moscow Russia, and we have never seen pictures of it, how will we know when we get there? There are signs, but we don't read cryillic and we have no translator. How will we know when we get there? We may have read discription of Red Square, but how will we know once we get there? How will we know we are in Moscow and not Prauge? If we have pictures of Moscow, or a tour book we will have a better idea that we have actually reached our destination. We can look at the pictures of Red Square and look at where we are standing and be able to say, "Hey look at me! I'm at my goal!" By changing the picture in my mind I hope to be able to do the same thing.

I walk a lot, plus I dance. I listen to music nearly constantly and when a rockin' song comes on I've been known to get up and dance in my cube at work. The guys I work with think it's pretty funny, but like I care. Dancing is so joyous! Belly dancing is wondeful. Not only does it do great things for your flexibility and balance, but it also does wonders for your self esteem. One of the best things I learned from Belly dancing is the attitude. To be really good, you must be hot shit, and KNOW IT. Even if you don't think you are at first, you learn to fake it, and once you learn to fake it, you learn what it feels like. Once you learn what it feels like, you internalize it and you own it. So Dance, Dance, Dance! (ding!) Once I get back to school I'll be horseback riding again. And hitting the gym...

Some people find they need a snack in the afternoon to make it from 11:30 to 6, which of course, is way past the 3-4 hours of feeling full. I typically have about an ounce of nuts in the afternoon, about 200 calories. but I always make sure I eat them one at a time. not a handful... If you have trouble getting in your calories, then have a snack. If you are hungry, have a snack. But make sure you get your Water in. That helps. Because the band is so individual, i think of them more as "guidlines" as opposed to hard and fast rules. Except the ones like CHEW TO GOO and "don't drink while eating. If you don't follow those two you are just borrowing trouble.

tomorrow is today, so welcome to Bandlandia!

bumping for HeavyLady

oh good, emotional blackmail. You deserve better. The next time he threatens you think about calling his bluff. Or if it isn't a bluff, do you want to be with a man who doesn't value your health? Can you emotionally afford to be with someone that doesn't value your health. First off, this is not 'THE EASY WAY OUT." This is major surgery. This is drastic. This is serious stuff. The Band is hard work. Not magic. Long and hard work ahead. Not only will you be changing the way you eat, but you will be doing a lot of hard work by really examining what got you to almost 400 pounds in the first place. This can be very scary. Many people consider being fat a sin or perhaps worse, a personal failing. If only we were stronger people we wouldn't be so weak. Yeah, I know, it makes no sense. Let me bump a thread for you about this topic. Change is difficult. Difficult for the one changing, but possibly more difficult for those around us who are not, who do not what things to change.

I have to laugh, I actually have a Brown Belt in Judo. DH and I actually had the same judo instructor about 15 years apart... And most of the time, I know that I'm a sex kitten. ... And yes, your post made perfect sense... I suppose for me it is easier to believe the negative than the positive because I heard the negative far more than the positive. Maybe because the wolves were always threatening to eat me, it was just easier to be on my guard, to be safe. If all you hear is negative, then when you hear positive it is foreign and something to be distrusted. I've been working on changing the audio tapes for many years. I've use daily positive afformations for years, and I have indeed seen results. I know there is a lot of literature about doing this but I haven't seen anything about changing the pictures. I figure that I need all the tools in my tool box I can possibly cram. I need all the tools I can learn to use. If I change the way I look at myself, if I change the mental picture I have of me, then I am not locked into the previous picture. Its sort of like when I rejected the picture of girls I was given at school. I have to reject that horrible bathing suit image. I have to accept that I was at one time the perfect size for me. I just have to be able to know what that looks like. I may never change the picture in my mind completely. But when and if I get to a size 14, I will know that I am not the same size as the woman who wears a 26. I will be able to look at the mirror and compare the that image with the image in the photographs. You are right, how do we know when to be satisfied? When is good enough actually good enough? I choose a size 12-14 because I remember how I physically felt. I remember how I could work physically demanding all day, how I could do yard work and dig holes and chop firewood and all the I remember how it felt to be an active person. Sex wasn't better at size 14 than it was at a size 26. Sex is a brain thing. My face is thinner too. I notice that my eyes are a little crepy looking. (I know that isn't spelled right. I mean crepy like crep paper, not serial killer crepy). But my grandfather was married to a beautiful woman who we all thought had been a Showgirl. At 80 Ruthie was still very beautiful, even though she looked "crumply" as my spudboy so eloquently put it. Ruthie was no less beautiful with all her wonderful wrinkles than my Grandma Daisy who at 92 has hardly a wrinkle.

Very sad. I've never thought of the wording for a strange animal obit. I'm useless