vinesqueen

Oh Megan, thank you so much for posting this! Thank you for being a slow loser, I suppose that sounds wrong, but I don't care. You have always shown such amazing insight and compassion.

As the Turtle Spokes-Model, I have to point out that some of us are model bandsters--following the rules obsessively and still lose next to nothing, certianly not the 1-2 pounds a week. Hell, I'm losing an average of 1 pound a month. But I'm still plugging along. I don't know where or how they determin the inital amount of "excessive weight." We have some people who put on muscle mass to the point where the amount of weight they need to lose changes. They don't need to lose as much weight because they have changed their metabolic rate, as well as their physiologies. This could partially account for the statistic that folks only lose 50-70% of their excess weight. It could also be that many of us start out with higher FFM (fat free mass) than folks who've never had a weight issue, especially if we are active. It takes more muscle to move us around than some 98 pound weakling. Also, this statistic is going to include people who've lost weight but could not deal with the consequences of being thin. Many of us are running for something and find that being fat is a wonderful shield and armor. Or we think it is anyway. I know the last time I lost weight I was freaked out by all the sudden attention of men. Freaked Out.

I lost a huge amount of weight fast on the nutri-system really fast. Of course, I lost my gall bladder too and the weight found me again.

My DH's port is on his sternum, heh, when he was banded there would have been no easy way to access his port if it was on his mid-abdomen. Sternum placements seem to be more common in men, since they don't have that whole bra band issue. Generally speaking of course Also sternum placements seem to be more popular with docs in the EU.

Sue! Welcome back! We've missed you! I know that you've been through the wringer, but we've missed you. Your insights are so valuable, especially since you've had such trouble with your band.

Yay you indeed! I'm so glad you are participaing again here. We've missed your wit, and you wisdom. I have missed you. You have, I believe, again stated the issue perfectly. I think that once we learn to love us, right now, at the size and shape and weight we are right this very second, we are truely happy. Happy now, not some nebulous time in the future. Once we learn to do this, we are free to move on to so many different lessons, free from so much heart ache and pain. It is an extention of "being here now." A concept I must admit that I struggle with. Being still in the moment, being content for now, and all the nows that come after. My mother taught me many thing, mostly by being a bad example. She has spent her entire life waiting, waiting to be thinner, waiting for someone else to do something, waiting for what never will be to take action. I decided that when I was 18 and a fat size 12 that I would love myself, accept my fat self, and not wait to do things when I lost 50 pounds. I was going to live and love and act like I didn't weight 190 pounds. (size 12 and 190 pounds, not fat) By accepting where we are right now, by loving ourselves right now removes so many road blocks to accepting ourselves. Accepting where we are does not mean that we do not give up on creating a healthier us, it simply means that if we are happy with us now, we will be happy with ourselves when we are thinner. It is about not waiting. I know that some people have said that they won't be happy unless they are a size 4 or weight some magic number, even if that number or size isn't realistic. Happiness isn't a destination, it isn't something that we will find in another place. I'm so glad you are back Donali!

I like sweet potatoes with just a sprinkle of cinamon and butter buds.

Oh Paula, I'm so very glad to know that you are hale and hearty! I've been worried about you and your family.

I want that NSV! Me! oooh pick me!

well, if you are currently at 180 lean muscle mass, you would be perfect at 225. This gives you 25% body fat, which is right where you should be as a young woman. Going below 20% could cause disruptions in your hormone levels . 25% of 180 is 45, which is how I arrived at 180. If you want to be in the 170s range, you would need to lose 40 pounds of muscle mass. This would put you at 140 FFM, with 35 pounds of body fat. The scales lie. They lie lie lie.

There area couple different ways it can be measured. I think the most common way now to measure lean body mass (FFM) is through electrial impedence, generally with the scales or a hand-held model. If you are complaining that you cannot lift weights right now, you very likely could have a FFM or fat free mass of 185 pounds. Some of us are Amazons Dragonwillow. I don't think picking a goal size over a goal weight is sad, I think it is more realistic. Just from reading the threads here I know that two women could weight the same, say... 180. The first woman is going to still be very fat because her ideal weight, is 113 with a tiny frame and little lean muscle mass. The second woman is an Amazon with a large frame and FFM of 160 pounds. The second woman is actually at her personal ideal weight because she is well within the 25-35% recommended body fat (women my age).

Here's an interesting height/weight chart page. http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm

What she said.

My goal weight is not the same as what they think I should weigh at my doctors'. According to the 'those" charts, at 5'5" I should weigh about 125-150, but my lean muscle mass right now is 150. Based on my age, my body fat should be between 25 and 35%, so that would put me at about 180 - 195. I'm an Amazon Anywhere between a true 16-12 is good for me.

Yeehaa! excellent work! A kg is about 2.5 pounds

I'm going for another fill on Thursday. I've decided that I need to get agressive with these things. I spoke with one of the fill people at my doctors, and well, they are just as mystified as I am. So, I see the interventional radiologist for another .5ccs which will put me at 2.25 ccs

oh, don't forget that once it gets to the bladder it wants out of there too... I had a really bad kidney stone attack and went to the doctors, wher they told me that I had a simple back ache. I knew what the problem was... I brought them the stone saying something like "well, here's my back ache."

Nykee, honey, you ARE doing it!

Very pretty Chris! Donali, for the box, Chris use the copper foil technique, and it looks like brass came was used for the cupboard door. Copper foil has a super stick side, so it's sort of like copper scotch tape . You use a tool called a "fid" to rub the tape so it gets really stuck to the glass (or what ever you are using in your medium). After this you join the pieces together with soder (sp?) and flux using typically a sodering iron. Chris, how do you prop your pieces together for your 3-dimentional pieces? I discovered that a box of sand works amazing for holding the different bits together. My older sister uses kitty litter, which is easier to find than pure sand. (she doens't have any cats ) I too would love to learn glass blowing, but well, with my history of asthma... well... never borrow trouble.

I've had small amounts of blood in a PB, it was pretty scarey.

I just found this thread, I thought it was talking about potato chips, which I'm not really into. a few years ago, I gave up chocolate for Lent. I'm not Catholic, not even Christian, but I think lent is a good thing to do, so I do it. I gave up chocolate, and the deal was that I couldn't substitute candy or chips or anything else. If I was going to go have a candy bar, I couldn't substitute something else. In the place of chocolate I had nothing. I gained 17 pounds that month. The moral of the story? The Gods want me to have chocolate.

(blush) Gosh, thanks, for thinking about me! I've just been really busy with midterms. I feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew some days. I'm taking 19 credits, including 4 in calculus and 3 in accounting, plus I have a student job for 20 hours a week. One of my classes is only one credits, but it takes up 6 hours every Saturday of in-class time.... I was feeling really, really overwhelmed, so something had to give. And Kids, go to University while you are young, it is infinately easier to pull those all nighters at 20 or even 30. It just plain sux at 40... My dance class is shaping up nicely... and shaping up my nicely too. The teacher is quite good, but a little intimiaded by me, I've been doing this longer than she's been alive, or at least that's what it feels like. I started taking belly dancing classes 25 years ago... The skinny dancers have realize that even though I weigh about 100 pounds more than they do, and I'm stiffer than they are... they still can't move the same way I can. The weirdest thing is that they, as dancers, don't know how to "feel" the music. They all want to count it out... But Middle Eastern music isn't 4/4 or even 3/4... It's pretty funny watching some of the really skinny ones try to move. And I'm mean because I don't want to show them how to be better because they wouldn't listen to me anyway. I do have rock hard abs. Unfortuantely, my abs are wrapped in a Water heater blanket insulation. So, no one knows I actually have abs.. that's it, I have stealth abs! The newest craze! Yeah, that's the ticket! This Friday I have an appointment for a fitness evaluation and they will help me figure out what calories I should be getting. 1200 I wasn't losing, 1000 I did lose, but then I lost my restriction and 1000 is too hard to do on my own. I had my 3rd fill a couple of weeks ago, and this afternoon I'm going to make an appointment for a 4th fill, an additional .5 ccs. that would put me at about 3.2ccs. I haven't weighed myself this week, or even last week, but I don't feel like I've lost anything. Oh, and for my alias. Vinesqueen comes from the network operating system, Banyan Vines. I was testing Windows '98, 3rd party networks, and my network was 16bit Banyan Vines, as opposed to the 32 bit version. (although I was an expert on that NOS as well). Anyway, after testing Vines with Windows '98 in Japanese, Korean, German, Chinese Traditional and Chinese Simplified, and finding good solid bugs in all those various languages, I realized that I knew more about the combination of Win 98 & Vines than anyone on the face of this planet. I could have tested it in Klingon and found bugs. I was, quite litterally, Queen of Banyan Vines. So, that's why I chose Vinesqueen. I love to garden, but its more a geek thing than a plant thing.

I think Buzz Lightyear qualifies under "bigger than your head..."

Excellent work, Nancy! The first time is often the hardest one. Do a search on "excersize" and/or "workout" of various spellings and you will come up with a large number of threads on this subject. I am taking a belly dancing class, sorry, make that "Middle Eastern Dance" class.... Can I get a big eye roll???? I go to school in a very conservative part of the country, where pictures in the sports pages of the top female pole vaulter spawn a flurry of complaints of pornography in the newspaper. "The thing I like the best about my wife was her sense of modesty" was one of the quotes from that fire storm.... But I digress. wow Rory'smom, you are going like gangbusters! Congrats on your amazing fitness!

I haven't weighed myself recently, but I"m not holding my breath. Underbust 41.5 waist 44 hips 47.5 I'm up a couple of inches, but these are the same inches I keep finding and shedding. Sort of like that song, The Cat Came Back the Very Next Day This 3rd fill isn't working