the best me

Add guacamole to the list. yummy! Egg salad, any bean soup eaten very slowly and chewed well. No-meat chili with Beans (not the canned junk...real vegetarian chili). Enjoy your fork!!

Cool! I have been dong something similar, just waaayy unstructured. I have been tracking meals and snacks with my Food Mover (Richard Simmons) but it's time to tighten up and put it in writing. Thanks for the fresh twist!!! I know just what to do now!!

Then we'll be looking for posts from BOTH of you...let us know how it goes and the very best to you!!!!

I spend a fair amount of time on this ole 'puter logged onto LBT. Hubby knows I need it. I need it for the banding support and for the short bursts of escape in my days as a stay-at-home-mom. We have a very secure relationship, but I have seen times where it drives him nuts and he let's me know "I'm over here!!!! Don't forget me!!!!" So I log off and take a break...but not forever!! I'll miss you SunnyKim. I wish you the best in your realtionship and future. You are young. Please come back and visit as you are able. (((((hugs))))

yeah, well I'm talking about THIS one...still a hottie.

Welcome Home Jonathan. I have missed you lots and even though you are not happy with your numbers, I see your Before/After pics and still say you are a hottie!!!!! AND your post was well-written, like a good sermon! We are here to walk that mile with you, the one between knowing and doing. Start back lurking on recent threads...there's some really good stuff, much of it has Vinesqueen's name on it or in it...so you could read all her recent posts and find the good stuff. Glad to see you back. ((((hugs))))

Oh my goodness...someone post a link, hurry!!!! LOL Is that what Oprah had on when she was trying on jeans with Stacy? Is Stacy London not the skinniest little-assed thing you have EVER seen?! She scares me! She looks like my 6yo daughter, but taller!!!

Whoa Nellie! I'm so glad she is okay!!! Thanks for sharing her e-mail...gives me chills to see what she experienced! Thak God she is okay, and the kids, too!!!

Aw Trish, please don't be ashamed. It's so HARD!!!! I'm stuck too. I keep losing the same 3 pounds. It's like my body really really wants to hang on to my weight. Why does it do that? Does it think I'l blow away?! Does it think I want it?! I have had to do lots to shake things up. One thing I'm doing is eating more calories early in the day and guess what happened today? NSV ahead... I got home from my little job sitting with my elderly woman friend who hates my son (another story) at 1pm. Little buddy fell asleep in the car so I put him down and went back outside and blew the pine needles off the driveway. Huh? I had the energy for that???? Where did that come from? Granted, I used the leaf blower, I didn't sweep, but we have a looong driveway. I even dug up another extension cord so I could get all the way out to the street. What possessed me? It's like I was on a mission! I couldn't help it! Sure, I could have laid down on the sofa or fired up the 'puter. I got the urge and went with it. I'm living on more than coffee. I know that helps. I think my poor ole abused body likes that good healthy food I'm giving it all day. Still waiting on the scale to move, but I just keep seeing how I'm able to train my body into another direction. One of health, energy, vitality, motivation (although still lacking lots in that area...but some improvement) and eventually, weight loss! Give it a minute. Keep pressing forward. I see you are doing the End of year Challenge. GREAT!!! Keep plugged in here. You are not alone and have nothing to be ashamed of. You are STILL BELOW 300 pounds!!! You haven't gained it back! How cool is that?! Start you an NSV thread. I love the ones you listed above! I avoided it for a long time but when you have a place to post them, they start coming and it's so good to be able to look back on them. They are important and keep you focused when needed. Hang in there, we are here for you!!!! Slow Losers Unite!!!!

Smooch...What's the vaginal lift? hmmm...that whole area, what I can see of it in the mirror without having to look too long! is a stretch mark mess. Down into the hairline...all around, yucky red gross saggy stretch marks. I am hoping they fade a bit more and I know the inner thigh lift would make that area look better (at least in clothes) but the vaginal lift? Just what gets lifted? I get a good cyst on a stretch mark down there at least 2-3 times a year. Eewww and Ouch!!!

You aren't. This isn't the first thread so don't sweat it! I got constipated on the liquid phase. Go figure, but it happens. Try glycerin suppositories. Is this your pre-op liquid diet? If so, drink some Fiber. If you are banded, be careful what goes down. I was much more comfortable taking charge of things from the other end. Sorry, I can't remember if you are banded yet...memory is getting worse by the week...huh? Who? Oh...number 2...

Hang in there, Debra. You will do this, don't worry. And be patient...it will not all change overnight and it doesn't have to either. Slow down. Keep your foods as mushy as you'd like for as long as you need to, even if the doc says it's okay to move on to more solid foods. However, it sounds as if you are healing nicely. It's just that your band is "wide open" at this time and you need to be eating good nutritional foods. If your foods are mushy you shouldn't be doing any pouch stretching...the food is just going on through! Think "loose bracelet" or "wide funnel" when you think of your band and eat what you need, not just what you want. You will get restriction once you start getting fills. Hang in there. You are in no-man's land...healing, hungry, and unrestricted. Up your protien intake, too. That seems to help alot. (soft eggs, egg drop soup, egg salad, protien drinks, etc)

Okay, the placement of my scale has lots to do with my weighing tactic. I have ceramic tile in the bathroom...unlevel. But the kitchen/dining room is hardwood. So my scale sits neatly out of the way right by the back door...french doors with no blinds, curtains, sheers, nada, just windows into the big back yard. It's never likely anyone is out there but ya never know, right? So... In the morning, no shoes or slippers, in lightweight jammies, after a morning tinkle, handwash and toothbrush, before any coffee or food. I also weigh at night before I go to bed because I always lose about 3 pounds in my sleep. So if it's low at night...I can't wait to see what it is in the morning!! I love weighing. If it ever gets me down I won't for a few days but this is my usual routine.

Excellent thinking. I like that diagnosis! Whaddya think Crystal? Oh, I need to go see your leak thread...maybe more info there. Anyhow, Madonna, I know that Prilosec twice a day for a few weeks in the beginning when I was super tight helped me alot.

I was talking about that with my hubby tonight. Obesity really is a walking time bomb, Healthwise, and if you can do something about it, great. Not all GP surgeries go as poorly as hers did...complication after complication. She might have made it if not for the breast cancer. But she also might have survivied the breast cancer treatments had her health not been so compromised from the WLS. Both together? I suppose she didn't stand a chance. My God, all she wanted was what we all want, a healthy life, quality time with our kids, even the chance to have kids, for some of us! If she had only known...but how could she not take the chance? How? I'm still reeling with the sense of loss of someone I never met. So tragic. Her journal is a treasure for others. I hope it stays on the board. God bless that little boy of hers. He's my daughter's age. I'll be praying for him, especially.

((((hugs)))) and a safe surgery for you.

My wish list is a tummy tuck, an inner thigh lift, and varicose/spider vein removal (legs). My floppy boobs drive me nuts. I can't stand going braless but hate wearing them...I recorded Oprah today...it's the repeat of her bra and jeans show...so maybe I'll get some pointers in the bra category. I'm thinking the 3 new bras I purchased are too small of a cup size. Could I really be a DD? Seems impossible. No boob job for me though. I'm leaving those girls alone.

I gurgle alot...never thought of it as singing, but it does! No record contract for my belly...it's waaayyy off key!! WTG, Ray!!!

Excellent post. Congratulations and keep up the good work!!

No way, really?!!! Aw, dear God. I'm so sorry. I'm gonna go cry now. So sad. Crap, that really stinks. I'm so sad. Thanks for letting me/all of us know.

Staci, start a new thread titled "Epstein Barr Virus" and you are sure to get more replies than posting it here. I don't know anything about it, sorry. I doubt it's related to your banding, but I'm not sure either. Start that thread, we have master internet reseearchers on this board and you will know more than the doc by the time it's over and done with! (((HUGS)))

Whoa Nellie. Not good news, then. Jack is our resident diabetic expert, among several here, I'm sure. He'll chime in here this evening, I'll bet. He knows more than me!!! Hang in there.

Thanks for the fresh link. I was anxious for the update, she has had such a rough time I thought maybe she lost her battles altogether. Glad to see she's still plugging away. Anyone know, has her marriage survived so far? She doesn't mention her hubby much, just her son and parents, and I know they moved and I thought hubby moved with...I dunno. I know she said her marriage was strained but just wondering how hubby is hanging in there, or not? Prayers for Jessica O. God knows, I don't know how she's doing it.

Blood glucose of 242 is very high. Yes, that's not good. Next on your list is, no doubt, a fasting blood sugar test...maybe one where they have you fast, take your blood, have you drink yucky sugar stuff (dextrose?), then draw blood at intervals after drinking it...just to see how your body is metabolizing a measured amount of sugar. It may be medication worthy, but diabetes is so easily controlled with diet in some people, that may be all it takes until you can lose weight after banding. It's a big hurdle with lots of "ifs" and "it depends", but you will make it through. So glad you got this blood taken. Were you fasting? If you were fasting, then 242 is really really high. Wowza. You'll be hearing back from your doc pretty quickly.

Awww Maannn! I wanted to see your shoes! Cute outfit! You look great!!!