the best me

Wait, this isn't Mariposabella, it's Maribella who doesn't fly and wanted to take the train from Tampa into Monterrey. Wonder if she ever went? Happy birthday! (sorry, Estella/Mariposabella)

Hey, is this Mariposabella? Yeah?! Happy Birthday!!!!! yay you!!!

Excellent advice. Hay, what's DECAF?! Anyone heard of this stuff? Sounds awful!!!

Yes, and what everyone else said. brunswick, jq said it's a head game and it is. And lovecats, maybe I"M a slow loser with this thinking. But it's working for me, however slowly. I am still losing and I feel great and when I'm sick of not doing as well as I know I can, I kick myself in the butt and get in gear. brunswick, be careful of the 'all or nothing" syndrome. You will end up feeling soooooo bad about a dumb ole fish filet sandwich you will ruin the rest of the week, or worse! If you are going to eat it, own it. Decide and do it and move on. I have to tell myself, "Okay, I'm PMSing, I want a Snickers bar!!! so I'll eat one mini-snickers a day for the next few days, rather than a whole big bar all at once, and then when I know I have had enough, I won't eat anymore until next month. And NO WHINING!!!!!" So I do that, and something in me says, okay, you have had your binge of daily mini-snickers, time to put them away and get back on track. NO WHINING!!! I tell myself. Eat it and own it. If you don't want to own it, don't eat it. No whining. Pull yourself together, girl! No biggie. Time to move forward. Play that mind game, get into the Zone of eating right, and do your best. And get that first fill, it will do wonders for your self-control. (((hugs)))

2 pounds will fall off again overnight. Dont' worry!! If needed, stay away form the scales but once a week. If 2 pounds makes you worry (and it shouldn't) then don't weigh! Really, it will be okay. I lost 15 pounds post surgery and didnt' lose anything else for almost 3 months. I was up and down 2 pounds all the time during that period. It is normal for your weight loss to slow dramatically at some point, especailly after your diet chnges from liquids to mushies, then on to solids. Try not to worry, even though I know it's hard.

That's what I'm hoping. When she loosens, maybe she will get a taste of the good life, bandster eating, and never want to go back to being so tight. One can only hope. Nykee, this is obviously hard for you. I'm really really sorry. At the very least, I think you have at least been able to talk through your thinking enough to know it's right for you. I couldn't disagree more (you are TOO tight!) but I hope, in spite of it all, you are able to succeed, lose enough weight to have the surgery you need, and get a handle on your pain. I'm really sorry.

You can also report a "problem" post by clicking on the red warning button at the top right of every post. It sends a message to, ultimately, a moderator and has a form to report an "offense" or problem with a post. I think I know the post Sandy3 is referring to. She has every right to feel the way she does but I suspect the "offender" came off a bit more harsh than she intended and didn't really make her point...you know how things written and things said come out differently. I can't speak for others, just my impression. But Sandy was hurt and has a legitimate request to "not deal with comments from that individual again" which beats the heck out of leaving the site altogether. Anyhow, I hope it gets worked out. If not, an ignore button is handy if it works like I think it does. Good luck Sandy!

Ahhh, a walk down memory lane. I went into downtown Dallas one Texas/OU weekend to pick up a friend from the bus station. What a wild trip! Thankfully, it was late afternoon, not nighttime, but the streets were blocked and the crowds were on their way in. That's as close as I ever got. But the Texas State Fair? Oh, yeah baby! I had a hottie cowboy boyfriend at the time and we went two years in a row. That was back when I didn't eat. I was more likely to succomb to the Cheesesteaks and Cotton Candy than to the Corn Dogs. I'm sure I ate. But I'm sure I would have eaten lots more had I not been there with him. Know what? Back when I lived in Carrollton and dated that fella, I weighed 120-125 pounds. This was in 1988-89-90 I think. Geez. Another life, and altogether another body. Wow, thanks for the trip back! Ya'll have fun!

See?! SEE?!!! Kare, DeLarla insists on 30 day chips as the smallest increment. sigh. She started it so she can call the shots...BUT, I promise to give you a very warm standing ovation for each 10 day segment you do NOT eat after 9pm. Hope that's good enough for ya cuz she won't give.

My 6yo daughter has just seen the pic and here is what she says it is... dinner things that you eat with. Some things are knives, some things are spoons, and some things are dinner hooks. A dinner hook is what you put food on, like meat and fruit and vegetables. The holes are to let the juice of Beans and stuff come out. Like soak juice and stuff like that. And those are decorations for the knives. That's all I can tell. Sounds great to me?

Groovy is right! Keep posting those NSV's Kimber-lilly! It's so good to see them all in one thread. You can re-read and remember and feel so great!!!! Woohoooo!

THIS is the info I was looking for...all about sutures and how they are used and whether or not a stitch left in is something that lets you know your doc was negligent or some other "suit" worthy action. I have been watching this thread...I just didn't know what to say. I'm sorry you are dissappointed, fee. It's not that noone wants to support you, it's just a matter of HOW to do that. Please don't take it personally. And let us know what you decide to do, okay? (((hugs)))

I think if you go to that person's profile, you can click a button that says Remove from Buddy list. I'm not really sure what that does, but I think it might block all of that person's posts from showing up on your screen when you log on? Worth a try. Sorry. Don't go away altogether. It will really be alright.

And I deleted my replies. All better.

Making it fine on Day 1 with no Cheetos. It helps when you don't buy them. Fine! Fine! Fine! No 10 day chip! I tried. But ya'll still need to clap for me at 10 day intervals!!! I promise to clap for anyone else who needs a standing ovation occasionally.

Kim, this thread is very interesting reading. It's long, but some of the advice along the way is great, so go soak it all in when you have a bit of time. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=10227&page=1&pp=15

Post yours! I want to see! You need to start your own NSV thread anyway so go do it now!!!

My hubby said "Nah" since golf ball markers are flat, like coins, so other balls will roll over them as you take turns on the green. Nope, I don't think that's it.

I am not a twin, and I can only imagine the issues you are facing having an identical twin sister. However, you are two seperate individuals and you should NOT try to talk her into banding. That's a very personal decision and if she decides not to, you should support her and love her, no matter what her weight. Let it go. As you lose more and more she will either get the gumption to do it on her own or she will see your success and be interested in it for herself. Or she will be happy with maintaining her current weight and supporting your band journey. That's a tough one, I know. My sister still weighs what I did when I got banded. She'd like to get banded but can't right now ($$$) so it's hard to see her struggle.

hehe. Sorry, I type what I would speak...lots of words...amend is to change, revise, correct. Meaning, don't change anything you have already typed, just add to your post and say what it is you want to make more clear, or to change, revise, correct. An autoclave is a machine that sterilizes equipment. I think it uses heat so I don't think you could sterilize rubber tubing in it, which means you are sterilizing rubber tubing in a bucket of bleach? after you take it out of SOMEONE'S urethra and put it into MY urethra? Or are you just sticking it in a sink and washing it with Joy? I guess my point is, who knows? Does anyone here know?

Yay Kim!! Great post. It's tough love here on LBT sometimes, huh? Lots has happened since April! Time for you to catch up!!! It's a learning process the whole time, and you have a lifetime ahead of you to get your mind around banded life. No hurries. Sometimes you need to do things at a different pace, but the end is the same. Good to see you back.

Got my coffee, good read. Please please please add to amend, don't change. Okay, I had a great band surgery but I can't say that I can refute anything you say about the re-use of tools. I don't know about trochars (I think that's how you spell the tool that goes into your body cavity so the surgeon can manipulate and place the band) but the catheter I had was a rubber hose, and while I can't swear it was reused, I remember thinking, wow, I hope they have an autoclave here...but can rubber tubing be put into an autoclave? A bucket of bleach Water? Blech...makes ya wonder. The windows in the rooms were open with no screens. While the place wasn't swarming with flies and bugs...it WAS clean, I felt like that was a cleanliness issue? Call me crazy? When a needle goes into someone's skin, I would hope that wasn't reused on someone else. I doubt that would happen. However, when drugs are inserted via IV line, it wouldn't surprise me to find the same needle being used. Again, I can't confirm or deny, just a gut feeling. There were three of us lined up down the wall in the room. Two were band surgeries that day, and one was a port repair. The two of us got the same meds at the same time each dose. However, I do remember seeing the tray with 6 different needles, 3 for me, 3 for her, with the meds for us. I KNOW we didn't share, but I don't know if they were reused. I remember wondering how well-trained these little nurses were. Where did they go to school? Who taught them? They were certainly skilled, but how would I know about their education? I also remember feeling that my doc has a vested interest in being sure hi sUS patients are well-taken care of and protected from danger. He has a reputation to protect and so he's not likely to hire an idiot, right? Listen, I'm happy with my MX doc and my MX experience. My sister said she plans to see my doc when her band time comes, and she was awake and aware and saw everything but the actual surgery. That says alot to me. It's hard for me to regret but I can say that I was aware of all this BEFORE I went and rolled the dice. Mexico is not the right choice for many. My surgery turned out great. But anyone going needs to know that these are very real possibilities. Great post. Thanks.

Plenty of Flippers here. They will check in soon, I'm sure. No worries. If the doc can fill you flipped you should be okay...it CAN be done. But port surgery to repair a flip is, from what I have gathered, pretty standard, easy, not much recovery time, etc. So don't flip out. Your port already did that for you!!! ((((hugs)))) Incredible weight loss, WTG!!!

sleepyjean, you are me 7 years from now having NOT had band surgery. I was 38. Weighed 240. By the time I turned 39, I had lost 20 pounds. I kept if off and exercised and did my best and this past January, the year I turned 40, I knew the whole decade to follow (my 40's) would be more of the same. My children are young, 6 and 2 1/2. I got so sick of being fat. I have a home and children to raise and a husband to help and care for and I was so distracted by my fat bod and sense of doom and failure and running on a weight loss treadmill going nowhere. I had had ENOUGH!! So I paid cash and went to Mexico. I knew my insurance excluded the Lap Band specifically, I knew I was NOT getting RNY, I was actually grateful that I didn't have all the insurance hoops to jump through. I scheduled and went and here I am. I'm losing slowly, but I'm in "Onderland" (below 200) now and someday, I'll be a success like Michelle here. No looking back. No wasting time. No "what if's". I quit talking and started doing. That's me. I can't say to you what you should do, but I can say that I remember where you are and I have no regrets so far.

Way cool, VQ!!!! Thanks!!! Wow, that's really awesome...everybody come look!!!!