the best me

This was in an e-mail I recieved. I think it's supossed to be funny, but...OMG!

Well done! I hope my next check-up brings a surprised grin to my PCP's face! She was a bit leery about banding and said "Why don't you just do the bypass?" when I told her. Ha. What a great weight loss success you have achieved!

Today is your day!! Thinking of you and praying for a successful surgery and speedy recovery. God bless you. Can't wait to see your pics!!!

Kelly's waiting for tomorrow, I say go for it...drink that Water today!!! Okay, so that's 205.4 this morning, wahoo! Jonathan is rounding numbers so I guess I'll round down since my start weight was 207.2? I figure that counts fairly as a 2 pound loss. yippeee!!! AND i get filled Wed! Happy Fourth of July!!!

Hey Ruthie! I found this thread very helpful...hope it helps!! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=3995

So today we go to the Anuual Fourth of July picnic. A lady at our church has it every year and it's wonderful! Covered dish supper all set up in the garage with lots of church cooked food...you know the kind, fried chicken, casseroles, green Beans, home-grown tomatos, cucumbers, green salads, Pasta salads, congealed salads, fresh fruit, lima beans, pinto beans, cornbread, rolls, sweet tea and lemonade, Sun Drop, Mountain Dew, brownies, cupcakes, key lime pie, apple cobbler, OH MY! I wanted to eat more than I was able to, I love my band! I ate what I REALLY wanted but not too much, even had room for a small brownie and a small bit of homemade ice cream...perfect! She has horseshoes, a small in-ground pool full of kids, volleyball, basketball, tents set up with tables and a huge shade tree in the front yard. Her hubby mows a field for parking and there are at least 150 folks there every year. It was great! SO! She had this card table set up with a bunch of photo albums on it. There was a crowd around it all day, looking at old photos from past July 4th parties, writing in names and which year it was if they knew it. So later, after the crowd dwindled, I stopped by the photo albums and started flipping through and found THIS picture of me, taken in 2000. My daughter there was almost a year old. I stole the pic. I don't EVER want ANYONE to EVER give me a hard time about having had WLS. I was ready to knock someone down today if they dared to say anything to me negative about having been banded. I can't believe I walk around looking like this...and all those people saw this picture, too! I'm humiliated and can't WAIT for my fill Wednesday! Witness, please...this is around 230-240 pounds.

NORMAL! Don't worry, you will burp again. Hubby patting my back helped me, too. And you will get back on schedule with the BM's as well, I promise. Don't do like me and try to fix it, just make sure there isn't something BAD wrong, and as long as it's just a small worry or aggravation, try to wait it out and let your body do it's thing. It was created to make waste...it knows what to do. It will, you will, hang in there!

Oh no! Pale's not in fashion?! Darnit, I am NEVER up to date! hehe Wait till ya'll see me in person, I'm NO fashion Diva, that's for sure! Okay Angie, we are waiting on you! Post on the 6th and let us know if you are up for the 8th or not. We have 8 kiddos between us!! Right? 2 for me, 3 for Angie, 2 for Melissa, and 1 for Kim? Wowza! And two of those are 2yo boys! I think we will want to duck into a kids' place pretty quick! I'm not sure about Cammie, she hasn't checked in for a while. And Dianne, you said evenings are better for you, what's your kid status? If you can come during the day, will you have any kids? I promise, I promise we will do our next get-together in the evening...we'll discuss it when we meet next. I hope you can come during the day this time, even if for a quick visit during your lunch break? Concord Mills is a pretty quick trip up 485 from Waxhaw, but maybe you work in Charlotte? Anyhow, we will do an evening next go-round. Everyone bring your calendars! So, Friday the 8th, 11:30 food Court Concord Mills, then somewhere from there with our entourage! And don't worry Angie, if you just get you and your kids there, I'll help you chase after them if needed. Any questions? Everyone good to go? Happy 4th of July everyone!!

Great Post Jayme! Glad to see you back...I have missed your posts there for a while...that was very well-written and you SHAME me! You are more dedicated, more regimented, and more practical than I have ever been yet. I feel like I'm just getting by! But everything you said is so true! I am 12 weeks banded and you see my stats below. The first 15 pounds was from the first 12 days and I have been pretty much stuck since. I have not had my first fill yet, it's next week and I'm anxious to get started downward again. I have to admit, though, I saw a new low on the scale this morning, 204.2! Maybe tomorrow I'll see 203.something? That would be great! For me, fairly newly banded with no fill, it makes it so much easier to eat less at a time. I don't really count calories, I don't count protien grams, I do eyeball my Water ounces and shoot for 64 at the least, but I just live. Some days are better than others, some weeks the exercise falls into place and I get it all in. But day after day, week after week, I am satisfied with the amount of food I am able to eat. And it is boundlessle less than pre-band. I can eat more soft foods than hard protiens, so I try to fill up on veggies with hard protiens first. If I drink with meals the food goes on down and I can eat more so I try to NOT drink for an hour after meals. All the old bandster rules you read about. It all works and none of it's a mystery. If a person can do all that you ae doing they will get amazing results such as yours. You see what my willy-nilly has done for me...my results are fine (an average of 1.6 pounds per week) and I'm happy with them because it really has been fairly easy. I like that. What I like even better is how hard it is to gain and gain and gain. I can be lame and maintain my weight loss, and I take great comfort in that. You and I have very different bandster styles, I guess is my point. But it's working for each of us. I'm anxious to hear other's replies!!

As for perfection...LET IT GO! Not gonna happen. When's the last time you actually did something perfectly? something that took longer than 15 minutes? What happened when you didn't do it perfectyl? Did the world fall apart? Did you allow yourself to use it as an excuse to quit? Do a search on self-sabotage, or someone post a link if you happen across it?... Perfectionism is actually a very selfish trait. It's very self-centered and self-important. How come all the rest of us are allowed to have bad days and not do it exactly perfectly every moment, and you have to be perfect? Are you better than us? Are your standards higher because you are more special? I say these things in love as I say them to myself because I struggle with the same issues. I have to remind myself, "I'm just a girl, a woman, getting by like everyone else. God made me like I am, quirks and all, and this journey is about how I handle what I am given. It's not about being perfect." And I let it go. Let it go. I know for me, I am 12 weeks post-op. I have barely moved the scale since day 12 post-op. I really think I needed a minute to get used to the idea of being banded. Call it rebellion against my band, but I had been determined to live the life I loved pre-band, eating and all, and just wanted to get back to "normal" for a bit. Now I'm ready for a fill and some increased restriction. Me and my band get along just fine, and I have managed to come to terms with it. I'll give him (Fred, the Band) some control now in the restriction area with a fill. We'll be okay. It's a little dance; you, your mind, your band. Find a way to work with your uptight little excuse-creating brain and work around it. You WILL figure it out. Baby-step by baby-step. By the way, a little extra Peanut Butter one day just to play whatever mind game you are playing with yourself will not send the whole band thing down the toilet. Let it go. It's not as big as you want it to seem. (((((((hugs)))))))) Thanks for posting this...it's been very therapeutic for me to reply!!!

Congrats! August will be here before you know it! wahooo!

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I saw the title, clicked on and couldn't stop watching. I tried, I really meant to change the channel, but I simply couldn't! And then I started catching the next episode, next thing you know I'm recording it...I'm humliating myself... STRANGE LOVE! There, I said it. WHO HAS SEEN THIS?!!!!!

Okay, so I have noticed a new forum...Lap Band Facts and something or other...is this where the Stickies will be moved to? Is this the new Thread Library? I think it would be great to "clean up" the other Forums. I love the Stickies, but there ARE alot of them. And I agree that Stickies are better meant to be temporary (for Challenges, etc) and the REALLY GOOD informative, don't-want-to-lose-to-the-archives threads could come to that new Forum...I hope that's how it's happening!

So far so good...I'm headed down, so that's good. I feel pretty normal, actually VERY normal! I eat whatever, just slower. I have lost about 17 pounds in 12 weeks, BUT I lost 15 of that in the first 12 days. So not much downward movement for weeks and weeks now. I think I have just needed a minute to adjust! As much research as I did to prepare, I wasn't prepared for what restriction felt like. I have learned it's a very good thing, now! I fought hard to get back to where I was able to eat what I wanted and feel normal (which is Obese these days!) so now I'm able to let go of "normal" for a while and get back on tho the weight loss train. I'm ready to get well below 200 and say goodbye to those numbers for good! I have had NO trouble, NONE, keeping my weight off. It's like I'm at yet another plateau. But I have a fill scheduled next week and NOW, after 12 weeks, I'm ready. Actually, I was ready a few weeks ago but had to wait for my appointment, oh well. So, the jury is still out. If I can get down below 160 and keep it off, money well-spent. If I make goal at 140? Well, that'd be a price of about $140 per pound. If I keep it off for good, OH YES!!!! It will be neat to post on this thread a year form now and see...

I vomited the other night and I promise, it came up just fine! It's true, I had a breast biopsy (well, two! one on each breast) on Tuesday and I was terribly sore, and I had some liquid Tylenol w/ Codiene in the med cabinet so I took a dose, then sat up and watched TV for a bit. I got a cup of coffee while waiting for hubby to get home (he went to the hospital to see his mom, yes, it's been THAT kind of a week!) and I got up when he got home, and I got nauseous. Yep, it was eally happening...real vomit, not a food stuck PB kind of thing...I was sick!! And it happened, I vomited. Thankfully, my tummy was empty except for the coffee so no food needed to pass back up the band. If there WAS any food, only the coffee made it back up. I heaved probably 5 times and felt MUCH better, getting the coffee and Codiene out of my tummy, but it was scary. I did liquids the next day, and soft foods from there and I'm fine. Most folks recommend having some kind of anti-nausea suppository on hand to cut down on the need to vomit during things like the flu. Check with your doc about getting a prescription filled before surgery so you will have it on hand. By the way, the biopsies came back Benign. Yay!! Good luck! Congrats on your band date! Another thought, if your food is very well chewed and you vomit, I'd think it would be a bit easier to come back up through the band...?

There you are!!! I said hey to you on another thread. I hope your move went well. Hello to Nikkee and great job on her weight loss!! So glad you are back!!

<hijack...hey Ashley!!> Work up to your 64 ounces, don't feel like you have to drink ALL of that so soon...it's a goal, you will get there, just work on it. The bloat will subside, I promise. And the gas will get better. Try a heating pad on your upper back, too, if you are having the shoulder pain. Just walk, sip and wait it out. It will get better, don't think that day 2 is like day 1, or that day 3 will be like day 5. It's different each day and gets better and better. Listen to your body, go with the flow. Yay!!! Congratulations Angie!!! Oh! and Soonergirl and My o My!!

Okay, so the results are Benign. Whew! I have to admit, it's just as I thought. But it's SOOOO nice to have a name. Fibroadenoma. What they said before. So I follow up in 6 months with another mammogram. As long as they don't grow, or get so big they are in the way, painful, or make my breasts distended (as if they aren't already from weight gain and nursing 2 children!) then they stay. It doesn't freak me out to have them there. If they leave me alone, I'll leave them alone. Plus the Doc said that fibroadenomas are not something that turn malignant. Is she right? So glad it's over! I hope you all don't mind me saying this but it's been a HELL OF A WEEK!!! I am leaving shortly to meet my MIL at her new nursing home. SIGH. She's going in for rehab, and she doesn't yet realize it, but she's more than likely staying. I hate it. She simply cannot care for herself. We have showering and bathroom and walking without falling and breaking a hip issues, plus the short term memory loss and she needs pain medication for her little legs...MS AND Arthritis...what a mess. But we'll get her settled. I gotta put my smile on with my optimistic happy upbeat attitude and get her settled in. My brother-in-law and his wife (who she lives with...or, more properly written, with whom she lives! ha!) will be there too so it isn't just me. Anyhow, I'm just ready to crash. I could use an entire weekend away with hubby! OH! Wouldn't that be heaven?! Thanks for listening, those of you who have been able to tirelessly read this long post. For those of you with short attention spans, the bold type, quick info, good news is for you!!

Hey Jen, what's the name of your appetite supressant? Just curious. I thought I'd never have to worry about all that again, but I agree, it may help on those high stress days, and especially as I'm waiting on a fill. I might have it in my med cabinet!! I'd love to know the name of it if you don't mind...thanks!

You are a dear friend Greg. Nancy and her family will be in my prayers.

Okay, this is my experience... a real PB is when something stuck actually makes it back up...a mini-vomit, a bit of an involuntary heave is involved. sliming is sliming. You can slime when something is stuck, or before you PB. Stuck is when something won't go down for a minute, or more. You end up sliming, but it passes through and the discomfort is instantly gone. If you get stuck, then slime, then PB, it's a PB, not a stuck. The golf ball happens when you get stuck. It lasts until you get unstuck by it passing on through or by PBing it. So I guess you have stuck, golf ball, slime, all part of a PB but it isn't a PB unless you heave it back up. Does that make sense? That's how I define it, I guess.

Yipeee!!! I'm so excited for you! You have been SO patient! Wow, it will be here soon! I'm so happy for you! :banana

PB is Productive Burp, when food gets stuck and won't go down, it "burps' back up. NSV is Non-Scale Victory, any great weight loss related good thing that doesn't have to do with the nuber on the scale, ie: pants falling off, compliments...ANYthing personally victorious DH is Dear husband or Darling husband...dh is d*** husband!! or fill in the acronym! ROTFLMAO is Rolling On The Floor Laughing My A$$ Off SO is Significant Other or "unmarried spouse" CIB is Carnation Instant Breakfast drink I'll think of more...

OOOOOO he's cute! Does he know women everywhere are scammin' his sweetness? hehe. I love your top! You are so pretty!!

The pain was okay for me, I did take two doses when I got home and I was fine. The hard part was the fatigue. I was SOOO tired! Lack of calories/protien. Once my diet changed and I went to soft mushies, I was able to eat guacamole. OH! And before that I was able to add in Egg Drop Soup? Oh! YES! You'll be fine. a week off is good. Congratulations!!