the best me

Hang in there Jonathan. I noticed your post in the "what do you do for a living?" thread and you mentioned these things and I wanted SO bad to ask about it...so thanks for posting this thread and letting all of us give you our best wishes. I'll be praying for you and your squids. I can't imagine the difficulty. So, how's it feel to be without a desk job?!

Just checking: is one serving of milk 8 ounces? How much cheese and ice cream is a serving? I agree about the marketing Crystal, BUT, and I read this in the Readers Digest so it HAS to be right (hehe) that daily dairy intake (I think it said 3-4 servings a day?) helps you lose weight. Does that settle it? NOT! Close enough for me. I could use the milk.

Oh my gosh, that is SOOOOOO my Dad! Ask my mom, she divorced him after 33 or so years of marriage. She was tired of being married and lonely! She always said he'd love to live on a mountaintop all alone. He's very intelligent, just in his own little world. Definately!

"Go Advanced" and scroll down to Manage Attachments

Taurus here. Wonder what that means? I have no clue about astrology, but my dad is a pretty involved amateur astronomer, so if anyone has any star questions, I could ask. BTW, he's coming over for dinner tonight and I don't know his sign. He was born Jan 14, 1939. Stir the pot, Lisa!!! You always have good ideas for new fun threads!

2% here. I can do the 1%, but lets' just justify it that I have young children in the house and THEY need the extra calories/fat or whatever else is bad in the whole milk. so we compromise. I'm in! 4 servings a day, two of which will be good ole plain ole MILK. The other servings, cheese or ice cream.

Good job Lloyd! Well done, and Welcome! I hope you will stop by often.

{{{{{{{{HUGGGGSSSS}}}}}}}}}}}} these are BIG hugs AND someone taught me how to do a kiss, too. So, MUAH! (Isn't that cute?) I'm so sorry. I hate that you feel so tossed around. It will be here soon, and I know it doesn't feel like it. As for the wedding, maybe it will be a better "Before" memory for the people you see. That way, when they see you Next time, you'll seem even MORE shockingly thinner! God's timing is perfect. You may never know why your date is what it is, but it will be perfect for you! And this is the perfect place for a temper tantrum, so you just fuss and kick away, girl! Waaaaahhhhh!!!

Well done and very Brave! Good for you CollegeJoe. Please let us know how it the shoot goes!

Very Funny! Well written Brad! I'm not sure it's possible to strangle your liver with tubing. When you said catheter I was thinking urinary catheter that you get during surgery and was wondering why you are still walking around with that thing up yer, ya know. Anyhow, I think the tubing is only 6-8 inches long, maybe more, but it only goes far enough to connect the port and band...I don't think of it as floating around in there trying to noose something! hehe And I think once they let all the gas out of you after surgery it all squishes back together in there and so there isn't alot of "floating" going on...I dunno!! We need Cameron or one of the nurses to answer this one!

So she's in my neck of the woods visiting her In-laws and we were able to meet at the Chick-Fil-A so the kiddos could play while we talked about all of you all! hehe, we had such a nice time bragging about how LBT is such a great place and about how wonderful ALL of you are. It was a great two hours or so, and let me just say that Paula is just as nice and pretty and REAL as you think she is by knowing her online. And our daughters were fast friends from the second they met, and had a ball playing together in the playroom. Paula has a pic of the girls and one of my little man holding a balloon...she'll post them when she gets home, I'm sure. So here are me and Paula in the playroom. My daughter took the pic so I had to crop out the glare in the background. Wow! I met a real live bandster!! What fun!

okay, I'm getting Rachel's bangs trimmed today! I keep meaning to do it and now we are just going to blow $10 and drop by the Great Clips...she needs some neatening up!! Okay Paula, get ready, because Rachel has a doctor's appt today...I think she may have Strep Throat. OH NO!!! I hope she didn't give it to Anne. Watch out for a high fever that comes and goes quickly, sore throat, swollen neck glands, headache, cough. She's had one or more of these symptoms at any given time for a day or two over the last 2 weeks. I'm sorry! I hope Anne doesn't get the NC Strep!

Prayers for peace in your heart, a calm spirit, an attentive and careful surgeon with no distractions, and healing. God Bless you Christina! Happy Band Day!

Here's another one of the girls...how come Rachel looks so serious? They are so cute together!

Yep, I got the beginner tapes and it's very aerobic!!! Good stuff! Just don't try to kick as high as those crazy California girls on the tape, or him! I did better and had more stamina when I only went as high as I could comfortably. Go for getting through the whole tape...not doing it like they do. It's great for heartrate, stamina, balance, and strength building in the legs/butt especially. Wow, I need to dig out my Tae Bo tapes!! Thanks!

Very cool! The thing I like the most is your amazing weight loss, Penni! You know I'm not liking John M these days. Hope all that is going better for you. He's a lucky man to have such a special lady like you. Can't wait to see the whole film!

LMAO, you are so funny Zoe! I'm in, but I need some instrucions on how to do this...someone tell me, go here, do this, start this day, along the way do this...blah, blah, spell it out for me! Just pretend I'm in, say, the 8th grade and I'll be okay. Let's do it!!! Yeehaw!!

It may be time for a fill, but not in the middle of all this!!! Look, girl, you are stressin'! It might look still and calm on the outside but it's not! You have alot going on! Afternoons and dinner are usually hard times for me as well. Hubby coming home, kids up and running around, hungry, but it's not time for dinner just yet, phones ringing, gotta do this and that and I used to feed meself like mad. I tried to do it today, but you know what I did? About 4pm, I sat down with a piece of leftover grilled chicken breast, about 4 ounces of it, and I ate it cold and dipped it in Honey Mustard dipping sauce. I chewed well, ate slowly. fine. Then, an hour and a half later I tried to eat some refried Beans with tostitos and COULDN'T! I almost PB'd! Guess it was the chicken still there? Wow. So here it is almost midnight and I haven't had a thing else to eat. Nada. Just an idea. I tried to shove food and could NOT. And believe me, shoving food is the BEST stress reliever most of us know of. Which is why we are banded. Schedule a fill if you really need one. With the move you'll be too busy doing other things to concentrate on it too much, and you will be less inclined to fight it, maybe? You know what's best. Just know you are NOT alone. I know the "possessed" feeling. Otheres here do too. And the Band will quiet that little demon down mighty quick if you use it right. Don't fret, it will work!!

Lovely pics, I'll go back and see the rest so I don't go to bed after midnight!! I got to the B&B formal living room, for my future reference. Adorable kids!!! And VERY cute hubby, you can tell him we said so!! Thanks, Teresa. You are a sweetheart!

I tried to post this earlier but when I sent it I had lost my server and I lost the post! Oh NO! so I took it as a sign to keep my mouth shut...but now that youv'e asked... here's the transcript: "Honey, are you proud of the 17 pounds I've lost so far?" "Well, sure I am!" "Even though I lost it with the band? Do you think I should have been able to do it on my own, without the band?" "Sure I do, but your'e you. (pause) If it were me, I would have lost it without the band but I'm not overweight. I'm me and your'e you. Now quit asking me these questions..gettin' me in trouble!" (grin) "Well, there's this girl on the board who's husband said he wasn't proud of her losing 35 pounds because she did it with the band" "He's an idiot! He ought to know better than say that. (pause) Remember that old black guy I used to work with at Magna? He said, 'you can think it, but 'cha can't say it', there's alot wisdom in those words". (grin) And that was the end of that, so i don't quite know what to think! hehe I think my husband has come to understand that he has no idea about my struggle with my weight. He can't change it, fix it, advise me through it, none of that. Like he said, I'm me. He likes that the band is helping me, he's encouraged that it will work to help me get my weight off. And he'd be happy with me at 170! I want 140 though. We'll see. I'm sure you didn't marry your hubby for no good reason, and his one idiotic comment isn't fully representative of any good sides he might have. You are no dummy so he must be alright for the most part. Men who are the breadwinners tend to take on the emotional burden of the financial responsibilities. Not that women don't, but for my hubby it used to come out in occasional resentments...I could sense them and he had no words for them. He's much better now than when I first quit work after our oldest was born. Part of his problem was worry about work. When he quit worrying, he quit trying to find blame for financial struggles. We are not rolling in the dough over here, but we get by. So it's much better now that his attitude has changed. It took almost 4 years for that to happen. SLOW, but he's better now. Love him through it. He'll be alright. You are the only possible winner in this game now, because you will lose the weight and look and feel GREAT! Despite him. Sure, he will enjoy your victory as well, but since you did it with the band, he's no longer allowed to be TOO happy about it! Let us know when he comes around. Have you showed him this thread? Dare ya!

Welcome to LBT, well, officailly. So glad you got all the info you needed. There is no way I could go through this without the support I recieve here. Congratulations!

I met Paula! I'd LOVE to meet Princess, I'll bet you two had a ball. Tell her to come out of lurkdom and POST!

I just don't know what to say either! I would be terribly dissappointed, too. Then I'd be mad, then I'd lose even MORE weight and turn into a real SNOT! That would be really hard for me to let go. I seriously would have a hard time not bringing that up again and again and again...pithy little comments every month or so...for years!!!! until he relented, if ever. Aw man, it's no way to live, really, holding on to his comment. I'm getting so mad just thinking about it!!! Shame on him. I'm going to ask my hubby and see what he says...I'll post his reply and he better do better than THAT! Good job on your 35 pound loss. I know you have worked hard for it, and you have every reason to be proud! Humph. (I'm mad at your hubby.)

hehe, you will need your fill at 6 weeks. I'm 8 weeks tomorrow and almost PB'd on grilled chicken breast for lunch today. Too dry, so I got some dipping sauce and it was fine from there. Be careful what you eat, but now is healing time, not weight loss time. I lost 15 pounds the first 12 days then stopped solid on the weight loss. Nada, nothing until just this week, I'm down another 2-3 pounds. BUT, I didn't gain and I ate to satisfy. Time to mix up your soft mushies (is that what you are on?) and add in some more foods. If you haven't, try guacamole. YUMMMMMM. That stuff has saved my butt on many occasion. I get an avocado and some powder packet of guacamole seasoning in the produce section. Mix in a little seasoning, smash and mash, very yummy, filling, healthy (lots of fat but good fat) and one avocado is more than enough. Yippee!! 2 weeks post-op! You really ARE doing this!!!

Brrrrrrrrpppp...'scuse me...so , burping, huh? Ain't it grand?! It's my favorite part of being banded, really! I just love a good burp so I must not get out much. For me, I get a little burp and that's my signal to slow down and get ready to finish eating. Few more bites is all I need. Some might call that the "soft stop" signal? It also reassures me that I have restriction, the band is there and working well. Burping doesn't seem to pose a problem for the actual band, so you should be okay there. Good job on your weight loss!