salsa1877

Alright so I have some positive news on the PS front. I called the doc that I was referred to and did get financing for in town and it looks doable. I have a consultation scheduled for May 7th and they have surgery dates open for when I need them in July so this is sounding more doable. It will make it nicer that the doc is in town. No more running over to the other side of the mountains to get medical care. just one of the many things that I don't care about our little town. But I feel a little better. I did talk to the doc in Portland and he just isn't comfortable doing the surgery. I think part of it is because of the distance and the other part is because he told me that it was not going to look perfect and flat. Because of my anatomy and the torture that 90+ pounds did to it for so long that I am never going to acheive that perfectly flat tummy. Despite my assurance that all I want to do is get rid of the 2 rolls, I think he still had reservations that I would be unhappy and sue him. I don't blame him, it just makes it a little frustrating that we are such a sue happy society. So anywho, I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that this works out. For me it makes it a bonus because this doc is a female and I think I will be more comfortable with that fact alone.

Whosya - You amaze me with every post! So I did my workout yesterday. 1.5 hours cardio and weights combined. So I have a crazy nutritionist that has told me because I can't eat enough food to stop losing weight, and I refuse to start eating crappy foods, that she wants me to slow down on the exercise. So I will agree to only do 4 days a week now. We will see how that affects my challenge. I may have to drop it by 5 hous and only do 20 hours a month. I had a huge rant on another board so if anyone wants to see what she said to me, let me know and you too can feel my frustration!

Steph that is great news. It is always wonderful when you make a decision and almost instantly feel better. Alright so I have some positive news on the PS front. I called the doc that I was referred to and did get financing for in town and it looks doable. I have a consultation scheduled for May 7th and they have surgery dates open for when I need them in July so this is sounding more doable. It will make it nicer that the doc is in town. No more running over to the other side of the mountains to get medical care. just one of the many things that I don't care about of little town. But I feel a little better. I did talk to the doc in Portland and he just isn't comfortable doing the surgery. I think part of it is because of the distance and the other part is because he told me that it was not going to look perfect and flat. Because of my anatomy and the torture that 90+ pounds did to it for so long that I am never going to acheive that perfectly flat tummy. Despite my assurance that all I want to do is get rid of the 2 rolls, I think he still had reservations that I would be unhappy and sue him. I don't blame him, it just makes it a little frustrating that we are such a sue happy society. So anywho, I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that this works out. For me it makes it a bonus because this doc is a female and I think I will be more comfortable with that fact alone. Oh and by the way almost all PS include a little "Kitty lift" as part of a TT. It would look really weird to be flat, flat, flat, what the H&LL

You would have thought that I would have gotten my calories in, but I still dropped to pounds to the dissappointment of my nutritionist and DH, but I was doing cartwheels as I made it to my current goal and into the 150s.

If VANITY = MENTAL HEALTH then I am vain BIG TIME. Not to mention that sometimes there are actual health issues with the excess skin. For one my back is being pulled out of alignment and I am starting to get rashes. For mean vanity is very painful. Remember this is your life and you don't need their approval. We approve of you every step of the way!

I am still looking at prices but my understanding is that if you can get your doctor to state that this is being done for a medical reason that it ABSOLUTELY is tax deductible. I was a self pay for the band and got to deduct all of the bills for that and I got back a chunk of change. Now it was NO WHERE near what I paid for the surgery but it did help the blow a little bit. I originally went through an internet site that guaranteed financing but the doc that went through the program is too far away from where I live, but if you live close to a big city that is an option. PM me if you want the website.

This is why you are such a GREAT MOMMY! Thank you and I know you are right. I honestly do believe that if people would not have known me pre-band they would not think I am too skinny. It is the people who saw me at my highest who think that I am getting too skinny. I am saying the hell with it and eating what I want (yes that means lower carb than most) and if I lose, I lose. (Funny when I would have said that I would say to hell with it before it meant as many doughnuts as I could shove in my mouth at one time, not eating healthier than people want!) As long as I don't gain I will be happy! And frankly I am celebrating the crap out of the fact that I got to 159 today. My DH was happy for me but really does think that I need to stop losing, but in my head I was doing cartwheels! Okay back to making my meals for the week. I feel much better

Up until about 1 week ago we were anti marriage. We didn't need a piece of paper to show each other how much we loved each other and how commited we were. However, we needed the tax benefits, the insurance benefits, and the abilty for my DH to take FMLA when and if I have PS. So for the legal reasons we tied the knot. So in a way it was kind of on a whim, but we had been planning for a week. I was a little hesitant to tell people because a lot of people get squimish when you say you are getting married for things other than just love, but I figured, hell this is my life, I love the guy but didn't need a paper to show it, and I am tired of caring what other people think. So know I will tell anyone. Besides now no one could try and talk us out of it. Really I couldn't have had a better wedding. I don't like being the center of attention and this was perfect. My dad was HILARIOUS and it is was special just because he was there. I just started talking to my dad about 5 years ago so I doubt that he ever even dreamed that he would be invited to my wedding, let alone being the one that did the ceremony. It was just really special even if it was VERY untraditional. I will post pics when my "evil stepmother" (can hardly bring myself to even call her that), sends them too me!

Janet - I go to the gym 4-5 days a week. I am really sick of people telling me that I am eating wrong (Not you guys, cause you all understand). First it was I was eating too much and all unhealthy foods. Okay I agree. Now I am not eating enough and TOO healthy. So I don't want to add back the fat and frankly I don't feel great when I eat a lot of carbs. I know that they are supposed to be great for energy, but when I eat a lot of them I feel sluggish and get really gassy. I know TMI. I FEEL BETTER when I eat my proteins. If you have ever looked at the blood type diet, I am supposed to eat high protein and low carb for my blood type. I don't know if that diet is hooey or not, BUT I can tell you this: I know my body better than any 95$ per hour nutritionist and I feel ucky when I eat a lot of carbs. I just got another email from her that suggested I go to 4 days a week for exercise. That is an option that I am not totally opposed to. I mean then I still maintain the habit and I think that it would be easier to add back another day at the gym then cut portion sizes and food types if I start gaining. MAINTENANCE SUCKS! Anyone want to trade me places. ADVERTISEMENT: At weight MARRIED female seeks still losing female to switch bodies for short term. Successful at losing weight, but suck at maintaining. Think anyone will take me up on it. Though I am telling you if you trade me bodies you get this belly to go with it. That would probably be a deal breaker for everyone. Sorry I am in such a sour mood. Just sick of this nutritionist. I don't think I am going to email her any more since she can't give me the advice I need. I promise I will come back tonight in a better mood. I just need to go do some HEALTHY, adequate carb cooking therapy!

I know I posted this in the Exercise Thread but since this is where we should be discussing this I will put it here too. I am trying to keep my chin up and hoping that I get some news on Monday but it is very disheartning. On one hand the surgeon definetly agreed that I need to have the TT but on the other hand wouldn't do it because of the extensive nature. I guess that I should be happy that he is such a good doc and isnt going to take risks with my life. He said that he likes to treat patients like his family and if it was his family he wouldn't let them have this major of a surgery so far away from home. REPOST FROM EXERCISE THREAD The bad news is that the plastic surgeon that we saw doesn't want to do the surgery because it is going to be VERY EXTENSIVE and he feels that it is too far away from home. He was a very good surgeon and feels that he could do the surgery, but the likelyhood of complications (separated incision, infection, seromas which is liquid pooling under the skin) would just make it too risky to do when we live 3 hours away. Plus there is more potential for complications when they remove a lot of weight and he expects me to lose 10+ pounds from the tummy tuck! So he refered me to some surgeons over here. When I called the 4 that are here on Friday these were the results: 1 said they wouldn't do the surgery because it was too extensive, 1 didn't have a financing program, 1 said they didn't have financing BUT they would try to get it approved through insurance because of my back pain, and the other one didn't answer. The one that didn't answer does use CareCredit and I did get approved for that last night so that is an option. Also, my SIL (funny to say that now!) lives an hour from the original surgeon that I saw so I have a call into him to see if he would do the surgery if we stayed with her for a month. She graciously said that would be just fine. SOOOOOO I still have options. Also with the ability to get financed through CareCredit, I can expand where I look for surgeons and have it done in WA and stay with my brother as well. My problem is that I am running out of time. I have to have the surgery done from the end of June through the first 2 weeks in July. Anytime after that I don't know that I would be ready to go back to work at the end of August. Before I go I have my weigh in news. It is mixed news. I lost 2 pounds so that means that I am in the 150s :regular_smile: But I lost 2 pounds and I am not supposed to be losing weight. Here is the thing though. I got into the 150s so I think I can now put my whole heart into maintenance. There was always that part of me that wanted to get there. Now I am there and now I can focus more on staying stable.

You are the "non-ordinary food" QUEEN. First the spag squash and then this. How would we live without you. I wish I had read your post prior to eating it. You are the second person (other one on the August board) that told me to rinse. Didn't do that!! I think it would have been better if I had. I don't know that I let it cook long enough. It was still a bit on the tough side. I like rice too, but I can't eat it. Gives me terrible pain. It wasn't bad though. Didn't have much flavor but I had mixed it with roasted garlic and sundried tomatoes so pretty much anything would taste good with those two things!

You look fantastic and it is good to finally put a face to a name!

Thanks for the tip. We did eat it for lunch and it was alright. No problems with it sticking. But I think that rinsing tip will help a lot. I got it in the bulk food section so I am going to have to go back and reread the directions because I don't know if I cooked it long enough either!

Updating my weight totals. I lost another 2 pounds to the dismay of my DH, nutritionist and probably doctor if he knew about it. But I moved into the 150s so I am FREAKING HAPPY! Name: Frangipani Weight loss from day of surgery: 86 lbs Total weight loss: 92 lbs Name: Candle Weight loss from day of surgery: 87 lbs Total weight loss: 101 lbs Name: Salsa Weight loss from day of surgery: 91 lbs Total weight loss: 91 lbs Name: Pammycakes Weight loss from day of surgery: 88 lbs Total weight loss: 90 lbs Name: Ceradad Weight loss from day of surgery: 85 Total weight loss: 105 Name: KarenG. Weight loss from day of surgery: 79 Total weight loss: 79 Name: NanaRenan Weight loss from day of surgery: 52 Total weight loss: 72 Name: TexasBecky Weight loss from day of surgery: 96 Total weight loss: 106 Name: SPEBSQSAlady Weight loss from day of surgery: 57.8 Total weight loss: 57.8 Name: Brandottie01 Weight loss from day of surgery: 23 lbs Total weight loss: Name: Bergdorfblonde Weight loss from day of surgery: 32 lbs Total weight loss: 32 lbs Name: Gometros Weight loss from day of surgery: 52.9 lbs Total weight loss: 74.9 Name: Pizzicato66 Weight loss from day of surgery: 66 Total weight loss: 78 Name: Valstar Weight loss from day of surgery: 52 lbs Total weight loss: 57 lbs Name:Gweniper weight loss from day of surgery: 48 total weight loss: 82 Name: purplegirl1818 weightloss from day of surgery: 73.5lbs total weight loss: 90.5lbs Name: LessNLess weightloss from day of surgery: 51lbs total weight loss: 57lbs Name: JudiM weightloss from day of surgery: 62lbs total weight loss: ?? Name: hf2havefun Weight loss from day of surgery: 35 lbs Total weight loss: 50 lbs

BIG @$$ RANT COMING! Not about the DH though, he is great! My stupid nutritionist just called me. She told me that I was supposed to email her if I lost more than 1 pound, so I did. She is UPSET with my food choices. Here are her complaints. 1. Too much Protein (WTF:confused2:, I thought we were supposed to be eating protein) 2. Not enough carbs (I have more than doubled my daily carbs:thumbdown:) 3. Too much processed food (Processed???? :cursing:3 Protein Bars per week is TOO much processed food. She is mad because I have to eat canned fruit...I am sorry that I live in the back 40 and I REFUSE to pay 2.98$ a pound for hard peaches!) 4. Too little fat (:blink:Again at least doubled what I was eating) 5. Too much cheese (Uhhhh.:regular_smile:...hello LOOK AT #4...didn't she just say I needed more fat! Plus I can't do other dairy so I need it for my calcium) 6. Too big of meals (UHHHH...don't I need to be UPPING the calories this is the only way I can do it:ohmy:) 7. Taking too long to eat ( NO #^$%&*@:biggrin: but my fill is tigher than it should be, but I can't get to my doc to have some of it taken out. I am going to have a complete unfill before my TT if I have that this summer) 8. Eating too much lettuce (:sneaky:Just picture me shaking my head on this one. She says that it doesn't have any nutritional value so I should switch to something else like spinach. Well I don't like raw spinach. Cooked is yummy) 9. REDUCE MY EXERCISING....WHAT THE HELL... Yep this was so preposterous that I actually wrote out all the words. Her thought is that I could eat less then and not burn up the calories. Holy Crap...Sorry I thought I was exercising for health benefits, but I guess I was mistaken. I feel like I wasted 95$ because I can't do what she wants me to. I don't have the money and we just don't have the fresh fruits and veggies over here. It took me going to THREE :scared2:stores before I could find green peppers that didn't look like that were rotting on the shelf. Alright I feel a little better now but all she did was ridicule what I ate and is afraid that I may be miscounting my calories because when she calculated my meals it came out to 2000 (this was from Mon and Tues meals from last week). Well obviously I was not eating that much considering I lost another 2 pounds. FRUSTRATING. Ruby I will switch you screen names for a day! GRRRRRRR

Thanks for the help. Here is the post that I wrote somewhere else, but you have all been helpful so I thought I would post here as well. So I went in for my consult on Friday and I didn't get good news. The plastic surgeon that we saw doesn't want to do the surgery because it is going to be VERY EXTENSIVE and he feels that it is too far away from home. He said to do it I would need, MR, the regular horizontal TT incision and then a vertical "T-incision" as well. He said I have NO elasticity left in my skin! He was a very good surgeon and feels that he could do the surgery, but the likelyhood of complications (separated incision, infection, seromas) would just make it too risky to do when we live 3 hours away. Plus he said that with them removing 10-15 pounds of fat the shock to the system could be too great for me to be that far away. So he refered me to some surgeons over here (we don't live in a big city AT ALL!) When I called the 4 that are here on Friday these were the results: 1 said they wouldn't do the surgery because it was too extensive, 1 didn't have a financing program, 1 said they didn't have financing BUT they would try to get it approved through insurance because of my back pain, and the other one didn't answer. The one that didn't answer does use CareCredit and I did get approved for that last night so that is an option. Also, my SIL lives an hour from the original surgeon that I saw so I have a call into him to see if he would do the surgery if we stayed with her for a month. She graciously said that would be just fine. SOOOOOO I still have options. Also with the ability to get financed through CareCredit, I can expand where I look for surgeons and have it done in WA and stay with my brother as well. My problem is that I am running out of time. I have to have the surgery done from the end of June through the first 2 weeks in July. Anytime after that I don't know that I would be ready to go back to work at the end of August. I am a high school teacher...from what you have experienced how long before you think I could go back full time. Would 1 month be enough considering the first week is just inservices where we don't do anything and then I could sit and teach for the first couple of weeks as well. I would work from 6:30 am to 3:00pm and half days are NOT an option.

So I went in for my consult on Friday and I didn't get good news. The plastic surgeon that we saw doesn't want to do the surgery because it is going to be VERY EXTENSIVE and he feels that it is too far away from home. He said to do it I would need, MR, the regular horizontal TT incision and then a vertical "T-incision" as well. He said I have NO elasticity left in my skin! He was a very good surgeon and feels that he could do the surgery, but the likelyhood of complications (separated incision, infection, seromas) would just make it too risky to do when we live 3 hours away. Plus he said that with them removing 10-15 pounds of fat the shock to the system could be too great for me to be that far away. So he refered me to some surgeons over here (we don't live in a big city AT ALL!) When I called the 4 that are here on Friday these were the results: 1 said they wouldn't do the surgery because it was too extensive, 1 didn't have a financing program, 1 said they didn't have financing BUT they would try to get it approved through insurance because of my back pain, and the other one didn't answer. The one that didn't answer does use CareCredit and I did get approved for that last night so that is an option. Also, my SIL lives an hour from the original surgeon that I saw so I have a call into him to see if he would do the surgery if we stayed with her for a month. She graciously said that would be just fine. SOOOOOO I still have options. Also with the ability to get financed through CareCredit, I can expand where I look for surgeons and have it done in WA and stay with my brother as well. My problem is that I am running out of time. I have to have the surgery done from the end of June through the first 2 weeks in July. Anytime after that I don't know that I would be ready to go back to work at the end of August.

I don't know when the pics will be posted. My dad's wife is really weird. She wouldn't take pics with our camera because she likes control. I will bug her though.

Jody - So I think you should take it this way...You are somewhat responsible for helping her get healthy and lose the weight. Obviously it was you walking that got her started so without YOU she would still be fat. I mean now you can take credit for your weightloss and part of hers too! Just trying to find a glimmer of hope in there. It always is frustrating when people try to out do you! So I did do my food logging and I am going to post what I ate so that people can see what kinds of foods you can eat when you are eating out all weekend. Here is what I ate Friday morning: 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of fruit (Went to a little diner/cafe) Lunch: 1/4 whole chicken with a little BBQ sauce, 1/4 cup baked yam, 2 spears of asparagus, 1 bite of biscuit (got kinda stuck!) (Went to Claim Jumper) Dinner: Shared an appetizer/fondue taster with DH and had a side of sauteed spinach (went to this wonderful German Restaurant) Saturday Breakfast: A Protein bar (it was WAY too rich and made me sick!) lunch (Wedding lunch!) We split a make your own Pasta bowl but I took the shrimp, mushrooms and artichokes with about 6 noodles while DH ate the rest. Dinner: Chicken fried steak and potatoes. Eating out can be VERY difficult, but I luck out in the DH and I split everything. We just need to remember to have them not split it in the kitchen. We end up with WAY too much food then and they serve it too me on too big of a plate. Here is a tip though. Often times if you go to a place like Chili's or Applebees or something like that, you can get a side of chicken breast. There is a restaurant in town that we go to and I often will order that, eat some of what DH is having and and 1/2 the chicken breast. We can't be afraid to order stuff that is not on the menu. I find that they will work with you more if you are willing to tell them WHY you need specialty items. I can get most waitresses to serve me the kids menu if I tell them I had lap-band surgery. Though like I said before I am very lucky that DH and I have similar enough tastes that I can just eat with him.

Alright so I have been MIA for a few days because I had a big weekend. It was plastic surgery consult and I got married. Yep, it was VERY low key but it was fun. We didn't have a ceremony, just went to lunch and my dad did the officiating. I am going to copy a post that I wrote on the July board that I also post on. I am tired and don't want to write the entire thing over again! I know that it isn't totally about working out (though I did get in 2 workouts this weekend for a total of 2 hours!), but you are all my friends here and I wanted to share! SO FIRST THE WEDDING! I honestly have to say that the wedding was probably the funniest one that I have ever been to. We went to the macaroni Grill (which my brother kept calling the Macaroni Hut!). Our waiter had just been married the weekend before and really didn't quite get that we were getting married right then and there. He kept talking about where we were going to get married. It finally sunk in when my dad pulled out his cell phone and started playing the wedding march so that we could begin the ceremony. He became ordained through the Universal Life Church online and took it to the extreme. He ordered his "Doctor of Divinity" packet that came with an official badge (which he wore), a parking permit (which he had hanging from his rearview mirror), a "Doctor of Divinity" Window decal which was also hanging in the car. Lee (my DH) and I were wearing matching outfits from the World of Warcraft game that we play. So we begin the vows and my dad is going through all the vows (in different languages, because his kit contained different varieties) and we are all laughing so hard that I am crying. So we finally swap our rings (just wait for the pictures!) and say our I do's. By the end our waiters were laughing, the people behind us were laughing, and our table was grabbing their sides from laughing so hard. It was very fun. My dad's wife took the pictures and is supposed to be sending them to us today. We will see though! So that was the good news. The bad news is that the plastic surgeon that we saw doesn't want to do the surgery because it is going to be VERY EXTENSIVE and he feels that it is too far away from home. He was a very good surgeon and feels that he could do the surgery, but the likelyhood of complications (separated incision, infection, seromas which is liquid pooling under the skin) would just make it too risky to do when we live 3 hours away. Plus there is more potential for complications when they remove a lot of weight and he expects me to lose 10+ pounds from the tummy tuck! So he refered me to some surgeons over here. When I called the 4 that are here on Friday these were the results: 1 said they wouldn't do the surgery because it was too extensive, 1 didn't have a financing program, 1 said they didn't have financing BUT they would try to get it approved through insurance because of my back pain, and the other one didn't answer. The one that didn't answer does use CareCredit and I did get approved for that last night so that is an option. Also, my SIL (funny to say that now!) lives an hour from the original surgeon that I saw so I have a call into him to see if he would do the surgery if we stayed with her for a month. She graciously said that would be just fine. SOOOOOO I still have options. Also with the ability to get financed through CareCredit, I can expand where I look for surgeons and have it done in WA and stay with my brother as well. My problem is that I am running out of time. I have to have the surgery done from the end of June through the first 2 weeks in July. Anytime after that I don't know that I would be ready to go back to work at the end of August. Before I go I have my weigh in news. It is mixed news. I lost 2 pounds so that means that I am in the 150s :regular_smile: But I lost 2 pounds and I am not supposed to be losing weight. Here is the thing though. I got into the 150s so I think I can now put my whole heart into maintenance. There was always that part of me that wanted to get there. Now I am there and now I can focus more on staying stable. Okay last thing before I sign off. Has any one tried QUINOA? I bought some yesterday because my nutritionist suggested it and we are going to have it with lunch today. It is supposed to be a perfect Protein (means it has all the essential amino acids that we need) but is supposed to cook like rice. I was hoping to see if someone had eaten it and know if it sticks like rice. If it does I might be in trouble.

I'm BAAAAACCCCKKKK! Thank you for all of your warm wishes. I honestly have to say that the wedding was probably the funniest one that I have ever been to. We went to the macaroni Grill (which my brother kept calling the Macaroni Hut!). Our waiter had just been married the weekend before and really didn't quite get that we were getting married right then and there. He kept talking about where we were going to get married. It finally sunk in when my dad pulled out his cell phone and started playing the wedding march so that we could begin the ceremony. He became ordained through the Universal Life Church online and took it to the extreme. He ordered his "Doctor of Divinity" packet that came with an official badge (which he wore), a parking permit (which he had hanging from his rearview mirror), a "Doctor of Divinity" Window decal which was also hanging in the car. Lee (my DH) and I were wearing matching outfits from the World of Warcraft game that we play. So we begin the vows and my dad is going through all the vows (in different languages, because his kit contained different varieties) and we are all laughing so hard that I am crying. So we finally swap our rings (just wait for the pictures!) and say our I do's. By the end our waiters were laughing, the people behind us were laughing, and our table was grabbing their sides from laughing so hard. It was very fun. My dad's wife took the pictures and is supposed to be sending them to us today. We will see though! So that was the good news. The bad news is that the plastic surgeon that we saw doesn't want to do the surgery because it is going to be VERY EXTENSIVE and he feels that it is too far away from home. He was a very good surgeon and feels that he could do the surgery, but the likelyhood of complications (separated incision, infection, seromas which is liquid pooling under the skin) would just make it too risky to do when we live 3 hours away. Plus there is more potential for complications when they remove a lot of weight and he expects me to lose 10+ pounds from the tummy tuck! So he refered me to some surgeons over here. When I called the 4 that are here on Friday these were the results: 1 said they wouldn't do the surgery because it was too extensive, 1 didn't have a financing program, 1 said they didn't have financing BUT they would try to get it approved through insurance because of my back pain, and the other one didn't answer. The one that didn't answer does use CareCredit and I did get approved for that last night so that is an option. Also, my SIL (funny to say that now!) lives an hour from the original surgeon that I saw so I have a call into him to see if he would do the surgery if we stayed with her for a month. She graciously said that would be just fine. This is the lady that cuts my hair. SOOOOOO I still have options. Also with the ability to get financed through CareCredit, I can expand where I look for surgeons and have it done in WA and stay with my brother as well. My problem is that I am running out of time. I have to have the surgery done from the end of June through the first 2 weeks in July. Anytime after that I don't know that I would be ready to go back to work at the end of August. I went through and read the posts but I can't remember who I need to respond to. I will be back on later today and respond but apparently we are going to the store. But before I go I have my weigh in news. It is mixed news. I lost 2 pounds so that means that I am in the 150s :regular_smile: But I lost 2 pounds and I am not supposed to be losing weight. Here is the thing though. I got into the 150s so I think I can now put my whole heart into maintenance. There was always that part of me that wanted to get there. Now I am there and now I can focus more on staying stable. Oh I know there were questions on eating out. It was tough this weekend because we ate out all but 1 meal. I did really well (except for the 1 piece of chicken fried steak and potatoes that I had last night) but even that was a small piece. Here is what I ate Friday morning: 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of fruit (Went to a little diner/cafe) Lunch: 1/4 whole chicken with a little BBQ sauce, 1/4 cup baked yam, 2 spears of asparagus, 1 bite of biscuit (got kinda stuck!) (Went to Claim Jumper) Dinner: Shared an appetizer/fondue taster with DH and had a side of sauteed spinach (went to this wonderful German Restaurant) Saturday Breakfast: A Protein bar (it was WAY too rich and made me sick!) lunch (Wedding lunch!) We split a make your own Pasta bowl but I took the shrimp, mushrooms and artichokes with about 6 noodles while DH ate the rest. Dinner: Chicken fried steak and potatoes. Eating out can be VERY difficult, but I luck out in the DH and I split everything. We just need to remember to have them not split it in the kitchen. We end up with WAY too much food then and they serve it too me on too big of a plate. Here is a tip though. Often times if you go to a place like Chili's or Applebees or something like that, you can get a side of chicken breast. There is a restaurant in town that we go to and I often will order that, eat some of what DH is having and and 1/2 the chicken breast. We can't be afraid to order stuff that is not on the menu. I find that they will work with you more if you are willing to tell them WHY you need specialty items. I can get most waitresses to serve me the kids menu if I tell them I had lap-band surgery. Though like I said before I am very lucky that DH and I have similar enough tastes that I can just eat with him. Okay last thing before I sign off. Has any one tried QUINOA? I bought some yesterday because my nutritionist suggested it and we are going to have it with lunch today. It is supposed to be a perfect protein (means it has all the essential amino acids that we need) but is supposed to cook like rice. I was hoping to see if someone had eaten it and know if it sticks like rice. If it does I might be in trouble. Janet - Sushi would be the death of me! Talk to you later

Happy Birthday Jody!:bolt::party:

I was a self pay and spent 17000$ which covered all follow up care (including ANY reoperations with all fees, and fill for 2 years). I am going to be dropping another 8500$ on a TT soon. I took out a loan with a HUGE interest rate but happily write the check every month. People drop this kind of money on cars all the time and they will last about 5-10 years. This body is mine for life. The best money I have ever spent. I have never been happier!

I am so sorry to hear this happened to you. But seeing how well you have done, it appears that you have learned good new habits and will be able to carry them throughout your tough time without the band. Keep your chin up and know that you can post here even if you don't have your band. In fact now would be the time to stay connected even more so that we can help you through the rough times.

So I just wanted to let people know that I am going to be gone for the next couple of days. We decided we are going to leave tonight and stay in a hotel tonight and tomorrow so that we don't have to get up at 5:00 to leave and drive to the PS consult tomorrow. I want to sleep in tomorrow! I have had two 4AM days this week and I don't want any more! I don't know if I will have internet or not, but will take my laptop with me just incase. Consult tomorrow, married on Saturday! We will post a picture of the two of us together. I think it will be the first time that we will have a decent picture together. I know it is hard to imagine but I didn't like my picture taken when I was fat. I know...the only person in the world, right!