j.s.

I totally agree with Yoda, that baby food is just disgusting, it is no wonder babies are alway spitting that crap out.... I did too - cant blame em. I also wanted to add about eggs, If you scramble an egg with a little bit of grated cheese in it, that makes them softer, you put the cheese right into the raw egg before you cook it. They give me no problem at all that way- and really does not take much.

My thoughts and prayers are with you, speedy recovery whippledaddy!

Celest, I have absolutely no words to describe how impressed I am by you and what you are doing with your life (as I sit here 7 miles from my childhood home, as you can tell, I didnt get very far!) I am just in AWE! I cannot imagine the strength you have to be able to leave it all and embark on such a venture. Be proud - YOU are one strong woman and YOU can do anything!

My doc just told me flat out, you must be smoke free for 2 weeks prior to surgery. I just took him at his word for it. AS it was he made me go to that pulmonologist which pushed my surgery date back about a month. the patch really does help quite bit. I work at home so I would have been able to smoke anytime and the patch really helped me not to even think about it. Its tough the first couple days but then it went pretty good. it was 9 months later that did me in and i started back up. Just look at what you want to achieve.... this surgrey..... that should be able to get you over the hump. Hey Little bird, your surgery date is my birthday!!! It is bound to be a great day! :-)

I do my work out early in the morning too, it just seems easier for me to do it and get it out of the way. I also seem to have much more energy during the day when I do it first thing. I will be joining a gym shortly and will be there at 5 am so that just means 1/2 hr. less sleep for me, that is not too much to make it too difficult for me. another question - I was told you should eat something before you work out (which I cant that early) so I just drink some yogurt.... any thoughts on that?

Whooohooo John! You go until you feel your where you want to be- I know you can do anything you set your mind to! You are the MAN!

I had to quit about 2 months before surgery. They sent me to a pulmonologist because my lung capacity was low (helloooo, Im a smoker!) But I quit with the patch and the pulmonologist said everything was fine. I was able to stay stopped for 8-1/2 months after surgery but then ...... here I am at it again, just as bad as before surgery. I am ready to give it another go pretty soon.... My surgeon also would not operate unless I was smoke free for 2 weeks prior to surgery.

Can you use those patches on old scars? (like 15 y/o scar)??

I am so sorry for you. I have gone both routes with my two cats and the creamation is the way to go I think. It gave me time to decide what to do with my girl (havent decided yet, she is still in her little box on my desk). I guess I just am not really ready to get rid of her yet. I figure when I see that perfect place, I will know it and be more than happy to put her there, just havent had that feeling yet.

My gallbladder scar is nasty. I was to have it laparoscopic but they had to do an emergent open so I have a huge scar all the way across my abdomen and that puppy is something. It is getting not as thick as it was (it was done about 15 years ago) but it is something that will always be very noticible. (I was even sewed back a bit crooked!) so my lapband scars were much, much better than that one. My port scar looks thicker and pretty darn red still (15 mos out) but this time I was put back together correctly so that is a plus. I dont think PS will be in the cards for me tho.

I can join this club. At my last visit it was official, -5 pounds in 6 months (YES that is SIX months). I have not been eating bad or a lot, I have been exercising 5 days a week... still nothing. I have not gained anything and that is a huge plus but it does get discouraging every now and again. On the up side, my body shape has been changing this whole time, I am wearing small sized but still no scale movement. I am now trying a new defense, I have signed up at a different gym and will be working with a personal trainer to see if I can beat the scale. I have been getting fills as scheduled and I have been following all the rules diligently. I just keep plugging along and know that one of these days that scale has to move again.

I have not been able to wear my rings for quite some time now. I took them to the jewelers and they put on a sizer thingy for me and that was good for a couple of months and they said to bring it back when it got too loose,(I told her I had more to lose yet). I have not gotten back there to get another sizer thing put on. I will one day soon as they did it for free and it really worked well for quite a while. I didnt want to have to re-size it a couple times before I was at goal.

Nancy, I thank you for looking at that site and I value your opinion, otherwise I would not have asked you for it personally. If somebody else reads the same material you did and they find this all plausible and what they choose to do I say.... all the power to em, hope it works for them. I know whose opinion I will stick with.... thanks again.

Yeah I probably will be there. I have taken a few months off from the meetings so feel the need to get back in there regularly. I will let you know when it gets closer for sure.

MARGO!!!!! Whoooohooo! I am so happy for you! I can just hear your happiness in your post! You are kickin butt!

My psych counselor (who had to okay me for surgery) told me I could come back at any time I needed help. I am very much like Dianechef, that funny fat girl and then all of a sudden its like what the heck are with the compliments.... I had issues with this last time I did a major weight loss and packed my pounds right back so I would be "safe" again. I know this is an issue for me and when I start feeling "unsafe" I am going back to see that counselor to work on this (she says she can fix me!!). I think asking for help when you need help is the thing to do. Your fixing the outside, it cant hurt to fix the inside too.

Marc, Welcome to the board! Your post touched me in many ways. We all have our own special brand of fear and insecurity. You have taken the first step which is the scariest step of all, deciding what you must do to save your own life, making the decision and going forward. The rest gets much better after that. I have had my band for 15 months now. I have had no complications at all. I feel great. I have lost almost 80 pounds and feel oh so much better, physically and emotionally and look forward to losing another 60. I exercise now regularly. I watch what I eat, actually more than that, I actually KNOW what I eat now. I wish you the best and hope to see you around for the long haul! This place is the best, for laughing, for crying, for learning and just for being....

shelly, What a great spot to have a wedding! Your pics turned out just great. I wish you both many years of happiness! Congrats!

I was the fat kid (first diet at age 10) who became the fat teenager and then somewhere along the line I turned into the morbidly obese adult. I never liked the fat but just had accepted it as what I am ... I had no comorbidities. I also am the 10th child of 13 so my defining moment was when my brother almost had to get his foot cut off because he was diabetic and thinking he was just losing weight on his own but instead he had totally raging diabetes. And another brother had to have a heart stent placed just a few months later (hes diabetic as well with heart disease now). Now you have to realize I was 41, the foot brother was 46 and the heart brother was 45. If that does not kick your brain into high gear, nothing will. My family medical history is a train wreck (7 out of 13 have diabetes, mix in high blood pressure and heart disease). I needed to do something and do it qiuck. I didnt have the problems YET but that is the key word, one day I would and I hope to A) never get diabetes or :eek: push it back far,far into the future. So, that was it. I went to my doc, we talked WLS. I researched bypass first but was not comfortable with that and my husband was flat against it. Then I found out about the band and I never turned back. This is the best thing I have done for myself. My husband is happy I did it, he was afraid at the rate things were going he would lose me early (and I believe he would have). Being on the bottom of the family totem pole allowed me to see what is in store for me and I wanted to turn that around and run the other way.

Yoda - I am sure your right. I am sure people talk about me behind my back all the time but the thing is, If I dont know about it, how can that possibly hurt me. You cannot ever control what people will say about you to other people.... I figure if others care to discuss me and my life, if it is more interesting to them than their own.... all the power to em.... talk away.

Everything Kathy473 listed! I could go to the movies with you! I totally LOVE vampire movies. They are my all time fav. Blade is my hero. I really enjoyed Crash. I love Anthony Hopkins, he is one of my favorite actors, I loved him in The Edge. Johnny Depp is just total eye candy so I have to see whatever he does. Sling Blade is another I really like. I actaully really like Billybob Thorton, I think he is a great actor. Bad Santa is one of THE funniest off color movies I think I have ever watched....still cracks me up.

UPDATE: Well the hostas have been in the ground for a couple weeks now. I am sitting on the fence with this one and not gonna hold my breath.... they look a bit wilted and not as vibrant looking as when I planted them.... hmmmm.....I have not given up on them yet since they are still greenish and maybe something new is growing.... I think it would be best if I just never looked at them, then they wouldnt know I am expecting something of them and they would probably thrive.... A rock garden is starting to sound better and better to me.

This is such a hard decision to make. I had my cat, spike, for 18 yrs and she was diabetic for the last year of her life. I had to give her shots every day twice a day and even though others told me it was time, I wasnt ready.... well your never ready.... ready does not happen and then I had to do it and in the end wished I never put her through all that I did. Then my other girl, misty, got sick and was given a time frame of a couple weeks to maybe 2 months to live. I had learned my lesson and said no, tomorrow will be the day.... for I could not put my girl through something so terrible just so I would be ready.... again.... i still wasnt ready but I was much more at peace because I knew I did the right thing. I think this is one of the hardest things we are asked to do but I also believe it is one of the best things we could do for those we love.

Momsue, What I wouldnt give to have been able to do this way back then... good luck to annie and hope to see her on the board!

My biggest wow moment was back at chrismas, I had to buy a special outfit for a function we had. I was still used to seeing 3 x on my tags even though they were big on me. So I go to kohls looking for some dressier pants and a red blouse. I pick up a 3x. Go to the dressing room 3x is just huge. So i go back out and pick up a 2x same clothes. Go try them on, still huge. Now I am on my way back out literally muttering to my self, what the fu-, what the fu..., just astounded. I go find a 1 x and back I trudge, sure enough that 1x fit. I was totally flabbergasted. My brain was trying to wrap around this and I was amazed. Muttering all over the place, people must of thought I was a nutcase. I knew I was losing weight but since I was still wearing lots of my old clothes around the house and stuff, I was totally shocked to have been wearing 3x when 1x fit with room to spare. That was my biggest shock moment.