steph_co

I think people should call themselves what they feel comfortable calling themselves. No need to cause a division in the group over a name. We'll know who you are out about on the boards. :cool: Maybe just put an '07 after your chosen name so that OTHER people know you're in our group, too.

Hi, ladies. I only have enough energy in me to drop in and say "hi," I made it. I'm keeping ahead of the pain using the vicodin and it's working like a charm - just making me weak. I'll try to give a story tomorrow.

Putty - my social worker said that nearly everybody goes through that right after their surgery - wondering what the heck they just did to themselves. She repeated this again and again and again - it's normal. She said a lot of people further on down the road in this journey may not talk about it much, because they have forgotten that it happened to them. Before you know it, you'll be loving the banded life as your size shrinks! I'm preparing myself for the second thoughts, so I know where you're coming from. You are strong! You can do this!

Good luck to you and your family!

I think my vote is obvious. As somebody mentioned in the other thread, the men can be November Satyrs to coincide with Nymphs. I think it's sexy. :Banane20:

skyeblu - If you want to participate in the Virtual Trainer, then yes - there is a monthly fee: ActiTrainer Online Data Analysis - ActiGraph, LLC. But if you just want your calories, steps taken, miles walked, etc, it shows all of that ON the ActiTrainer, so you don't HAVE to get on your computer to view all of that. The Virtual Trainer, you can input all your food and whatnot. There's a bit more information on the other threads, too, in addition.

Being on a clear liquid diet isn't helping my nerves at all. LOL I'm borderline hypoglycemic, so this is really hard. I worked last night and am working tonight (6p-6a). Then we leave in the morning for Denver to stay overnight before surgery. I'm starting to get really nervous...I guess just because it's such a huge step and it's so...permanent. I just keep telling myself I can do this. I probably won't update the day of surgery because after surgery we'll be driving back home (3 hours) and who knows how I'll feel when I get home. I'll try to get back as soon as possible, though. Surgery is at 9:15am MST. Thanks for the encouragement, ladies.

Thanks for the stories and information, ladies. I'm getting antsy for this Thursday, so reading this stuff really helps.

I start my clear liquid diet tonight at midnight (5 more hours to go!). I work 6p-6a and sleep during the day. I'm a little worried tomorrow because I'm driving up to Denver after work (3 hour drive) for my nutrition class and then coming back to work that night. I hope I have enough clear liquids to get me through the day tomorrow. :nervous:

Denise - Yes, you can put it on and one of the default displays is calories. I think the defaults were BPM, calories, steps and miles. I can't remember for sure. You can also set it up to automatically reset its numbers each night at midnight so you don't have to mess with that. You'd have to read the book to set that part up - that's not the factory default. It'll just keep adding your numbers up and up and up if you don't reset it.

Hope this helps give you an idea:

I want to add, here - you don't have to wear the chest strap unless you're wanting to get your heart rate. It'll measure all the other stuff without the strap. I put pictures in the other thread. Forgot to add, too, that the ActiTrainer starter kit comes with a 15-day trial to the Virtual Trainer, too. So you can decide if you want to buy. You can look at a demo of the Virtual Trainer by going to their site: ActiTrainer Online Data Analysis - ActiGraph, LLC. Type in actidemo for the username and user for the password.

How upsetting. I hope you can find the right words for your dad. You are making a good step in the right direction to taking care of YOU. To heck with what they might think.

Good job! I bet it's an awesome feeling.

It's $198: ActiTrainer Online Data Analysis - ActiGraph, LLC. Which includes the actitrainer itself ($178 on its own) a waist holster an arm/wrist/ankle band to hold the actitrainer if you choose one of those sites to wear it CD to set it up on your computer and the Polar heart strap. I think the Polar heart strap is kind of a cool little addition. I don't know how Bodybugg monitors heart rate, but Polar is the leader in heart-rate monitoring. This item on its own is $54 at other places: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Polar-WearLink-Transmitter-Medium-XX-Large/dp/B0007VB4IE]Amazon.com: Polar WearLink Coded Transmitter (Medium/XX-Large, Black): Sports & Outdoors[/ame] I would imagine being right on your chest by your heart, it would be the most accurate.

Fudge. I didn't realize it would put the ) on the end of that website. Here The ActiGraph - Technology of Health

I have an ActiTrainer. Got it because of the price, but I'm learning some things about it that I really like. I'll quote a couple of things from the ActiTrainer thread (forgive me for hacking up your post, fabgirl): The information is shown right on the ActiTrainer. And you can choose WHAT to show. You can do all kinds of adjustments to settings right on the trainer without your computer at all. There is a "workout" mode and a "lifestyle" mode. You can set it into Workout mode while you're working out and when you get onto the Virtual Trainer, it'll show a grey background during the time that you had it set to Workout mode so that you can compare to your regular Lifestyle mode. Lifestyle mode is the default. I have no idea if you can do this with the Bodybugg, but with ActiTrainer, you can also set it to recognize YOUR stride. Some people take longer strides than others, which could affect how many miles you are traveling in comparison to how many steps you are taking compared to other people. You can do your running stride and walking stride. Also, you can do sleep analysis to see how effective your sleep is. Wear it while you sleep (on your wrist) and you just go to sleep with it. In the morning, you can put the time that you actually got into bed and what time you got up. It'll then show how long it took for you to fall asleep, how many times you woke up, how long each waking was, and the percentage efficiency of your sleeping. I think this would be interesting to know if you always wake up tired! I plan to try this out on DH when we get the Virtual Trainer set up because he's always tired even after sleeping 8 hours. And I found this on their site (http://www.theactigraph.com): Study Names ActiGraph Most Accurate Commercially Available Accelerometer Yes, it was on their own website, but it was an independent study - not done by Actigraph.

Yeah, this Italian Beef does sound really good! Also sounds like it would be good for someone that is dieting. DH is going to be cutting back on bad foods while I'm getting banded, so this would be perfect! Thank you so much for sharing!

I think that's another reason I'm kind of scared to find a gyno. I've heard too many horror stories of doctors being jerks about weight. I didn't even want to go to an OB, but I went because it wasn't just about my life at that point. I think she's a regular gyno, too, but there's no way I'm going back to that office after they called and congratulated me for having a positive pregnancy test after I had miscarried (the draw was to make sure the numbers were going down). I will bite the bullet after the band, though. :paranoid

Great stories, ladies. Thank you for sharing them.

Wow, Apple. That's a very oversimplified assessment of the situation. It's much more complex than that. I realize at 19 you think you know everything (been there), but there is a lot of complexity to these situations that goes beyond physical attraction. Please don't assume that you have the answer to everybody's problem, that being a blow job. It's insulting and I'm not even dealing with things to the degree that some of these ladies are. You have hormones on your side at 19. Don't forget that. Get back to me when you're sneaking up on your 30's and beyond. Things change.

Definitely keep us updated. I like hearing everybody's stories.

I'm glad I'm getting the forewarning about not drinking when that happens - that would definitely be my first instinct. Yikes.

Hi, ladybug! I just wanted to welcome you to the board. I wanted to say something about people thinking you should wait until after the holidays (sometimes even yourself) - you're doing this THESE holidays so that you'll be sure to be around and HEALTHY for next holidays! It's a very worthy cause. You'll have a lifetime of holidays coming up because you've chosen to make a big choice for your health. I'm getting banded on the 15th, so I'll be right there at the same time as you. Longhorn - GOOD ideas! I wouldn't have thought of those.

You look great! Good job!