Brandy~

Hmm I smell troll. I am sorry but if you want to be legit you would use your real name and stuff to get the word out. If they stole your ID how'd you get back to the US? Did you file a report? If this did indeed happen I would urge you to use the real you.

I even get a tingle and I plow the docs door down to get in. I just constantly assume the worse. Might be good or bad. Either way I know right away which it is lol. The older my band gets the more I might recognize some of whats going on. Right now I take no chances.

Hey CC! Yes, you're right you're 96% of the way there rounding down since the 3rd digit is a 3 I wear petites but I will pass on the offer.. But thank you. I have 12's on right now and they get pretty stretched out during the day so I don't think much longer and I am gonna want a 10. Its amazing how I can be 45lbs heavier than you and be heading for a 10. Everyone holds the weight different. I have thick legs though so getting into the skinny jeans they make nowadays is out of the question lol

Oops I think I forgot to report on 2/23 I was 189

for example... if you started at 315 and you're 5'4" then your healthy weight is around 140. That means 100% of your excess weight is 171 pounds. You have lost 77 so you take 77 divided by 171 to get the %. You have lost approx 45% if you're 5' 4"

I was 271 and started as a size 22 TIGHT should of been a 24. What's your height I will tell you the percent

Candyman, Candyman, Candyman! Thanks! Ok so here is the whole scoop. I left on 2/5 for the hotel in portland at 5pm. We left for the airport at 6am on 2/6. Upon arriving im lied to and told that the plane was delayed because pilots had to sleep. So now the plane would leave at 2pm. We go back to the hotel... all 11 of us. We return at 2pm to find out that they lied! The plane flew in on 1 engine and that it was all over the news and wasn't repaired. Now we would have to wait till 1130 pm for the next flight... a red eye. There was no guarantee when we arrived what our connecting flight from Oahu would be either.. we were just told we would arrive in Oahu at 330 am. We finally get to Oahu and have to wait till the 530am flight... another delay. We land in Kauai and make it to our rental house well after 7am. I had an appt for the license agent at 930 am, the cake was delivered and the wedding was at 430.. Omg what a day that was. It's all over now its all about the honey moon. Jeez it was a mess but very happy now.

I was told not to use them for life because of the air. I find that if I drink through a straw I get uncomfortable quickly. I test the waters sometimes and use them anyway.

PJTP- I became a statistic of the economy last month. I didn't sweat it though. I did the opposite. I went to Kauai for 12 days right after being layed off then I shot off to Cali for another 6 immediately after Hawaii. I came back put in a resume and was hired 2 days later for the job. Just got home from first day there and I LOVE THE NEW JOB! Yay me.... Gotta have a glass of wine and celebrate.

Everyones right they are empty calories. When I got this band though I wasn't signing up for a diet. I was signing up for portion control :thumbup: Anything in moderation is fine even libation! I have a glass of wine each night and on the weekends maybe even more. I have lost 86lbs in 10 months so I am not sweating it. I do have awesome restriction... If I didn't enjoy my wine and chose to stop living my life then maybe I would already be at 100lbs lost... who knows. I am happy with it though. It's just a choice you have to make. On the medical side almost everything i have read says alcohol is fine... although there's addiction transfers that can happen. If you're addicted to food and cant have it you may begin to crave the alcohol... or so they say. I can drink carbonation is SMALL doses. It would take me a whole day to consume a soda I am sure. *Cheers*

To say this as nice as possible... Why the heck would you be getting it on with someone if you're not even comfortable enough to tell them you had the surgery. My 2cents and sorry if you take offense to it. No freaking way my knickers would be coming off to someone who doesnt know me that well.

All I say is portion control and exercise. That's the truth though :wink: They don't need to know I have a tool to help.

Yes the 5 day pouch test is great. I have no willpower and couldnt make it past day 3. However, by then my pouch has shrunk up so much I couldnt eat hardly anything after that. Good luck!

I have not read anyones response before responding to this thread. The first second that I notice that something is loose it is gone.. Period. I don't want to feel fat anymore or wear something that's slightly too big. I used to ship out my clothes free of charge to other bandsters on this site but lately I have been donating them to my local charity. I think I have had an addiction transfer since my band. I am kinda serious lol. I am fortunate my husband has a great job and can afford my addiction to shopping now. He doesn't eveen seem to care since I am way smaller than I ever was since we got together about 10 years ago. I work for a major jean designer and so I kinda have a jeans fetish (Now that I fit in them) I have 32 pairs and 7 of them still have tags on them. 25 of them are size 12's and the other 7 pais with tags are 10's just waiting for me to wear them comfortably. I refuse to keep even 1 size larger in my closet.

Congrats Carol! Maybe your body adjusted to all the liquids. Kind of like when we do the same exercise all the time and our body just gets used to it. Sounds like youre gonna get the weight moving again. I am sure the shoulder pain is probably the gas issue that lots of bandsters experience. My doctor told me it could be 1 of 2 things. That either theres still gas trapped in the abdomen and that it migrates north or that a nerve is pinched. You're doing great and I am happy to hear that you were able to get your band replaced and you're back on track :wink:

GDF-I forgot to add.. a healthy weight for me is 144 (the highest end of healthy. So my excess weight is 127 pounds because my starting weight was 271. I had to lose 127 and have lost 86. 86/127= 68% rounded so I have blown the stats out of the water. My realistic goal is 160 though not 144. So for my goal I am 74% to goal. I wanted to lose the 100 by anniversary too but I probably wont and I am ok with that. I have been too lazy to go out and work it off :wink: I need more motivation.

GDF~ We all have our little demons and I don't know why when were doing well we try to sabotage ourselves.. but we do. The first second that I lack any restriciton I take advantage of it lol. I know it's not funny but I do. I do very well when I have restriction though so it's like night and day. I never imagined myself being a size 8 ever again either but I have that in sight now. I though I would only get to 199 and I blew past that and kept going. I am 185 this morning. I bought 6 pairs of new pants for my new job and I bought all size 12 petites... well I wore a pair the other day and they stretched out. I went back and tried on a pair of size 10's... they buttons but was a little too tight. That tells me I am gonna be in 10's shortly. So if I can do it anyone can. You're doing awesome GDF so keep up the good work. I just take it a day at a time. I see a long term goal but I have to worry more about the here and now so I don't get frustrated.

My doctor quoted me 50% I think they just use that so people dont get frustrated at the slow loss and the plateaus. I have lost more than the 50% and my body acts as though it plans to keep going. I can't wait for the weather to get better so I can go outside more. Yes, even the worst day on the islands is better than in the 48 states :wink: Once we got there nothing could ruin my day lol.

I am super excited about the new job. I think it will be very challenging and that's what I want. I will be a purchasing agent for Levi Strauss. We went to Kauai for most of the time and took an overnight trip to Oahu. If I ever see all those hookers in Wakiki ever again it will be too soon. That was nasty. We had such a horrible time with our plane losing an engine and having a 16 hour flight delay they gave us another round trip ticket to the islands free. I think we will be returning again within the year. This time I will be going to Maui. I have friends on Kauai though so hopefully they will island hop to see us!

Carol you're doing great. You are doing way better than I would if I had 3 weeks of liquid. I am horrible I know and have 0 will power I am thankful everyday that I was a volume eater and not a sweet eater cause I wouldnt have made it. Stick with us and you will be fine. I have to admit I am back to drinking a glass or 2 of wine in the evenings. I guess it's ok cause I still lost a few since then.

On January 29th I became a statistic because of the economy and lost my job. I didn't stress it I took unemployment and left for my vacation to hawaii.. I came back on the 16th and then left for California on the 17th to return on the 22nd. On the 23rd I put in a few resumes of places I was interested in..... I just got a call today and offered a position for a job I didn't think I would get. With the economy this bad I can't believe the route I took and got a job so fast. I am excited about it and start Monday.

Thats just plain nuts. Think they wont touch you now.. wait till you tell them you performed a medical procedure on yourself at home with instruments off the internet. No one would come near u.

I drink a glass of wine daily. On the weekends sometimes more. My doctor said I am fine. You're right about the beer though. I can't drink beer makes me feel awful.

Hey Gdf.. I can second that. I don't think there's a cure for the food addiction. I have never been diagnosed with one but I consider the mass volumes of food I could consume to be an addiction lol. I think the band has just helped me to curb it. Unfortunately if I didn't have restriction I know I would be sitting in a corner somewhere shoving in a big mac. OMG I miss bread lol. Good for you getting back on track and it's nice to see you revisiting the boards. I was Awol for a bit because of 2 trips and such and I am enjoying catching back up.

Ok so the wedding was awesome I had alot of snags and delays... But what wedding doesn't eh? It's a really long story but it all went well and in the end I was married. The worst and best part of the wedding was I lost a ton of weight in January and my dress ended up being way too big and because of flight delays we couldn't have her alter it since the bride was sitting on the floor at that airport the whole night before the wedding. After returning from Hawaii the girls made an impromptu plan of doing an all girl trip to cali to hit the casinos... we started in eugene, Oregon and went down toSanta Cruz, California.... It took us 5 days and it was so much fun. So I am really back now! I just had my anniversary yesterday and I am down 83lbs. I was shootingfor 90 by 1 year so think i will make it. Hope everyone is well and I will try to catch up very soon