coolcrystal

Interesting! thanks for the graph!

When I was thin (115-135), women hated me and men adored me. But, I was never taken serious by anybody. People thought I was dumb and men just wanted to screw me. When I got over 200 pounds men still flirted with me, but it dwindled quite quickly and then I noticed women being really nice to me and treating me well. I guess I wasn't a threat anymore... I went from having like 1 female friend to having several. Women in the work place were nicer to me and invited me to lunches... and the men finally left me alone.. I got so sick of men sexually harrassing me. When this happened I didn't make much of an effort to lose weight, because for the first time in my life I felt accepted by women and respected by men! As for being prejudiced at places... the only time I get treated different is if I'm wearing sweats and no makeup and my hair is thrown up. When I wear my work clothes and I look classy people treat me pretty well. I have actually enjoyed being plus sized, until now my knees and back hurt so bad it kills me to walk around a store for more than 10 minutes and I have sleeping issues. But, If I were 200-245 I'd be SO happy still. I'm 290 now. Fifty pounds makes quite a difference. But, since I want to have a baby now, my doctor wants me well under 200 pounds. But I do worry about getting treated differently again. I don't want men sexually harrassing me and women at work treating my like shit again.

Sorry to hear this. But, how did your stomach "die"?? Did the band make it die? I guess I dont' understand that part of what you wrote.

Yep, the Psych eval and the dietician appointment were both pointless. I already knew all that information just from being on this site. I called last week to get the results of those two tests and she said "you were found sound for this procedure". That's all I got. What a waste of 300 bucks. I thought that I would at least get this huge analyzation of who I am.. but nothing.

I've said this before on here, and I'll say it again.. I don't understand why some lap band doctors require this dumbass liquid diet! My doctor puts his patients on phase 1 of the South Beach Diet and he says that it gives the same exact results as the liquid diet does. Cutting carbs completely out. He said he USE to require the liquid diet but realized people would cheat too much because it's just too hard to do. Why do these doctors require such a strict thing before they need to? I can understand why after the band you have to do liquids for a short while to heal, but before if you don't need to? STUPID!! If you do decide to "cheat" (I hate calling it that), I would do no carb items that are on that south beach phase one list (there is a thread you can do a search for it). Protein stuff like chicken and tuna. And then veggies.

I heard on Oprah not long ago that for every 30 pounds a man loses, he gains an inch of penis. So, this could probably help some men who have lost a lot of penis from weight gain. LOL.

Princess T, you are funny!! That's something I probably would have done. LOL. All ya'll got off easy! My test was 700 questions after a 45 minute lecture, that's right, lecture... didn't ask me a single question about me or my life... which you'd think a psychologist would.. he talked to me about how I need to exercise and that I should only eat 7 bites.. that was the magic number.. etc.. then he put me in a room with a computerized test with 300 questions and a SCANTRON test with 400 questions that I had to bubble in every single time. With a crappy ass pencil. I have carpal tunnel and disc bulges in my neck. After being bent over and writing for two hours, the next day my neck went out and I couldn't turn it for 3 days... I think that test was more damaging than anything. I left drained... irritated.. and in pain. * Can I get some whine with my meal? LOL * HA HA Actual questions on test: 1. Are you afraid of fire? 2. Do you have sexual dreams? 3. Did you ever steal anything in your youth? 4. Do you laugh at sexual jokes? 5. Is your sex life great? 6. Do you sometimes laugh for no reason? 7. Are you afraid of snakes? 8. Do you think people make their ailments out to be worse than they are for sympathy? 9. Do you think most people lie? 10. Do you believe in God? 11. Do you believe in Hell and the Devil? So, there ya go. NONE of these have anything to do with depression.. lol. They were just dumb random questions. I especially didn't see how God and the Devil had anything to do with anything. DUMB.

I wonder what happens if you get drunk and have to puke. I rarely drink, but I have friends who drink a lot... does liquid stuff come back up easily?

Cool, I'm excited about this thread! My doctor requires doing phase 1 of this diet for pre-op to get the band. He feels it shrinks the liver just as much as doing a liquid diet does. So, I would like to learn as much as I can about it. There are several books at half-priced books about it too that are helpful with meal plans and all other great tools. I will hope to continue with this diet after being banded (if I ever get the dang approval)

Wow Suzanne, I'm sorry to hear that. It sounds like your mom thinks this is a competition or something. Like she enjoys being the skinny person , but she knows if you lose weight you might look "better" than her, so to speak. Perhaps if she was obese for most of her life and then got trim, maybe she is sort of reliving her youth and behaving in a way she never could before. Remember the girl A I talked about? She had kids at 15 and had been overweight her whole life until she lost weight at about 33 and got that TT. I think she behaves like this because she had to grow up fast and never got that attention from men, so she behaves this way now.

Thank you !!! And you can do it too!!

I'm band obsessed too. Cute poem!

Well, I've seen this on both sides. I have two friends who lost a lot of weight and they are complete opposites, therefore have been treated differently by thier friends and family. Friend "A" lost a good amount of weight, got a tummy tuck and looked great. BUT EVERY SINGLE TIME we did anything together she went on and on about how awesome she looked.. and how men check her out ALL the time and I've been dealing with this for 4 years now. We work together, so its every single time I see her she talks about how great she looks and does say mean things to me about my weight. She has become obsessed about it. "I'm a size 4 now"... "I'm a size 2 now, can you believe it? Damn I look good".. and now she's a size 0... But, everytime we get together she preaches to me about what I need to be doing and has even made comments about how she can't believe I got married at 275 pounds! Now, I can tolerate this, but she has lost all her other friends because she has nothing else to talk about and she is very insulting. Oh, and she does this with her sisters, who are also trim, but she makes comments like, "my sister is so jealous because she's a 4 and now I'm skinnier than her.. ha ha, it's so funny to see her face get jealous"... so, now her sisters don't talk to her. I can deal with it, cuz I am happy for her, but its hard to see her turn into this type of person when she was so different before. Friend "B" has lost over 100 pounds and never discusses it, unless you ask her about it, and does not treat anybody differently. She hasn't gotten a big head about it, but has gotten more confidence. She doesn't preach to anybody about what they need to do and hasn't let it take over her life. Now, if this girl on the show was just sometimes mentioning it and excited, then her friends and family shouldn't get all jealous, but if she was anything like my friend "A", then I could probalby understand because it takes everything I have to put up with friend "A"'s insults and constantly being stuck on herself.

I'm an EA for the Engineering department at Verizon. I've been here for like 11 years.. before this I was a waitress which kept me trim. LOL. I got my business degree in 05', and after I get this surgery (hopefully) I plan to lose the weight and move up in the company. I don't want to start a new job and then get the surgery.. DISCLAIMER: If anybody is not happy with their Verizon Cell phone, there's nothing I can do because they are their own separate company. My department handles FIOS. LOL

Thanks Steph!! We had a wonderful wedding... something I'll never forget. You know what's funny though? About 3 months after me, we went to a friend of mine's wedding and she spent 16k on her wedding and it was shite.. she got a wedding planner... didn't do anything herself.. it was boring... and not half as nice as my wedding. She couldn't believe we spent so little. Granted, me and my friends busted our butts doing it ourselves, but we saved a few grand for sure and it was a way for the ones who donated their services to say "this is ya'lls wedding gift".. and that was cool.

Beka - I think one pound a week is awesome.... Please don't compare yourself with others' rates. I was watching the Biggest Loser last night and those people busted their butts working out and most of the women only lost one-3 pounds and a few didn't lose any and one even gained a pound. Then the one guy that was considered "lazy" and didn't do much lost weight and everybody was shocked. So, this shows you that all of our bodies are just different. (ESPECIALLY MENS AND WOMEN"S) But even losing 1 lb a week is still good... If you lost one pound a week for a year that's almost 50 pounds. In two years that's 100 pound loss. And will probably put you at goal. Good luck sugar!

I'm glad I can't/don't chew gum cuz of my TMJ disorder... After about a minute my jaws are killing me.. Which makes me worry about how my jaws will handle all the constant chewing I'll have to do for the lap band... and also that tube they have to stick in my mouth for the surgery... Now this has really got me thinking. LOL.. Good luck with getting the gum out! Somebody mentioned the unfill, washing it down and then refilling.. and that sounds like it could work if it keeps bugging ya.

Here are a few pics.. for some reason I can post from work, but not home.. don't know why.. Anyway, you can see the cheap dress, $14 bouquet and the main table that probalby has about 20 bucks worth of stuff on it... the candle holders were my mom's and the flower arrangement my friend made with a small portion of those flowers from Sam's. Rose petals were from ebay and so forth.. I think I mentioned this above in my other post, but it was a St. Patrick's Day wedding! LOL. Hence all the green..

Wow, all this talk is getting me so excited about my journey I've already got this stuff and I'm not even banded... hope this isn't TMI, but if your butt is "sore" down there, try A & D gel in a tube (not the cream). It makes it not sting and doesn't hurt when you go number dos.

Hey there! I have done three weddings in the last 3 years and they were ALL really nice. Two were under 2k and mine was 6k, but was more expensive because we had booze/wine, DJ, expensive cake, etc.. but, here are some things we did to save money: 1. Got a lot of stuff off ebay. I started early buying favors for SUPER cheap with sache' bags, bubbles, and the cake topper. I got major discounts. If you set a date or know your color theme, you can start buying now. 2. I got my wedding dress at David's bridal in the prom dress section! Silly I know, but the plus size wedding dresses were super expensive and I passed by this prom dress that looked like a wedding gown to me, so I bought it for under 200 bucks. 3. I made all my bouquets/bouitineres with flowers from Hobby Lobby when they had a half off sale! Made 4 bouquets with 40 bucks. 4. Had a good friend with an expensive camera take all our pictures. She took about 900 pics and did a great job. She didn't charge me a penny! 5. Found a place to have the wedding and reception at that didn't charge me to rent it as long as I bought food for the buffet. I got a little more pricey buffet at 25 a person, but they had some for 11 a person and I had like 125 folks there... and that was my big expense. I know a place like this might be hard to find, but they are out there. I got the place for an entire full day before and then the day of my wedding. 6. Instead of a DJ or band, play cd's on a CD player 7. We all know somebody that can make a nice cake 8. Go to Kroger and get several trays. I did one wedding where they had like 6 trays of shrimp cocktail, rollups and all sorts of stuff and spent 250$. That's not a bad deal. 9. If you have a church you are a member of, usually they are free if you are a member and will have a reception hall too. You can do the trays of food and have a small reception in there. My friends parents' church let her use the church and reception hall since her parents were members.... 10. For my wedding I went to Sam's/Costco and bought 100 bucks worth of flowers (which filled an entire basket) and my friend made all my flower arrangements for the tables as a gift for me. They looked gorgeous!!! 11. Use items from your house to decorate. We used my mom's candlesticks to decorate the main table and vases and such just laying around my garage. Lots of borrowed items. 12. Find a place that will throw in a free grooms cake with purchse of cake. We did spend quite a bit on the main cake (550) but it was my favorite place and they threw in a free grooms cake. But, my friend got her cake for like 200 and it was even bigger than mine.. His parents donated 1200, my parents donated about 600, so we spent about 4 grand out of our own pockets. Sometimes parents will be generous. His mom paid for the liquor, flowers and some favor stuff.. my mom paid for the cakes.. ** I attempted to attach some awesome pics, but for some reason it wouldn't let me, so if you'd like to see some pics of my wedding, just ping me and I can email them to you. You'd be amazed out how awesome a 14 dollar bouquet, 20 dollar main table and free grooms cake can look like. HUGGS!

Wow, I'm the complete opposite. I tell everybody my weight.. I don't hide it at all... Hell, I even told my boss yesterday and talked on the phone with my doctor in a cubicle environment and know everybody heard it, but didn't even care. LOL. I confessed it on my 360 blog and guess I just never cared about it... they clearly can tell I'm a fat person.. and usually when I tell them what I weigh they say "holy crap, I never would have thought". They always think I'm 30-40 pounds less or more, so maybe I do it just for the shock effect. But, I dunno, it's just never bothered me. It's only a number and doesn't mean crap... you look how you look and our bodies are all shaped differently.

Thanks! and it's been a pleasure reading your posts!! It's nice to see a happy person with the band :-) I read one recently about your wife and the bypass... I wonder if there is anything else they can do so she gets more nourishment...

Omnipak??? interesting! Something for me to look up and research.. Never heard of it before!!

Just found out that my lap band doctor isn't as aggressive with his fills as other doctors are. My friend has lost about 110 pounds with this same doctor this past year, but she's had several fills.... but she says she's never puked/PB'ed or even slimed.. I thought it was because her band was a larger size (her liver didn't shrink enough for the surgery) but after reading somewhere that my doc goes slow with his fills I called and asked the lady at his office about it. She told me that he isn't as aggressive with the fills as some doctors are because he wants to take it slow so you don't vommit, PB, slip your band, etc. So, because of this, you don't lose as quickly as others, but he has fewer issues with his folks. In one way I'm glad that he's not as aggressive because I see how well my friend is doing and she never pb's, vomitts, or is so tight that she gets sick, and though she's lost a lot, she was a lot bigger than I am, so maybe that's why she's lost so much in a year. I'm curious how aggressive your doctors are and if you think its a good thing or a bad thing.

At first when I discussed the lap band with people they would ALWAYS confuse it with the bypass and say "you'll die" or "don't they cut off your stomach??!"... I have my speech down to a T.. I say: "No, you're thinking of the bypass... this is the lap band.. it's an in and out procedure and most people are back to work in 4-5 days.. with the bypass it's like a 3 week recovery and they cut you all up and remove stuff and re-hook stuff up.. this is just a band they put around your stomach and if I don't like it or have issues they can just remove it.. I can even get pregnant with this... you're thinking of something else". So, then they are like, "ohhh, okay..". This site is a great source for research... I have learned so much on here; my lap band doctor said I was one of the most well educated people he's ever met to come in for a consultation about the lap band.. I even knew what unjury Protein shakes were.. he was like "I've never known anybody who has known what those were!" I was like, "Lapbandtalk.com baby!" Anyway, it sounds like you really need this surgery. Question: Is your husband obese too? Perhaps he doesn't want ya'lls lifestyle to change and has fears about you getting trim and him staying obese... or, he fears that you will get trim and look at him differently... there are lots of reasons, but I know sometimes spouses fear the home lifestyle changing.... one becoming active and another staying sedentary.