Twilight

By the time you hit your 100 lb mark you'll be in it! Fabulous accomplishment! You are dropping sizes like they are going out of style! Way to go.

Janet, Oh yeah...my biggest problem has always been carbs. I'm a definite carb addict. Bread is my big downfall. I could eat a whole loaf of garlic bread. If I could add cheese, it was a definite plus. My kids are just as big carb addicts. Nick would rather eat bread than anything. Mac n cheese is his favorite food. Mixed with a pbj and he's in heaven. I can't get him to eat veggies most days. Jaimison on the other hand will eat anything. Her favorite food is yogurt and fresh fruit. It's great that she is better, but I don't know how to change Nick's habits. I made Jeff a grilled cheese, pickles, and bbq beef sandwhich the other day...and when I was done with it I looked at it and couldn't believe the heart attack in the making I had just fixed him. It was really amazing that I didn't realize it until later. Okay....back to doing stuff I need to do. Have a great day ladies.

There is a book that I bought called "success habits of weight loss surgery patients" or something like that. It's a book full of stories about how people just like us did it and how they made it. There is a workbook that goes with it too, but I got it half way through my journey and didn't feel like I needed to go through that. I'm saving it for when my dh decides he's ready to take the journey too. And it talks about lapband people too. So many surgery books focus only on bypass. The stories can be very inspirational. Have you found a support group? Either online or in person? Even if that support group is just one person. It can mean a ton. Talking through the tough times is so important. And so much of this is in our heads and not our stomachs. We all need someone to turn to when we want to grab those Cookies. It's not in our tastebuds usually...it's deeper inside. If you feel like talking, you can always pm me and I will do what I can. Or try the mentor thread. Remember, this is one step, one battle at a time. I can't even say one day at a time because I know that I fight 3 or 4 of those battles with my head every day. I still have to fight through them. I know it WILL get easier, but I just don't know WHEN. You can do this too. Keep posting and keep letting us know when we can help.

Teech, what a stressful situation. I think we all know that stress can wreak havoc with our bands. And then how are you supposed to deal with the head issues we have weight wise when you have all the head issues with being on your own. The mere fact that you haven't gained is an intense victory. Celebrate it. And if you are still losing size, you're still moving in the right direction. I don't live by the scale or die by the scale most of the time. Take some time to heal. You have lost a serious relationship. 2 1/2 years is nothing to sneeze at. It had to hurt for him not to come through for you. On the other hand, you've made another huge step toward winning the new you. You took a giant step 11 months ago when you did THIS for you and now another when you said you are worth committing to. Just being able to stand up for yourself and say you are worth it is a giant leap! Good for you. It is scary to live all by yourself. You can do whatever you want and no one is looking. It is hard to stay committed when no one is around. I understand. My hardest times are when my DH is gone and I'm alone at night. So I know that demon you are fighting with. I think you know the answer is not to have the food around to eat, but a lot of that is easier said than done. If you can't convince yourself not to buy it, can you talk yourself into smaller sizes? For example, instead of buying the super size m&m's I now buy the mini bags and can talk myself into one or two small bags instead. The other thing I make sure I do is to take a small serving instead of a whole bag of chips. I take a small bowl, put the other away and then go to another room to eat it. Popcorn is wonderful but I now buy the small bags and dip it in cheese sauce. I hope you see, I treat myself, I just try to control portions. Take this time to pamper yourself with things sother than food. Enjoy the new clothes choices, even if you just go to goodwill and pick up something wonderful for little or nothing. Haunt the sale racks. Find yourself a pretty dress that you can wear out with friends and then plan a ladies night out on the town. Make yourself beautiful and enjoy your new found freedom. Don't worry about the scale. Maintain until you feel better about where you are emotionally. It will help I think. And just think how amazing it is to be able to MAINTAIN during such emotional turmoil. I'm amazed! Kudos to you. Keep us informed and allow us to help you through this. You will be growing stronger every day. I know it!

Kari, they have cinnamon fiber one packs. I bought the choc and the strawberry. They were on sale for .99 a box. I loved the strawberry one I had today. We'll see about the choc next time I'm feeling the craving.

Shirley, you are a cruising queen. I wish I was going. DH and I keep talking about taking one. We really want to do a disney one with the kids but want to do another one without them first. Maybe I'll get one by this spring. Do you have a favorite line....vs. not carnival? Fanny, your new man (pics on the brag thread) is gorgeous. He looks like he's tons of fun. I hope he is as wonderful to you as you deserve. Maybe when you give us new pics you can have your pic taken WITH him. hmmm???? Chris, you are so right, we have all done amazing things. I never would have dared dream that I would be here when I talked DH into this last year. I just can't believe it. Monday I go to my support group and I am so wanting to be able to say 90 pounds. I can't even explain how much I want that. I will get an unfill on Monday too. I just am still struggling to get solids in. I'm leaning towards mushies most days if I can even get more than thick liquids in. My PA told me that as you get closer to goal it is common to need to have some removed. They can't explain it but it just seems to be the pattern they are seeing. You get to a point and then seem to get tighter and tighter. go figure. I hope that Monday is my last adjustment. I think my PA hopes so too. Thanks guys for being so considerate about my fudging. I dod appreciate it. I'll talk to you all later. Check your computers for new pics and go post on the brag thread. I want to see the new yous for the holidays. I know for the first time in forever I am looking forward to the holiday pics.

I think we've all gotten away from really looking at our progress! We are all doing great things in our lives and so many times that scale seems stuck! Let's take some pics and brag all we want on ourselves! We have come an amazingly LONG ways in a very short time! Let's show it off! Strut it Merry Losers!

Oh....am I the only closet poptart eater? They were a serious addiction for me. There are still days that I can't not eat them. I LOVE them. How stupid is that? Anyways...guess what I found? Fiber one makes poptarts. Nothing that I want to overindulge in but at least I know that there is a better option when I need that something. Had a pack today. 190 cals, 4g pro, and 5g fiber. I will not eat a pack a day but I feel better knowing they are there when I can't take it any longer.

Donna, what seems to be going on? Sometimes just putting words to it makes it better. I think it was about the point you are now in the process when I started losing interest. The newness had worn off and it had really started to sink in that this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought it would be. About this time Karri found me and invited me over here. Here I felt like I could really share what was going on in my heart. It just felt like home. I hope you can feel like that on this thread too. I honestly think this is what a true SUPPORT group should be like. So tell us what you are feeling. A lot of times just saying it puts it all into perspective...and other times just admitting to everyone that you are going to REstart tomorrow makes it real. Makes you MEAN it. I can't explain it. But share with us. We are here for you. And if sometimes we sound hard or like we don't understand, that is SO not the case. We fought our battles hard. There were times for all of us that the battles black and blued us. There were times I was sure I was losing my mind. Others that I hated everything that everyone said. Talk to us here. We'll do what we can. This may sound dumb. ... but have you been getting enough liquids in? I always feel more ho hum, don't really care, hate it all, when I've gone a couple of days on very low liquids. How dumb it seems, but that's my experience. I'm listening....oh....and thank you for your comments on the December thread. That is my home board, but this one is my family.

Bra lines!!! OMG!!! 2 things. Go in for a professional fitting. I thought that was nuts and was NOT going to let some lady feel me up while I was trying on bras. Have to admit I normally don't even try them on, just buy. Well it turns out that all bras are not created equal. A good fitting/fitter will enlighten you. Second....I bought an amazing bra from SPANX. I ADORE my spanx bra. It's a front snap which I normally hate, but the way it's designed, there is NO back fat wedge. It is the most comfortable! But make sure you try it on, because it fits completely different than my other bras. ... everything else I was 36-38, maybe b maybe c....my spanx bra is 34D. But it is so wonderful. I LOVE it. I can't say enough about it. And so much nicer as far as bra lines. I LOVE it. Okay....I'm gushing. Good job on the 5 pounds! It's amazing how wonderful that makes you feel huh? I'm giddy today. I'm thinking about getting back on the scale so I can see that number again.

Quiltergirl, Is there anything that we can do to help you through those bad months? I know that when I post on these boards I do better. I have a group of ladies who are really pulling for me here and I don't want to let them down. I guess that works for me. I know it won't work for everyone. We are here to help though. If there is something you need to make yourself more successful, jump up and shout it from the rooftops. Keep asking until someone hears you and comes to your aid. Sometimes it is so hard to tell people we are struggling. We think that since we have the band that we shouldn't need any more help. But we didn't get fat JUST because of food and we won't get skinny JUST because of the band. Tell us what you need. If we can't do it for you, maybe we can give you guidance as to where you can get the help. We really do want to see you succeed.

Good for you Fanny! Even thought I am 11 months today, I wish to abstain for 1 more week. My darling bandmates, may I? I so want to say goal! I want to hit 90 before I hit that button. If it doesn't happen next week I've vote anyways but would you all mind if I fudged a week to see if I can make it?

:grouphug:Fanny!!!:tt1: How wonderful that is for you! Not only the mediums but that you have a new man in your life! I feel so excited for you. The last pictures you posted, that I remember, were quite a while ago. I think we'd better start a new picture brag thread! I'll get right on that! And you had better strut your stuff right on over to it! Three cheers for Fanny!!! :rolleyes2::Dancing_wub::thumbup:

Look at my ticker ladies!!!! It moved!!!!!!! It moved!!!!! It moved!!!! I thought I was stuck at that 133.8 forever. Maybe by Monday when I go to Minot I can scream GOAL!!!! That's my hope. Before I see my mom again I want to be able to say I made it there. That's next Wednesday night. I WILL do this! <she says with a growl> Going to take the big doggies for baths today. They need to get some moisture on their skin. My little girl looks like the poster child for head and shoulders. Poor thing. I know it's stress but it still makes me feel bad for her. I'm going to concentrate the rest of the morning on my house. Parent teacher conferences after lunch. I really hope it's a positive one. It HAS to be. Keep me in your prayers for that. Then tonight I'm going to get all my OPI stuff in order so I can check that one off my list. That all being said, I don't know how much I'll be online. Probably more than I want to admit because I'm such a procrastinator. grrrrrrr. Facebook has be a little hooked now. Going to run and get a few things picked up. Talk to you later ladies.....

Snowing pretty hard. We still don't have too much here in town but I had to go pick up the dogs at the groomer and they have about 6 inches out there in the country. It's not supposed to stay. I'm okay with it. It was in the 70's Halloween day. Puppies were loving playing tag in the snow. They really are a couple of nuts in some ways. I have to find a coat for my little girl. she's so much smaller than my boy that I won't be able to share them. Going to do that tonight. Tomorrow taking Allie to the groomer for a good bath and conditioning because her skin is so dry. I hope I can stave off some of her shedding. It's too cold for her to lose all her hair. Ladies, can I talk to you all a bit about underwear???? Phyl, maybe you don't want to hear about it. But Jeff has asked me to get rid of the granny panties. I never really thought of them as granny panties but he prefered the more "young" style. The kind I've compared to dental floss for most of my life and swore I would NEVER wear. Well....he convinced me I needed a pair. I bought 1 to humor him. Well....he insists that they do for my bum what my professional bra fitting did for my girls. I don't know if he's right and they really do, but he has been able to tell a difference this whole week when he's come home. He can tell me whether I'm wearing grannies or flossies. I'm going to admit I'm really excited he's not home for a couple of days because I prefer the other...but I never thought there was a difference. I guess I was wrong. Okay...going to go figure out dinner. I'll talk to you all later.

I think I'd be playing hooky too in that case. It's snowing here. Nothing fantastic, just cold. Not sticking yet. Tomorrow the roads should be a joy! I'm going to go curl up on the couch and watch some qvc I think. My feet are freezing and my heat just doesn't seem to be cutting it. When the kids are asleep I may actually draw a bath.

I love the new color scheme though. It will take a little getting used to, but that's alright too. Keeps us all on our toes. What are you playing hooky from? Did you have a math test today???hehehe

Yeah!!! Where is Ruby??? BTW, has anyone heard from Linda lately? I know she was having trouble being kidless. I think at this point I would too. 6 months ago you wouldn't have heard me say that though. I've tried to isopure but it is too strong. Anything liquid is pretty much okay in my system and since I have a ton of this unjury now I will make due with it. I need to order more protocinno shakes because they travel so well. They are great to have when family wants to eat at some place that just doesn't have any real choices for me. I seem looser this morning. Maybe it's wishful thinking. I'm going to stick to liquids and maybe try some thinned out oatmeal. Why push it? I do have the house to myself sortof. Kids are here but Jeff left today for Billings. Will be home tomorrow night I think. At least that's his plan. So since my kids won't eat anything but mac n cheese and sandwhiches normally, I'll indulge them and do what I want for me. I'll have to come up with some yummy soup for dinner. Maybe I'll make some clam chowder. mmmm...that sounds really good. I'd better get to work. I have a ton of stuff to do today. I'll check back in later ladies. Let's hear from the lurkers!!! Karri, I don't know if you are lurking or not, but hope your running is going well. You have a big run coming up I think. I've been thinking of you lately. Hope you're doing well.

Holy Cats!!!! This is a new look. Just wanted to stop and say goodnight. See you tomorrow ladies!

DH would rather watch some recorded show on tow trucks than care who the next president is. Pisses me off but what can I say? So frustrating! At 10 I will be turning on local news if I have to kill him to do it!

Hi there ladies! Hope you all are having a great day. Nothing too wonderful here. I cleaned house and ran errands today. Trying to get some of my OPI stuff done for the standards stuff but doing a pretty decent job of procrastinating. Jeff is leaving for a couple of days tomorrow morning and I will be able to work all day and all evening for 2 days. At least that's the thought that allows me to be here instead of there right now. I am able to go get a deflate next Monday. As long as I get the protein in I'm not too worried about it I guess. I could drive the 5 1/2 hours any day or the 3 hours Monday. Since it's not critical I'm not going to go the extra. Today I am on liquids. I tried a grilled ham and cheese with only one piece of bread and cream of tomato soup at lunch and chewwed until I thought there wasn't anything in my mouth...but obviously that wasn't good enough because it stuck me. Back to liquids only. I was trying to fudge the 24 hour rule my doc gives me for after a stick, but obviously they know better than me. A friend sent me some left over unjury she had. I didn't use it when I was on proteins. I have a whole can of vanilla and unflavored. I put a scoop of vanilla in my coffee today and that wasn't bad. I don't know what else to do with it though. I'm going to do a thread search and see what I can find. For now a lot of tea and coffee. Warm helps. I'm going to try thinned out kashi oatmeal for dinner with some of the unflavored in it. Hopefully if I keep it thin enough it won't give me trouble. I think I'm going to go do a little work and then turn on cnn and fox. I didn't want to watch at all today before I voted because I didn't want to hear any of the crap ads today. But I'm done now and I can't wait to hear the commentary. I chuckle at how biased the different networks are. Obviously they are struggling with the idea of reporting NEWS and not OPINIONS. But today it's done. I've voted and if my candidates don't win at least I can say, I tried. That's what I did with Bush. If you don't get out there and vote you have no right to complain about the outcome. I just hope we don't see more state shinanigans like we did in Florida a few years ago. Lawyers seem to be the only winners when that crap happens. Alright ladies. Have a good evening. I'll be back in a few hours to post my dailies.

I was doing alright until dinner. then I tried to eat some well cut steak. It was an absolute disaster. So much for liquid and protein only. I did get all my liquid in, but not protein. according to daily plate I got 700 cals, and 36 g protein. I'm hoping to get better protein tomorrow. I will make sure I do two protein drinks tomorrow. I would have done tonight but after the steak mistake I'm too tight to get even liquid. Tomorrow I'm sure it will be better. Thanks for making me stay honest ladies! I need you all.

Good morning ladies. I hope you all are having a great day. Nothing too stressful around here. Cleaning house. Playing with the kids. Just a quiet rainy day in Montana. I'm focusing my day on liquid today and protein. If it isn't in one of those catagories it isn't going in my mouth. That is my total plan for the day. Started with a protein drink. 15gms in. I think that may be more than I have managed to get in the last 4 days total....or rather that I managed to keep down. I'm going to fight these last 3 pounds this week. They are kicking my @$$ hard. No one to blame but myself and my own bad choices. But dangit, no more. I'm getting back with the program. I've been telling myself that I can't be doing too badly because I'm maintaining, but the idea is to get to goal before I work on maintenance. Duh!!!! I dodn't think I'll be proud of myself and say I succeeded until I'm AT GOAL. I look good, I feel good, I get great compliments...but I'm not going to be proud until I make my goal....so this week Im going to get back on track. I need my band family to be tough on me this week. Keep me honest. Keep me motivated. Keep me on plan. I know I can count on you for that. You are all so good at it. I'd better get lunch on the table. Have a good day. I'll be thinking of you today.

Those pictures are AWESOME!!!! You make a gorgeous nun Candice. Can I borrow the whipple next year??? Only thing....you can't see your terrific new figure of the year. Next year you can use my red hot woman in exchange. I will post pics when someone sends me some. I didn't have my camera either night so now I'm dependent on whoever took the pics both nights. We'll see when I get them. But you look divine!!!!

Hi ladies. I'm feeling very under the weather today. More about that in a bit. Janet, I thought you were dressing up as an AIG exec. I loved the idea. I was waiting to see pictures of the golden parachute!!!! Great complement from the boss though. How wonderful that must have felt! Phyl, I'm glad you didn't have to go eat something just cuz Earl wanted you to. I've never had lamb. I want to try it sometime but have never seen it offered anywhere I've gone to eat. I've heard it's wonderful. It sounds like you had a ton of fun at the street fair and Octoberfest. How were the grilled onions? I took my new babies trick or treating with the kids. It gave them a good walk and I didn't have to worry about them escaping when trick or treaters came to the door. Didn't dress them though. Maybe next year. Candice, I had a friend in college go as a pregnant nun. It was hilarious. I have to admit that, no matter how inappropriate. Now onto me....we had a lot of fun this weekend. My biker babe costume was a hit Friday night. The only downfall is everyone said that they never would have known who Jeff was if they hadn't recognized me. So I went as a red hot babe last night. With a mask and wig and cape....one of my former students didn't even recognize me. It was hilarious. It was a great time. Probably more imbibing than I should have, but it's been quite a long time since I've indulged like that....4th of July I think. On the down side, when I overindulge, when I get home I want to eat. And I decided that I could eat a sausage egg croissant. Whatever the hell I thought I was thinking. Anyways. I was up all night stuck. And it was a pretty powerful stuck. Croissant with cheese is how you spell disaster. It was ALL night up in pain. That was Friday. And then we were out and about all day yesterday. Not an opportunity to find good liquid foods. I tried the inside of a burrito. No matter what I tried it wasn't good. Tried to have baked potato for dinner. It didn't work too well. So I was starving by the time we got home last night and I tried some chips and queso...again bad decision making when I've been drinking. Was up again for hours with an elephant sitting on my chest. Tupid Teffi!!! Do you see disaster coming???? Went to church but almost passed out during one of the times we stood. I had to excuse myself half way through church. It was a tough drive home. Had to pull over a couple times because I was too light headed to go on. There has been a stomach bug going around here too. I think it's a combination of no food for 36 hours, very little sleep, dehydration from the alcohol, and stomach bug. Of course I'm not going to call it what it probably is....hangover. I don't have those....those are for kids in their early 20's!!! Whatever it was....it's not been a good day. I finally got a bowl of oatmeal in an hour or so ago. Working on water now. Will try something soft again in a little bit. I think I'm going to go back and get some of my fill removed again. Not tomorrow but the next Monday. I'm close to where I think I should be...but still stuck way more times than I should be. I don't get it because 4 months ago I had more than this and was too loose...but whatever it takes I guess. Okay....going to go lay my head down some more. I'll talk to you all later ladies.