Wheetsin

Mine moved this morning a little, too. Like a pound. 280 even. But a pound out is better than a pound in. I've been looking at my weightloss calendar. I started July at 304 and ended it at 291. I started August at 291, and so far I'm at 280. It won't go much below that in a few days, maybe another pound or two. June saw 314 - 303. So it would seem that I've fallen into a bit of a "10 lbs a month" groove. I can dig that, if I can keep up with it. I'd take 240 for new year's.

Still not hungry. Just ate about 10 pepperoni and two spoons of cottage cheese, to try and keep my metablosim up & for the protein.

Guys check me out just on account of being a red head. :heh: :heh:

So Cynthia what ended up being wrong with the original band, did he say? Robyn - I didn't. To be honest I COMPLETELY forgot about it.

People say "oh god" all the time. It has become, for many, just another phrase with no more significance than "oh my" or "wow" -- a meaningless custom. When someone sneezes I don't say, "May humanity bring benefits to you" -- I say "bless you". Am I really blessing them? Not any more than I'm really trying to keep an evil entity from taking over their bodies, or expressing joy that their heart started again, or any of the other reasons quoted for why we say that. I say it because that's what you say when someone sneezes. When I sneeze and someone says, "Bless you" I don't get offended because words only have the meaning you allow them to have. You can make a point of being an atheist, like many feminists make a point of it, or you can just "be", and you happen to be an atheist too.

That's where I was yesterday, and here's how I ended: Protein Drink. Never got hungry lastnight, but did the protein b/c I knew I had to. See what I mean? Just absolutely no appetite. I haven't chewed food since noon yesterday, and I'm still not having the slightest sign of hunger. This is how it has been for me since day 2 of the pre-op liquid diet, so for almost 6 months now. I very, very rarely feel hunger, and certainly eat when I do... I just don't have an appetite any more. About 3 mos into this I called the dietician and asked her if I needed to worry about anything. People are starting to get concerned because I eat such small amounts when I do eat, and on top of that I'm just not really eating that frequently. She said that as long as I got my protein in, I had nothing to worry about. *shrug*

Pain in the chest, waist, and eventually back. Abdominal spasms that literally take my breath away. Hiccups that will bring tears to my eyes, not from pain, just from the shear force of the hiccups. Tightness in the throat, difficulty swallowing. If the stick lasts long enough I will begin to near a sort of "panic" feeling, even though I'm not panicking at all, and will have to focus on breathing.

Dawg, that's not a failing, that's your personality. Embrace it, flex when needed, but never consider it a failure.

You guys have been posting fools while I was otherwise occupied. I think I kinda have the opposite problem. I think my plateau may be caused by not eating enough calories. Honestly. But I just don't think I can eat anymore unless I go to high calorie foods, which I don't want to do. Here's what I eat in a typical day, including some eating that I do when not hungry, just to get the calories/protein... Don't eat breakfast because I'm usually too tight, and not hungry, but if I do get hungry I will have an orange juice protein drink, or a protein bar, or maybe a SF jello w/ protein powder mixed in. I eat breakfast maybe once or twice a month, MAYBE. Lunch is usually 25 pepperoni chips. Usually that's all I eat. Sometimes if I'm hungry I will add some cottage cheese or tuna salad. Occasionally lunch is leftovers, but MAYBE 3 or 4 times a month. Dinner is usually something I cook or take out. Chipotle is a big convenience food for me. If I cook it's usually chicken, sometimes fish, occasionally pork. I don't do red meat. I will usually take meat the size of a plum or smaller... like ONE chicken tender, or a half a fish filet. I'll usually have a "soft" side dish with dinner. Lots of potato things - baked fries, tatertots, mashed. Or some wax beans, or some fruit, or cottage cheese. Often I'll have just the meat b/c I'm just not hungry. If we're having a late dinner, then when I get home from work I will make a protein shake, or if we're having an early dinner I will make it later on. Protein drinks are usually 2 - 3 scoops powder, mixed with either fat free Carb Countdown milk or 2%... just kind of depends on what I grab first. I usually blend in peanut butter or a sugar free syrup, some cocoa mix, and occasionally some juice but this is very rare. According to fit day I'm averaging 750 - 850 calories per day, and that's generous. But I can't eat any more, I'm already eating when I'm not hungry just to get my protein in.

I missed this. Ok yesterday was umm... thinking... - Didn't eat breakfast, I'm usually too tight. - lunch was a Starkist Lunch 2 Go, so 3 oz tuna, 6 Ritz crackers, and mayo in the tuna, and I think I had some pepperoni chips. Water was about 100 oz. - dinner was leftovers, half of a Chipotle bol w/ chicken, black Beans and cheese, and I added lowfat sour cream at home. - After dinner was a Protein drink made with 2 scoops protein (40g), about 12 oz orange juice, and a packet of Splenda. Today I'm just now eating my first meal, lunch, which is full fat cottage cheese, about 4 tbl, and about 25 pepperoni chips. Not sure what dinner will be... and I know I'll have a Protein Drink for "dessert".

You've never caused me any pain T.O.M. You'll probably see a lot of similarity in what we post, only yours lean towards the political whereas mine are toward the psychological. I'm sure we've both made & lost "friends" in our postings.

Not sure about that one, I get emails every day telling me how I can make my penis larger... Ok, umm... we can make the "slap the pony" sound without having to actually get slapped?

I'm a poet and didn't know it. Here is my prize-winning haiku: Comfy chair despair. Bulging springs make my ass hurt. There is no justice!

I wish I was an Oscar Mayer weiner, because then everyone would be in love with me.

You're a flamingo, you stand on one leg. You're a flamingo baby, you hatched from an egg. Well you hold your foot up so delicately over the sea and when it comes down it comes down on me.

On a fundamental level an argument is simply a matter of how much control you're willing to give someone else over your emotions. Online arguments are no different. There is no, "You made me mad", there is only, "You did this and my reaction was anger." Why let someone else be in a position where they can control your emotions like that? So if you find yourself in a situation of anger, resentment, jealousy, <inesrt emotion of choice here>, you really have to ask yourself - How much control of my emotional state am I willing to give this person? If your answer is "...not much" then the argument ends expiditiously. But if you don't ask yourself that, and "bite the hook" and keep the responses going, it never ends and pretty soon you're going to lose control (aka give control of yourself over to the other person). One you decide that your emotions are yours and yours alone, it's really easy to see two things fairly clearly: 1) Whomever the instigator or whatever argument may be, they're needing something they think you will give them. This is all the better they are, so if anything - feel sorry for them. They don't know any better. 2) Who cares? The anonymity of the Internet means we're all just a bunch of 1s and 0s, and for all you know I'm really a 75 year old man in Paraguay. Who cares what someone you don't know thinks of you? Haven't we all, and we here in particular, spent enough of our lives worrying about that? Great things can be accomplished by swallowing some pride, being the bigger person, and turning the other cheek.

Far from a chef but I *love* cooking. And DH *loves* eating, so there you go! Ironically pre-band we ate at home maybe, MAYBE one night a month. We went several nights without eating at home at all. So when I cooked, I REALLY cooked. Now that it's one meal at a time, it's much more manageable, but I find myself having to clean my kitchen & do dishes a lot more frequently. :scalesno:

I've taken Aikido for a few years and IMO it makes for great self defense, especially for women, because it focuses on using someone's momentum against them. I've also taken it in the form of a self-defense class, and we had to practice on our instructors, and I can guarantee that it doesn't take too long to learn a few things that can really help you out if the need should ever arise - how to break someone's hold on you, how to get someone off of you if you're on the ground, etc.

I've taken Aikido for a few years and IMO it makes for great self defense, especially for women, because it focuses on using someone's momentum against them. I've also taken it in the form of a self-defense class, and we had to practice on our instructors, and I can guarantee that it doesn't take too long to learn a few things that can really help you out if the need should ever arise - how to break someone's hold on you (even if you're up against a wall), how to get someone off you if you're on the ground, where to try and hit and how, etc.

Last night was crab & lobster stuffed tilapia, baked, with a browned buttr asiago garlic sauce. Tonight will be lechon with pan friend plantain cakes and rice (for DH). I let the lechon cook for 24 hours so it falls apart and is completely "chew to goo"able! Tomorrow will be grilled chipotle lime chicken (I make the marinade from scratch with a vinegar base - YUM) with "gourmet" mashed potatoes for DH -- red skin baby potatoes, skin left on, whipped with butter & heavy whipping cream, stir in cheddar and bacon bits.

Another weird thing I've fairly recently taken notice of... I haven't had the life long struggles with weight. Mine started around the time I started college, but didn't really become an issue beyond "chubby" until about 8 years ago. So for a long time it would hit me like a knife to the heart when, for a split second, I'd see my reflection and think, "She's really big..." before I realized it was *my* reflection I was seeing. So I've definitely lived the part where I don't realize how big I am, and then I hide from cameras of all types because I don't want to have to face it. The other day the opposite happened. I caught my reflection and was like, "Uh, she's big but not as big as me, I'll be happy when I get there" - and again realized it was my reflection I was seeing. What a shocker! Or when I see my profile and I'm not absolutely digusted. Now when I walk toward a glass door, instead of trying to do things to hide myself, I think, "Ok, I'm starting to look human again..." because for a very, very long time I saw myself as SO big that I just looked like a lump. Yada yada. What I've really started taking notice of is that, always and always, I'm "skinny me" in my dreams. I've never dreamed of myself and been fat. I'm always me 9 or 10 years ago. And then every morning comes the sharp pain of having to see, all over again, what I've done to myself.

We'll never sink!

Last night I had a sex dream about Jimmy Smits.

I would do it again in a heartbeat. Even when I'm at my worst, which is pacing the toilet stall hoping beyond hope that whatever is stuck gets unstuck soon, I'll still say I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Of everyone I know who's banded, I can think of one person who regrets it. She's longer term (~5 years), and has had a heck of a lot of complications, and extreme/unhealthy weightloss. But then again, she may not regret it - I never asked. As others have said, this isn't a matter of being talked into. It's the rest of your life. Tell your family to back off.

Wifi rocks, but has completely spoiled me. I can lay on the couch and do my homework. Also both DH and my work laptops are wifi, so we set up a router at my parents' house. DH is on call every 4th week and we used to have to stay within 20 minutes of home in case he was paged. Bummer, b/c we enjoy spending time w/ my parents but they're a bit over an hour away. So now it doesn't matter, if he gets paged he can work from their house. But of advice, as has already been shared, do encrypt your network, and do use firewalls. My husband is an admin/programmer so we're about as safe as can be, but when I look at the connections in our neighborhood there are several I could hop on to if I wanted... which means access to everything on their network, not just files on the computer. Imagine that wife's surprise if I wanted to queue 500 porn pictures to print out of their printer, or if I wanted to not read their files, but wipe out their hard drive.... I just bought a new laptop about a week ago, actually, and got one with bluetooth. Now talk about spoiled... I get my razr out and have all kinds of fun with the two of them hooked together. Nana, what you should do is take both monitors for you, and duallie. I use 2 widescreen monitors at home and it's - again - spoiling. I do a LOT of work in Macromedia applications and graphics programs, and it ROCKS to have an entire monitor for my stage, and an entire monitor for my tools...