MrsFlipFlops

I just served these at a party, and they were all gobbled up. Even people who avoid vegetables! I'm glad they were good. The chives do seem to give it the necessary kick.

I love this...! It's so sitcomish. I would expect it to be something Seinfeld would do a show on or something! :sad_smile: Good luck! I hope you don't run into her!

Susan, now there's a confession I can work with! :tongue: Looks great! When people ask how I've lost the weight, I tell them portion control. It IS controlled! Now for something non band related: Whenever I cook something I pretend I'm on a cooking show and when no one's home, I talk like I'm freaking Paula Deen or something. LOL I imagine having a band friendly show on food Network. That'd be nice. :sad_smile: Does that make me crazy?

Glad to see this thread moving again. :sad_smile: I just moved to a new ward, I felt bad because we've left early two sunday's in a row... the first time I was sick, the second time my husband was sick. This week the RS pres and bishop both came by. I hope they don't think we're inactive. LOL :tongue: I wanna be like, I SWEAR we come!

I like your site because it has all the pictures, but how do you eat all that pasta and bread? It just wouldn't fit for me! :tongue: lucky you. :sad_smile:

Carrots! Even after just one fill they hurt like heck. I haven't eaten one since then. OUCH!

Good questions! :tongue2: I struggled at first, but then came up with some things that really helped us. My husband doesn't have a problem eating in front of me, and I don't mind him eating anything in front of me. Sometimes he'll feel bad eating a really good bread since that's what I miss the most, but I don't often feel bad about it. Here are my tips: + When you eat out, only order things that you can reheat later that taste good. French fries never taste good the second day. + If you eat out and order a burger or something, have them put the bun on the side, then you can bring it home for your significant other's (SO) meal the next day. That way you don't have to buy a whole bag of buns only to have leftovers. + When I buy bread for my hubby's lunch sandwiches or what not, I immediately put it in the freezer. I found I would buy bread, and half of it would go bad because he wouldn't eat it fast enough. Now, I take two slices out, toast it, and make his sandwich. + I LOVE pillsbury frozen biscuits. They're easy to pop in the oven for my husband's dinner and I don't have to feel obligated to eat or feel bad about leftovers going bad because you only prepare what you eat. + Learn the fine art of freezing leftovers and/or taking them for leftovers. There's just two of us, so even if I prepare a small meal, there's still generally leftovers. My husband and I take them for leftovers the next day. My inlaws gave us a TON of leftovers to freeze. Well, not only are we tired of turkey, but I couldn't eat it all anyway. I froze it and will use them later for a stew or something. I still make the same foods I used to. I just eat it differently. For example, for spaghetti I'll use angel hair Pasta and have just a SMALL portion of pasta, and a little more sauce. Plus veggies of course. For pizza, I'll make meat and veggie toppings so I can eat the top and still get something good. For burgers I use lettuce as the bread (and my leftover buns for my husband). Perfection! I'm always looking for shortcuts and cheap ways to eat the way I should while not skimping on food that I love. I still will have a bite or two of bread. Hope this helps!

I'm having trouble making sure I get enough Protein while still maintaining enough fruits and vegetables. I always eat my protein first and then am too full to eat anything else. I don't like to drink too much protein. I drink a shake in the morning, but don't want to do more than that as I believe it's healthier to EAT your food, not drink it. Anyone have any suggestions?

That's brilliant! I had forgotten about v-8! I'll go check our their products! Are they high in sodium though? I used to eat tuna every day, in fact I had a whole routine. But because it was always the same thing I grew tired of it. Ironically, that's also when my weight loss slowed down. :tongue2:

Sometimes I really hate being female. Men just walk around this world without a care, or any feelings! Okay, this isn't a man bashing... but rather a vent about my emotions! For the past few weeks I've been on ther verge of every emotion there is. While I thought driving home was an innocent task, I found myself crying. WHY? I don't know! I'm up, I'm down, I'm happy, I'm sad. I'm elated, I'm crying. I just can't keep myself in check! Ug. I'm a big analyzer. So each time I get an emotion I pry it apart and try to figure out why. I feel some of my feelings have come from the band. I'm not quite sure how to feel about myself. I feel like a new person, and all these years I've blamed my unhappiness on my fatness, but now that I'm starting to thin out (not completely, but getting there) I'm still unhappy in a lot of aspects. It's like it wasn't the fat after all, but me! And then I'm beginning to wonder, if I'm not going to be the fat sarcastic chick anymore, then who will I be? Just some points to think about I suppose, I'm feeling very random, so I'm sorry if this post didn't really come out very clear.

Okay, when people talk about losing 4 sizes or whatever, I don't know how that's measured. Maybe someone can help answer my question... Is it based on the numbers? Like if I started at a 30 and am down to a 24, is that 6 sizes? Or is it based on the sizes you see in the stores, so that would be 3 sizes? (28, 26, 24). I know this is a silly fundamental question, but I don't know the difference or how to tell what I've done. I started at a 32/30 and I'm down to a 24. HELP! :thumbdown: I love this room... ya'll are so awesome!

There was no option that matched my response. I have no plan! :thumbup: I ate what I wanted to eat in small quantities and didn't gain any weight. :wink2: I'm happy that I don't feel like I have to "diet".

I'm sure if I told people my weight they would be thinking "How does she walk around?" :-) I remember thinking at 220 I was SO fat, and again at 250, and at 280... well, you get the idea. I guess everything is just relative.

Yeah, I couldn't wait to be just 299. I could fit into my skinny jeans! lol.

I'm not looking for medical advice, I'm scheduling a doctor's appointment in the next couple days... but I'm wondering if anyone has experienced the same type thing. I hadn't gotten my period in two years. I got it really light in September. And then for the past three weeks I've had it. At first it was light, but for several days it's been very heavy. When I get periods, they're typically very heavy, so the heaviness I'm not so worried about.... it's the length of time in addition to the heaviness. I don't want to become anemic! :rolleyes2: Can anyone else relate to this type experience?

I haven't read this whole thread, but Smartie, I think you shreadding the magazine was awesome. I don't think you should apologize, but you should talk to him. If you don't like him looking at that kind of porn, he shouldn't look at it. And he shouldn't allow it to come within moments of your daughter. What if he had run into the house for a moment and she had just opened it?

annie- I SO know where you're coming from. I posted something similar a couple weeks ago. I thought all the weight was the cause of my problems and when it didn't improve like I felt it should, I realized (well, someone here helped me realize) that the weight perhaps wasn't the CAUSE, but the SYMPTOM. I found that without food to quiet my inner self, I have a lot of issues I need to work out. So... I started going to lapband support groups and I'm looking into going to a counselor. I don't think I have an abnormal amount of issues, just ones that I have suppressed and never coped with because my coping mechanism was always food. So my suggestion? Maybe talking to someone will help. I'm sorry you had a bad night... guys are fickle anyway. Good luck!

Amen to that! I'm going crazy! Now if only I can find a BIG BOX of Midol! lol... I never knew I was this PMSy... but I've got all the classic symptoms.

We are going to the in laws for Thanksgiving. I haven't told them about surgery, and my dh thinks I should. I don't know how they would react and don't necessarily want to tell them. Last time we visited, my mother in law made a comment about eating everything on our plates (she gave me a TON of food). I slipped a lot to my husband, but there was still stuff leftover that had to be thrown away. I don't know how to handle this. I don't want to offend her by not eating much, but I don't know how, where, or when to tell them. Thoughts?

xtight, that's my theory as well. I told my mom and dad and two sisters, plus one good friend. My mom told her sister and the next thing you know, it's spreading like wild fire... my extended family is VERY against surgery. They're all do it yourselfers, and if you can't you're weak type people. I guess their opinions have made me scared to tell my in laws. Although, I started to think how this is going to be an issue at EVERY gathering. When my husband and I start having kids, it's going to be a big thing too... So trayrenee, I mean, you're right in that I don't know how they'd react. I guess I just don't want to talk about how fat I was/am. Sometimes I know we feel if we don't say anything, it's not there. Perhaps if they mention something about how I'm not eating a lot, I can just say it then. It'll probably come down to how I feel at that moment. It's really the fear of the unknown... This whole journey has been about conquering fear for me. Fear of surgery, fear of not having the comfort of food, fear of the unknown thinner world, fear of my parent's reactions and what not... I have another fear that maybe a year down the line I'll have the guts to tell my in laws I had surgery and they'll be offended I didn't tell them sooner. Maybe I should conquer that now and just tell 'em.

These were all good tips. It's true, I shouldn't be so worried what other people think... it's a nasty habit!

lindsey- that's one of those most embarassing moments I would think of later. You're right, not telling would have been worse! That sounds like an awful experience, I'm so glad you shared!

I think the most that changed in our relationship after surgery was really all about me. My hubby has been nothing but supportive. In fact, that day after surgery, I was in a lot of pain and couldn't lay down and couldn't sit up. Within hours, he had gone out and bought and had delivered a comfy recliner that helped the WHOLE week. He's amazing. But really what changed was me, like I said. I felt that I had all these issues because of my weight, and when they didn't start going away when I was losing weight, I realized some of my issues affected our relationship BEFORE and I need to really deal with them now that I have nothing to blame them on. I know it's cliche, but I think the biggest thing is communication and allowing them to go through this journey with you. My husband isn't obese, so it would be easy to simply say to myself, he doesn't understand. If I go out with friends and come back upset about food, or when I'm missing food, or when I feel fat, or when I feel different... whatever it is, I express how I'm feeling and why and we work through it together. It makes me feel supported, and it makes him feel included. He gets on lapbandtalk to see what other people have to say. He keeps track of what I can eat and what I can't and I keep him updated with that kind of thing. It's like the Friends episode where Rachel is pregnant and Ross is feeling left out. He brings her her fave sandwich which is tuna and pickles, but it turns out she can't stand pickles anymore due to her pregnancy. Poor Ross didn't know, thought he was being thoughtful. I aim to keep our relationship out of that stage. I keep him updated so he never has to feel out of the loop.

Costco was a GREAT deal too, about half (or even less) than in the regular stores. I spend 12 dollars for 84 tampons... Tampax Pearl, my fave's.