MacMadame

I think how you carry your weight matters too. My arms are still kind of skinny and, yeah, I'll have some batwings when I lose weight. But generally not too bad. Now, I'm older this time, so maybe they'll be worse than in the past, but looking at how much fat I have now, I'm thinking I'll be okay, especially 6 months out from goal -- because normally you do get some more tightening for a while after reaching goal.

I gave up diet soda cold turkey about 3 weeks ago. I don't really miss it, but sometimes if someone in the house leaves a can of unfinished soda lying around, I find myself reaching for it without thinking. Usually it's some flavor I don't even like!

I have heard of some insurance companies, BCBS in particular, that will pay for surgery in Mexico. But it depends on the particular policy.

I am required to lose weight using any diet I wish.

It's possible the code doesn't work as well on FireFox as whatever it was tested on, but FireFox is the browser I use when my regular one won't work, so unlikely. OTOH, I just made my window small and if you make it small enough, the ad does cover up Ms. Frisky Apple Lady.

I convinced my dh to switch to brown rice for a while but the entire family bitched so much that we went back to white. I think I found my answer about South Beach then.

That's too bad. I hope it works out for you.

I think we should have people at all stages of band-life. There are some gorgeous people on here who haven't gotten to goal yet. They've still lost a ton of weight and are inspirational.

Have you considered WW? I tried them too. I prefer JC because they tell you want to do and you do it and you lose weight. But WW is more "for life" because you eat real food and you can eat anything you like as long as your points are below your daily limit. So you have to learn how to make good choices. My surgeon requires weight loss before surgery so I need to think about this too. I am thinking I might do something like The Zone or South Beach because, even though I think those sorts of diets are kind of a gimmick, I think the eating is more like post-band eating with the emphasis on cutting out carbs and getting in more Protein. What do you guys think? Are those diets reasonable and doable for 3-6 months?

I felt dumb but I put in 2 min. 1 min to go down them in the morning and 1 min. to go up them at the end of the day. I haven't done anything since though. I think I will make a pledge to pack a gym back tomorrow to take to work. I've said I'm going to do it every week and every week I never get around to it!

I can relate to where you are coming from skinny4life because I was there just a few weeks ago. I did some research and read about how effective the band was, how few complications, almost no deaths, etc. and was sold. Then I came here and read about erosions and slips. I knew they happened but if you go to the complications section, it can seem like *everyone* gets a slip eventually. On top of that, there are a lot of people in their first year who are really into rapid weight loss and are willing to suffer quite a bit to get it. Sometimes those voices can drown out the others. But those others are here. If you continue reading, you will see the people who manage their bands in a way similar to how you want to manage yours -- however that may be! I want hunger control and portion control from my band. I don't want to PB or slime much at all -- only when I eat too fast and/or don't chew (i.e., when it's my own damn fault). I want to be able to eat pretty much everything I eat now, just in smaller portions and better overall combinations. I won't cry if I can't ever eat rice or a slice of untoasted bread again, but I would be upset if I couldn't eat meat, raw fruits and vegetables, etc. I also plan to "only" work out/exercise for 45min-1 hr 2-3 days a week. There are enough people on here who manage to do this and lose weight to give me confidence that my plan for how I handle the band is reasonable and that I will be successful. P.S. I wish the band did give erections to guys. I bet if it did, not only would WLS be socially acceptable, but EVERY INSURANCE WOULD COVER IT!!

When I had my gallbladder out, they called it an elective surgery and so I couldn't get in until about 6 weeks after the initial diagnosis. Gallbladder surgery is NOT a cosmetic procedure! I say, even if you are getting a boob job, you are still going under the knife and it's still scary and there still could be complications. If they have a club to give something to people who are out sick in the hospital, they should be consistent and not make judgement calls as to who "really" needs it and who doesn't.

I plan to slump when my height gets measured. I was, as a 20-something, 5' 1.75" and then after my first kid I was 5' 1.25" and then after the second kid I was 5" .75" which would always get written down as 5" but about 6 months ago I got my height measured at the doctor's office and I was back to 5' 1.25" and they now write it down as 5' 1" and that is JUST NOT FAIR!

Is your screen size small? Is your browser not opened up to full screen? What browser are you using? I've seen the lady using IE 7.0 and Safari 3.0.

I tried it back in 1988-1989 and lost 70 lb. when I had only been planning on losing 50. I don't remember eating any dog food though. :thumbup: After that they went into Chapter 11 and came back reorganized. So I switched to Jenny Craig.

Well, I went to put the stairs exercise into my Daily Plate and it asked me how many minutes I had climbed stairs. I felt silly putting in 1 minute but I'll be damned if I was going to leave it out. I huffed and puffed up those freaking stairs and I want my credit! :thumbup:

Or we can cut the background out in Photoshop. That's what I did for the banner on top of my web site: http://www.reactionphotography.com/assets/logo_web.jpg I also faded the kids down so that my logo (and the name of my company) would be the focus. I think "The Lady at the Top" definitely needs to be faded... She's stronger visually than the LapbandTalk.com logo and LBT.com is much more important than her and her silly apple!

My experience with weight loss is that slower is better. You have more time to make your new choices into habits and your skin will adjust better too.

That's true. Even across some peer-reviewed studies you can see a big fluctuation. My surgeon's practice quotes a 77+% success rate. That's all their patients across all the different WLS they do, not just bands. It's higher than most of the studies and I think it's because of their approach-- both their pre-op requirements and the follow-up care they provide. With stats like that, I doubt they are going to see a big difference between their Realize patients and their Lap-band patients.

God, that sounds like heaven. I'm not banded yet and right now I'm eating my second dinner. :thumbup: They were both small dinners and one was earlier than usual (and one later), but still... It really frustrates me that it takes 4 meals and a few Snacks every day to feel full. I agree that some people need lifestyle changes to make their band work. But some of us already eat fairly healthily and really just need something to kill the hunger and help us with portion control when our brain goes nuts and screams that we're going to die without more food.

Well having your alcoholic husband commit suicide right before you give birth sounds like situational depression to me. :thumbup: I also find it bizzare that this therapist told her (essentially) that he would have failed her if her doctor didn't need the business. That doesn't sound right to me and it would be one more bad therapist experience to add to my list and make me distrust the entire profession.

I was irregular for years. Sometimes I'd only get it a few times a year. Then I had my second child (at 41!) and now I get every 28 days like clockwork. It's interesting because now I know how the rest of the world experiences this stuff. They always looked at my funny when I said I almost never got it. Plus now I can plan around it, if I have to. That's the good part. The bad part is that I'm 50 and I'm as fertile as a 20 something. I'm supposed to be in menopause, or at least perimenopause.

I'd like to help out too. I'm a professional photographer so if someone else can collect the pictures, I can make a nice collage.

It's really hard when a couple doesn't agree about money. Sometimes counseling can help that because the counselor is a neutral person who can see both sides.

You should talk to your surgeon about this. My understanding is that depression is considered a co-morbidity. That means that being depressed -- in and of itself -- shouldn't prevent you from having the surgery. Your surgeon needs to send you to a therapist that understands that or he's going to be failing tons of patients.