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I love accents! I don't think people are stupid unless they simply can't speak well to begin with, accent has nothing to do with it! This is going to sounds racist and that's NOT how I mean it! I'm white, I have black relatives and my daughter is 1/2 black so don't EVEN go there! But... I HATE listening to black basketball players in TV interviews!! Here they are making millions, wearing snazy, expensive suits and they speak like they haven't made it out of the toddler's bed!! I swear, I can NOT understand a word they are saying! AND they are supposed to be ROLE MODELS!!!! UGH!!! Okay back to RR, I like her in small doses. I get her mag, watch her 30 minutes show but will NOT watch her hour long show. Drives me nuts. I download a lot of her recipes. Some are hits, some aren't. I like Giada too. In defense of how she pronounces her italian foods, she WAS born in Italy and is full-blooded italian, goes back every year to visit family who still lives there and can get too perky but I still like her. I like Paula too but I don't DARE try to make any of her food. Goodness! Maybe she owns stock in butter and mayo!! I can't watch her party show though. Too much. Only her 1/2 hour ones can I handle.

Sheila, I'm with you. I worry about it too. I eat too fast and don't usually chew well enough. It dawned on me a couple of months ago that I sometimes INHALE my food so fast that I'm barely chewing. Practically swallowing the bite whole! I'm really working on slowing down and taking a break between bites. Still haven't gotten to the chew til liquid though but I'm working on getting there. Tonight after class I stopped to get some food to go and as I'm driving on the freeway home, I took a big bite and swallowed too soon. Almost got stuck! I'm talking to myself in the car and saying, "Oh boy, that would've been a major "I'm stuck" situation! You'd better pay more attention!" Scared me! There are times, in the past, often and currently, not so often, that I can feel the bite going very slowly down and that scares me for after surgery. If I'm almost getting stuck before surgery, oh boy am I in trouble after surgery!! :eek: Hang in there and try to practice eating like a bandster. I gotta work harder at it. I'm not so good at practicing! :thumbup:

Yep. But I'm here for some of the same reasons you are. High BP runs on BOTH sides of my family. My dad had a massive heart attack a few years ago (they brought him back SEVEN times! The 7th time was the last time the dr was going to try!) I have a hard time losing weight and it's near impossible to keep it off! I'm starting to FEEL the weight on my body and system, if that makes sense. I also have a husband and a 2 year old daughter that I'd like to be around for for a long time. I'm also sick of working so hard only for it to not work. I don't mind working hard and I know I'll have to after surgery (heck I'm having to BEFORE surgery!) but at least this time, I'll see results and be able to keep those results. Welcome and best wishes on your journey!

Jorge, I'm glad you're feeling better. This is such a hard time for everyone. That's why a lot of us call it "Bandster Hell." I'm not looking forward to it but know that there will be tons of support on here if I need to cry, have questions or just vent about it. Hang in there. I'm pulling for you!

I'm so excited!! I had weigh in tonight at class (nutrition and weight management class for Kaiser) and I lost 2.8 pounds!!! This is for the last 2 weeks b/c I wasn't able to make class last week but I really think that most of it was this week since I started using TDP!! I was really feeling it the last couple of days. Even if only a little part of it was just as a result of TDP, I'm still excited! I've been struggling so hard to lose this 10% and as of tonight, I've lost a little more than 1/2 of the 23 pounds required! I really think TDP is going to help me. I told the whole class about TDP in case it would help someone else too. Anyway, I just wanted to share! 'Night!

Hi J! Welcome! I'm also going through Kaiser. The 9 month wait for surgery is pretty accurate. They have a lot of patients and in Nor Cal, only 3 facilities up and running with another one coming online sometime this winter (they're hoping by the end of the year). If you check the locations section for California and the insurance section for Kaiser, you'll see several threads from the last few months/year that would give you more answers. I'm also blogging (borrrring) if you want more info. Best wishes on your journey. Let me know if you have any questions!! I'll be happy to answer, if I have an answer that is! Take care!

Oh WOW! That is something else! I would have looked at her and said, "If you knew anything about it, you would know that isn't true." then I would have walked away or continued on with whatever I was doing. The other thing I don't like about it is that even if you aren't necessarily keeping it a secret, she had ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT to say a word about your personal life! That crosses some work boundaries that should never be crossed. If she continues to be hostile, you are going to have to deal with it.

Was it good? Okay, beside the point. I'm going to ramble for a minute (or so) so bear with me. Why do we have to feel guilty or mad at ourselves about what we eat? As a fat person, having been on many diets and when not on a diet still trying to leave the junk and large proportions behind, we get into this mentality of "bad" food, "good" food. I think that is a bad thing. It messes us up. We have people telling us what we should and shouldn't eat, we have ourselves telling us we're horrible for putting X in our mouths and GOD FORBID if we ENJOY IT! We have people watching every move we make when food is in the building. Again, it messes us up!! Why can't we (as a newly banded person, I'm not there yet.) eat our fruits and veggies and our protiens for the most part and enjoy a sweet (or salty) treat once in a while LIKE A NORMAL PERSON???!!! Why does it have any anything to do with being "good" or "bad?" Why can't it just be about finally enjoying the foods we are eating? Taking small bites (b/c you have to) and savoring the taste and the texture of the foods we are eating. Whether it's fruits, veggies, a steak, a chip or a cupcake? That's what NORMAL people do. Guess what? After banding, we have that chance to be those NORMAL people! We've never had that chance before! We need to start changing our mindsets like we are changing our bodies. We need to work as hard on our BRAINS as we are on our PHYSICAL selves. It's not just our bodies changing anymore, we have to change our brains too in order to match what is happening to the physical. I'm not banded yet. I'm hoping to be sometime this winter/early spring. I can't wait to be 'normal' again. And I really hate that term but that's how it is in society. I wasn't always fat. I have been now for the last 20 years. I've gained and lost a lot of weight in those 20 years as well. I remember what it felt like to be thin. I want that again. I sometimes forget how fat I am (I know, hard to believe)! I am also reminded, often, of how fat I really am. I don't want to be fat. I hate it. You'd think I'd be able to control myself, I hate it so much. You know what? I'm damn hungry and I'm damn tired of being hungry all the time. That's why I'm going for the band. Okay, well that took more than a minute but I think I'm done with my rambling for now. Don't beat yourself up. Have the damn cupcake and enjoy it, then move on!

Cool! Thanks! I'm really liking this. It takes time but it's making me pay attention and think about what I'm doing. It also helps to track as I go through the day (if possible) so I can then plan my dinner and try to stay within my calories. I don't know about logging my "exercise" though. It's giving me extra calories that I can eat and I feel fairly sedentary, though I have a 2 yr old and we're playing or I'm walking from one end of the house to the other just to get Water and we have stairs to walk up and down from the driveway to the front door of the house but it doesn't FEEL like exercise. Just a little movement here and there. So it doesn't feel right logging it and getting extra calories. Have to ponder this one. Any thoughts?

Thanks! I'll check it out. I was looking for the word "recipe" so totally didn't see that! I thought it was more if you eat the same thing every morning for Breakfast then you just make the meal. I wasn't thinking about the recipe part of that! Didn't know it did both! DUH!!

I had bookmarked the site many weeks ago after having heard about it here on LBT. I totally forgot about it til I read this thread the other day. Got on Mon and logged everything in for the day. I went over but only by 49 calories and I hadn't been able to plan for the day so it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Then Tues, logged everything in and actually was under by a couple hundred calories, then logged in a little exercise that I was able to get in and it put me at over 500 calories UNDER for the day! Holy Smokes!!! I'm glad I started logging. I'm supposed to keep track of what I'm doing by writing it all down for a class I'm taking for pre-op requirements for insurance. (We don't have to turn it in, we just need to keep track.) I'm also supposed to lose 10% before surgery. I hate writing everything down b/c all I do is guess about what anything adds up to or means. This way all I have to do is find it and it's all added up for me and I can conduct the day accordingly. I inputed that I wanted to lose a pound a week and I'm hoping this really helps. I think it's already helping by just making me more accountable and making me think twice about what I'm about to put in my mouth. One thing I haven't found on the site is a recipe builder of sorts. For my turkey sandwich today, I just did each ingredient separately. That took awhile. I have a recipe for a cream cheese spread that I want to try and I don't even want to make it yet b/c I have NO idea how to calculate that one! I'll have to keep searching to see if I can find it. But I do like it and am happy this thread got me going with it! Thanks!!

I have crunchy knees AND ankles! I'm also hoping that the noise goes away with surgery. I'll have to check out that Elation stuff. I'm taking so many pills now that I hate to add glucosomine (sp?) but I may have to.

I would also like to add my thoughts and prayers. I agree with the others, please think about having a memorial service if your Dad's wife doesn't. You need that closure. I've been a church secretary for 10 years and I've seen it a lot. There is a peace after a service. It's a good thing and very cathartic. Gets people talking about their loved one and telling funny stories, etc. Please seriously think about it. You and your family, please take care.

No, but those sound good. I'll have to remember that. Oh, what about a little hot sauce?

Call your surgeon's office if you're that concerned about it. They can tell you better if you need to be seen. They may just want to see you to check them. Best wishes to you and congrats on your new band!!

I'd never heard of it before yesterday. Anyone know anything about it? I looked it up and it says it's good for all kinds of things. Just wondering if anyone else has ever used it before? My 2 year old DD once again ripped open her poor knees after falling on the pavement at DH's fire station. She just gets all scabbed up or they're almost completely gone and then she goes and does it again! Poor thing is going to have scars on her knees by the time she's 3! Someone told me yesterday that they knew someone who used Emu Oil all the time for all kinds of things but especially for wounds and it keeps things from scarring or at least not scarring too bad. Anyway, just looking for some input. Thanks!

Thanks! I think I'll try to find some. Maybe my local health store has it. Froggi, it's rendered fat from the Emu. Sounds gross but it's really a good, pure type of oil.

Best wishes to you, BBK. It sounds abusive (my sister's husband is an abuser so I've seen it) and you need to decide how much you want to be invested in this. Do you think he can/will change his thought process? Is this just one more thing or the first thing that's ever happened? Emotional manipulators are hard to pin down. Have there been other things that he's done similar to this and you're just now seeing it? You don't need to answer publicly, just some things to think about as you try to figure out what to do. My thoughts and prayers are with you as you deal with this. Some things for YOU to do in the meantime: follow Manatee's advice and prepare yourself. Start counseling on your own. Even if he decides to go later, this will help you a lot. Don't worry about finding the right counselor the first time around. You have to find someone you are comfortable with and will listen to and alternately share your thoughts with. Keep us up to date as to how you are and stay safe!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Best wishes on your surgeries and your travels! Take care! (I know I'm not a July person, except by b-day BUT I did want to wish you well!)

Strong Conservative here. Believe in personal responsibility, need much, much less government involvement in our basic, little lives. Do NOT believe in abortion. You messed up and should have thought of that before you bonked around and got pregnant. You don't have to raise it but don't kill it and make it pay for your irresponsibility. AND if you never wanted kids in the first place, got get sterilized. Believe in gun rights and being able to protect me and mine from those who refuse to behave and act like a human by staying out of my HOME and off of my PROPERTY. I also believe in being able to hunt and use the animal for feeding your family. The list goes on but I don't need to. Y'all get the point!

First I want to say that all of you who have been at this longer than I have and have had success in your new lives are heroes to me. I want to learn all I can from you so I don't mess up. And after my surgery, if I get on here crying about being hungry and wanting to EAT something, I expect a kick in the butt and a whole bunch of "no, don't do it" b/c I WILL listen and will be asking for that little extra help to get me where I need/want to be as a successful bandster. I can talk big about how I'm going to follow all the rules, and I WILL, but I know it's going to be hard and I'm going to need that extra push to get through it. Second, I've been reading a lot the last few days re: R&R and Mental Health, Etc. I've managed to keep my mouth shut for awhile now but today is the final straw. Brandy/Nanook, stop stalking Jacqui!!! You are, at this point, the one who keeps bringing all of this up, or starting it AGAIN after it's started dying. I find myself supporting Jacqui, Chickie and Lauren, albeit, previously, quiet. ENOUGH ALREADY!! I'm sick of Jacqui having to constantly defend herself when in the VERY beginning, she never said anything offensive! She was speaking about herself and YOU are the one who took it and ran, making it a personal attack against you. In her OWN thread on R&R she didn't even mention your name at first, she was generalizing and there you show up and jump down her throat again. If you have that big of a problem with Jacqui, then WHY do you keep going back to her? Why can't you just let it go? It's sad if things on this board make you cry. That's something inside yourself. You don't even KNOW these people! They shouldn't have that much power over you. Pick yourself up off the floor and get on with your life and other parts of this board. Block Jacqui and anyone else you don't agree with and move on. They are trying to, you are not. Oh and if you'd just kept quiet, lots of people would not have realized Brandy and Nanook were one and the same. You could have had your new start but again, you couldn't let it go. 'Nuff said.

Sorry for the running paragraphs. I'm having formatting issues!!

Welcome! I'm in Oakhurst. I'm going through Kaiser so that is a whole 'nuther story! One thing nice about the process taking time is that it makes you THINK and you have time to research. Otherwise some people jump into it to fast and then regret it later. Are you having any issues with the fires? I'm out of any of them but there sure is a lot of smoke! DH is a fire captain with Cal Fire so he's on duty and not coming home anytime soon (was supposed to be home today)! Take care and best wishes on your journey. This is a great place to be and ask questions. As for the ticker, there's a tutorial on here somewhere, just do a search for it.

A slight fill would probably help. In regards to your WL, you do realize that you're averaging about 5lbs a month, right?! That's great! I hear a lot of people say they can't eat right away in the AM but they have great restriction during the rest of the day. That may be where you end up. Best wishes!!

Ohhh, there's your baby!!!!!!! :hurray: I'm so happy!!!!!! When I saw you'd posted on my subscribed list, all of sudden it dawned on me it was Thursday and ultrasound day!!! :blushing: WooHoo!! I am just so, so, so excited!!!! :party: