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Brandy, I'm sorry you're having such a hard time with this. I know the surgeon is busy but you need to have a good talk with him. Are you even feeling any restriction? From what I understand is that until you have proper restriction, you can't easily lose any weight. Was the last fill too much and that's why you vomited for so long or did you have a stomach bug? Did you get an unfill? If so, was it too much? Maybe just get a smidge more instead of the amount you got before? I'm just guessing here (and trying to help). You'll notice by my sig and avitar that I'm not banded yet. I'm just thinking of the things that I've been reading on here. I wish you the best.

WAY TO GO, SUE!! YOU ROCK!!! :rolleyes2: I was so disappointed tho. :tongue2: I thought it was a trike, as in, 3-wheeled cycle! I want one of those. Don't trust myself on a 2-wheeler! :thumbup: I live in the mountains so unless the Trikke comes with a motor that kicks in to go uphill, no way can I have one of these! The flattest thing around here is my gravel driveway! :scared2:

Denise, the cache takes up space on your computer and will sometimes cause glitches if there's either too much or something hinky in one of the sites you've previously visited. (As least that's how I've always understood it.) If you notice your computer sometimes running slow or something not loading right, a lot of times, if you clean out the cache and restart, your computer then works a lot better.

I always have a problem with the "last meals" thing. I KNOW this is a lifestyle change and I really should be able to eat things in moderation but it's easy to forget. I'm trying to do the same. Make the things that we like but in better ways. AND not as much of it! UGH! Exercise. I've always had that problem. It's going to take a lot of work for me to integrate the exercise. My evil twin!! I don't have a lot of options with that one though. I've got to lose 10% of my weight before surgery. I'm in a weight management class and it's standard for all bariatric patients (band and bypass patients all have to go thru the same program) to need to lose the 10% and the surgeons will determine later if you've lost enough or need to lose more. I HAVE to get my head on straight NOW b/c if I want surgery any time soon, I've got to lose. I CAN'T be gaining at all right now. And right now 23lbs seems monumental!

Seriously. calm down and take a deep breath. This is one reason why I havent' told anyone but 3 people that I'm even doing this. First, a lot of people confuse banding with bypass. Banding is fairly new in the states and so I seriously doubt that the people telling you these things really know that many bandsters, if any. Second, EVERYONE knows someone who knew someone who... (insert experience, procedure, etc.) DH and I adopted our daughter after YEARS of infertility and failed treatments and you wouldn't believe how many people tell us how many people they know who got pregnant after they adopted and of course it will happen to us. Even though it actually very rarely happens. Third, as long as YOU are doing YOUR research and YOU are comfortable with YOUR decision, it isn't up to anyone else. Grow a backbone (and I mean that in a nice way, it's a problem for me) and tell people before they get started (even if you need to interrupt them) that YOU have done YOUR research and are comfortable with YOUR decision and you really don't need or want their opinion. It's hard, I know. Another reason why I"m not telling anybody, I don't want to FEEL like I have to defend my decision. My DH, mom and best friend are the only ones who know and are totally supportive. Fourth, I also have a huge problem with portions. From what I've been reading, that's actually the best problem to have when contemplating getting banded (in MY opinion). Banding doesn't help with sweets (especially liquid, shakes, etc.) or grazing-type eating. I don't graze much, if at all and I don't eat shakes or ice cream much. Fifth, from what I've been reading on here, if you are doing what your doctor recommended for your post-op diet, eating your protein first, eating your veggies, then your fruit, if there's room, eating slowly and chewing like there's no tomorrow, then yes, you will be eating 1/2 to 1 1/2 cups of food and will feel full WITH proper restriction. Sixth (and finally!), stick around this site, read everything you can, post when you have questions or just have something to say. This is a great site! I love it here. Seventh (okay just one more thing!), WELCOME!!!

Finally! Thanks Alex and Parvathi!! Like I said earlier, I always forget about the cache and Cookies files. BBK! Love your pics. You're beautiful! DH was impressed too! (Showed him your befores as well.)

I'm using Firefox or Safari most of the time though. Not IE6. I'll look for a cookie clearer or cache clearer. I always forget about those. I'll have to do it later though. Have to get to my weight management class. M

I also want to thank Alex for this site. I've learned so much in the short time I've been here. I've been able to figure things out for myself and ask questions of my professionals that I wouldn't have known to ask had I not accidentally stumbled on this site. I'm still seeing the apple lady up top. I can't wait to see BBK! I don't want the apple lady to feel bad but I always think of Snow White when I see her. You know, "Here is a lovely apple, my sweet. Heh, heh!" Not that she EVEN LOOKS like the wicked witch but her pose is like totally offering forbidden fruit!

My INTENTIONS are to practice but reality is that I'm still eating too fast and too much. I just don't think about it. Doesn't help that I have a 22 month old DD that is on the run all the time. I make a too big plate of food and then inhale it without even thinking about it til AFTER it's gone. Too late then! UGH! I've really got to start working on this. I'm also supposed to be losing weight too and I'm having a hard time with that. I know that if I could just start taking smaller portions and eating slower, it would help with the weight. Something to keep working on.

Telecia, you know exactly what happened. The parents of the young kids saw a couple of adults out by the pool and sent the kids over to get our of their hair and put the responsibility of watching their "precious babies" on you! I would have called management, demanded that they come to the pool and then I would have left once management got there. Like you, I wouldn't have been able to leave the little ones un-supervised. If one of them had drowned later, I would have felt horrible! Even though it's the fault of the parents, people like that have no qualms about forcing others to do the parenting and then suing them for not doing it! DD is actually getting a kick out of using her backpack leash. I do have to remember to take her hand to direct her where I want her to go instead of just dragging the leash with me and expecting her to follow! I've owned dogs longer than I've been a parent!! :confused5:

I'll wait til ALL of the changes are made before forming an opinion so I don't have a comment for that yet. I still haven't see BBK's pic, I have the apple lady still. Looking forward to seeing BBK up there! As far as navigating for recent posts, I always go click on "New Posts" on the right side in the Members Area. That pulls up a list of all the new posts since I've been on last. Only slight problem with that is after you post on a thread. Then you either have to hit the back button repeatedly til it takes you back to the list or click on new posts again. At least that's the way I've figured it out so far. I'm still pretty new to the site and still learning so not sure if I'm doing any of it right anyway.

Ummm, Lauren, you DO know it's the 14th, right? :huh2: JK!!! I feel for ya. We had a snafu this year and not only didn't get filed by the end of Feb like normal BUT instead of e-filing, we had to send paper via mail. By the time we got it all figured out and ready to go, it's the weekend and I couldn't get to the PO before they closed on Sat at noon. Sooo, this AM I drag my DD with me and head to the PO to get the buggers out TODAY along with cert. mail/return receipt to make sure they get them and I've got proof! (I know it's no guarantee but they also can't say they never got them either!) So, you are totally NOT alone!!

Wow! Anger!?! I didn't know I was angry. I thought I was just frustrated with some of the posters who have an all or nothing attitude.

Everyone has given such great responses that I won't repeat them. I'll talk about your BMI. I came to my goal weight by playing with the BMI tables. I'm 5'3" and started this process at officially 236lbs. When I was 18 I weighed about 120, not sure but right around there, if anything, it was less. I never weighed myself back then (20+ years ago!). I'm going to be 40 this summer, I don't ever expect to see 120 again! Doesn't mean I won't try for it but my overall goal is to keep this weight OFF for once, instead of gaining it back again, and getting to a healthy BMI. I used this website to play with the numbers until I felt it was what I wanted to shoot for. BMI - Body Mass Index: Adult BMI Calculator: English | DNPAO | CDC I just put in different weights til I got to the BMI that I wanted. Big motivations for me are my 22 month old DD and my DH as well as my health. Like I said, I'm almost 40, I can hardly WALK sometimes b/c I have bone spurs in my heal. My Exercise Induced Asthma is getting worse b/c I'm not as active b/c of the spurs. My BP is barely (sometimes NOT) controlled b/c of the previous 2. I don't want to be a fat, crippled, old lady by the time I'm 45 years old!!! I don't feel that old, I sure as heck don't want to feel OLDER!!! You will lose what YOU will be determined to lose. Best of luck to you. And Welcome!!

And once again. For the rest of you - I love my daughter the bestest and mostest of ALL of you!!! So there!!

Oh and "failure to thrive" for a newborn is so VERY different from what we are even talking about!! That has NOTHING to do with whether or not I used a carrier at the grocery store for my daughter or held her the whole time instead.

Okay, Jennie, how do you know how long any one is holding their baby on any given day if you are only seeing that person and their child in a CARRIER in the grocery store for all of an hour out of that child's day? I don't know if you've read ANY of the other posts (or not, since your post didn't indicate in any way, shape or form, that you've been reading the ENTIRE thread) BUT there are 24 hours in a child's day. What you see in an hour of the child's day (or 5 or 10 minutes) is NOT indicative of what is happening OVERALL in said child's day. I'm getting so DONE with this thread! I posted the first time just to say what we'd done w/our DD and it's turned into an all or nothing with some people. Why is that? Why can't people do what is best for them and their families (within reason and the law, of course, (can't even believe I feel the need to even say that!)) and not get slammed for it by some sanctimonious... person... who thinks it should be their way only? Sheesh!!

Laura, that's great! I was able to take my DD with me to the office. I was working 25 hours a week as our church's secretary. Been there 9 1/2 yrs and they didn't want to lose me. Worked out great her first year, then started getting harder. She wanted to run around or "help" now that she was bigger. :rolleyes2: When DH was home, she would stay home with him. Got to the point though that I wanted out of the office so we hired in behind me and I dropped to doing only the books/payroll and now do that from home. Took a huge pay cut as I'm down to 5 hours now, but it is so worth it. I think all of us are just doing the best we possibly can and that's all anyone can ever do. Unless you ask, and it's really not your place to, you don't know why any one person does what they're doing when you happen to see them in a brief moment of their lives with their kids. I have a friend who MUST use some sort of stroller or carrier b/c she has nerve damage in her neck and isn't allowed by her doctor to carry her infant daughter in arms or a car seat for any length of time. She's a preemie and they almost lost her several times, all mom wants to do is hold her baby all the time. I do know that some of us were only relaying what we did when our babies were little® (mine's still pretty little). I don't like some of the generalizations that some are making. We are taking a huge hit for me to be able to stay home with our daughter. It would cost us as much as I make for daycare if I went back to the office. My DH works his tail off as a fireman for our state (don't even go there, he doesn't make what some people might think and he could make twice as much and we'd be cruisin' if he worked for a city dept out here) BUT we are both home with our DD as much as possible and b/c of where DH works, he's home for 4 days in a row (3 days on, 4 days off) and works 10 minutes from our home in the mountains so we get to see him all the time. (How cool is it for a little kid to have a fire station as her second home?!) And again, I'm running off at the mouth. I talk too much! My point again, is unless you really know someone, you don't know what the whole picture is in the small amount of time you are seeing them in public. Have a beautiful day!!

My first thought was the "not feeling so good" excuse and accompany it with the laying of a gentle hand on your stomach. People will so NOT ask for further details. And it won't be too far off. You may not BE feeling so good and it WILL be in that area. You just don't have to get specific. Let people think what they will. And who cares!?! Go to the wedding, be careful, sip some Water or broth if they have Soup as part of the meal, and sit and enjoy people watching. (It will also give you a good reason for ducking out early if you find you need to.)

I have a 22 month old daughter, so have been through the infant carrier stage. I did both carrier and carry her. DH and I adopted our daughter when she was an infant (picked her up from the hospital when she was 2 days old!!). We are infertile (yes, both of us have issues, go figure!) and had been married 18+ years when we were blessed with our daughter. One of the first things I bought when we found out about the possibility of her - a sling. Not having carried her in my womb, DH and I needed to bond with her and not let others hold her for at least 3-4 months (which was totally fine with me!). The sling was wonderful. I carried her everywhere and it prevented others from just scooping her out of my arms (DH is a lot taller so people couldn't reach her to do that with him!). We did use her infant carrier a lot b/c she would be asleep or it was a fast in and out and the sling did take some time to set up (I had one that's basically just a long swath of fabric w/D-rings for looping and tightening the fabric). Our grocery carts here actually allow the back of the carrier to "lock in" like it would in the car seat base. We had to pull the release mechanism in the back to unhook it from the cart. So, even if it LOOKED like she was sitting precariously on top of the seat part of the cart, she was stable and locked in. Wheetsin, think about getting one of these slings. I loved mine. I got it from here: Baby Slings - Baby Carriers - Baby Wraps This is the one that I have: TaylorMade Solarveil? Baby Sling They are wonderful! It's great to have the baby close and yet be able to use both hands if needed. When DD was an infant, DH was working Sundays (he's a fireman) and I was an usher once a month at church. Well, I would sling DD and usher with her laying against me. People in church got a kick out of it! Sometimes she'd be peeking out at people and other times she'd be totally crashed! Anyway, I can see both sides of the whole carrier thing. There were lots of times, it was just totally easier for whatever I was doing at the time.

I want to wish you lots of great luck!! We are having our own Relay in May and I'll be donating to that. I was our team's captain (gave that up last year) for 7 years and our team has won 1st place for 5 of the last 8. My team is a church team too! We're hoping to raise enough to break the $100,000 mark for the total giving of all the years we've been involved. What amazes me is that we aren't a large church! In fact our Relay event is one of the highest raising events of our (small) size in California. I cry every year and I always tell myself I won't! Every year the event hits home for me in a different way. I've never had cancer but one of my good friends is in treatment now. She's doing okay now but we were afraid we were going to lose her last month. We still could but the tests are coming back positive. We'll take what we can. Many, many blessings on your event. I hope it is the most successful one you've ever had!!

bandster_1007, I'm so sorry it was so physically difficult for you. I am glad though that that part of it is finally over for you. Please take the time you need to heal and grieve. It's important. Take care. M

Wheetsin, I so agree with you. DD is NOT allowed to run around. She automatically goes in the cart. If it's not busy, she can walk but she MUST stay with us, (she likes to push the cart, it's funny and we have to hold on or we'd be out of Target in like, 10 minutes flat) BUT the instant she stops cooperating, she goes back in the cart, much to her dislike. I actually bought her a leash online. We just got it yesterday. It's a little stuffed monkey that has a harness system that buckles across the child's chest with a long tail that has a loop in it for mama or papa's wrist. She's really bad about holding your hand for a minute or so and then taking off (I have a huge fear of parking lots and will usually carry her or have her wrist instead of her hand). I'm hoping she'll get a kick out of it and this will give her a little freedom without actually getting any freedom. She actually had me put it on her yesterday and lead me around the house. It was funny. We'll see how it actually works out in public. I KNOW I'm going to get some looks but at least I KNOW where my kid is and she's contained!!! Eddie Bauer® 2-in-1 Harness Buddy - Monkey : Target This is all probably making it sound like my poor kid can never have any fun. She can, just in the appropriate places and at the appropriate times. Okay, I think I'm done, again!

Sunshine, I love you! That is sooo funny! I'll have to remember that if something like that ever happens with my DD. My own personal pet peeve is the lack of personal responsibility and an extension of that would be parental responsibility. If people don't start taking responsibility for their own lives, actions, etc. where does that leave society? Not in a very good place. DH and I are already working on our daughter and she's not even 2 yet (will be soon). We've been told that we're old-fashioned (complimented) and told we both have old souls. I guess. We've both been raised in certain ways and we are teaching DD in the ways that we were taught. Even as young as she is, she is not to act up and if she does, she is removed from the situation. Period. Don't care if we leave a cart of groceries or have to make a quick exit out of a restaurant. One of us takes her out while the other one deals with the bill and getting food containers. DH was getting his hair cut at one of those $15 places and DD was acting up so I took her out while she was screaming bloody murder. On the way out I heard one of the hair dressers wondering what happened. I found out later DH explained that I probably told her no about something and she had a melt-down, so she was removed. ALL of the hair dressers in the place thanked us for doing that. They were shocked b/c it never happens for them. They've got parents who come in to get hair cuts and bring their kids and let them run around the place while everyone is trying to work. It's crazy. It is sometimes embarrassing but I won't put up with that behavior and I have noticed that if the staff sees that we're trying to do something about it and get out, they bend over backwards to help us. Of course, part of that just means she's out of their range of hearing faster but they are very gracious about it. My post is making it seem that she does this a lot and she doesn't, but at almost 2, we have had our moments! The other thing is if we see something starting to happen with her, we get out faster so she DOESN'T have a melt-down in the middle of where ever we happen to be. We'll let, say, wait staff know that we've got to get out quickly and they assure us she's fine but we tell them no she's not, we're on our last straw and we're trying to get out before the big melt-down and they'll expedite the bill for us. There have been times that we know she's tired and we're all hungry and we know she's going to be a pain in the behind at a sit-down place, so we'll go through drive-thru somewhere to get a snack to hold us over til we get home. She gets a little something to eat, falls asleep in the truck and has an hour-long nap on the way home and we're in a better place later and none of us are over-stressed. Hungry maybe but not over-stressed. I'm not trying to say that DH and I are shining examples of anything, (God-forbid, I don't want to be held up by anybody!), I'm just giving examples of things we believe in and won't tolerate. We're only doing what we know how to do and that's how we were raised. But my point to this VERY LONG POST is that a lot of what we were raised knowing and are trying to teach our daughter has gone by the wayside. It's sad. And I'm really sorry this is so long. I talk to much even in cyber-space!

I'm not banded... yet. Hopefully sometime this year. I am REALLY wanting to remember this thread for when post-op bandster hell kicks in. I'm so scared that what I know I SHOULD do and what I WANT to do will be a war and that the WANT side will win. I have no will-power, that's how I got in this place. I love food, actually I sometimes hate the fact that I need to eat and like it so much. I eat way too big a portions every time I sit down. It's good, I want to keep eating it even though my stomach says you need to stop. How do you "Long-timers" change your head about that? I know it's a head thing. How do you get it straight in your head that you need to a) follow dr's orders, :crying: take small bites, c) chew til the cows come home home, etc.? I want to thank Faith, Susan, CW, LJM, Wasa, and others for their wisdom and for not holding back. I'm trying so hard to be informed, educated and prepared for what's to come. Thank you again. I'm so blessed to have found this site.:thumbup: