Victoriana

Wow Letha, how true, Who was, Who is, and Who is to come. Marinantha!

Hi Carlene, Chico sizes are a bit vague on purpose as most of thier clothes are stretchy. I have some of their stuff and size 3 is more like a 16-18 at most. Size one is a combo Small to Med Size two is a combo of Med to Large Size three is a combo of Large and X-large. Its their own idea of making stretchy clothes buyer friendly!

You sure are hitting it hard and fast! Most often your energy comes after several weeks, so hang in there. One caution though, there was a season when I excercised, and I just could not seem to recover afterward. Felt so terribly drained. I found out that because of rapid weight loss, I was so low in potassium, I was critical and was compromising myl heart and ended up in E. R. so if you are really tired and cant seem to get your energy up, get a blood workup andhave your potassium checked, for your hearts sake.

I was so excited, can you believe ths family that had thier son missing four years? It sure gives hope to any family that has a missing person. God bless them all.

Dear Jodie, there was a time in my life that was so similar, every relationship I had ended up in the I give and you take syndrome. I even wondered if there wasnt a sign on my forehead that said USE ME. I had about 3 years of this and went to a counselor for depression. Without understanding how, I was teaching people to treat me like that. It was so subtle, allmost unbelievable to me. My assignment which was so painfull, was to walk around looking at everyone, even strangers to make eye contact and already be smiling at them as if I knew a great secret. Most people that made eye contact, quickly diverted their look or did a doubletake. I was to nod and say just a hi or a nod of the head to acknowledge them, and just continue what ever it was that I was doing. I was amazed that so many people, especially the older generation quickly responded with kindness of some sort. Older men opened the door and held it, older women said things like "good morning dear". Grocery clerks asked "find everything you needed?" This encouraged me to continue. It wasnt long before a "friend" at work wanted to know if I was in a new love relationship. Of course I said no but I wondered why and asked. She said that no one smiles like that without getting a lot of good ... anyway I began to see changes and most of the people that were casual relationships, then the closer relationships took on a sort of calm. What the counselor taught me was that when I valued myself enough without needing anything from others, (confidence) peaple felt at ease around me. Most people are under so much stress anymore that even the slightest friendships that feel any sort of need in them become strained. Of course, I still needed a lot of approval, but I was learning to approve myself first. I was fortunate to develope that habit of projecting comfort. I still had a lot of jerks in my life but they didnt effect me as much. Soon after that I began making meaningfull relationships. Deep friendships. Just a few, but nice friends that I could share with. I still had to be carefull to include genuine concern for their needs too. Im not saying the you are demanding or hi maintenence. There is however an ability to project a persona that we are unaware of projecting. I wanted you to know that I was hi maintenece without knowing it, all I really wanted was to be cared for and I kind of gave people the ability or power to reject me. and they did! If you need help, I did, even medication for a season, like I did, there is no shame in reaching out for it. This forum is a good starting place, but no real substitute for face to face friendship. You are on a new path, taking care of yourself. I hope you can be patient about loosing, It will happen, even if slowly, and I know that bandsters that loose quickly are just as common as the slow loosers. Try to look at the reasons that slow loosing is a good thing. You are not gaining, Your skin will not sag as bad when you loose slowly, Your body compresses nicely. Your hair wont fall out as easily as when you loose quickly, Your organs like the kidneys and gall bladder arent strained as much. You will probabley learn a lot about yourself, like why eating a big bite of pizza is so important or rewarding. I think you are giving other people too much power in your life. You are the prize and not every one wins it, You sound like a very deep and understanding person when it comes to others. I just think that the feeling that is wierd inside is that missing element of really believing that you are the treasure that WILL be discovered by the people that really matter. I see so much of myself in your post, really, and I think you have the ability to analyze details more readily than most. If you give all the details equal importance, its overwhelming. I think you are learning to sort these details out and giving priority to the important ones. Its all a process, and your gonna make it, Im glad you feel free to just get it out and pick through all this later, thats a good strategy. BTW. I still revisit the feelings of being invisible, It just doesnt have the sting it once had, and move on.

Nurturing through food Isnt wrong, its natural in my mind, why else would any mother strive to awaken 3 times a nite to feed a newborn when she is tired out of her gourd? Nurturing with food isnt wrong if the food is healthy, and in proper portions. I have a new friend that nurtures me by teaching me all kinds of great recepies that are loaded with health and they are verly inexpensive on my budget too! Her goal in life is to write a cookbook to teach many others how to live out of their own gardens, or at least a great deal of their food from there. What I do think is wrong is when we nurture through happy meals and junk food, as the taste for sugar and gluten is a one two punch in the health. These foods are just too easy to grab and we dont feel guilty for not working in the kitchen as moms used to because its so time consuming. All this is totally separate from the rude behavior of your fellow cake eaters. They know that you cant eat cake as you once did, one or two bites would have been enough, and you specifically asked them to wait. I think that it they that were behaving selfishly, and that hurts especially when they are supposed to be close to you. I dont think it was the food, as much as it was the hurt they gave you by not respecting your request. after all what is a bite or two of cake in the scheme of things. Your hurt was obvious and deep because it even effected your sleep. I think that the food and love thing was a connection because it was how they hurt you, not that you have the problem loving through food. I think that the two are totally separate issues in this instance. Just my thoughts, thats all. BTW, If you want to you could buy a gormet cake anytime and eat what you want, if all you really wanted was the cake. You want thier respect. right?

John 17:4, I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do,.... John 17:6, I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. IMHO, The work of Jesus Christ was to reveal the love of God the father for His children, through the healing of their bodies and reconciling them to the Father by His own sacrifice. I think it is so simple, yet so infinately amazing and we in our mortal state try to wrap out mind around God Almighty, and just cant do it in the here and now. Faith without works is dead and yet what is the work? It isnt the business of taking care of each other and our various needs, ( although this is how we are known, by loving one another as Jesus did.) The work is revealing God the Fathers love for everyone in creation, and that His grace (Jesus the Son) shown to us by the forgivness of all our sins. So often, people refer to works as thier actions that earn thier way to heaven. Thats totally undoable. Without the understanding of His grace and what it provides for us, we are all just a bunch of ants building a larger ant hill. Vanity, and a chasing after the wind. Isnt it far more wonderfull to strive for unity, to glorify our Father in heaven? Thats what Jesus prayed, just before He allowed Himself to be arrested and crucified. I think that when we all face death, our dying words become the most important, or at least honored as such. So that is my rave. I am not afraid to lift the name of Jesus Christ, it is the opposite, It is what has conqured fear in my life in the first place. Peace.

Anyone see my binkie?

In the mean time they are laughing all the way to the bank, I think its all just "tabloid fodder" as some one else has put it on tv. BUT IF it is a real tiff between the two....OOHHH to be so shallow as to argue like this, I mean if this is a problem for them, then life must be really good. I know their bank accounts are! Can you imagine, spending energy on something like this? Can we all say, kindergarten is the best place for these two?

What if this encourages him to get a tatoo, and pushes to get one after all, Nanny has one! How would you convince him it was a joke? Im sure he wont really believe you unless you really show him a cleam bum! Its funny though seventeen and could reallly think you have one! What a happening Nanny, I wonder what is going on in his head? Wish I could be a fly on the wall when you get a phony one. This is cute, I wish I could have been in the Dr.s office!

Hey Druth! Welcome aboard (lol) and hope your doing good, Keep us posted! (another lol)... get it, posting on this board? that one is a moanie-groanie eh?

Im glad you are giving NWWLS a look-see by attending one of their semenars. I cant say enough about there professionalism. Ill be going to the next Thursday group session in January. I need a little more motivation after the holidays. Best wishes and Healthy New Year!

Brace yourself!! We have another one commming! What a strange series of unfortunate events. Hope the power holds up r I just might take a vacation to visit family in Phoenix!!

T O M, In Psalm 139: 13-16, The words inspired by the Holy Spirit confirm to me that the unborn are indeed valuable to God. I dare not contradict them. Another thing, Genisis 25:22, The twin babies in Rebekah are no only referred to babies, but two different nations and peoples. If God referres to these children as future nations and peoples, I dare say that just because they didnt take a breath yet that they were not valued by God and "not alive yet". I know that anyone can pull any scripture out of context and create just about any "case" that they want. Its your choice. I would just be carefull to not atribute any case or cause to God because you are clever in plagiarism.

Sunta, as a Christian, It isnt that I dont want the research to happen at all, I just dont want an unborn baby used to support this. I believe there are many exciting research lines available to further the research, and now with the amnio, It would be wonderful if this could end the need to supply stem cells from fetuses. I do however draw the line at accepting the justification for abortion, in any form, stem cell research or not.

Ladies, People with sexual addictions have it really hard because as with most addictions there is a chemical involved. When you have sex, endorphines are released. When porn or other media is used, it increases the frequency of the release of endorphines beyond what would be considered normal, and thats where the addiction becomes real. It becomes a need, and it increases in dependency. A fix is required, so usually the type of sexual gratification changes or increases. It is a true addiction, so people that have this addiction end up going through the ususal changes, like personality profiles that change over time. It isnt something that they want to have happen or even percieve it happening. I cant speak to the way people find their way out of this, I can only tell you of the fact that the few people I know that had a journey through this needed a lot of support and accountablilty. Im sorry if you have a spouse that needs to watch so many other women, please know that this isnt about you or your measuring up to thier preferences, It is a problem that they have that effects you and it is not your fault. I hope you can tell that I am not an expert, but I do have close friends that have overcome this addiction, and your original post was an all to exact sequence that they lived through. Take care of yourself. Try to find some personal support through this. Best wishes.

Dear Lisa, this website is somebodies idea of a bad joke. The women in these pictures are of different women and some are even photoshopped. I cant believe that someone actually took the time to put this together. Its really sad and I hope you dont believe one sentence of it. I wish this person could be reported to someone, but we live in a free world, where poeple have the freedom to choose poorly. Give this website no credence. Im glad you are doing your research. You can tell this phony is a phoney because he didnt post any names, or places, things that would lend credence to him.

Id lay off the marguerita cuz of the hi calories, I eat at mexican restauraunts regularly, and this is what I do. I am loose in the evenings so thats when I eat there. I order decaf herbal tea, and this also relaxes my stoma I eat very slowly and have two or three chips with tea. That it for before dinner. I order one cheese or chicken enchalada with beans, and I eat them very slowly. I usually eat my chicken first then the beans witha few more chips. I chew well and just stop after two or three bites, rest,talk, and sip more hot tea. Then I eat another 2 or three bites, making sure I stop when I feel slightly full. I call this a soft stop. then I just pick a taste or two after that. This satisfies my eating out privelidges. and It looks like a normal meal, although it really is quite small. I never finish all this, but I feel like I ate a banquet! I also change out a tamali once in a while. Hope this helps, Have fun.

Ha, Vines Keep out of Children! How bout "Chew before swallowing" on Hot Dogs?:hungry: or "Put these on first" on the underwear! "Not to be used as Kleenix" on TP rolls. Im sorry, I was just wondering how much money that guy earns in a year.

OH Maaaaann, I just decluttered and all my 80's huge earrings went and my wide belts, and my legwarmers and my one favorite sweatshirt with the neck ribbing cut out. Sheesh wouldnt you just know it!...... AH HAA I did keep my extry wide sholder pads! Look out flash dance, here I come! I AM KIDDING. I hope this stuff isnt really comming back. I agree with Reneebean. If you feel good, you are going to look good, It comes from inside.

What I feel bad about is that I was raised in a family that LOVED the fat. My sweet aunties, they lavished good food, nutritious, colorfull, and of course the goodies and pastries. We had large portions, and celebrated stoutness. They were all raised practically starved. So to them, fat meant wealth, health and freedom to overindulge. My mindset had to be torqued to recognize that I was killing myself, and then it was way too late and very difficult to loose the weight. So in my situation, fat was where it was at, and so when people tried to discriminate against me for obesity, it was like water off a ducks back. It was simply thier problem. I think its so sad that there are those that cant feel good about themselves untill they put someone else down. For any reason.

My Husband has a fatty liver or fatty liver syndrome. He was accused of being an alcoholic because his enzymes were off the chart. After changing Dr.s his liver panel came back off the chart still. The new Dr. knows my DH personally and knows that he never drinks. He then put my DH on a no sugar, no carb diet at first and began to treat him for a candida overload. Aparently, candida takes the sugars in you digestive track and may manufacture as much as a quart of alcohol a day, causing sleepiness, headaches, and a craving for more sugar and refined carbs, as this is the food they need. It is a large and strong bacteria in our gut and is usually kept in check by proper levels of acdidophilus and bifidus ands bulgaricus and other heathy bacteria. If we have a long haul of antibiotic, these friendly bacteria are the first to go and the candida usually survives, and takes over so to speak in the gut. BTW, good bacteria in our gut takes things like complex protiens,(beef) breaks it down and produces b complex and enzymes that cause candida to be surpressed. Another thing that happens with good bacteria is that the enzymes they produce makes an unfriendly environment to virus, thats why they are sometime referred to as a probiotic. Ok back to the liver. The candida was producing alcohol inside his body, the liver was getting damaged, producing the fatty liver syndrome. He had his gut cleansed, and liver detoxed, and his gut rebuilt with healthy bacteria, It took about 6 mo. In the process, he lost weight, lost major sunus problems and allergies bothered him so much less that he stopped the decongestants and antihistamines. His sinus infections dissapeared, which can be aggrivated by the candida. He did not need to keep going back to powerful antibiotics for sinus infections. His liver panel is normal now and he no longer has fatty livey syndrome. When we get the lapband, our diet changes to higer protien, low sugar and low carbs. This alone can cause the candida levels to be surpressed. Thats how so many of us seem to loose the fatty liver problem, on top of the fact that many of us have increased energy. No more overrunning candida giving us alcohol, and causing us to crave more sugar,etc. No more sleepiness after our meals and all of those benifits come after we get the band and get help controlling what we eat. I see it as a win, win.

Just another 10 inches! I mean wow, ten inches would close down Seattle in a heartbeat. We had a mere 48 inches of rain in 06, and we usually average about 38. It just sort of comes in clumps like your snow. and when that happens the sewers overload and the streets flood. One poor woman was in her basement in a neiborhood that was built in the 40's. a combination of freaky things happened and the water flooded her basement and she drowned before the fire dept could cut through the floor. So tragic, I heard that 12 people were lost due to the last snow that went through. Glad your ok!

Hello Vines, and Happy Healthy New Year!! I hope you continue to be a part of this community as we all sort of drift in and out. Sometimes I lurk and am amazed that I cant recognize any of the posters that are here, and yet excited to get to know them. (!Hey everybody out there!) Im gonna keep track of your healthy journey, and who knows, it could include another band eh? Even if it doesnt, once a bandster, always a banster because you can relate! Good to see your flames again!

I think it takes courage for anyone to reach out for support, and I hope its found. But I also hope it is balanced and truthfull. I think everyone is valuable and their value is not because of size, color or faith. I think that they are valuable because they are. Period. Life is valuable. All of it. I separate their value from there physical, intellectual, and emotional standing. All of that is part of a continum that is undefinable by me anyway. I would hope that we could respect each other in any state, and be truthfull that certain stages of life are enevitable. Once I was skinny and now Im not. Once I was young, and now not, and once I was very uneducated, and now Im more educated. My value has remained constant to me. I dont just accept myself, I esteem myself and others. To me that is very different. Just like tolerance donotes something recognized, but put up with anyway. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth so to speak. I dont just tolerate differences I revel in them. Health is valuable, and not just a fad. We esteem ourselves by being as healthy as possible. However, if someone has a disease, I dont judge them as though they are faulty or subgrade. I hope we dont value each other for what we do for each other. That would be very sad indeed. As far as size acceptance, 65 percent of America is obese now according to last weeks news. That was amazing to me. I saw a movie filmed in the early 50's and EVERYONE looked anorexic to me. It felt strange.