tapshoes

Yes indeed, stress does tighten my band. I'm surprised about your limited food choices in Cuba - I savoured and had to watch my fruit intake, or I would have gained a lot of weight. Fruit in abundance and fish.

Yesterday Breakfast - 1/2 cup strawberry no fat yogurt with a few strawberries Lunch - sliced italian sausage (1/2 cup) 1/2 tomato (chopped), olives, green onions (total 1/2 cup) Dinner - 1 homemade taco with chicken and all the fixin's snack - 2 servings of no-fat pudding

Sadly this is common everywhere including North America. Newscasters who are not hired for their knowledge but rather their 'look', media obsession on looks for actors (are they overweight, do they have wrinkles, etc)...whether we like it or not, looks matter in many industries, areas of life.

Hmmm - I can't say I have this particular issue. I drink ice Water all day at work, and I'm not a 'sipper'...although I try to be. The only exception: in the morning I am more restricted so that I start the day with a cup of hot coffee. After that, I am drinking ice water all day. Strange isn't it, how different we all are?

But oddly enough, it is NOT that I'm jealous of those who have always been thin, or who have successfully lost weight without WLS, or even of those who have. Sometimes I become aware of a jealousy of many of you here who (in my opinion) look better at your starting or 'in progress' weights than I ever have (thin or not). Even for those who weigh more than myself, and are lamenting your weight - I look at your pics, and I think you look great. Why can't I look as good when I'm the same weight, or less? Fortunately, I slap myself (metaphorically) and get over it. I can't excuse it as PMS - perhaps menopause????:Banane37:

Holy crap - 400-700 calories???? I'd not only be depressed, I'd be a stark-raving lunatic crazed with hunger! :Banane37: Although I haven't been monitoring my calories, I just plunked in a few day's menus on an on-line calculator. Assuming my portion sizes are correct, I'm averaging 1000-1200. As I've previously posted, my weight loss has not been as dramatic as others, but has been (for the most part) constant...slow, but steady. I encourage you to speak with your doctor and frame the discussion not as I"'m eating 3 meals", but rather "my caloric intake is about 550 calories a day". Good luck, and let us know how the conversation goes.

I sure as hell hope she hasn't continued to drink and drive! The damage to your vehicle - bad, not admitting responsibility - worse. Driving while 'in the bag' - reprehensible!:Banane37:

I'd never get any work done - my keyboard would be smothered by 'the girls'..or I would have to type with one hand as the other arm would be hoisting and flippin 'em out the way! TMI???

Yep the fruit puch. Tide pen - seems to have spread the mark...now I look like I've been shot. And of course I have a meeting this afternoon...perhaps no one will notice???

During our 'summer of hell' renovations, there was a dumpster at the end of our driveway for all the debris. BUT we put potentially useful things (like single-paned windows, the old kitchen countertop, etc) in a separate pile and I put a huge sign on it that said "FREE - no need to ask, just take". Well, for about 2 months, different things would go from the pile except the windows. When all the renovations were done, and we were having the dumpster taken away, reluctantly I said, ok, put the windows in. The next day, someone stopped by the house and asked where the dumpster was because they had been 'raiding' it at night and had hoped the windows were in it. After my initial dazed and confused look, I asked why he hadn't taken them from the pile that said FREE. His response: that took the fun out of dumpster-diving. :crying: HUH??? For more than 2 months the windows sat at the end of the driveway with a big sign (a BIG sign in flourescent paint in CAPS) saying FREE, and you prefer to ignore that but rather dive into a dumpster full of renovation debris (nails, old cat-piss covered carpets, broken glass and other fine things)? The world is a weird place.

Posting just to say that despite 50 years of practice, I still can miss my mouth when taking a drink...she says as she mops Crystal Lite off of her blouse. :crying: Red stains on green silk - no one will see that!

I sincerely hope my feet don't shrink - I have TOO much invested in my shoe collection to start all over again!

So what kind of person has planned far enough ahead (to recognize they can't drive and will inevitably have an accident) that they have fake insurance made?:crying: Call me Pollyanna - with the exception of the parents who call to badger me and red-light jumpers (see initial rant), I assume people are nice honest law abiding world citizens...well, with the exception of the person who stole my kitchen sink from the driveway when I was doing kitchen renovations last year, but I excused that as a mental health issue - I mean really, who steals a used kitchen sink????

Fit? maybe but attractive? not so much. (referencing the Madonna arms)

I can eat anything; my portions are significantly smaller than before, but still much larger than others who have posted on the LBT site ... 2 tablespoons of anything just won't work for me! I don't have 'usual' meals - every meal is different just as it would be before banding. Example :for lunch today tuna Pasta salad, lunch yesterday italian sausage with diced tomatoes, yogurt, and lunch on Sunday was devilled eggs, and coleslaw. I refuse to limit my food choices or else I will be bored. I do not have Snacks during the day (no interest in them), and in the evening (my 'weak' time), my snack (if I have one) may be pudding, or a piece of fruit, or veggies and dip. I try to avoid the evening snack altogether, but hey, sometimes I allow myself this, just as a non-banded person might. My goal is to be smaller in size but 'normal' in eating habits- if that makes sense. I too get frustrated with my weight loss at times, but I certainly didn't gain all my weight in 6 months, so why do I berate myself that I haven't lost it all in 6 months? I have increased my exercise steadily - again, no where near many others on this site, but I am doing it incremently and to a level that I believe I will be able to maintain over time. IMO there is no point in pushing to do 3 hours of cardio every day to lose the weight knowing that I cannot sustain that level of effort for the next 50 years! I am trying to find that level where I am stretching myself to increase my fitness without setting unrealistic expectations for maintenance. So after that ramble...did I answer your question?

Congratulations! What an achievement.

I would consider it pure torture!

Ahoy matey! Thar she blows...

Did you miss me? Or are you saying, Who is this newbie??:sad: I intended to be away for about 12 days…12 weeks later, here I am. So many posts to respond to, so little time. But to give you a significantly abbreviated update on my life… Went on a short vacation. While there, a good friend died. 53 years old. Dead. I got to spend some quality time with her in the hospital, but it definitely was not the holiday I had planned. Did see my ex; in fact, because of the circumstances of my visit, I ended up staying with the ex and the new wife. As my ex and I were always friends, this isn’t as ‘trendy Hollywood Pamela Anderson-ish’ as you might think. We (myself, ex, and new wife) are adults and we act like them…no issues. I flew to and from my holiday/vigil. My observations for what they are worth: small flights (lower altitude) no impact on band; longer flights/higher altitude – great restriction for a day or two after!:smile2: Speaking of restriction: had a small fill (1cc) end of June. Fine in the clinic and for 2 days then suddenly I couldn’t swallow spit…2 hour trip to the clinic for a small unfill (1/2 cc)……ahhh, relief. 2 hour drive back home. Last week, 1/4cc back in…and that lovely feeling of restriction is back. I love my band. Nurse really wants to ease me back up, and I ceded to her experience rather than my ‘fill ‘er up’ whim. So far, so good. The good thing is that I am no longer morbidly obese, am in wonderland, and have hip bones (there was some doubt about that!).:ohmy: My mother has been spending a few weeks every couple of months with me…I love to have her stay, but she drives me nuts!! How ungrateful/bad does that make me??? But as I am reluctant to leave her alone for any length of time (she can’t open the exterior doors as they are too heavy for her, and I’m terrified she will trip over a cat as she sees only out of one eye now, and very limited vision with that one) so it means being really creative with how I get my 8 hours a day at work done! And of course, this is at the same time we are trying to do minor renovations in the house and it is in total chaos. Oh, and I received a promotion ()…need to put in lots of extra hours to ‘learn the ropes’ (rats) and figure out what’s going on before I change everything! And I have upped my exercise variety and frequency…albeit I still have a long way to go to match many others. Nevertheless, I have increased my exercise, and it is helping – if only because I have less time to sit in the house and hear the refrigerator calling to me… OK - now on to reading and responding to all of your posts....

OMG! That truly is both disgusting (my stomach is rolling) and funny!

Georgia girl - what a great recipe. I hosted a family reunion yesterday, and used two variations of the salad fore rave reviews. The deviled eggs filling (with a little crumbled bacon and a few extras) and as a veggie dip ... two different great tastes, easy to make, and of course band-friendly. Thanks.

Why must my cats vomit on the upholstered furniture when there is an entire house of clean-able flooring upon which they could upchuck? How do they know to expel stomach contents when the furniture slip covers are in the washing machine? :cursing:

since my 330 posting, I have done 2 loads of laundry, played 5 games of solitaire, gone to the Y for a 30 min swim and 10 min whirlpool, and am now having brekkie....gonna be a long day!

Bandiva, I am so pleased to see you post again - I used your experiences (and a few others on this site) to help inform/guide me through my recent adventures in bandland. I was banded this Feb although had been a 'lurker' on this site before that to help me make the decision, and learn about the tool from someone other than the doctors. I and many others need to hear from those who have had the band for a while and this thread has been part of my 'reality check'. So thanks for your insights along your journey, and congratulations on your achievement...100 pounds gone!

yes indeed - getting fitted is the first step! I always used the ribcage-bust-difference calculation using a tape measure, and thought I had it right. Bra's seemed ok (no uni-boob, or digging in shoulder straps, etc). However, as a weight loss mini-goal reward, I went to a bra shop and got properly fitted - what a difference. It is difficult to appreciate how having someone else measure you properly and exactly can make such a difference. To me, that service alone was well worth it!