TommyO

Doll, it's time to trade up. I think that what you are craving is an experience that makes you feel good. The trip to MacD's is an enjoyable experience for you and part of the experience is the food. Find a replacement experience and make it better, "Trade Up". I have included food in the special occasions of my life, whether it is a large family dinner or a vacation that includes plenty of meals in Restaurants. We often associate the great feeling with the food and forget that it come from the total experience. Removing the food and adding something else can often provide the required feeling of satisfaction. I love to travel and in the past stopping to eat was a big part of what made the experiences special. As an example in Canada breakfast menus do not include Biscuits with Sausage gravy or corned beef hash. One of my favorite places to visit in the world is the Outer Banks of North Carolina and during my many visits there I would have one of these items as part of my breakfast every day. A couple of years ago I decided to trade up and now in the morning I get up pick up a big cup of coffee from Tommy’s in Duck and go for a morning walk on the beach. It is an incredible experience and it is more enjoyable than the Biscuits and Gravy. It is much easier to give up when we trade up. The thought of the Gravy sort of grosses me out now J

Good for you, walk with pride, you deserve it

I think this thread is a perfect example of how valuable this forum can be. It is great to be able to admit to being on a binge eating spree knowing that audience understands, does not judge and offers support and help. Reading this thread reinforces to me the value of being a participant of this forum. Paula, we all have ups and downs in our progress but your honesty and courage is spectacular. Thanks to everyone on this thread and in this forum, it is great to have a place to go were people understand.

Great News, good for you

Roze, the sayng "Do as I say not as I do" keeps popping into my head as I read your post. You state "My Doctor said that this is not an easy way out like the band," I would suggest your doctor is uninformed. It would be foolish and un-ethical to make a claim like that about Banding or By-pass surgery. you ask "all you bandsters out there, don't criticize a person because they want RNY" Interestingly it's seems you don't apply the same expectations to yourself in regards to banding. P-Nut, Gotta Love yourself Girl.

Sell both vehicles and tell the lawyer you want his

My perspective is this, before you make any decisions take the time to really understand what motivates your eating. There are many reasons people are overweight and the reasons you over eat are crucial factors in your decision.<O:p</O:p <O:p</O:p I am, and always been a big eater with a big appetite, I am less of an emotional eater, although I do at times eat for emotional reasons. If your eating is primarily physiologically based then I think by-pass might be a better option, if however you’re eating is more physiologically based then the band may be a better option.<O:p</O:p <O:p</O:p Simply put because I am more of a "food lover" and less of a "me hater" I chose the band. If you eat to fill a hunger chose the band if you eat to fill a void choose bypass. (And possibly invest in a psychiatrist).<O:p</O:p <O:p</O:p The surgery should be a consideration but your eating habits must be considered as a primary decision driver.<O:p</O:p

Sorry but I don't agree with your premise, we need to feel comfortable with ourselves. If we continue to base our opinions of ourselves on the stats of other people we will always feel some pain. I have seen posts that ask people to include their height so people can have perspective. This is really just a way for people to feel better about themselves beacuse they are less fat that someone else. I have also seen posts from folks who talk about the fact that they have not had any fills or that they have only had a small fill. I sense that the implication is that they are doing a better job because they are doing this more on their own and someone who has had more fill volume is not as good at weight loss. I am very tall but the fact that I may weigh the same as someone else who is shorter does not make me a better fat person. I am doing this for my health not so I can look around the room and feel better about myself. I want everyone to feel good about themselves because they deserve to, being fat does not make a person a bad person just as being thin does not imply any propencity to goodness. We succeed when we are proud of ourselves not because we are able to find examples of people we think we can feel superior to. This note may sound harsh and if it does I apologize, I am late for a meeting and I don't have the time to review it to make sure I am being as gentle as I should. Please do not take this personaly Good Luck

For a word to be spelled using the "proper English" spelling it must first be considerred proper English. I don't think Y'all fits into that category so you can spell it however you prefer. But then again this is purely a Canadian point of view eh!

The thing about losing 50 pounds is it's great, congratulations, great job and keep it up you rock.

Congratulations you deserve something special like a spa weekend or something. Great job

It has been a long time since I did the lent thing, you see some time ago I gave up Religion for lent and I have been able to last much more than 40 days. To make amends I am going to give up something significant for Lent this year. Drum Roll Please, this year tatatatatatatatatatatat I am tatatatatatatatat giving up tatatatatatatatatatatatata Peanut Butter.

Paul, Fabulous stuff, it loks like a lot of work went into this trailer congratulations I sure it's been a lot of hard work.

Kathy, you have a great name "the best me" I love this name because of what it implies. To me I see a person who is willing to accept themself with their flaws knowing that they are working to become a better person. So at any given time they are the best they can be knowing that they are committed to becoming even better. I think that great philosophers such as Nietzsche are giving us guidance and challenge us to see if we can apply some key truths to ouseleves to make us better. They do not judge, they only offer us some potential insights into our hearts and minds and hope we may find solutions that work for us. I think that the thing that we as overweight people overlook is that Plato or Machiavelli or Nietzsche have said little or nothing at all about being overweight, they ask us to work at being good people. So what really gets my goat are good people who keep beating themselves up because they have flaws. Your post is very insightfull and shows that you are an intelligent caring person who is willing to forgive everyone. Possibly the one person you find hardest to forgive is yourself. You are not alone, the world is full of good people who are hard on themselves this is likely a common trait amongst overweight people. So today I am declaring a special day of amnesty for all those people who deserve forgiveness, not from others but from themselves. I am shouting "I FORGIVE ME" lets all do the same. I don't know why I have chosen to post this note on this tread but it made me feel good

They say if you don't have a Niche then get yourself a Nietzsche Here is a quote of his that is somewhat apropos intended to stimulate contemplation for all, with or without a Niche. Please feel free to interpret this as you wish but keep in mind that I am not inferring any negativity only an invitation to suggest the solution lies within. Quote: Out of damp and gloomy days, out of solitude, out of loveless words directed at us, conclusions grow up in us like fungus: one morning they are there, we know not how, and they gaze upon us, morose and gray. Woe to the thinker who is not the gardener but only the soil of the plants that grow in him. Author: Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Based on Friday night's activities I can honestly say that I am still able to drink beer. More than one for sure and it still tastes great. I do enjoy beer just not as often and in as much quantity as before. I am taking Cheri's advice and getting rid of the Peanut Butter but if she tells me to stop drinking beer I am going to cover my ears and sing LALALALALA! until she stops

Quote: There are times when silence has the loudest voice. Author: Leroy Brownlow

Okay Lisa, it's time to start back up again. No more self imposed excile. I know your watching :couch2:

Dawg, would love to here about any plan your son comes up with for you. I also have an icecream thing, my problem is right now I think I may be a little overfull as I can't eat any solids so I have eaten som ice cream lately. I am going to take some earlier advice and trya to move to the sugar free pudding made with skim milk. I also plan to put it in the freezer for a bit and see if it resembles ice cream. I am also considerring purcahsing an ERG I don't know what ERG stands for but it is a high end rowing machine. Rowing is similar to swimming in that it works is cardio and also works the upper and lower body. I will be off line for the next few days, an old budy of mine had a massive heart attack and died yesterday so I am going back to my hometown to attend his funeral. I am a little rattled, he was a couple years older than I and I am sure it will be a tough few days. Especially for his family. Please keep the insights comming. I think we may be on to something here and this looks like a powerfull support group.

Paul, I wish I had an answer for the snack thing I tend to go with Low fat yogurt as a snack but I have a hard time not snacking. I play guitar and I try to play instead of eating but I would'nt say I have been overly successful. I exercise daily, 45 minutes on the treadmill 5 days a week and 3 days I lift weights, upper body only. I am like you in that I have been involved in sports most of my life and I do suffer from aches and pains but I love the treadmill and I hope to be on the road as soon as the weather gets a little warmer. I tell people that pound for pound I am the fastes mile runner in Canada. The three physical changes you mentioned are exactly the same for me and I am very happy about that. so is my wife with the snoring) Cheers

I don't watch reality TV, I find I am actually living an exciting reality each day, I get to participate and I much prefer tho host

Here is someting I have discoverred that I find very interresting. I think I ate in the past for reward. What I mean is when I was going out of control with my eating it was because it made me feel good to eat, in essence I was being rewarded. Now when I eat there is little reward if any at all, many times I get an uncomforatble feeling and a few times I have had to lean over the bowl, if you know what I mean. All of a sudden there is no reward and I find myself having urges to be bad less and less. Don't get me wrong I still have the urge to eat plenty but it is diminishing. I have only been banded since December 9th so it is still to early for me to feel certain that this will continue but I am hoping that over time my desire to reward myself with food will be greatly decreased. Here's hoping!!

I was banded Dec 8 2005 by DR Tin in Mississauga ON so far I am down 80 lbs but the first 40 was pre-band Cheers

My apologies as well, In the last few years I have been involved in a lot of volunteer work, because it's hard to get people to become heads of volunteer groups I have managed to always end up as the Chairman or the President of the organization. In the beggining I would get upset at different people until I decided that I would always assume that their intentions and motives were always good. When you assume that everyone has the best of intentions you respond to them more positively. Kathy I did not follow my rule in responding to your post and I apologize, I know you are a good person. In the immortal words of Ebineezer Scrooge "Forgive me Fran, Forgive Me"

Wow, that's nice, I guess it's important to let people know that your ignoring them. It probably doesn't work if you just ignore them, no satisfaction if their not hurt a bit I suppose.