PhotoNut

In your signature line. You can get one at tickerfactory.com. Use the bbCode, but elimiate all the bits about the URL. This can be done manually, or by pasting the addy into a Word or a text editor first then copy it from there to your signature here. By doing this, it removes the active URL link and turns it into plain text. To maually edit it, paste it into your signaure line and then remove the secitons I have colored. (They wont be colored on yours) [ url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/ ] [img ]http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/3;10722;120;0;1/c/272/t/130/s/307/k/1d01/weight.png[ /img] [ /url]

Ah ha! Well why didn't you say so?! *laughs*

Have a look through the threads in the food Forum. There's a lot of great information there, along with suggestions from many people regarding taste etc. Good luck.

*Hands everyone a picket sign that reads: STOP THE UNFAIR TEMPTATION OF THE OBESE! C'mon everybody! Let's picket the fried oreo and funnel cake vendors! Fight the inhumane treatement of the emotionally distraught fat folks! Together we can shut these people down! We're getting fat on their food while their pockets are getting fat with out money! Where's Lisa? Lisa! Time to picket!!

Wow.. I purposely didn't approach the meat of your topic until I'd had more time to think this over. I can certainly understand your feelings, I was always fat as a kid. Never picked for any group for anything. This continues today. I am an avid photographer freak, and I recently contacted a pro in my area who teaches outdoor photography. I emailed him about possibly studying with him and he emailed back, respectfully of course, inquiring about my 'physical abilities'. He let me know that he hikes and camps for a week at a time and I would need to be fit enough to join such a class. I had to write back and tell him I'm overweight and can do short hikes, roadside work, etc and asked if he would be willing to take me on as a student as I am losing my weight and getting in shape. He turned me down. And in the past I have been so damn depressed and discouraged on weigh in day when Dawg has lost 4 pounds and I have gained 1. I would be angry and hurt and jealous, and I couldnt understand why I was being left behind when I was trying just as hard. So yeah, I do understand the feelings. I understand them very well. The thing is though, we cannot expect the world to march to the same beat. There will always be those who lag behind, and those who far exceed the rest of us. And we should not expect everyone to pretend to be on an even keel. To tell those who are succeeding that they can't share their joy and excitement over their success would be like telling you that we don't want to hear what a bummer it is that you aren't losing fast enough. It drags us down. It's depressing. That would be horrible, wouldnt it? No, we will never all be the same. But we are all humans struggling along the same path in life and we can be happy for each other and share the burdens of our friends when the bad times hit us. Most importantly, we can help hold each other up and keep on keeping on. Stop caring what others have done. Focus on you. Focus on getting yourself healthy. Focus on how many people here love you and are here for moral and emotional support. That's what its all about. (regardless of how many people tell you the hokey pokey is what its all about *grins*)

Vines, Im not sure what settings in Firefox you are talking about but there is a check box in your LBT options for showing signatures. Its under Quick Links (top of this page) Edit Options, then scroll down the page until you find it. I hope this helps.

*gives Estela a big warm hug* There, that may not have been on your fantasy list, but it should have been. *grins*

You know, as I get older I find myself disliking these types of "holidays" even more. I eluded to this in my first post in this thread. I start feeling the pressure way before the day arrives. The world has expectations of me on these days. If I'm not out with the hundreds of folks who were crowding the isles picking through the mess of red cards, then I'm obviously not caring. I can't stand to have these kinds of expectations put on me. And I try not to put them on those around me. And yet, even though I feel that way and my husband knows I feel that way (we don't do the valentines day thing) I still feel a twinge of sadness when I see other women being taken to dinner and getting roses from their husbands. Then I stop and wonder just how many of these husbands feel pressured into doing something so they dont look like a bad guy among the rest. Oh I know that there are many who do this with pure love in their hearts and do other things during the year as well, but I guess I just feel bad that these days of "expected behavior" end up leaving so many people disappointed because they adopted the same expectations. I read a book once called Unrealistic Expectations. It talked about how we build these fantasy scenarios in our mind when we plan certain events (big or small). We play it out in our heads exactly how the other people involved will respond, and usually we are disappointed. There are too many variables in life to predict exactly how someone will react when presented with a situation that requires some kind of response. Usually in these cases, we have been planning and thinking about it for a day or more. Working it all out in our heads, getting everything prepared, we feel excitement of the anticipation - while on the other hand, the other person has just walked into it from a bad day at work, a headache, traffic that got them royally pissed off, stress over money, etc. I know its got to be one of the hardest things in the world to do, but taking our eyes off of ourselves and our wants and focusing on the other person without expectations of some response is the only way to avoid disappointments like this. It's only when we are looking for the payback that we get angry and feel cheated. Sorry, I'm not trying to preach here, nor am I saying anyone should change the way they do things or see life. I am merely thinking outloud about my own life and the lessons Ive learned in it.

Wow, so when did the day for romance and love become something that parents did for their kids. I'm not being snotty here, seriously. I thought this was a day for lovers, sweethearts, romance.

Fathers are expected to give their sons gifts for Valentine's day?

Wow Letha thats an impressive list of concerts girl. You'd love it in our house, we play almost all your faves. And Wooohooo! Finally a Moody Blues fan! Oh, I have to brag - I saw the Hell Freezes Over tour.. so there

Hiya Lanie! Welcome to LBT, nice to meet you too The Sylvester is an avatar. You can select one from a wide variety already provided or upload your own pic to use. Go to Quick Links at the top of this page, then select Edit Profile. Down the left side you will see edit Avatar. Thats where it's done!

And please.. if I've overstepped my bounds here and offended anyone, Im sorry. I'm not implying that Amy hasn't loved her husband enough. So don't think that's what I was saying. I'm just trying to encourage a healing rather than encouraging her pull even further from him and hang onto the anger.

I can see how deeply disappointed you are. I know how much you're hurting. You wanted him to see all you did for him, and to appreciate you and show you how much he wants to return the love. But something happened to him today, you said you saw he was depressed. You said he's a good man and, from your surprise at his behavior, I'd guess this is not like him to act like this. It is very hard to get past our own hurts in times like these. It is very hard to stop and feel empathy for the one who hurts us. But as an outsider, I see two hurting people who need each other and yet are apart, each with their own hurts. Why not go out there to your man, tell him how much you love him and find out what upset him so much today. Sometimes, people know that a lot is expected of them and they just crumble. Who knows, maybe he was so worried about disappointing you that he just went ahead and did it. I used to struggle with that a lot. Then again, maybe something happened today that he's trying to deal with alone and he doesn't want to tell you and worry you? I dont know. But clearly somethings wrong. Before you just write him (and all other men) off as assholes, why not try to love him enough to find out what happened to him.

Thank you, Jill!

Ow, ow ow! Ive had this happen as well. Not the surgery but the rupture and I can only think of a couple of things that even compare to that pain. I'm so sorry this happened! But I'm a firm believer that all things happen for a reason, and while the timing seems crappy right now.. just trust that there was a good reason for it. The right time for the band will come, and when it does you'll be healthy and ready for it. *big hugs* PS. Who did the surgery?

Prayers for comfort and strength go out to you from our home Penni. *hugs*

NO! I refuse to remind myself of that. That was them, doesnt have to be me! :lalala: Why aren't we standing up and saying, 'Wow, I had that conviction when I started too. And I was doing well then. I may have dropped the ball but I can and will pick it back up!" Oh no, instead I'm hearing, "Yeah yeah, give up now.. it's just a matter of time before you shrug this off too. Youre just excited because this is new. Just wait, you'll screw up and we'll all be there to remind you of it." Come on people! We shouldn't be p'shawing the fresh blood and excitement. We should be clinging to it and using it to help us keep going. Im a big one for analogies.. so here comes one. A man is lying in the desert, dying of thirst, his skin blistered by the sun. Another man rides up on a fresh horse and says, 'Her man, let me give you a hand up we'll ride together and surely we can find a town soon.' The dying may looks up and says, 'You might as well shoot that horse now mister. It's only a matter of time before he falls over dead and you'll be laying here like me.' Bah! Hm.. only a few by the looks of it. Not everyone is willing to fight just yet.

Wow, my hand went over my mouth and I just sat here staring at the screen with this one. This really really hit home with me. Eating has become so much a part of the love we share with our family. A meal together is bonding time. Seeing the smile on our child's face when we hand them a warm cookie melts our hearts. We see it on TV all the time. Hell, the grocery carts have ads on them now.. "Show your family just how much you love them.. bake them some Betty Crocker yadda yadda" By the reactions on this and other threads, it is finally hitting me what's going on. We all truly believe that we are taking love from our famliy if we DENY them sweets or fattening foods. This is brainwashing damnit! It IS time we fought back. We can hand our families healthy Snacks. We can sit with our spouses and eat healthy meals! food is good - healthy food. I don't care how much you try to convince me that potato chips, Cookies, ice cream, pizza, etc is good.. it is UNHEALTHY for anyone. Wake up America! 50% of us are obese now. 50%! This is not all disease, or heriditary. This is us buying into the BS of the people who are making a fortune on us all. I'm sick of it, and I'm boycotting it! :faint: I'm done. heh

Hey Lisa girl.. have some almonds instead And Dawg never suggested going out into the world with picket signs, 'STOP UNFAIR TEMPTATION OF THE OBESE!' He said it's hard enough fighting it outside the home, why not make home a safe place. And I don't think it's selfish to want your family to be healthy too. We live in a society where eating pounds of sugar and fat every year is normal and almost treated as a right. What's so selfish about not wanting your loved ones to end up at risk for heart disease or diabetes? Not that your man is, I'm jsut saying that many of us have spouses and kids that would be much healthier without the sugar and fat in their diets. Nykee talked about raising her kids with Snacks - fat free and sugar free snacks though. And it paid off for her. Nah, it's not selfish to ask our loved ones to help us through such a tremendous struggle. Would you think twice about asking a spouse to please smoke outside if you were trying to stop smoking? Would you think it ok for them to fill up the house with smoke? I think this is very much the same. If I had emphazema (sp) I wouldn't think twice about asking, no.. demanding, that my smoking spouse take it outside. And I would hope they wouldn't have to be asked.

Your health issues are personal and you have every right to hide the details. If you'd have said "its personal" it might have prompted more questions, or even worse.. speculations. I see no problem with giving a reasonable, yet untrue, explanation. It's not any of their business.

Cashley - I think we all wish we knew the "Why". I'll be damned if I know. I scratch my head about this everyday. I seriously think food is the worst addiction anyone can suffer from. It's not illegal. It's in your face 24/7 on tv or just driving around. You have to have some.. just some.. and be able to control that? Right. Maybe some can cut back and slowly wean themselves but I'm prone to addictions. Give me one cigarette and I'm on a pack a day in a week. I know this. I had to stop being around my best friend so I could quit. And it really hurt her. It's been 4 years now and we are just starting to talk again. I can't have things in the house that I know I can get around my band. I know for a fact that one of those times while I'm standing there staring at it, I'm going to crumble. I'll curse myself for putting it in my mouth, I'll hate myself afterwards. And I'm sick of doing that. So I don't allow it to be near me. I just can't. The reason why matters not. I know the fact and I'm doing my best to protect myself and my husband who is so much like me.

I have told my closest friends and family. My co-workers know because Dawg didnt think I'd mind.. and I don't.. now. *snickers* I told a complete stranger at the grocery store the other day. I think the longer I have it, the more I am comfortable about letting people know about it. But then, I haven't run in to insensative jerks who treat me like a loser who couldn't do it on my own. Others here have.

I think the point here is that there are some foods the band will not limit when we are speaking of quantities. These foods can be very tempting and easy to really binge on. No one is saying NEVER TOUCH YOUR FAVORITE FOOD AGAIN! This thread isn't out to answer the questions of obesity. It is challenging people who know they have weaknesses for certain foods to keep them out of the house as a help to them. That's all. Everyone needs to stop being so defensive.

I was going to stay out of this thread and leave this one for my man. But when I saw Kryssa's post just now, it brought me to tears. This is what this thread is all about. Caring enough to speak out on sensative subjects, being willing to take the angry slams, and crying with friends when something like this happens when we do. Thank you to all the nice comments about Dawg and me. Some of you may not believe it, but we do sincerely care and are trying to offer an helping hand for those that need it. Those of you who don't need it, shouldn't be smacking a hand that was offered in kindness. And shame on those of you who try to shoot us down by saying we are just new to this and we will soon fall too. That's just sad.