K@t

Hello everyone! I've posted here before but I've been away for awhile so I'm back. Life has been hectic and stressfull, but hopefully after next month things will calm down and I will be back to normal. I have a question about fills. I have had 3 fills (3cc's each) and (supposidly) have 9cc in my VG band (which holds 10cc right?), and I honestly feel hardly any restriction. I can still pretty much eat normal amounts (still less then before, but more than I should) and I don't seem to have any food restrictions. I do get things stuck if I eat to fast, and I have pb'ed twice (in the entire year and 2 months I've been banded) My band is almost full how come I can still eat so much?! I'm moving back to the states so I'm going to a fill center usa in st.pete, hopefully the doc there can make sure that I really DO have 9cc in my band, but is it possible for a band to be to big for the stomach? My surgen says he uses VG bands on everyone he bands, but maybe my actual stomach is smaller then the band it's self? Or am I just crazy and 1 more cc will make a difference?:phanvan

:bump: any other teachers around?

Hey Everyone, There is something that has been bothering me for awhile, and it would be great to get some advise about it. As many of you know I'm American and my husband is Portuguese. When I graduated from university I moved here to Portugal to be with him. The process for marriage here in Portugal is that everyone has to go to the court house and get married first. Then if they want a church wedding they can do it after. Hubby and I were planning a church wedding, so we went in jeans and t shirts to the court house, without our rings, with nothing, basically to sign a piece of paper to say we were married. A few weeks after that the wedding plans fell apart. Logistics where difficult because of my family in the US and his family owning a business, it seemed we couldn't find a time that every one could make it together. So we decided we didn't need a wedding. We didn't get to exchange rings, or kiss the bride, or have any pictures that we could show our future kids. I have always regretted that. Now....next month we are moving back to Florida. We have been married 3 years this year. Our anniversary is September 6th. Our 5 year anniversary in 2009 will be on a Sunday. I was thinking that I would like to do a church wedding in the US on our 5 year anniversary. It wouldn't be a vow renewal as a lot of couples do, because we never had any vows. I would like to do a traditional ceremony in a Methodist church that my grandparents attend. I would like the dress and the cake and a photographer. Hubby's parents would probably be able to fly in at that time to attend. His brother and my sister in-law would probably be able to come too. I'm just wondering what you all think, if it's appropriate to have a wedding after we have already been married. I don't exactly know what the etiquette procedure is for this. Any opinions on this?

Okay, they are doing construction in the apartment next to us. 8am and they start drilling and hammering. I haven't had any decent sleep in 4 days! We are leaving in another month why couldn't they wait?! BAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...........ok, I feel better.

Who the heck is Rachael Ray? And who the heck is that girl for that matter? I hate random people photos..imagine that person walking through a shopping center then all of the sudden they see their face in a fake photo of a picture frame for sale. freakish. :rolleyes

Hey thats great! I was planning on the cereal bars for breakfast and a frozen meal or the wrap for lunch. Then doing dinner at home and allowing myself 2 snack packs a day during the week. Hopefully that ought to keep me on the straight and narrow. Then on the weekends I might have regular food for breakfast and lunch for variety. (but still south beach approved meals)

Hey every one, I have done some research about the various diets out there. I decided that the best one for me is the South Beach and its something that I think I can stick to for the long haul. I did Atkins with success before banding, but it wasn't something I could sustain for the long haul, and I eventually gained it all back. My cousin and her hubby are doing it (hubby is a sgt. in the army and is shipping off to Iraq in November) and I really need the structure of a diet. I'm thinking about joining the online program as well. Are there any other South Beachers out there?

Hey Jachut! I didn't know u were going to be teaching. It's good to see you here. I can see why you would be nervous eating around new people, but hopefully that will pass when you get more comfortable then you will be able to eat normally. I sometimes use to skip the staff room and spend my lunch in my room grading or what not when I didn't feel like dealing with people.....that way I could eat what I wanted with out any looks or comments. But of course then you miss out on the social aspect. But I totally agree that the teaching schedule lends its self to dieting. It's not like you can munch in class when ur teaching, and breaks in between are to short to really munch. As long as u can control yourself when you get home it should work fine. I'm counting on that to be part of my support system when I start my new teaching job. Jane how the heck you get up at 5:30 I'll never know. I plan on doing my exercise when I get home around 3:30. Hopefully by then I won't be to exhausted from teaching to hit the gym. insub- I totally agree people don't realize how hard teaching is. It's not like your sitting at a desk staring at a screen or talking on the phone. Your on display in front of all these little faces for most of your day. That takes a lot out of a person. Plus the lack of discipline in schools these days does nothing to help.

South beach has a ton of new foods out there produced by Kraft. They have frozen meals, as well as breakfast bars and cereals. And they have these new on the go chicken wraps, plus they have 100 calorie snack packs like cookies and chips as well. They look great and it will be a lot easier for me to grab one of those for lunch and breakfast, and have the snack packs around for the munchies, then just cook a dinner in accordance with the plan. They have some great recipe books that I bought, I just got a new one with slow cooker recipes. Hopefully it will help me shed the weight. I'll keep everyone posted as to how it goes.

Hey Jane, good luck with your banding next week..keep us updated. Surby- I saw their website and the package....but I wasn't sure if it was only their package or not, I guess it is, so good news for me..it's not like I need to learn some new method of teaching.

Hey Jane, 30 min lunches are standard in middle schools. I think it's horrible, it encourages kids to eat to fast. Before I moved to Portugal i was a perm sub at the same school where I'm going to work and I had my planning time right after lunch so I was lucky to get extra lunch time. I know about the potty thing its tough. Kids can be curious its great that yours are being sweet. When did you get banded? How much have you lost..and how the heck do u have time to go swimming before school? What time do you start work?

We would probably specify no gifts. A few family members did give us gifts but we are pretty established and it's not like we need toasters or anything. It's good to know that some people do it afterwords. I think our 5 year will be a good time to do it. I'm pretty decided we will do it. If you guys are still here on LBT in 2 years, you will see the photos. :biggrin1: I'm thinking of doing it in a small Baptist church that my grandparents attend. Its in a really small town so I would just need to find a reception place. But it won't be a big thing, just family and close friends, probably 50 people or so. I just really want pretty photos to show my children, and you know "have my day". Thanks for the inputy everyone.

I've avoided watching that movie for that very reason...I'm probably a witch for it, but I like my diamonds and I don't want to feel guilty for wearing them. :paranoid

Great doc, thanks for the input! I'm hoping to find a few more bandsters to join me....any one else? Any one?

:bump2: :bump: You mean there is no one doing south beach??

Hey Surby - Welcome to BTT. So your and AP great, I'm hoping to be there in 3 or 4 years time. So you have done a lot of reading thats great too! In fact I have a question maybe you or kity know the answer. I'm taking an SRA reading position...any idea what SRA is? I googled it but I couldn't find much. And from what I understand its for grades through 6, but I'm supposed to be teaching a 7th grade class.:cry

No offence ment Ralheit, but most of us ARE using great will power and ARE working really hard to change our life, even with the band. I don't need people to "think" this because it's true. There are any number of good excuses so pick one and use it. I told everyone and now I wish I hadn't. Every time some one hasn't seen me for awhile they look me up and down and I'm sick of it.:tired

I completly agree with this...especially about taking a trusted geek. Geeks in the computer stores are still there to make money off you.

I have a toshiba lap top at the moment. They use to be good but the newer models aren't as good. The first one I bought we returned it after 3 days because it kept shutting it self off. And the one we returned it for, after about 6 months i had to have them replace the mother board in it because it wasn't recognizing the battery. Fortunately they honored the warranty and I didn't have to pay, but I've had more then my fair share of problems with this Toshiba which is why I'm replacing it for an HP after I move.

I go to a curves type gym here in Portugal and I love it. It really works for me a lot better then traditional gyms have in the past. I haven't ever heard of the butterfly life....i'd be interested in any one who knows something about that. I'm moving to florida next month and I had planned on joining a curves near by.

My hubby is a certified network engineer and he's a certifiable geek. He said Dells are over rated. He said at the moment HP is the best price/quality ratio, and you can also customize them. If you pm me with how much u want to spend and what exactly u will be using the lap top for I can ask him for a suggestion if you like.

I love jewelry but it has to be the real thing. I never buy any thing under 14k gold and I always get genuine stones. I don't like the fake stuff. Because my family and hubby know this I have loads of beautiful pieces and I'm only 26! I better have a daughter some day to give it all to. Plus I have 2 strands of pearls given by different people on different occasions...I wear it all, rings, necklaces, earrings. But not all at once, usually just 1 ring on my right hand and my wedding ring (6 small round diamonds on my band and 4 small round diamonds set around 1 large diamond on my engagement ring) on the other. But I love all kinds of colored semi precious stones as well as others like jade, turquoise, etc. I even have a set I call my patriotic set thats a ring with sapphires and rubies and a small diamond star in the middle, and a matching necklace and earrings. Hubby is always buying me new jewlery....he just doesn't know it yet :kiss www.ice.com is a great place. Their prices are fair and they are always running promotions and the quality is great.

Wow it's great to hear from some other teachers! slikchik10 I know how that mad dash at lunch can be. Here in Europe kids get an hour for lunch, can you believe it. :hungry: Because I'm at a private school now I work in the evenings and don't get a lunch break, just 10min breaks in between classes, which makes it hard to get any thing decent down. I'm looking forward to my new 7th grade reading position with normal hours. Kity, your teaching a masters level class, thats great! I'm hoping to get into the Educational Leadership program at USF next year. I want to give myself some time to get settled then I'm going to apply to start in January hopefully. Plus there are some reading endorsements I want to get. isabelle 3rd grade you are brave! I never managed well with the elementary kids, I do much better with the middle school grades, but I think most graduating teachers these days prefer the younger ones. So, I have ordered 4 new books from South Beach, one for quick 30min meals, another for summer recipes, and another that is a restaurant guide and the last which is a quick guide to take to the grocery store with you. My mom (who is also a teacher...but now she's the media specialist) is going to do South Beach with me, so I'm excited. I just have one more month left before I get back to the states. We are flying in on July 4th, independence day..whoo hoo! :clap2: South Beach has a ton of new products from Kraft, like Breakfast bars and microwave meals. I plan on having the bars for breakfast and bringing the microwave meals for my lunch at work, and then cooking a smart dinner. And they have tons of snack packs like crackers and Cookies etc. So I'm going to allow myself 2 snack packs in between meals. Hopefully, if I can stick to that, plus drink my Water and get in some exercise....I will be losing in no time! Ok well its 8am here and I'm off to work (yep thats right, I have to teach on Saturday mornings...what a bummer!) Catch you guys later! :mad:

U should watch Scrubs. :guess

Nope, here in Portugal thats the city rules. We live in a building with 8 floors, 2 apartments per floor and our building is in the middle of about 15 other buildings that are connected, on our street there are probably about 12 or so of those connecting buildings..ur talking about over a few 100 people you would disturb by doing construction on the weekend. Of course you can hang a picture or you can do small things, but anything that's noisy is off limits on the weekend. Here's a photo.