Manatee

oh dear god, I'm turning 40 this month :thumbup:

What's the distinction between this social group and the "Life At (or Near) Goal Weight" forum?

The OP is indeed opposed to lower BMI banding -- she has stated such rather vehemently in the chatroom. The mere existence of this poll can be considered offensive to some. What would people say if I posted a poll asking "Should people over 400 lbs be allowed to have the lapband, or instead forced to have a bypass"? Same thing. Fortunately, blocking in the chatroom is as simple as click on the name -> ignore And here, just go to http://www.lapbandtalk.com/profile.php?do=ignorelist

That's what the ignore list is for: those who tire of those who post just to post :wink_smile:

Yep, that's clearly an abusive pattern. Beware, spending too much time in that kind of environment can warp your through processes and make you think it's 'normal'. It's not, it's unhealthy and damaging. Time to make him talk with a neutral party, to see if he can fix his head. In the meantime, based on my experiences, it's probably not a bad idea to start planning. This may sound bad, but here it is: go get a safe deposit box in your name at a different bank. Get a PO box/mailing center address too. Start stashing some *cash* in the safety deposit box, and get a credit card or two in your name only sent to the PO box and stash it in the safety deposit box. You may never need it, but if you do, you will NEED it. Hate to be the bearer of that idea, but I've been there done that, got the paperwork...

I like my tat. Best of all, nobody at work even knows it exists :thumbs_up:

You know, once upon a time I didn't get where you were coming from during that debate. I may actually have said negative things to you. If I did, I apologize -- because I now fully understand where you're coming from. This place, despite the "life at goal' forum, is no place for those of us who have worked hard and had success. :thumbs_up: Recovering alcoholics have their spaces, recovering druggies have their spaces, but there's apparently no place for us recovering fatties. It's a shame, because I'll always be an obese person in remission. Where do I go??

Yesterday, for various reasons, I ended up at home in time to watch the noon news. I noticed an interesting thing. In the 45 minutes that I watched of an hour-long newscast, I saw six advertisements for weight loss surgery. Six. One advertisement every 8 minutes or less. They weren't all from the same doctor either, so this wasn't a side effect of a bulk-buy deal. I suppose part of that has to do with the target audience of that time slot (stay at home moms), but the blitz really bothered me. All the ads had the same underlying message: "Tired of fighting? Talk to us, and we'll make a miracle happen." Yes, but.... I know docs and insurance companies require seminars and 'full disclosure', but those of us who are on the other side -know- that we didn't truly get all the information. The physical effects and the possibility of complications were mentioned, but nobody warned about the mental and emotional rollercoaster one was boarding. Write a check, go to sleep, wake up thin and everything is fine. That's the promise on TV, and on the radio, and on billboards, and in print and seemingly everywhere these days. I worry that many will wake up in a nightmare instead of their dream.

Ok, a question for those who have been at goal for a while: when do people forget your old self? I'm getting -really- tired of every conversation with people eventually including something about weight loss/eating/exercise/etc. It's almost as if for most people, they're just sitting back waiting for the fatman to reappear. I'm only a year out, so I'm guessing that this goes away after a while, but perhaps it doesn't. Maybe the next step is to move somewhere that people never knew that old me? Thoughts?

Maybe he thinks he doesn't match anymore. You know, 4s and 4s, 8s and 8s. Sometimes there's a jump there, but not too often or too far. Maybe now he thinks you're an 11, and he's a 3? edit: so maybe it's time for him to become an 11 -- or for you to find one...

Hope2B got it right, it's not a generalized discussion, it's about MY weight And I've never been to Huntsville, although it might be an ok place to which to relocate :thumbup:

Thanks for the comments -- but I have a Y chromosome :tt1:

Just a question for Alex -- why was this forum set up as a social group rather than a normal one? It seems to me that this could be a valuable resource, and it is instead stashed away in the 'Left Handed Teetotaler Wisconsin Banders' area. Not a bash against what's -in- the forum, just a concern that it will be underutilized where it is.

Personally, I never liked exercise before. I first lost about 40 lbs without the exercise, then just decided to make it happen. I still sometimes don't like it, but more often I really feel bothered if I -cannot- work my daily exercise routine in. Just say "I -will- do this for 4 weeks" and see what happens. It doesn't take that long to build a habit.

Hmm, it's basically scattered in this thread from Jan to April. I do have a sort of blog that kinda covers it. See killthefatman for the posts about the problems (read from the bottom) Summary: had a fill that was too tight for too long. Thought the rapid weight loss was a good thing. Acid reflux chewed up my esophagus while vomiting forced part of my stomach up through the band. Doc wanted to pull the band entirely, but I said no! Insurance wouldn't pay to replace it because I wasn't morbidly obese anymore (!), and so it was coded as a gastric obstruction and the doc simply removed the band, repositioned everything, and put the same band back on. It's working fine now, I just have a few extra incision scars. re: the 10 lbs -- clothes hide a lot of sins

Finally back into the mid 170s, after ballooning up to almost 200 during my unfill/revision/healing etc in March/April. New current pics, old pic is at 260 a few days before the original surgery

Nothing new here. Good restriction, finally back into the mid 170s. That's where I was in December, but I ballooned to almost 200 in March/April when I had the revision. A couple of pics for today, nothing really new. I think I need to find a new shirt brand, as this one is billowing on the lower back.

Dr. Curtis Mosier out of Denton is my doc, and I cannot praise him enough. Cash price is around 15K (or was last year), there's a strong support system in place. Home Page Web site isn't much, but that doesn't matter

'Self esteem' without a valid reason is also known as 'delusion'. Unfortunately, that seems to be the default mental position these days. After all, it's taught in schools, and makes everyone feel 'good' -- no matter what their reality might truly be. So yes, I feel those who have dedicated themselves to slow or no loss despite being surgically altered need to take a good look at their lifestyle and actions.

I won't argue your post, but the band worked for me.

Tonight when I click on the Forums tab, the forums are badly skewed to the right. I've tried it on multiple machines. Anyone else seeing this?

Just go do it. Get to your goal and see what happens. You can always gain the weight back later :smile:

Don't expect too much from my blog -- it's only about the weight loss, not the rest of my life. Mostly "got a fill, too tight, loosen, repeat" with the occasional rant and ramble about this process

I'm only 10-15 lbs from my goal, down some 100 in just over a year. I fit in a 34 waist jean, medium shirt. I -still- think of myself as fat. When I see news reports about obesity in America, I identify with the MO crowd. I'm not sure what will finally fix this. I know my current discomfort lies in unrealistic expectations and media images (ever seen a cover of "Men's Health"?), but I'm not sure what the next step is. I too blog, and belong to a WLS group over at livejournal. This apparently isn't an uncommon issue at all. Most recommend therapy, but I don't think a normal counselor would do. You'd almost have to find one that specializes in post-obesity trama. Good luck!

Hi gang. Newbie here, sorta, and I've been thinking of buying a bike. Never ridden seriously before. This is what I'm looking at, in the $900 range: BikePedia - 2007 Masi Vincere Complete Bicycle Thoughts? The guys I'll be hanging with are serious, with 2-3K carbon whatever machines. I don't want to spend that kind of cash yet