Manatee

Keep a food log and be honest with yourself in it. I use fitday.com, but there's others. I find if I can graphically see what I'm doing, I fix it. I was stalled, and after I started using this tool I really picked up on where I was fouled up. Exercise is going to have to be part of the plan. If you can afford it, find a personal trainer or a spin class or something that's scheduled. I find that having $$$ on the line motivates me. Yes, if you're big, people are going to stare at first. They get over it, and so should you. Keep your eye on the prize. Stay away from liquid calories. See the first paragraph about honestly tracking your calories. Ice cream, frosties, sodas, juices, sugar-infested coffees -- all these will sink you. Don't cheat. You're only hurting yourself. Frankly, nobody else cares, so you have to do this for you. Last thing: some of us have issues that drove us to get fat in the first place. If you're really trying to hide from the world behind a layer of flab, then you'll end up fighting yourself. Be honest with yourself, and if you need help see a professsional therapist. Good luck

Just curious how & when you handled the 'I've been banded' conversation?

Well, just because he turned out to be a post-op transsexual with paranoid schizophrenia doesn't make him abnormal Hell, if you met online, that makes him dead normal :heh:

Well, for me the date with BlindDateGirl was almost exactly 6 months post surgery. However, that timing was more coincidence than planning. Of course, it's easier for women, so keep that in mind.

Flew in October from DFW->PHX and back. No problems at all.

Third fill in late Sept was simply too tight, and after a month of vomiting and not loosing weight I had .3 taken back off. The problem is that I got into a bad habit of lots of liquid calories (cream soups, starbucks, frostys, etc) during that month I couldn't eat. I just fired up the Fitday tracker to keep an eye on the calories and see if I can get moving again.

You just have to be careful how you define "coffee" Black, creamer and spenda? No problem Starbucks grande mocha frap with whip? That's a ton of liquid calories that most people don't track.

Time to refocus. I'm up 5 lbs during this past week. I knew loosening the band would mean I had to be careful, but this really snuck up on me. Beware the liquid calories!

Just 1 so far. It's the core of what will be a half sleeve. I'm planning on adding a checker flag wrap around the top, and skeleton gears along the bottom. This pic was taken right after it was put on, so there's some discoloration and bleeding.

So Di, good or bad? For me, it's yet another Friday night, and I'm very heavily self-medicated on rum and orange juice. Drinking alone is a bad thing, no? I hate holidays. Days off == time to think, and I don't need that.

Holidays are hard on many people. You are perfectly normal. Just hold on a bit longer, and this too shall pass.

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f110/

It's both depressing and enlightening to see those who are lighter than me having the same issues I am. I know objectively that I'm doing well, and am well within 'normal' body ranges now (cue minirant about BMI charts). I can't 'see' it in the mirror, though, and I still act like the fat guy when interacting with people. For those who have been there, does therapy help? Are there therapists that specialize in body image issues for WLS patients? One thing I HAVE noticed -- I no longer get the 'bow wave effect' when walking through a crowded place. That's kind of annoying

Hmmm. I can't say that I feel like an athlete, but I no longer feel like a fraud walking into the gym. My body shape isn't any worse than some of the others there. Six months ago I was quite literally round, and now I can pass for normal. Sometimes I surprise myself when I catch a random reflection (and other times I still feel like the bloated round thing I was!) I can't run well due too much damage to the knees over the years. Guess I'll have to feel like a powerlifter

If y'all can fix the edit function, that would be great. I've never seen another Vbulletin site that inserts those dang smileys everywhere.

Well, seems that I didn't make that much of an impression on BlindDateGirl. So be it. Small world time -- I went down to a local tattoo parlor for some art, and during the course of conversation in the chair it turned out the artist was someone I was already talking to through an online dating site. Kinda freaked us both out, especially since she doesn't live anywhere near this area. Took a bit of talking to convince her I wasn't some weird stalker. Neat lady, but her schedule and mine are so different that that's going to be hard to coordinate. Besides, there's always someone else to date, but a good artist is hard to find! Oh -- and on these online things, I'm beginning to think there's some folk out there who are online performance artists or something. Some of these emails.....sheesh!

Am I reading that right? 142 lbs in SIX MONTHS?? Holy cow.

Minor NSV. I went to the doc, and my blood pressure is 102/60, with a resting heart rate of 53. Not bad for someone who who was in full hypertension mode in March.

My poison of choice is a grande soy white chocolate mocha, no whip. I know it's badish for me, but I don't really care. There's some mornings where I'm so tight there's no way I'm getting anything solid down, and that drink lets me get some calories and the heat seems to ease the restriction.

You have a very valid fear. The odds are on your side, but there is alway the possibility of death. On the other hand, staying very heavily obese WILL result in a early death for you. Pick your poison, and best of luck.

As a complete aside -- why don't wine bottles have nutritional value labels on them? I want to know precisely how many empty calories I chose to have instead of supper :) (Ha! Can't walk, but can still type!)

Yesterday went fine from my perspective, but she's probably telling her friends I'm some sort of loser I didn't have the nerve to try for a hug or kiss or anything so it just kinda ended with "had a nice night see ya later" in a piano bar parking lot. Bleah. I sucked at dating all those years ago, and haven't kissed anyone in damn near a decade (and yes, for those paying attention, my divorce was final in April. It was a cold, long time. Glad my real name isn't on here.) Ladies, how do I know when it's ok? On the positive side, she asked me to her corporate Xmas party. I don't know if that means she likes me, or if she's just desperate In the meantime, it's Friday night and I'm sitting at home watching a crap movie, buzzed on cheap wine and chowing on a bag of Salsa Verde Doritos. I'll probably be up 2 lbs tomorrow.....

I think we've lost JC for good. Hurrah for him! So, it seems that I have a date tomorrow evening with the friend-of-a-friend.

Kimmie, good for you!

Well, I got a number of a friend-of-a-friend, and after the initial "who are you and why are you calling me?" stumble we had a fun multi-hour conversation yesterday. Being the idiot I am, I forgot to actually ask her out at the end of the call. So, I suppose I need to call her back soon. What's the rules on this these days? I don't want to seem like a stalker. (dang, I'm actually asking this question. I'm lame....)