Manatee

Star Trek: 3.5, solid but tried a bit hard Night at the Museum II: I -loved- this movie! And where did Amy Adams come from? Never heard of her 3 years ago, and now she's literally everywhere. Speaking of... Sunshine Cleaning: Decent little character flick. Didn't really -like- any of the characters, but the acting and story was well done. 3+ Terminator Salvation: 2. And I like Terminator flicks, but the CGI couldn't hid the lack of story. Since we already know the big mid-movie reveal from the previews, there's not a lot of tension. Angels and Demons: 2.5. Frankly, watching The Castaway randomly run around Vatican City spouting ancient riddles and always getting there late gets old. Wolverine: solid for what it was. Good work to explain how he and Cyclops met earlier without either one realizing it later. Best part was the still-frame intro through the years. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past: Matthew M. doing what he does. I don't think he really acts, so much as wanders through being himself in most of his movies. Still, as long as he takes his shirt off and smiles, the ladies will go see it. Fools' Gold is evidence enough of that.

A little background: I was banded in 07, slipped in 08, and had a revision then. The Doc had to reuse the band because UHC wouldn't pay to replace it. Now I've slipped again. Doc says the band absolutely has to be replaced this time. However, UHC won't pay to replace my band. They'll pay to remove it, but won't put a new one in because I'm no longer obese. Fun. Next step is to appeal, of course. The alternative is to talk to the doc about what the out-of-pocket would be to get it done while he's in there to take out the old one. After all, he's already got me under, the OR, etc. How much does the plastic cost? Anyone had any luck with UHC after reaching goal?

From an earlier post: Doc and his assistant warned me about unrealistic expectations, and that "people who have cosmetic surgery are the type to be the toughest on themselves." I've never thought of myself as a perfectionist, but maybe in this aspect I am becoming one. I must think on that. For those of you who are post-plastics and those considering, do you think they have a point? Do we go from basically not noticing our bodies to becoming hypercritical of ourselves during this WLS and cosmetic surgery process?

Really interesting interview with Bob The Human Condition : Can the Biggest Losers Stay Thin? We Ask Trainer Bob Harper

Just sayin' :thumbup: Oh, and if Mike had kept Kristin instead of Helen, he would likely have won. How about that?

Yup, it's all about the benjamins. FWIW -- Tara was 3rd

Thoughts watching via Tivo: Jerry looks -sick-, like a cancer patient No real surprise that Joelle and (I already forgot her name) didn't do well. Did anyone really expect otherwise? Team Blane and Dane are trying hard to get that fake half marathon off the table. Overcompensate much? Dan the man is doing well. Still big, but looking good I hate everything about Kristin's look Initial reaction to Helen was "holy crap!" Then 140 lbs. Good work! Damn! Tara fades at the end :thumbup:

This time, it's purely cosmetic. Every time I drop into the low 170s I start looking and feeling sick, but the damned roll won't come off the middle. I finally broke down and went to talk to a plastic surgeon today. He said that I've done a great job, but that the best way to get rid of that roll is to take it out via lipo. Fortunately my skin has rebounded well, and so no major cutting will be required. His work looks good, his own staff has had him work on them and is happy, and the price was pretty decent. So, I'm scheduled for 9/22 -- which is just under 2 weeks away! We'll see what happens.

Had yet another followup with the Doc today. He's declared me fit and 'normal'. Personally I'm still disappointed. I look so good right after surgery, and then, without gaining a pound, things get saggy and bloated looking again. Doc and his assistant warned me about unrealistic expectations, and that "people who have cosmetic surgery are the type to be the toughest on themselves." I've never thought of myself as a perfectionist, but maybe in this aspect I am becoming one. I must think on that. There is one slight issue. The Doc didn't want to do much lipo around the port itself, because he was rightfully afraid of damaging it or the tubing. That's left me with an imbalance right to left, where the left side is slightly blobby and convex vs the right which is not. For other reasons, I am going to have to get the band revised yet again. I am going to ask the band doc to put in a low profile port when he goes back in, and place it on the right hand side. That will clear up the space to allow for just a touch of liposuction. Getting there...anyone know anything about pectoral implants? :mad2:

There's also a Wii game. My sis bought it and one of those Wii boogie boards. (I figure I'll get it from her cheap here in about 6 months)

Frack this noise For the past week or so I've had a lot of food issues. No matter what I ate, it got stuck, and most of it came back up. That sort of thing feeds on itself -- the more you vomit, the more the stoma gets inflamed and the tighter you get. Bad news. I went to liquids to try to calm the body, but then even that wouldn't stay down. An emergency call to my band doc this morning got me under a fluoroscope this afternoon. Unfortunately, the problem became clear as soon as I took that first sip of barium. We'd seen THIS picture before back in February 08. Part of the stomach has prolapsed up through the band, and again I have an undesired extra pouch. So here I am with yet another slip. Doc's office is talking to the the folks at United Health Care about where we go from here. Thank goodness I picked up the extra COBRA coverage, even if it -is- $500/month. It's going to pay for itself Real Soon Now. Doc says there's a new variant of the band that will correct this. He also suggested thinking about removing the thing entirely, since I've been basically stable now for over a year. Decisions, decisions. I really don't need this now.

Heck, all guys think that women who won't sleep with them -must- be gay :thumbup::biggrin: I don't care if she is or not. My odds of meeting her approach zero. Doesn't change the fact she's hot. I really liked this episode, and didn't fast forward though much of it. It was interesting hearing the contestants deal with the changes and how they fit back into their worlds. Glad they 'strongly encouraged' Ron to finish something. 10K sitting there for charity, plus the peer pressure, it all finally pushed him to the finish line of something. Good for him/them. How much would the producers HATE a Ron win? I can't see him on the wall of a gym or on the front of "Biggest Losers Super Fiber Oatmeal and Drywall Texture" packages. An interesting element: you could really see the body shapes when they're in the marathon segment. There must be some Spanx involved with the weigh-in sections. On to the finale. C'mon Tara

I think that's still happening. 30 days for a weigh-in, America votes between the two below the yellow line, 3 finalists are revealed at the finale which does occur 2 months later

Glad to see that -someone- is playing the game. Take out the threat. As much as I am disappointed to see Ron make it this far, everyone knows he has NO chance to being a contender for the title. If nothing else, he'll throw it in favor of his kid. Tara again is a machine on the challenge and in the weight loss, but I have to say I'm impressed by how well they ALL did in this week's weigh-in. In that same vein -- did y'all notice how they manipulated the before/after medical pic angles to minimize the appearance of flabby skin? Everyone there is going to need surgery. I notice they made Ron finish the challenge :biggrin: We focus on Mike and Tara, but I think Helen is sneaking under the radar a bit. She has a very legitimate chance to win this thing. It doesn't look like Simone's doing all that well at home.

In fairness, he did ok in this one Off topic -- he should have kept the beard. Like many who lost a lot a weight in midlife +, he looks OLD in the neck area. Off topic 2: Mike lost 153 lbs in 16 weeks. Holy cow.

So Kristin is a biyotch. Surprise? No. I hope Mike is not headed back to home with Ron. He needs to get the heck out of Dodge. Ron is a sinkhole to people around him. And he's a FOOL! That "my son will win" line just cost him Felipe's support.

Depends on your tolerance, of course, but really it wasn't too bad. Plan on a day or two of limited mobility and pain meds, and then take it slow. The port incision will take the longest to heal, but even it should be a non-issue in a couple of weeks.

Fortunately, this game is ultimately decided by the weight loss. He may make final 3 but there's NO way he wins without the aid of a chainsaw. Hmmm. I wonder what the rules are about that. If he just got the 6pack of moobs sliced off he'd be down 20 lbs.

Did y'all notice that Bob's team were the bottom 3 this week, excepting the injured Laura? Doesn't say much for his methods.

What was that rule of thumb? -30 lbs = +1 inch? :rolleyes2:

And again, the game play just doesn't make sense in this cycle. Rule #1: take down a threat when you get the chance (I'm looking at YOU, RobNAmber Survivor cycle losers!). Kristin is still a threat and can still lose 100 lbs or so, and Laura is on bed rest. WHY do you send the one who cannot compete home? Dumb. I hope Mike gets voted out soon, because if the boy had the .....guts..... to stand up to his dad he would have voted the right way. Max is in need of some serious therapy. I feel sorry for the boy. "I'm the big one" says a lot about how that family interacts.

** cough **

Sunshine Cleaning: Very well acted, interesting story, worth watching if you can find it. Adult situations, not a kid flick. Observe and Report: I walked out in under 30 minutes. Seth Rogan plays a very unlikeable character, and the scriptwriters seem to think throwing foul words into a boring situation makes it hilarious. Perhaps it gets better further in, but I will never know.

I noticed that. I wonder about something though: eating doesn't equal calories KEPT down. Just ask any bulimic. I know that I would have run from that temptation to the bathroom and removed as much as possible.

The moobs are usually just excess fat, and when your overall body fat percentage drops they will fade away. Add to that a normal chest building workout and you should be fine in time. There are some guys who have an estrogen/testosterone imbalance that causes the breasts to grow. This requires some medical intervention. You should be able to get tested by your primary care doctor to check for this. A simple blood test is all it takes.