Florida Pete

Congrats on your decision Kristi! It's a big step as we all know! Remember that the hunger will go away and you will be doing much better in a short amount of time. Keep in touch with us on your progress! Oh and don't forget to get some before and after pictures!

Here's one that I found on low carb recipes beverages that I thought sounded kind of like a holiday mint shake! GRASSHOPPER Protein shake Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:05 Categories : 0-5G Low Carb Beverages Beverages-shakes Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 2 scoops Whey Protein Isolate -- vanilla 1/3 cup heavy cream 1/3 cup Water DaVinci sugar free creme de menthe syrup 12 ice cubes -- (12 to 15) Dump everything in the blender and pulse until smooth. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 274 Calories; 29g Fat (94.5% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; 0g Dietary Fiber; 109mg Cholesterol; 40mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Non-Fat Milk; 6 Fat.

That sounds yummy like a pumkin pie.

Welcome to the group!

Thanks all for the support! I am so sorry to hear of your husbands layoff Susan. It is very scary but we all will make it through this. I know we will. One thing I have always prided myself on is being a man apart from most men. I have always been very intouch with my feelings and very open about them to my significant other. We have great communication and I really feel that brings us closer together. We have a plan set fourth to get us through the end of the year if she cannot find a job before then. I am still going to get the lapband mostly because the procedure itself and the immediate expenses around it are being paid for by members of my family God Bless them.

Really I am completely ok with most of the names. Christmas Cougars, Slender Snowflakes, or Merry Minis all sound pretty good to me and even the Holiday Hotties was perfectly good to me as well. Maybe we should try and narrow it down to two or three choices and then have a poll for everyone to vote on. --- Talking about what if it fails? It's not the band that fails as far as I am concerned. It is weather I fail or not. The band is only a tool to help us in our journey to live a better, heathier, and thinner life. What is the main reason that we get the band? It's there to help us curb the hunger and control the amount of food that we eat. But that is only part of it. We also have to do the work making better choices in what we eat and also in getting out exercising. For me it's all about being around for my son, my wife, and enjoying the rest of my life. I want to see my son grow up and be there for him. I want to grow old with my wife and enjoy our later years together.

Very cool! When you get a chance get on over to the December 2008 Bandsters section of this site and check things out there too! I think this makes 3 of us now on the 5th! So cool! Yeah I have a 3 week liver shrinking diet that my surgeon wants me on. I am officially starting that on Nov. 14th but have already started working on preparing myself for it. Especially since it's basically 2 liquid meals a day with 3rd meal being low carb low fat. I plan on taking pretty much the week after the surgery off. I might make it back sooner if I am not having much pain. I work as a civil engineering designer so it's not like I would really be doing much to injury myself. Time will tell.

Congrats on getting your December date! What day are you getting it on? I am a December 5ther also!

Hey all! I haven't posted in the 50+ BMI forum as I kind of got lost in the newbie threads. At the beginning of 2008 I was just over 60 BMI - In my journey to prepare for getting my lapband I have come down to 58 BMI now. Dec. 5th I will be getting my band. It is great to see others in here who have started high and are having great success! Congrats to all of you that have done so well! You really give me hope that I can do it too!

Hi Tina First off congrats on doing so well with the lapband and your weightloss. Sorry to hear of the problems your having with your husband. It is very hard to learn of this kind of information about your spouse and that they shared so much about your personal life to another person. I personally would have a hard time ever trusting him ever again. It was such a huge violation of trust that has happened. With that said can a person change? Sure they can but that also can only happen if they want to change and that they completely own up to what they have done as beign wrong. I am divorced and remarried myself. My ex-wife and I were married for just over 10 years. The last year and a half of our marriage was a real nightmare. Both of us had eventually had emotional, non-physical, affairs with others. We had talked about counselling but my ex-wife had proven to me in many conversations that she didn't feel that she had done anything wrong. How could I trust her to change and be commited to our relationship if she could not admit that she had done anything wrong? Anyway I did commit myself to seeing a phycologist and a therapist and really learned myself what I was doing and what I needed to do to change. It was the best thing I could have done because it has helped me to grow and become a better person. Since my divorce I have met another woman and have commited to her and we now have a family together and a great life together. So a person can change but it takes a very large commitment on their part to change. It is a life change just like making the commitment to getting the lapband and changing your life is.

I completely agree with you on this. I don't see how race really should even be considered in any election. If the candidate is shown to be a good leader and is shown to be someone looking out for what is best for our country then that is who I am voting for. Skin color, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or the person sex should not be a consideration at all. How can we preach in our daily lives these same morality issues with tolerance and crossing boundaries to accept and work side by side with others that our different from ourselves and then not do the same in voting for a president?

Thank you for the welcome! It's great to see many more for December! Yeah I read through most of the posts on here and the name choices are fun to pick out. Here are a couple that I like and are workable for a guy in the midest of things :w00t: Holiday Hotties December Degrees December Droppers (a new suggestion :w00t: )

Boy do I feel like an oaf! I started a thread at the beginning of October in the newbie forum for December Bandsters. If I had known of this one. Guess it helps to really explore this whole website! I get so engrossed into the rest of the topics farther up in the list. LOL Ok well anyway, Hi All! I am Peter and I have my surgery set for Dec 5th. Still sounds like forever and a day away when I say the date but really it's just around the corner.

Doh!! I am heading over there now!

My insurance plan has WLS excluded. So I too have had to go to self pay and in a very generous move my family has come forward and together are pooling the money needed for my surgery. I am going to Mexico to get my surgery done mainly because it is much more affordable there. The local surgeon here would run me roughly $18,000 to have it done here. I will be going to Tijuana, Mexico. That added with the cost of my flight will be just under $8,000 total. I am very confident with the hospital and the surgeon that I will be using especially since my closest aunt to me has used the same surgeon and hospital for her lapband surgery in 2005.

I think this is perfectly normal to have these anxiety feelings after getting your surgery date. I am being very optimistic about my surgery and how I will do but trust me I fear the same as you do. I fear getting over to Mexico and having my pre-op testing done the day before the surgery and then the surgeon coming back to me saying that he cannot perform the surgery for one reason or another. That is also why I have already started working on getting my body in better condition to have surgery done. I officially start my pre-op diet (aka Liver Shrinking Diet) 3 weeks prior to my surgery date but I have already begun the shakes for Breakfast and soon will be moving to shakes at lunch too. Another thing I need to start and I think would help anyone is putting together and doing a regular exercise schedule. Mine will consist of walking every day to begin with. Then after surgery and recovery I can build up from there.

Actually if your coming in on the 8th and I am out on the 7th we'll just miss each other! But hey we can find a South Florida Bandsters Group and meet up after surgery for a good glass of water and some jello on the side!

Things I won't miss... being out of breath when talking a nice walk sweating up a storm just from light physical activity bumping into things because of my size the big & tall store for clothes eating so much food and still wanting more people assuming I am dumb because I am so big the list can go on of course and there are so many good replies on here already!

I have my surgery on Dec. 5th with Dr. Kuri. I fly into San Diego on the 4th and then back out on the 7th. I am in Jupiter, FL which basically is the North end of Palm Beach County (West Palm Beach). Are you in Florida also? I noticed that molinomama is from Pensacola.

You know I too actually thought like your cousin for the longest of times that I could do it on my own. I just needed to buckle down on myself and do it. But had I done it? No. And why not? I have not been banded yet over the last year I had come to the realization that I can't do it on my own. I have learned that this is not a quick fix and that it is a lot of hard work. Most of all this is a decision that you need to make for youself. Remember this is your life and not anyone elses. What works for you may not work for me but then again it might. We just do not know. Don't let your cousin worry you about this.

Welcome to our new December Bandsters! I have my surgery set for Dec. 5th. So of course I will be on my liver shrinking diet for Thanks Giving and will be on mushies for Christmas. Early on my wife and couple of other family members suggested that I should have scheduled my surgery for after the holidays but I told them all no. I said I want to move forward with my life and in that change and wasn't going to let this be a big eating fest for me this holiday season. Halloween has already been tough knowing that I don't have to be dieting just yet and all the candy that is around. Candy has always been a weakness for me. Especially when people are offering it etc etc. They have a candy bowl here at work right by the door and everyone Snacks on it all day. Everytime you have to leave to use the restroom or simply coming and going from work you have to walk right past it. I actually find myself constantly saying no I don't need it. I know that the candy bowl will be continually stocked between now and just after New Years around here. Seems like when it gets low another person buys a bag and dumps it in there. Well I just have to remain strong especially when others are offering it to me.