TheGh0st

OK make me look it up on the site will you? I probably should have checked there to begin with. Yup, that is the the same room as the seminars. The parking lot (if still there with all the construction) is on the far east side of the building. The other room was in the middle of the building so to speak. And with the construction going on I usually parked on the far west side and walked across to it. Would have been quite the hike all the way over to the seminar room. And what happened to Sabobathy being there this month? Must have had that wrong as well. - Diane

The room by the gift shop that we were using for meetings is not the one where the seminars are held but the group was getting so big Bobbie had said a few months ago she planned on moving it to the same room as the seminars so I bet you are right. Thanks for the heads up. I wouldn't mind using it for my own walking goals but I'm usually late as it is, and I'll most likely have my 3-year old son in tow this time.

:welcome: Hi Mary, nice to hear from you I'll be at the group tomorrow as well. Look forward to meeting you there. :gluck:Hey Chantay, let us know how your appointment goes today. Good Luck!!! :grouphug:Hey all!:attention: let's get together for some grub at the mexican place across from SMMC after group this Thursday. Any and all interested I'll see you there! :hungry: :mad: BTW - anyone know which room we are meeting in this month? I remember there being talk that the group was getting to big for the room by the gift shop. - Diane

I think I was at that meeting. Didn't we have a little Christmas party that day? I would have been sitting with Hollie. As to where everyone is I don't know. A few months ago we were all posting nearly every day. Personally I hit a bit of a weightloss slump and think I sort of allowed that to cause me to withdraw a bit. Ofcourse that's probably when I needed to be connecting with others the most. My scale still isn't really moving so I'm trying to get myself reconnected to the group and shape up. I'm planning on trying to make this months meeting. I'll most likely bring my 3 year old son with me this month.

Thursday March, 22nd @ 6pm. I was told by Billie that Dr Sabobathy is going to be there this month. I'm not sure yet if I can make it but I'm going to try.

I will keep you in my prayers Chantay. - Diane

Angela, You look ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS!! :hail::cheer2: I can't believe it's only been one year since I have met you all. I feel like I've known everyone for so much longer, but at the same time when I look back time seems to have gone by so fast. Just like my weight on one hand I look at my old pics and think "was that really me?" then some mornings I feel like I haven't changed a bit and am afraid all the weight is going to come rushing back on as fast as it left (or faster). Let me know if we can all get together to celebrate Angela's one-year. It's been too long since I've seen you all! If we can't get together sooner maybe we could all meet up for something before or after the plastic surgeon night coming up in April.

Hey all, Can't believe its been so long since I've visited. Where did the time go? Just got up to speed on all the old posts. Sorry I missed the support group last week. Sounds like I'll have to make it next month though. I'm still a ways off from needing that surgeon but I'd still like to start planning/budgeting now. I'm still stuck within 2-3 pounds of my October weight. Its really wearing me down but I just haven't been able to kick myself in the butt hard enough to get back on track and quit making some of the poor eating choices I've been doing for some time now. I'm still pretty convinced I'm too "full" but can't bring myself to pay for an unfill. Some days I practically choke on a few sips of fluid then a few hours later I can eat an entire single serving of frozen quiche that is easily over 1 cup of food. I don't get it. My heartburn is better now that I'm taking nexium but I still have food/fluids going up and back down most nights. Which even though it doesn't hurt it still tastes nasty! - Diane

Sorry for the grief. Its easy for me to "raz" you about going because I worry about my friends. But I'm just as bad. I don't tend to go to the doc unless I'm practically drug there by others. Case in point my own gallbladder. I swear I had those stones since I was in college and didn't get them properly diagnosed and removed for over 10 years. I could go for months even a year with no pain so maybe they were "passing" and reforming, or just moving around, I don't know. But when I'd have my bad spells. I'd wake up in the middle of the night with pain so strong I was OK with the idea I might die. But I still didn't go to the doctor until my husband woke up once and found me lying naked on the bathroom floor trying to "breathe" through the pain. Even then the ER ran NO tests, gave me NO pain meds and sent me home saying I had a pre-ulcerous condition. (MY @$$!) 5 years later he & my mom caught me in the restroom again. (Clothed this time) and forced me to go back to the ER. This time I played up the tears and moaning as much as I could rather than hanging tough and they finally gave me some meds and treated the pain more seriously than before. Still they wouldn't have got the diagnosis if it weren't for my mom being there and insisting they try an ultrasound. Oh, for me the only "relief" I could find from the pain was if I lay flat on my back with my bare skin against a cold tile floor and my knees raised breathing like I was going through contractions. The problem with that was the whole time I lay there I was usually severly nauseous and had bad diarehea. NOT a pretty sight.

Well put Robyn. We expect to hear how the ultrasound went by next week or we might have to take matters into our own hands here.

My gallbladder pain felt almost like contractions. Strong lower back pains with an intensity that would come and go over several minute intervals. Also accompanied by nasea and diarea most of the time. I actually had them for years. Would go months without an attack then have several in a row. It finally took someone else asking me to have the doctor check for it before they diagnosed it right. OK completely off topic. I actually got on to post a quick, funny story. I had to go to DH's company Christmas party Saturday and wanted to wear a top that was still a little to tight in the stomach. Mainly due to how the skin is sagging. So I found a new use for the all purpose duct tape. Instant tummy tuck! I tried an Ace chest wrap and a control top, but good ol' duct tape wrapped me up the best. It really helped flatten out all the lumps and bumps around the waist. Most of Ben's co-workers hadn't seen me since last year and were all shocked. The top was also a bit more low cut than I would have liked. I practically had to tape it in place as well to keep the bra from showing. DH & I were quite nervous about that going into the party but it was actually quite fun for both of us to watch where all the guys eyes were when they said hi to us. DH said it was the best work party he had gone to. He kept looking around at the other spouses and thinking they looked pretty homely compared to me. Ofcourse we also had the nights to ourself with Brian at the grandparents for the night so the compliment may have just been a form of foreplay but either way I had a good time as well.

LET'S PARTY! I wanted to invite anyone and everyone to a Holiday party I am having at my house for anyone that has or is thinking of getting banded. Saturday January 6th, at 5pm. I will make some band-friendly Hors D'oeuvres. But if anyone wants to bring some food or wine just let me know. Anyone interested in coming just drop me an e-mail at DTh0mas69@aol.com or call me at 913-710-3390. :Banane57: :Banane34: :Banane53: :Banane42: :Banane22: :not_ripe: :Banane08:

What a gorgeous dress Nola. I am so happy for all the weight you and the rest of us on the board have lost. Reading your post about your physical and emotional struggles with weight (or perceived lack thereof) for the last five months was like reading about myself. I couldn't have put any of it better. I've lost 20-25 pounds in the last 5 months. The last 5 pounds taking 3 months to lose. At 1-1/2 pounds a month I definitely feel I'm on a plateau. But again, no real diet control, other than that the band gives in restricting my portions. No organized exercise. Daily I swing between happy with how much I've lost and how far I've come to feeling frustrated and depressed that I still am not happy with where I'm at now. I decided to go in for a fill yesterday (at Hoehn's BTW) and hope that jump starts the weight loss again. I'm not sure how loose I really was though I was able to eat 1/4 of a bagel with no problems last weekend and you would think if there was any kind of bread that would stick it would be a bagel. Some of the benefits of a fill for me I think are mental as much as physical. It helps refocus me on the whole process. Getting me to rededicate myself to drinking the Water and watching my Protein intake. - Diane PS - I just looked at my ticker. Funny, I set it up before Halloween based on my morning pre-dressed weight and yet it is exactly the same weight I was at the doc's yesterday.

I know, first cottage cheese chocolate pudding and now tofu pumpkin pie. I think I get it from my father's side. Growing up he was always having my mom try to cook odd recipes he'd find. He was really into re-inacting different era's of American history. From the cowboys & indians to the Vietnam war. Once he had my mom make a vinegar pie that was suppose to taste like lemon. A few of my highschool friends that didn't know it was made with vinegar were fooled, but OH MY did it stink while it was cooking. Smelled like homade mayonaisse gone bad.

Hi and a belated Happy Post-Thanksgiving to all! I still haven't got used to the snail's pace of the dial-up I have at home and don't get the chance to post while at work at my new job now. I'm about 2-3 pounds up from my lowest post-band weight from early October. But I've been doing NOTHING to try to lose weight either so I can't complain. In fact I'm a bit happy that I can live for short periods like this without worrying about any real weight gain. I'm a bit torn between just coasting through the rest of the holidays without a gain or loss and start afresh then or trying to kick it back into gear and lose another 8 pounds before the end of the year. (8 would put me under the next decade) But despite that short spell where I was losing 5 pounds a week after 2 months at the same relative weight) even 3 pounds seems like an impossible feat. Too bad I wasn't so lazy/busy I got an interesting recipe pre-TDay for pumpkin pie made with Tofu to bump up the protein. Didn't get a chance to make it though. I was asked a couple months ago to host a Holiday party for any and all area Bandsters. I'm still planning on doing it but probably won't have it until the 1st or 2nd weekend of January. Maybe I can try to make the Tofu/Pumpkin dessert then. A great and completely decadent dessert I did have over the holidays was a pumpkin crisp. Made just like apple or cherry crisp you know "fruit" in a bottom of a pie-crustless pan covered with a crumb topping. I tried to fool myself into thinking that the lack of a pie crust cut down on the carbs and made my 3 servings in 2 days "OK" I feel like I'm in DT's over it now that I'm back home. DH is out shopping and I'd kill to eat some more but before he returned but it's at my mothers house not here. I suppose that is a blessing. Will try to be better about posting. Especially since I haven't been to a support meeting for several months.

My port is just a bit above the incision. I think as the weight goes and the skin sags most of us will have the scar below the port. Sorry, I haven't been posting lately. Things finally came to a head at work. After we had dinner and it looked like my boss was going to "match" or beat my new offer. The offer he actually gave me worked out to be a pay cut from when I use to be full time. It was an accident on his part but rather than go back and forth. I just took the other offer. So now I've been stuck with my old dial-up at home instead of the Trunk line I had at work and when I have had time to get on in the evenings I've been spending my time trying to get all my e-mail updated on all the various sites that have it in their records. I may be needing to invest in a higher speed access at home soon. The new work is going well. Wednesday was my first "official" day though I did go in a couple days the end of last week for some training. The weight loss has completley stopped. I haven't lost an ounce and have probably gained a few since the end of September. I've pretty much fallen off the wagon so to speak. On the good side even off the wagon I haven't gained much. Now that I'm feeling a bit more settled at work I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things with the band. I think I'll try to go to the other support group at HS&S next Tues night. My husband even wants me to go and normally he's complaining about how it means he's alone with Brian all night.

It was good to see you all as well. Looks like things have flipped around at work again and I'll be taking the new job. At this point I just want it all to be over with which ever way it falls. Sorry I don't have anyone to recommend. Infact if you find one you like and they are reasonably priced I have work we need to be getting to as well. What I'd actually like to find is an individual who would be interested in doing the work on the side and using my dh as an extra pair of hands where ever possible to save on the costs. Maybe someone recently retired that could be more of a paid on the job instructor with Ben as the laborer.

Aye Captain - See you there. My type "A" says with us all arriving at potentially different times how about telling them at the front that the table is under the name Chica's so the waiters can show us late arrivers where to go

OK Gals its Wednesday - Are we going to get together tomorrow?

Wheets - Love the story about Naperville. Hate it when you get that unnerving feeling that you must have wore your shirt inside out or have something else amis. But you also gotta love the affirmation that people really are noticing the change. It is so easy to feel that things really haven't changed much when we look in the mirror of our minds eye. Robyn - :hungry:Cheesecake Factory sounds fine with me after all Cheesecake is a protein dish is it not? Wherever you all decide is good with me.

Thursday works for me as well, though if we are just meeting for drinks and chat, I might not show up until around 7 or 8pm so I can help put the munchkin to bed first.

Thanks will do

Angela - Are you online? Anychance you mind adding me to your AOL IM buddies. Promise I won't abuse it. I personally don't like IM much as its hard to work and IM at the same time. But I'd like to talk to you in private for a minute.

Congrats Robyn!!! SIZE 12!!!! Tight or not that is such an accomplishment. I just bought my first pair of size 12 jeans last week. They are a stretch fabric and too tight to wear with any top other than a loose sweater to hide the roll coming out over the top of the waist but still it was such a good feeling. Unfortunately the scales hasn't just stopped its swung near 6 pounds back the wrong direction over the last 2 weeks. And I've completley fallen off any and all wagons. The last few weeks have seen my Birthday as well as my sisters, sons, nephew, mother, and brother in-law. Even the smallest meals if poorly chosen can hurt the weight loss. Though considering the time of month I do think some of it is more retention than gain. ONE MORE THING ROBYN - I think it's safe to say that its time for you to update your little exercising diva. She no longer even remotely represents you.

Sorry I missed you Dpingl. But I'll catch you next month. I am also interested in trying the Heartland group now that KCBandsters disbanded. Assuming my DH is willing to watch our son twice a month