Devana

Welcome Denise and congratulations on your surgery date. Are you on a pre-op diet? I'm wondering if you have told people or if you have to find a way to get through the Christmas excess discreetly.

Hi Jim and welcome to LBT. I found this site invaluable when I was researching the band. So many experienced people to answer questions! Good luck with your research and with your decision, whatever it may be.

Good luck on the 20th, Kathy. A wonderful Christmas present to yourself!

I guess you need hot rum toddies and stuff like that to get a good result.

Hey Penni, it's beautiful. How many lights do you have on that sucker? Looks like about a thousand. I'll bet you all had a load of fun. That's quite a good idea, a decorating party.

Welcome Leah and congratulations on your banding.

DerickM, I'm glad you liked the book. Happy reading!

Ahubar, welcome and congratulations on your decision. I'm from BC and was banded in Mexico. You might want to check out the Canada Local Band Support threads here for specific Dr Cobourn information. I know he's banded a lot of people who post here on LBT. Good luck with your surgery Friday.

Hi Butterfly, welcome and congratulations on your surgery date. It's kind of like an interesting Christmas present, isn't it? You might want to check out the Doctors and Hospitals threads for specific information on Dr. B. You also might want to hook up with the December bandster's thread.

Welcome Genie, I'm glad you found us. Keep us posted when you get a date!

Welcome Diane! Congratulations on your banding.

Hi Geoff, and welcome. Congratulations on your banding. I read over and over again when perusing this site pre-banded, that "remember, the band is only a tool". And I have found that to be absolutely true. I have certainly experienced a plateau after my initial loss, mainly due to the fact that I have yet begun to exercise seriously, yet. It sounds like you're doing the right thing, building up your treadmill minutes. You also may want to check out fitday to record your calories, and if you haven't already done so, check out the October bandsters thread. It's interesting to talk to people who are at the same stage. All the best.

Holy smokes, Bitter, what a load you're carrying. I think aside from being plain old exhausted, you probably have the emotional stress of seeing your Mother suffering. My son was very ill, critical on a couple of occasions, during the course of a year and that's when I really went over the edge, weight-wise. Living in the hospital for weeks on end, mainly sitting by his bedside, that stress and physical inactivity resulted in me not only gaining even more weight, but left me so incredibly unfit, I was barely able to make it up my front steps without puffing. Is she in the nursing home permanently, now? Do you have any other family members around to lighten the load?

Beautiful trees, all of you. Josette, I especially like your daytime picture with the snow showing outside.

Welcome, Wendy, I'm glad you found us. I read here for hours straight when I found it, too. LBT was instrumental in my decision to get banded. Good luck with your approval.

My sweetie and I decided long ago to not give big items at Christmas. Every year I give him something to listen to, something to eat, something to read and something to wear. So this would, for example be a shirt or new jeans, a jazz or oldies CD, some nuts or decadent fudge and a rip snorting good book. For peripheral family, nieces and nephews and such I set a goal at $10 each which on occasion can sneak up to $15. I'm pretty good at finding cool and imaginative stuff. We spend a little more on our son, but still stick to the no big item rule. If he wants or needs something expensive, we do that for his birthday. We had no TV when he was younger, and I kept all Christmas advertising away from him, including the Sears Wish Book. He spent his whole childhood simply not aware of all the junk that's out there aimed at kids. The Welcome Wagon lady came to see us when we moved here, and my son was 6 at the time. One of the things in her goodie basket was the Sears Christmas catalogue and before I could intercept, she gave it directly to him! I could have wrung her neck. Of course he was fascinated. It kind of "got lost" after a couple of days. On another note, a friend and I have a small business selling bags and scarves. Most of our business comes from a few markets during theChristmas shopping season and we manage to make all the money for our Christmas spending (at least) and have fun at the same time.

My husband and I used to run a group home. We had lots of 14 year old girls. We used to call 14 the "arsenic year". Tough for boys, worse for girls.

Josy, here's an idea. Why don't you buy some pre-made frozen dinners. There are some good low cal, high protein ones out now. Maybe having them portioned out rather than a house full of food will help. And maybe a protein drink in the morning. This may not create a huge temptation for you.

I lost 60 pounds once. There were a couple of guys I would see everyday, mainly passing in the hall and sometimes having a few words. After I was about 5 pounds down, they would both kind of nod or give the thumbs up when they saw me, silently acknowledging the weight loss as I progressed. My good friend Rachel never said a word, until I had lost a full 60 pounds. Then she said "Have you lost weight?" When I said yes, I haven't eaten solid food for months (I was doing the Cambridge diet), I told her that I was surprised she hadn't noticed my progress. Her response was interesting. She said that she didn't see me as fat at all, what she saw in me was my personality and being a friend to her. My body size was such a non issue to her that she wasn't aware of the changes until they became glaringly obvious. I've had a couple of other people tell me that they don't see me as a fat person. Interesting. On the gonch/gitch issue: My son is a typical boy, thinks farts are hilarious etc. However, he gets terribly offended when his Dad or I refer to his underwear as gonch. He corrects us and wants us to call it underwear. Weird kid.

I can remember reading about the Cosby show when it first began. Bill Cosby had hired a psychologist to be on staff to check for sexism and racism in the scripts and acting, which I thought was pretty cool. However, one episode was about a birthday party that the little child was having, with a number of friends over, and during the course of it they all wanted "horsey rides" on Cosby's leg. When it came to the little fat boy doing it there was much eye rolling and grimacing on Cosby's part. I felt bad for the portrayal and I also felt bad for the child actor himself. I thought he was such a hypocrite. I was never able to enjoy the show after that.

Mildred, Holy smokes, what an ordeal you've been through! You are indeed a survivor. I'm glad you found us. This is the place for inspiration, support and motivation. I'm sure your band Dr will understand. You certainly had things other than weight loss on your mind.

Those are ever so nice, Kat. Post more pics when they're done. I have never liked bracelets very much since I gained weight. I found bangles too difficult to get on and off easily, and I don't like anything elastic around my wrist. I was given a magnetic hematite bracelet made with "memory wire" and I love it. It's can never be too tight and I can whip it on and off easily. So I bought myself some silver memory wire on eBay and some cafe au lait coloured small pearls and I'm going to make it up. (As soon as I can find where I put my darned wire.)

Barbara, you have my prayers and positive thoughts also.

Welcome Amy. It is very supportive here on LBT. Good luck with your decision process. For me it was a no brain-er. I either pay for the band now, or my family pays for an early funeral. I have a way to go yet, but I certainly have no regrets.

I have become confused over who said what in this thread so I'm not directing this at anyone in particular. However, I think that it's important that we remember how important language is. English is an incredibly rich language and we certainly have enough words to debate issues vigorously. I don't believe that "free speech" should be an excuse to use language that is sometimes uncivil. Nonviolent behaviour begins with our choice of words. Fundamentalists referred to as fundies doesn't sound, to me, much different from Pakistanis being called Pakies. I am neither atheist nor Christian, however, some of the name calling and labelling has made me squirm. Some of the language on this and other threads lead me to wonder if perhaps some posters are not really interested in a debate. In which case, I don't understand the intent. My hope is that everyone will be mindful of the language they use.