anonemouse

No kidding. Couldn't get to any page other than the home page Wednesday and Thursday and now it's taking 15 minutes to load a page today.

HA! I knew it was a conspiracy! :embaressed_smile:

Ditto. One reason that I've looked into PS so early is that I KNOW I want it when I get close to my goal weight. I've decided to go for it this fall (around mid-August, hopefully), and I've put it off to that point because I do want to get close to my goal weight before surgery because I'm also having my breasts lifted, and that's a surgery that can easily be ruined by losing too much weight post-surgery. I've promised myself that I'll call and schedule it the day I weigh myself and see 140 (140 is a BMI that is right inside the healthy weight range for my height). I somewhat agree with what She Smiles' surgeon said, why work my ass off to completely lose the fat in an area that's just going to be cut off anyway? Sort of like, why pay to have the nasty carpet in a newly-bought house cleaned, if you're planning to immediately rip it up and replace it with hardwood before moving in, you know? And to be honest, a person that gets PS when they're still a bit from their goal weight can get results that are just as good or better than those of a person who was at goal. With tummy tucks, in particular, a patient can lose a significant amount of weight after the surgery and still have awesome results, so I don't really see the need to be "at goal" for that surgery. For breast surgeries, yes, but not that one.

I haven't even considered the statistics, to be honest. That's because I've had enought stats courses to know that it's just the average of the very best and the very worst, so it really has no impact on what YOU OR I can do. Take test grades, for example. An average score may be 60%, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible or even very difficult to get 80%, 90% or even 100%, if some effort is put into it.

You guys have probably seen me complain about some of my students before. Well, I got a doozy of an email yesterday. This guys emails me, wanting to know if we can meet to discuss him making up the material that he's missed. I email him back, asking how many labs he missed. No response within several hours, so I look though the materials I have for his lab. I didn't even have to look through all of the stuff to see that the guy's missed something like 5 or so labs, including the first 3 weekly lab meetings and the midterm. Yet, of course, he waits until 9 weeks into the semester to email me. I'm fully expecting to get a nasty email from him in the next day or two, because I had to explain to him that our department's policy for the class I teach is that a student automatically fails the lab portion of his class if he misses more than 3 labs, even if they are excused absences (because more than three labs missed means he's missed more than a quarter of the lab meetings). Now, it's usually left up to the lab instuctor to decide whether or not to enforce the policy. If the guy had had the decency to email me or have someone else email me or came up to me at one of the few labs he did attend, I probably would have waived it for him. But waiting until more than 9 weeks into the semester and two weeks after the midterm that he didn't go to and then having the nerve to say, "Hey, I missed these days, can I make the material up?"? Um, sorry, no. If you had actually been here, you'd know the policy. If you'd emailed me or come up to me with your request when you first started missing classes, you'd know the policy. Sorry to be the one to teach you this lesson, but it's too damn late at this point. I know it probably seems heartless, but I'm so FREAKING sick of students trying to take advantage of the system and treating their professors and fellow students with absolutely no respect. You'd think that if someone missed the first day of classes (which he did), they'd ask to get any materials that they missed, wouldn't you? I mean, this guy isn't a freshman, he's a freakin' junior in college. He KNOWS that the syllabus and course policies are covered during the first class meeting of every single class on campus.

Until now, I hadn't been able to access anything but the first page of LBT since last night. I kept getting a blank page that said "no input file specified" every time I clicked on something.

Yeah, microwaving protein curdles it. Completely disgusting. If you do want it warm, you have to heat it very slowly and stir it often, and you can't get it much past "warm."

Ooh, interesting. Sounds pretty good, but then again, so did the "creamy, dreamy milk chocolate" that was neither creamy nor dreamy. :thumbup:

I honestly don't think you're going to find any protein supplement that's truly yummy. The most that you can hope for, IMO, is tolerable. Some of them turn out to be pretty good, if you doctor it. Like WASa suggested, you can get sugar-free flavor syrups to add flavor to a plain drink. You could also try adding fruit and ice to try to make them thicker/tastier. whey Gourmet chocolate Peanut Butter is probably the best Protein powder that I've found. It tastes sort of like Reece's peanut butter cups to me. My suggestion is to try to find samples of powders and/or ready-to-drink stuff somewhere and try a bunch of different types of protein to see what you'll like. You might want to try soy protein, also, since you might be lactose intolerant. If all else fails, and you absolutely can't find anything high-quality that you can tolerate, go back to the low-quality stuff. It shouldn't be a major problem as long as you're not using it long term and as long as you are consuming other forms of food and protein. Ideally, though, if you can find something higher-quality that you can tolerate drinking, it's a better idea to use that rather than the low-quality stuff.

True. When looking for protein supplements, avoid anything that's made of collagenic protein or Calcium casseinate. Both are EXTREMELY low-quality protein sources. Which, honestly, makes the prices that are charged for the products particularly outrageous, I think. Those protein shot thingies are typically pretty expensive per serving.

That's correct. I was also told when first looking into laser hair removal that it works the best on fair-skinned individuals who have extremely dark hair because it targets the melanin in the hair shaft/follicle. That's not a problem with me, because I have almost black hair and extremely fair skin, which is probably why the laser has worked so well for me. The technician at the Sona MedSpa I go to said that I was an ideal candidate for that type of laser hair removal. One of the plastic surgeons that I had a consultation with recently offered a laser hair removal treatment that supposedly works on light or colorless hair. I'll try to see if I can find/remember the type of laser.

I have discovered that I LIKE to shop for clothes AND that there's lots and lots of pretty clothes that I can actually fit into now. Sucks for my back account and credit cards, let me tell you! And the shoes! Apparently, I've gone down at least a half size, maybe more. I can actually find heels and pretty sandals that I like and that I can wear. The only thing that's holding me back from going crazy in Macy's right now is that I'm not finished losing weight. I don't want to completely restock my wardrobe only to turn around and do it again.

I'm living in KY right now, going to grad school, but I usually live in middle TN. I've gone on a few consultations and I've finally chosen a surgeon. I had consultations with Dr. Lois Wagstrom, Dr. Melinda Haws, and Dr. Caroline Chester in Nashville. I chose Dr. Chester, but Dr. Wagstrom was a close second. I will hopefully be having a tummy tuck and breast lift in mid-August. I originally wanted it to be earlier in the summer, but Dr. Chester will be out of town for several weeks this summer, and I want to be at goal before I have surgery. Here are their websites: Dr. Lois Wagstrom: www.loiswagstom.com Dr. Melinda Haws: The Plastic Surgery Center of Nashville - Tennessee Cosmetic Surgery Dr. Caroline Chester: Nashville Tennessee Plastic Surgery

Ditto. When I was in plus sizes, I could NEVER shop at Lane Bryant for anything other than a plain T-shirt, just because their clothes are built for tall, long-limbed people, even the shirts. And honestly, I could find similar T-shirts for cheaper elsewhere. None of their pants ever worked for me, and I'm 5'3", just barely petite. LB's petites were always at least 4" too long for me. And really, the clothes that I did buy there were pretty crappy quality, or at least no better than what was available at other, less expensive stores. Why buy a $25 T-shirt at Lane Bryant when I could buy a $10 T-shirt at Wal-Mart or Target that was just as high quality. I've had extremely good luck with both of those stores, at least with their basic T-shirts. I've still got wearable T-shirts (now too big) from both stores in my closet that are at least 2 years old, and I'd wear them at least 1-2 times a week. Heck, even JCPenney or Belk are better than LB, IMO. Both have decent plus-size departments that were much more in line with my tastes and my purse than LB.

Ugh, I HATE group work. I mean, really, REALLY despise it. I always get stuck doing more than my fair share and trying not to piss everyone off by telling them that the work that they're doing is not up to my standard. That's why I usually volunteer to proof the shit before it gets turned in. It's nicer than telling my fellow group members, "I'm sorry, your work is crap, so I need to fix it before I stick my name on it." :biggrin:

I use Sona MedSpa. I've had 3 of the 5 treatments that I've paid for, and it's worked like a dream so far. I'm even hoping that I won't have to use all 5 treatments.

And we have a winner, I think! :blushing: I REALLY liked this surgeon. We just sort of clicked, if that makes sense. She's slightly more expensive than the other two I had consults with, but she includes some lipo with the tummy tuck, and the others didn't. Her price is $13,570 for everything (TT, BL, lipo, medication, pain pump, night in hospital, anesthesia, etc.). She's not super-commercialized, which I really like (that was one thing that made me a tad uncomfortable with surgeon #2). In fact, I wouldn't have even known about her if I hadn't gotten a PM from one of her patients on MMH. Her site never came up in any of my searches. She's supposed to be a top surgeon, too, from what I've been able to find. One thing that really impressed me when I was talking with her is that she showed me some of her so-so results as well as the good ones, and told me why they weren't as good as they could have been. She didn't just pick and choose her best results to advertise, you know? Anyway, she has done a lot of work with bariatric patients and the vast majority of her photos are really, really good. And they were of real people, not just skinny-minnies who just needed two inches of skin removed.

Sorry, Julie, I've been out of town and away from internet for the last several days. My surgeon normally doesn't require her patients to stay overnight, but she wants me to stay the first night because I'll be a couple of hours away from the hospital when I leave. That cost is included in my quote. Both of the other two surgeons I looked into required their patients to stay, I think.

Pretty much. I just feel really comfortable with her. The first surgeon I saw had really good photos, and even though I liked her, she was a bit businesslike when I was talking with her. The second one was very friendly and approachable, but her photos weren't quite as good. This third one seems like a nice mix of friendly/approachable and very skilled (her photos are extremely good, for the most part). If I hadn't had a consultation with her, I probably would have gone with the first one because I did like her, but it just hit me while talking with Dr. Chester that "this is the one." I also really like the fact that she isn't super-commercialized. She doesn't advertise, advertise, advertise, you know? Her website never came up in any of my internet searches, so I wouldn't have known about her if one of her patients hadn't PMed me on MMH. The first one was like that, too, but the second surgeon was pretty commercialized, with a fancy office, expensively-designed webpage, etc. I like that this one apparently doesn't rely on just advertising (or advertising at all, apparently) to bring in customers. You guys are going to be sick of my gushing over the next 5 months. :smile:

She wants me to reach 140 pounds before surgery. That'll put me right at a BMI of 25.

That's really what I'm looking forward to. Well, sort of. With me, it's more wearing a pair of low-cut bikini panties and being able to look down and see them. At this point, I can wear them, but I can't see them, lol. :tongue: BTW, guys, I found the PS that I'm going to use! It took three consults, but I'm really comfortable and happy with her. It looks like I'll be joining you guys in mid-August!

Not yet. When I book, I'll have to give a down payment, so I'm going to wait until much closer to the surgery date that I want to schedule. She said that as long as I gave about a month's notice, I should be able to get the date I want. She's going to be going on vacation this summer for several weeks and doesn't feel comfortable doing my surgery immediately before that and then leaving me, so she wants me to hold off on surgery until the second week of August or so. And honestly, that's fine with me, since that gives me even more time to stabilize my weight and save up some more money.

Speaking as the daughter of a vet, definitely change to a no-dye cat food. I think it was either Friskies or 9Lives, in particular, that used to give my cats red runs all the time, from the dye in the food. Is the vomit solid/semi-solid or is it very liquidy? If it's solid or semi-solid, he/she may just be having a hairball or be eating too much too quickly and accidentally making himself vomit (believe it or not, pretty common with animals). I've also had a cat in the past that would vomit whenever she got stressed. If it's liquidy vomit, there might be something else going on.

Congrats, Wheetsin! :biggrin2: Awesome news! And yes, STUPID doctor. :blushing:

I think it's where some skin is pulled tighter than the skin around it, if that makes sense. Think of it in terms of cloth. If you cut a big hole out of the center of a square of cloth and try to stretch the cloth and sew it together, you'll wind up with raised areas at the ends of the mended spot. That's because there's more cloth at those areas than there is in the area that had the cloth cut out, so it kind of bunches up where it meets the mended area. From what I understand, that's basically what happens with dog ears.