Band_Groupie

Hello from PA! I'm north of Pittsburgh, but we also lived/have family near Philly. Welcome!

Yep, the good news was their 'cookies for troops' program where you can buy cookies that go to the military troops didn't go down. :-) I love the GS, and hope they find other ways to come up with the funds.

Thanks 'good Fairy'! :-)

Reg. Centrum Chewable with iron (the Silver version has different vits) it's orange flavored and I picked it because people said it tasted the best of the three (gummys, Flinstones). Only need one a day.

Congrats! That's the day of my last weigh-in...hope to join you the end of the month!

So Jack, it's not on your screen (thanks for bumping...let me know)? FairyFacade- I'm assuming you see the same thing I have...and your sure it's safe to complete?

Thanks Tonya! I figured that was it, but I didn't want to have to go back and fix it...spent a lot of time this week entering foods, but I so love all the reports there...wow there's a lot! -BG

I’m losing it…really. My kids call it ‘old-timers’, DH calls it ‘brain-farts’, I call it ‘blonde moments’. Now that I’m back from the Dark Side HERE, I swear I lost brain cells going back from my first venture as a brunette to my natural blonde (OK, maybe a few grays are under there, but I’ll never see them). I was on the computer most of the day yesterday, not here, well I did check in often, but I was on a tracking site for diet/exercise re-entering all my foods and info. ‘Re-entering’ you ask? OH yea. I set up my account for the site at the beginning of January (after asking on LBT which site is best), then my computer broke and I also found out I didn’t need to track anything, and since I didn’t have to lose weight (grr insurance #248 x) I hadn’t been back. Since my decision to start dieting this week, I went to my bookmarks and went back to the site to start tracking. My account had been deleted so I had to set a new one up, I was guessing they get deleted after a certain period and it had been months. OK, now on to tracking! Quaker Oatmeal for breakfast…hmm, not there…on the one day I used this in January, I thought I’d entered that. Where’s the help button? Can’t find ‘help’, so I’ll go to those message boards…the people there were really helpful setting up my account in January. Can’t find the message boards…and there are all these ads to upgrade your service to the PC or even higher level Premium Version …for a cost $$$. Hmmm…I wonder if you now have to buy into the first level at least to get to the message boards. So I spend the day entering my information, exercises, goals, and had to custom add each food in, which took FOREVER when you’re entering everything on the box nutrition information and dividing out the amount you ate. After day 2 of doing all this extra work, I got SO frustrated with it all that I posted a thread on LBT asking for help from site users talking about the site changes and my questions. I didn’t get any replies. I was getting ready to start entering info. yesterday morning when I decided to find my original thread on LBT where I’d asked which tracking site is best. My plan was to PM some of the people who had recommended that site and ask them my questions (again, no one was replying to my new ‘help’ thread on LBT). Dear GAWD, major blonde moment! You got it…for two days I’d been on the wrong site *cheeks burning with embarrassment*. I’d been on Fitday and the site I wanted was MyFitnessPal (which I hadn’t bookmarked). Yep, my account was still there, the message board hadn’t disappeared. I’m losing it. Click [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xYkiN4-gl8]YouTube - America Still Appreciates A Good Dumb Blond Joke[/ame]

As Lena would say, this should have come with a 'spew alert'! I almost spewed my drink. Hee-Hee! LOL!

"Whoosh" to you! Great article, thanks for sharing! I say we dub the scale Mr Devil, or how about Jason...wasn't he "The Bachelor" who lied? Mean Mr. Scale! Size 10's sound awesome! Enjoy this moment; you've earned it!!!! -BG

:cursing: Good job...hope the week flies by! -BG

Report from the Pittsburgh Tribune News GS Cookie Sales Crumble Nationally, cookie sales are reportedly down 19 percent from last year. Regionally, the outlook isn’t as dire. "I think the economy has something to do with it," Vance says. Since the cookie sale is the primary fundraiser for troops each year, Vance says decreased sales may hold girls back from great experiences in the coming year. My cookies have arrived, from not one, but two different Girl Scouts. I have no idea what my family ordered (remember I avoided that HERE) because I didn’t look. But I think my family help with the Regional Outlook being better…I’ve been told there are many boxes on our shelves…I’m staying away. This got me thinking about how I’m going to deal with my sweet-tooth as part of my lifestyle change. I’m a huge chocoholic and as you’ve heard me say so many times I’m all about starting into this change as a lifestyle change and not a diet, so it’s all about being able to make better choices without feeling deprived. I’ve never cooked/used many artificial sweeteners, but I’ve started some research on this. I’ve got some sugar free Russell Stover chocolates, individually packaged that work for me, so I thought I’d like to learn about artificial sweeteners, possibly even in cooking/baking. *Note I’m no Dr. or Nutritionist, I read a lot of articles and this was the gist of what I found out, I don’t claim to know what’s truth, and experts come down on both sides of the safety issues on all these. I started with the LB; What I’ve turned up so far is that several people have blamed band issues on artificial sweeteners…one declared that it was a major contributor to her band slippage, and many people have said their docs have told them not to use them (some say they cause sugar cravings). There are two types of sweeteners available on the market, nutritive and non-nutritive. Nutritive sweeteners provide sweet taste and a source of energy (calories). Their sweet taste comes from the presence of natural sugars glucose and fructose, alone or together, as sucrose. They are higher in calories than non-nutritive sweeteners, but they are all natural. Exceptions* - Common examples of nutritive sweeteners include typical table sugars (both brown and white), molasses, honey, agave nectar, and syrups such as maple and high fructose corn syrup. - Erythritol/Polyols, energy-reduced sugar alcohols: Slightly less calories than true sugar. Often called sugar replacements, these sugar alcohols are derived from natural sugars- fruits or produced commercially from dextrose. The most common include: sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol and maltitol. Products are Organic Zero, Zsweet, Sun Crystals. Gas and laxative issues. - Stevia: almost 0 cal. New product. Truvia*(Rebinia), PureVia* (*some say both have artificial additives), or raw/natural Stevia. Some say has a bitter aftertaste and causes gas (I’ve actually grown this plant in my herb garden before). - Whey Low: 75% less cal. than sugar. Fairly new product. Made with different sugars-sucrose, fructose, lactose; studies not clear on calorie absorption-they claim 75% less calories because of the way the combination of sugars acts to not be absorbed in the intestines. The only studies were done by the company. Some say more studies need to be done on this product. Non-nutritive sugar substitutes offer no energy (calories) and sweeten with little volume. Non-nutritive sweeteners include: saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame potassium and neotame. For many of you who drink protein shakes, almost all of them contain these. - Saccharine: 4 cal./pack Sweet ’n Low- thought to be dangerous was almost banned by the FDA, but public outcry kept it as it was the only substitute at the time, and it used to be labeled ‘cancer causing in lab animals. Made from petroleum based products. - Aspartame: 2 cal./tsp. Nutra Sweet, Equal, Spoonful- some studies show that aspartame is dangerous/cancer causing and is considered dangerous by most, by law has to show PKU (disease in infants) warning. Found in Diet Pepsi/Coke, SF Jell-O/Pudding, and Crystal Light. - Splenda/sucralose: Says 0 cal, but it's NOT calorie free-has 4 per serving, which can add up if you’re baking with it, i.e. coke zero has 4 calories. FDA rule- they can claim 0 if it’s less than 5, the same is true for all packaging; i.e. they can claim something is 0 carbs if it is under 5 per serving. Splenda has sugar: maltodextrin & dextrose/corn syrup and sucralose, the process changes the sugar molecules and turns some atoms to chlorine (other chlorinated products include pesticides). So, although it’s made from natural sugars the process changes the atoms. Remember that everything is ‘natural’ it just depends how you define artificial vs. natural. Most consider this the safest low cal. nonnutritive sweetener, but there have been no outside studies. - Acesulfame K/acesulfame potassium: 0 cal. sold as Sunett, Sweet One- thought to cause cancer (no new studies underway). It’s found in Crystal Light, SF Jell-O & Pudding. - Neotame: Newer product. From amino acids- Clabber Girl Sugar Replacer, Domino Pure D’Lite. Many consider it to be much more dangerous than even aspartame, which was considered the worst. Used in many gums, Herr's pretzels. The bottom line of what I found out was that although there are opinions on both sides, one thing that most everyone can agree on is that even if artificial sweeteners aren't bad for you, they aren't good for you either. I'm no health food/organic nut, but even I was appalled at the lack of studies on these products and the role of big business in keeping these on the market (ie. Saccharin is only still on the market because Congress passed a 2 year moratorium against any ban of the product by the FDA when they wanted to ban it in 1977, which Congress has continually extended). Even Cyclamate that was banned by the FDA in 1970 is currently being reconsidered (I lived on TAB in my teenage years...no wonder I was so skinny). I don’t have time to read every nutrition label and I’ll probably still chose to eat some things with the non-nutritives like SF puddings (let's face it, obesity will kill me sooner than aspertame caused Cancer). As with most things…all things in moderation. I do plan to limit my intake of Crystal Light, which I have always drank to excess on every diet, and just up the water intake. I don’t intend to start baking with any of the non-nutritive, although I might look into some of the nutritive ones more. I think this will turn out to be like the rest of my theme for my ‘lifestyle change’ …I’ll be using real sugar, and just like other bad foods…in VERY small amounts. Besides, I love really DARK chocolate…Like Hershey’s 70%, which are lower in calories and higher in the good aspects of chocolate like antioxidants (cocoa has more antioxidants/flavanoids than green tea)…a tiny bite satisfies my chocoholic cravings. The cave woman got most of her sweets from fruits, which were seasonal, so she bulked up in the summer and fall to survive the long winter. So stick mainly with the natural sweets...nature knows best!

Are those numbers calories/carbs you hand wrote? And why haven't I heard about Wondra? All those lumpy gravies I've had to stir forever! Thanks! -BG

The men aren't actually reading this, so for you ladies...As I’ve told you, I have the option of selecting either band type and I also have the option of selecting my port site. I told you about my surgeon’s consult in Jan. where, after doing my research, I told my doc that I’ve selected the LB and then we discussed my port site. I’ll remind you I selected a left of center, between my belly button line and my ribs…no third boob for this gal…3 boobs worked for Picasso, but not me…with my C-cup boobs, it would be the only one left at goal weight. So on our way home from the consult I announced to DH that I intended to mark my port site on my tummy before surgery…he just chuckled…he’s used to ‘my kind of crazy’ (But now I have those papers from the Psych saying I’m not! So there!). My doc doesn’t get many requests for a different port site but it’s important to me (bad left side so I sleep on my right, and I’m right handed) and his default is the right side, so I don’t want him to forget (I have enough trouble with sleep). I’ve been thinking on and off about my tummy artwork (that’s what we artists do) and how I could make it funny without insulting my doc that he’d forget (he DID tell me to remind him). I was reading some blogs lately that got me thinking; Banded Ben’s surgery date and trying to come up with a joke on the operating table so he could escape…too late, he was out. So, I was thinking maybe I could write a joke, or a funny poem on my belly to point out my port placement…welcome to ‘my kind of crazy’…yes, this is what goes on in my head. Wendytip’s post yesterday about people’s incision photos on LBT (I agree, eeewww), got me commenting about making different ‘connect the dot’ pictures with my incisions and washable markers and posting them here (NOT). But maybe I can do a dot picture for my port site? So, why am I making this confession and sharing this now? I had second thoughts…what if the Sharpie isn’t sterile, or it messes them up and they refuse to do surgery because I wrote on myself? I’m not crazy enough yet to call my surgeon and ask. Today “The Doctors” was on as I was doing the laundry…the plastic surgeon on the panel was talking about how a Sharpie is his best friend for surgery! Hey yea, we’ve all seen those Dr. 90210 shows where they’re marking all over the woman’s bodies with a Sharpie. I’d forgotten about that! So I ran to the TV to listen. The question was about whether a Sharpie is sterile or not...WOW…my very question! Apparently Sharpie’s have a lot of alcohol in them, and even if they weren’t sterile the Betadine they smear all over you sterilizes everything. OK, I’m going for it! Now I’ve got artwork to plan! My practical jokes always backfire on me, so I hardly ever attempt them…they’ll either think I’m nuts or laugh…we’ll see what happens…if I wake up with a third boob, it backfired.

Let me know if you come up with a great poem :-)

Lena- Nutrition- Where do sugars go under carbohydrates...I see fiber there, but no sugars (or if I've got total carbs doesn't it matter)? Thanks!

If you go to the forum tab at the top and then down to Insurance and Financing you can start a new thread there (just copy and paste this in there). You may get an answer here, but the forum gets way more visability (might want to add where/state? you are located as well as we have peeps from different countries on here). Good luck, and WELCOME to LBT! -BG

167# sounds like heaven to me right now...I'd be kissing Mr. Scale. Must be the year for graduations...those huge parties do get expensive! You're doing great! -BG

Stacy- LOL! For some it did!!! I can't take credit for calling it a third boob, when I asked people where there port is and where they'd put their port if they had a choice, I saw several women who told me their doc attached their port to the breastbone right on the sternum (right thing?)...they described it as a third boob. I don't think anyone gets fat there...no more low cleavage tops for them!

Lena-I've been looking at these two sites all morning and I'm thinking now that Fitday might work better for me anyway, so maybe it was one of those 'happy accidents' afterall (we'll call this a 'blondes have mor fun moment'). There don't seem to be nearly as many reports on MyFitnessPal (but I put in some questions on the message board). There isn't even a section for goal reports at all. I couldn't even find a way to show a graph of projected weight loss...and what fun is dieting if you can't keep looking at the goal. I love that graph on Fitday with actual weight loss and the goal line together on a graph...Fitday let me do this projected 2 years out. The thing that worried me about Fitday was there's no 'help' button and as a newbie you get stuck sometimes (like where the heck is SUGAR in the nutrients breakdown?...alcohol?). But now that I know SOMEONE on the site...hee hee Did you upgrade or are you on the free version? -BG

This morning he was playing advocate for the kids-only.

The Today Show just had Dr. Phil on. They played the 911 clip. He said he's spent more time with her off-air than on and that she still hasn't grasped the enormity of what taking care of all these kids will take. He listed just how many feedings for the newborns-60 something, will need to be done each day. He said IF she does get a house for herself and all the kids that there should be a huge picture window and every agency should be lined up on the front yard watching what's happening.

Oh man! I could live on bread and chocolate...I think it's the only diet I've never tried. My NUT says if the bread is dry/toasted it usually works better as it breaks up more than a soft gummy ball (Am I the only one who as a kids balled up a slice of white bread to eat? It's like eating play-doh...did that too). Good luck with the 3 #! -BG

I’m losing it…really. My kids call it ‘old-timers’, DH calls it ‘brain-farts’, I call it ‘blonde moments’. Now that I’m back from the Dark Side HERE, I swear I lost brain cells going back from my first venture as a brunette to my natural blonde (OK, maybe a few grays are under there, but I’ll never see them). I was on the computer most of the day yesterday, not here, well I did check in often, but I was on a tracking site for diet/exercise re-entering all my foods and info. ‘Re-entering’ you ask? OH yea. I set up my account for the site at the beginning of January (after asking on LBT which site is best), then my computer broke and I also found out I didn’t need to track anything, and since I didn’t have to lose weight (grr insurance #248 x) I hadn’t been back. Since my decision to start dieting this week, I went to my bookmarks and went back to the site to start tracking. My account had been deleted so I had to set a new one up, I was guessing they get deleted after a certain period and it had been months. OK, now on to tracking! Quaker Oatmeal for breakfast…hmm, not there…on the one day I used this in January, I thought I’d entered that. Where’s the help button? Can’t find ‘help’, so I’ll go to those message boards…the people there were really helpful setting up my account in January. Can’t find the message boards…and there are all these ads to upgrade your service to the PC or even higher level Premium Version …for a cost $$$. Hmmm…I wonder if you now have to buy into the first level at least to get to the message boards. So I spend the day entering my information, exercises, goals, and had to custom add each food in, which took FOREVER when you’re entering everything on the box nutrition information and dividing out the amount you ate. After day 2 of doing all this extra work, I got SO frustrated with it all that I posted a thread on LBT asking for help from site users talking about the site changes and my questions. I didn’t get any replies. I was getting ready to start entering info. yesterday morning when I decided to find my original thread on LBT where I’d asked which tracking site is best. My plan was to PM some of the people who had recommended that site and ask them my questions (again, no one was replying to my new ‘help’ thread on LBT). Dear GAWD, major blonde moment! You got it…for two days I’d been on the wrong site *cheeks burning with embarrassment*. I’d been on Fitday and the site I wanted was MyFitnessPal (which I hadn’t bookmarked). Yep, my account was still there, the message board hadn’t disappeared. I’m losing it. Click [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xYkiN4-gl8]YouTube - America Still Appreciates A Good Dumb Blond Joke[/ame]

Is there meat on an ox tail (eew, but my Mom used to make ox tail soup and it was great, but/butt eww) that we need to 'liberate' before tossing the bones? Do you ever eat the veggies (not on liquid phase) or are they dissolved by the time this cooks? I'm making a shopping list! Frozen broth ready to go! -BG