OH Juli

hit sent, con't post. THEY LOVE RIDING. And when I was 300+, 5'2'' woman, so as wide as I was tall, I was NEVER antagonized or eye rolled at, going into a store and asking questions. I shopped in 4 different stores and talked to a bunch of bike people before I got my bike. Talk to them!

Job Giant Bicycles | bikes - mountain - Rincon Blue/Anthracite This is what my LBS dude recommended. I own a giant road bike and LOVE it. He said it's good because it has oversized tires and stronger rims. Also you'd want to change out the seat for a cruiser saddle, not the performance saddle that comes with it. $350 is the MSP. You can typically get last year's modle this time of year 10-15% off. Shwinn also has cruiser bikes that would work. Apparently reinforce rims and oversized tires are the key words you want. And about LBS people. THEY

JC, you had better. Really I don't don't know why you are waiting until tomorrow to try harder, you have the rest of the day. I've actually been working this morning and neglecting you all. What's up with that?

D Couch to 5 K? You're inspiring! Jenn Welcome. We have been there. Change is a-coming soon enough. It will happen when you are ready.

BG- What's your myspace page?

The Cycling Gangsta Bitches' are at your beck and call. Sorry to know your pooch isn't 100%. That's rough. JC- You are amazing. But you know that. You get props though for not turning the table over on the crowd ala the Incrdible Hulk. We'd be calling you Bruce, if you did. You get props for recognizing the frustration with your sister to manipulate you, gulit you and hashing it out with her to a good resolution. All that and not a bunch of calories you have to work off. Fantastic. Enough about you, now about me. Today all the teachers came back to school and we had a big opening of school thingy. You would have thought I grew a second head and a tail with all the attention I got. I have to say, I wore my favorite new pants and a clingy T with my hair down..you know looking extra cute, but I was surprised at the amount of the response about my weight loss. Some people were discreet, some jackasses looked at me and were like, "You lost weight." What do you say to that? "No shit"? Really, I said, "been trying". My favorite one, because it's so accurate, is the phys ed teacher who has helped me create my strength training rountine said, "You've been working HARD!" Damn right I've been working hard. And I busted ass in the fitness center today. I'm determined to get up to a half hour on the stair master. Bitch ass thing just kills me.

Rock On Canada! My heart bleed red, white and blue....but I love you guys up north!

BTW it's still okay to poke fun at gays and lesbians. As for the sterio types they happen for a reason. And because there is so mush information swirling around we try to compartmentalize as to who is who and what is what. Gender, race and size are the first things they clue into. Gender is really the first. When a baby is born or hell, before it's born we want to know girl or boy so we can catagorize it. As for looking like hell, there are a bunch of typically sized people looking ragged and dirty. We just see the fat people because we ourselves are fat. Kind of like when you buy a new make of car only to see the same make all over the place. It's what you are tuned in to.

Wow, not telling your SO something that important boggles the mind. Either you think the surgery is a cake walk, which it is not, or you don't trust your husband, which is very sad. The band will change your life immeasurably. Doing it alone when you have a partner for life, to have and to hold seems very selfish and cruel. Something is amiss. Harsh words I know...

I don't pour myself anything at home. I tend to drink up until the moment I start eating. When I'm finshed eating I look at the clock and say "Okay, 30 minutes." After that set time I start drinking again. I dearly loved my beverages before being banded, but it's a small price to pay. EVENTUALLY, you'll not miss it so much. It's a new habit. That's all. You'll not die. you're taking small bites anyway. You don't need the liquid to wash down the food. Good Lucky.

Job- Come on over to the bycycle thread. It's being spelled wrong kills me! We move pretty quickly but we love talking bikes and you'll get all kinds of information. B recently joined the discussion and we didn't treat him poorly. Juli

I say, tell her to grab a quick lunch and you'll meet her for coffee afterward. You aren't going to go into a restaurant. Do we have the kick her ass too? Put her on the list with the x-gf. We're going to become JC's cycling gansta bitches.

JC- You are such a big effin' dork! God love ya! I love me some nerdy ass folks. I do. I know it sounds like I'm insulting you, but I'm not. I'm recognizing a soul-sibling.

JC and BG You two are on fire this morning. I want to kayak too. But I'm not the best swimmer. But next year, I see me trying. Hi Jenn. Hope you can keep up. Things move quickly on this thread. Has Stacy got you out on a bike yet? Where are you in the process. Tell us about you. In meetings most of today. Can't eat much, I feel irritated from yesterday's PB. I really don't want to do a day of liquids. Boo Hoo. The weather report is rain, rain and freaking more rain. Could be worse I suppose, could be snow. At least we can still get out and get from place to place. XO

Well JC maybe you need to go the STUD route. But that just makes me think of reproduction. Well that will get you a few more bites as well....hehehe Now do any of those single chicas know that you'll be up in Indiana in a few weeks? Oh, who am I kidding, of course they do, becuase if they're interested they are, unbeknownst to you reading, you over here too. [remember I did call myself psycho before....not that I've ever stalked anyone, I'm just saying I know how to act interested...] I love when I go to tease and end up revealing more about myself than I intended! I did get my Fianance homework done today, it's due tomorrow. That was so much better than sweating it like I did last week. Whew. B- Take it easy with trying to do too much. Remember you had someone poking around in your insides. My recovery took longer than I expected...it was a bitch. But by the end of the month I was 100%, sleeping on my belly and everything. As I recall, the sleeping position situation was the worst part. HP Hope you got the checking situation all taken care of. That's horrible. OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I PBed with the best of them today. HOLY SHIT. Not fun. Of course the kid wanted to be all up in my business, "what's it look like?" Can you imagine? Anyway, chicken breast and broccoli are off the list of foods I'll be eating for a few weeks. :mad: Boo hoo. Now, what's the minimal amount of protein a person should get? I know I have that notebook here somewhere.

BG, I hope you will stay my friend forever and I never make you mad, ever.

What's the exgirlfriend's number? We'll take care of her for you. D, HP, BG, you with me?

You are on your own for Sunday. I'm going to need to head home. You all joke about your hammocks, cots and trailers. I know I reserved a spot but there still maybe a hotel in my Saturday night future. If the ride is rough and I'm expected to sleep on the ground I might just have the ultimate prima donna diva fit! I'm trying to be optimistic. It will be fine I'm sure. JC I'm with you on the slug feeling. I need to stop effing around on here so I have time to workout this afternoon. XO

HP- I have the same worry. I hope you all like me when after we meet. Then I think the only way to find out is to meet each other. And girl, look at my beginning weight. That's not even my highest known weight. I have 338 on a scale, it was probably higher. You know we aren't going to judge you. Really we (I speak for the group) have all been there. And are still there in many respects. So don't you fret. JC- Good to get that project behind you. Did you get that work out done? I only have 2 tea bags left of sleepytime. I need to put in on my list. BG- Bitch Ass Mother Effen Bitches. Hide the keyboard. JC had a point. But still cleaning up after grown people is frustrating. B, S, and D-howdy.

Eddie, Congrats on the sand castle and non shirt wearing day. I'm going to a les fest in a few weeks and don't see me losing my shirt. Not now, not ever. But then again, you fellas are lucky in the shirtless department. I'll be happy to sight see at the fest. hehehe.

I have a secret. I don't know if I'm ready to share. I have a room dedicated in my house to scrapbooking and people have paid me to scrap their pictures. Shhhhh don't tell. I don't want to lose my bad ass reputation. I had to put it on the back burner when I started back to school full time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I love this group too. My peeps. I have to say I've actually started calling you Stacy and Traci to people when I talk about the camping trip. JC, you're still JC. B and Slack, you two seem pretty well up on the dynamics. Good to have you on board.

I'll be putting up my before and after, maybe even in a swim suit. That should be a riot. I did do before in clothing and a swim suit. The idea of sharing that is pretty amazing. To think once upon a time I would have never even thought about it!

To answer, yes the fitness center is at my place of employment. It's attached to the cafeteria and I am the cafeteria manager. My office wall shares a wall with the fitness center. -yes I can hear weight stacks drop!- What's super cool is that I'm a good project manager and last summer's project was putting the fitness center together. The Phys ed teacher, a maitenence supervisor and I did all the planning, purchasing and made it happen. People looked at my 300+ body and wondered wtf does she know...also I'm on the wellness committee for the nutrition information...but the fitness center is full of $100,000 worth of Lifefitness/Hammer Strength equipment. Floor to ceiling mirrors, rubberized flooring.... I've been spoiled all summer with very few people using it. I'll have to get used to sharing again next week.

Well aren't we having a love fest. Sorry fellas, we get a little misty sometimes. :pout: :think But really, people who think there's not an emotional element to this journey are fooling themselves. D- Don't be surprised if you find time to sneak in some exercise. Now that you know how it makes you feel you be prone to find a few minutes here or there. I have to say, I got my ass into the gym today and decided to do an extra sweaty workout. I got on the treadmill and did a walk run thing...walk 2 minutes, run for one or as long as possible...I did that for 15 then I did 10 minutes on the stair master. HOLY CRAP that kicked my ass. I was literally dripping sweat on the machine. Of course it's the day two people interruped my workout for work related questions. (my office is 50 feet away from the fitness center). I had mascara smudged under my eyes...the people didn't linger...you know when you get the feeling you are not welcome. Hehehehe. I have a email into my professor asking for additional resources. I made the GF's new neice a scrapbook for her baptism, her brother called her to say he was very touched. She called me to say it was a hit. That helped my day too. So all in all, the afternoon is better than the morning. :car: :biggrin1:

I say that when I got a band put around my stomach I got one on my head too. (That's what made me stop at this thread!) I have changed completely how I relate to food. I have the help of a fantastic counselor too. It's done a world of good. I think really there is a three progned approach to this banding thing. One is physical, the band keeps us from eating too much or too quickly. We all know how the band works. Two, is behavioral changes. That's where we exercise or use smaller plates or buy the right food in the house. Three, and this ties one and two together is the cognative piece. We think differently about food and our bodies. We think in terms of out comes. Like if I eat that icecream I'm not going to the outcome I had surgery for so I'll behave differently. There's much more to it, like sorting out why we over ate in the first place to help put that to rest, but really the mind is the best tool for success. Having the band assures that it can happen. XO