xavier

Those will be lucky people to have you and your sparkling personality and brutal honesty in hearing about the band! Rock on, Lady in Red!

Hey! But what happened to all your hamsters???

There's a huge difference between the two pix! Wow! Its great that you have come this far on your own! PS Great idea on the profile picture...I may do the same if you dont mind your idea stolen!!

I have had two good runs of what I would call perfect restriction and the feeling of each of them was totally different. I really dont know why. The first time I would feel full, take a deep breath and get a little pain in my left shoulder. If I kept eating (slow learner) it would be trouble! Then the second time (now) its more like a not hungry feeling, no pain, no shoulder, and I really have to be sensitive to it because the next bite will be trouble. I have no idea why its different but its working at least!

I just finally got into the 10s today...I have tried them on way too many times and they just gave me a huge muffin top...I have a fat waist, the hips are never an issue. Anyway I was feeling pretty good today and thought I'd disappoint myself one more time by trying them on and...WOW they fit! I dont believe I could just go shopping and randomly buy size 10s though. These are a 10 short Levis and I have to wonder if they run big...whatever, I'm happy! If anyone out there hasnt seen Lellow's pix with the jeans each laid on top of the other...go to her page and look. I did one of my own for my home screensaver!!

I dont eat meat but I LOVE the eggplant tofu thing at Panda Express. Also the rangoons.I also eat the chow mein when I want to be little bad since theres not much protein...but the calories are pretty good. I try to avoid McDonalds (hideous stories of animal cruelty that would make you cry) but I have snagged a filet o fish when I am on a long roadtrip! Any bean thing from taco bell is ok.

My opinion if anyone wants it: 1. We have to get to a place where we can maintain the lifestyle and that may not be what we or our doc expected.We cant live on peas and Water and three hours on the treadmill! 2. The BMI numbers are DIRECTLY correlated with health outcomes...they dont care how you look. 3.Do not take advice from one nurse or even one doc! 4.Many people will tell others they look too gaunt and they may be jealous whether they know it or not.What most of us consider normal-looking is in fact, too fat. 5. A FACT from real medical literature...the only thing that has ever been directly correlated to longevity and good health overall is being around 10% UNDERWEIGHT. Good luck to all, lets do what feels best for us and be nice to ourselves!

You sound like you are right on track and very realistic...you will do well. Get lots of support here...good luck!

Daqui, Isnt it a great feeling to be sure you will get into them??? Congrts on the progress...you are doing it!

some one once said..."whether you think you can or you can't, you're right."

$1100.00 would really be pennies for RNY. That is a major operation and a copay on good insurance could be that much.

Its like anything else where they dont place blame. If you have an infection from your lap band, they cover treating even though you 'brought it on yourself' by getting the band. Same as all the stupid things people do and end up hurting themselves like firecrackers blowing your fingers off. On the other hand the insurers are not in the biz of caring whether your band is functional or not.So as a self payer, I hope with all hope I never get a port flip or worse (prob very expensive) a band leak! On the other (third!) hand I think if you have a good doc and you have a complication that was caused by something that wasnt done right...maybe they would cut your bill some slack!

Great blog...so true and congrats thats a big accomplishment!!

I do use a food scale sometimes to check on the calories. We had ahi steaks the other night and I wondered what the ounces were because thats how the calories were given on the calorieking website...so I just weighed it. Then I wrote it down and found I couldnt even eat half of it...that happens a lot.

Heed the Diva...she said it best!

Oh, PS: My jeans now talk to me the way my fridge USED TO!!!

Wow! Kare, you really struck a chord with a lot of us...I started out in a 16 but they were bursting and very time i went down a size, I also bought one pair of the next size down and laid them on the vanity counter so they could talk to me every day! I was recently in a 12 short Levis with the 10s on the vanity and those were just too tight. I had a juniors size 13 short Levis nd those fit me great. Those juniors are smaller than the misses I guess because the 13 is in between the 12 and the 10...go figure! Anyway if you are interested go to the profile page of a girl called lellow...she's amazing and took the cutest picture of her jeans lying one on top of the other down to her tiny now-size...I did one of my own for my laptop's screensaver! I have had as my tag line..."a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single pair of jeans" and I wondered if people would get it. But I know YOU would!!

Absolutely start journaling everything!!I think we need that from time to time in order to be honest with ourselves! I had a three month plateau and I knew I had good restriction...the answers were in the journal and since I found out what I was doing wrong...I have lost 8 pounds in three weeks.

Yes, in a heartbeat! I would even self-pay again!!!