BJean

Oh man that makes me feel better. 25 to 30 is acceptable given your manlihood. Yeah I really need something like steroids to make my head go bald and grow a mustache. But I would love to have upper arms with muscle definition. I hate it when I stop waving goodbye but my underarms keep waving. Maybe I could buy a wig and go for lots of waxing. Keep up the good work shedding the lbs.

tdsfl1, you betcha! Great points and how could I have forgotten you from the list above... you are one of the ones I was referring to who make so much sense. We should all stop taking it for granted that because they're so wrong and so transparent we can just sit quietly by and expect them to go down in flames. It just doesn't happen that way with the Republicans. When someone in life is willing to lie, willing to do anything whether it is honest or not, there will be people who believe them and people who will follow their lead. This is true in our daily lives at work, in our families and with our friends. You've probably met people who operate like the Republicans. You can't sit idly by and let them get away with it because if you do, they will definitely get away with it. We need do what you suggest, it makes sense. We have to speak up. Good post.

Oh my goodness... grade me if you must. I will tell you that the idea of listing all the places we've lived sounds like a fun exercise. I haven't thought about many of them in quite some time. Born in Las Vegas, Nevada. Too young to form an opinion. Then I've lived in these places in this order: 1) Tulsa Oklahoma, I consider Tulsa my hometown and it was a very pretty place, rolling hills with very genuinely sweet people. 2) Petersburg Virginia, very closed community with an unreal sense of their own importance probably due to reading about themselves in the history books. Still stuck in the Civil War mentality. However I worked in Richmond and found those people to be much more open and everyone was extremely good to me. Very southern! 3) Sierra Vista Arizona, incredibly beautiful desert mountain scenery and a climate that totally agreed with me. I continue to love high desert as my favorite climate. 4) Norfolk Virginia, discrimination problems but lots of historical and interesting surroundings. 5) Sierra Vista Arizona, same as above. 6) Tulsa Oklahoma, returning was interesting. Politics had changed considerably making it a less fun place to live. 7) Chantilly Virginia, one of my favorite times of my life. Lots and lots of histoical things to see and do, lots of good continuing educational opportunities, lots of natural beauty. And everyone I met had an opinion and seemed intelligent. 8) Orlando Florida, God didn't mean for humans to live in a climate like Orlando's. The bugs and critters were interesting but no fun to live with. However I did have a bob cat that lived behind my house and it was a beauty. I became very involved in philanthropic endeavors which fortunately kept me mostly inside. 9) Montreal Canada, a totally awesome experience. Learned to snow ski and cross country ski and walked the hills of Montreal enjoying the beautiful British section of town. People were very high on themselves and low on English speakers for the most part. Silly politics. Incredible places to eat, drink and be merry. Fabulous views from my downtown apartment on the 18th floor of a high rise. 10) Orlando Florida, back again :-( 11) Colleyville Texas, neat little berg. Nice people, beautiful homes, but too noisy. 12) Haslet Texas, too far out, too quiet. A little too Nascar if you know what I mean. 13) Ft. Worth Texas, husband's hometown. Much like Tulsa in many ways. I'm ready to go whenever he says lets move on. Good Canasta group except for the women's extremist political views. TMI? That'll teach you not to get me started! Ha. Now tell me what it's like to live in the same place all your life. I honestly can't imagine going to the store and running into my 3rd grade teacher. Now I'm trying to decide where I'd like to live next. I have always loved the mountains. Have you ever heard of Cuchara Colorado? It's a tiny little berg that has the most amazing mountain vistas. But I'll probably just stay planted in Texas. Although the political climate is terrible and I would love to be in California or Colorado. Santa Fe would work too though. And I loved Canada and the Adirondack (misspelled?) mountains would be awesome.

You and Cleo's and Leigha and phil and others have called them out on their lame arguments. And I say to all of you GOOD JOB!!!!

We lived in Petersburg, Virginia, south of Richmond over 30 years ago. The cigarette companies, Brown & Williamson, Raleigh, etc., so polluted the air you could hardly breathe. Dow and Dupont chemical companies and others polluted the river so badly that for many years you could not eat the fish that came from the river or Chesapeake Bay area. So environmentalists caused the government to clean it all up, right? I mean some of the regs were in place but the coprorations just ignored them and dealt with the paltry fines. I haven't been back in years and I don't know what the situation is now. I am sure some of it has been cleaned up but there seems to be no end to the dishonest and irresponsible way corporations do business in the U.S. And why you ask? Because we allow it. We allow it because we value the money we make working for them and buying their stock on wallstreet and we value the products that they sell us more than we value a pristine environment. It reminds me of the immigration problem. It's impossible to blame the immigrants themselves because we virtually invite them here with the policies we ignore. We ignore tham because we value the jobs that immigrants do that make companies money and we value the products that they provide at prices we like. As long as we're part of the problem there will never be a solution. As long as Republicans lie and cloud the real issues with emotionally charged issues like abortion and separation of church and state and taxes and welfare, we're doomed to more of the same: life that becomes less and less healthy by the year. We're now looking at a generation that will not live longer than their parents. We have so many problems in the U.S. that people are retiring to other countries in record numbers. And let me tell you, it is very tempting to think about doing that very thing. Why not live in a country that has cleaner air and water? Why not live in a country where your limited retirement income can buy you a decent home and fresh food that hasn't been loaded with preservatives and shipped from other countries? Why not live where there's no gas or oil wells putting out unhealthy emissions in the air we breathe? Why not live a simpler life - one without the idea that you must have a better car than your neighbor and a bigger television and more expensive clothes? Why not live where you can walk or take public transit rather than jumping in your car everytime you need something? Why not live without freaking Walmart whose shelves are filled with products (often unsafe products) made in China? China, the very country we are indebted to for a war that should never have been waged. And what happens when we discover that dog food from China is laced with poisonous residue? Or toys made with lead paint? Or baby formula that has melamine in it disguised as protein? We refuse to accept products from a country like that, right? No. We don't. We might get rid of the stuff when we discover it, but our importing of goods from China hasn't stopped. We're too beholden to them. America used to be the best place to live in the world. The best place for middle income folks. Good people. Hard workers. People who made up the majority of our population. Well those numbers of middle income people has shrunk drastically. And what about the wealthy? Those numbers grew by unprecedented numbers under the Republicans. More billionaires - BILLIONAIRES - than anyone would have thought possible in double the amount of time it took. And the poor? Those numbers are growing too. I like what the president said about corporate America. Let's just wait and see if it causes any improvement. I have my doubts but I hope and pray that I am wrong.

Good for you Leigha. You've taken the time to explain it. I usually am just so exasperated by her logic I start slinging barbs.

Oh you're going to love the taste of food once you're off the liquids and mushies! It's amazing how great everything tastes. I think that because we're off the super foods - high calorie, sugary, white stuff - our taste buds are invigorated. Maybe all the sweet stuff and simple carbs dulled our senses to real food and that's why we wound up craving the super foods. You're going to love the taste of nutritious food now.

The reason the government sticks it's nose in is because people are incredibly stupid and can't resolve issues on their own. You of all people should be able to understand that!

That is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read. Environmentalist nuts. Has a cool ring to it doesn't it? Straight from the wizard's mouth to your ears. Lap, lap, lap, lapping up the kool-aide as fast as it can be handed to you.

I suppose the only way it is possible for us to change our way of life is for one catastrophy after another to happen until we find ourselves unable to breathe or physically survive what we've created. That means that a lot more people are going to have to die before enough people learn what they need to do and actually make the changes. Won't happen in my lifetime, sad to say.

I'm not surprised that you don't understand. I am not saying that you need to give up your relationship with God. I am saying that you do need to look within yourself to be able to find goodness, unconditional love and forgiveness and to not judge others. By your own posts, you do not have any of those things through reading the Bible and heeding God's word. Think of the Bible as a map. What you need to learn is that you're reading it upside down. If someone, like me, points out what you have been saying in your posts, you deny those things and you use God as proof that you're something different from what your posts indicate that you are. But I've been reading what you believe over and over and over and over and those posts have been quite consistent. We are not put here to find God, read the Bible, be born again, and go about sinning because that's what God tells us that we are - sinners - and then die and go to heaven. If I am wrong I have nothing to lose, if you're wrong you lose everything.

You probably can't imagine what this one post reveals about who you are. It explains why you think people can't be good and if they're a born again why they don't need to even try. It explains why you would turn someone away from a food bank just because they're smoking a cigarette. It explains why you hate the government... you hate the fact that you took assistance when you knew you really were capable of taking care of yourself and you think that everyone who gets help from the government is just like you. And you think the government is wrong for taking your tax dollars to help someone like you, who didn't really need it. A person often turns to religion to be able to live with all the things that they've done and continue to do that makes them desperately need the extreme fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. They need it so that they can be assured of God's forgiveness and his promise of a grand life hereafter in heaven. patty, there is more to be had here on earth than what you've resigned yourself to. There is better. You can get the peace and love and happiness that you so desperately need. But true peace comes from within yourself not from the outside. Not from what others have taught you about sin and heaven, not even what the Bible tells you. It's bigger than all that. You just have to stop being so tied up in such a neat little package of religion that you closed off to something much bigger. And I'm not saying you have to give up your religion - not at all. You just have to understand that you personally are better than what you think you are. And you need to understand that other people are capable of goodness without any religion at all. YOU are capable of goodness. YOU are capable of not committing the acts that you must ask God forgiveness for. YOU are the answer to so many of the things that you're struggling with. It's within you. I only hope that one day you can find the kind of love and peace that you are capable of feeling. It would be wonderful indeed if you could go through what you have left of your life in harmony with others, extending unconditional love and the emotional rewards that it would give you.

They're drilling gas wells all over the place in Texas. In fact there's one within a mile of my neighborhood. The emissions are questionable as to air quality and yet we allow them to do it. And in fact, there are people who wish the oil company would come in and drill in their backyard so that they can get some "free" money. Until this kind of mindset changes there will be continued raping of our environment and the soiling of what used to be a beautiful planet. There are alternatives. We could live very differently - cleaner, healthier and happier. But we want material things so badly we are killing ourselves for it. What a country.

Wow it's good to find others in my age bracket even though you all haven't been real active on this thread. I had a rough first week or so and I'm 5 weeks out from my revision from band to sleeve. But even during the first couple of tough weeks I have been delighted that I did this. The band was just not for me. I could never get it to work and as far as I'm concerned anyone considering getting the Lap Band needs to know that it's a crap shoot whether it will work well enough for you to get to goal. My daughter just got a video back from her daughter's school skit night. During the whole thing you can hear me clearing my throat or coughing. That was from the band. I don't do that now. I'm so glad to be rid of that thing! But better yet, I am so happy that my stomach is smaller and I am not hungry all the time (I was with the band) and I can only eat a small amount of food or drink at one sitting. If only I could have had this at age 48 or 50!! But I'm thrilled that I have it now and I only hope that my success will be as good as so many of the stories I read on this website. I started out being scared to death that I would have a similar story with this as I did with the band. I lost 35 lbs. quickly with the band and then the weight loss stopped and I struggled from then on trying to just keep that 35 lbs. off. And I threw up all the time. The longer I have the sleeve the more confident I am that this is the absolutely right choice for me and the more confident I am that I will get to my goal of 130! As for health issues, I am able to take a walk now and enjoy it. I haven't been able to walk for years because of my bad knees. I have joined Curves and I'm enjoying that already - 5 weeks out from surgery. And I've been planting flowers like a mad woman and that was not an option before or after the band. And I've gone from taking 300 mg. of Wellbutrin XL to 75mg. of regular Wellbutrin (an antidepressant.) And I'm HAPPY! YaY! Best of luck to all of you in your journey to health and beauty.

On the east coast we have the southern iinspired iced tea drinker. On the west coast we have the Asian inspired ginger spiked Water drinker. On the southern coast we have the Sonic ice eater. Anybody from the north (Michigan or Lake Erie coast?)have a recipe for easily downable water? Is this a great website or what?

So you'd have been better off without it?

P.S. Dulcolax suppositories.

I definitely had problems. I'm okay now, but it's been rough. When it had been 2 or 3 days since I'd had a BM, it was uncomfortable when I ate or drank anything. My doctor recommended Dulcolax. It is gentle and it works. But the goal is for you to drink more water. I had trouble drinking water because it caused shooting pains in my stomach. But now that I can drink more water I don't have the constipation problem. The doc said water is absorbed quicker than juice or something like that and it goes to work where you need it much faster. In fact, if you drink enough water you can have the opposite problem.

Well it has been 5 weeks for me and I have lost 20 lbs. I'm a woman, and admittedly I have less to lose. I'm taking in anywhere from 500 to 900 calories per day. And I have stuck to the plan religiously, including incorporating exercise. Which is surprising because I have very bad knees. Since losing the 20 lbs. I am not having nearly the pain I had though so it allows me to do lots more walking and working out. But still... my 20 to your 40... WAH!

Whew! Why would someone blast us fine upstanding American citizens? Ignore can be a very good thing!

I appreciate your response. I'm afraid I'm in over my head here. I know little of these "coordinators" and what they're up to. Knowing the $$s involved, I guess I get it, but I've noticed that some of these people are pretty transparent and I just dismiss their posts as being self-serving and go on to the ones that at least seem to be heartfelt. A good sense of humor is appreciated by me. I hope you watch Bill O'Reilley and Glenn Beck because they're hysterically funny.

oregondaisy, I've noticed that the new term for first marriages is "starter marriage." Three marriages almost always denotes a serious problem. You can tell yourself that he's grown and learned and changed but it's very rare that he actually has. (A psychologist told me that.)

ourobourous, that is probably the most honest assessment I've ever read (or heard) from a man about how men feel about women's appearance. You are quite a catch, mister! Being able to have a discussion about things like this are what most good women are all about. When a guy is patronizing and claims that looks don't matter, we know in our hearts that they're lying and then we can't trust it when they tell us how cute we are. And a relationship like that actually hurts, although it probably shouldn't. Lots of guys will say anything just to shut us up and sometimes it's because they are shallow Hal. I appreciate you man and I'm sure your woman does too.

Good Lord! And to think that my favorite threads over on LBT are in the Rants & Raves area. Sounds like the ship is much more tightly run here. What a bummer. I totally agree that being respectful of others is important or things can get out of hand and turn ugly. But sanitized posts are extremely boring and really stand for absolutely nothing. If we can't be ourselves with all our colorful descriptions of what's happened to us, or even what's happened to someone we know, then it gets extremely boring. People are mostly smart enough to sift through posts and decide for themselves whether people are lying or stupid or being truthful. Controversy is interesting and we learn from it. If I want to have someone doing my thinking for me I'll tune into the Fox channel.

If a man sees it as a problem, they are very shallow and you should run the other way! Most guys would think you're cool for having taken the bull by the horns and getting the surgery. Guys don't seem to think of it as a weakness, but as you being strong enough and that you care enough about yourself to do something positive. As for appearances, everyone likes to be with someone who is attractive, even if we tell ourselves that looks seriously don't matter (and they really don't in the big picture.) But most people like to be around someone who they find attractive. And sexual partners want a partner who is not self-conscious, one who is self-confident and physically unashamed of their appearance when they're naked. It's just lots more fun to be with someone who isn't self-conscioius and apologizing for how they look. And then there's the aspect of wanting a partner (especially a life partner) who is healthy. Someone who cares enough about themself to get surgery if it is needed, and one who does at least some physical exercise on a regular basis is more attractive than a couch potato because their life expectancy is higher and the possibility of having fewer health issues is greater. So by all accounts, potential partners - both lifetime and just movie or dinner dates - should be happier with one of us today as opposed to one of us a couple of years ago when we were considered obese and probably unhappy with our looks and our life. I mean reverse the roles. Pretend like you're meeting someone who has had surgery and think about whether it would bother you or whether you'd respect someone who took the step of getting the sleeve.