Daisalana

I just have to say I sympathize. I lived in a bad neighborhood when I lived in Albuquerque, my car kept getting broken into and I had become SO bitter. I hated our neighbors, I hated the neighborhood, I hated the city. I couldn't wait to get back to the south. But now that I am here, and in what I consider a good neighborhood, I am so paranoid. I have never done decorations, but my next door neighbor is a landscaper and boy do they go all out for the holidays. For halloween he put out a pile of hay with a scarecrow scene and pumpkins all over. The day I saw it, I said "Thats going to suck when the pumpkins hit his house". It never happened, I was surprised. For Xmas, they put 2 big live xmas trees out front, fully decorated, lights everywhere, things in the yard. It looks fantastic, and so far so good! I put up some lights, but I kept thinking about local kids coming and ripping them down after I risked my life on that ladder on wobbly ground. The wind tore half of them down, and I've decided no more xmas decorations for me. I don't know an answer, but I hate it for you. I hate teens with nothing better to do. Before our house was finished being built someone sprayed 6-6-6 on our front door, and painted some of our brand new dark bricks white. The builders 'fixed' it, but the bricks are damaged permanently. They should have replaced them, instead they power washed them. So now near our front door is a set of bricks that look washed out with a film of white over them. I wish I could have found the a$$hats that did it, and when they grow up and buy their first house they put all their savings into, I can ruin a part of it for them. Anyway, I'm bitter. I hate that there's crime, but there's no solution.. and yeah, police are pretty useless in these things. They're more concerned about robberies, and murders.

Hah Jack, that sounded a bit froofy but.. that's about right.

If you're losing 2lbs a week on average, and don't feel hungry and eat too much etc. You don't HAVE to get a fill, in fact you shouldn't. So if nothing changes between now & then, your doc should know not to give you a fill. My doc said my band was pretty snug and I may not ever need a fill. He was wrong, but it seems like only 1.5cc is 'too much' for me. Some people 1.5cc doesn't affect them. Everyone is different like that

I'm really good at picking up on it, and then flirting back without helping it. It's hard to explain, I sat here thinking of how to respond, but I can't really. A certain kind of look. Kind of like me and a co-worker joke about our husbands 'sex' look. They get this look in their eyes when they look at us, and we know they want sex! So a look.. a smile that is different. That's the biggest thing I notice. They smile at me one way, then smile at someone with me another way (like DH). Or, showing more attention to you even in a passing way. Very hard to put it in words, I guess you just have the radar or you don't lol. The night I met my husband, we were underage in a bar in Las Vegas. I was throwing matches at a friend of mine, and one landed on DH.. on his crotch ironically. But he looked up at me, with his sex eyes. And I knew then, before even meeting him, that he was interested hah hah.

Oy, if he goes on about a reduction you had before you met, I would not want to be in your shoes right now. First off, I would not have been able to hide it from my DH even if I wanted to. The first few days I was miserable and in pain, and couldn't bend over, etc. Good luck with telling him, hopefully it'll all work out!!

I take 2 flintstone vitamins a day. I was excited to take them again too.. and all was good. Then I somehow bought the wrong ones (the box looked the same to me) and they were bigger and they are Flintstone vitamins COMPLETE.. and they taste like complete a$$. I took them just not to be wasteful.. and went back to the old ones, the ones I liked as a kid. Flintstones + Iron. (NOT.. complete ) . I also take a biotin vitamin when I remember to, doc said it could help with hair, and it does help with nails, and I later looked it up and it's a diet gimick vitamin pill too. So there's that.

So, the canned crab, or the king crab at costco in containers (lots of c's here) tastes yum? No fishyness? You guys have me excited, I would love to be able to eat some easy to throw together crab (and not have to bake the legs and smell up the whole house). And I'm surprised imitation crab is high in carb, I always thought it was made out of fish?

I avoid drama & bs in my life. Family members have enough, I live vicariously through their stories.. and the pots that are stirred in RnR. I have to entertain myself somehow!

I have never gone below the 260's in past diets. Even when I rocked the house with Atkins, I was somewhere in the 260's when I fell off the wagon and gained it all (and some) back. When I finally hit 259, it will be a milestone for me. A major one. When I told my mom this, she pointed out how I wasn't born 300lbs. She doesn't quite get it! But sometimes around 270lbs, I felt complacent! I bounce back and forth with motivation. I did have a week (before I got my fill back) where I just decided this isn't going to work for me, I'll never lose it all, and I had my Violets kick my butt back into gear. It passed. I took it one day at a time. If I could focus on 1 good day, I would worry about the 2nd good day later. I got my good fill and I'm back to not caring much about food, but the scale is STILL Dragging even though I hardly eat. Buggar. I am trying hard not to let it get me down, plateaus pass (supposedly?).

Just to see what they would cover in the future (plastic surgery, emergency removal), etc.. I decided to actually read my BCBS of AL policy. I called them pre-banding and they said no obesity treatment, but I never read my policy, I took it for what they said. So anyway, I am hoping for no more complications, but.. I wanted to see if I decide to get PS for my thighs (my gyno recommended it even) for the problems I have with them.. I am hoping anyone that knows anything would consider PS a requirement based on what my policy says. It lists this first-- "Health Benefit Exclusions" 4. Services or expenses for costmetic surgery. Cosmetic surgery is any surgery done primarily to improve or change the way one appears. Reconstructive surgery is any surgery done primarily to restore or improve the way the body works. Reconstructive surgery is covered;cosmetic surgery is not. Complications or later surgery related in any way to cosmetic surgery is not covered, even if medically necessary. a. (nothing important) b. Some surgery is always cosmetic such as ear piercing, neck tucks, face lifts, buttock and thigh lifts, implants to small but normal breasts. (How can that always be cosmetic? Due to the fat/skin on my thighs, no matter what treatments I've tried from doc recommendations, I have disfigured and painful sores on my thighs..that get infected, etc.) So then.. Exclusion #55. Services or condition including, but not limited to, obesity, diabetes, or heart disease, which is based upon weight reduction or diet control. This exclusion includes Bariatric Surgery & Gastric Restrictive procedues and any complications arising from Bariatric surgery & gastric restrictive procedurs. So with this information, do you think they would cover having a pannus (sp) removed?? And I don't know if what I need for my thighs is called a thigh-lift?

Lucky gal!!!! I am 95% sure I will have no PS. But I am noticing I have a pannis forming, and I don't know that it will go away.. but it's not very big, and I will just have to deal with it. Self-Pay surgery, i haven't asked my insurance but when I asked them about the band they said my policy 'covers NO obesity treatments'. I'm guessing they won't give a flying flip about extra skin either. I took a loan from my parents for the lap-band, but I don't think they'd loan me money to make my mons pretty and my tits perky.

Today I had coffee w/sweet-n-low & non-dairy creamer for b'fast. For lunch we went to a Chinese buffet.. I had a bowl of egg drop soup, 1 piece of general tso's chicken (the time it took me to eat this one piece, my DH had 10 pieces of that chicken and 5 pieces of sweet & sour chicken, and a whole plate of rice!), and a bite of rice. Going to the movies tonight, and I'm going to have a small bag of popcorn for dinner!

Come clean my house now! :girl_hug: I haven't vaccuumed in a month.. with 3 long haired cats and a dog.. OY!! I hate vacuuming :girl_hug:

My mom got us something a little different. She got everyone in our family a 113decibal alarm clock, with a disc that goes under the mattress and makes you feel like you're in an earth quake. This should be..interesting.

I still don't understand why anyone cares how it was lost. In a judgey way I mean..I have not met anyone who thought that WLS was the 'easy way out' or.. whatever. It's not like a cosmetic surgery, we're getting healthy.. who cares how?! It's just the stories I hear some of you post about how someone looks down on you for the surgery. It baffles me, quite honestly. I told anyone and everyone about my surgery and no one seemed to let on that they judged me for it (maybe I'm naive??). Some customers that only come around Xmas time, they've been coming in and keep saying how much weight I've lost.. I told them I had the lap-band, they ooo and aaahh and say I look fantastic and blah blah, and we all go about our merry way.

I didn't have the last meal syndrome, and did not worry about what I wouldn't be able to have post-op. The mindset changed for me. I am now post-op, and excited that I don't like burgers anymore. As for holiday food, I got a normal spoonful size of a lot of different stuff and picked at everything. Then I got a decent fill and I can't eat much. As I go along, I don't feel a loss that I can't eat like I could.. I am not worried about Xmas Eve Dinner, Xmas Morning B'fast, and Xmas day dinner (whew).. I'll find something to pick at, I'll get full.. and when you're full you don't want to keep eating, so.. that's that. I never got 'full' pre-band. So I'd binge and binge and binge some more. Ok, there is one thing I wonder if I can eat.. only because I've been craving it since last X-mas. DH's mom makes some northern recipe (they're from up north) that I thought looked so disgusting, but they made me try it.. hardboiled eggs pickled in beets.. so they're red and I don't like beets. I finally tried them and they were awesome.. I am hoping I can eat a piece of it without having an episode. I planned to stick to safe foods (squishy and wet) to avoid vomiting at DH's parents house.. but I am going to eat a piece of the red eggs!!

I thought the Fat Fairy whisks it away in the middle of the night? :x

I am more top heavy than bottom. My bottom area was never as big as my body should have made it. I have always had a non-existant butt.. and chicken legs. And then a whole bunch of bellies and flabby arms. Now as I lose weight, it seems my top is trying to catch up with my bottom. I could stand to lose some weight my thighs though, and a mons lift sounds lovely. I pull mine up every once in a while to see what it 'should' look like lol.

Haha, I can't wrap them now.. I'm at work! But I have an upset stomach today, so no worries of me eating them right now.

AudricIan- I'm shocked, really. It's your choice duh, but I couldn't imagine it. And him not noticing! Where'd you tell him you went, when you went to Mexico? Does he not see the cuts on your body? :x To the OP- I was wanting RnY and my whole family, DH (who was DB and I lived with him) at the time, has firmly said NO for years. Last Dec I said, I no longer care what they think, I have to do this before I end up diabetic and immobilized like my g'g'ma who was 700+LBs at age 30 and bed ridden and died from diabetes at 35 . I was just gaining & gaining. So I was researching and came across Lap-Band. It eased MY fears drastically. I brought it to my DB and explained it to him. He wasn't real interested, said it's up to me, but he thinks I could do it with a diet (if they could only walk in our shoes). Then I took it to my parents, got approval from everyone who mattered. I did take DB to the first consultation so he would learn about it. He got to hold a lap-band and see how it works. He got to hear the doctor explain what we are to expect afterward. If DH disapproved, I would have still done it. But that's who I am in our relationship. I like his approval, but I am pretty stubborn. Anytime he says no to me, I do it just to prove to him that he can't tell me what I can & can't do. :x :x

Wheet- hah your husband sounds like mine, and great minds think alike. My DH had just started college to study astrophysics the year I bought him the star.

My mom and I were just wondering if we're the only families that did this.. we got her stocking stuffers last week. We raid the Wal-Mart travel junk aisle in the hygiene area. As kids we got crayons, coloring books.. and she makes a stocking for my 5 year old niece. But for all of her kids (us) and our significant others the stockings are like this.. -Toothbrush -Toothpaste -Shaving cream (travel size) -Gold bond powder (travel size) -anti-bacterial hand soap bottle -packs of the lip smackers chapstick divided among us -face masks (for girls)& tired leg gels(for guys), the individual packets sold in wal-marts make up area -tin of life savers -eclipse gum -some really smelly (good) bath balls.. individually wrapped you put in the bath and makes it smell yummy.. but last year she put them in the stockings and all the candy tasted like this stuff.. bad idea! -mix of mini-reese cups & rolos For my niece, she got most of the stuff we got but the kids kind (toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.).. no gold bond or shaving cream.. added crayons, and wal-mart has a selection of little gift packs for kids in the x-mas gift section.. so they got her colored bath foam soaps, a little pretend make up kit, etc.

This is the one I got from overstock last week. I wanted the dark brown, but they were sold out.. so I got the camel brown. Rina Rich is the maker, and I liked a lot of her purse styles.

I just bought that peanut satchel last time I posted.. and we went to Florida this weekend.. Normally I am partial to suede & leather (mostly brown, I like brown)... but we went to a head shop on the beach.. and they had a really cool hippie purse. I like fabric purses if they are real weird/different looking. This one is like a gradiant color from dark green to black, with yellows in it.. a muslin fabric.. with compartments inside.. and then tiny mirrors woven into the surface along the front. My parents took it from me and said they'd get it for me for x-mas, so I don't get to have it till then.

It's amazing what you discover when you budget!! I was writing out a budget last month to figure out where our money goes.. and I realized we make a substantial amount a month that is just 'extra money', and yet we never have the 'extra money' when we want it. I still can't figure out where it goes. My only guess is food & cigarettes. I cook more, so we save money from going out to eat, but I swear I spend at least $100 a week getting groceries..and there's only 2 of us!! I'm always stopping on the way home. It seems fresh fruit/veggies/meats that expire, are expensive and have to be replaced so much. I need to come up with a better solution for that. And I smoke so much more than pre-band, we spend quite a bit of my cigarettes alone.. and DH smokes too, but not as much as I do. If we could kick that habit, we'd be rich hah hah.