dylanmiles23

​I feel so sorry for your complications. You had mentioned that you loved your TT. Thank you for sharing, the good, the bad and ugly. Nothing is ever perfect even though we try so hard. I am happy you are back here. Feel better and keep in touch, we do miss you and the yellow roses of TX. Arlene

Hi. I have been the same weight for a real long time because I am lazy. Even though your scale is the same have your measurements changed at all? Sometimes the inches go before the weight. Keep up with the exercises because I haven't gone to the gym in real long time but I pay every month. I know, I am bad.

That was wonderful and honest. Thank you. Good luck with your band. I love mine.

Congratulations on your new life!! I can't believe how fast from start to finish. WOW. I love the band. You are so young, you have the rest of your life to enjoy your children and run and play with them. I can play, not run with my grandsons. Louisville, isn't that where the bats are from? Louisville sluggers? Enjoy eating out. I do it all the time. Just got back from dinner. Arlene

Hi, I read this after i commented about food. Congratulations on your wonderful success. i have the band and have been at a plateau for 6-9 months. My doctor is thrilled where I am but not me. I want to lose 40-50 more. I had the surgery at the BI in Boston. You are little to far for me. My local hospital, Milton, has a monthly support group that I attend. Doesn't Lowell have one?

you seem to be doing great. My doctor and dietitian told me no more Splenda. I now use Truvia which is stevia. Have you been told about this? Also, are you allowed this much bread? Maybe talk to your dietitian. Granola bars are a no-no. Do you like yogurt? I don't but that is a great snack item. Do you ever have protein shakes? I have them every morning for breakfast and they fill me for 3-5 hours. My schedule is weird because I sleep late. It is 1:00pm and I am having my morning shake. I hope I helped some.

I am a bander and I weigh myself too much also. One of my bander friends doesn't own a scale, smart person. She only gets weighed at the doctor's.

Happy New Year and good luck. We all choose WLS because we all have an eating problem. Each one of has it a little different than the other person. Last week my MIL asked how I got fat because I am a very plain eater, no salad dressing, no extras, never had mayo, mustard etc. I loved fried foods. I could eat a large pizza everyday. I gave up fried foods except for maybe 1-3 fries from my husband's plate. I loved bagels and lox or french toast for breakfast, now just protein shakes. I only have crusty breads in restaurants. I have made a lot of great changes and still do. I am far from perfect but over eating gets stuck and I hate the feeling. I have never thrown up, which is wonderful. Maybe see your dietitian before surgery or talk to someone in the WL field about your family eatings.

Good luck with your new journey. My dietitian recommended the Cliff protein bars. I love the chocolate mint ones. They are the only ones I eat. People have recommended the Quest ones, I never had one. For shakes, I only drink chocolate and I add a little decaf instant coffee, a little peppermint extract and tons of ice and they are as thick as McDonald's.

Please don't give up at all. I almost did. It took me about 10 months because of hospital changes and my age. I know, I have a band, but we are all WLS people. Have you ever thought of calling the insurance company and saying, WTF?? Bug your doctor's office. Say to them, please check for me and I will call you Monday at 11:00am and just keep doing that. Good luck and keeping trying. Arlene

Hi. I never heard of not eating fruit and veggies that are uncooked. I know every doctor is different. I have been with the same doctor the whole time but 3 different dietitians. The 2nd one told me nothing is forbidden but eat smart. My current one has a long list of forbidden foods but I eat what I want. I have fruit all the time. I find pineapple too stringy to chew. I buy jarred mandarin oranges and love those. I have eaten apples but no skin. I love very cold green grapes that are hard and crunchy. I eat melons, they are very easy to chew. Maybe ask your dietitian for help. I haven't lost any weight for a real long time but I am maintaining and my doctor loves where I am now. I would still like to lose 40-50 pounds. I gave myself 2 years to get to a decent weight. The weight went on over many years and I know it takes many years to be happy with a new me. I don't exercise enough, that is my problem. Good luck.

Good for you! I put everyone before me, my husband, my mother is 95 with dementia, my mIL is 90 and gave up driving and my 69 year brother is mentally challenged. Today I told my husband he needed to drive me where I wanted and he cancelled his mother! We share 1 car. Tomorrow I take my brother food shopping and for his check up, he has diabetes. That is at a Boston hospital and a real PIA! Have a great holiday season and do something for you.

As I write this, the snow has started, again. It is around 10 out and it may get 35 tomorrow or what I call a heat wave. Every year my husband wants to go down south but my children and grandsons live here. Our elderly mothers live here. Also you need $$$ to live in 2 places but tonight is Mega Millions, over $550 million, so that would get him his warm weather. This past week I have had vertigo and the room has been spinning. Awful. I am seeing my ENT today for my annual and hopefully he can help me. My oldest brother told me he has it too. Not an excuse but I have not been to the gym because I am afraid of what could happen if I do any of the machines. That is why we have wonderful doctors, to help us. They help with our band questions, also. I love when people bad mouth other's WLS choices. If you did not have a band or sleeve or by pass you can't judge. I do know many people who had by pass and after 7-10 years they are larger than before. One of these women said her surgery failed. WRONG! she failed. I have seen her eat and drink cocktails and wine, daily. The only sleeve people I know are at my monthly support group and they are newly done and they have no complaints, good for them. I decided I didn't want anything other than Band because it can be removed and the others can't. Each to his own and band bashing is just RUDE! I hope everyone has a warm and safe week. Arlene

I am from MA and we have Romney care. It did take a while for the computers to get going, 2 years. Because of Romney care, my husband is alive, I have wonderful health insurance, my MIL can afford her meds. Everyone has to give it a try. Nothing is perfect for everyone.

Hi. I have the band but we all have to start somewhere. Are you exercising and drinking lots of water? That does help. Also, something I did not do and regret, taking before measurements. Maybe you lost some inches and never realized it. Are you following the dietitian's plans? For 4-5 months before my surgery I gave up breakfast foods for protein shakes and was down 28 pounds by my surgery date. I hate eggs so I had bagels, french toast and other high carb foods. Maybe give something like that a try. Good luck with your journey.

Ugg boots are the best investment for cold feet. I have had them for 4-5 years now. They make less expensive ones by different companies but I wear size 12, so I never get the bargains. Near my mother's nursing home is the New Balance outlet and there I get great deals in size 12. Tell Santa "K" you want Uggs. Thanks for the great card. Only your Santa would ride a hog.

Ok, I am sitting in my house Freezing!! The heat is on high for me, 70. I have on sweat pants, long sleeved 't', sweat shirt and my Ugg boots in the house. My husband told me to wear a hat. No on that one. I also wear a scarf wrapped around me a lot. ​So are you all cold? I am in Boston, actually a suburb about 10 miles from the city but I did grow up in Boston and went to Boston Public Schools. Lately I have been eating some bad s**t. Last night I ate a container of chocolate covered pomegranates from Trader Joe's Can't buy those again! I really need to shape up and also move my body. I haven't been to the gym in 3-4 weeks. My husband I and share a car and he has been using it a real lot lately, for good stuff, so I am home alone with my *****, Ruby, the cat. My husband calls her 'Dog" because we were always dog people. We have a cat because we had a mouse and my son had 1 too many cats, they now have 2. Since'Dog' moved in we never saw the mouse or any mice since! My husband loves her except for those long claws that scratch the crap out of you. Well everyone have a wonderful warm, dry and safe Monday. Arlene

Wonderful picture. I am glad your mother's mind was still with you Thursday. Thursday was the first Thanksgiving we didn't include my mother. She is 95 with really bad dementia. She knows her children but we think she forgot our names. She thinks my sons 35 & 38 are babies and they are parents. Old age is very hard. Have a wonderful holiday season. Arlene

When I had mine, the person told me right then that I qualified. I guess every hospital and insurance company are different. I went to my first meeting Oct., 2011 and didn't get the band until July, 2012 because of the hospital being taken over by a larger one. But the wait was worth it. Just remember the weight took longer than a week/month/year to get on the body. Good luck with your new journey.

Hello and happy holidays to everyone. Tonight is Hanukkah and tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Being Jewish always meant fried potato latkes and other non healthy foods. As far as I know we are not doing a Hanukkah celebration this year being that tomorrow is turkey day. Saturday I will be seeing the whole family, plus. My youngest grandson, Max will be 1 on Friday. I don't ask menus because my son's MIL (she likes to run the show) is coming in and she is a cook and baker. She loves to bake so much that she researched her new oven ($12, 000.) She also is very thin and healthy. And she is the most frugal person I know. She likes her stuffing so much she isn't going to my brother's tomorrow. Weird!! I hope all of you eat accordingly. I am bringing green beans to my brother's because I know that the sweet potato casserole is very sweet with marshmallows etc. and I really hate it, any way. I don't like my SIL's stuffings either which is good. My son's MIL's stuffing is the one I make with Ritz crackers but mine is better because I have added a few things. My DIL said it was much better. It was the great grandmother's recipe. So now you want to know how I have their recipe. Well, my DIL's grandfather and my MIL's brother-in-law were brothers. We are NOT related. We just share cousins and the same aunt and uncle. Well everyone enjoy the weekend. The food, the shopping deals. MA, where I live, the stores do not open tomorrow. They open mid night, and even that is crazy. I have never gone black Friday shopping and never want to. Peace to everyone and remember our wonderful troops that make it that we can celebrate all of our different holidays as one country. Arlene

Congrats!!!! nothing feels better than smaller clothes and lower scale numbers.

Wonderful!! A new man and children to go with the new you.

If your family knows about your WLS then they should understand. If they don't know just mess the food on your plate or tell them. At the Jewish New Year dinner this year the woman sitting next to me asked where all my food was because I had just a small amount on my plate. My husband told her I had plenty of food. It is no one's business. You can say I am trying to control my eating and intake. Have wonderful holiday and I am happy your family is safe.

I have not written since the new site has been up. There are things I hate and things I like but it is Alex's brain child not mine or yours. So just grin and bear it. So I am a natural red head. Only color I have ever been in 63 years. Money is very tight so 2 months ago I bought s decent color and it looked good. I couldn't do hi lites but that was fine because I wasn;t born with them. Last week my husband was with me when I went to buy another box of dye. He choose a different color. Sunday I had bright red/orange hair. It glowed!!! I called the company and they said to buy light brown. I left it on for 20 not 30 minutes. My hair is almost black. UGH!!!!!!!!! Today I am puling out the credit card and getting hi lites. Who the f**k knows what I will look like. Anything is better than almost black on a very pale skinned red head. When you get older you have to go lighter not darker because you do get paler I think. I can't do Thanksgiving with this color. My youngest grandson, Max will be having his 1st b. day party with about 40 people next week. Can't embarrass him. I have been staying in the middle 190's for a long time now. Today I am back down under 192!!!!!!! I have been 188.? after a fill for 1-2 days. I would love to see the 180's again soon. I do not eat any pies so I am not worried about Thanksgiving desserts. I have never had a pie because I don't like cooked fruit. This is very long but I needed to rant about my hair color. Have a great day. Boston is cold and rainy today. Stay warm. Arlene aka Eye Candy

I have missed you and your way with words. have a thin Thanksgiving.