DeLarla

Your support just fills my heart to maximum capacity. I keep in contact with Chloe through pics, e-mails & phone calls. We're invited to Switzerland but won't be able to get away till next year. Vera, I'm so sorry for your loss and glad this helped. Yes, Auntie Vera, that's the teeny babe that fell in love with you girls at the first Vegas Bash. That's the beauty that painted a real oil painting with Aunt Penni's help (and massive gifts of paints n' canvas) when she was barely five years old. Auntie Michelle and all the rest of you know how special she is. And yes, that's her dreamy uncle, which is a huge freaky coincidence. My first date with Chris was to an LA King's game in a limo, which is the night I fell in love with my husband AND Marty McSorley (he was Wayne Gretzy's defenseman back then.) Chris is such a hockey pig that he said, "The only man you can ever leave me for is Marty McSorley.) I had Marty's autographed poster in my garage 10 years before I met Babs (Chloe's mom.) Mom isn't mentally capable of raising a child, so I became Chloe's co-parent till her real father (Marty's brother) was able to take full custody and sweep my baby off to Switzerland. Last week Marty was doing a TV interview sho I shot Chloe's dad an e-mail asking why he didn't mention the ring he was shopping for. He responded, "Marty's a fool for not marrying you" and I died on the spot. I'm dead now, actually. I'm being careful about saying too much or posting too many pics. It's not my place to share their business, but I know some of you love our little girl, so here's her with her baby brother (future stars for sure!)

Woo hoo, another wild weekend in Vegas! Trish S. was supposed to hook up with me but she hasn't returned my call... boy, she'll be in trouble if she doesn't call today, but here's what's going on so far: I finally belong to a family Me, Slumber Mommy Crystal & Slumber Granny Cheree

Hang in there. I felt horrible for 2 full weeks, but then I bounced back. I also went through the panic of "What did I do?" Don't be surprised if you start feeling better, then start feeling worse - it's all normal. The hardest part of recovery is behind you. Drink tons of water and keep walking.

Mmm, chewable vitamin & SF gum. I shoulda told her,"I'm sticking to Gum cause I don't like being fat."

I'm a few feet from the kitchen at work, and I just heard a bunch of commotion in there. Some marketing rep showed up with a stack of calendars, pens and tons of Halloween candy. Fine, I know it's there, I can avoid it. So I walk by and snatch a calendar then run away. Five minutes later, ERIN SKIPS into my office eating a candy bar, shoves one in front of me and says, "LOOK, THERE'S chocolate HERE." In shock, I had no response but a look on my face that said, "Is this really happening?" (Shhh, as I'm typing this she's back in the kitchen grabbing more, clunk, she dropped one on the floor - 5 second rule though. I watched her shove some in her pockets... maybe it's all gone now.)

Chloe's uncle, who I've been in love with since before Chloe was born.

New girl, it's just as hard to remain compliant if you don't have good restriction, or if you've let your eating habits slide. The average weight loss for Bandsters is 1/2 of your excess weight. I needed to lose about 140 pounds, and I lost 60. Now I'm still overweight, but the weight won't come off unless I'm compliant. My weight loss was great in the beginning because I followed all the band rules. Every doctor has different rules. Mine said to eat three meals a day with NO snacking or eating between meals, and no drinking with meals. I stuck to that for 6 months, but little by little we become brave and willing to try things with our band. Don't do it because it's too easy to fall back on old habits. When you have good restriction, you can only eat small portions, however, some foods are easy to eat. The crap that contains little or no nutritional value seems to slide down really easy, and all those condensed calories add up and keep us fat. We aren't supposed to drink soda, but one can contains tons of sugar, which converts to fat. Getting and staying thin requires a very small caloric intake for most of us that have slow metabolisms (and keep getting slower as we age.) The more you lose, the better your body burns. Now I'm rambling... hope this helps.

DAY 19 no soda. I want a Coke. Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy....

Please post some DOCUMENTED PROOF how carbonation causes slippages. What does your doctor say when you ask, "Why no carbonation?" Does he have documented studies showing carbonation causes damage? My doc says there's no documented proof that carbonation can cause a slippage, so I asked why it was on my list of things to avoid. Plain and simple, soda is filled with crap. There's nothing in soda that's good for you. Sugar in regular is a killer, and Diet contains poisons. However, he knows I'm having problems keeping away from goodies, so in his own words, "I'd rather see you hooked up to a Diet Pepsi filling station than see you ever eat Ben & Jerry's again." I asked him what surgeons are basing their "No carbonation" rules on. There's no documented proof that carbonation causes slippage, but doctors think gas might get trapped and try to come back up and slip the band, but he chuckled at the ridiculousness of such a theory. Considering get big burps trapped after every meal, that would mean I face slippage with a band-size portion of lean chicken or smashed taters. I asked, "What else causes slippage?" Eating too much or too fast causes slippage. Or he supposes a really bad hiccup or just a weird twist/cough/heave might cause slippage, or nothing at all. He said I could slip my band with one single eating episode or I could overeat every single night, then one night it could slip. Or maybe it won't slip. Or maybe it will. Bubbles cause discomfort to some people, but I love them. And I miss them since I'm several weeks off soda. Phooey. Disclaimer, This isn't a PRO-CARBONATION thread. I just want some proof. I'm not a sheep, I don't follow well unless I know the rest of the sheep are going somewhere cool.

Aspertame and other artificial sweeteners are famous for causing headaches. I'm still off soda, but I'm getting weak!

You should call Ortiz with these questions. The fullness we feel now is different than before but you should not be able to eat anywhere near as much as you used to. Our new feeling of full shouldn't be painful (more like pressure, not pain.) Call Ortiz and see if it's time for another fill. Tell him your concerns and he'll figure out what you need.

Wait a second, I need a walk vest! I can't carry my handweights because I need my hands free for pooches. Kare, you're rockin. I need some before pics because the HOT one in your avatar already looks like a model. Motivate me!

That's really strange to me. I always have warning signs before I PB. Also, I was strongly warned never to eat and drive, so this has probably happened before to lots of people.

Voodoo and Sachi send you warmest kisses. Especially Voo. This is the 2nd sad news for me today. The words, "I'm sorry" just don't cut it.

I was promoting, BIG BELLIES ARE SEXY. Try it. Guys are always the sharpest tool in the shed, so they'll believe anything. I was passing out Slumber flyers to cute young guys. Lots would ask me, "Do hot girls come with the catalog?" So I told them to raise their standards and stay away from boney ones. First they laughed, but soon I had them believing that big round bellies are sexy. I showed them mine! They high-fived me and will probably start hitting on heavy girls. I'm going to change the world, one man at a time! Big Bellies unite!

Chris & his Other Brother Darrel (his best friend)

YES, that was an evil carbonated beer. And yes this IS a strawberry marguerita. But still no soda

It was a gorgeous day!

Okay, if people (uh, JENNA!) would stop changing the settings on my camera and computer, I'd know how to work the stuff! My friend played on my puter & camera again this weekend, now my pics are too huge. HELP. Chris playing Grease Monkey on the big bad race car, ooohhhh, can I have your autograph?

I'm addicted to you people! You just make me laugh and laugh and laugh. Chris always gets ma that I hide behind things in pictures, but if hiding my body behind a car makes me look like a Spice Girl, than HIDE I SHALL! Here's a few more. Hurricane Lisa was going to fast to take more pics (DeLarla was at the races Saturday but Lisa had to do some damage control so she went Sunday.) Here's Chris in his glory getting coached from the head mechanic so they can work on the engine. Racing is really a goofy sport. All they do is "fix" the engine and polish the thing for 365 days a year only to race it for 9 seconds. Then again, they ARE men.

Okay, it's not Friday but I'm feelin' spunky so I can't wait. If we can't laugh at our problems, we'll just cry, so what were some of the names you were called and/or things kids did to tease you growing up? Me: PahPahPahPiglett Fatty Fatty Two By Four Can't Fit Through The Kitchen Door You:

Okay, this might sound rude, but I KNOW I am not alone in this! What's with the guys I know being so proud of pooping out letters of the alphabet? My neighbor actually tried to drag me into his bathroom to show me the letter Q. Why are boys and (many) men so fascinated with poop?

It's been too long since our last fun thread. Hmm, what game could we play here? How about best "busted naked" pictures. If you've never been busted naked, any "busted" story will do. Me: I grew up in sunny Southern California and spent my summers at the beach as the fat kid in shorts and big t-shirts. I never even owned a bathing suit. So when I bought my first home, I decided it's NAKED TIME for me. I skinny dip in my backyard, and if the neighbors don't like it, then they have no right looking over my 10 foot walls! One morning I was stading buck naked inside the house looking out the sliding glass door to the swimming pool thinking about taking a morning dip. Much to my surprise, three young boys were hoovering on top of the wall about to jump into my backyard (they apparently threw a toy over and were going to retrieve it.) Boy, you shoulda seen the looks on their faces staring at a naked 300 pounder!

This is upsetting, thought I should pass it along. Check your drivers license... Now you can see anyone's Driver's License on the Internet, including your own! I just searched for mine and there it was...picture and all! Thanks Homeland Security! Privacy, where Is our right to it? I definitely removed mine, I suggest you all do the same..... Go to the website and check it out. Just enter your name, city and state to see if yours is on file. After your license comes on the screen, click the box marked "Please Remove". This will remove it from public viewing, but not from law enforcement. http://www.license.shorturl.com/

I forgot about my GREAT story! There's a big accessory company called Race Girl (cutests girl racing stuff.) The chicks that run the stores are HOT. Well, they're my buddies, and I complained that they don't have plus size. They agreed that I should get to be cute too, so I got free stuff! Even though it's tiny, they GAVE me a studded pink XL shirt and pink Race Girl hat. Speak up! Don't take "we only carry regular sizes." Get free stuff!