DeLarla

I can't imagine that it's a difficult procedure considering so many non-banded people have ports. Many cancer patients have ports to get their chemo for example (according to what I've heard.) I would hope any qualified surgeon could more the port by just calling up the band surgeon for a little chit-chat. I bet your Band guy would be happy to talk to your TT guy.

I don't think any of us will ever know what the true meaning of the real word, "full" means. What do "normal" people feel like when they are full? Does that feeling mean they are busting at the seams, or do they still have room for another meal or snack down there? Hard to say because none of us are (or were in the past) normal. There's no way I could trust my new pouch to tell me when it's full. Even though lots of us have huge issues with my original surgeon, when it comes to Bandster rules, he's still number one in my book. Lopez says to eat for 20 minutes, slowly, chew chew chew, then stop eating. If you are eating slowly, then you get the right amount of food in within those 20 minutes. Does that leave me feeling satisfied? Well, it takes away the kinda grindy feeling of starving or being really hungry. And if I walk away and think about it, my body (stomach/pouch) will honestly feel like there's enough in there, and my energey level is left high. The whole "golfball" thing is where my restriction is. Once I get that tight feeling in my throat, I know it's time to stop. No, that's not how a normal person feels like they are full, but that's how I've learned to stop eating with the band. The reason I'm here right now is because I got the golfball, and I know I've got plenty of food in my tight band, but my head wants more. Belly is good, head is screwed up, so I come to LBT and write long babbling posts. Sorry, but at least I'm not eating right now!

It's kind of like catching a wave. It's hard to jump on one, but once you got it, ride it all the way home! I keep waiting for that wave to pass so I can jump on. It's like everything has to be perfect: It has to be past my PMS time of the month, it can't be around a holiday, my frame of mind has to be in the right place, then whammo, I'm on board and riding the band-food-friendly train. If you have one day down, tomorrow will be that much easier. Maybe I'll be ready to join you soon. I hope so!

Sometimes posts on LBT make me happy, other times they make me sad. I'm sad to hear you didn't have the willpower, but I completely understand. As they say in Overeater's Anonymous, "food is cunning, baffling, powerful." Food rules my world, which is the reason I got the band. Make sure to be honest with your surgeon. I had the same fear that my doc wouldn't operate on me since I was supposed to follow a low-fat diet for one week prior to surgery. I only did good on 1/2 the days, but I had a couple regular binge episodes. I almost cried when I had to confess to him that I couldn't even stick with one week's dieting, but he was very comforting and just said, "don't worry, this new Band is going to help you." So he operated anyway. The way I understand it is that any experience doctor should be able to handle a larger liver. Sure, it makes the procedure easier if your liver is smaller, but a good doc shouldn't have a problem. My surgeon told me it just makes the procedure easier, but a good surgeon shouldn't be afraid of a big liver. Start building a list of phone numbers. Next time you feeling like you can't control yourself, lock yourself in a room with the phone.

I'm not ignoring you, I'm just in the same boat. Carb junkie all the way. I did quit sugar for almost two years once, but that was a long, long time ago. If I could just make it through one little day....

I've heard a lot of fill doctors that take out an amount different than what you thought was in there. My last guy said the first doctor simply measured wrong. I think it's fab that you got a great, affordable fill. Just promise us you'll have fluoro every so often so they can keep an eye on your band. I have several friends that didn't even know they had erosion, and the first signs were seen on fluoro. So while no-flouro fills are great, it's good-band-maintenance to take a LQQK-see from time to time. How's that new fill feeling? Good restriction?

Lots of us eat Jerkey as long as you chew like mad. But I always spit out the grizzle. Don't swallow anything that hasn't turned to mush.

I haven't been home for years, but I'm a Bergen County gal myself. If you are truly afraid, is it because you have a bad gut feeling? If your instincts are telling you to run and hide, then I think you should reschedule your surgery for another date because maybe the stars or the moon or whatever force you believe in is sending a message not to have it done on that particular day. Even if you only postpone it for one week, that might give you some relief. However, if it's just regular jitters, don't be afraid, be exicited. Everyone's gonna be here waiting for you & cheering you on. Good luck.

THEY are cheating. Relying on Atkins or Jenny Craig or the Onion Diet, that's all cheating. Why can't they lose weight on their own? Huh? They are so weak that they have to purchase other people's ideas and diets? People will try to screw with you out of jeaousy and fear that you'll succeed. I have no respect for people that can't appreciate what it's like to walk in our triple-wide shoes and think they know better. Give them my name and number so I can shove their hipocricy down their throats.

Ask them who you're cheating. Are you taking something away from someone it doesn't belong to? Are you cheating the multi billion dollar diet industry by no longer purchasing their scams? This confuses me. How is it cheating? Because if someone goes on Atkins, they are cheating the poor little carbos who had been sustaining them for years. Weight Watchers cheats any company that Supersizes their meals. Simply cutting back portions cheats the entire food industry because you don't buy or use so much food. Next time anyone says the band is cheating, laugh in their hypocritical faces.

This is just about my favorite thread ever. More please!!!!! UPS truck? Seeds? I just peed myself and my white panties turned purple! Yep, I could NEVER pee in a pool cause I was afraid the "purple cloud" would point me out. If anyone pees in my pool at the bash, there's a chemical in there that will make all the Water around you purple. I don't swim in your toilet, please don't pee in my pool! My brother & sister made me believe I was adopted. As a kid that scared me. But my mother is mentally "not well" to say the least, ugly, mean and awful, so nobody can be around her. Now I get to look at my brother & sister and remind them that THEY are related to her and I have a really normal Mom out there somewhere. They don't like that.

And my mother is really into the afterlife, psychics, etc., so she used to MAKE us have seances (I was a kid, what did I know?) I would get secretly frustrated that my goofy brother would break the spirtual connection by cracking jokes & giggling, so later I'd go alone where it was quiet and try to telepathically move things around in my room. I was raised to believe that if I tried hard enough it would eventually happen - you know, like how Patrick Swayze in Ghost had to keep practicing before he could really move stuff? Needless to say, Bewitched, I Dream of Genie, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir and Casper the Friendly Ghost were all favorites, and I knew one day I'd be either Tabitha or The Flying Nun. Till this day, one of my nicknames is Gidget. Another is Cybil (both Sally Field roles.)

Donali, I always salted my food to cool it down, too. I never heard of that before, because nobody in my family knew where I got it from. My subconscious must have picked it up from somewhere - odd. I believed Oil of Oley was sinful. I found a sample in the mail and was trying to open it when my Mother snatched it away and said it was for grown ups. From that day, I'd sneak in her room and read the container and put a little on, thinking I was being very naughty. Today it's the only think I use on my skin. I'm such a bad girl!

Yes, there are people here that have had their bands removed due to erosion. There's a "search" key at the top of the page. Type in the word, "erosion" and you'll find all sorts of info.

Wow, that's deep. I've never seen a morbidly obese senior citizen. Hmmmm....

And my BCBS insurance does NOT cover it. But they'd pay $100,000's of thousands in other obesity-related complications like heart attacks & colon cancer. Go figure.

So basically this guy went through what all of us are going through, only he was published in the paper? Got it. Good info, thanks.

On a good day I brush my teeth, plug my tunes into my ears & head to the park with my mutts tugging at me. It's about 45 minutes round trip. While there I use the leashes to do upper arms and the stairs on the slide to do step-ups to get my heart rate up. I always come home sweaty, so I know I done good. Then I use arm weights in my bedroom. I have one coffee with real cream & sugar, then a canned Protein shake or V8 when I get to work. lunch at noon consists of a very band-friendly protein based snack-sized meal. dinner is another story - that's when the demons come out. I can't even tell you how ugly things can get from dinner till bed time, but there are goodies involved.

I didn't have the money either. But I started counting up how much my obestity costs me, and I figured I could pay that off within two years. My fast food bill alone could pay for a Mexican band in less than 3 years. My co-payments, prescriptions. plus-size clothing, etc. So I took a loan out against my house and paid $7,500. Then I stopped getting manicures and fired the kid that does my lawn and cut Star Bucks down to once a week. That was enough money to make the monthly payment. If you really want the Band, you'll find a way to make it work. Good luck. By the way, the Band was the best investment I've made so far.

Beautiful!

I used to smoke when I was younger. After I quit I'd have regular dreams that I lit up, and I'd wake up really upset with myself. It would take a few minutes before I realized it was just a dream. Then I'd quickly look around for butts or an ashtray to make sure it wasn't real They are powerful little devils, that's for sure. But you're one of the toughest broads around here, plus you have all us. Good luck.

Vegas here, so I'm about 6 hours away. Hope you're doing well.

To me being lost is an adventure. I just talked to Pooh-Head (husband.) He wants to lay on the couch all weekend. Plan my funeral, I'm dying of boredom. Marriage, hmpf!

Can you cut & paste the article here so we don't have to register?

Kuri's bash is here this weekend. But I want to go bye-bye! Chris just called from home & got the rest of the day off. He's gonna shower & cool off then call me back to decide if we could go to the bye-bye place! I sent John (Penni's) an e-mail to see if we could come, but he hasn't written back yet. Vera, how long of a ride to your place? Be careful what you say, cuz I might be there! But Chris hates long car rides (stick-in-the-mud-party-pooper.)