DeLarla

The only part I saw is that YOUR BAND IS OKAY! The rest is small potatoes (very tiny band-sized potatoes.) Ringworm & Strep are temporary and well, cars break down. That's the rainbow at the end of your storm.

Fantastic. You're just a skinny little thing now. Thanks for sharing!

I've had a guitar for 15 years but still can't play it! We also have a bunch of electric guitars and amps. I took lessons years ago, but time to actually learn something other than a really bad, bad, bad rendition of Tequila Sunrise.

Leigh, sometimes you have to be harsh to get the truth. A lot of us still eat the same foods we used to eat in moderation (as I eat a chocolate covered pretzle.) But take my advice and at least give the healthy food a try, because the junk I eat is full of addictive properties. Salt, sugar, chocolate, fried foods - it just leaves us with cravings for more. And it is NEVER enough. Obese people have very strong food addictions. When I was first banded, I gave up french fries. After a month, I didn't even miss them. But then came the day when I ate just two. Eventually that lead up to a small order of fries. Now I eat handfuls several times a week, so I'm right back to the same old habits. I had great weight loss, but now I'm slowly gaining. I wish I would have stuck to the healthy stuff. The band let me quit eating candy, chips, etc. I still ate a lot of fun stuff (mac n' cheese, tacos, fudgecicles, etc.) but now I got used to the junk-food-side-of-life again, and it's so hard to turn back. It's all about breaking bad habits. Unfortunately, those of us that became morbidly obese got here from too many bad habits, too many food addictions. If you can go a month without fries, never look back! But you don't have to stick to any type of diet to be sucessful. You can still enjoy normal foods. I just know that the holiday Cookies and crap are loaded with fat and sugar, and now I can't go a couple hours without craving something.

Becky, I'm looking into guitar lessons for the same reason. I need a holiday detox, fast.

A lot of us still struggle. Your stomach says stop, but your head says go go go. I'm in the same boat. Yes, that was a PB you had. I slipped back into old habits over the holidays, so I'll have to start making my famous phone calls every night. I have a list of phone numbers of my banded friends, and I call one each night to prevent myself from eating. It's an expensive long-distance bill, but better than eating.

And a cat eating the nose off a deceased person has got to be the grossest thing I've ever heard in my life! I almost hurled but then decided I better share one more story. My Aunt Doris left her false teeth on the nightstand. But they were gone when she woke up. The dog ate them. GROSS. But they are really expensive, so she had to buy another pair. This time she wrapped them in a tissue and put them in her purse for the night. But the next morning she couldn't find her purse... it was tossed all over the living room, and the teeth were gone. That dog ate her teeth a 2nd time.

Momster has been thrown out of psychiatrist's office. She can be very intimidating and speaks only in screams & insults. She calls doctors murderers, idiots, butchers till the have her escorted out. She sends 100 page horribly viscious letters to the president (she's convinced she personally uncovered government corruption.) She's not locked up cause nobody wants her. She's a legend in her small town after inheriting her uncle's valuable property smack in the middle of the County Park. The County, over the years, purchased all the surrounding parcels so the crazy house is surrounded in front by baseball diamonds, to the left County tennis courts, the right is the playground, and the bowling alley in back. The County has been making very generous offers for over 20 years, but my family won't sell. Now it's hers, so she's under constant scrutiny and now has 1/4 million dollar lien on the property. If I livein in Jersey, I might get involved because she is clearly incompetant, and I'm convinced the IRS and local goverment is letting time pass till they can snatch her entire estate. They should have forced sale or taken legal action, but they know they're dealing with an insane person so they allow penalties to grow, grow, grow, till one day they own it all. The cops know here by first name, but they don't want her. She's not hurting anybody but herself, though I can't for the life of me understand why Social Services hasn't intervened.

The part that worries me is that even when there are no more holiday goodies at home, I start digging in the cupboards and raiding my friends' house. Now that my body is used to sugar and fat again, it's craving it. I'm right back to the old viscious cycle of being addicted to crap like before being banded. Gee, don't ya just love Christmas? NOT.

Egads, that would mean I'd have to more than double my huge water intake. Can't we just stand in the rain so the water transdermally absorbs? I've heard you can die from drinking too much water - not sure if that's true. You'd probably have to drink a lot more if you are a personal trainer or a professional athlete since they lose so much through perspiration.

More info on the PT, please. I don't personally like them for myself, but nothing is about me (it's about my dogs.) Looks like a nice, roomy doggy car. Is it?

Actually, I had good restriction for a month after my surgery with no fill. I wasn't even ready for a fill, but since they had to remove my port they filled me anyway. Teresa lost a whopping amount of weight before getting her first fill, also. Everybody is different, but most of us can eat a lot more mushy food than solid. Mushies slide through to the bottom, like liquids. As soon as you're able to eat solids, you should. They stay in the pouch longer.

My first car was a Hyundai Excel (many moons ago.) I wanted to buy American, so I went to Lincoln Ford Hyundai thinking it was a Ford Hyundai - goes to show you how much I know about cars. But that cheap foreign car served me well. I drove it like it was a 4-wheel-drive race car; up sides of mountains, through rivers and streams, mud whomping, etc. I beat the hell out of it then just disposed of it like a Bic lighter. I got rid of my Pontiac Sunfire last year, and I really miss that car. It was really, really good to me plus reasonably priced and very roomy. I'll share my Girl's Guide to Car Shopping: 1) How cute do you look in the driver's seat? 2) Are there driver and passenger lighted mirrors for checking lip gloss? 3) Tunes - gotta have tunes. 4) Sunroof - let the sun shine in. 5) Is there a place to hold your purse?

I never had any problem getting my water in till I jumped on this thread. I think it's hard to drink water when it's pouring rain outside.

Mmmmm.... she said "cream puff." Last night I reverted to the mushie stage. I didn't have to, but it was a good excuse for pumpkin pie and whipped cream. I'll be good after the holidays - Easter is right around the corner! Now every time I see a sick pregnant woman I'm going to tell her to stick with liquids for three days after she barfs.

Just buy a Harley like I did. DON'T THROW YOUR SHOE AT ME.

Anyone counting coffee and tea as Water - think again. You need EXTRA water for each cup of tea & coffee you consume. Read on: Your body cannot function properly when it's deprived of water. Did you know that a body loses at least 2 ½ to 3 quarts of water every day? An average person should be drinking up to 2 quarts of water every day to replenish their system. However, the amount of water your body requires increases if you are overweight, or are very active. Most people don’t know that hydrating your body actually helps you to lose weight. Here are some more great benefits to drinking water: Maintains muscle tone, Relieves constipation, Treats Fluid retention, Rids the body of waste, Helps endocrine function. Cold water is best as it absorbs into your body faster than warm water. When you drink water, you help each organ function properly. Just breathing takes up to 1 ½ glasses of water each day. Your lungs, skin, intestines and kidneys together require at least 10 glasses of water everyday! The water from your body is basically lost through urination, perspiration and breathing. This means that if you are very active or drink coffee or tea, you should remember to increase the amount of water you drink each day. You will know that your body is dehydrated if you have dry skin and lips, if you feel tired or if your bladder is aching.

Paula, I found the cutest bottle at the drug store. It looks like the huge 5 gallon bottles on Water coolers (Sparkletts or Arrowhead) but it fits exactly 8 glasses of water. Was only a few bucks. It has a handle so I fill it up each morning, and when it's empty, I know I got all my water in. Anything I drink in addition is just a bonus. Penni, what rock have you been hiding under? Water has always been the Number 1 weight loss promoter! Get out your legwarmer's and Jane Fonda aerobic tapes and you'll see they were pushing the H20 even back then. Now drink up!

That can't be pretty, Paula! I think if we have to PB, it should be worth a pound of weight loss. Where can I make this suggestion?

I am POSITIVE that I'm somehow related to Aunt Francie. Liana (the Momster) bondos everything and paints everything else with oil paint. She sold her house in California and drove across country to New Jersey, stopping in Vegas along the way. I would have probably packed a lot of clothing, toiletry and Snacks to drive cross-country. Not Liana, she packed a manual typewritter, 5 pound bags of brown rice, a large container of bondo and an assortment of oil paints. She scared the hell out of me as she unpacked the car (I thought she was just stopping by.) But she called me at work the next day asking, "how do you get orange oil paint out of your baby-blue carpet?" I didn't even respond, but came home to find orange cat paws permanently stained in my landlord's rug. I had a beautiful oak desk that I got dirt-cheap because of a small chip in the wood. She bondo'd the chip, then "matched" (in her mind) the orange oil paint to the wood, but had to keep painting to make the whole beautiful (used to be anyway) oak table orange. That table was next to the upstairs window for kitty to chatter at the birds. Then I opened the fridge and all the condiments fell on the floor as she yelled, "CAREFUL WITH THE FRIDGE CUZ IT'S DRYING." Drying? She bondo'd the shelf even though it wasn't broken, just in case it broke, and then it broke. Then my ceramic soap dish was missing... it was outside. You guessed it, the bondo was drying. I came home as a teen to find my windows all smeared so you couldn't see through them. It took hours of scraping some weird crap off them only for her to come home screaming at me for destroying all her hard work. She mixed Elmer's Glue with Water and painted all the windows in the house, thinking she was brilliant cause now, "only small amounts of sunlight will come in." Uh, can you say "curtains?" This is the same woman that fixed holes in the house with used gum. Thank God Momster doesn't have a phone, or her and Aunt Francie could share home decorating tips. Liana has many, many uses for a paint roller. Liana used to paint my clothes with oil paint to cover stains, then show them off thinking my friends were jealous of my original "fashion" designs. Note to board: Oil paint over bondo does not dry. Ever.

Be careful what you post or I will nominate you the new Avatar Fixer. You'll be flooded with requests to resize pictures. Anyone wanna second that? Good job!

Okay, I'm not trying to be mean, but have you ladies considered pulling over and PB-ing in the curb? That's supposed to make you laugh.

Tanya, that's some mighty impressive computering you did! I still haven't been able to figure out how to re-size. Penni did mine. Nice to see you!

I wonder if the Home Shopping Network will have a Do-it-Yourself-Lipo special for the New Year. I still owe $7,000 on my credit card for the band. Maybe I'll make a sign out of cardboard and stand in front of Steve Wynn's new hotel, "FAT LADY NEEDS PLASTIC SURGERY, PLEASE HELP." I can hold out an empty Ben and Jerry's carton for donations.

Babs, you must be super rich! Not that expensive? Honey, "less than 10K plus airfare" is really, really expensive. Where can I get it done for $189.00?