Zoe

Amen. After reading everyone's posts here, I realize I had (and have) no idea what has been going on; what I thought was a personal dispute that got out of hand now starts to look like a Byzantine conspiracy, what with multiple identities and all that. Enough already. All I know is that LBT has been an incredible source of trusted support and information for me, and I don't think I would have found the courage to get banded if it hadn't been for the thoughtful, caring people in this forum -- including people who seem to be in the thick of the recent mess. LBT is STILL full of valuable information and support and I pray it can remain that way. Meanwhile, I'm trying to stay away from threads that might perpetuate the schism and weirdness (however compelling the soap opera might be), and hope everyone can get past the destructive feuding.

Hi Shamrock, we're just days apart; it's April 5 for me. You have a great attitude -- turning a negative thing (gyn stuff) into a positive one (another argument for having the insurance company pay for your band). Good luck with the med stuff next Monday.

I haven't checked out this thread for a while, and I'm LMAO from this page alone. I just got a message from a friend in Northern Ireland and thought LBT-ers would appreciate it: Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true? A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it. Don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap. Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables? A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay annd corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products. Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake? A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine. That means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up! Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio? A: Well, if you have a body and you have body fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc. Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program? A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain = Good. Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you? A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!!. Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you? Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle? A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach. Q: Is chocolate bad for me? A: Are you crazy? HELLO ...... Cocoa beans ... another vegetable!!! It's the best feel-good food around! Q: Is swimming good for your figure? A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Oh Nancy, congratulations on the soon-to-be arrival! We all have to follow our hearts when it comes to getting a new pet after a beloved fur baby has passed on. When my Lola was put down, I told myself I would wait at least six months before even thinking about getting a new dog -- but a couple of days later I was cruising rescue web sites and shelters. After a three-hour trip to a shelter in downstate Illinois that had lots of Labs and Lab mixes, I came home with crazy Sophie exactly two weeks after I lost Lola, wondering how on earth I could have managed to be dogless any longer. May you and Annika have many wonderful doggy adventures together! And good for you for adopting a rescue critter.

Heart murmur?! That can't be good. But how wonderful that your wound is down to cockroach size. This is my clothes-clean-out weekend so I hope to send a few goodies your way next week. Maybe I'm just not paying attention, but I think the LBT weirdness is fading away and most of us are just getting on with life and with each other. Of course, I am on Class 2 narcotic painkillers as I write this so I may be in an alternate reality! Welcome back.

Happy birthday! Wow, you have lost some serious poundage, girl! Hope you have a fabulous special day.

Very cute! (And I'm not even a cat person.) Good for you for rescuing her. Sometimes our "rescue" animals are doing us a bigger favor than we do them.

Hey, Norma, don't worry -- it's hard to feel gratitude when you're in pain or having diarrhea.

Hi Kyleigh, I can probably help you out. I think I have some tops that will do the trick; I'm sending trousers to DeLarla 'cause she's tall like me and it's hard for us Amazons to find slacks and jeans that fit, but if you need summer t-shirts and tank tops in 18/20 I can send you some from my basement collection.

It took me about a week to be able to get up normally. I almost wish I had a video of myself trying to get out of bed, flipping my feet to the edge of the mattress an inch at a time like a dying fish. I used a four-pronged cane to steady myself whenever I had to rise from a seated position. The first three days are the worst; you should be feeling better in no time! Meanwhile, congratulations on getting your band.

Congratulations, Nicole! Those six pounds are all water weight and they'll come off in no time. The bad news is: more trips to the bathroom. Glad to hear you're feeling OK. Thanks for posting your encouraging note to the not-yet-banded!

Way to go, Bright! That top is gorgeous. You'll be the life of the party. We can get Trinny & Susannah on BBC America (satellite), but we're only seeing reruns now. I adore them too --they convinced me to give up tapered pleated trousers, which made me look not only fat but short (at 5'9")! Our US versions on What Not to Wear are dull by comparison, and their taste isn't as good as T&S's. Have T&S had new episodes in 2004-5? Hope so!

Oh, yes, Rachel, Sophie was Carmen Mirandog. I went totally off the deep end for a local dog park's Halloween costume contest a couple of years ago and made a little green satin skirt and a styrofoam hat glued with plastic fruit and a real pineapple top at the very tip. Unfortunately I am not a good engineer, so I didn't figure out how to keep the hat from toppling over; when it came time for the big presentation (can't really call it a catwalk!), I had to lean over and grab the top of the pineapple as we paraded past the judges. The dog had way too much dignity to put up with the outfit for long. She shook off the headgear at the first opportunity and took a bite out of the plastic banana! But she did win a big box of doggie Cookies for the effort. Next time I'll just get her a black bow tie and tell people she's wearing a tuxedo. Post a picture of your big dog sometime. It's fun to see everyone's fur babies!

Excellent, Katie! You're going to be in Twonesia before you know it!

Funny, I was just thinking of starting a thread on the same subject! I'm going to be 48 next month. I've had only a couple of hot flashes in the last two years. Until last fall, my periods were very regular, 30-31 days apart. But in the last few months they've been only 21 days apart, and the first two days are way nasty, if you get my drift. I wasn't sure if maybe my band had something to do with it -- probably just coincidence, but who knows? Shamrock, I'm going to take your wise advice and get checked out. I've put off a gyn checkup for over a year now, and much as I hate those stirrups I don't want to be an idiot about something so important. BTW, when do you turn 48? This is our Chinese astrological year!

I'm rabies. "But don't worry, you affect humans too, causing either paralysis or hyperactivity in your advanced stages, and ultimately death." I suspected as much! Love this site, Vines; thanks for the link.

ROFLMAO! At that height, we'd all be beautifully proportioned before banding. Hard to find pants with a 78-inch inseam, though.

I agree with Jonathan. Banded or not, Christina, you're part of the LBT community (as is anyone else reading here), and we'd be glad to have you in the challenge if you're interested. If you'd prefer not to join in, we'll happily accept your support from the sidelines. We're all in this together, from old pros to newbies to those of us somewhere in between.

Lots of thoughtful comments on this page. I just want to take a moment to send a great big THANK YOU to all our moderators, who give a lot of themselves -- time, heart, and no doubt tears -- when they could all be doing something else. They've taken a lot of heat from many directions. It's clear to me that they're trying their best to make LBT a place where people can *safely* disagree with each other. Thank you, ladies. You are the best! I'm signing off now, because I've said enough on this thread.

Oh dear. I don't know much about what moderators can and cannot do (from a technical perspective), but I think that if someone deletes his or her own posts they should stay deleted -- kind of like tearing up a letter. I do not want to start a feud! But I think the principles Alexandra set out in her initial post here make sense. Let's try to be civil. And if one of us writes a post, then thinks better of it and deletes it for whatever reason, let's respect the writer's decision.

We got a mere two inches here in Chicago, but it's 20 degrees with a wind chill factor of +4. I think y'all on the east coast are getting our snow this year. We had a couple of big storms in January, but not much in the last four weeks. At least the dog loves winter; I took her for a long, cold walk along Lake Michigan last weekend and she ran off with her new boyfriend, an unneutered Siberian Husky, to romp over the remaining ice floes on the shore. Violins should have been playing in the background. I tried to enjoy the big snow while it lasted, but now it's March 1 and I am ready for spring!

Amen. Thank you for your sensible policy. I think the moderators are wise not to censor posts but to remind us to keep things civil.

You betcha -- August was one big "bon voyage to food" party, as if I'd never see lasagna again. I ate barbecued ribs the night before I was banded. Just before my surgery I wrote a post similar to yours and lots of people assured me that they had done the same thing. You're not alone! Just remember, once you get past the initial liquid and mushy phases after you get your band, you'll still be able to eat most foods. By the way, do you have a Corgi dog? They are cool little guys!

Cool web site, Jonathan! Thanks so much for your work on the challenge stats. Sounds like we'll check in every Monday. I look forward to meeting you in *99 land soon!

I confused Tanita and Makita the first time I read this, and pictured Darcy throwing a chainsaw! Then I remembered my doc's Tanita scale and laughed. D, tell your husband to duck.