kacee

Has anyone seen the book by Nora Ephron called "I Feel Bad About My Neck - And Other Thoughts On Being A Woman". Oprah did a show about aging and she was on and she was a complete HOOT.

I used to have tampons in my purse, tampons in my desk at work. Now I have tweezers in my purse, tweezers in my desk at work, tweezers by the TV. Oh how the mighty have fallen! But you know what??? I think I feel better about myself than I have any pretty much any other age. I have HATED my body all my life and envied others. I am now on the downhill of my 50's and ya know what...I think I am holding up pretty darned good! Now I'm gonna start working on myself to make myself look better (better for ME and ME alone!). I plan on having a little nip and tuck here and there. I look around me and ya know what...I just don't look that bad to me anymore! I think I am actually enjoying my age! I quit dying my hair about 4 years ago and it is GLORIOUSLY white!!! I LOVE IT!!!!! I growl when anyone at a beauty salon suggests a "tint".... I get compliments CONSTANTLY! My hair which I always hated, which was always thick and frizzy, is a glorius white mane...I have enough hair on my head for three people and I just now realized how LUCKY I am! Mt skin is in great shape...but I am now taking better care of it. All in all...I really cannot complain!!!

The world is a scarey place. One of my favorite lines from the original Dracula movie.... "The whole world's crazy except you and me, Muriel, and I ain't too sure about YOU!"

Oh Jack, you just hit the nail (hand?) on the head!!! Well, hopefully the law of natural selection will eventually weed those folks out. I am not optimistic though.

You might check and see if you need a "top off" on your fill. Before mine, I could eat a lot of some things, but a lot of other things got stuck. They stuck me behind the flouroscope and the barium just flooded through my gut...showing I really needed more fill. Now pretty much ANYTHING I eat has to be a small amount. I'd think getting a fill would be a good place to start. You'll have that physical reminder to kick it into gear.

But, uh, Bubblebutt....if you are flying the plane don't you think you should stay in it?

I was the most run-amuck food cramming undisciplined individual you'd ever see. I yo-yo dieted all my life (I should be given a Life-Membership at Weight Watchers SIMPLY for the number of times I have joined!) I've done every diet in the world (half-assed, I might add). I am like an alcoholic who says "I'll drink to that!" whenever someone says they need to stop. Discipline???? HAHAHAHAHA!!! So it was with a dose of trepidation that I had my band put in. WHOA!!!!! I am astounded at my ability to change my behavior. Almost 4 months out and I am OVER 50% to goal. I plateau and lose and plateau and lose and on it goes. I have ZERO regrets and KNOW I have saved my own life.

The main reason I ate before the band was for my head appetite and the taste. I would choose a food I loved and then eat mountains of it. Now after the band, I know that whatever I choose to eat at some point, it's not going to be very much. I can look at certain things (such as a hamburger) and go, "Okay, I've love to stuff a whole cheeseburger in my mouth and gulp it down with some fries, but I know once I start eating it that the bread is going to come back on me (most likely) if I don't take just a few small pieces and the beef will go down veeerrrryyyyy slowly. I will be taking more time figuring out a way to get the darned thing to go down my throat than I will take to actually relish and enjoy it. It's funny....but when you have to take such a long time eating something...the fun goes out of it pretty much. Then eventually you realize that you aren't thinking about that food "in that way" anymore.

You said you ate some food that disagreed with you. What exactly did you eat? At two weeks out I imagine at the most you are on mushies or "soft food" at this point. I would think you'd not be eating anything solid at this point. What food was it?

How long do you usually spend in the hospital? I went in at 6:30 in the morning. Procedure was about 11:00 I think. I left the hospital late afternoon. That was considered a long stay because they couldn't release me until I pee'd and I couldn't for a long time. Is it outpatient? Yes Overnight? No How many days did you have to take off from work? Surgery was Wednesday morning. I returned to work the following Tuesday. I have a desk job. What are the warning signs that your band is slipping? Have not experienced anything like this. How do you take pills in general – mash 'em up in apple sauce? At first I smashed them up and did the applesauce thing. Within a month I was able to cut them and swallow the pieces. Two months out I was able to swallow all my pills without cutting. I'm from Houston, so I can't help you with Chicago.

I get isopure clear protein drinks. They are good and come in about 8 flavors. You cannot get them at GNC, but body builder health stores will carry them or you can get them online. Check out the link that follows... index For a chocolatey protein shake I do Dymatize Elite Cafe Mocha. I never thought I would actually LIKE a protein shake, but I REALLY DO!!!!

I noticed feeling MUCH better...light a lightbulb came on...on day 5. You WILL feel noticeably better every day, but that seemed to be a corner I turned where I felt really human again.

Chewing up and spitting doesn't really work. The satisfaction you get is from the swallowing and you cannot do that. You need to firmly tell DH to knock it off. Why is he trying to sabotage you?

Hey welcome back! I was wondering when you'd check in. Looks like you are getting stuff down well! Keep a bottle of juice of some kind with you all the time and sip constantly when you are up and moving about.

I've never been a big fan of "cokes" (what we call everything carbonated in the south). They're "okay", but nothing I lay awake thinking about at night. My only experience with carbonation since the band has been with some of the energy drinks. I am an early morning person. I fade at the end of the day. I went through a period about a month ago where I was flat on my desk practically snoring at 2:00 pm....dragging myself through the afternoon. I broke down and got one of those "Rock Star" energey drinks. They are highly carbonated. I took tiny sips. It hurt at first and then it stopped. It did wake me up quickly though and I drank those in the afternoon for a couple of weeks until that stage was over. I didn't have any adverse reaction past the first sip, the first day....and that may have been because it was cold.

My band and I are learning to co-exist. If I get a little out of hand, my band taps me on the shoulder (well, not exactly THERE!) and says, "Ahem...shall we revisit that last activity and talk about it?" and I say, "Oops, sorry buddy....I got ahead of myself and wasn't thinking" We mutually discuss what I did wrong to cause whatever consequence I experienced, I make a mental log of it and promise to adjust my actions accordingly. Shake hands...no hard feeling and go on about my business. My band is my little watchdog and I cannot CONCEIVE of life without it. No one is going to convince me that you can take the band out of a person and they have "learned their lesson." This is a physical and mental disease we have, like alcoholism. It does not "go away in time". You were born with it and you will die with it and you will cope with it forever (band or no band). I know myself well enough not to pull the wool over my own eyes and think for one minute that after 55 years of failure I could remove this watchdog and NOT go back to exactly the way I was before.

LOTS of people have the Magic Bullet. I got a Tribest personal blender and spent more than the Magic Bullet. The thing I liked about the Tribest was that you can purchase ALL the parts separately, including the blender motor base. I have heard a lot of people who LOVE their Magic Bullets, and also quite a few whose Bullets DIED after about 6 months. I've only had my Tribest for 3.5 months, but I use it daily and I love it. You absolutely can NOT live without a personal blender of somekind. They are wonderful for protein shakes.

I don't regret it ATALL! Not only that, but my whole outlook on my weight and weighloss has completely changed. Alway before I looked on it as a daunting task, doomed to ultimate failure down the road somewhere. I was always depressed when I was losing because in my heart of hearts I KNEW it was just going to come back someday, and I was well aware that it was just a "temporary fix". Dieting was a chore. Plateauing was a complete emotional disaster sometimes tanking the entire endeavor. I am AMAZED at how I handle plateaus now. I KNOW they are coming and I treat it like just another door to go through....a phase that will pass. And it DOES!!! I just got past a plateau where I bounced from 179.9 to 181.6 for about three weeks. That plateau broke day before yesterday and I am now steadily going down again. I find that my outlook remains just as optimistic when I plateau. My Mom asked me last night how my weight was going and I told her I had plateaued for the past three weeks, but I followed by saying "BUT...that's OKAY!"

Okay, we're waiting to hear how your day went! Fill us in on how you are doing after being banded by Dr. Spivak Friday!

You will know it when it happens. It's different from sliming alone, but is accompanied by sliming.

If you've ever flushed a toilet and then watch it start to slowly rise instead of go down....that's kindof like a PB. The food in your pouch starts to rise and there is NOTHING you can do about it except let it come out. It's not really like a full blown vomit where contractions in your stomach cause the food to be pushed up and out. This is more like a backed up drain that is still trying to fill. The mucus adds to the food and it starts which causes it to expand and it has nowhere to go but up and out.

My doctor put me on NO restrictions after surgery. I was operated on on Wednesday. Friday morning I drove myself home from my Mom's....34 miles across town. It was a non-issue, though I was a little anxious initially with the "sitting" part. It wasn't a bother at all.

Either I don't find that the change was THAT drastic, or else I just adapt easily. I had mixed emotions beforehand, but now 3 months out I am so thankful every day that I have the band.

I can eat three or four grapes with the skin on, but then I have to stop for a while.

Hey Crash, I notice that in all your pictures you have NO SMILE on your face. My friend, THAT will change! Please keep us informed with your progress and join our community. I commend you on your life-changing behaviors. You are quite a brave soul at such a young age! Good for you! You are SOOOOOO not going to regret this!