insubordination

Very busy thread today and it made me so happy to read it.

100 pounds Zannie. That is so awesome! 319 to 219 - what a dream!

LadyDi - your rate of weight loss is my dream. I hope I'm posting like you in about 18 months.

Cagstorm - you are going to own you 30s.

010308 - I don't think you'll be opened up but anything's possible. Stick to your pre-op diet to release some crap from your liver. The pre-op isn't pleasant but I figue we must suffer for the band. Congrats on the 10 pounds you have lost already. Don't fixate on 35. Just stick to the diet as best you can and whatever you lose, you lose.

McQty - Mushies are amazing. Nothing will taste as good as those. Not long now. Just a lil big more healing to do.

It will subside. Great to have you back Cherlita. The worst part is over now and things will only get better from here.

Brooke, Lori and Cerrin, it's great to hear such good news in this thead.

I agree with Phyl. I think it's about enjoying a little bit of what you like. Your favourite food becomes no more delicious if you eat 5 servings of it. It's still the same taste and that doesn't change. It takes some time to get over the fact that you can only eat small portions but, after a while, you will think it's great.

The 'residual fat pad' thing confuses me. I guess it's a layer of fat over the stomach??? I've seen an operation on youtube and there was fat there. It wasn't a huge amount however. Didn't seem like enough to affect restriction.

My fill seems to wear off a lot after about 10 days (every time). It's very disappointing and costly. It doesn't lose so much restriction to lead me to think I have a leak or anything. I guess it's just the swelling going down.

I went to a bandster X-mas party last week and a few people were surprised I could eat fruit, pickles, raw vegetables, crackers etc. A lot of them reported that they can't eat Breakfast. I always can.

I guess as long as I'm still losing and getting adequate nutrients I shouldn't worry. I'd hate to be a liquids/mushies only bandster.

I'm happy to hear you are doing much better now.

I have a general suggestion. Keep a diary and try your best to answer the following questions each day. After several weeks, it will become apparent they you need to take action to change things.

What have I learned about myself?<O:p</O:p

What have I done differently?<O:p</O:p

What knowledge or tools did I use to change my behaviour?<O:p</O:p

What was the outcome of my changed behaviour?<O:p</O:p

What did I do that was fun, relaxing and pleasant?<O:p</O:p

What physical activities did I participate in?<O:p</O:p

What thoughts have I had that enhance or hinder my well-being?<O:p</O:p

What feelings have I experienced and how did I express them?<O:p</O:p

What progress have I experienced in my overall well-being?

Congratulations. Your patience was rewarded.

Best NSV I have read in ages.

G'day. My brother lives in Bremen, Germany. Lovely place. It's the operation expensive there.

Just follow your doc's instructions and you'll feel as good as new very soon.

I'm fat because of 'issue' but I think a lot of people, particularly some men, just have extremely poor habits and have learnt to ignore their satiety signals.

I just wanted to say thatI loved your blog/songs. There is so much more to you than this day. It is all our worst nightmares and going through it will ony make you more ready and determined.

Still, the chair thing was harsh. I once broke a wooden flight of stairs. It was old, I suspect there were termites but I still broke a flight of stairs.

Shell, that's great. You look like the daughter of the lady in the first picture. I must say you are very attractive. You look like a European babe.

I think that it's awesome Gummiebear that you can just say it. There is power in truth. In fact, your weight has probably served you well in some regards but it's turned on you and you are ready to let go of it now.

This thread reminds me of the rules in Orwell's book "Animal Farm".

"All animals are equal but some are more equal than others."

Lady HR, the unfill was probably wise was but the timing was bad right before the holidays. Fortunately, no Thanksgiving in Australia. I think that pre-band pretty much every day was a feast for me. Not anymore!

I resigned my job this week after 6 years of faithful (over) service. I was being exploited and thanks to my shrink, was no longer willing to work many extra hours for no pay. I tried discussing it with my boss twice but got no solutions, so I quit.

I was so nervous but I just did it in a non-submissive, neutral way and did not go on and on about what they did wrong.

Now I feel stronger than ever and I have already got another job. You should have seen the panic about the various projects and whether or not I'm going to finish them in the next 4 weeks.

I'm not kidding when I say I do an enormous percentage of the work in that place. I almost feel sorry for my boss because when I'm not there, it's going to be chaos without me to put out every little fire.

It's not really their fault. I guess they didn't expect me to change and wouldn't bend when I did.

Ah, what a week!

There are some great articles online. One's entitled 'The Sweetest Poison'. Google it.

I gave up all white/added sugar for 6 months once. I lost so much weight and it calmed my moods. I also learned to enjoy more natural sweet food.

Why I went back to sugar, I'll never know. It clearly doesn't work for me.

Yes, there is some hard 'head' work involved for most people and it cannot be brushed aside.

Ideally, 1 person = 1 person no matter what.

Immigration is generally a business, unfortunately.

I find it shocking that people feel that they need protection from a little robust bantering.

The only thing I object to is pointing out/quoting specific posts and saying that they're dumb and having everyone agree. I think that just crosses a line into personal attack which is not a rant or a rave.

I also felt that a post referred to someone I know that hasn't had great weight loss results yet. It was hurtful. As far as I know, she didn't read it and I'm glad.

I stopped reading after that as I knew the thread wasn't for me.

If you have a dehydrator, dried celery and carrot are to die for. Carrot is sweet, celery is salty. I bet there's a way to do it in the microwave too but I don't have a mic.

Welcome new posters. The pre-op is a killer. You should see my posts on LBT trying to negotiate my way out of it. I did pretty well but had several days of forgedaboudit. It does give your overall weight loss a huge boost and spring cleans your liver but the reality is, for some people, it's torture. I figure it's torture we have to go through to 'earn' the band.

It's great that you didn't address specific parts of her email and start an argument.

It *is* hard but you needed to do it to be able to be thin. You found courage as you said.

I'm sure a lot of us have had to go through HUGE changes and cut people/jobs/food out of out lives.

It's just a shame that your hand was forced so soon but you're right, this will cut it off so you don't receive a phone call and let your love for her make you suddenly apologise for upsetting her by having surgery.

Welcome back Stef! You look hotter than overblown Vegas girls.

My dream used to be an all-you-can-eat buffet. It's so awesome that I can't let loose anymore. I just have to think of alternative forms of entertainment that don't involve eating.

I honestly think that being in an exclusive club will come across as even more smug than R&R (which I attempt to take in the spririt its meant in).