Jonathan

Crystal Meth and Ex-Lax. Shuts 'em up every time.

I rarely have to calculate my own points, but if you do have to, you can use the points calculator, as you said. Since I just do the WW Online, when I enter my food it tells me how many points each item is. My wife and I have been making a LOT of the WW recipes lately. I'm amazed at how much I forgot about how important food choice is. I've lost about 18 lbs on WW so far, and it's a plan I can live with for the rest of my life. I hope you find WW useful, no matter which tools you choose to use. Jonathan

I couldn't eat bread, unless it was sliced and toasted. I could do a few bites of cake.

For me, it was reflux, lack of restriction (an odd combination, maybe), and pain with every bite of food I ate.

My opinion will differ from most of those already posted here. Isn't diversity great? =) I wonder how many people that post to this board -- even those who have lost 100+ lbs and been highly successful -- actually fall into the "slender" category. I don't think it's *too* many. I only pose the question to point out that your expectations might surpass the "norm". If this is the truth -- the honest truth -- then I think surgery is a huge mistake right now. The lap-band doesn't cause rapid weight loss. (At least, again, that's not the "norm".) If you're losing weight right now, no matter how slowly, I'd seriously reconsider having surgery. I think WLS should be a last resort -- the option that someone takes when nothing else works, and their life is out of control because of it. It sounds to me like something else IS working, and that your life isn't out of control. How about a slipped or eroded band? Infected port? Dying from the surgery itself? Yes, these are rare occurances, and lap-band surgery has a VERY low death rate, but just look at how many people here have had our bands removed or replaced. For most of us (I think), the risk didn't matter, because we would have rather died than continued down the path that we were on. It just doesn't sound to me like that's where you're coming from. Based on what you said, if you have no compelling reason to have surgery in 2 weeks, I'd wait. Wait through the summer, maybe, and see how you're doing and how you feel. Like I said, my opinion is different. I respect, completely, every opinion written here, and you've definitely come to the right place to get some good advice. In the end, that's all it is, and you have to decide. *Whatever* you decide, I wish you nothing but the best. Blessings, Jonathan

I'd wait until your incisions have healed, then go at it. And I'm sure I'll never say this again, but I wish I was your mom!

I don't know if you have H.E.B.'s where you live, but in the frozen vegatables, they have frozen zucchini sliced long ways, like you mentioned, seasoned. You can throw them in a frying pan (without oil ) and in 3-5 minutes, they're done, delicious, and very healthy and low calorie. So, they're pretty much exactly what you describe, only easier (I'm in a cooking kick lately, myself, and have been enjoying chopping up my veggies, so I'm not saying that easier is better =) ) Mmmm... zucchini....

3 ounces of bacon: 470 calories 3 ounces of canadian bacon: 100 calories To put it another way, if you ate 3 ounces of regular bacon every day instead of 3 ounces of canadian bacon, you would gain 40 lbs in a year that you wouldn't have gained if you would have eaten the canadian bacon instead.

I had a severe slip, and it repositioned itself after being on liquids for a week. (Unfortunately it slipped again after that and had to be removed.) However, I know a few people who have had slips as you describe yours, jigglypuff, and they all self-repaired after being on liquids. It could be that you're eating too much at once, or that you were just too tight, and it caused your pouch to stretch. I don't know what diet they put you on, but I highly recommend you stick to a STRICT liquids only diet for 1-2 weeks before trying to eat anything. Now is NOT the time to take "advantage" of being unfilled, as strong as the temptation may be. (It was for me anyway =) ) Best wishes, Jonathan

I'm sorry you've gone through this, but I'm happy that your surgery was a success. Now, use the band for all its worth. Blessings, Jonathan

Keep up the good work. =)

There are definitely more women than men on the board. By far. To answer your question, no, the port has never been an issue in any way from my perspective.

I'm sorry you took it that way. I was referring to "justbeingme", who posted in this thread, who is 15 years old. Jenna started this thread, evidently, after discussing the issue with "justbeingme". I make that assumption because she said, "Like we were talking about, it is different for teens." Really, I was just trying to keep the thread on track for Jenna. I'm sorry that what I wrote seemed rude to you. Jonathan

1. My God 2. My calling 3. My children 4. My wife 5. The lessons having (and not having) the band have taught me. 6. This forum

I just want to offer you some encouragment and a word of advice, coming from someone who's been there. For a long time, I ate as much as my band would let me. I mean, I paid for the band, and I got it because I wasn't capable of losing weight on my own, right? So I might as well let the band do the work. Well, dangit, that doesn't work. The band really IS just a tool, and as much as I wanted it to do all the work, it turns out that *I* had to do all the work. When the band worked right (which it never really did for me, unfortunately, except on rare occasions), it just meant that I had to work a little less hard. What I'm suggesting -- what I suggest to each and every bandster -- is that when you think about the band and how it works with you, think about you doing the work and the band making it easier -- not about the band doing all the work and weight loss suddenly being easy. (Please know that I am in NO way suggesting that you think in this or any other way.) I know that when you have no restriction, which seems to be the case right now, the band just doesn't help. So hang in there, use will power when you can to make GOOD food choices, and before you know it you'll be getting another fill -- hopefully the one that makes all the difference. The temptation *I* faced, when I didn't have restriction, was to use that time period to eat whatever I wanted, and blame it on the band. Unfortunatley, the band doesn't get to choose what we put in our mouths. It just gets to choose how fast it lets what we put in our mouths into our stomachs. This may not help you in the least, but it always helps me to put some of these thoughts on "paper". Thanks for letting me share your space =) I wish you the best, Jonathan