vinesqueen

Extreme Measures http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6795525/site/newsweek/ One boy's struggle to lose weight and the new surgical procedure he hopes can save his life... It is fairly long, 3 pages worth. Oh, and that is my Mike they are quoting...

Last night I had an “ah-hah!” moment. Of course, this was after I wanted to eat everything in my apartment. While I didn’t actually eat everything, I feel like I came damn close. I’m not a huge binger, more a grazer, and normally I feel full after a “normal” portion size. Not last night though. What the frell? This isn’t my normal pattern…. So, I went back over what I’d eaten during the day, and found the culprit. It was the rootbeer I’d had at about 4:00 in the afternoon. I’m not one much for sodas or other fizzy drinks, (lift or otherwise…), so a soda for me is quite the rarity. Actually, it wasn’t the rootbeer itself so much as the corn syrup it was made with. The corn syrup caught me off guard, since I assumed the rootbeer had been made with cane sugar and not corn syrup. My dear husband brought me a full case of mixed rootbeers made with cane sugar on one of his visits out here. I had assumed that all the sodas in the box were cane sugar sweetened and not corn syrup. Why is this such a big deal? Well, on one of my attempts to loose the 10 dress sizes I had worked with a good nutritionist and a good program that was very hard. Sure I lost 30 pounds and 2 sizes, but well I think we all know how that story turns out…. The first part of the program removed all food from your diet and then you gradually added foods back with the lowest glycimic indexed foods first, and the higher ones later. By gradually, I mean only one are two foods a week. Yeah, serious stuff. Anyway, from this process I learned that eating corn makes me ravenously hungry. Soy has a similar affect, so I suppose it is a good thing I’m not a Vegi… I can eat corn, but I have to plan for it. I have to eat Protein and fat before eating the corn or I’m toast. I’d had the rootbeer without anything, not realizing that it had corn syrup. Anyway, I thought I would share this “ah-hah!” I’ve read several posts where people were binging and they didn’t know why and couldn’t stop and were hating themselves for not being able to control themselves. It is possible that you might have a food sensitivity and not realize it.

Before my husband had his band, he was on the Atkins for a while and then Optifast the week just before his surgery. The week before my surgery I too will be on the optifast. (at least I think that is the brand.) The liver will shink with the weight-loss, and the reason for this is that our surgeon wants the most room to be able to do the surgery.

welcome Holly, Trina and Lori!

Woot! You will do just fine, and congrats!

I would definately recommend the extraordinarybandster group on yahoo. My husband is a member of that group. He weighed 600 pounds when he had his band installed, with a BMI of something like 86.

First off, how old are the kids? what about crafts? that ought to keep y'all busy and not focused on food. If crafts aren't your thing, howzabout kitchen science? You know, baking soda and vinigar volcanos .... that sort of thing.

Could we make this sticky please? Or if not, can we have a new thread with the types of foods that belong in each catagory that is a sticky? I think the list that Dylansmom posted is great, and very important for those of us who are either not yet banded, or are recentlly banded. I also understand that some people consider Jello clear liquid and others do not. Also, how do you get your Protein in when on Clear liquids? Or is this not a consideration at this point?

I think we all have a picture of what we look like in our heads. (I could be wrong on this, I just discovered that not everybody had a radio in their heads. Big shock on my part…) Whether this picture is correct and accurate or a gross misrepresentation of our true physical body is often a factor in our weight. I know that I always thought I was fat, even when I was “normal” sized. Part of that for me was what the scale said, part of that was from the tapes from my childhood. Fat and ugly, fat and ugly, fat and ugly. In my mind I was always a size 24, even when I was a size 7. Even when I was an athlete, I thought I was fat. Of course, because I was fat, I couldn’t be an athlete. Mind you, I wasn’t actually fat, I was a size 11, and for my body type, well I looked damn fine. Probably part of the mind picture was influenced by the size of my bust, and thanks to my dear mother, I felt like a circus freak. Because the scales said that I weighed 190 pounds, I was told that I was obese. I was told that I needed to exercise more. Mind you, at this time of my life, I was doing judo for 4 hours a week and tae kwon do 10 to 15 hours a week. I was in some serious butt-kicking shape, but I believed that I was obese, I believed that I was fat. I recently went through some photos with my son from when he was a baby and I could not believe what I looked like. I wasn’t fat, and I sure didn’t look like a circus freak. I looked like a “normal” sized person. I am using those pictures to build a new “head” picture of myself. A picture of what I want to look like, but this time I hope that I can have an honest and accurate picture of myself. I don’t want to have the band installed, go through all the hard work involved with this tool, and then fail because I don’t have a true picture of myself. One of the tools I plan to use is the knowledge of the size of my clothes. I know that in those pictures of my baby I was a size 12/14. I wasn’t fat, and once I regain that size again, I won’t be fat then either. I would like to know how other are changing their “head” pictures, how they are changing and adjusting to their new sizes.

Man, I hate laundramats! I too have done the "roll the bangs in a brush and leave till dry" trick.... I got my hand stuck in my own hair once. A couple of my rings got tangled... Let's see... In high school, for Halloween one year, I wanted to have glitter on my eye-lashes. Yup, I glued my eyes shut. Good thing Elmer's glue is non-toxic...

Woot! That is fab! Does this also count as a NSV? Oh sure, you had to loose the one pound to change your BMI, but I think you should also claim a NSV on this. You too Dylansmom, I think that counts as an NSV.

May the Goddess protect you both. My most sincere prayers of love and comfort to you both. Several years ago, my mother had terrible back pain, so I have an idea of what you are currently going through.

Frizz-Ease is a good defrizzer, although I am currently using the Garnier Fructris. I also use a curl activator and a shine spray. I am constantly amazed at how well these products work, espeicailly when I take a day off them.

okay, y'all are pulling my leg... a bra that costs under $10??? I thought the normal price was about $50 each.

I write haiku. I dunno if this is what you have in mind... perfume of brownies invade my apartment space just 15 minutes Crystal

Well, next week I see a new Pulmo doc. We will see how that goes. I had a minor victory today, I was able to walk accross campus and not feel like I was going to pass out from the chest pain. I also only gained 5 pounds from the Prednisone this time, not the usual 10. This is 5 pounds from 2 different round of steroids! Yay for my team! I am finally starting to feel like myself again, a long haul from Thanksgiving. I am using a C-PAP machine. I had sleeping problems for years, and finally my dr orders a sleep study. Sleep apnea, O2 levels in the low 80's, as well as other sleep disturbances. Gee, not the emotional problems she thought. I think I am going to have to fire my PC doctor. Keep your fingers crossed for me next week.

The nurse that my future surgeon has drinks a latte every morning as part of getting her daily milk requirement in. She suggested it as part of my new diet. Now that is a wonderful suggestion. mmmmmm cinamon lattes... Of course, she uses non-fat milk, and we all know how I feel about non-fat milk...

I'm a curly gurly, and a couple of years ago I finally found the secret to managing curly -- use a good de-frizzer and leave it the heck alone! No brushing, no combing, just leave it alone! While I've never gotten a guitar stuck in my hair, I have gottten other things stuck...

The first one is my 15 year old golden lab Astro. My old yellow dog is so old he isn't yellow anymore! The second pix is one a friend sent, I have no idea who they are.

Either weekend will work for me because school will start in August. Darcy, Yellowstone borders on ID... give me a shout. The oddest thing here is that they measure distance in HOURS not miles... As in, "it is only a 5 hour drive...."

thank you so much for taking the time to type it out for us. That was most thoughtful.

thanks Alex, I wasn't concerned about the absorption, because I know that my stomach will still be intact and working like a normal stomach, it was only worry about getting the actual pill past the band. Very good point about the weight loss though, I haddn't thought about possibly needing to change the doseage of medications after weight loss. Thanks for the feedback!

I have to take several medications, and I am wondering/worring that the band will affect my medication. Any thoughts?

WOOT! Way to go Blossom!

I am absolutely going to have a reduction done after I've lost my weight. I actually had a friend's teenager (daughter) ask me if I used to be in porn. I wasn't quite sure how to take that... Yeah, I have dreams of being a D cup... While I was breast feeding my son, my dear supportive mother told me I looked like a circus freak...