vinesqueen

Oh hush woman! Yeah, like no one missed you. We were just being patient. saying to ourselves, okay, we know she's okay, she'd been though hell, but she's okay.... I also wanna know where the hell Zoe went, and Shelly.... Okay, Donali is posting a little bit lately, but not nearly enough for me. Greg hardly posts, but I'll bet it's because he's got that new grandbaby.... I'm thinking it still has that new baby smell...

I almost always have to have breakfast on the run, what with living the glamour lifestyle of a university student in Idaho... I usually have 1/2 oz of nuts with 1 tablespoon or so of mixed dried fruit. I can eat it in class, and there's not much danger if I drop a nut on my shirt. I'll make up a couple of bags of nuts and fruit at a time, this way I always have them at the ready. There is plenty of crunch and texture. This way I also have something in my backpack so I'm not tempted by the junk-food machines.

Wow, looking good!

Okay, take a look at your calorie count (BUT DON'T OBSESS!) Just track for a few days to get a true feeling for you food intake. Your fill appointment is 2 weeks away, so no sweat there. In fact, take these two weeks to journal your food so that you can take it to both the nutritionist and the fill doc. This will give everyone a clear picture of where you are. It looks like you are doing great work. You just might need to work it a little harder than most, tht's the way it is with the Turtle Tribe. Okay, how much and how often are you excersizing? Is it possible that you have lost inches? I know that we have one woman here who's GAINED 26 MUSCLE pounds. Man, if I could gain that much muscle mass it would completely change my goals! Just so you know, I haven't lost any weight since my 3 fill, and I'm scheduled for my 5th fill next Monday. I have read here that many of our big band bandsters have to have several fills before that bad boy is filled to the point where they have any restriction. I think someone recently said that they needed to go up to like 8 ccs or more before the yfelt any good restricion. Do a search on you band and see what you come up with. As for the hair, now are you sure you are getting in enough protien? Have you had any traumas recently?

Okay, Tuesday it is! I'll let you know later in the week! This is so exciting!

How funny Jonathan, I was just thinking about you last night! (where's my yellow ribbon?) Okay, here's a reality check for you. You have just had one of the most stressful years of your life. Divorce, moving, quitting your job, changing your profession, going back to school, changing the way you interact with your kids.... did I miss anything? All of these things rate very high on the stress chart that the mental health type use to track stress with. Individulally, they rate high, and collectively they pack a huge impact on us. So, you gained back 13 pounds. Well, how many pounds do you think you would have gained without your band? I think, given our collective histories, a heck of a lot more than 13 pounds. So You are doing really good. I think there are different kinds of accountability, differnt ways to hold people accountable. I know that for many of us here, we are our own harsh critics. We do a good enough job beating ourselves up, thank you very much. I think it is much more effective to parent in a kind and loving manner, offering unconditional love. Oh sure, sometimes that love requires a swift kick to the pants, but they are generally rare, and well deserved. For us, usually when we need that kick is when we are being unrealistic or too harsh on ourselves. And so, of course you are welcome back, but you knew that before you even asked. That's one reason why we are different than so many other places on the net. WELCOME HOME (the old oak tree is across the street...)

I think you hit the problem square on there Trish, we discount our NSVs precicely because the scale says we are not good enough. It doesn't matter that you've lost 27 inches because the scale says your are not down enough, whatever "enough" is. You know that all these accomplishments are truely amazing on their own, and when combined with each other, they become so much more powerful because they tell more of the true picture. They help give our journey dimention and shape, they add texture and shadow that the numbers on the scale simply cannot give, all on their own. I know that it is easy to discount them, they are not a socitial approved measure of success, like pound on the scale are. But pounds are just as arbirary a unit of measure as kegs and stones and Kg and firkins and pfunds and atomic mass. They are conventions that we have agreed to judge ourselves and others by. Arbitrary as they may be, we give them power they do not deserve. This is why I always list my weight in some weird other unit of measurement. To attmpt to take power away from the scale, to take power away from the scale. And if I can take it away from the external, I can reclaim it for myself.

How very, deeply sad. I sit here with tears welling in my eye, and hard lump in my throat. It's amazing how the life and death of a stranger can touch us so profoundly. It reafirms my failth in people.

Thanks Jack, but I'll be flying home this time. Can I take a rain check? Sally (and everyone else), how does Tuesday sound? The Starbucks next to the See's candy accross from Bell Square? (Next to the Cost Plus)

I can think of nothing more depressing than weighing myself. Stupid being a turtle.

My DH will need to have the full body lift once he gets closer to his goal. He said I could help pick out his new belly button. I get terrible rashes too, that's why I'll need the TT and the BR.

Wow Nancy, I don't even know what to say! I know we've had at least one other bandster here with a similar physiology, but I think they were able to be banded. Yeah, cutting off the blood supply to the liver would be a bad, bad thing. Maybe you could do a search on "liver" or "blood supply" to try to find that thread. I honestly don't remember who had a similar issue. So sorry (((hus))))

Okay, I had my 4th fill 10/20, another .5 cc. Again, I felt like I had good restriction for a week, and 3 weeks later, I'm hungry all the time, and I can still eat just about anything. (Except for turkey apperently, but that's another story.) DH Tells me that Jessie does take out all the fill, but don't know about the folks here in ID though. So I have currently about 3 ccs in my band and no restriction. Well, I take that back . I have the same amount of restriction I had before my first fill. cheese Burgers and pizza, sandwiches and french-fries all go down.

Excellent work Madonna! Bit by bit, ounce by ounce we will get to our goals. I'm scheduled for my 5th fill next week, and I'm gonna talk to my surgeon to see if he can figure out why I have lost 7 pounds in 6 months. I didn't lose any weight since fills 3 & 4. I can eat pizza and cheese burgers with a supposed fill level of 2.8-3. I lost all restriction a week after my last fill. they only seem to last me about a week, then I lose all restriction.

{{{{{hugs Doll}}}}}

My cholesterol is up too, from my normal 145 to 190 YIKES! I suspect it is because I've all but cut out grains from my diet.

I'll have the tummy tuck and the breast reduction, Oh to be something small, like a D cup. I'll have the key-hole type surgery where they don't remove the nipple. I kind of really like the sensation they give me, if you know what I mean. My arms are looking pretty saggy lately, but I am a turtle, so who knows how much they will tighten up.

Okay, I was struck by how funny it was for a Bandster to be freaked out by burping and farting. Sorry, just stuck me as funny.... "am I in heaven? I must be since I just heart the trumpets of the angels" (my dH)

well, of course you are stuck, you are about to do something that will change your life forever. Of course you are daunted. This is a huge step. If your only fear is that you will have lose hanging skin, well get a grip woman! Get a grip! Baby, you are only 23! you have the skin elasticity of an rubber band! Besides, even if you were an old lady like some of us, you could always get plastic surgery. I'll need both a tummy tuck and a breast reduction, and I might need my arms done as well, but I'm a sight bit older than you are. Tomorrow, get up and get going!

when I had my last "girl" surgery I had the terrible headache and dry heaves, even with the nausia patch. I think the gall baller remoal was worse than getting banded.

that is very interesting. Could be that the fat women understand what you are going through, I mean I think their reaction is as expected. It may be that the thin women have body issues? I know at least one woman in my dance class feels she has this huge poochy belly. She's a size 12-14 athletic build. She's our our school rugbey team. She showed us her "huge poochy belly" I laughed at her. It was at most a couple of ounces, and because it wasn't flat as can be felt it was huge.

Alright Ladies and Gentlemen, time to check-in with your NSVs. 11/5/05 All my pants are starting to look like giant clown pants, none of them fit in the butt or thighs anymore. If I didn't have this damn thick waist, I would really be in honest size 18 jeans. My black leather jacket is going to have to be retired soon. It's rediculously large on me now. The sleves alone now hang past my finger-tips and it looks like I could smuggle a medium sized ham in each shoulder. So I tried on my big winter coat, and now it really is my huge winter coat. It's about XX too big. It's fully reversable a suede stadium jacket, with lepord fake fur on the other side. I love this jacket, but next year, some other lucky bandster gets to love it. It's important for me that last winter before I was banded I couldn't zip the black leather jacket up. There was a 2-3 inch gap that just wouldn't meet. While the stadium jacket fit, it was pretty snug. Not any more! 11/10/05 Lastnight I was using my laptop. In my lap. This means that I HAVE A LAP!!!!! Woot! 11/14/05 When I sit on the floor or in a hard chair, I feel the bones in my butt. Not only my tail bones, but other bones (probably my pelvic bones?) as well.

No change in anything for me. I will choose Garnet with a silver clasp, althought I have a question about the Olive, from the little pix it looks like there is lots of color variation, is this how it looks in larger bits of the cloth?

First week down. Yesterday I was at the gym and when I stepped on the scales I was down 10 whole freaking pounds! I was so elated! Woot! 10 freaking pounds! Then of course, I realized that was WAY too good to be true so I asked someone about the scales... They are broken. Everyone one weighs 10-15 pounds less on that set. I was crushed. Just more proof that the scales lie!

and it's also possible that you need more fill. If you are not losing the 1-2 pounds per week with this fill, you probably need another fill. I had my 3rd and 4th fills very close together, and I'm getting my 5th fill next week when I go home and see the surgeon.