phyllser

I agree. Especially since it's not that easy to figure out. I had a "friend request" this morning and took me a while to figure out how to accept it. I liked the "rep" things, too. But I don't think most people understood what that was either. As for "0" friends. Some time in the last year or so I signed up for one of those blog sites.... MySpace or something similar. And I sent a "freind request" to a few people including my oldest son. When he sent back his acceptance, he had to tease me about feeling sorry for me because the site said I had ZERO FRIENDS!

THANKS!! You two are TOO KIND!! No makeup... just me. I'd just had my hair done... new cut & styled. I'm down almost 80 lb, but a long way from goal. But feeling great and on my way!

Sounds like you've got your hands full with all those grandkids!! Hope you can find ways to get everyone eating healthier. This is a good time of year for strawberries. We lived in the OKC area for over 15 years.. just moved back to WA state last year. So I'm very familiar with the Dallas area. We have friends in Hurst and in Plano. The "Quick Reply" doesn't give you the option to change your font style, color, etc., or to add the little happy faces, etc., or photos.

Hope you both have a GREAT weekend! It's been mighty quiet here today! I've been laying low... upper respiratory crap has slowed me down a little! Weight down a little though... not feeling much like eating. Well, skipped my Wii exercise yesterday so that little trainer person will be chewing on my, but, think I will sign off & do some exercise. I LOVE those balance training games.

Liquids will always go right through... won't fill you up. But if you're not feeling satisfied, you may need a fill. How much are you eating and how often? What kinds of things are you eating? When was your surgery? We will miss you! Drive carefully! Very few feel restriction before the first fill, so that is normal. However, what are your doctor's/nutritionist's guidelines for this post-op period?? I was told to eat 1/2 cup servings 6X a day. I would think you should be eating frequent small servings rather than only eating once a day. It may very well be that NOT eating is what is keeping you from losing.

I'll be your friend, Doddie!! :smile2:It was months before I found it, but somewhere on the profile page, I think, is where you can invite people to be your "friend"... not that it means anything in particular! But I don't want you to have ZERO friends!! :eek::thumbup:

Hi, Glad to have you with us. I started with BMI almost 64. Like you, on disability.. since 2000, and on Medicare since 2002. So I had the challenge of finding a Center of Excellence and doctor approved by Medicare. I ended up having to drive 65 miles to the clinic, but surgery in Seattle hospital was somewhat closer. I had partial knee replacement in 2001, but weight loss has caused the hardware to start to come loose, so not only need a total knee on the left, but the right has to be converted to a total, also, but ortho surgeon wants me to get my BMI down to about 40 first. In the meantime, he's watching the right one closely. Have to go back in a few weeks to get it x-rayed again. He said if it gets too bad he may have to go ahead and do it this summer. I didn't even know it was a problem. I was having some pain in that one, but he says it's more critical than the left one. Who knew??? Anyway, glad to have you and we're here to offer our support and encouragement in any way we can.

Wow!! You've made impressive progress! Those tickers are a real encourager for us. It's easy to update. Go back to the ticker site & click on update/edit. You have to put in your password. Then go down to your stats and update them... todays' date and your current weight. When you're finished scroll down to the bottom & click on next. Then you should see your updated ticker and it will automatically update it anywhere you've posted it... on this site, and I have mine on MySpace and on my Google home page. It updates on all of them without doing anything else.

Ditto!! Let's "adopt" this G.I.!!

The little glass of wine worked so well that one night.... is that an option or can you not take it with this new medication? I know you can't have alcohol with many anti-anxiety/anti-depressant meds. Also, I used to work as a pre-cert nurse... if they refuse to pay for the Rx, it may help if your doctor will write a letter documenting your "failed trial" of Zoloft, etc. and state your case for why you need to be on this particular medication.

Yeah, me wondering, too... how is the hyperventilating?? Good deal on the scale!! Mine seems to be permanently stuck! My body is trying to do a new "set point" and I don't want it there!! We'll see what Mr. Wii says tonight. Down a total of 1.5 lb last couple of times, but up about that much a few days before! UGH!! Holding my own, but so much want to see some progress. Warmer weather??? Where?? Everywhere but here in the NW!! OH, and in ND! Actually, I think it went over 60 today!! Woo hoo!! So, thought I should jump in here just because I haven't! Last night was GD graduation. Very nice, but not the pomp & circumstance of years past. Seems today's teens have let the dignity of the occasion fall by the wayside. I quickly tired of the beach balls flying through the air and the antics of the graduates as they came off stage with their diplomas!! I.E., back flips, boys unzipping their gowns to show their bare chests, throwing monopoly money at the principal (her last graduation as she is retiring), and even an inflatable naked woman flying through the air! A faculty member quickly caught her and shoved her under his chair. Maybe the beach balls at the end would have been okay, but all this started as soon as they were all in their seats. It got quite annoying. Am I too old to appreciate their jubilation????? Anyway, thankfully, GD has her sanity back & has quit fighting with her Mom, our DD, and is moving back home soon. So, Graduation night was a delight. Today I took one of my usual cruises around the neighborhood on my handicap scooter. But, about an hour in to it, the thing suddenly started smelling really hot and nasty and then it quit! So I had to sit at the grocery store for about an hour waiting for DH to come and get me. He was cutting the lawn at DD's house and never heard me calling on his cell phone. DD & GD were out and about, but called me and stopped to "vist" me at the grocery store and went home to tell DH I was stranded. So he came and picked up me & the scooter and he's been working on it for a couple of hours now. I think the motor is burned up... like terminally ill! I don't think he's going to be able to fix it. I have another one... my new "LIGHT WEIGHT" scooter. But this is my workhorse that I use around the neighborhood. I made something new this afternoon. I steamed about 1/3 of a head of cauliflower and a couple of cloves of garlic in one of those new ziploc bags especially designed for steaming foods. I let it cool in the refrigerator for an hour or so. Then I chopped it all up with some celery and onion, added a sprinkle of fat free raspberry vinegarette salad dressing, about a TBSP of Tostios Spinach Dip and about a TBSP of fat free Miracle Whip and I have...... MOCK POTATO SALAD!

Takes some time to get over the craving for sweets, but it will go away. The strawberries are great, but are you using Lite Cool Whip or something low cal on top?? And a small sliver of sponge cake is not too bad. You can get some 60 cal fat free fudgcicles. I get mine at Albertson's. You must try to keep the carbs down to a minimum. Protein, veggies, maybe a little bit of rice. Steamed, mashed cauliflower with a little sour cream added can be a great substitute for mashed potatoes. Add a little garlic if you like. I've read that you can make mock potato salad using cauliflower instead of potatoes also. I haven't tried that yet. I assume you'd want to steam the cauliflower at least a little first. It's on my list of things to try. I happen to love any kind of fish, especially salmon, and I even like salmon patties. So last night I made salmon patties using mashed cauliflower instead of rice. They were good and very low cal. Chopped up leftover salmon, diced onions, a little garlic, mashed cauliflower, and I should have used an egg, but I used eggbeaters, so they kind of fell apart a little. I guess what I'm saying is, get creative, try some new things to help you get off the carbs and sweets.

I remember those days!! I used to get really awful cramps!! There are some advantages to this aging process!! I thought would have sore muscles today, too. I did a lot of those Wii balance exercises last night until the calves of my legs were aching. But, no soreness today. I guess they're getting used to it! The balance exercises are my favorites... especially the tilt table.

Thanks... cropped it and then took me the last hour to reinsert it! Resizing is difficult and then to get it to upload!! Got my hair done today so figured a good day for a new photo. Should've added some makeup and earrings! With my hair that short I need earrings. New stylist for me, and I like what she did. About double what I usually pay, but okay. Not Wal-Mart prices!!:biggrin2: YAY!! SIX more weeks until our M of A trip! I'm looking forward to that! We leave here on the 23rd, arrive the 25th, in the morning, I think, and leave early A.M. Monday for Chicago and on to Buffalo.

Hope you get that hyperventilating problem worked out! Probably partly an anxiety issue. That has got to be annoying and frightening. Wind here took out the electricity in some areas last night. And it took out the portable plastic floor they put down at Husky Stadium for the U of WA graduation ceremony Saturday! Snaps together like Legos. Damaged some of it so they have a crew trying to put it back together again by Saturday! Snow in Snoqualmie Pass and down to the 2500 ft level. More snow expected tonight. Day Hikers on Mt. Rainier being rescused today, one fatality. They got caught in a blizzard. This month being officially renamed JUNUARY!!

Homewood Suites/Mall of America.... make sure you get the right one. Yes, scale will go down today. Lots of exercise yesterday and it was a busy day. Not much sitting around time. It's SO COLD here! It's ridicuous. Supposed to break another record today for LOWEST high of the day temp since I don't know when. Yesterday it broke a record from 1894... not 1984... 1894!! I think the highest it got was about 52 degrees! It's 49 right now at 9:30 a.m. and snow at 2500 ft last night. I'm heading out on my scooter anyway.. with my umbrella and all bundled up with sweatshirt, warm jacket, etc. because I have a hair appointment across the street that I waited two weeks for! Later....

WELCOME, DIANE! I think that is quite common with gastric bypass but not with lapband.

Welcome, Judy! Sounds like you're off to a great start!

You're doing so well with your workouts and training!! I'm impressed and we're all proud of you for your efforts. Amazing what you are accomplishing! Did you know you can get an Alaska cruise out of Seattle for $699!?? Good price. Last stop is Victoria on all that I know of... Norwegian, Holland America, Celebrity, Princess all follow about the same routes. Holland America I think is the only one that stops in Sitka instead of Skagway. Skagway has an amazing train ride that you can take up in to the mountains but I can't remember what it's called. We've taken it twice and it's an unforgettable trip. We've done two Alaska cruises, one on Celebrity and one on Norwegian and we're thinking about going again in the next couple of years. Yeah, that chocolate was wonderful, but did have to fight the urge to go back and buy another one the next day. If I stay completely away from chocolate (except for my calcium chews), I'm fine, but just a little bit can set up the craving again.) One of our GDs graduated HS last Fri and the one here on Wed. Looking forward to that and she's back on good terms with her parents and planning to move back home in a couple of weeks. We're happy about that. TOPS weigh in I was up 1/4 lb!! But, I figured with the 3 days in Victoria, that was not so bad. DH was up 3 1/2 I think!! I will have it off in no time and should have a good loss next week. I did 54 minutes on Wii tonight and some other unplanned exercise!! Took about a 2 hr scooter ride around the nieghborhood on batteries I knew were marginal. (DH ordered new ones today). So I made it back as far as the condo driveway when it quit! So I had to walk it up our steep driveway and then completely turn off the motor and pull the clutch and push it down to our building. A neighbor I never saw before was walking back from the clubhouse and offered to help me. DH was off getting the oil changed on our car. Of course, he showed up just as we got to our unit! I was huffing & puffing & sweating by then! So.. a good exercise day. Congrats on your success!! Good to get those compliments! NO problem staying cool here. My scooter ride... I had on sweat pants, t-shirt, sweatshirt, fleece jacket, headband on my ears, and even gloves for a while! High was about 52 degrees today! Another new LOW high temp for the day, I'm sure! Rain for a while, too, of course.

Look for website for Fill Centers USA. I think they have facilities in Pocatella and Boise.

Sorry about your back trouble, Sharon. Hope the PT will help. We're not having summer here. Just more spring... rain, cold, clouds! Went to Canada for a couple of days and there was actually some sun up there.

You got it. NO WHALES! We "think" we saw some on the way up, but, in the pouring rain it was hard to see!! But we saw these black fins circling around, quite a few of them actually, but they were pretty far away. Sorry about all the food talk. I guess it was a big struggle or I wouldn't keep talking about it! Really, the highlights of the trip.... Butchart Gardens on Friday and the fantastic scenery on the cruise back to Bellingham last night.

Hi, We were on a San Juan Islands whale watching cruise to Victoria... name of the ship was the Victoria Star.. just a small boat, about 140 capacity. So, not really a restaurant. Just a small kitchen, but they did a great job on the dinner. While in Victoria we ate at Periklis on Yates St... my favorite Greek restaurant from years ago when I use to go up there with a group of friends. Still the same owners, cook, etc and they are about to celebrate their 29th anniversary. Had great chowder at a little walk up place down by the seaplanes called "Red Fish, Blue Fish". Not too much has changed down in the inner harbor. Except now they charge an arm and a leg to get in to the BC Provincial Museum! Used to be free, didn't it?? But we got our money back because before we left I complained that too much of their museum is not handicap accessible. Too many steps to see too many things... like my favorite, the saw mill display. I can do a few steps, but that was too much.

Just back from our 3 days in Victoria BC and relating to this discussion! The temptations of being away from home and out of normal routine!! I DID make good choices... But I also had a few treats. Like ONE Victoria Cream from my favorite chocolate shop in Victoria. DH bought one for each of us and a small box to take home to DD & SIL who bought us the cruise tickets for Christmas. Victoria Creams from Rogers are just a tad smaller than an Oreo cookie! I savored mine for about 4 hours. Take a nibble, wrap it back up and put it back in my purse for a while. Thurs & Fri night we bought one dinner, one salad and/or appetizer and split everything. Added bonus.... much cheaper!! High prices in Victoria! Found a breakfast place we liked... ordered off the Sr menu today, and I still gave DH all my toast except for one small piece and 1/2 of my breakfast. Small bowl of chowder and a scallop taco for lunch. Tonight we had salmon dinner on the boat. Just a small boat, but we were impressed with the nice meal they served. We had wild rice, salad, salmon & chicken. I tried a very small piece of chicken and it stayed down this time! Took the skin off, ate slow! My worst cheat the whole trip was probably the two bottles of wine we shared... one Thurs night and one Friday night. And a few bites of desert tonight. It is SO HARD....being away from home and trying to eat right! It WILL definitely be a lifetime battle. ONE day at a time! Now I'm worried about that long July train trip to M of A and Buffalo!

Hi, All, It's been sort of quiet here today. Wed. is always a busy day for us... Primetimers at church and then we usually go to Costco. I haven't really felt up to par today. I have had NO episodes of PBing since surgery, a few times of feeling "stuck" and one episode of sliming. Well, today at lunch, if I'd had only what they'd fixed for today, I would have been fine. But there was some chicken leftover from last week... looked nice and moist, BBQed, so I took a small piece of a thigh along with this hamburger stew they had made. Chicken is often not my friend and I should have known better. Then may have eaten it too fast. So then I couldn't finish my other stuff and was soon in a lot of pain and feeling extremely uncomfortable. Had to go hang out in the bathroom "just in case" two times. Did some sliming but nothing else ever came up. It was a miserable experience and left me feeling kind of drained the rest of the day. And, seemed to trigger shoulder pain that felt like that post-op shoulder pain so many of us had. In fact, that was really the worst of it because it didn't go away until tonight. Anyway, enough of that! Early tomorrow morning we are driving up towards the Canadian border. DD & SIL gave us a whale watching cruise for Christmas and we're going tomorrow. We added two nights in Victoria BC, so we won't be back until Saturday evening. Our poor cat won't know what happened to us! We bought two new umbrellas for this trip!! Weather forecast does not look good! Hope we see some whales and not too much rain! OH, baby week in our family!! After 5 grandsons in 6 years, one of my sisters finally got a granddaughter yesterday. And today SIL's daughter (our step-granddaughter) had her 2nd baby girl.