phyllser

Very well said, Joannmarie! I totally agree with everything you said, and BOY, can I relate to the potato thing! That's probably what I miss more than anything... potatoes! I must make sure DH buys me some sweet taters now & then. He does ALL the shopping and he NEVER buys me any carbs at all! Which is okay because I really don't lose well if I eat them. But a little roasted sweet potatoes now and then wouldn't hurt! When he has let me have some, it's usually about the equivalent of three normal size french fries! I really can't tolerate bread. Yesterday there were free hamburgers/hot dogs here at our RV park so I got a hamburger with a roll.... mostly to hold my catsup & onions!! Made the mistake of taking a bite of the roll and I was immediately uncomfortable so I peeled the rest of it off little by little... so as not to get catsup all over my fingers! It was a small patty, but I had that uncomfortable feeling for probably 2 hours after that! Managed to drink a "skinny latte" a few hours later. We had a potluck after church today. Those are always a challenge! I fixed cabbage, onions, carrots which I first sauteed in white balsamic vinegar, a couple of packets of Splenda and some spices... a little curry powder, etc. Then added about 8 beef hot dogs, sliced up, and put it all in the crock pot. Sort of like homemade sauerkraut with a few embellishments! It was pretty good! I was afraid it might be too pungent because of the vinegar, but I'll tell you what... there was NONE left! So I guess I wasn't the only one who liked it! Next time, I might water the vinegar down just a tad. But that was one meal when I didn't really get all my protein and I ate more carbs than usual.. small spoonful of scalloped potatoes, 1/2 deviled egg, a small spoonful of some kind of rice dish. Found some baked apple slices on the dessert table that were very good. That's another thing easily fixed as low calorie... apples, splenda, cinnamon..a little bit of some kind of juice maybe. There were a few raisins and walnuts in the one I sampled. Not much sugar so probably was a healthy choice. We CAN DO these things (potlucks/buffets) if we just use a little common sense and self-restraint!

Welcome, Judy, Judy, Judy!! Glad you found us!! Have you tried Benefiber?? I have a generous dose in my first jug (20 oz bottle) of Crystal Lite every day and it seems to do the trick.

Thanks!! Seems like I see more grey hair in each picture!! I might have to do something about that!! LOL

If I am remembering correctly, you have to cut/paste the one that says "BBC Code" in to your signature block. Once you get it... you never have to worry about it again because every time you go to the tickerfactory site and update, it automatically updates the ticker wherever you have posted it.

Gail, Small plate, small fork, put your fork down between bites. Buy one of those little shrimp forks. I need to get one, too! I have one at home but not in our RV & we're in it for the winter. I know I eat too fast, too & bites are too big. So I'm talking to ME, too!

Steph, So glad to hear you are safely home! Is it still so cold??? I remember those COLD ND winters too well!!

Well, any kind of beans can be blended to make them mushie. Even cook some from "scratch" and then you can spice them up any way you like. How long does your doctor have you on mushies?? Each stage can be boring, but, hang in there. It gets better! If I can think of any more ideas I'll let you know. But I think there might be a thread for mushies, too. Did you look in the recipes section?

Hi, Miranda! I don't know about research, but I think it's a highly individual thing, too. Good food choices... very important... when you get to normal food... hard protein first... 3-4 oz, then 1/2-1 cup of veggies, and very few carbs. Be careful of "slider" foods then.. things that "slide" down easily will allow you to eat more than you should. For me personally, exercise seems to be important. I didn't get much exercise this past summer. When we got to southern CA for the winter and I started doing water aerobics every day, it made a definite difference in my rate of weight loss. Mushies... FF refried beans is a good one.. you can add a little melted cheese if you like, or FF sour cream. I used a "Magic Bullet" blender a lot during the mushie stage... put soup, chili, stuff like that in the bullet to smooth it out. Cream of wheat works for "mushie", and even scrambled eggs. I don't know which threads are your favorites, but I'd recommend one of the mentors' threads for more advice and direction... "I'm Here to Help" that "Indiogirl" started is an excellent one.

Well, I may have traded an extra chin or two for a few extra wrinkles... mostly in my neck, but according to my friends, I look younger in the face. One of my Facebook friends just commented that each picture I post looks younger than the one before...she says... 43??? :thumbup::biggrin::thumbup:

Hi!! WELCOME, Amanda! So how have you been doing since your banding?? This is a great place to come for support, encouragement, advice, and Janet will give you some "tough love" if/when you need it!! Happy New Year to you, too!

Good morning, gang!! Steph, we'll sure be keeping you in our prayers as you try to make it home today in that FRIGID weather!! Well, got Earl a hobby store gift card for Christmas so he could buy himself a radio controlled airplane. He spent almost twice what was on the card, but that is a HEALTHY thing because he NEVER spends money on himself! BUT.... now he says it won't fit in the car with the wings on!! So, does this mean we now have to buy a new car that will fit his airplane???? He hasn't flown it yet and now he's frustrated because it's much too windy today. He's as nervous about flying it as our son was about flying his REAL airplane for the first time a couple of months ago!!!

Unbelievable!! I remember that kind of weather!! Two years in Minot!! Can't take the cold anymore!! Don't be depressed!! We'll never leave LBT!! But there are quite a few of us there! Oh, my! What a silly DH you have!!

NO fair!! You said you were going to be on the road all day so I parked cars on your street and now I got all these TICKETS from you!! I didn't know about the blizzard!! Honestly... I'm not sure the Sudoku rounds are the same for each person because they never seem familiar... of course it could be that I'm really old and my short term memory is far worse than I thought!! I do feel kind of silly sometimes.. I'm SO competitive that it doesn't dawn on me that I'm stressing out trying to beat MYSELF!! I cooked a bunch of cabbage tonight, too! AMAZING!! I got to be in my own kitchen!! Earl has volunteer gate duty tonight.. between that and a big fight we had this afternoon because I bought a bag of pearl onions... I dug my heels in & asserted my KITCHEN RIGHTS! He's taken over my kitchen, the shopping, the cleanup (He can KEEP that), and often tells me to get out of HIS kitchen! So after I threw a little fit, he LET me cook dinner! I made MY version of Janet's ONE POT WONDER, because when he did it I didn't like it! He used too much olive oil and it was greasy and he chopped the cabbage up so small it was unrecognizable. That was a couple of weeks ago! I decided not to use any oil at all and cooked it in white balsmaic vinegar and added two packets of splenda, some curry powder, a little garlic seasoning, teeny bit of ground cilantro & ground cumin. I put in the turkey kielbasa, the little pearl onoins, carrots and a lot of cabbage. AND I did the dishes MY way!! He's gone! I'm free for a few hours! Hee hee hee! He'll complain because the floor is a mess... onion peels. I guess I'll vacuum it before he gets back! Everyone remember Dini from Ireland?? She's on Facebook and we were just chatting online. I sent her "friend suggestions" for some of you. She has not had a very good year! Dr. ran some bloodwork & apparently hemoglobin must have been quite low because dr. told her she wouldn't have lived much longer as low as it was! Then found out her band had slipped... she had to have surgery again. She gained a little weight but not very much and is back on track again. She also dumped Adam! YAY!!

Good Morning! Good to have you back, Steph! Shouldn't have revealed that you're going to be on the road all day today.... I can park all my cars on your street (Parking Wars---Facebook) and not get any tickets!! :tongue::biggrin::confused: BTW.... Earl doesn't play ANYof those games!! I move all his cars, play all his Sudoku games. I always have both of us in every Sudoku game so that I get to play twice. The frustrating thing about that is that HIS profile lists his highest game with a better score than MY highest game! :mad::biggrin::mad::redface: Talked to Janet last night. She was just chillin' all day! I told her I think I'd been watching too much TV because when I decided to call her, I picked up the TV remote to dial her number! For a fleeting second I tried to figure out why the numbers were all wrong! :biggrin: Got weighed on the Wii yesterday... up 1.3 lb for the week! Back on track now with DD & SIL gone and all the goodies gone.

Just looked at your new photos! You look GREAT!!!

You are definitely NOT too old!! If I can do it, YOU can do it!! You can expect major improvement in your diabetic status very quickly. Back at 100% n a week.... maybe!? What kind of work do you do?

AMEN!! Me, too!! All the decorations are gone, all the goodies are gone and our DD & SIL are gone. So, time to get back to NORMAL!! We started the NEW YEAR right by going to the pool as usual at 9 a.m. I got the CD player out of the locker room assuming someone besides DH & I would show up on NEW YEARS DAY, and we ended up with 14 people! So, good to start out the first day of the new year with exercise!

Hope you're all having more fun than me because I'm stinkin' BORED!! Listening to DH snore while the news goes on and on and on!! Waiting for DD & SIL to get back from visiting friends down in Janet's neighborhood!

Congrats on the scale moving!! Afraid mine might move in the wrong direction this week! Helped DD get online last night... Travelocity.com.... and she found a room at the Hilton for this Saturday night for $67! That's a "Premium" room... generic room was $57. When they saw how cheap that was they opted for the premium. They fly out of Vegas back to Seattle on Sunday, so decided to drive up there a day early and spend one night of luxury! But, I thought the prices I saw on Travelocity were VERY reasonable!!

Thanks! You think Tracy looks like me? Never noticed it. I must have misunderstood... I thought Candice said DH was coming, too. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Yeah, that's what I say... we need a trip to Vegas! I do love the slots! You can hang out with the guys while Candice & I hit the slots!

Here we are at the Palm Springs Tram with DD & SIL! Ain't we good lookin'!?? We had such a good time, but, alas, scallops no longer on the menu! I had a filet appetizer.... sliced, cold, maybe 2 oz but it was good and I had seafood chowder with it.

Any of you that need help, this is a great site. It's one of the mentors' threads and it's the "I'm Here to Help" thread. I'm here to help... - Page 113 - Lap Band Surgery and Lap Band Discussion Forum

Well, Earl did steaks on the grill tonight, so that was better. I had my 4 oz filet, very small baked potato and some peas. Tracy going to urgent care clinic first thing in the morning while we are at water aerobics. Then we'll go to the tram. Earl dug out my nebulizer for her this afternoon and she used that twice. It did help, but she doesn't like to use it because it makes her cough stuff up. But otherwise, she's getting too tight in the chest and will end up with pneumonia. Two little guys are with people who do respite care for DHS. Foster kids are two little black boys, 2 & 3 yrs old. Too much for DD & SIL.. both working full time and kids have been sick several times in the short time they've had them. So they're getting attached, but know they can't do it much longer. Too hard. Tracy has had bronchitis or pneumonia 3X this year. Lifelong battle with asthma and eventually the lungs start to get scarred and compromised and immunity weakens.

30th Anniversary plus the 100 lb loss??? No question...time for a European cruise FOR SURE!!!