phyllser

Another good cottage cheese trick! I'll have to try that. One night last week when I wanted a snack we had some leftover spaghetti sauce in the fridge (we have it over french style green Beans instead of pasta), so I mixed some sauce with some cottage cheese & stuck it in the microwave... sort of like lasagna!! It was good! Hope you have a great time in Florida!! And a SWEET Valentine's Day with your Hubby!!

Hope you're enjoying your blizzard!! I know what you mean about the $$$$!! All that new underwear last weekend... $80+! Then I bought myself the New Balance watch this week to track my heart rate/calories (and can't figure out how to do that!!) AND... now I have my sights set on one of those fitness bells that they showed us at that support group Janet and I went to last week!! $70 includes a DVD to show you how to use it! Too bad I didn't get an instructional DVD with the watch!!

If you've been feeling tired all day you better take it easy... and you said your GS was sick. We think we had the 24 hr flu last week... we both had flu shots, so we didn't get very sick... just felt really, really tired, only lasted for about 20 minutes of water aerobics... couldn't even lift my arms, and we had some mild stomach cramps and nausea. That was it! You had flu shot, too, so maybe you've got a mild case of the flu. Better rest.

Boy!! Where is everyone???? A very quiet day here in Lucky #7 Land! Hey... my bra story started quite a discussion, didn't it?!! I can just imagine everyone trying that over the head trick!! Never thought of that one! That was a new one for me... pretty unique!! That was Steph, right?? I guess before I went to front hooks, I did the hook it in the front and turn it around thing. But when I tore my rotator cuff... don't remember why, but I couldn't even do that. My right arm was pretty useless for a while. Had to have DH hook the bra in the back until I bought the front hooks! That was not fun. I am so excited about wearing my "hearts" underwear tomorrow for Valentine's Day that my swimming pool bag is already packed for tomorrow morning! And I'm so excited that my DH actually made plans for tomorrow!! Nothing fancy, but he's got the day all planned out. I was impressed with that!! I bought myself a Valentine's present... with DH's blessing. He's not a very good shopper. He was going to go to Wal-Mart today and get something until I solved his problem!! I got this New Balance watch that tracks your heart rate, calories burned, counts laps, etc. Now if I can just figure out how to read it!! I have it all set up... you put in sex, age, weight. But I wore it to the pool this morning and I can't figure out how to do the lap counting function or the calories burned. I have read the instructions through at least twice. Guess I'll have to read it again!! I am usually pretty good with this techy stuff, but this one has me stumped. I can get it to show me my heart rate but that's about it. I even set the alarm for 7 a.m. and it didn't go off!! Back to the instruction book!! Hope everyone is having a great day!!

Phyl -- Tell me more about this cottage cheese concoction with splenda and cinnamon. Is it good? The only way I ever eat cottage cheese is plain. Other suggestions? I might have to try it. On another note, I so hope your aunt is better. I'll keep you and her in my prayers. Steph, When I was on WW I used to take a piece of toast, spread some cottage cheese on top and sprinkle with art. sweetener and cinnamon and stick it in the broiler for a short time... kind of like a low cal cheese danish. So I thought I'd add a little Splenda & cinnamon to my cottage cheese for my night time snack and it was good! Added a little bit of diced peaches... like about 1/2 of one of those little individual containers. Another WW trick... I used both of these for breakfast... was toast, a few slices of canned peaches, a little cinnamon and some cheddar cheese & put it in the broiler until the cheese melts. Haven't done that in many years, but those two were favorite breakfasts for me on WW. No update on my aunt today. She was to be in ICU for at least several days. Thanks for your prayers!

Yep, I sure agree with that. Like as I see my sizes go down I'm already freaking about where will I shop when I'm out of the Plus sizes!!??? I'm so grateful for all of you... where here for each other and that will help us through the craziness!!

1. Make healthy choices: grilled meat/fish, steamed veggies 2. Avoid places where you know there will be few healthy choices. 3. TAKE OUT BOXES!! Eat your normal "Bandster" portion and take the rest home. We have a favorite spot we like for breakfast... they have a great seafood omelet that I love. I get hash browns with it... eat just a little, eat 1/4 of the omelet because it's HUGE, then I take the rest home and have breakfast for three more mornings!

Good Range of Motion exercise!!

Cerrin, if your doctor's office is anything like mine, you'd best not wait for THEM to call YOU!! Have you had your first post-op appointment?? If I were you, I'd call them and make an appointment for a fill. It will probably take several fills before you get to a good place... three for me, and you need to get started. You should be more than ready for your first fill! I had to be very persistent, and sometimes insistent, to get my appointments. Welcome, Olga! Glad to have you join our site!

Thanks, Peaches. I appreciate that. She's always been very close to my sisters and I... my Mom's only sister. And I'm worried about my Mom,too, because she's 86 and taking this very hard. I thought you were pretty close to Toronto. Georgian Bay... that's pretty up there.

Yeah, it's pretty nice to have the warm weather finally show up. I hope I don't have to go north!! My aunt is very ill... at Roswell in Buffalo. Had surgery to remove mass today and is very critical... 79 yrs old. Talked to my sister several times today and she said it had "warmed up" to 14 degrees this afternoon! Yeah, I can't imagine that Brownie stuff!! Good thing I don't have anything around like that! The most I can do is snag a little cottage cheese out of the refrig! Last night I jazzed it up with some Splenda and a sprinkle of cinnamon! Woo Hoo!! My biggest baddest thing I do is too often have more than one of my teeny glasses of wine! Only one today, though! Tomorrow we have a Ladies' Luncheon here. I will have to be good! DH is making me macaroni & tuna salad to take. I told him not to because he always makes too much and then I have to bring home leftovers and that stuff talks to me just as loud as your M&Ms until it's gone!! So he agreed to make half what he normally makes! Hopefully, the ladies will eat it all! Okay, Janet... you didn't fall off the wagon... just a little momentary madness! We just can't have ANYTHING around that tempts us!

Everyone's experience is different, but for me, Medicare was a breeze. My doctor's office said from the beginning that it wouldn't be a problem... they were a Center of Excellence, my BMI was high, I had multiple co-morbidities. They took care of everything. They didn't require supervised diet... I had a long history of that & probably my primary care doctor's records documented that. also, they did not require a psych eval, which surprised me because most have had to go through that. So my first appt with the surgeon was the first week of May and my surgery was July 20. I haven't paid anything except a $200 co-pay for the surgeon. I have Tricare for Life secondary because my husband is retired military. They paid all the co-pays except for that. I haven't paid anything for fills so far either. One strange thing that happened is that Medicare rejected the hospital portion of the bill... $17K... absurd since I didn't even stay overnight... So I called them about that and they told me the hospital had coded it incorrectly and if they would change the code and resubmit it they would pay it. But when I called the hospital they told me my balance was $0 and they'd already written it off!! Huh?? So I guess they didn't want to get paid! Go figure!

We didn't miss it!! We're all afraid to yell at you!!Actually, it was too scarey to think about you falling off the wagon!! Okay, so if you'll hold my hand, one day I'll try it... but where do I go??? Certainly not "Juniors"! Petites, maybe!! No old lady clothes for me, though!! Right now I want some capris with bright, flashy colors... print!! I might think about making some! Then they won't be down to my ankles like most capris that I buy! I can buy Lands' End cropped pants & they're the right length! I gotta get out of here. It's now 87 degrees inside the RV with all the windows open! going out to read my book... honest!!

I've been having bad headaches lately, too. I think I might have a blocked tear duct or something because it seems to be in my left eye. I don't like taking Ibuprofen, but nothing else seems to help. I honestly can't picture myself shopping in the NORMAL people section!! I won't know what to do!! I went from the kids' chubbies to what they used to call "half sizes" and from there to the "Women's" or Plus department!! I'll need someone to hold my hand if I venture into NORMAL!! Yikes!! Did you fall victim to the Sunday paper VALENTINES ads???? The power of suggestion can be so strong!! I felt like I was being bombarded with temptation!! I didn't do too well over the weekend... had too much wine yesterday. Usually limit myself to one 3-4 oz glass of dry red, but we were over at the neighbors' and it's easy to overdo when you're sitting visiting!! How do I cope with those "urges"... try not to have anything tempting around! I snacked on beef jerky last night, and then I had cottage cheese and fruit. Should have had one or the other but not both!! Oh, well, the beef jerky is gone now.

Isn't that great!! I don't care much for sweets anymore either. I don't want to waste my calories on stuff like that.... I want my meat/fish and veggies! We are truly making lifestyle changes!! Hooray! I looked at all those ads yesterday and felt bombarded with chocolate!! But, you're right, it doesn't really tempt me now!

That is a real bummer!! Men just don't have a clue! That's why I was so happy that my sister was able to be here for the weekend of her 60th. We had a great time & the men just came allong for the ride. They tried their hardest to talk us out of going up the Palm Springs Tram for dinner but we weren't budging!! And they actually enjoyed it once they got over their grumbling & complaining! Next year you plan your own birthday party!! You tell THEM what's going to happen and where they are going to take you!! And you know what else..... BUY YOURSELF A REALLY NICE BIRTHDAY PRESENT!!! I did that this year.

Try Lane Bryant if you have access to one!! Hasn't been my favorite store in recent years, but I sure did well yesterday. I was so delighted to find someone who would actually help me, and then they were on sale, and I found such a variety of colors and prints and stripes,even!! Whoppee!! You are right.... black, white, beige.... what we've been restricted to!!

Hope you find what you need!! I'm so happy with my new boob covers!! Can't wait to wear my red hearts on Valentine's Day!!

ATTENTION: DO NOT look at the ads in the Sunday paper today!!! They are FULL of chocolate TEMPTATIONS!! Think THIS: NOT THIS:

ATTENTION: DO NOT look at the ads in the Sunday paper today!!! They are FULL of chocolate TEMPTATIONS!! Think THIS: NOT THIS:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KARI!!

I started out just about where you are.. well, i'm 5 ft tall, first weigh in was 326.6! Lost down to 308 on pre-op diet. I'm doing really well... slow but steady progress! You can do it!! Best of luck to you!

ATTENTION: DO NOT look at the ads in the Sunday paper today!!! They are FULL of CHOCOLATE TEMPTATIONS!! Think THIS: NOT THIS:

Okay, gang, I told you I needed new bras, right?? I just didn't know how bad! Went to Penney's today looking for front hook, no wire bras. Found one style, didn't care for it, didn't know what size I needed, couldn't find anyone to help me!! So I left and went down four stores to Lane Bryant... can't remember who suggested that. Maybe it was Janet. Anyway, I found an actual living, breathing sales person in by the "intimate apparel" and asked her is she was the "bra lady". She said she was and asked me what I was looking for. I told her and she said Lane Bryant has discontinued their front hook bras but she thought I could find them at Kohl's. So I told her it's impossible to find anyone to help you in any of the department stores these days and I have no clue what size I need. So she measured me and said I measured for a 42D!! I laughed and told her I thought I was wearing about a 52D!! Actually, it was probably a 48D. All the bras I have are so old you can't read the size any more but I know they range from 48D-52D. At any rate, I was shocked at the 42D!! So I decided to try on some of their bras even though they were not front hook. So I found a style I really liked and found I actually COULD reach around and hook them (arthritis in my shoulders and previous rotator cuff surgery on one had kept me from doing that). AND, they were having a sale... buy one and the 2nd is 1/2 price. So I decided I'd buy FOUR!! Then she told me that if I spent $75 then she'd give me a coupon for another $25 off! The four bras came to more than that, so I picked out matching undies!! Okay... I know... I"m 64 yrs old!! But I got one bra that is white with red hearts all over it, and matching undies, one black & white striped w/black undies, one grey, one pink, each with matching undies. And one more extra pr of undies and all five of them were basically FREE!! I am SO HAPPY!! I have four new bras & five undies and they are all really cool colors!! AND THEY FIT!! Also found 2 prs of jeans at a yard sale for 50 cents!

If you have any type of photo studio software you can use that to "stitch" pictures together.