gingerbug

Maybe they should have just prayed more. That would solve everything. :bored:

I agree with you. I am teaching my children to be honest and considerate and to be ethical in what they do because they want to be a better person today than they were the day before. I believe that in every person lies the ability to have a strong moral platform based on human decency, not on the fear of an imaginary person in the sky who is going to rain hell and brimstone on their heads if the do something 'wrong'. I can live a good and moral life without a god figure in my life. I dont need Jesus to hold my hand when I am faced with an ethical dilemma. I am ultimately responsible for what I say and do. I weigh the consequences of my actions and make decisions based on that. I teach my children to think about how what they say and do impact other people. Frankly, some of the things written in this thread are downright scary.

It happened to me all the time, especially when I would have soup from a can, too much sodium. It is temporary!

Hello, I hope you can answer this question. I am planning on doing lipo from the waist to the knees, a tummy tuck, and breast implants. Can these procedures be done together? If so, is recovery difficult enough to consider doing them separately? If all three should not be done together, is there a certain order or combo that would work well? One last question, I am waiting until next summer to schedule these because I want to have a steady weight for at least a year and because I want to continue to lift weights as I have been doing to be as strong and fit as possible for when I have the surgeries. Do you find that those who are physically fit have better results or have an easier time with recovery? Thank you, I appreciate your time.

I had to change the seat settings to almost all the weight machines I occasionally use. I switched to free weights and one day I decided to use the machines, I set the seat to the proper number for the calves and could not reach the pedal thing - I had to lower it two numbers just to reach!

To be perfectly honest, I am glad athiests like myself have done this, listening (or reading) the things you have to say (write) make me very grateful that children wont be exposed to that in public schools. Your truth is not absolute truth. The bible may be the end all be all for you but it is not for everyone and you have no business declaring that it is. Religion should take place in private, not in public. Parents should teach their children at home, not in public. It is not up to teachers to teach the bible or any other form of religious propaganda, it is the parents responsibility. So, if by taking prayer out of the schools means that morality in America is declining, then christian parents are slacking on the job. Furthermore, there is a lot of significant debate on wether our founding fathers were christians or not.

the point being, in order to view your world through the eyes of 'believing' you have to reject reason. You can spin it anyway you like but it all comes down to that. The discussion is even impossible to have with you because you base your beliefs on hearsay, not logic.

Well, I dont have anything meaningful to contribute to this thread but I wanted to take a moment to appreciate Lydiafree for this quote: “The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.” Benjamin Franklin Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758 Which is why it is next to impossible to have logical disagreements on subjects like this. I admire those who try. There is an awesome book by Susan Jacoby named 'Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism.'

I want to have my breast done, a tummy tuck, and lipo from the abs to the knees. Can any of these be combined? THANKS!

Worth noting, muscle does not weigh more than fat, it is more dense than fat. A pound of muscles weighs the same as a pound of fat BUT the pound of muscle is much smaller than a pound of fat. All those muscles will do wonders for any person while they lose weight, even if the muscle is building before the fat starts to come off. I think another poster already mentioned that muscle burns tons more calories even at rest.

IMO, exercise is essential. I felt the same way about working out but somewhere along this journey I discovered that when I don't work out I am a miserable hag. I must do it and I look forward to it, every day. Besides, why would I want to be skinny and flabby? I did not go through with this surgery and give up cheeseburgers just to be 'average'. I want to rock out with my muscles out.

I really feel that you need to give the process a little more time. The first couple of months is HARD and you may feel like you are on the worst diet every imagined. I personally could not BELIEVE I was supposed to just eat a small portion of a meal at each and every meal even as I was getting fills to reach my sweet spot. It can be done, I promise. A lot of people regain a little after getting off the liquids/mushies as we move into real food. Hang in there.

Dont see too many posts here, thought I start one to see how everyone is!

:smile2:

I am in, I will add myself. I missed my mark for the april challenge but I was too optimistic. Not much more weight to lose so I lowered my goals to .5 pounds a week. I am thinking 4 pounds weight loss goal.

Missed my goal but I am not going to complain! I rock what I got!

This has been my true test lately. Dh has a serious injury with complications that is requiring him to be off work for a year and is on his 4th surgery tomorrow (with6 more to go). I have been craving lifting free weights more than anything. Not eating, drinking, or smoking. I need to feel my muscles work hard and then I feel immensely better. I am so happy I did not automatically turn to Ben and Jerrys!

I regret not doing it sooner. I regret taking the tags off some of the size 12 pants that are beginning to get too lose to wear before actually wearing them and now I cant return them. I regret not having the foresight to buy the swim suit I wore last year 4 sizes smaller cause I loved that suit and it was discontinued. I do not, however, regret my band!!!

I dont think I am going to be able to drop 4 pounds in a week and a half at this point. I feel pretty good about that though, I think i can get within 2 pounds of it. It is not like I am crying into my steel-cut oatmeal about it I am super pleased all in all!

I hope I did this right! http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pfAYfZkr9NWic_LuT_qA_DA

I always try to say this when people ask me about this- you doc will give you the best info, not me. BUT, since you ask for my opinion I will gladly give it. To be honest, pizza did me in for the stretched pouch, I am serious. I was going to just take a nibble at chuck e cheese and I was shocked how much I ended up eating. sigh. If you are wondering if your pouch is stretched, you could try a full liquid diet for 4 or so days and then have solids again. If you get your restriction back then you have your answer. I was FLOORED how tight my restriction got after 6 days of liquids and I was only stretched double the size it should have been. I wa smilitant about the size/weight of my food after that. I went in for an unfil recently to start maintaining and my pouch was still nice and tight under flouro. As far as constipation, I have citrucel three times a day and I am good to go and I have IBS with constipation and am miserable without it!