MerryHearted

I second the vote for women's shelters -- they are always short on plus sized clothes, at least in our area. Of course, my latest donations have been in sizes 18-24 that were too small for me rather than too big! I got sick of them sitting in the closet reminding me how fat I've gotten. lol Even though I've since made the decision to be banded and those sizes will be in my reach again, I'm still not the slightest bit sorry I gave them away. Part of the losing weight fun is buying new clothes as you drop sizes, no?

You are doing great too Diane! 50 lbs ain't nothin to sneeze at!

My primary care doctor prescribed Topamax for weight loss about a year or so ago. I think I took it for all of 2 days. It made me feel weird (I can't remember now what the side effect was) -- and it freaked me out to take a drug meant for seizures just in hopes that it would suppress my appetite. If I were you I wouldn't take it -- you have control over what you put in your body, like others have said.

A minister decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon. Four worms were placed into four separate jars. The first worm was put into a container of alcohol. The second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke. The third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup. The fourth worm was put into a container of good clean soil. At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following results: The first worm in alcohol - Dead. The second worm in cigarette smoke - Dead. Third worm in chocolate syrup - Dead. Fourth worm in good clean soil - Alive. So the Minister asked the congregation - What can you learn from this demonstration? A little eldery woman in the back quickly raised her hand and said, "As long as you drink, smoke and eat chocolate, you won't have worms!"

Amen sisters! You've got the right to get healthy, and you need to do what you need to do. It's clear he's got some issues of his own to work out. I know my husband had initial concerns and when I sat down and asked him to ask all the questions he had and voice all his concerns, it really helped. I managed to soothe his concerns on all but one point: "what if it doesn't work?" -- his fear that another failure will drive me to deep depression and that I'll give up entirely on getting healthy. So I recommend having a heart to heart with your husband. And maybe bring him to the surgeon consult or to a lapband seminar to grill the surgeon on any concerns he may have. Good luck! -Renee

Congrats LoopyLou!!

Well, how about getting The Firm videos -- you'll get some toning with weights in as well as cardio. I loved them when I was thinner (200 lbs instead of 286!) Can't do them now -- my joints & muscles just can't support my weight to do lunges, pushups, etc. Right now I'm a sucker for (don't laugh!) Richard Simmons Sweatin to the Oldies videos. The old ones. If they don't still sell them new I'm sure you can find them on Ebay. Fun music, real people not skinny minnies, wearing normal t-shirts / sweats and not spandex, and low impact. It's easy to get a 45-55 min cardio workout with these videos long before I can sustain that length of a workout doing other things. Water aerobics is great too if you have a pool nearby. For me, that's better than laps since I can't swim laps steadily for 45-55 min fast enough to keep my heart rate up where I want it. (muscles just not there -- I have to rest too often) Good luck!

Well whenever we've had cats missing we check with animal control daily for awhile, as well as petfinder and posting ads. It may be the case that the kitty that got hit had a microchip or a collar -- I know we have our cats chipped. Animal control will call the family after picking up a pet if they have the chip or some other identifying info. We found this out the hard way when we lost a cat -- they called to say they had her but neglected to mention she was dead. I went running down there to get her, so happy that she had been found. It was horrible. For those of you who have pets -- PLEASE get them chipped -- even if they wear a collar with identifying info, it might get lost or pulled off somehow if they ran away or got out. I almost hit a pair of poodles last week running pell-mell down the middle of a busy road. I managed to catch one of them (the other tried to take my hand off) and took it into the local vet clinic since animal control wasn't open. They scanned for a chip but the poodle didn't have one. I don't know if they found her family -- they kept her since it looked like she needed some attention and food, she was looking a little ragged.

I'll be right there doing the Optifast with ya hun! My date is Aug 31st, just got scheduled today.

Well, add me to the list -- I'm scheduled for Aug 31! Woohoo!! Barely squeaked into the August bunch, huh?

Hang in there Mae! You've been a great inspiration as I'm getting started on this journey. Hopefully you'll have a fill soon and feel better. ((hugs))

Best wishes Carrie! Looking forward to hearing from you when you get back online.

Then: I didn't have a TV growing up...so Six Million Dollar Man is the only one I remember from my early years because I had a HUGE crush on him and he was going to jump off the roof (cue sound effects here) and marry me. Nowadays: House CSI Medium 24 Navy NCIS Alias Without a Trace Six Feet Under Everwood The 4400 Dead Zone Nanny 911 -- just to see the awful, awful kids American Idol Numbers Cold Case wishing Joan of Arcadia didn't get cancelled Whew -- good thing we have TiVo!

Hi Pam! I'm scheduled for my pre-op appts this week at NWWLS myself. They make you go to their seminar first, so make sure you find a time and sign up for it. I tried to just make an appt since I had already done my research and knew I was ready to get started, but no dice. Hope I can get my surgery scheduled soon! Let me know if you do end up going through them -- maybe we'll run into each other at support group meetings.

I've researched a bunch on what the dietary recommendations are post-banding because I was also concerned -- and everywhere I look they are recommending healthy, well-rounded diet including all of the food groups. [after the healing stage] There's no recommendations for living on Protein Drinks or processed crap at all -- in fact they tell you NOT to use those things, that you should be eating "hard food" -- i.e. real meat, real grains, fresh fruits & veggies, etc. rather than drinking your meals if you want the band to really work for you. The healing stage is different of course. The reason they want you to eat "protein first" is so that your body doesn't eat away at your muscle mass. I'm sure when you go in for your consult on Tuesday you can ask them to go over the dietary recommendations post-banding/after healing and you'll see it's not a processed junk diet at all.

You're cracking me up! Be careful tho -- the cooking bug is hard to get rid of once you've realized how fun it is.

Hey Pam - we also collect those flattened pennies from whereever we go on vacation. That and we try to find a Christmas ornament. Other than that, neither of us are collectors -- I grew up with a mom who refused to collect anything -- if it's not useful, there's no reason to have it! lol, no wonder her house looks so tidy and clean.

Congratulations!!! That's great -- you are very inspiring to those of us about to get banded. Best wishes on those final 20 lbs. And WOW -- a new Jag -- you are one lucky girl!

I also love Law & Order. I have 4 cats! I like to quilt, and have an adopted daughter.

For online shopping, Junonia. Very comfy shorts and I like their long seashell T's. Modest swimsuits too. Unfortunately way too pricey! In person, for non-sport clothing, I like Catherine's Plus Sizes. Keep in mind that I'm 35. In my 20's I'd shop at Lane Bryant (in person, not the catalog) but nowadays most of their clothes seemed aimed at a younger crowd. Or else I'm just not that trendy. Definitely not trendy, now that I think about it.

That is funny, isn't it? Since so many of the elliptical trainers have the calorie counters right on them you'd think that'd be one of the ones they'd be able to list!

Some insurance carriers (many, as it seems!) just flat out refuse to cover bariatric surgery period. Some will cover the RNY but not LapBand.

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.html can help with figuring out what you are burning for an activity depending on your weight.

(( hugs )) I think we all empathaize that high school can be a real b*tch when it comes to people being mean about how you look, particularly weight. Hang in there! And if approval doesn't come, know this: you are a valuable person regardless of your weight and any disabilities that come along with it.

Congrats Pam! Keep us all posted on how it goes these first few weeks.