Wheetsin

I'm very critical (silently) of others' eating now. Especially people who are obese. Like finally doing something about my problems give me the right to think that way towards others I know... weird. When I first read the title of this thread, my initial reaction was "No, just the fat ones." I would say the average meal at an average restaurant should feed about 3 people. And I don't mean 3 bandsters.

BlooEyez - when you have your 2nd PB, try to stick with liquids for the rest of the day. You may have lucked out. Usually if you PB, you will be significantly swollen and the stoma can be more constricted than normal, meaning your chances of repeat PBs are MUCH MUCH higher.

I've worked at national level charities and I know too much about what goes on behind the scenes to donate anything to them. I tried freecycle but (like Alexandra) had some unsavory experiences of the "I'll take everything, what else ya got?" kind. Then I saw some of the things I had given away for sale on ebay. So I posted some on ebay. I made $$$ off them, seriously! More than I paid. But it takes time, and who has that? I've given away bags and bags to local bandsters, but now I'm prety much out of touch with them. My short term solution - I have seriously rented a storage unit to house the clothes. And other things as well, don't get me wrong. But I know there's a minimum of 20 "Ziploc XXXL bags", 20 - 30 Rubbermaid totes, 10+ 55g trash bags, and two 100g storage chests crammed full of clothes. And that's just the stuff I can remember. Let's not forget everything I've forgotten, and everything around the house still. Yes even at 32+ I was a clothes horse. Now I'm between 14 & 18, and I bought a full wardrobe for every single size. That's a LOT of clothes (and I don't even want to think about how much money!) I've been seriously considering taking them to one of those "sell your ebay stuff for you" places. They take like a 10% - 15% commission, but handle everything including the shipping. Similar convenience, I would imagine, as consignment shops. SERIOUSLY thinking about doing that.

Commercials part 3

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIsHj3DNGUc]Commercials part 2[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eEGjXObPRQ]Commercials they should air, but don't[/ame]

Great video

She is still around. She had some issues with her account that we had to work through, but all is well and I'm sure she will return as soon as she has the time. She knows we miss her!

Just a suggestion, not moderation - why not just let it go? People have had their say. Everyone wants to "move on". That's not going to happen as long as this stuff continues.

Venting is good, and we're good at it here. Maybe I can help make sense of some of the things you're experiencing. Doesn't it seem like we lose weight at a snails pace compared to everyone else? By we do you mean people with the band, or just people who are significantly overweight? Even worse, it seems like we GAIN weight faster than everyone else. This I have noticed. Gain on the tail end of loss is predictable. I think rate of gain also has to do with the extent to which we overeat. E.g. take a "normal" person who has lost 10 lbs, and may gain back 2. And a "fat" person who has lost 50 lbs, and may gain 15. Two things working against the fat ones - the amount they lost (which usually has a strong correlation to the amount that is gained), and the way in which the weight is gained. The "normal" person doesn't have an eating problem, the "fat" person does. Chances are the fat person is consuming a helluva lot more calories, hence the quicker weight gain. Have you ever been on a diet, stuck to every single little rule and didn't cheat even just a little bit - then, one day you have a morsel of something "bad" and gain 2 pounds?? This experience is exactly what kills so many diets before they even have a chance to kick in. People defeat themselves way too quickly. If you've been around a while you've seen me say it more than once - weight does not equal fat. Weight is your skin, everything on it, and everything in it. Fat is fat. During the first 7 - 10 days of a diet, especially a full omission diet (where some thing or things are excluded, e.g. low fat, low carb -- as opposed to a redcuded calorie diet where the overall calories are viewed rather than individual types of foods), your body is fighting like mad to keep the fat on. I won't go into the sordid details, but one byproduct of that battle is to retain things like Water and glycogen. What happens most of the time is that -- maybe some fat is lost, meube it's not, but it certainly isn't gained. However, the body is being greedy with all the things it's trying to hold on to, and not releasing the way it does when you're in a dietary equilibrium. This means you weigh more than you did a week ago, even if you have less fat on your body. People see that jump in the scale and say, "F it, I'm 2# heavier, this diet isn't working" when - if they could have just given it a little while longer - their body would have adjusted and they would have started to see the difference. And then there's the specific restriction leaps and bounds. Take low carb diets for example. While in a state of ketosis, the body uses a lot of water. Most people don't adequately increase their intake, so their body is continuously in a state of mild dehydration (that's on TOP of the dehydration most people are always in). When you break ketosis, you will gain water weight. It's pretty much a guaranteed thing. It can be as little as a pound, or as much as 18+ pounds. People on low carb diets in ketosis will "cheat", break their ketosis, see they've gained 10 lbs overnight, NOT make the distinction between "gain" and "fat gain" and give up because all of their sacrifice has been for nothing. This is why scale's aren't the way to go. I'm so frustrated I could scream! I'm on my pre-op liquid diet, been good as gold for 8 days and I've lost 5 measly pounds! GRRRRRR! I remember when I could lose 5 pounds in 2 days, now it takes me 8 whole days of nothing but liquid??!! Liquid diets usually aren't for weightloss, they're usually for a specific outcome, e.g. shrinking the liver, giving intestinal issues time to "take it easy," flushing some part of the body, etc. Try not to let yourself be frustrated by this. Part of it could be your age (you mention remembering the day -- also remember that your body has changed since then), part of it could be the liquids... there are SO many variables here. So frustrating. I really think that years of yo-yo dieting has messed with my metabolism. No worries here, it can't happen. Your body - if subjected to extreme dieting - becomes more efficient at storing fat. This "unexplained" weight gain, coupled with the additional challenges in weightloss that can come with age, hormonal changes, etc., and the body's natural tendency to change its own composition (which yoyo dieting can add to - remember, the body always tries to hold on to the fat it has... yo-yo dieting can make your body, well, to make a long story short, your body can become less sure of where its next meal is coming from, and want to hold on to even more fat, just in case... hence your equilibrium state is now fatter than it used to be). I know I didn't gain this weight over night, and I know it'll take a long-long-LONG time to lose it... but 5 pounds?? Come on! And I would say to you, 5 pounds in 8 days?? Come on, what more do you want!?!? :cool: Of course now I'm concerned with what will happen when I'm banded (this Friday). I know I'll go crazy when I see the scale creeping along, or even stopping after surgery. It's just so frustrating. The ideal thing would be to hide the scale - been there, done that. I always talk myself into stepping on it. I try not to be obsessive with the numbers, but, how can you not be? It's not that hard to get away from. It really does work to get rid of the scale. Just throw it away. It doesn't tell you what you need to know. If you want to do something compulsively, invest in a body fat meter, or hell - a $4 tape measure. Those will give you a much better idea of the changes in your body than a scale will. I'm really discouraged and really just plain bummed out. I know it'll take a while, but, I'm literally starving on this #$#%$ pre-op diet and so disappointed. I know we've all felt like this - I just needed to vent. And vent away. It's good for you. And understanding why some of these things may help.

Stretchmarks can become less noticeable, but will never go away unless as a previous poster mentioned, the skin is removed. Hydration should help with the itchies. You can also try something like Calamine lotion. If you go the moisturizer route, you may as well use a good quality soothing lotion, something like Aveeno or another brand that uses colloidal oatmeal oils might do wonders.

My port is in a different area, keep that in mind. My first fill, done under a local, hurt like hell. Not the fill itself, but the numbing. Hurt much, much worse than you'd think a lidocaine shot would hurt. Second fill (and all subsequent fills) I requested no local, and they didn't hurt a bit. Just the teeniest, tiniest prick - seriously less noticeable than getting blood drawn. Once the needle is through the skin, Idon't feel a thing.

It reads to me that surgical treatments for obesity, post-op aesthetic treatments such as plastic surgery, and treatment programs such as Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig are excluded from your policy. Usually specific procedures aren't listed as exclusions. So, for example, they will say something like "surgical treatment of morbid obesity" instead of listing each and every procedure out there. They would never list "lap-band" so don't bother looking for it. Lap-band is a brand name, not a generic term. "Adjustable gastric banding" is usually what it's referred to as, but if surgical treatment of morbid obesity is excluded, the band would normally be part of that. There is a procedure code for adjustable gastric banding posted here. I don't remember what it is, but run a search. Then just call and ask if that's covered. If you can't find the code, call and ask about adjustable gastric banding as a surgical treatment for morbid obesity.

I'm not a mom, so forgive the piping up, but I would have some serious reservations about a 16 y/o's ability to make the behavioral changes and comittment that come with being banded. Then again, 300# and only 16 -- those certainly aren't circumstances you see every day. I don't know any teenage bandsters. I do know teenage RnYers, and compliance is a big facor for them. Huge. Also, Puddin has done fantastic and I certainly don't mean to take anything away from her, but you (your daughter) have to keep in mind that she has also had plastic surgery. Most of us don't look like that, even at goal. If your daughter has been overweight most of her life, she probably won't either. My advice is to make sure she is realistic about what she will accomplish in what amount of time, and without additional medical assistance. Maybe I missed this somewhere, but if you're divorced, and you have custody, why do you need to convince your ex that this is the right thing?

No restrictions by my doctor before the fill, just after. I opt to go without eating or drinking that day. It really shouldn't matter, they're probably wary of having the stoma irritated, and that impacting the fill. I don't eat/drink because I want the scale to represent my weight, not how thirsty I was or how big of a meal I ate. :Banane10:

Totally for it. Think it should be assistaed by a medical professional or someone else who somehow knows what they're doing. Would hate for the attempt to fail and only prolong or increase the suffering. I was for it even before having to watch 4 family members wait for cancer to do the job. It's hard to see something like that, and not think this is a good idea. [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Death-Confront-Assisted-Suicide/dp/0684801000]Good read[/ame] if you're interested in the topic.

Ayup. I have one of those too. Emphasis in literary naturalism, to make matters worse. :rolleyes I like margaritas if I can't taste the alcohol. The Euphoria from Cheeseburger in Paradise does nicely. By far the best margarita I've ever had. If it needs to be at home, then a rose (Tequila Rose) margarita will do quite nicely!

I've experienced healthcare in a socialized system, not personally, but I've been there as a loved one was, and it was awesome. A lot of people think it wouldn't be because the doctors aren't getting rich, so what's in it for them, but IME it was the total opposite - because the doctors weren't making money hand over foot, they were there for love of the profession. They were so "in to" what they were doing, and their bedside manner was amazing. There was also a lot more medical monradery than I've seen in the states. Don't get me wrong, there was still a pecking order, but it was much less rigorously hierarchical.

Like shit, plateaus happen. I tend to plateau for months and months at a time, and trust me - there's no "sure fire" way to get it moving again. You just have to wait for your body to be ready. Most plateaus aren't plateaus, they're dieters/eaters slipping into old habits and either not realizing it, or not being honest about it. But sometimes the body is just done giving up fat for a bit. BTW, 2 weeks isn't a plateau. It's not even a stall. It's typical & should be expected. Honestly, don't think twice about it.

I have been practicing Aikido for... 6 years now, I guess. Not competitively, I just enjoy it.

Umm, my inner geek is fighting to get out, and I can't keep it contained. Don't ask why I know this stuff. You don't need to tan to promote Vitamin D, you just need full spectrum lighting. You can get this from any lightbulb rated "6500K" (Kelvin). Full spectrum lighting is one treatment used for seasonal affective disorder. Places that see little sunlight for long periods of time have super high suicide rates related to seasonal affective disorder, so to help with this bars, clubs, malls, etc. have started using full spectrum bulbs in their fixtures. Full spectrum doesn't cost any more, and creates a more natural light anyway. 6500K is the temperature of the light produced by the sun, so a 6500k light source is the closest you will get to natural sunlight. It's sooooo easy on the eyes. Any big box hardware store will stock 6500K fluorescent bulbs. Most craft stores will lamps with 6500K bulbs because quilters, sewers, etc. find it's easier to work with. Hell, Sam's Club had them in their office supply section last time I looked. Most of the lamp-sized lights will be compact fluorescents (they look like one bulb that has a few rows of tiny fluorescent lights, or the "curly" tube lights). There's a brand called Lights of America, and I believe they are the leading maker of full spectrum lighting solutions for the home. Check and see if you can find products from them. And tell your doc to quit being a dummy and suggesting that people fake bake when they can slash the UV and use a commonplace, safe & skin-friendly full spectrum lamp instead! :faint: