Wheetsin

Neal, it's interesting you say that. Through my local support group I've met two other women close to my age that "hang out" on occasion. Two of us were normal weight until later in life. The other was overweight for most of her life. We've had conversations about how the weightloss experience is different for us... from our perspective, we're getting our bodies back. We know what we *should* look like, we just haven't seen it in a while. From the perspective of the third lady, she's never seen herself thin. She has no idea what her "average" body looks like - whether or not she's hippy, the shape of her legs, what styles of clothing compliment her, etc. When you're wearing women's clothing as a child, I can see how you'd never know these things, and that has to be more than a little strange.

Lisa, if you happen to have lots of spare time laying around, I thought you might find these passages interesting. A lot of them echo what you've been saying. From Reverend Mel White: I've spent more than 50 years reading, studying, memorizing, preaching, and teaching from the sacred texts. I earned my master's and doctoral degrees at a conservative biblical seminary to better equip myself to "rightly divide the word of truth." I learned Hebrew and Greek to gain a better understanding of the original words of the biblical texts. I studied the lives and times of the biblical authors to help me know what they were saying in their day so I could better apply it to my own.

My grandmother will be 75 this week. I've already set up a surprise dinner (she thinks it's just me and her going, but the entire family will be there) at her favorite restaurant, ordered a cake, balloons, flowers, etc. Those were the easy parts. The hard part is figuring out a gift. :faint: She is in good health, but has started gifting away her possessions, streamlining her will, etc. Because of this I'm hesitant to buy her anything "material" - knick-knacks, etc. I've gone the route of maid, lawn service, pre-paid classes, computer, etc. and they're either done, or haven't gone over as well as one might hope. So my current thought is to treat her to a day at the spa - color correction rinse for her hair (white hair + smoker = yellow hair), cut, manicure, facial, pedicure, etc. Maybe Mario Triccoci or one of the "papmering" spas. She won't do a massage - too modest. Any other suggestions? $500 or under.

I love watching hockey, but I don't know much about it. Much more exciting than our three big ones here. Is curling big there?

In general it is true. The man's metabolism (especially on low carb diets, for whatever reason) and a few other factors lend themselves very well to weightloss.

I don't know a lot about it, it isn't my cup of tea, nor anyone in my family, but it's some kind of car racing where they drive around in an oval for - no idea - either some number of laps or some length of time. I have no idea what kinds of cars, or what fuel, or however it is that the cars are classed. I've heard about two names, one is a girl who does commercials (I've seen her commercials, but couldn't tell you what her name is) and the other is a guy that died named Dale Earnhart (sp)... the only reason I know that is because lots of cars around have stickers with his name and "3" on them, which has something to do with him or how he died. Ayup, that's about the extent of what I know. Here is a wiki for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASCAR

You've gotten several great answers already. Why after a fill, do we need another and another? For a few reasons. For one, restriction is rarely reached in one fill, and the goal is not "fill" it's "restriction". Another reason is shrinking of the fat around the organs. There's also suspicion of osmosis, etc. over time. Does the actual stomache shrink as we lose weight? OR Do we stretch it as we eat more and more solid foods? The actual stomach can shrink, which is really more link it returning to its normal size. Many obese people have "stretched" their stomachs with the large quanitities of food they have eaten. As wuanitites are decreased and the stomach is no longer being stretched, it's able to shrink back down. There's really not much connection between your two questions, no "or"... if you eat more and more, your stomach can expand to accomodate, but any connection to losing weight is indirect. The stomach can grow or shrink with weight staying constant. Why not just one fill and thats that? I understand after the surgery, theres a lot of swelling and they would have to do a fill after all the swelling goes down. BUT why a fill and a fill and a fill? I don't understand how it works?? Because one fill is rarely enough to reach restriction. Many surgeons like to go slow. There's no "magic" number at which people reach restriction, so it's a constant tuning process -- too loose, too tight, a little too loose, now a little too tight... Hope this helps.

I hate personalized plates I can't figure out. This one has bugged me for a while: KNTOBZ. Ken Tobe's? Kind to bees? And where my parents live there's a HVN CNT. Which a male friend of mine swears is not heaven sent, but instead... well, let's just say it would rhyme with heaving runt.

I have been a vegetarian, now I just don't eat red meat. A veggie diet is definitely doable. My diet still consists largely of tofu dishes, garden burgers, and beans.

I was born premature and was underweight as a kid. Average/lean (athelete) in school. Consistenyl gained about 10 lbs when sports weren't in season, and lost them as soon as they were. Started gaining in college after I was no longer able to play sports (accident). Had a hard time keeping weight off. Hit about 60 - 80lbs overweight and put myself on a strict self-prescribed diet & exercise plan, lost all the weight in about 5 months. Maintained the loss for about 6 months (about 9 years ago), then started gaining and never really stopped. Brief stint with Atkins brought me down to about 290, then over the next year I ballooned up to my high weight.

What is FIGJAM? I've from San Diego, so I'm accustomed to surfer brands. As you would be. But I see them here. And in Kansas, too. :paranoid

Top Gear is a British automotive show typically geared toward demonstrations of high-end automobiles, but they headed to Alabama for a for a little friendly contest. Three Brits, three cars, several cans of paint and a camera crew. The rules - you cannot get shot or beaten while driving across the state. The goal - to get one of the others shot or beaten while driving across the state, as a result of what you've painted onto their cars. The contestants: "Country and Western is rubbish" Chevy "Hillary for President", "I'm Bi", "Nascar Sucks" Cadillac "Man Love Rules" Dodge Who wins?: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKz4QgVQBHI]YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.[/ame]

bug - how are you doing with liquids? The back pain is my "sure sign" that something is stuck and needs to come up. Up until then, there's a chance it will pass on its own. I was overfilled a few weeks ago. My surgeon's nurse's advice was that if I could keep liquids down, then give it a few days as there could be residual swelling from the fill -- but that if I could not keep liquids down, call for an unfill immediately. I did OK with foods the first few days, but in TINY quantities. Like an ounce, or less. Through a series of events I unfortunately got to the point where my own saliva couldn't pass. So if just a few bites of very soft foods are causing you to get stuck, absolutely engage your surgeon's advice. Trust me - you don't want to be where I was, it's no fun!

:clap2: :clap2: :clap2: So many people are overcome by what an old grad psych professor of mine called so perfectly, "Stinkin' thinkin'".

Do you feel well enough to get out of the house yet? 2 days after my surgery I couldn't stand just laying (ok, reclining) there in the living room any longer, so I went to Target, leaned on the shopping cart, and browsed the store. It was sooo nice to get out of the house, and really did wonders for me. Did your surgeon give you any pain meds, and are you taking them? What hurst still? How about renting some good movies, or having some company over? Or other things that help the time pass... How long are you on liquids for?

Miscommunication, me thinks.

SPeaking of anonymity on the road -- have you seen the ones where there's a stick figure representative of each family member, with their first names, and then a "The Whatevers" on top? (E.g. "The Smiths" on top, and a dad stick figure that says "Raymond" below, and a "Glenda" mother, and then three children, all named as well.) That always scares me, on their behalf, because that's enough information for someone creepy to do a good bit of harm.

Oy, yes. I'm the same way about car "bras". DH had one on a white car once, and it was a real doozy on the paint job.

The situation for many insurance companies is purely fiscal. It has to make dollars and cents because it's a business. This means the investment of paying for the lap-band has to save them at least that amount in what they pay out. When you factor in the time that the averagte American of average banding age stays at a job, and the long term success rates, etc. -- insurance companies just aren't seeing great ROI. I had a conversation with a person who had worked at UHC when the "banding buzz" first hit. She said their average customer stayed with them for 3 years, but that it would take an average of 5 years to break even with their investment. I've heard the same claim (different numbers) from people who have worked for two other major medical providers. My ins didn't require a supervised diet, but if they had, I wouldn't have had a problem with it. But I think it's a thin, thin band-aid to change someone's qualifying status because of any loss or gain during that time. They see from our records histories of losing & gaining weight. Of course we'll lose weight on a supervised diet, and we'll probably gain that weight once the diet is over. So if my BMI drops to 39 because I went on this diet, don't pull my qualifications, ya know?

...and a computer monitor. (Which actually, I'm quite fond of. Had it not been a "Vlentine's Day" present, I'd be quite pleased, so perhaps I should turn that friwn upside down...)

Ok, so was this a random gift, or had you commented to your students about the dryness of your hands? BTW, romantic intentions or not, Aveeno is good stuff!

What, if anything, is too serious to joke about? Nothing that I've come across yet, depending on the situation. There's situational seriousness, but not absolute. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be? Greater patience for some of the things I have little patience for now. Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them? I don't know that I truly envy anyone enough to give up my life to have theirs. I had to fight obesity, but all in all my life is plenty good enough for me. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what woud it be? More exposure to lower income families/people. I was raised in a very affluent area, in a family that - from about the time I was 3 on - did not want for anything. My classmates were mostly the children of actors/actresses, professional sports players, etc. The first time I was introduced to a less affluent "real" setting, it was very uncomfortable to me. To date, I still do not always respond the way I should. E.g. - suggesting an expensive restaurant without thinking that might put a friend in an akward position, or being out shopping with a friend and walking into an expensive store without first thinking that it could be "in your face" to be there. I should be more proactive in my considerations. If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it? Probably depends on the type of execution, and how it was being broadcast. If it were being done for money/ratings, no way. I've seen people die before. And in my time I've seen some things I later wished I hadn't, and I know they can stay around and haunt you for a while, and have a way of literally making your skin crawl regardless of how much time has passed. Yet I am very curious in a purely physiological/medical way about what happens during some types of execution... curious enough to watch one... perhaps, depending on the type. But I would really have to weigh it against the potential for regret. Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed? Probably overdressed. It's much easier to dress down an outfit, than to dress it up. What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences? I think the memories. The experiences last - minutes. Each second is over in the next. It's only the memories that live on past that 2nd second. In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more? Definitely listen. I'm an INTJ -- an observer. If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf? Deaf, for a purely practical reason - communication. If I'm blind, I have to re-learn an entire written system. If I'm deaf, I can still read what people write to me. I enjoy music immensely, but can always recall and feel the vibrations.

Yep, I have dryness too. I've had to switch from "for oily" or "for normal" to "ultra hydrating", and even after a hydrating wash & condition, I still get frizzy. My hair never used to do that. It used to lay very nicely. And my curls have changed. I've heard anesthesia can do this. They've gone from loose spirals, to flat waves. But only in some places, leaving me with really uneven curls that I now have to get permed if I want uniformity.

From a conversation book I've had for years and years... What, if anything, is too serious to joke about? If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be? Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them? If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what woud it be? If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it? Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed? What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences? In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more?If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf?

Let's see... A book someone has written about lap-band. A removed lap-band. Print outs from a fluoroscopy. T-shirts (a la cafe press). Ok that's all I can think of, but none of those would surprise me.