Mikey

1. 6'5" 2. 494 3. WOW - 4900+ calories/day to maintain 4. 3447 (oops) 5. 5025/day average - not bad 6. So I burned 1578/day average more than I needed to maintain. 7. 3.156 pounds for the week (supposedly)... cool! We'll see if it works...

Like many folks, I wanted to do the music thing. I went to a school of the arts for high school... then I went to the University of North Texas (North Texas State University at the time) - home of the world famous jazz program - and for some weird reason I decided to be a business major. I guess it was all that "have something to fall back on" talk that the 'grownups' kept saying. Finally, after way too many years of pounding my head against the walls of accounting, HR, and IT, I took the leap... I'm now celebrating 4 years without a day job!! Dreams do come true if you work hard enough!!

I see the poll is still tied - if it ends up being the 27th, Janet and I are still planning on coming. Sounds fun! We haven't lost quite enough yet for a clothing exchange, but who knows what'll happen in the next month!

Great poem! And I'm certainly available for lessons... Sign up now for The Great Hubby Boot Camp (void where prohibited)!

AWESOME! :clap2:

Tammy - you inspired me. Here's a list for you... The Bandster Friends & Family Ten Commandments - disobey at your peril!! :amen: I am thy friend/spouse/child/in-law; thou shalt think before thou dost speak. :party: Thou shalt not ask me if I am full yet. :twitch: Thou shalt not presume to know whether I should be eating that or not. :eek: Thou shalt not say unto me, "Wouldst thou like some broccoli to go with thine cheese?" :party: Honor the "special" time every 28 days - lest thou be smited. :lightning: Keep the time holy with thy gifts of chocolate. :hail: Thou shalt not steal my chocolate. Shouldst thou do so, the full and frightful might of my wrath shall rain down upon thee like the Flood of Noah! :ban: Thou shalt bear witness to my decreasing girth. If thou dost not believe it, thou shalt keep thy mouth shut! :zip: Thou shalt not say unto me that lap band surgery is the easy way out. When thou art able to pick me up and carry me a mile in my shoes, then thou can talk. :crutch: My eternal soul is in thy hands. Shouldst thou get between me and my footlong sub, thy life may be in danger as I might kill thee - breaking one of the 'other' 10 Commandments. :party::faint: Thou shalt not covet my increasingly skinny ass. :eyebrows: A special note: If thou breakest one of these commandments, thou shalt meet my friend Mikey! :boxing:

The meal sounds great! Uh... umm.... since you didn't get to finish it, are there any leftovers???

Shhhhhhhhhh... be vewy vewy quiet... it's wabbit season... heheheheheheheh!

I saw the magic words: BANANA PUDDING!!!! Janet and I may just have to drive down from D/FW just for that!!!!

What a great idea!! Here are the specs... Recording # 1 - slow: formal British accent, 80 beats-per-minute Recording # 2 - fast: your best Ryan Seacrest impression, 110 beats-per-minute Recording # 3 - hyper: lungful of helium, 135 beats-per-minute Recording # 4 - recovery: your best Larry The Cable Guy impression, 48 beats-per-minute I'll put some nice instrumentation behind it - I think we have a hit on our hands!!!

Outstanding post! It had a nice rhythm - excellent use of caps - a nice flow when read aloud - and I could dance to it. I give it 4 stars!!

The more the merrier!! And... (sigh) if more guys have to come (pout), I guess I can cope with that (sigh again)... If they have to (sulk) But if they don't, that's fine too!

Me and the ladies!!!!! I like it!!!!

My wife and I eat it a lot - and have had absolutely no trouble. As long as you chew well, you should be fine...

I shouldn't speak for Janet (although I KNOW it's helping her that I'm doing this too), but I can definitely say that going through this together is helping me! As it is now, things are different enough between us that it's a little weird sometimes. My surgery was 2 days earlier... I'm quite a bit heavier... I didn't have the big gas pains after surgery... I didn't have ANY restriction after surgery... I didn't suffer much pain from not chewing - at least until my first fill... Now that we've had a fill, and her big gas pains have subsided quite a bit, our experiences are much closer. I simply cannot imagine how this would work if we weren't doing it together. I doubt that she could go through with it if I chose not to - and I don't think I would be able to either. It's been an incredible blessing that we're in each other's corner - ready to step up and help if the other is having trouble. So far (knock on faux-wood veneer covered particle board) we haven't been seriously down or depressed at the same time yet!

Tina, our process took about a month from initial appointment to surgery. And as for the protein, we haven't mixed fruit in with it yet, but we do put stuff in. Mostly, we mix in either flavor extracts - vanilla, maple, coconut, banana, etc. - or those sugar-free syrups you see in coffeeshops - vanilla, rasberry, hazelnut, etc. The protein powder, a dash or 3 of fun flavorings, a bunch of ice, and a blender - it's not as fun as, say, a banana daquiri, but it'll do in a pinch

Looks like my wife beat me to the punch here, but I have to agree: Dr. Sewell is outstanding. We actually didn't go to his seminar - we'd been researching on our own, and had originally picked a different doctor. Once we discovered Doc Sewell, we quickly changed our minds. Among other things, he has been a laproscopic surgeon for quite a bit longer than the band has been around - he has loads of experience with surgeries far more complex than these bands. Being a bit of an overachiever myself, I certainly look for that in my surgeons as well I am with you on the cost issue - Janet and I had our surgeries within 2 days of each other, and we were self pay - it hurt my head to write a check that large. Regarding the hospital stay, again I have to agree with my wife. While it's becoming more and more routine, this is still a fairly major surgical procedure - and despite my over-the-top invincibility complex, we're still what would probably be known as 'hi-risk' patients. I appreciated his concern. The cost for a year does get us quite a bit for our money. That price gets us all of our fills, all support group meetings (there's 2 different groups - one with a shrink and one with a nutritionist), and all appointments with the doc, the nutritionist, and the exercise physiologist for a year. As Janet mentioned, the surgery is really not the thing to focus on when choosing a doctor. The after care programs are the most important elements. There are definitely cheaper doctors out there - and there are other after-care programs around - but I don't regret our decision in the slightest.

I think we may be doing this on something like a monthly basis, so we'll absolutely update everyone....

One day a young lad walked into a bar in Manhattan. He stood at the bar and ordered 3 pints of Guiness. When the bartender poured them, the young man took all 3 pints and went to a booth in the back of the bar. :beer: :beer: :beer: The bartender watched as the young man took a sip of one pint, then the next pint, and then the next. He continued drinking in that manner - one sip from each pint - until he finished them, and then he went back to the bar and ordered another round. The bartender said, "Hey buddy, if youse would let me pour dese for you one at a time, dey won't go flat." The young man smiled. "Thanks, but I drink like this for a reason. I'm new here - recently moved from Ireland. I have a brother back home in Dublin, and me other brother lives in London. The last time the three o' us were together, we made a pact. Whenever we drink our pints, we vowed to drink them one sip at a time like that - to make sure that we were thinkin' o' each other." The bartender - and the other people sitting at the bar - thought this was a sweet sentiment, so no one said anything else to the young lad. Over the course of the next several weeks, the young Irish lad became a regular at the bar. Every time he came in, he'd order his 3 pints, drink them one sip at a time, and then go back for the second round. It became a normal thing - no one commented again about his strange way of drinking beer. :beer: :beer: :beer: One day, the lad came in, went to the bar, and ordered only 2 pints of Guiness. As the bartender poured the drinks, a hush fell over the bar. The lad took them back to his booth and drank them - one sip from one pint, then a sip from the other. The regulars in the bar started whispering to each other, and looking sadly over at the young lad. When he went back to the bar for his second round, the bartender cleared his throat, and - with voice cracking - said, "Hey, uh, buddy... I just wanna say dat we are all real sorry for your loss." The young man looked confused for a moment, and then smiled. "Oh, no, don't worry - everyone's fine. I just quit drinkin'." :beer: :beer:

Sounds like a blast to me

I'm a musician, composer, teacher, and writer in Keller, Tx. It's good to see all the Texans hanging out!

It is indeed a small world... and very nice to meet you! After checking out your bio, I had a lovely bout of jealousy of your old-school Minimoog! When I was a teenager, I asked my parents for one for Christmas. Instead of that, they bought me one of those scary Kimball Entertainer organs - complete with the single-octave foot pedals Congrats on your decision to have the lap band surgery - I definitely do NOT regret having it... and next time you guys are playing on the west side of town, let me know!

Another man from Texas... careful, ladies, we might just take over... Welcome aboard, Shannon. You've found a great resource!

The "male" part of this is interesting, isn't it? Ok, I realize that many of the non-males in this forum may not think it's interesting But the fact is, there is that aspect of this decision that might feel like failure. If I was enough of a man, I would just choose to be thinner and healthier - and it would happen. After all, I am master of my domain - not an intentional Seinfeld reference, but since it's there, we'll go with it! When I chose to have the band surgery, there was definitely some of that 'maleness' I needed to overcome. One of the aspects of 'maleness' that kept jumping out at me was the (misguided) belief that I needed to have more control over my circumstances. I needed to be able to just 'decide' and things would immediately start getting better. But it didn't really take me very long to change my thinking a little. I came to the conclusion that my decision to have the band was a choice - a way for me to re-assert myself, to impose some control over the situation. As you said, our choices at this point are fairly limited. For many years, I demonstrated that I was either unable or unwilling to make the necessary changes on my own. So, as you said, I had to realistically look at a reduced set of choices: something fairly direct and drastic (like this band surgery), or something even more direct and drastic (heart attack or stroke or...). I know the statistics show that the majority of patients for this type of procedure are female. And I know that the majority of the members of this forum community are female. But there are quite a few men on this board - and many of us actually post on occasion. In my own personal opinion (as one who is not a medical professional or a mental health professional or a Inamed Lap Band sales person - but as a male) the lap band surgery is a better choice for men... all things being equal. In general, the band forces us to make conscious changes in the way that we do things - pretty much permanently. In general, RNY or other gastric bypasses will allow you to lose weight without making any real changes. (I do realize that's a generalization - and that the right choices and changes would help the RNY's effectiveness.) Already - I've only been banded for a month - I can see the difference in my life. I've made changes in my habits, and I can see changes in my body. This simple cause-and-effect scenario is very appealing to my simple male mind - and as my wife said a couple of posts back, I definitely don't regret my decision to have this surgery... I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Skinny biotch store? There's a store where you can buy skinny biotches? I need to get me some of them... My car needs washing. It's about time to start mowing my lawn. I could just take my wife out for a day of fun and frolicking while they clean my house. Sounds perfect!!