Manatee

Favorite: chin/neck/face, and surprisingly, the forearms. Worst: fat belly still, I really want to grab a chainsaw and just take it off.

Another guy here -- and I'll tell you that I won't say ANYTHING, negative or positive, about a female co-worker's appearance. It's not safe to do so, and I like having my job. I'm sorry that you're disappointed that people aren't saying anything, but given the 20 years of hammering that the men have taken in the workplace and the courts, you should not be surprised.

The thing about guys is that it's very difficult for us to admit we need help. We're taught from an early age to be strong, solid, & stoic, and it seems your brother learned those lessons well. To admit that one needs surgical intervention to lose weight is a huge sign of weakness. One's house is not in order, and furthermore, the intervention means you're admitting you will NEVER be able to control it on your own. The loss of face is incredible, especially if other men find out. Most guys would rather drop dead 10 years early than admit they're powerless over some aspect of their lives. Consider for a second if the situation were reversed. Would you appreciate someone who use to be fat striding up and effectively saying "get thee to a hospital, fatass?" Probably you'd take the opposite path just to spite them. All you can do now is be a good example, and be willing to share information if he asks. If you bring it up too frequently, you will become a nag and harpy. Is there any chance you can enlist his wife in the recruiting effort? She can more easily bring in the "we want to spend more time on this world with you" statements than you. Regarding the letter itself -- go ahead and write it. Then sit on it for a week, rewrite it again. Repeat. Just don't mail it. You won't be able to have the discussion you need with your brother via the letter, but writing it will make you feel better and help you organize your thoughts for when you do have the verbal discussions. I don't know if any of this helps, but there's my thoughts. If you get into the discussion, tell him I said as a guy "This is the best thing I've done for myself in a looooong time."

Whilst sitting in a waiting room for many hours (fill problems, blah blah blah), I had a surprise visit from the coordinator of the Lap Band program at the hospital. I had dealt with her about a year ago, when setting this thing up. She runs the local support group meetings, but as of yet I have not attended any of them. So she sticks her head in the room, and asks "do you know me?" Strange question, but I do in fact recognize her since she's "in context" in the hospital. She then says that she doesn't know who I am, but that she had been told by the nurses that one of her lap band patients was in the room. At first, she didn't even believe that I was a lap band guy, but I pulled out the driver's license and she recognized me from that photo. We had a long discussion about the journey, and what this has been like. She was taking copious notes, apparently she's trying to get follow up info for patients to meet some regulatory guideline. I told her I was blogging about this ("what's a blog? Do I use Netscape for that?") and that she could read that if she wanted. Normal platitudes, "ya look great", etc. She's trying to get me to come to the support meetings as a speaker. I'm thinking that one over, not sure that I want to get in front of anyone to talk about this stuff. Talking physical changes is easy, but if they ask about the emotional/mental ones I'm not sure what to say. Besides, my complications would scare the bejeepers out of the newbies.... So my Q to the group, and the reason for the post -- has anyone been put in the position of talking to support groups and potential WLS people? If so, was that worth doing, and would you go talk to them again? I'm not a big fan of public speaking, but a small group might be ok.

Not a MMA or fighter, but doc told me no weights or core training for 6 weeks following surgery to let the port heal. Probably a good idea for you too, you don't want to risk a revision

Congrats!!!

Nope, BlindDateGirl canceled this one too. Done with her. You look happy C, good for you

On an impulse Tues I sent an email to Blind Date Girl (from the one date back in Nov), just kinda giving her a ping to see how she was doing. Surprisingly, she was happy to hear from me, and we've now got something scheduled for next weekend. We'll see if she cancels this one too.....

Nope, but I'm not bothering to look anymore, so I have nothing much to post.

Yep, I did it. Then I gained some back after needing an unfill, so my ticker doesn't show it. However, I made it from 272 in May 07 to 171 in Feb 08

So I'm at the gym for lunch, doing my 'light day' workout. As usual at the gym, I'm just into myself, but I do notice that there's an obviously new lady there with one of the trainers. I'm happy to see this, as more clients mean they need less of -my- money, Anyway, part of my routine is a weighted back extension, 4 sets @ 15 reps carrying a 45 lb plate in my arms. It's really no big deal, and I like the stretch it produces in the back of the legs. So I'm running through my routine, already past those, when the newbie gets introduced to the machine. It's a little frightening at first, as you're levered out into space. She freaked a bit, and then did several unweighted reps. When she got off she said "oh, those are tough, I can never do those." The trainer pointed over at me and said "He's doing 45 lbs reps and doing great, and he was the same as you when he started here. You'll do great." So I've got a little swell-head going on at the moment. Faint praise matters when it's unexpected, and comes from a respected source :-)

One of the goals I wanted to hit was to have a flat belly. I'm working on it, but just can't seem to get rid of the last of the love handles and beer belly. Is it realistic to expect to hit that goal at the age of 40? Should I just do as Peyton says and buy bigger shirts?

Ok, I know it's a bit early, but I thought it would be cool for people to post their anniversary pics and thoughts here as the day comes, rather than having it buried in the May 07 thread. I will be doing so on the 21st. Hopefully some of y'all will join in.

I know we get notifications when we get new ones, but how to we find them when we've read them? "Messages" on the menu only goes to PMs, not the profile messages

Sounds like my symptoms when I had a slip 7 months post-surgery. Time to get it looked at, xray or endo, and see what's happening. I ignored it and ended up having to get a revision and get ulcers in the esophagus treated.

Ok, temp fix for "My Account": http://www.lapbandtalk.com/subscription.php

Oh, I -REALLY- don't like this. I'm here to talk to others, not read some articles. Bring back the 'normal' forum page, and fix the 'My Account' button please.

Why should they? If you want a more luxurious flight, pay for a business/first class seat. Look, flying in coach sucks for everyone, but nobody is forcing you to fly.

Sorry, but I just can't buy into the victim mentality here. Everyone knows that airplanes are cramped, shared spaces. If you're big enough to be worried about it, you shouldn't be surprised to find the employees to be worried about it too. I know what it's like to be MO. It's insanity to pretend that nobody else notices, or to think that it's somehow rude for other people to mention it.

Yup, and it's not just him, he infected all of the guys with that crap. Man up, weeper.

If you hit that "reset" button, you can see the hidden forums again. However, you can't re-hide them

I had 120 pounds to lose from my high (285). I'm aiming at 165. I'm not quite there yet, and have been banded just over 10 months. For various reasons I was unfilled for the past 3 months. Exercise, exercise, exercise, and eating right. When I got too tight I started eating crap, and the weight loss slowed. I like lifting weights over cardio, because I like the body reshaping that comes with the lifting. Dropped quite a bit early, then it flattened. I did have some plateaus, but during those times the body was still reshaping itself. Make sure you're taking regular pictures, and taking measurements. You won't want to take those early pics, but you'll love having them later.

Just an update. May 07 to April 08, 48" waist with stretch and overhang to 34" waist (still with a pot belly)

So go hit on them. Why should the guys get all the rejection?

Kinda an old thread to bump, but I wanted to say that you're right on the money. I had a sort of revelation yesterday, and thought I'd share the blog post here: ====== I am getting tired of wearing the same 3 or 4 shirts all the time, so it was time to go get some more. A long-time browser of the discount racks, I quickly pulled out several shirts. Normally I'd go straight to the checkout, but this time I really didn't have anything pressing to do. When I tried on the first one, I was really irritated. It was obviously mislabeled, because it hung off the shoulders and bagged everywhere. I looked like I was being swallowed. Crap, I liked the color. The next one had the same problem. And then the next. At this point I was confused, because the shirts were labled the same as the one I wore into the store. So I tried on that shirt. It too was huge! Oh my! It was a 17/34, AKA Large. I think for the first time I REALLY took a look at the shirt and how it fit. I'd always focused on waist size and pants, but just kinda drifted down in size on the shirts. I ended up leaving with 3 Medium shirts, and I look a lot smaller in a shirt that fits. These don't billow out the side, and show a bit more of the shape. I've been wearing clothes to hide for so long, that I will need to relearn how to wear them to look good. I tried to get a pic with the cameraphone. It came out horribly, but that might actually be better for what I need. I can't see the face or details, and this guy in the pic doesn't look all that fat to me. :wink_smile: