riley4183

LOL! I keep reading these posts from you thinking, OMG she sounds just like I did!!! - and it's because - OH!! You are just like I was! And you know what?? I still love this freaking thing! My older son is on an unfrosted cake kick. He bakes cakes and does not frost them, just lets them sit on the stove and the boys them over a day or two. Do you know how many times I have cut myself a square without thinking, taken a bite, and then had to laugh and throw the square in the trash? One bite! SO KEWL :-) Got to read more posts, but life is good I'm back on track with my Kaiser class and exercise - not letting the warm man in my bed keep me from getting up and going to the gym any more!! He's always there when I get back Will read up & catch up later - love yall!!

Tina she's on here!! LapBandTalk.com - LapBand Surgeon Dr. Laura Machado

Gee I have 5.5 cc's . . . . maybe I should oughtta get my butt back in there huh.

Oh and Tamra, the port stings like an SOB for a long, long time!! Nothing to be done for it. Chewable tylenol worked as well for me as that liquid vicodin - YUCK

Tamra that sucks about your car!! Nice on the weight loss tho . . . go ahead and change your ticker, you can be sure it's not coming back this time!!

Words of wisdom Candra! Great post :-)

Tina, replace it with an Omron - it has a back-up string & clip so you never lose it. You can wear it anywhere and it counts, even in your bra or your purse. It counts steps, counts aerobic steps (when you have been going for more than 10 minutes) separately, also calculates your miles and calories. 7 day memory too! google it

LOL you guys, yes Bachelor #1 is still in my life! Nothing has really changed except I'm guarding my heart for a while longer. As a result, last week I had 3 dates in 3 days (two of them I have dated previously and they have too many issues 4 me), nothing physical just to be out doing things and not exclusively dating #1 . . . or else I will fall in love. Can't have that, not yet. Talk in Robin's class went good, I think I made her eyes widen a few times! But it was good. Those people did not want to be there tho! Tamra today is the worst that the pain will get!!

I love Richmond Kaiser! I waited 3 months between my orientation and my surgery - it depends on how much weight you need to lose before surgery and how fast you lose it. I'd say that 6 months is about avergae, tho it can be as little as 2 and as much as a year or two. Come one over to our Richmond Kaiser pre-op thread!! Just search for Richmond Kaiser :-)

We are so happy for you Tamra! And you are going to love waking up every morning because you'll get to go weight yourself and watch that scale go down, down down!! YAY!!!!! CONGRATS girly! Happy birthday Ash! Hey FB didn't tell me it was your birthday . . . I went and talked to Robin's class today. Linda are you on here yet??

YAY Tamra! I will be down there a little before 2, maybe I can see you on yer way out . . . . Tina - and so it goes again, just when we thought it was safe to pay the bills . . we have an all-staff meeting a week from today to hear how many mid-year layoffs we'll have at this county before June. sigh . . . .

Tamra you take the morning one with a tiny sip of water

Yes Tamra I got them, they are to prevent nasuea, and they work! My drive-through surgery was easy-peasey! Just remember when you first wake up after, the elephant that lives in post-op is gonna be sitting on your chest! He goes away but that's how he greats us all when we get out. Be ready for him and don't panic! Just turn on you side a little (away from the portk which will be on your left) and breathe! Oh and have the lovely nurses rub your shoulders to get rid of that gas :-)

jeepers . . . . is the mom working yet?? DOH sorry TMI!!

CANDRA what KIND of Britney Spears?? They have like 3 flavors at K-mart my value store, LOL believe, curious, fantasy, etc which one is it??

yep its your barium swallow. Your surgery will be at 8 unless they have more than one lap-band tomorrow. I will be there tomorrow but not until 2, and you will be long gone home by then! Just think, in 24 hours from right now you will be banded and on your way home!!! You may even already be home and walking around. It's gonna be fine!!

OK you guys give - what DID Liz say??

OMG! OMG! OMG!!! I am SO excited for you babe :-)

Tina! Yay . . i miss you :-) My band lets me gain 5, no more. It has always been that way! Thats the whole point of the band, and I love love love it :-) I am still up 4 from my lowest weight right now and can still feel the band - strawberries for Breakfast have a tough time. It makes me slow down, that's for sure! But it is TOTALLY tough to lose because it is so so sensitive. I told Dr. Baggs I had this 5 lb range, keep gaining and losing the same 5 do I need a fill? He would probably give me another .25 right now because I only had .25 last time, but I am afraid of being too tight. 10 lbs between fills is what is working for me. Robin totally understands about not eating meat! Yeah she can't say she knows me because of HIPPA but DUH she knows we all know each other because she has seen us all together 4 our group fills! Law is kinda dumb, really. We should just do some handouts to put laying around the office so folks can find up . . . . I will take some when I go talk to her class. Time for lunch - so far today I have had black coffee and 1.5 cups of strawberries - now I have a veggie sausage patty, spring mix and blue cheese crumbles. Yummo :-) I am going to have a snack at 3:30, decaf sopy slender latte and an Atkins bar 3 net carbs - it's my treat - and I am totally going to need brain food for the work I have to do today.

YAY, John!! YAY, Tamra! Hello, good morning all my beautiful people :-) And now for something really special! This is a blog from SparkPeople, the gal's name is SPOTLIGHTANGEL. I'm going to share this with Robin's class when I go talk to them on the 20th: I am writing this to truly express my feelings towards weight loss. I think it is important for anyone on this journey to read, as I feel it could have saved me a lot of heartache and struggle. I hope you enjoy and take something away that might help you. Everyone has a reason for wanting to lose weight. Some say it is to fit in their old "skinny jeans" or to look great at a reunion. There are many reasons. For me, it started because I wanted to have a better chance at getting my dream role in theater. Then it switched to vanity, then necessity. It was an obsession. And an unhealthy one. I never binged or starved myself, but I hated who I was...even with 40 pounds gone. I think if we take the time to really get down to the issue, you'll find MOST of us, have the same reason for losing weight. Let me give an example. "I should workout today." Why? "Because if I don't, I might not lose weight or even worse, I might gain weight." So? "Well, I want to be skinny." Why? "Because that is what looks good." Says who? "_________________." YOU CAN FILL IN THE BLANK OF THIS ONE. For me, it is SOCIETY. And what if you don't get skinny, then what? "Then I won't be a good, pretty, or as desirable as ____________." in other words...I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH THE WAY THAT I AM RIGHT NOW. Did I hit a heart string yet? If I really, REALLY look at why I started, it was because I didn't think I was good enough the way that I was. No body wanted a "fat" girl on stage. I wasn't AS GOOD as the skinny girls. But it wasn't the truth. It ISN'T the truth. It never will be. Everyone has a reason for believing this about themselves. And in my experience in working with friends and students and parents, everyone feels this way. Maybe not with their weight, but with their grades, or their success in work, or anything. "I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH." For me, I was raised by a woman who never, even till this day, felt GOOD ENOUGH. And because of that, I learned the behavior...I believed it about myself. You are just the way you are supposed to be. And I will sit here and tell you till I am blue in the face that NO AMOUNT OF WEIGHT you lose will make you "good enough" if you don't believe the person inside of you is "good enough." But I will tell you this and I ask you to believe me: You are. You ARE good enough. Your soul is beautiful--no matter how many mistakes you have made, no matter how much you weigh, how much money you make, how you live your life...you are loved as you were created. And THAT, that in itself, makes you good enough. If I had realized this 2 years ago when I started, I wouldn't have "lost" a year (2009) to depression, marital issues, and work problems. But then again, I wouldn't have been able to learn about myself and how strong I am and how to fix everything I had thought I ruined. It was a learning experience and if you are like me, you'll have to learn it for yourself by traveling down that path. But if you aren't, if you can take this time to really sit down and look at yourself and realize how GREAT you truly are, what a miracle you are, then I ask that you do it. Realize why you've never felt good enough and fix it. Believe in the amazing-ness of you. And realize...that you aren't here, on Sparkpeople, because you're NOT good enough and want to lose weight to become "good enough"...you are really here because YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH TO REALIZE THAT THE OUTSIDE SHOULD FINALLY MEET ALL THE WONDERFUL GOODNESS ON THE INSIDE. Read it, know it, believe it, LIVE IT! I wish you ALL the best of luck on your journeys... PS. This is a blog that I wrote myself, but you are more than welcome to copy and paste it if you like it. Please just put my sp name on it so people can come check out my page! I love visitors!

I SO wish I could be there Sat . . . . too far, too far!! I dont think the new BF is going to have the emotional stability that I need . . . he appears to have some issues . . . . yesterday AM he suddenly - out of the BLUE - sat up in bed and started the whole, "I really like you a lot and I love hanging out with you, but I'm not ready for the kind of relationship that I think you want" WHOA bombshell, just the opposite of what he has been saying, I'm like, yeah well buddy what is it that you think I want, because here's the deal, I am not interested in raising your 10 year old so I'm not hearing any wedding bells or anything, to which he got all offended . . .thats not what he's looking for - oh crap he has no idea what he is looking for . . oh boo-hoo, poor him . . . . well it was only a few hours later when he's back, oh I'm so sorry, I don't know what I was saying, I wish I could take it all back etc. He says he has too many thoughts in his brain, he needs to try and keep it quiet, his thoughts change all the time like that and he has to just disregard the first 10, etc. DUDE . . . sounds like bipolar mania to me. He does see a counselor every week, I wonder if he has been diagnosed! This is not "the one" but it's working for me right now :-) What does this have to do with my band . . .well this! I stressed out and lost weight, woo-hoo . . . .can't eat when I am stressed cause the band won't let me, have all these awful feelings I can't feed so I went out and RAN 1.5 miles (without stopping, yes) then walked 6 more miles and . . I felt great! IT IS Time to get back to doing what I need to do for me. I SAY that I am the priority, and I'm still going to the gym, but I have not been taking the time to log my food or journal, and that needs to change. I have spend my spare time IMing with him or whatever, or going out to EAT with him, or eating at home with him, and not FOR ME. SO. So now I've put limits on how often he can come over and how long he can stay, how many times a day text or call me (4, which is less than half what he was doing), and he can eat before he comes over - only going out to dinner with him 1 night a week. And no more popcorn at the movies!! We'll see how long this lasts. I feel strong about it right now, but who knows?? I'm totally going to miss you guys Sat.! Take lots of pics, LOL

Good morning my beauties :-) Proverbs 31 really spoke to me today, I'm posting it because I feel its lessons are directly related to my daily struggles with weight, feeling deprived, emotional overeating, arrgghhh . . . . and everything else! You'll want to skip this post if Christianity offends you for some reason: The Secret of Contentment 7 Jan 2010 Micca Monda Campbell "…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances" Philippians 4:11b (NIV) Have you ever noticed how overextending yourself tends to bring unwanted pressure into your life? I think we tend to busy ourselves in order to gain more, find acceptance among peers, land a better position, and gain riches of all kinds. Perhaps we live under the illusion that having such riches is what makes a person complete, content, and deliriously happy. Yet, when we discover that's not the case, we're left feeling empty and discontent. Contentment and security are not found in career titles or in the kind of car we own. The logo on our car only tells others what kind of car we drive — not who we are. True satisfaction, in its purest form, is found in the wealth of who God is and the riches He graciously lavishes upon us. Recently God's been showing me that when I constantly want more than He has given me, it reflects a heart that is discontent. What I'm saying to God is, "I'm not satisfied with what You have provided for me. I want more." In wanting more, I place undo pressure on myself in an attempt to get what God hasn't provided. Naturally, anxiety is the result when I focus on things other than God and His will for my life. The pressure to have more and do more can lead us down paths we never intended. In our attempt to fill the vacuum of our empty souls, we discover that external luxury is only a cheap substitution for spiritual wholeness. As our key verse points out, Paul knew the secret of finding contentment. "…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." Take note that Paul wrote these words in a high stress situation as he sat in jail awaiting a verdict for a crime he d idn't commit. I don't know if I could find contentment if I were in his sandals. I would probably strum my wooden cage with a rock singing pitifully, "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows my sorrow." Finding contentment doesn't mean we have to like our current situation, but it may require an appreciation for it. Let me explain. Paul learned that the fruit of contentment is developed when we are thankful for what God has provided whether we like it or not. That's because peace isn't the absence of pressure. It's the presence of God and our attitude toward His provision in the midst of our stress. By expressing gratitude, Paul experienced richness of being, not having. I realize you may be in a hard place right now and you're longing for freedom. Maybe you're in a job that feels like a dead end; perhaps you have two of them! It may be that you live in a space too small for your family and you hate it. You're not where you planned or hoped to be and you cert ainly don't like it. The truth is, we don't have to like where we are or what we have, but if we will choose to thank God for His provisions regardless of our feelings toward them, we'll experience the same contentment Paul encountered. We must understand that being thankful doesn't mean that God will eventually remove us from our situation. He may; He may not. Rather, being appreciative sets us free from the desire to have and lets us rest in the riches of contentment. And when we reach a place of contentment, we don't need earthly riches galore. God becomes our greatest treasure. In Him, we have everything we need. Dear Lord, things could always be worse. I'm grateful for what You've provided for me. Fill me with Your peace so that I may be truly content in Your blessings. In Jesus' Name, Amen. © 2010 by Micca Campbell. All rights reserved. Proverbs 31 Ministries 616-G Matthews-Mint Hill Road, Matthews, NC 28105 877-P31-HOME (877-731-4663) Peace!</H1>

Good morning bandsters and consider-ers! Re: fears re regain: Lap-band is very different than RNY in this regard. You HAVE to change your habits to lose weight with the band (of course the band helps you do that). You do NOT have to change your habits to lose weight with RNY - at least not to the same degree - because of the malabsorptive component. Therefore SOME gastric bypass lose their weight in the first 12-18 months, but if they have not made the lifestyle changes necessary to keep it off, they will regain once the "new" intestines learn how to absorb calories - which they will. Lap-Band is different. Lap-band is a weight MAINTENANCE surgery, not a weight loss surgery! YOU have to do the work - the band will not do it for you. The band cannot force you to fill your pouch with lean Protein instead of chocolate cake - thats a choice only you can make. The band does not make you WANT to exercise (although weight loss does!). It is a perfect, perfect, perfect tool to end overeating as it lets you get full on a very small amount of food. But it's only a tool. Do you only eat when you are physically hungry? If you did, you probably would not be on this Board. The band staves off physical hunger, but YOU have to deal with head hunger. It's hard, but it WORKS and the payoff is indescribable :thumbup: You have to lose weight to get the band; that "locks" in your weight loss . . you have to lose weight to get every fill . . . by the time you have lost your weight, you have definately made the lifestyle changes that you need to be successful and KEEP IT OFF. So yes, you have to lose weight without the band one last time in order to get the band - but this is THE LAST TIME that you will have to do it without this perfect tool! I tell everyone. But I tell them that I have had weight maintencne surgery, not weight loss surgery. I explain that I have had to do the work to lose the weight, and the band is to prevent me from gaining it back. That really is how it works for me. Best of luck to you all, and happy new year! Make it a year of good choices :tt2:

Good morning my beauties, my scale is SO up I totally overloaded on Carbs yesterday! Feels like PMS, And the BF's stupid cashews, I told him NO MORE. Also no more bringing me volcano nachos from taco bell - ugh, I have been bad bad bad and my scale is up up up. Strange how that correlates, LOL! I have continued to hit the gym every day tho, and my clothes are looser not tighter so that's all goo. BUT. I feel zero restriction most of the day, the first thing I eat in the morning is tight but none after that. If it doesn't come back this week I'm getting in for another fill. I felt good last week, and have gained weight back so my band should be tighter not looser, so I'm not sure what's going on! On phones most of the day so no doubt I'll be back :-)

WHAT! A Busch fan, oh no! Kurt Busch we can handle, but if he likes that little pipsqueak whining sissy la-la Kyle Busch, divorce him!!! LOL I wonder how I really feel?? I had a blast today girls!!! Thanks Pat for driving :smile2: