anonemouse

Is that sort of like shepherd's pie?

That's very true. I would certainly lose weight faster if I didn't eat all the foods that I love. My position is that I'm making these changes for life, and I want to do it in a manner that I can conceivably continue for the rest of my life. That's why the only thing I've cut out of my diet completely is carbonation, and that's only out because it's uncomfortable to drink. I primarily eat healthy foods, but I also eat whatever I'm craving. I'm lucky, mostly because I'm not a sweets-addict or anything like that. If I have a choice between, say, edamame (soybeans) and ice cream as a snack, I'll choose edamame 95% of the time. But, if I DO want ice cream, I'm going to have it, and I'm not going to feel guilty about it. To me, this is a change for life, and I absolutely refuse to diet for the rest of my life. I'm resigned to losing weight at a slower pace than many of the other members here. But I'm fine with that, since a slower loss of 1-2 pounds per week is one of the major reasons that I chose the band in the first place.

When did we get a new forum? :bounce:

Don't make that "last supper" mistake, please! You'll probably still be able to eat all of your favorite foods after you're banded, just less of them! I had a bunch of "last suppers," and it's the one thing I really regret. I pigged out at all of my favorite restaurants, thinking I'd never be able to eat there again. Guess what? I've been back to all of them since I've been banded. The only difference has been in the amount that I've eaten.

I hope so, 'cause so far, 2008 sucks ass! I'm just hoping that the trend won't continue!

Thanks, guys! I started using vinegar on it yesterday morning and it already looks a lot better. I'm hoping that it'll disappear in a couple of days.

One thing you could do, depending on how many guests there are, is get platters from various supermarkets and fast-food restaurants. The food wouldn't be anything fancy, but you could rearrange the stuff on more suitable serving dishes. You can get all kinds of stuff, such as cheeses, veggies, fruit, sandwiches, deserts, etc. You can also get platters from restaurants like Chik-fil-a or Subway. Again, it wouldn't be anything fancy, but it would probably be cheaper than going to a caterer.

I used to regularly drink protein shakes, but I've pretty much stopped. Now, I just drink them at night if I haven't reached my protein goal for the day. My stopping doesn't have anything to do with my doctor's orders (she doesn't have a position one way or the other), but I've just don't really like protein shakes, as a whole. Some of them are okay, but they get old when you drink them day after day. I've taken to eating high-protein snacks, such as cheese, edamame or nuts, instead of protein drinks.

Seriously! Definitely a signal that my family might be a tad too fertile and to double up on protection. I'll definitely give you a call if my dislike for kids ever changes, Derick! :heh:

Don't even mention that, it'll jinx me! Next thing you know, I'll wake up tomorrow morning with one! :omg::heh:

One thing that my brother and his wife did was have an extremely small wedding with just family present (about 13 people, including them). They had their wedding party/reception a few months later, in her parents' back yard. They had a local Memphis BBQ chain come and cater it, and her dad is a chef, so he made a lot of very good seafood for it, too.

True, that's the good part. I'm going to use vinegar on it for a few days, to see if that'll clear it up, and then switch to an anti-fungal cream if it doesn't work. But this week just keeps getting better and better, between finding out that I've got to search for a new job and this.

Good luck, and be sure to post pics of everything!

I've apparently managed to pick up ringworm. My dad forgot to warn me that a cat at his clinic was still contagious until AFTER I'd handled her for several days without being super-careful about washing my hands afterwards. Now I've got a nice, itchy, scaly red patch on my side. Yay for me. :speechles

Honestly, I'm starting to think that it's for the best. I was beginning to get sick of teaching anyway (well, teaching was fine, it was some of the crappy students that I was fed up with), and thinking about looking for other jobs. I just wish it wasn't sprung on me so suddenly. I applied for several federal positions online yesterday and I'm looking into some internships now, so hopefully I can find something fairly soon. If all else fails, though, I can always go home and work for my folks as a receptionist at their veterinary clinic until I can find something better (or at least get my thesis finished).

Ditto. Also, nothing says that you have to have a reception. If you do have one, it doesn't have to be fancy. Like other people have said, you can ask close family members to help make the food or you can have a caterer just do a simple arrangement, which is what my former roommate did. She had a few types of cheeses, fruit, raw veggies, and some very simple finger sandwiches, along with the cake. You don't have to serve a full, fancy meal. But I totally agree that a potluck for your wedding reception isn't a good idea. Honestly, I'd be pretty taken aback if I saw that on a wedding invitation.

I was teaching for the university that I'm a grad student at. Apparently, though, they can only use their grad students as slave labor (horrid wages) when there isn't a job candidate who has a PhD. When it gets close to the start of the semester, if there isn't anyone with a PhD available, they hire the grad students to teach the classes that aren't being covered by the full-time professors. They were able to find someone with a PhD this semester, which means I'll only be teaching if there are too many labs for the grad students that have assistantships. The way they fill those posistions is that grad students with current assistantships get first priority and then the grad students that have been there longer and are no longer covered under an assistantship are offered the remaining positions. There were a bunch of new grad students in my department this year, so I doubt there'll be any positions left. Which basically leaves me out in the cold with no job. :mad: So, I've been rushing around to various internet sites and applying for jobs and internships. I just wish I'd known that I was probably going to have to move before I'd paid this month's rent (and it's late enough that I'll have to pay some of next month's, too, since I have to give a full 30 days notice).

I've gone to buffets since being banded. I can't eat much, but I just consider it evening out the massive amounts I could pack away pre-band.

It would have been nice to know that I didn't have a job this semester BEFORE now! I could have been job-hunting for the past month. Fucking wonderful. :confused:

I just found out that my younger cousin (my UNMARRIED cousin who flunked out of college and is still living with her parents) is pregnant from her MySpace page. Between her, my brother knocking up his girlfriend last year, and just finding out that another cousin is set to have a child with his girlfriend (he already has three with a former girlfriend), I'm really starting to wonder if I'm the only freakin' person in this family that doesn't apparently have unprotected sex. Jesus.

It's really starting to hit me that this is really working, that it isn't another diet that I'll screw up. I don't even REMEMBER the last time I was 185 pounds. I can look back and say, "I will NEVER weigh that much again." And guess what? For once in my life, I actually believe it, too. :confused:

Ditto. My nutritionist even told me to indulge myself if I was have a craving, since denying it only makes binging more likely.

I don't miss my old eating habits one bit. I eat whatever I want, just very limited quantities of it. If I want cake, I have a little cake. If I want chocolate, I have a little chocolate. If I want steak, I have a little steak. And I still lose weight because I'm not absolutely stuffing myself like I used to. In fact, I've lost several pounds over the holiday season. The band isn't about deprivation, it's about learning to eat like a normal, skinny person does. Normal people indulge themselves occasionally, too. And in 6 months of being banded, I've never PBed.

Oh, WOW! That's great!

I like those, but I'm really starting to like birdbrain. I'll think on it for a couple of days just to make sure, though.