KartMan

Shouldn’t it be “the grounds the limit”? We are going down after all:sneaky:

I wish I knew (and am still fooled by it) that the scale doesn’t always move the way you think it will. Some days I am flat or even have a slight gain after a day in which I was good with food. I kick myself all day and wonder why I am such a failure. Then other days I might get a double sized drop on the scale for no good reason either. From my experience, (although I am too stupid to realize it daily) the scale goes down steadily. Although I am an admitted scalaholic, the real evidence for me is in my clothes. I have to keep buying new belts and reaching further back in my closet for those old “skinny” clothes.

I see your point in that. As overweight people we told ourselves over the years we can never get under x (because we never have been able to), or I’m big boned, or I would be way too skinny at that weight and I don’t want to look unhealthy. Then, after restriction, we realize that the weight does steadily come off and we have a glimmer of hope that we can reach a normal weight and be within the normal BMI range. For me, that feeling was when I crossed the threshold from Obese to Overweight. What a revelation, I just knew that this was going to work for me. I know some people have more weight to lose than others and that can make for a daunting goal. But I really encourage everyone to set their final goal in the “normal” range. With this awesome tool, this great support system, your renewed strength, and just a little luck you might just hit that goal and shock yourself and everyone else along the way. Monkey, I have a feeling your PCP will soon cry his eyes out and we will all celebrate your success :biggrin:.

BJean, thanks back at you - keep up the good work.

Wow! So sorry to hear that. Is that even common? What did the doctor say about it? Glad they were able to fix it and I’m sure you will get on track now that everything is situated right.

Its real simple for me, take religion out of it (religion has no place in public policy anyway) and it simply becomes a personal and medical issue. I’m a guy so obviously I can’t relate directly, but I know that the vast majority of women don’t make the decision to abort lightly, they certainly don’t need the rest of society beating them down about it. Having said that (and wearing my guy hat), I do think that the father should have some say in it. I’m not talking about rape or situations like that, but in cases where there is a boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife. I do think the woman has the ultimate right to decide what is best for her body, it just seems the father should be allowed to weigh in on the decision. I don’t know how to go about legislating that though? That part is a can of worms that I really can’t imagine how to address.

A mentally challenged 14 year old in a group home menstruates and can produce an egg, should she be asked to deliver a baby after she was raped by the people that were supposed to look after her? A father molests his adolescent teen daughter and she gets pregnant, should she be forced to be further traumatized by giving birth to her father’s child? A young woman is forced into prostitution by her “boyfriend” and gets pregnant, should society force another burden on her by making it illegal for her escape a pregnancy that she clearly can not handle? A drug addicted woman becomes pregnant a knows in her heart that she can not care for a baby and that it will certainly suffer medical issues because of her addiction, she should not be allowed to do the merciful thing and terminate the pregnancy? A woman finds out that her baby has serious birth defects and will certainly die a painful early death if allowed to come to term, should she not be allowed to terminate before the baby suffers? The answer to all these questions, is only the woman (or her caretaker in the case of the mental patient) under consultation from her qualified doctor can make that decision. As has been said before, the fetus is dependant on life from the woman to whom it is attached. That woman (or girl as the case may be) has a right the outcome of her own life and has the right do with her own body what she feels is best for her future.

Uh no, its not like that at all. Language is something people can adapt to, religion is not. It’s ludicrous to even make that insinuation. Besides, while English is in fact the common language of the country it is not the official language of the country and it never will be. Our government and people in general make accommodations for people that do not speak English and that will not stop any time soon. With the beliefs that you are espousing, I have come to believe you are not only an insensitive religious zealot but potentially a racial bigot as well, I hope your god can forgive you for both because I surely can not.

I’m willing to concede that many (certainly not all) of our founding fathers were Christian, in fact I’m fine with that. Even today many of our government leaders profess to Christian, I’m fine with that too. What I do like to stress though is that most of the founders and the majority of politicians today realize that religion (Christian or otherwise) has no place in public policy.

You are missing the point. The amendment (as correctly interpreted today) is intended to ensure that the government does not impose or interfere with ones right to their own religion (or lack of religion). While I personally have no use for your or any other religion, I strongly believe you and everyone else has a right to practice it (as long as it doesn’t infringe on others). I think that may be one of the key areas in which we differ. You seem to want this country to “return” to its “original” Christian roots at the expense of non-beliers and non-Christians. I believe religion has no place in public policy or in public forums. I do not see government stopping anyone from professing their fate, profess it all you want. Just don’t try to make laws based on it (banning gay marriage. preventing a woman’s right to choice, stopping stem cell research, etc.) or trying to force any religion on others (school prayer, teaching creationism, etc.). The United States is a secular government made up of millions of citizens that just happen to be Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, non-believers, and just about every religion one can imagine. I think this diversity is a source of strength for us, not the end of days that you believe it to be. We should stay secular, in fact we should shed any of our current official ties to any one religion. How can we have a connection to one religion while not officially recognizing all religions? Obviously we can’t recognize them all so therefore we should not recognize any.

First of all the pilgrims were not the founders of this country, they were Europeans that travelled here to escape religious persecution at home. In fact, they felt they had to leave because religious beliefs they did not agree with were be forced on them by a government that was deeply influenced by religious dogma (sounds a little like what you want doesn’t it?). BTW, these same guys burned people at the stake in Salem for heresy, so they were bit hypocritical if you ask me. The fathers of this country were sons of sons of those people who were driven more by the need to separate form a distant and unjust government than any sort of religious gratification. While many of the framers of the government were in fact religious (Christian to be more precise), the ideas of Thomas Jefferson were the loudest and most important and his message was included in the first amendment to the Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. So what this means is that the government in no way can enforce laws that interfere with your belief in religion, by the same token it can not make laws based on your religion. Your statement that that God disagrees with abortion or homosexuality are simply not good enough reasons to make laws according to our constitution. In order for a law to be valid it has to stand up on its own merit, not on religious perspective.

I like to donate. It's a tax write off and it goes to a good cause. I dont throw any away unless the are really stained or beyond repair. I live in SoCal, so I know that what goodwill can't use they re-donte to charities south of the border.

Wow, I almost don’t know where to begin with this one… First you agree that religions are bad and that even God abhors them, then you go on to espouse the greatness of religious teachings. You don’t see the duplicity in that? You believe that your faith says you have the right to deny others and that God has said this so it must be mans law? Well I’m sorry I think that is naïve, I just can’t say that two people that love each other can’t be together just because you think that is the way God wants it. Or that since you believe abortion is murder it gives you the right to tell a woman she does not have control over her own body. Just to clarify, I am a white heterosexual male – so I don’t have an agenda on either of those topics other than to do what I think is fair. As to the vote, you are correct that most people that voted on it agree that it is wrong but polls show that most ordinary people do not feel that way. The conservative base was successful in getting it’s people rallied up and most of them voted but they don’t have the numbers to sustain victory. Other states are moving in the “fair” direction on this and California will soon follow. I’m not saying all pro-lifers are raving lunatics like the guy in Kansas, but there are enough of them out there that your side should do more to stop yet they don’t. Our founding fathers also thought slavery was a legitimate business enterprise, that only white males could vote, and that a woman’s place was at home in the kitchen serving dinner to her family, we have come to realize that all of those principles are wrong and our society has moved past them. The country was not founded “on” Christian faith, but “by” mainly Christian men. Those men were nothing more or less than men today, they were fallible. Just because they were predominantly Christian should not mean that everything we do as a country should be based on Christian values.

I guess for me, if religion were just about teaching us the difference between right and wrong I would be ok with it. Kids (and many adults) really don’t seem to always know the difference and there would be value in an institution that could help society convey those principals. The problem is that that teaching of right and wrong via religion is that it is layered with hocus pocus and mythical creatures that are supposed to make you feel better or scare you into believing the teachings. Couple that with the fact that often times religious institutions have people in power within that are truly evil (the popes at the time of the inquisition, the people that incite their followers to kill abortion doctors, ministers that supported the Klan during the civil rights era, priests that molest little children, etc., etc., etc.). I am not religious and I do not believe in God. I do however have a strong sense of morality and do my very best to be kind to my fellow man. I teach my kids to not say hurtful things to others and provide them with many examples of the difference between right and wrong. When I do something wrong, I know it is wrong. I don’t need to go to church and ask god to absolve me of the sin, how does that help the victim? In that case I do my best to make restitution. For example, if I were to hit a parked car in a parking lot should I drive away and then pray to God later for my sin? No, I should do my best to find the other owner and deal with the problem directly. My biggest problem with religion today is it’s instance on meddling with our laws. If a man loves a man (or a woman loves a woman) and wants to commit to him what reason does society have to stop them? Here in California we just passed a law to ban same sex marriage. Not because most people think it is wrong, but because an out of state religious institution dumped millions of dollars on a hate mongering smear campaign. How can society allow the context of the bible to force a woman and her highly skilled physician on what course of action to take with an unwanted pregnancy? Apparently for some that feel this way, passing laws against abortion is not enough, they feel it is their obligation to go out and kill medical doctors to make their point. Why should we even consider allowing one or any religion to infringe on any aspect of public life (school prayer, teaching of creationism, etc.)?

I really don’t see the difference between the made up stuff that is “added” and the made up stuff that is already in there.

For breakfast I like the steak and egg burrito at Carl’s Jr. (minus the tortilla). For lunch/dinner I get the chili at Quiznos or the chicken taco (minus the tortilla) and pintos & cheese at Taco Bell. I like to eat Carne Asada or Pork Adobada at cheap Mexican places if I’m not too tight.

I used Care Credit and was really impressed with how easy it was to apply and the approval was super fast. I’m not sure if you can use Care Credit if you go outside of the country, but you might want to consider that route if you are on a budget. I just took my sister down to Dr. Ortiz in TJ and the experience was wonderful (and less than half of what I paid). You can read about it here http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f11/dr-ortiz-occ-94998/

Patty, You have said here and elsewhere that you don’t like religion and yet you keep quoting the bible. The bible is the instrument of the Christian religion. Each of the sub-faiths in Christianity all seem to interpret it a little differently, but it is the basic component of that religion. As much as you choose to believe otherwise it was written, edited, re-rewritten and subverted by men not by God. In fact, it is not even an original work. It has been shown time and again that is nothing more than a rehashing of earlier religions, allegories, and myths. Oh wait, why do I even bother? Somebody please stop me before I get frustrated again with this circular argument.

By the looks of things she is way smarter than 99% of the people that are saying she is not qualified or not intelligent. We knew it would be a fight no matter who he picked. Opposition to her is really nothing more than opposition to him. The court could use some diversity and she certainly has that. I wish her the best of luck and hope he has a chance to change a few more before his second term is up.

It’s been pretty great so far. Was banded on February 18 and have lost 60lbs so far. The first couple of weeks were tough with gas pain, but that passed soon enough. Got my first fill to 3.0cc April 1st, , second fill to 4.5cc on May 13th. The second fill was too tight so I had it dropped down to 3.7cc on May 22. I feel pretty good right now. Haven’t had a PB since the unfill and am able to get full on about 1 cup of food, I stay satisfied most times for about 4 hours. Still trying to learn not to take too much food at the start of a meal and when enough is enough.

Same here, I moved from a 3.0cc to 4.5cc on 5/13. Over half of my meals would not stay down, and when I could keep it down I could only manage about 3-4 bites before maxing out. On 5/22 I had an unfill under fluoroscope back down to 3.7cc and I feel great. I have not had a PB since the unfill and am still only able to eat ¾ - 1 cup of food and am still losing .2 to .6 pounds a day. The doctor said being overfilled is a recipe for a slipped band, so be careful.

Ok, so it seems I was a little over-filled. Even several days after the fill (which was on 5/13) I wasn’t able to keep most solids down or I could only eat a tiny amount of food. While I liked the idea of tiny meals, it didn’t feel very good and didn’t really improve my weight loss. On Friday 5/22 I went with my sister to Tijuana to get her band at Dr. Ortiz’s OCC clinic. While he was counseling her I explained my situation to him and he said I was at risk of a slipped band :eek: due to being overfilled and recommended they have a look under fluoroscopy while I was there. I don’t usually get my fills under fluoroscope so this sounded pretty intriguing to me. I got the fluoroscope and could see that even the barium was going down way too slow so they backed me off from 4.5cc to 3.7cc. I feel so much better now. I still feel restriction and I am not PBing at every meal. BTW, for anyone considering doing their surgery in Mexico I would highly recommend Dr. Ortiz and the OCC :smile:! The facility was top notch and his entire staff was fabulous, in fact it seemed cleaner and more organized than most hospitals and doctors offices I have been to in the US. Dr. Ortiz was fantastic, very empathetic and super charismatic.

After being banded in February and filled at the end of March I had some restriction. I could eat about 1 ½ - to 1 3/4 cups of food (about 1200-1500 calories a day) with an occasional stuck episode and some random PBing. I was doing pretty well on weight loss, losing about .2 to .4 lbs daily (down about 50 lbs since 1 week pre-op ). I just had my second fill (up to 4.5cc now) on May 13 and boy am I feeling it. After the fill, I tried to eat some chili and could only get in about 6 bites before I hit the wall. Last night I was able to eat about 3 bites of dinner. Today is not much different, 3 bites of eggs for breakfast and 4 bites of chili for lunch. I have been trying to suck down protein drinks between these tiny meals to keep my nutrition up. At this rate I am probably looking at about 900 calories a day, which is probably too low for me. I expect the restriction will ease off a tiny bit like it did on the first one. If it does, this might actually be my sweet spot. If it stays this tight, I might need to go back in and have .5cc removed.

And this is a good thing! This morning I crossed the threshold from obese to overweight and am now at a BMI of 29.9 :smile:. My next mini goal is to get down to about 212 which is the lowest I was ever able to get down to on Atkins or NutriSystem. I feel confident that I will shatter this goal within about 4-5 weeks at my current loss rate. I LOVE this band :laugh:

You're doing great :sad: Keep up the good work