OH Juli

I second, the "YOU HAVE A SON???" statement. Do you have a wife too? I know I look like the biggest flirt, but I'm not. Really. I really appreciate you sharing your experience with what happened. That's scary as hell. You'll get through this no doubt. But you know we girls over here want to know the gritty details....

Four weeks minimally is what I'd expect. Certainly after 6 you can ride. You just need to not strain your tummy muscles right after surgery. Biking can do that. It might take a little doing, but going up hill, etc would do it.

I said bicycling, of course. I love my elpytical trainer too. I have to say I'm slacking on the strength training. I think it's the schedule I'm keeping. Only one more week of insane classes, then vacation, THEN I can get back on track. I have been cycling 60-100 miles a week, so I'm not a complete and utter slacker. In the winter I want to find boxing or kick boxing or something intense. Also, I'll be hiring a personal trainer to kick my butt into the 100's. Then it will be time to start running!!!!! I'm a girl with a plan.

I've too started to laps...more because I am bored while my DD is taking swimming lessons. I'm not a proficient swimmer, but I hear it's great for regulating breathing in other sports...like running and biking. I love to bike and I want to run when I get under 200 lbs. I'm good for about 15 minutes of bad form lap swimming.

Looking forward to vacation. ONE MORE WEEK then we are off to P-Town with all the gay people. I can't wait. Pamela, we need to make a plan...

Didn't you say something about having a sister? Is she cute? Now, I'll stop. My GF is the jealous type. I would have guessed that focusing on exercise or your goal whatever they be, is your coping mechanism. I'm trying to relearn how to cope since food is no longer an option. Or since food should no longer be an option...you'd be amazed at the calories lurking out there, just ready to jump in my mouth. Glad to see you have your humor about you, JC.

JC, Take it easy for a minute. Amping up the exercise is not what you need to be doing...Let your body rest. You'll see your goal, you will, you will....and you can continue to exercise as you heal from your stomach twisting. And what about the kidney stones? I hear those hurt like a SOB. But knocking yourself out for those last five pounds when you are not as well as you could be isn't going to do you any good. Please don't comfort yourself with the thought of a typical sized casket instead of the XL size...(sorry if that's too soon to be funny.) Settle down there, if I were in FL I'd push you down and sit on your chest. And I'm not talking all sexy either. Cuz you know, I don't much like the boys in that way. (Slack, that's for your flirting comment...) And I weigh more than you, so I assure you it won't be fun. :eek: Now, HP, yes you can move a seat forward or backward. You'll see it's attached to the post on two rails. You can loosen the nut that holds the rails tight and slide the seat as you see fit then tighten the nut again. Good to know you'll be looking great doing those 20 miles. I'll try to post a pic of me and the bike soon. J

Janine I ride my little butt off. I'm on one of those skinny tire bikes too. My shins (sp) used to hurt walking, but I don't have issues on a bike. Find what works for you.... As for clothing, I did give a bunch to Volunteers of America. I'm using it as a tax write off. The really nice stuff I'm giving to a friend who is tickeled to have it. But that was tricky..."Hey chubby, want my giant clothing?" Really, I was sensitive about asking her and she was happy to take the donation. Thanks for the kind words about being inspired. Some days it's hard to feel inspiring. But...........DENISE..........I finished the bike challenge today. I did 1/10 of the Tour de France. My gray day got better. Thanks everyone for being there. I appreicate you all more than I can ever say.

JC OMG, are you okay dude? What did you twist? Tell us more. OUCH. I thought you were on a boat with old buddies? D- It's not all or nothing. Today is one day in a lifetime. Go and be with drunk friend who will not notice what you eat. Your man wants to do this and you're his hot wife. Let him show you off and have fun with his old buddies. HP That's what I'm talking about!!!!!!! New clothing so you will look AWESOME doing that 20 mile ride. I got my bike back today. I bought some new glvoes which make me happy. My other ones were already getting bunchy...These are FANCY. Cool enough, while picking up the bike I asked the dude about how to clean the chain...I told him I'd put more than 300 miles on it since I bought it...he was impressed. Or faked it realy well. Anyway, while putting the bike on the car, I noticed the seat had been moved. I walked back in and asked them to move it back. at the same point I said, "I know this bike now...I'm on it so much." And he just beamed at me.... Bike people love bike people.

Deanna Girl, do not buy a bike with out getting on it and test riding. (Sorry Slack) But you need to make sure it fits your body, upper and lower. They are not like panties...where one size fits a range. And if you don't try at least 3 bikes you've not shopped around enough. Think- you are spending $700+. You can go to the bike shops and try a bike and then get on line and buy that same bike for cheaper...but don't you just go, "oh that's pretty, I want that one." You will regret it. I'll kick your ass three different ways. As always, coming from a place of love-

Hi friends. Plateauing again. It's frustrating but I'm sure the scale will move. When I think about what to do, I tell myself, just keep keeping on. Not like eating more and exercising less is going to get me results. Anyway, it's a gray day in Ohio and I'm feeling a little gray myself.:rain: Hope all are well.

HP, Cute pictures! You look great! Awesome, awesome, awesome. D- Get a damn road bike for crying out loud. I tried to tell you, but NOOOOOOOOOOO you didn't listen. Really, we do what we want when we want....but if you can swing it, do it. Or promise to get yourself one in February...when biking season begins again. hehehe...yes I said February. Slack. You need a helmet and water bottles. Don't worry about food until you get closer to biking a solid hour or more. That's going to take a little time. Gloves are good and shorts with a squishy crotch are wonderful. Also you want to get a strobe light for the back of your bike. They cost about 5 bucks. You need it in case you're out at dusk so the people can see you and not hit you. Also, you should have a spare inner tube, and tire pump with you, in case you have a blow out, 15 miles from home. It's raining this morning here. I hope it clears up by the afternoon. I want to ride today and it's my only chance this week with out hiring a sitter. (Which I will do this weekend.) My bike is due to be picked up, the shop where I purchased it does a 30 day after purchase tune-up, so I took it in on Monday. I can't believe I've only had my bike a month...okay more like 6 weeks. She's such a piece of who I am now. Juli, Cycle Chick.

I've just not got a lot to report. I'm on a plateau, again. Work, school, getting my kid ready for kindergarten, getting ready for vacation and the new hobby of riding my road bike is keeping me BUSY. But I do check in to see how everyone is doing. :car:

Well, first of all he could be more supportive...I edited that a few times... And you can hit 20 or you could try really hard and miss it by a few. But the thing is to try. Don't worry about not meeting the goal. Just keep banging away at it. If you don't try the one thing you can know is that you never will. So, tell him to kiss your ass and then tell him to kiss mine. And then tell him that it's not about winning it's about giving it the best you've got to give. And if he can't encourage you he can shut up. And if he thinks pointing out the obvious is encouraging then he needs to be told exactly what you want to hear. This now is where you give him a script. What would be the most encouraging thing he could say to you? And between you and me I went from doing under 10 to doing 20 in one fell swoop. I was wiped out for the rest of the day, but I did it. Try this weekend to do some miles on Saturday and Sunday. We got your back. (And hope that wasn't too harsh on your man.)

Deanna- settle down there.... I know real life is getting in the way of all sorts of things...DD swimming lessons take up my evenings and believe it or not, work and home work take up my 40 hours at my desk. I do try to check in. Sorry I suck. IM HUNGRY. Today was a 1500 calorie day and only 45 minutes of exercise.I'm going out of my mind....and it's carbs that I want. I'm not in the ANIT carb camp, I'm in the lower carb camp, but heaven help me I want crackers and cookies and granola...I can live with out pasta, bread and chips...but the evil little crackers call my name. Soooooo, tomorrow night I was going to go on a small group ride, but instead I'm running out right after work to do two hours on the bike. I have to be on line at 7 for a class...I should be able to get in a few miles but this real life stuff is pissing me off. I want to exercise and talk lapband with my buds. grumble, grumble...

I see my surgeon September 17th. In theory I should be 20 pounds lighter than the last time I saw him. Which I find hard to imagine. But we'll see what happens between now and then. Glad to see you're able to get some food down D.

Oh I hate this damn site. Okay, kleptomaniac Deanna, you keep your grubby hands off of my scale and Slack's super fancy awesome road bike. (I looked it up too, and WOW! Very nice.) So it's official this is a plateau, it's been 2 weeks since I've moved off of this number in any real way. When I weigh my self in the morning it says one thing, lunch time it goes up, by dinner it's even higher and before bed I think I should explode. (Ha, ha, Deanna pop your eye back into your head, I don't weight myself like that!) But the two weeks plateau is nuts considering I've biked a good 175 miles in that time and have done other workouts too. I've eaten more, but I have burned way more than I've consumed. There was also the TOM in that 2 week period.... Bitch ass bitches, is all I've got to say. I know it will move, it always does and there are no alternatives to just keeping on. So I shall just keep on. I'm missing BG and JC. Oh, btw, Slack-JC's a dude and quite the motivation too. Where you at, Slack? Tell us all about your fancy new bike. How did you pick it out? Do you ride at all, yet? We want to know.

We should try the chat room, D and HP. I know you're out there.

Rosi I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your uncle. Please accept my sympathies. I know stress can do all kinds of weird things to our bodies. I'm sure the band is no exception. Take it easy with what you eat for a few days, listen to what your body says and you should be fine. I say take your bike to the shop yourself. They'll give you new tubes and oil up the chain, etc. Don't let your husband's schedule dictate what you do. (I'm single, so you can tell me I don't have a clue and I'll accept that. ) Take care.

You all are killing me... D- I do weigh daily and I KNOW not to let it affect how I feel about things. I see it as balance for the YEARS (YEARS I said) of never getting on the scale. EVER. Gee, I wonder how I hit 300 pounds? You know I talk about 338 being my highest known weight, but I do believe I was more. I just realize as I type this I'm nearly 100 pounds lighter than that now. Woo Mother Effen Hoo! So You may not take my scale. I'll wrestle you to the ground if you try. I like the idea of a massage. I have a friend who owns a massage school so I know I could get it on the cheap...but when? There is no time. Really, I'm not too worried about the weight dropping off. I can't be. There's too much to worry about right now...and my ride is cancelled for tomorrow. My ex got offered double time and a half tomorrow and I'm asking for favors with our kid time schedule for school, so I'm keeping Zoe instead of biking. Zoe has started swimming lessons. So while she's doing that today for the first time, I swam laps. I'll do that tomorrow too. See, I'm moving this here body. OH OH OH....today I did 30 minutes on the elyptical trainer and my cadence was so much more quick since biking! Lately, when in the gym I've been doing the treadmill so I hadn't noticed before now. But damn, I'm on fire. See NSV. Oh there are more, like I'm wearing a size 22 now...which is fantastic. My honey can't stop saying sweet things about me...coworkers daily give me props. Really, it's all good. Sorry to leave you out here all alone D. I'll do better tomorrow.

Mary It doesn't sound dorky to me. It sounds like a good way to meet someone who will keep you motivated. Let us know how your ad turns out.

It has been cooler than typical in Ohio the last week or so, which has been great for getting outside. I'm so tan. I used to never get tan...but with bicycling and swimming I look all sun kissed. I should be out on the bike, which needs a name, tomorrow and maybe Thursday. If the WOW chicas go out this weekend I'm going to get a sitter. They typically call their rides on Wednesday for the weekend...so I have hope. The scale is being a bitch. It's not moving. Today I'm shooting for lower calories again. Something has got to give soon. I'm due for a loss. I'll be getting in the gym today too here shortly. Sakes alive.... I'm a bit stressed too. School work is crazy and we leave for vacation right when I finish for the trimester. I've got to think about packing while writing an insane amount of papers and doing my job. Add to that the weight loss stuff. I love being busy, and I look for stuff to do when I am not, but I'm a tick away from being burned out. 11 days.............

Ahhhhhhhhhhh I'm back on line...our internet service was down at work. Thanks y'all.

Okay, I wasn't going to say, but I don't even miss JC and Babygirl, because you guys are so great! I'm a liar, of course I miss 'em, but you all are still fantastic. D-Cool about the fill. I'm interested to see what happens next. Annie-Cool about the unfill, eating is important...as we all well know. HP-You're due for some adjusting in a few days, no? I see the my surgeon in September unless I can't take it being fill less between now and then. There are days when I could chew my own foot off, I am so hungry...like yesterday, but today I'm under control again and eating less than 1100 calories. I think my band is bi-polar.

Poke around here on the board and read every word you can find. Good luck.