OH Juli

ZZZZ Zoe loves the fuzzy flops!!!!!!!! She was thrilled and was happy to have a pair for the BFF! They are tooooooooooooo cute. Thanks so much!

Oh and sweet tea isn't available unless you go some place that's "southern", otherwise you get unsweetened tea.

In my part of Ohio we say soda. Pop is your dad. People order Coke when then mean cola though.

Accounting is horrible horrible stuff. It was my lowest grade in undergraduate school and it still makes me miserable at a graduate level. Kill me. And expect this to be a theme for the next 6 weeks.

No doubt she's projecting herself on to you and your efforts. It shouldn't be your burden to carry. You seem good at keeping it together. Don't slam me on this, but you might want to show her some sympathy for having an addiction/illness that she can't control. I'm sure she hates herself for it more than you realize and it comes out as daggars at you. I'm not saying be her best friend, but she's got to be torn up that the surgery didn't work for her and seeing you succeed is going to be painful. Just a thought.

Did Spinning yesterday. Will run 3 miles today. What's everyone doing for exercise today? Will ride 60 miles on Saturday. Come on my slacker bycylers...confession time.

Studies say 50% of men go for body and 50% go for pretty face. I suppose if you have a great body and a pretty face 100% of the men will want you. But who wants 100% of the men out there? The underlying issue is be yourself. Make sure yourself is someone you'd want to date. Is she interesting, clever, funny, caring, easy going, healthy, romantic? Mr. Worth a Shot, will come along and be a good fit. Pinky Promise.

Oh heavens where's your sarcasm? I'd be like, "Yo, Cookie Momma, you go on and eat two Cookies for me. The fat has got to go somehwere, because it's flying off of me!" Or if you want to be more kind, "Wow, those look so good, if I were more paranoid I'd think you were trying to sabotage me. But of course I'm not the center of the universe, I'm sure you made those delicious looking cookies to Celebrate the insert reason here. Everyone will enjoy them I'm sure." Then there's blunt, "Keep the cookies away from me, I still need to keep temptation as far away as possible!"

I call my new ventures into sporty things, "Searching for my inner athlete." I know what you mean about growing up thinking I didn't have any abilities... Phooey on that.

The wedding of me marrying the gym I'm going to. Don't pay her any attention.

Went to spinning class over my lunch break. Holy cow, I was soaked through and through. Good thing I don't share an office. Actually I smell like flowers, so really isn't not an issue. I love my new gym. I'd marry it if I could. D, you're insane. I've missed your insanity. HP, friend wants a road bike, so, nevermind. Good luck selling it though. I'm sure you can get a closer buyer! B, I MISS YOU. ZZ, I'm excited for the fuzzy flops. BG, I miss you on here too. TX, How's the yard coming? What's the new work out? How's that working for you??? C, Hi chica. 2 weeks and we ride. You ready?

Gwen, Run the 5K this year. You should do one before you do a 12K, don't you think? You can train for it. It's 40-45 minutes of running a couple times a week, not a huge time commitment. Come on!!! XO

Traci Which bike are you selling? How tall are you? I have a friend who is looking to buy a bike.

Yo Carol, You aren't comparing yourself to other people are you? Chances are they have a bigger BMI... Really, C~ The further you get away from your surgery date the more you'll realize you can't compare yourself to other people... Think about exercise not so much as something you have to do to lose weight but as something that you want to do to be healthier and feel good. That might be a stretch, I realize, but try to shift your focus, you know. And really you can not CAN NOT do this with out exercise if you really want to transform your body. Hugs, etc.

I want to be an April banster!!!! No fair, my Marchies aren't nearly as tightly knit as you guys!

WE all have our struggles, exercise isn't one of mine...I don't mean to be unsympathetic. Cookies are my struggle. My weight hasn't moved much because I'm eating too many calories. On that note, I met my new trainer today. I'm not feeling a whole bunch of love for him, but I figure we'll see how it goes for a few weeks. I did do a bootcamp sculpt class tonight. I thought I was fit. I'm so not in shapes....I did so many squats... BTW, BG is well and good, just busy with family stuff. I'm sure she'll be back when stuff slows down.

Your words, bolding done by me. You know what you need to do.... Congrats however on meeting your -25 pound goal! That's fantastic!

Well Bullpen, There's something in looking for a fix a quick one or otherwise. Certainly there are better and worse ways of behaving but thinking of oneself (and I'm extrapolating greatly here) as broken before the band and fixed after is setting oneself up for disaster, IMHO. Be encouraged to know that the band helps one regulate their behavior and successful weight management is made more possible with it than without it. And to be sassy, why in the world are you focused on the "end" and not the now? That's just filling your head with noise, it's really okay to not know the outcome of something, but still work toward a fulfilling goal. We get married with the hopeful outcome of a happy life together, but you never know the end until you get there. You and your band journey are not over until it's over, you know what I mean? We don't put matching burial plots on the gift registry when we get married because well that's morbid but you don't know what the future holds....

Cher, There has got to be a data base of all gastric surgeons in the US somewhere that you can tap into to send info out to. Where else might one solicit attendees?

Carol We are not dead, exactly. We are in the midst of a regular LBT life cycle from what I can tell. Personally, I'm struggling with keeping it fresh and alive, by that I mean my relationship with my band. We've just kind of have gotten used to each other. LOL. Taking it out to a romantic dinner and dancing I don't believe is going to do the trick. What I am doing is heading to a new gym, getting a new trainer, and setting my eyes on my end goal of -50 by the end of 08. What goals are you all working on?

I can appreciate wanting do a challenge but I just don't have it in me to get back on here to report, etc. HP, I know there have got to be some. How about the 4th of July Challenge? I'm doing the "Don't eat the Cookie Challenge" as we speak.

It's about 3 hours for me. Many Columbus people go to that ride, HP. Let me know if you plan on going, we'll have to meet up!!! As of now, we don't know where we are staying, if there is room in the dorm or if we'll get a hotel room down the street. It's supposed to be gorgeous!!!!!!!! Looks like a ~62 miles on Saturday and ~30 ish on Sunday morning. All of which are sweet. The 63-100 miles (an option I'm passing on) are HILLY! The rest is bluegrass, rolling, horse country. They say the horses live better than we do. I'm sure of it!!!!!!!!

TX I'm meeting my potential trainer tomorrow for the first time, we're going to see if we are a good fit or not. I've gone to two spinning classes and "tone and sculpt" class that had me hurting 3 days. Three days of happy, I've been working my body hard hurting. C- Challenges are when you commit out loud on the board that you will exercise so many times or that you'll lose a few pounds and you track it on the forum. HP, What did you have in mind for a challenge???

Bluegrass Cycling Club - Horsey Hundred

My sympathies go to both families of the people who have suffered such tragic events. My heart hurts for them. I hope they all find peace eventually. You too Kathy. Sorry.