green

I don't watch Oprah because I find her show very boring - boring topics interrupted by endless commercial breaks. Ugh! I find Dr. Phil very boring, too. I do think that Oprah is an extraordinarily talented and very beautiful woman. She is a fine actress. And she seems to want to make a difference in this world. This is a good thing.

Make sure that you are comfortable with it before doing it.

Yep, consult a lawyer and hide the goods. Just in case, eh....... You do want to minimize the exit wounds if it comes to that.

I can wear belts and tuck in my shirts and sweaters.

Thanks, Doddie. I think your answer was posted while I was still typing out my comment. I prefer TLBC as a title. I think it sounds more dignified, eh.

Yah, I am curious about this myself. I was banded by Dr. Yau back in Sept 07 and my experiences with TLBC have been positive ones. I was, I guess, an ideal patient: I got banded, had fills, lost weight, and that was pretty much that. I haven't had an experience at all with the new TLBC (although I will be needing a fill 'er up soon) and so I am unable to comment. I do think that this is the place to air ALL comments - the good, the bad, and the ugly. I also have no problem with TLBC monitoring this "conversation." Afterall, how are they going to be able to understand that there are problems and to be able to fix these, if they do not hear our complaints?

Morality and ethics most certainly are subjective. They vary considerably from region to region and from era to era. This is why I am inclined to take the pronouncements of individuals like Pattygreen with a large grain of salt. In some cultures and in some eras, for example, it was considered just fine for a much older man to marry a girl who was just entering into puberty, or for a man to have more than one wife. In most regions of North America, such practices are frowned upon. At one time the practice of keeping slaves was considered acceptable practice on this continent. It certainly was considered an acceptable practice by the Judeo-Christian God according to certain passages within the Bible. I think, moreover, that what believers choose to worship will depend upon what geographical location they happen to have been born in. Had Pattygreen been born in the middle east, she would be spouting surahs from the Qu'ran to us for she would have been exposed to Islam, not Christianity. Careful examination of the Bible will indicate that it often contradicts itself and that it is often a sombre, violent, and even a racist document - or, I should say, series of documents. Because the Bible does contain so much contradictory material, believers are inclined to cherrypick its teachings and tailor these according to their own temperaments.

I think I lost 11 lbs before my first fill but I cannot remember how much I lost between my first and second. My weight loss was never dramatic but it sure was satisfying for me. And after 10 months of eating much, much less (thanks to the band) and much more carefully, I was at my goal. I weighed 145 and my total weight loss was about 50 - 55 lbs. I was very content with that. I think that I was thrilled by my relatively slow weight loss because of a few factors: 1) until I got the band I had been gaining 2) the only times I was weighed was during my visits to TLBC or my doc. This meant that I wasn't obsessing about weight gain/loss on a day to day basis. Whenever I was weighed, the loss was a wonderful surprise for me. Oh, and 3) I did receive a lot of positive feedback throughout the process of losing weight. Those NSVs are important to a grrl, eh. Since then I have lost a lot more weight but this has been due to cancer. My band is currently defilled but my appetite is returning and I am thinking that I am going to need filling up fairly soon.

Damn! I've always been a dangerous apple, not an elegant pear!

Yep, that is exactly how I feel! I would be rich and satisfied instead of just satisfied.

You see, that's why I posted that. Green is sometimes more than just a sarcastic b..... *wink* lol

Yah, you are right about the mattress. *Green sighs bitterly*

I am 5'6" and weighed 195lbs the morning of my surgery. I had the surgery because I was post-menopausal and was gaining more and more weight every year. This was a one-way street going to ever fatter-city. It made sense to me and to my surgeon that I have the band. Because my problem had to do with simple gluttony and not with a fondness for sweets the band worked well for me. I ate much less thanks to feeling full. I lost weight and met my target within 10 months. The band is a great tool for those of us who are volume eaters regardless of whether we are morbidly obese or only working our way up there.

Yes, I lost some of mine too and was quite depressed about it. I don't know what causes this but it is very common. Some say that it is the trauma of the surgery and others claim that it is the weight loss which causes this. It happens between 4 and 6 months after the surgery. It will stop and your hair will grow back eventually. Do remember to eat adequate amounts of protein. Hair is built of proteins.

Boy, when I think of all the sex I gave away free..... What I shoulda had was a business manager. I could have retired at the age of 40 instead of 57. Too bad that I was born a natural blonde!

Yep, that lack of self-loathing has got to be the biggest NSV of them all!

Congratulations, froggy. Weight loss is wonderful, isn't it? I remember how excited I felt when I could fit into size 16s without the W! Over the years as I got fatter and fatter I had to give away clothes that I loved; now I am doing the same thing all over again but in reverse. My last big NSV was discovering that I can wear belts! Another thing to shop for. Oh goody!

Yah, great response, Jachut. Bravo!

Yep, and tap is right: above all, do not mention her weight gain to her.

It sounds like she is both jealous and immature.

Yep, politicians and prostitutes......lol

Yah, don't ya just love that finely developped double standard? lol Makes me wish I had a penis (instead of a lot of them).

As I see it, there are many religions and many religious texts in this world. If we are talking specifically about the bible, why, even this document is open to interpretation. This is why there are so many different branches of Christian belief. What one gets out of one's faith is to some extent what one puts into it. Some people choose to favour judgement and punishment in their approach to the behaviour of their fellow men and women. Some choose merely to observe, to help whenever possible, and to leave this business of judgement to that most advanced Being, if He exists. "The quality of mercy is not strained but droppeth like the gentle dew"...and all of that. Nowhere in the Bible did God appoint anyone of us to be His moral hall monitors. Thus, talking about sin is a simplistic approach to a complex problem. The point is that most individuals who turn to prostitution do so because of such issues as poverty, self-loathing due to dysfunctional childhoods, etc. Some of these individuals are drug addicts and have their addictions to pay for. I would rather that they earn the money by hooking than by violent crimes (mugging, home invasion) against individuals such as myself. This is my selfishness talking, of course. No prostitute can survive if there were no men interested in buying his or her services. There are some who believe that prostitutes are needed, that they serve as a valuable sexual outlet for many men, that without their services more young women risk rape. I don't know whether this is true or not. I do know that many Bible-believing men do sin, do stray sexually. This is only one indication that belief in sin does not protect one against it. To take Patty Green's hardline stance is both simplistic and counterproductive. What we need to do is make prostitution a less dangerous activity for all who are involved.

Prostitution has been around since the beginning of time. Men who want to use a prostitute's services are not deterred because it is an illegal activity. We all know that! Legalising prostitution will mean that a prostitute can go to the cops in order to complain if she is being maltreated by a john or a pimp. As things stand, prostitution is a shadowy occupation because, in part, of its illegality and these women can be easily victimized. One should remember that there would be no prostitutes if there were not men who wish to purchase sex and poor women who wanted the cash. This business is an example of the law of supply and demand.

Since having had throat cancer they have me on Isopure 1.5. My husband mixes this stuff up with coffee and chocolate and icecubes into a shake. It tastes pretty good, wakes me up, and gives me the protein I need, I guess.