Will_B_Healthy

As goofy as it may sound, you actually lose weight by moving your calorie bar up. This might help to explain it better than I can; it is from ShapeFit.com: In terms of calories, if you're not eating enough, your body will most likely go into a "storage" mode. This is basically because the moment your body thinks its not getting enough food, it will horde all the calories and hold onto the fat since it thinks its going into starvation mode. Your body will also slow down your metabolism because it thinks a "fasting state" may be close and it will want to preserve as much energy as possible. This is done through holding tight onto the fat stores and not releasing them. The key is to increase your calories with highly nutrient dense food to fuel your body! I would recommend not eating any less than 1,500 calories/day and make sure your Protein levels are kept high. In terms of diet, I would focus on lean protein sources (chicken breast, turkey breast, egg whites) and lean fibrous carbs coming mostly from non-starchy vegetables (broccoli, mushrooms, yellow squash, green peppers, etc.) Try and limit all starchy carbs from your diet and limit fruit after 6pm, since it contains lots of simple sugars which will effect your insulin levels and hinder your weight loss. Makes sense doesn't it?

Certifiable nutcase! :biggrin: Both you and your witch-doctor. What in the world are you trying to do? Are you like 65 pounds! I just pulled this caveat off a calorie counter website: If your goal is to lose weight by burning off excess body fat, aim to eat 500 fewer calories per day than your daily caloric needs, and maintain or increase your exercise activity. Do not go below 1200 calories per day unless on a medically supervised weight loss program or after consultation with your doctor. I would at least get a second opinion. I thought we were all here to lose weight and LIVE a healthier and overall better life. I have lost 90 pounds in just under four months averaging just over 3#/week now and I am doing between 900 and 1300 calories and exercising daily. My daily and healthy Snacks alone exceed 300. You are jiving aren't you?

OMG -- that 2nd Amendment crack is a terrific smack down! America, in all its wealth and splendor, has grown complacent and certainly soft. GWB was the epitome of this. Who took more vacation time than W? What POTUS ever went to bed while the sun was still shining? The burning and nagging question I have is what books will fill the shelves of his library besides THE PET GOAT? Our great blessing was that W dislodged the killer pretzel or we'd have had Darth Vader Cheney who, if the truth be told, was the puppet master for eight years anyhow. We'd see lots of brown shirts, patent leather boots goose stepping through the streets rounding up all the liberals for reprogramming treatments. I really don't believe W was quite as ruthless and cavalier as he is often characterized. If you look at his roots, his previous experience from college to the White House, he lived a life of privilege. He never ran a successful business, as governor he was actually second in command -- more figurehead than worker. I think W was looking forward to lots of good ole Texas Bar-B-Ques on the White House lawn until those crazies decided to bury 4,000 people in the rubble of American greed on a clear September morning. He wasn't a great leader and certainly not a great speaker though memorable. He and those who surrounded him believed in the principles that secured the keys to the Oval Office: win at all costs, play by no rules, history is written by the victors, the winner and those who helped him deserve the spoils, and what the heck is noblesse oblige anyhow?:tt2: So this is our game to lose now. We have a majority control in Congress and a progressive in the White House, a man who inherited a legacy fraught with impending disaster and an economy so anemic even billions of dollars cannot stanch the lethal flow. In short order President Obama has recouped and rebuilt our image in the world through honesty, innovation, sincerity, and candor. He may be erudite and even a bit aloof in his delivery of the messages but isn't that a welcome change from the bumbling, fumbling, blather and BS? Adlai Stevenson was one of the most intelligent men to ever run for POTUS, perhaps too smart. The real trouble was he was opposed by one of America's great and real war hero, Dwight D. Eisenhower. After the second rout in 1956, Adlai was asked if he had lost his faith in the American public; Stevenson paused and thought over the question only to reply, "No. I haven't lost faith in the American public, but as to their taste, Coca-Cola still outsells champagne." Not much has changed. Although quite a few have migrated to Diet Coke! :scared2::redface::smile::biggrin::tt2::wink2: Peace out,

Well said and well done. That's true of your post and also something entirely alien to FauxNews. A great friend just sent me this "story" re-reported from Faux: U.S. Atheists Reportedly Using Hair Dryers to 'De-Baptize'. He captioned it as the one that gets the prize for most ridiculous of the week! The source is actually Nightline but the mere inclusion by Faux and its philosophy of foul and imbalanced re-reporting is self evident lunacy. Two things continue to frighten me: the thought of who actually makes up the "jury of my peers" and that more than 70% of polled Americans believed the WMD tripe that GWB et al were spewing to drum up a fraudulent and immoral war. :smile: H L Mencken wryly observed: "It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office." Peace out,

That is one of those "it depends" answers. Here is a free site I found to be really helpful Free Calorie Counter, Diet & Exercise Journal | MyFitnessPal.com. You put in the data: your current weight, measurements, goals, exercise plans, etc. and it will calculate the calories, carbs, fat, Protein, sodium, etc. The food diary is great if you are committed to logging in EVERYTHING you eat or drink: great data base of common products. There is a place to log in your exercise -- again it has a broad spectrum to select from. Very simple, very easy and if you don't cheat (well, we all end up cheating a little) you will lose weight. When you finish for the day it will calculate what your weight will be in five weeks if you continue the same pattern. I am sure there are others but this one works for me. Be strong. Think positive. It isn't where you were that matters; it is where you will be. This is a marathon not a sprint. You will be as successful as you envision it. And forgive yourself by being stronger every day. Regards,

:smile::biggrin::scared2::biggrin::tt2::biggrin: Marty_m: The only thing you seemed to have left out was a good swipe at all the morons who voted for GWB . . .TWICE! I have never understood how anybody with less than $1M in personal wealth can embrace the GOP and their fascist platform. Livin' the delusion that anybody can make it to the top; add that one to the check is in the mail list. Not only am I a lifelong Democrat, but a lifelong Liberal Democrat, a fourth generation Yellow Dog Democrat. Huzzah for Eugene Debs. And like you and anyone sporting more than a double digit IQ, I will be voting and actively campaigning again for President Barrack Obama. Needless to say I loved your post, buddy. Do more and do it often. It gets lonely here with all the predigested FauxNews rants and projectile vomiting TeaParty dweebs and microcephalics who haven't experienced an original thought yet. These are the same douche-bags who get all gooey inside when you show them a video of the Berlin wall getting torn down and then start chanting with equal glee over the building of a wall to keep them nasty "illegals" from coming across the border and taking all the jobs away from our nuclear physicists. I better take another Zoloff. Over and out.

:biggrin:Thanks for wading into this shallow pool. Just a handful of sea life including a blowfish in severe denial populate it; a word to the wise: don't take the bait. Free thinking is still allowed including those who practice intolerance and selective belief. There is much to be said for coexistence. Stay and play or swim away but be mindful of the dangers that lurk within and without. "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch!" L. Carroll Regards as always,

That is why Gandhi said what he did about Christians: I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. I am a work in progress. Six years ago I got the opportunity to serve the hungry through a mission called Hot Meals. I have missed two servings since - medical conditions. I chair our mission committee and work as a recruiter for Family Promise, a nationwide organization with a focus for providing assistance to homeless families. This is not to suggest I am any better or worse but simply blessed that I can do this and that there are thousands of others like me doing the same daily. We might be as "invisible" as the guests we serve, but most know when you serve those less fortunate than others you are serving God.

Amen! If at all possible, could you consider using another color like green rather than red. I corrected compositions for thirteen+ years and I made a point of avoiding the red marker except when I needed to attract the bull! Otherwise nothing but praise for your retort.

Well said. Proverbs offers up, "The devil can quote Scripture for his own ends" and Matthew 4:6 illustrates this. I bear no ill will towards the PG's of the world; I feel sorry for them but recognize and accept they find a security in their faith and though it is certainly different from mine I understand the need and appreciate their passion. It is, however, so unilateral and inflexible. It is not the only suit a Christian can wear. The Bible is an enigma, filled with beauty, joy, laughter, wisdom, insight, hope, promise and instruction as well as ambiguity, contradiction, and omission. It is peopled with the righteous, holy, and sincere but equally seasoned with the dysfunctional, confused, and fallen. It is the work of many men though inspired by God; hence it is imperfect in the product but perfect in the process. Find your own path to God, make your own personal relationship, and be mindful of the holy spirit as it works in others as well as you. Peace out.

I guess that render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's thing doesn't play in Steward's article. Not surprising. The deeper irony lies in the behavior of the Christian Right (who seldom are BTW). As this article illustrates, the CR will attack the government that has protected the diversity of faith to freely practice for over two-hundred years, but should anyone turn this coin over and suggest applying the law of the land equally to all agencies including the taxing houses of faith, the CR cries foul. The semantics of what defines a non-profit and the difference between an income and an allowance ooze to the surface. The CR have a unilateral code allowing them the freedom to criticize but not be criticized. There are some people who when they offer a critique include a suggestion for improvement. It is not enough to simply find the rats and cockroaches, you need to DO something about getting rid of them or creating a place where the vermin will not invade. That is not the motis operandi of the CR. They may till the soil and spray herbicide but never do they plant a seed let alone nurture it to feed the needy, house the homeless, encourage the downtrodden. The CR often uses scripture to buttress or emphasize their position, but just as often to camouflage. Yet the tipping point is always money for them: they must have it, having it is good, not having it is not, depriving others from having it is acceptable, sharing or redistributing it is unthinkable. They feel entitled to amass it without government intervention or control, suggesting anything to the contrary is socialism. BTW before the Cold War, there was a strong and growing populist movement of socialists, led by Eugene Debs for one. American socialists were the champions for the labor unions and leaders in legislation to provide both rights and protections for our working class. They empowered the middle class and battled the elite in court, in the street, in the voting booths. The Soviets so corrupted socialism that it remains a pariah in the minds (though ever so narrow) of most Americans. The system of taxation which began three thousand years ago is not perfect nor fair but until something better is suggested, it remains one of two constants. Well, make that three: death, taxes, and the Grace of God.

Happy to support you. Thanks for the reading list. I am always open to new approaches and ideas that provide growth. You probably already have one of the works by Howard Zinn like A People's History of the United States (c. 1980). I am doing a leisurely read through A Power Government Cannot Suppress (c. 2007). Bill Moyers had the good professor on his PBS program The Journal about six months ago; I listened to the podcast interview again yesterday. :grouphug: Back to work.

Keep up the good fight. I deal with this mentality every day. I live in one of the few parts of the country that remained "red" -- like the color of Ronald Reagan's hair. My Obama campaign signs were defaced daily; my car has been keyed and spat upon because my bumper sticker was "unacceptable" to my right wing neighbors. Silence is sanction. Although it seems like the myth of Sisyphus to quell the mob, we must - as you so eloquently said, "not . .. allow any of that right wing crap and lies to go unanswered." That resonates like Howard Beale's manifesto from NETWORK: "I'm mad as hell and . . ." Keep the faith. Peace.

Cleo's Mom: You go girl. PG has too much time on her hands. I can't quite figure out if it is hypocricy or insecurity though. I left the Born-Agains forum -- I'd had one too many ladles of her BS. Now I discover she infects this forum, too, offering up the pre-chewed rather than the original; PG lets others do the heavy lifting and simply parrots. Is independent thinking so hard? (That is rhetorical question, PG. I can sense she is poised to extract that quote, ready to launch another sortie of FauxNews wit) Looking forward to other postings, some of which may actually offer up something new and different.:grouphug:

PattyGreen: When someone says, "It's not about the money." It is about the money. The defense of your deep seeded prejudice is equally transparent. Your final statement is literally "damned out of your own mouth" as you re-arrange and selectively choose what you agree with. This is your motis operandi -- sort of costco Christianity, sampling and deciding what you like and don't like. In short and to no one's surprise from your insulated vacuum built of insecurity and predigested homilies, you miss the point -- you don't get it. There is no room for growth when your mind is closed. Matthew 13:1-13:23 So I shall shake the dust off my sandals and move on.:thumbup:

I was writing, actually, not talking but my real beef with you is not semantic. I could be cutting and even cruel, pointing out that for an expert in the "bible (sic)" as you profess, you fail to capitalize the most revered Christian tome, the Holy Bible. But the shortcomings of your "bible college" and "degree in bible (sic)" are evidenced with greater frequency in the intolerance of your postings rather than in the petty and pedantic. Born-agains has evolved as a convenient label used by bigots. In ever increasing numbers, Americans have vacated Christian houses of worship for secular alternatives and "born-agains" have morphed to the pejorative. I pray that you and others of your ilk will eventually come to understand and embrace the concept of being ecumenical Christians: - Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God's realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us; -Invite all people to participate in an open and affirming faith community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable (including but not limited to): believers and agnostics, conventional Christians and questioning sceptics, women and men, those of all sexual orientations and gender identities, those of all races and cultures, those of all classes and abilities, those who hope for a better world and those who have lost hope; - Find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in the dogmatic certainty --more value in the questioning than in the absolutes; - Form ourselves into communities dedicated to equipping one another for the work we feel called to do: striving for peace and justice among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God's creations, and bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers. As ever,

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. - Ghandi Are the Christians in this silly blog practicing the tenets of Christ or parroting denominational dogma? Perhaps more time spent with the New Testament rather than the Old will encourage us all to grow past the vengeful, spiteful, childish God that matures and nurtures having given His only son who suffered at the hands of His chosen people. Nothing and no one is served when no one listens or opens up his/her heart and mind. The Creator gave you that mind as well as a soul; serve Him by using it.

Thanks for your insight, agiudice! Spot on. :thumbup: Seems in our rush to rid ourselves of all the trappings of our ugly past we are quick to make the same mistakes that led us to the dead ends of obesity. We need to take it slower and smarter; get your information from legitimate sources rather than anecdotal. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea during my early consultation my physician said after about a 40 to 50 pound weight loss I would need to adjust my machine. If I didn't it would introduce too much air and I might spend most of my days expending it from either end (he was much more eloquent than that but the core idea was less gas when adjusting the device). He said it may seem like I no longer need the machine. He cautioned me not to stop until we had discussed the details. There was a possibility I might transition to a static device fitted to my mouth instead. He likened sleep apnea to alcoholism: you will always have it lingering in the background no matter how many days you have kicked the machine. I would have been happy knowing it was "chronic" a tad less pejorative. I got the point. What I can state is I am sleeping sounder and getting the much needed rest. It may be due to a variety of factors but at this point I am not going to start cutting the cord on anything that has got me this far. Keep us informed, agiudice. Regards as always,

Vacillating over gastric surgery is to be expected. It is radical in that it means a completely different course and it can be a wonderful choice. But every choice is accompanied with anxiety as well as baggage. Your past experiences will nag at you. Any previously unsuccessful attempts to lose weight will haunt you. Attitude is key. Keeping and controlling your attitude is like driving a car. Most will check the rear view mirror with regularity to make sure it's safe and see where you've been, but the majority of your focus is on what lies ahead. Just like driving, the new journey requires that you make course corrections based upon the information you have absorbed and seek; conditions change. Most of us use the same route to get to work, the store, etc. But when we are going somewhere new it is quite another matter. The same holds true regarding your nutritional path. It is one thing to have a regimented eating program at home and quite another when you come out into the world again. The unmanaged and uncontrolled are the potholes and road hazards. You learn to adjust, make smart choices; you learn to ask questions of the server and if need be the chef. What you put into your system is as important as knowing what is in your fuel tank. I drive a car with a turbo-charged engine and the manufacturer recommends a high octane fuel for optimal results. So when I fill up I have a choice: pay more and get results or economize and put up with the pings and stutters. When I go to the market or out to a restaurant I face the same kinds of choices: how do I want to fuel my engine. Am I willing to pay a little more, get what I know is good for me, have it prepared the best way, adjust the portions, and enjoy it guilt free or cut corners, go cheap and easy, eat like those around you to fit in, rationalize it away and eventually recognize the old behavior won out. Final metaphor; promise. This journey you are on is going to take you to new places along familiar and unfamiliar pathways. The best sea captains and explorers plotted their courses without always having a clear understanding of their ultimate destination, relying upon their experience and often the wisdom of others who may have traveled there before; sometimes they got good advice, sometimes it was otherwise, but nevertheless they persevered, learning more along the way, sharing what they had discovered, and finding that getting to the destination was more meaningful than actually setting foot on the foreign soil. Regards as always,

I haven't weighed myself in a couple days so I don't know how close I am currently but I am just over six pounds away and I am averaging just over three pounds lost/week. So by mid July I will be there. There doesn't seem to be much of a restriction; had my second fill over two weeks ago and I am back to my goat status: I can eat anything but I choose what goes in.:smile: I spent some time reading a topic on the day of surgery; that brought back the angels and demons of that experience. Considering how drugged I was, I don't think I could offer a decent account without some creative license. Anyhow there is something very old about people going off on the details of surgery like everyone is waiting on baited breath to hear how small your turds got or what medication was rubbed on your dorsal fin:laugh::laugh: I will have to share my personal nightmare of that special day: I awoke in the recovery room getting entertained by the antics of Nurse Mildred Ratchet. She seemed to really get off yanking the catheter out of my flacid Oscar Myer. Even though I was heavily medicated I saw the face of Satan in that nano-second. A few days later I found out that thorny cactus was supposed to have be removed while I was still under. :eek:It was my version of drawing the short straw:biggrin: But that is the past and I will let that demon go. Be good to one another. Count your blessings and be gracious with everyone less fortunate. As always, WB

Way to go TinksMom. There are some super Gorilla tactics in your response.

Somehow I knew someone would rush in to prop up the bastards! No surprise!

Staples??? Apparently yours was not laparoscopic surgery. Well, hope your healing is without complications. Sounds like so good so far though. Keep posting. Keep visiting and exploring this site. There are wonderful people, ideas, support, critiques, complaints, etc.

Tough luck on the insurance. Greedy bastards those insurance companies! I got the same setback when my insurance through work gave me the thumbs down due to the same "bariatric exclusion"; when I called to get an explanation I finished my conversation with, "Thanks for the death sentence." And I was sincere. I was truly bummed out for some time after that. No way could I burden my family with another debt ($12K) even if it meant saving my life. What a fool I was. I won't bore you with the details but within six months everything changed to the good. Double insurance and both covered the surgery. Another hiccup or two but I got through the minefield and you can too. Don't give up easily. It is a really simple calculation. Figure the banding will extend the length and value of your life, allowing you to pay off the debt plus enjoy living again. It is an investment in you. Go for it.