Betsyjane

Just keep close watch... Being overfilled can cause pouch dilation. And being a new bandster, you won't have a learning curve during which to make mistakes. You'll have to be dead on with your behaviors and choices.

I'm self pay and go to the surgicenter. I really like them. they are quick and they do use the barium. AND my third fill did the trick for me! If you go in the mornings, you'll probably get Joy, and she's terrific.

Be careful. Sugar substitutes raise blood sugar levels just like sugar does, per recent studies. So it will also give you cravings, just like sugar. Such a shame after all the years diabetics were encouraged to use it. It does, though, save the calories! Another good one is to mix up fat free cream cheese and fat free ricotta with a bit of sweenener, and you have cheese cake!

I agree, but I think it's interesting that we've stopped at pedophiles. There are lots of career criminals who will never change. Why are they roaming society? On what basis do we get to choose to limit freedoms for some and not others? Murderers, drug dealers, rapists, aggravated assault.... Shall we put our money into building more and more prisons? Freeing up death penalty regulations? Build a big island? Make them wear scarlet letters in public? I don't know the answer, but I'd certainly be in favor of a prison system that makes them work off the cost of their stay...and keeps them out of some trouble through hard work. I don't buy the arguments that it either infringes on their rights, or that it takes jobs away from other noncriminals. I just don't thhink their prison stays should cost us anything.....

congrats on 50 pounds!!!!!!!!

It certainly wouldn't make me uncomfortable. I'd rather they don't know I'm banded.

When I was in grad school, a bunch of us lived together, including two of us who were a couple. One day, Dom, the fellow, came running screaming into the living room naked. His girlfriend Laurie ran in saying they had used cinnamon extract to heighten sensations, his penis was burning, and the extract wouldn't come off. So we all piled into the car to take Dom the the college Health Center, where they fixed him up, AND handed us a pre-printed list of what extracts don't burn, as the nurse commented, "We see this all the time."

1. I don't think this thread should be banned. we ARE in Rants and Raves. 2. I don't see the site as rehabilitative. One post of the 10 commandments of boy love seems to be gleeful about stalking and raping boys. I think they're just jacking off together on the site. 3. I haven't read that anyone here is pro-pedophilia. What I have heard is that Christians don't like to be put down because someone has a site about Christian pedofiles, and that gays don't want to be put down by being linked to pedophilia. So to me, this thread is about the damage of stereotyping.

Here we go! My local lap support group...we're all starting Tai Chi class together tomorrow. Should be fun, if I can ever figure out how to un-stiffen those Tai Chi pajamas. It's like wearing starched jeans at this point!

I'm going into the stone washed Tai Chi jammies business. There's a need.

It's surprisingly comfitable, even as stiff as a board. I drip dried, since it says not to put them in the dryer. I'll probably fill the washer with water and softener and just let them soak.

Go to the main page of this site, scroll down to local support groups, and look for one near home. Then also go to Texas support groups, and look for Humble Kingwood and you'll find ours.....

I got mine, and also signed up for a month. I washed my pjs with plenty of fabric softener, and the came out just as stiff! I may wash them over and over between now and Monday..... I watched a guy getting a private Tai Chi lesson and it was so elegant. I'm psyched! They have stacks and stacks of uniforms. No problem.

Ask away! Spivak's will tell you all this too.... I had sharp pain in my right shoulder for 3 days, handled with walking, hot pad, and mostly chewable Tylenol. They told me not to lift over 10 pounds for 3 months. I cheated some. I slept in a recliner for 3 days. Too much gas pain to lie down. Really after 3 days, I was pretty good. I can't feel the band. I can feel the port if I touch it, but it's never uncomfortable or noticable. What part of Houston will you be staying in? We have a support group on the northeast side of metro Houston. You're welcome to join us if you're around.

I'll be in PJs too! Glad you're joining, Lana.

Yeah. I get cravings from any sugar or artificial sweetener. So much for protein shakes.....

Yep. I had the fever too. Congrats on starting your journey.

Picture if you will... You have just eaten a huge chunk of steak and you forgot to chew it well. It sits on top of the band opening and won't go down. A surprise to you, your body begins to create this incredibly thick slime not unlike clear motor oil, trying to help the steak go through. It doesn't. The slime begins to back up...you begin to sweat...and you're pretty sure your life is over. You think you can't breathe, although you can. Your skin begins to turn pale and then red. You hold your arms over your head hoping that will help. You pace. You begin to pray...please go one way or the other. Your body decides...it's coming up! You run to the bathroom with a paper towel, and one good heave and it's up! There are no digestive juices with it, so it doesn't burn coming up. It just comes up. The final step of a PB is that you SWEAR you'll never do that again! But you will.....

Oh, the first fill is nothing! I was so nervous I thought I would pass out, and then it was over with no pain in seconds! You'll be amazed.....

You may be getting depresses from alcohol and cheese and crackers...meaning from mostl carbs in your diet. You need energy in order to focus and exercise. Eat some meat and a few bites of veges at each meal, without alcohol, and see how you are in a week. You might even feel like exercising! And git to a lap band support group.

I haven't signed up yet. I hired a maid service to Spring clean my house. I don't dare leave them. So far, they've broken the tempered glass in my refrigerator shelf, and one of them cut herself on her own cleaning equipment and bled on the rug.

Ha! Congratulations! Whatdjado...celebrate all day with food? Sorry. I know for me, sometimes when I hit a milestone, I take a day off and pig out, and then I get right back to work in a day or two. Sounds like you might have done the same. Don't kick yourself....Enjoy your mini vacation. Now get back to being healthy. If you're really lucky, the shock to your system will have stimulated some more weight loss.

Where in sparkpeople do you log in what you eat? I just looked at the site and there's so much there....couldn't find it!

I hate to say this, because it's just fulfilling my own fantasy and I hope you'll take it in the light hearted way that it's meant...but until the band, what great pig outs do you have planned??? Anything you want to eat a full meal of? I'd go for Joe's Crab Shack crab legs, myself....and something pasta....

Mormons I've known have been calm, patient, and family oriented. And they credit their religion for their goodness. I've never known a mormon polygamist, child rapist, or wife beater. I've never known a mormon man who puts down his wife. Some people get all the good stuff out of their beliefs. More power to them. If the choice is between the angry atheists here and the peaceful mormon, I'll take the latter...day saint.