Betsyjane

Thanks, Lana. I was surprised at the loss this morning. Odd. I'm pleased, but somehow don't feel I deserve it. Life is weird. I'll get over it.

If anyone would like an official email announcement with pictures, of our two betrothed doggies, send me your email address at GiddyYuppie@aol.com

Lana-I'll be good for about once a month with Spivak...and can't tomorrow, but can any other time, as it looks now....Missed you tight. Good luck tomorrow, Suzanne. Secret message to all who attended tonight: A strawberry may not be a berry, or even a fruit! It is a member of the rose family and behaves more like a flower. The definition of a fruit is that it is a seed housing. Since the strawberry has seeds on the outside, it technically doesn't qualify as a fruit. But the strawberry SEEDS are a fruit, since they each have their own little covering. The strawberry reproduces mostly by making runners rather than having to have it's "seeds" eaten and pooped out. The strawberry FLESH is actually an enlarged part of the stamen of the flower, so it is an edible flower. So the next question is why it has seeds at all!

Are you coming tonight? Sounds like a good night to get support...... Go suck on a cinnamon stick. :-) See you at 5:30.

I'm having trouble making a decision. I think I might need .1 or .2cc taken out of my band. In the morning, I can only drink a shake. Sometimes that's also true at noon, and sometimes I can eat both lunch and dinner, but only if I eat veryververy slowly. So if I get hurried, impatient, or hungry, I mess up by eating liquid high cal calories. I really am on the fence. I can get a little removed so I can eat more, not drink hi cal drinks to compensate, and not risk pouch dilation...which I already had once. Or I can stay where I am and try to step up to my band, eating more slowly and smaller bites in order to get enough in and not eat liquid calories, and basically work toward living well with that tight a band. I'm sure open to opinions!

Suzanne- I'm wondering about a slight unfill too. I can't eat in the morning...which is fine. I have a SlimFast Carb Control. Lunch comes and goes...I either eat or drink it. dinner is fine if I eat really really really slowly. I'm trying to decide if I'd like a bit more comfiort, in part so I don't risk dilating my pouch again. Some days, I feel like I want to conform to the current tightness. Some days I want a bit less but am afraid of my eating habits. I am truly on the fence. Do you think Sp & Sp sold their shares of the Surgicenter? I still think we're not getting all the dirt.....

Change is hard fro family members. I remember once when I lost weight (briefly), my husband said "You're not going to leave me, are you?" He adjusted. Now, as I'm losing weight, my Mother looks panicked and tries to shove food in my mouth because for her, feeding people = love. their issues and they'll have to adjust. I figure change is sooo tough, that they can't even be happy for me until they've done their own internal work. I can wait.....

5:30 is fine with me.....

I went to the first one and it gave me a lot to think about. The speaker didn't show, so it was all open discussion, and that was probably for the best. It's a long way from home for me...I'll probably go once a month depending on the topics.

Lana, we meet tomorrow (Monday) night. I hope you're feeling better. I think that's just how life is. You do great work on your health and then there will be a setback...just part of not being perfect. The challenge, for me anyway, is not so much getting back on track as it is letting it go emotionally so that I can easily get back on track without alot of misery first. One of my goals is to be able to set the reset button each morning and start the day fresh no matter what I did to myself the day before. I'm a long way from being able to do that...I mess up alot if my Lupus is getting at me, and then I have to go through eons of "oh what's the use" before I get going. I'm trying to cut down on that middle step! So, Scalet, tomorra is another day. Fiddledeedee. See you tomorrow night.

I had mine at the same Surgicenter...where you will also probably get your fills. Wonderful people.

Doctors who do mor eof one procedure than the other, tend to recommend the one they do and are best at. The stats I've seen are that lap patients lose an average of 50% of their excess weight and keep it off. Gastic bypass people tend to lose 70% of their excess weight very quickly and regain 20% of it. Dr. S said to beat the odds and lose more, you can do it if you really work hard at it. I guess it's a psychological game as much as anything...feeling great about the weight lost and not having the burning motivation to fight for losing the more difficult other 50%.

Walk when you can. Tylenol chewables for pain. Heating pad if you get shoulder pain. Smile alot.

sjsails-you might be too tight, and occasionally stretching you pouch and eating more. Not being able to eat for most of the day sounds like too tight to me..... I went though pouch dilation because I was too tight and even liquids were backing up and stetching my pouch....

You can also get thigh numbness from diabetes.

But Aquarobics was great yesterday!

Good point. Hmmm. I'm actually pretty convinced that the morbidly obese crowd probably knows a lot about nutrition. I think we know what we should have done if we could have stuck with it. And if we are eseentially to eat well but small, what are our questions? I think it's a great idea to have a nutritionist. My problem is more behavioral than strictly nutritional, I think. My demons are more often habits than info. Or at last least that's my take on how today went! :-(

Anything mushy, and expecially ice cream and chocolate are easy for me, unfortunately. I'm sticking mostly with the difficult foods, and protein first. But occasionally......

Any possibility you had it before? I had some numbness in my thigh and my Dr. said it's from carrying my stomach around. He said truck drivers get it, and workmen get it from carrying heavy tool belts too. Thanks, Doc!

Amen to that!

Per Wikipedia, complaint = an expression of displeasure. Hmm. That covers a lot. I guess for every complaining utterance that is about to leave me mouth, I'll need to state my gratitude for something instead. As in, I am grateful that Bush will be out of office soon, and I am grateful for the TV ads that don't portray me as a slug who should just be eating right and exercising. :-)

There's a nutritionist May 15 at Spivak's Tuesday night deal. Want to have a field trip, or get our own nutritionist?

I just read on another thread about a minister who wants there to be a complaint-free world. He gives away arm bands that say that on them. The deal is that if you complain, you have to swtich the band to the other arm. The goal is to keep the band on the same arm for 21 days, essentially to start a new habit. In case you want to join me, I ordered enough (free) for all of us.

Glad you're going to the doctor..... Get well soon.

I can't complain about Bush? Or is this just for personal whining? I'm game. I'll order one. hope they have ones for fat wrists!