Happy August 1st everyone!!

This will be our home for the Gone For Good Club – August Challenge.

For any newbies out there, the gone for good Club is our way of “banding” together for support and encouragement as we take off those pounds…(I know, cheap pun)

…Once each pound is lost, we consider it Gone For Good!!!

Weigh ins are on Wednesday in this format: current weight (total loss, this weeks loss) like so: C-350 (-36, -2) This person’s current weight is 350, they have lost 36 lbs so far and they have lost 2 lbs this week.

Feel free to join at any time, by posting a brief introduction for yourself and let us know what you are challenging yourself to. Whether you are banded or not, we are very happy to have your company!

This is not a competition, but just for a little added incentive to each of us, FunnyDuddies has promised a gift to the biggest “loser”, and I will be awarding a prize to the participant with the most creative exercise idea during the challenge.

This month’s challenge will involve keeping a close eye on our BMI’s (Body Mass Index) Here is a link to a BMI calculator so that we can make sure we are all using the same one:

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/adult_BMI/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.htm

So here’s the challenge: Let’s see how much we can lower our BMI’s over the next few weeks. I want to hear that we are all guzzling our Water, eating healthy, and moving, moving, moving. The more creative the exercise the better! Share your ideas…

And we are all going to try to fight those demons who lurk in closets and cupboards…the one’s that make us crave no-no foods and try to convince us to slip into our old habits and negative patterns. We are united, we are strong and these pounds will soon be GONE FOR GOOD!

Welcome to the club for August, and good luck!!:clap2:

Sunshine

PS

Just a reminder, when posting on this thread, please remember to take out the check mark on "show signatures". This can be such a long thread, that it gets hard for those on dial up to participate. Let's try to keep it as "clean" as possible.

Thanks!!!

Omg Mo! You have the greatest haircut with some nice highlights. You look great in purple too.

PNut you really look younger. I love your new avatar. It's shocking ...

Ty sis TriciaK

EmileeKaye, god I love her. Where the hell is she nowadays? Ooooh I know, in her tangled up love nest with Mr. Kyle.. lol. I'm waiting for an invitiation as she nears her goal weight.

Check out my beautiful babies

We had fun taking these. We laughed lots.

How cute!!

Your children are beautiful. You should be very proud.

Thank you. I'm very proud of them. Losing weight has made me a happier person and they are happier too.

I think my 40 lbs are gone for good. Haven't updated my sig and ticker yet, though. May I join your Gone for Good Club? I think mine are ... gone for good. Scary, though.

Telly girl - beautiful chillin!

P'Nut - who IS that gorgeous girl? wow - beauutiful!

Come on in Stitchy - we don't bite -- well people anyhow lol - welcome to the club!

Kathy, we are right at the same weight. We should help eachother get to goal!! I hit 177 two days ago but am back up to 178 this morning. That's ok though, I am still down 1 lb this week. I am going camping this weekend though so we will see how that works out--lots of drinking, bad food...I will try to be good but it is easier said than done once I have drinks in me.

~Liz~

03/10/06

(H)241 ©178 (-1 this week) -63 lbs total goal weight-160 (almost there!!)

Hey Liz, how you doin'? I still haven't seen 177 again yet, but I'm holding steady at 178.2.

I busted up totally yesterday. It was my MIL's 83rd birthday and we had a fish fry. I was hoping some of the fish would be grilled, but no. All of it was battered and fried!!!!!! So, before I even left, I went to Sparkpeople and put in 6 ounces of shrimp, 6 ounces of grilled fish, tatar sauce, cocktail sauce, and cole slaw, just to see where I'd be. Then I took my little food scale. I measured the 6 ounces of shrimp, wowza! that's a load of shrimp! But I ate it fine. Then I put 6 ounces of FRIED fish on my plate with tartar and cole slaw (1/4 cup), and I was only able to eat 4 ounces of the fish. At the end of the day, including some dessert nibbles, I was over 1800!!!! calories! My max is 1550, bur for weeks now I have been keeping my calories in the 1200 range.

So, we'll see how that plays out on the scale in the next few days. I was 178.2 this morning (Sunday). And I took a nice hike this afternoon with the family and some nieghbor kids. We walked a looong way in the woods and down some RR tracks. Fun!

Hey, P'nut, where's all these pics of you I have heard about? Your avatar looks great!

Telly your kids are beautiful! My camera phone takes lousy pics. They are so grainy! Yours look so clear!

:wave: hi everybody!

OH! Guess what? We bit the bullet. I don't know how we'll do it but we'll come up with the extra...DSL comes on Thursday. I can't believe I'm finally getting DSL. Through the phone line. We don't have cable on our street. But I'm PRAYING! it will blow me away with the speed, compared to what I'm used to. Maybe I'll visit the Before/After thread more often. LOL

Telly, what beautiful kids. I'm glad they are getting to share in your newfound enjoyment of life. *hugs*

Welcome to the Club, Stitchy!! Glad you joined!

Hiyas Mo Thanks for the compliment on my avatar!

Kathy, DSL?? Finally? Yay!! No more dial up! Mmm coleslaw has been one of my downfalls lately. But.. but.. its just cabbage, right?? *laughs*

And Kathy, here are the page those pics are on:

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=4642&page=30

By the way.. *snicker, giggle, claps hands* I can wear size 14 jeans now! Down from a very tight 26! *bursts out in a big yell of YAHOO!!*

Thank you. I'm very proud of them. Losing weight has made me a happier person and they are happier too.

I know what you mean. I was so heavy that I wasn't enjoyiong the time with my daughter... I was too tired, and too lazy. Now, we have a great time together and do lots of stuff I could not have done before! I am a new participant in her life! I think I was always a good father to her, but now I'm her dad!

We wrestled with this little demon for an hour and a half Saturday morning to get her pictures taken. Never again.... I am all about taking digital pics in the backyard from now on...

I think I was always a good father to her, but now I'm her dad!

Awwwww! Sweet!

Part of my previous inactivity with my family was, legitimately, my youngest son was too young to really do anything. Someone had to stay with him and not participate. Due to my weight, it was generally me.

Yesterday, we ALL took a hike in the woods behind our house (there's about 600 acres back there) and we walked a looong way down the RR tracks to an old logging road. You can't see it from the tracks, but if you venture off down the logging road, there's an OLD house back in the woods. The foundation piers are made of stacked rocks. Hand cut wood. Tin roof. Fireflace. Huge front porch. It's actually kind of big, maybe 4 large rooms. We can't go inside it's in such disrepair. But what a piece of history! I wonder who made their home there, or if it was some type of RR house? Anyway, we walked miles. I imagined myself trying to haul my 65 pound loss through the woods and down the tracks. No way, Jose. It was good to have a real FAMILY outing...all of us!

Wow P'nut, I just went to the link, Wonderful!!!!!!!! You look FAB!

Thank you Mo, P'Nut, The_best_me, TriciaK...

Paul, it's a wonderful feeling to have the energy an flexibility to play with our kids, to say the least. My daughter can now wrap her little arms around my back when she hugs me. I'm able to play with them for hours and not tire or become annoyed. I'm soo much more happier. Thank you band!

The only one that is strange is sometimes my daughter says she misses my big belly.

I used to hold her hands, and she'd stand on my stomach and jump up and down (she'd call it Hop on Pop... like the Dr. Seuss book). Now, despite a firmer set of abs, she'd step on my port, so I can't let her do that. She also says that I'm not as comfy to sleep on, as my belly is not a squishy pillow anymore!

Overall, though, it is wonderful to be able to do more with her!

BTW, all...

I've got a new NSV.

I've gotten two... count'em... two film acting gigs recently, outside of the Farragut stuff! And... I have 4 more auditions coming up in the next two weeks! It is all independent or short film stuff (i.e. no-pay), but will allow me to build up a demo reel to go after paying stuff, and so far, it has all been speaking parts, and leads.

I NEVER would have had the confidence to do this last year at 371lbs, and besides, not too many casting calls for huge guys out there... not for good roles, anyway!