Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgendered Bandsters

[happyatlast 0]

Hi my fellow bandsters: I am newly banded May 29,08 I went to Mexico to Dr. Ortiz. I had to go down alone because my partner stayed home with our kids. I had a great experience and am doing fine. I have such a great support in her. I havn't told a sole about my decission to get banded. I feel that I don't want to justify why I went to Tijuana or why I couldn't do it on my own I feel that as I go down I will just take it all in stride and learn to live a healthy life with small portions and more exercise. I am looking forward to solid food. I have a food date of June 19, only a few more days to go. I don't feel any restriction now and have to make a fill appointment. I am also wondering how the hell do you get the ticker to attach to my page? I have tried and tried and I am thinking that I am very computer illiterate. Any suggestions? Thanks Tammy:thumbup:

[cheri52 1]

Welcome Tammy, I totally understand about the not telling anyone. I did the same thing , for about the same reason. didn't even tell my grown kids or mom. I did have to tell my supervisor in order to get the time off, and have since told a select few as the occasion arises and seems safe to me. I don't think it is any ones business and I'm not good with judgements. Had people judging me all my life about my wt., tired of it! I also think in the beginning I was a bit ashamed and thought I was taking the easy way out, I was being hard and judgemental toward myself. Now I know different, it is far from easy, it's still a bitch of a peice of work :confused_smile:!.But totally worth it. If I lost nothing more, my life is still so much better.

About the ticker..... I forget, it's been awhile! I remember it took several tries. start by clicking on anyones here and it will take you to the site. After you create it there are addresses at the end. you cut and paste it to your signiture here under the user cp section. don't remember which address I used, think I tried all till one worked! I think it required me to write a reply here before it took, you'll just have to try. Maybe someone else can give you better directions. Good Luck!:drool:

[hungry4help 0]

Hey hungry4help -how's it going? I had my first fill last week and I feel no restriction so I'm here just looking for info...I love this place. Take care and hope all is well...

hi az... thanks for asking and i'm sorry it's taken me so long to respond. i've been away/off line in the past few weeks. post-breakup, i've kept busy with work, tennis and riding my bike. so far so good, but not quite myself yet. sigh.

the good news is that i do feel restriction. i'm not quite at my sweet spot, but i have been getting "fuller" faster and am sated for longer. oddly, i didn't really feel the last fill kick-in for nearly two weeks. i do have another fill skedded for next week. if i keep the appt, i'll prolly ask for something like .2 to .5. ah, the mysteries of the band.

welcome to all the new people! if anyone's in the nyc area, feel free to drop me a pm. would be nice to meet up with some locals.

[azsungirl 0]

Hungry4help! good to see you! I can imagine what you're going through...there's nothing that time doesn't take care...even pain! :smile:

I'm getting another fill June 26th - I've been bad lately w/bread and stuff! my surgeon is a little strict and wants to me to walk away after having the portion that he has shown me....though! :smile:

Hope this week had been better for you...take care.:redface:

hi az... thanks for asking and i'm sorry it's taken me so long to respond. i've been away/off line in the past few weeks. post-breakup, i've kept busy with work, tennis and riding my bike. so far so good, but not quite myself yet. sigh.

the good news is that i do feel restriction. i'm not quite at my sweet spot, but i have been getting "fuller" faster and am sated for longer. oddly, i didn't really feel the last fill kick-in for nearly two weeks. i do have another fill skedded for next week. if i keep the appt, i'll prolly ask for something like .2 to .5. ah, the mysteries of the band.

welcome to all the new people! if anyone's in the nyc area, feel free to drop me a pm. would be nice to meet up with some locals.

[cosmo24 0]

It's been a while since I have Posted. Hope all are well. I am having a hard time to motivate myself to exercise. I got the Wii Fit. It is so much fun. When I do use it I work out for at least 45mins. It traks your progress along with your weight and BMI. I just can not motivate to use it everyday. I think I am a little depressed. I do not have a partner and my friends and family think the weight should fall off more quickly than it's doing. AAHHH Frustration. Please let me know if anyone else has used the Wii Fit and had success. Thanks for letting me vent. Annie

[cheri52 1]

Hi Annie, the wii fit sounds fun, I locked into curves for a year, but am thinking I might try somethings else after that. My contract is up in Oct. . It's a great program but I'm bored and it's hard to work into my schedule. you'll have to keep us posted as to how you think it is doing.

Your comment as to friends and family's expectations is yet just another reason I didn't tell any of them! They all think I'm doing great even though I know I'm going slow:wink_smile:. It's a lot less stress not having to worry about all their concerns. They couldn't possibly understand yet I'm sure at least some would become experts:rolleyes2:.

You keep doing what you are doing and it will work:thumbup:.

[cosmo24 0]

Thanks Cheri. I wish now I would have kept it quiet when I got the band. I wish people would just mind their own buisness. So far so good with the Wii Fit. I like it cause I can use it anytime in the privacy of my own home. Have a Great Week. Annie

[hungry4help 0]

It's been a while since I have Posted. Hope all are well. I am having a hard time to motivate myself to exercise. I got the Wii Fit. It is so much fun. When I do use it I work out for at least 45mins. It traks your progress along with your weight and BMI. I just can not motivate to use it everyday. I think I am a little depressed. I do not have a partner and my friends and family think the weight should fall off more quickly than it's doing. AAHHH Frustration. Please let me know if anyone else has used the Wii Fit and had success. Thanks for letting me vent. Annie

hi cosmo... have you seen the wii fit thread in the exercise and fitness folder? if not, there are lots of user reviews there. i tried it out, but decided not to buy it. seemed fun, but was worried the novelty would wear off. but that's just me, it may be the perfect thing for you.

annie... re: not telling anyone... i decided not to tell many people; just my ex-gf, my sister and her wife. my reasoning: i didn't want to deal with explaining myself or my decision. and i didn't want to answer questions from friends and family like, how much have you lost? it may just be a rationale, but i wanted to do this for me. now it's simple to make a statement like that, but embedded in it is a whole of psychological drama and turmoil re: "fitting in", being normal looking, why can't i just exercise "self-control?" answering those questions for me is enough work, especially since my responses vary from day-to-day. answering such queries from others could, in reality, amount to a full-time job. there may come a time when i decide to "come out" about my banded status, but that time is not now.

good luck with your process.

[hungry4help 0]

Hungry4help! good to see you! I can imagine what you're going through...there's nothing that time doesn't take care...even pain! :sad:

I'm getting another fill June 26th - I've been bad lately w/bread and stuff! my surgeon is a little strict and wants to me to walk away after having the portion that he has shown me....though! :crying:

Hope this week had been better for you...take care.:ohmy:

hi az... why is it that time moves so much more slowly when one is sad?! stupid time. decided to skip out on nyc's coming pride weekend. instead, i'm off to tennis camp in amherst. am hoping my renewed sportiness will get me thru this emotional ruff patch. (sorry to sound so melodramatic. i guess the anonymity of this board is somehow giving me license to be a bit sappy!)

anyways, that restricted feeling has dissipated. one day it was there. next day, it just wasn't. wtf? am skedded for another fill on wednesday and may go for a top-up that'll bring me up to 6ccs. am eating more than the one cuppa of food people seem to manage when they're in their sweet spot. since i'm working out, i haven't been too worried about it, but the loss is slowing down and in addition to getting smarter about nutrition, i could really use an assist from my band.

hope all is well with you and everyone else here.

[dezbus1 0]

Hey all, Happy to see so many new faces on the thread, I have not been here in a long time.

For those of you not telling anyone, people who know you will notice that you have done something, they will pry it out of you, and yes you will get those people who say oh you cheated, and what I tell those people is no, I finally did something about it. This was not an easy decision for me, and it took me a lot of work to do this.

Some people have to live in the closet because of there families and jobs. Don't make your self more miserable by trying to hide one more thing.

Ok, for a nsv I love to body board in the ocean, but last year I could not because of my weight loss I am always too cold, in fact I always cold no fat on these bones, if it is 110 out side it is comfortable for me, any way I went to a dive shop and was able to get in to a women's 9-10 wet suit. I was so jazzed, my wife said she did think she wanted me to go to the beach. She is so sweet. lol

Ok, I will stop rambling, best of luck to all of you, I will try to log on more often and check out the thread.

[redshirt 0]

Hi, just wanted to say "congrats to all those who are banded." I only wish I could be at this time. The truth of the matter is I'm in college (my last semester) and I can't afford to pay for the surgery alone. I pay WAY too much in insurance (blue cross/ blue shield of KY) and can't seem to get them to pay for the surgery. I'm 24 years old, and have been overweight my whole life. Looking for some help on getting my insurance company to pay for it, or getting an insurance policy that will. Any help is well-appreciated, especially if you are in Kentucky and may know of any policies I could pick up.

A little about my personal life- my (lesbian) partner and I have been together for about 4 years now and we have two happy, healthy "children"- (the puppies). For the most part she supports my right to make my own decision as far as the band is concerned, but she would rather I not go through with it at all. The only problem is that she is not really overweight and hasn't gone through the extreme embarassment/ all the correlating problems that I have went through relating to my obesity. I still am optimistic, however, with what the band seems to be able to help people accomplish. I can't wait to be a "bandster" myself.

[dezbus1 0]

Hang in there redshirt, maybe you can find a job with insurance that will cover the cost. Or start a savings just for the band.

[ReadySteadyGo 8]

Hi *waves* where are you guys?

Hello?

*hears echo* hello hello

[OH Juli 15]

Yo Ready.

I'm here but not much to talk about. I'm busy inundating the straight people with my gayness on the regular boards.

I actually left that alone on the Rachael Ray board because it wasn't worth the fight, but you know let me rant here for a minute.

I certainly talk about being gay openly on here. I talk about my life in general all the time. If I have to hear about heterosexuals talk about spouses, boy friends, girl friends etc they are obligated to hear me talk about my personal life.

I mean if I were on a board where no mentions of personal relationships were required then by all means I'd not talk about that piece of my life, but damn....

It just kills me that since I refer to being gay once in about every 200 posts then I'm overly gay.

Ugh.

[hungry4help 0]

juli... has anyone called you out for being overly gay?! silly straight people!

hope everyone is doing well these days. post breakup life is getting better day by day. am looking forward to a great summer. funny how i can endure the heat better now that i'm a little thinner!