Great Idea - I will do it right now !!

Hi

I am Janet and I am a recovering food addict :wink2:

I was banded 7/17/07 - My starting weight was 250 - I'm 5'4

Today (just over 10 months out) I am 154 - size 8 pants (was 18/20) Medium tops (was 22/24)

I got banded as I wanted to extend the years that I have left on this planet and to do that I knew that I needed to lose weight.

The band has been the tool I needed. For the first time in my life I have been able to achieve this goal (actually getting to my goal weight)

If you want a buddy - support - help - suggestions - Please feel free to call upon me - I will gladly share my journey with you - the journey is still on going and by helping you I will be helping me (staying motivated and accountable) and then one day you can pay it forward and help someone else.

Apples, Have a safe trip in the morning. As you tell us "watch the crossroads"

Great, May see Mr Filet Mignon on Saturday at the singles party. lol

Arlene, hope you Mom is feeling better.

Janet, hugs and prayers for your friend.

Joyce, love you description of your Ex. too funny.

Julie, How are you doing?

Kelly, MIA

Meridith, I had one of those moments the other day in the candy aisle. Almost sent the bird flying. It does feel very impowering to talk back to the crap.

Cheri, What a great story. Those kids are great.

LauraK

Got email from Chris - he said he made my italian cabbage meal for dinner tonite and his family loved it... I just put mine in the oven - I used a little more cheese 1.5 total so up the cal by 100 / 6 = so what 250 per 1.3 cup - still good -

But you do have to at least sweat the cabbage or it will be too much - I use one med head and it made to layers - bottom layer cabbage add meat mixture add 1/2 lf cheese another layer of cabbage then top off w/meat and sprinkle the top w/cheese - I have covered right now - in over for 30 min then will take the foil off and let top get a little brown..

Meredith - I'm with you on cheese - I use to eat tons of is - I love the cheese in a can w/salami and rye crisp - I would eat that whole can in one sitting - I don't do much cheese at all anymore... it's to fattening...

WTG on telling it off - didn't it feel good - I actually say the words F You candy - well in my head - and you know what if no one else was in the isle - I would have stuck my tounge out..

Thanks LauraK - My friend was banded in Mexico - so getting treatment here is hard - hell it's hard in the states if you move away from your regular doc - cuz no one wants to mess w/you..

sorry guys - I cant change font

Janet, I actually do get quite a bit at costco even for just the 2 of us. I get all my paper products there, most of my cleaning stuff, dog food, Water softner salt, ground beef, chicken, seafood when they have it where you can buy smaller quanities, milk (DH drinks a lot of it), and some canned goods since they keep a long time and I like being able to have stuff on hand. Then of course all the extras I seem to find. LOL Like today the canned goods organizers.

Meredith, DD never heard back on her test result and they told her no news was good news so am going with that. I hate that as I always think the test is sitting on a desk somewhere forgotten, I like to get the results either way, but what can I say? They are making her be a couch potato and take her RX for contractions until her 35th week (she'll be 31 on Sat) and then they'll take her off and let her go if she goes into labor. My friend in Denver just scheduled a baby shower for Jan 29th so hopefully she makes it.

837 calories today and 41 gms of Protein. a little low on the protein

OK...I have noooooo clue why I can all of a sudden change my size...first time since conversion. I was soooooo frustrated. Makes me happy.

OK...I'm about as ready as I can be. All the laundry done, dishwasher going, house cleaned except for bits of popcorn from sharing with the dog and will suck that up in the morning. Our departure time is going to be delayed because of a few things that popped up but should get going by 10 or 11am. No biggy. Just focused on some warmer weather.

Janet...thanks for the recipe. Sounds good. I just love cabbage but DS cannot stand it. So, a good dish to make for just DH and myself. I'm excited to hear that you might be able to come to Tucson for a night. You'll get to meet DH. You will think he is a sweety...hope you can make it. Heard anything on your friend from Lucky Sevens? I have this thing where I think if us bandsters have passed that 2 yr mark, we won't have troubles. Positive thinking.

So proud of you girls for swearing and putting your swear finger up to the candy, Fritos and cheese. Good going. I am so excited for your new start and what it will bring for you.

Joyce and Cheri's talk about their ex's makes me want to share this story I heard on the MPLS news tonight. There was a guy arrested for intending to send a gift to his 3 ex GF's. (Never made it that far...roommate turned him in). He bought vibrators and loaded them with gunpowder, BB's and buckshot. He rigged them so that when they were running for awhile, they would explode. Sicko. He should have called and just used LauraK's "Bless your heart".

Cheri...thank you for being the special person in those kids lives. My thank you is said just in case you never get any from parents, caregivers, etc. You are making an impression by paying attention and teaching them skills they will need in life. Something maybe they don't even get at home. You know what DH and I always noticed? (A) students got 90% of the attention. Others had a tendency to fall through the cracks (only when it came to certain teachers). A teacher like you has the ability to give a challenged child that little something that lets them know someone cares and hopefully gives them the confidence to strive for more. "Bless your heart". No sarcasm...I meant that.

Did not make it to the wake tonight for DH's classmate and our neighbor. Had planned on it but DH was in town and his meeting and errands ran longer than he thought so he just stopped by funeral home and visited. I'm OK with that. I think I've been to enough of them this year and so has he.

Will most likely be on the thread for a bit in the morning while DH does what he needs to get done. Just listened to the weather and a good time to get out of here. Low's of way below zero by tomorrow night.

Just need to do a shout out to Phyll...hope your are having a great trip back down. Your mom doing OK? Forgot to ask and haven't heard. Arlene talking about her mom made me think of your post.

Good to hear from you Chris and that you and family enjoyed Janet's recipe.

Kelly...where are you, girl???? What's up with you?

Julie?

OK, off to bed in a bit. Talk in the morning. Sending the love. sleep tight.

Evening everyone, just a quick note before bed.

Apples, drive safely -- sounds like you're heading more west right away and not coming in my direction, but if you can stop on way back from Az. would love to see you and meet that DH of yours!

Meredith - wtg on passing up all the tempting cheeses. Like you and Janet, I too was a cheese freak. I completely avoided cheese since surgery. Recently I've discovered Laughing Cow light cheese wedges and I allow myself one each day -- it's pure heaven. 35 calories and 1.5 grams of fat per each wedge. I add mine to my salad and it's heaven to find those little bits of creamy, tasty cheese. Goes well with the light balsmic vinegrette I've been using lately too. Yum. Anyway, just wanted to share that all cheese is not all bad -- it tastes good too, even if you just eat it plain.

Janet, thanks for the recipes. That one you made tonight reminds me of one I used to make -- it was named after some famous Michigan sandwich (Meredith) had cabbage and cheese and ground beef in it -- I just can't remember the name, but my friend from Michigan had given me the recipe and everyone loved it. Very similar to that recipe.

Lori, I buy almost those same items at Sam's that you buy at costco. I especially love to buy the boneless chicken breast there cause it's soooo much cheaper and also much cleaner -- almost no fat left on it which is very nice. I just freeze mine in packages of 3 breasts and then I cook those and that will last me almost a week. I eat half a breast at a time.

Here's my food for today --

Breakfast: Protein shake with a scoop of powdered Peanut Butter.

Morning Snack: greek yogurt with a very small amount of strawberries (less than 1/4 cup chopped and sweetened with splenda not sugar),

Lunch: left over salmon patty with green Beans.

Dinner: greens with chicken and wedge of my laughing cow cheese.

Evening snacks: SF Jello and SF pudding. About 8 holiday grapes (can't resist).

Probably around 800 to 900 calories.

Aylah here tonight. Katie is "sick". Had a godo night -- Aylah rubbed my feet and legs with lotion, it was heaven. She's quite the little massage therapist. LOL. She's so sweet, so smart and just wants to be a happy little girl. She deserves everything and more, poor little girl.

Apples, funny story. Maybe I've told it before. But when we first moved here we drove to Ohio to visit my brother. Well, when we got to Illinois we saw our first Cracker Barrell except I thought the sign said "Chicken Barrell" and I couldn't understand why there was a chicken restaurant next door to a KFC. LOL. So now my entire family always calls it "Chicken Barrell". My neice that got married last summer worked at one in Florida for 4 years. That's where she met her new hubby. Now I have a hard time calling them by the real name. We also love their food and don't get it often. However, there is one now in Des Moines, so you can stop there when you come through some time.

LauraK, hope to hear more about Mr. Fillet Mignon. So far I think he's great. LOL.

Jodi, the party sounds wonderful -- I can't wait to see the pics -- Dassi will have a wonderful time and you'll both look gorgeous -- lots of money yes, but you can't put a price on memories. I bet she can't wait to show you off too - hope you find an amazing dress for yourself.

Joyce, sorry you won't be able to make Chicago -- we'll have to try to get together over the summer.

Eva, you really are amazing with all that you do -- I just can't believe how much physical stuff you do -- I'm very impressed. You didn't say how your plants are doing after the cold? Do you still have them covered? Has the cold finally passed now?

Gotta get to bed -- have Water aerobics in the am. This is first 5 dayer in long time and I'm worn out. LOL. At least our weather is pretty nice.

Later.

Linda

Arlene, saying prayers for your mom -- proud of you for staying on the train during this hectic day. WTG! Hope she gets out tomorrow and is much better.

Cheri -- loved your stories about DH and your student. Agree with Apples that you are doing such a great service to those students. That's why Oprah should have had YOU on that show for the giveaways. I'm still steamed about that.

Forgot to mention Biggest Loser -- did any of you watch it? Should be an interesting season.

Great -- hoping your DD continues to do well - bedrest is hard but she can do it -- did you say you are going to Denver next Tues?

Phyl, hope your trip is going well -- haven't been on FB much so haven't seen any news lately. Hope your mom is better too.

Okay, really gotta run now.

Linda

Karen - that story from your newspaper about the vibrators is shocking. Thank heavens his GF turned him in. That kind of hate and violence is so shocking.

Wishing you and DH safe travels. Good time to leave with zero temps at home and sunshine in Arizona. I enjoy several breaks from the cold weather during winter in K.C.

Janet - sending prayers for Karla, your Lucky 7 friend.

LauraK - love the Mr. Filet Mignon title for new BF.

Arlene - I'll be at the gym in the morning while you are walking. Wonderful that you are such a loving daughter to spend afternoon in hospital with your Mom.

Time for bed.

Excuse font size - I increased it, but it would not work.

Hi, Gang!

Got back to the RV this afternoon. Had a stuffed mailbox!! Thanks for all the Christmas cards! Very nice to get them all. I didn't get my cards done!! I had good intentions, and did get some out, but never finished!

Mom is doing better. X-ray was okay.

Prety tired after 8 hr drive today.... kept up with your posts on my phone.

Congrats on the scholarship Jewel!!

Apples... I guess you are on the road by now, or maybe you said tomorrow morning.

Have to try that cabbage recipe. I LOVE cabbage.

Well.... bedtime.

That recipe I was thinking of that is supposedly a famous sandwich in MI is Runza -- it's made with crescent rolls, ground beef, cabbage and cheese. Drove me insane every time I woke up trying to remember the name of it.

Linda

Back to not being able to change print size. I don't get this new site and why it does this.

Quick post. Quite the morning around here. Sprung a water leak where the pipe comes into the house. Better now than when we are gone. Glad DH caught it. He's on his way to town for new pipe and joints. Also, found out late yesterday I have to revise some contracts. Was not in the plan but gotta get them done b/4 we leave. Have them all saved on computer but a real pain and very detailed. Mini blizzard here this morning so maybe it's best we leave late anyway. Don't even know if we will make it to Omaha tonight but does not matter.

Will stay in contact...should have WIFI but you all know how that goes sometimes. Won't vanish off the face of the earth. Eva is expecting us and if we don't show, she can send out the posse. Talk to you soon.

So happy so many of you guys jumped on to get back on track. Keep it going. Focus on what it will do for you and how good you will feel both physically and emotionally.

Hey Phyll, good to hear you are back "home". Love to all.

Good morning. I am on the computer before my workout. Shhh, don't tell Janet. LOL Not really, it's a little rule I imposed on myself. I've been getting up and doing that first thing to get it out of the way. Did I mention I HATE exercise? Anyway I've been getting dizzy, thought maybe it had to do with not eating something first. So now I am eating something first and checking in here. Next stop exercise, I am dressed for it and everything, no going back to bed.

Safe travels, Apples, hope you get everything fixed there in a timely matter and can hit the road soon. Bad but suppose that it was good timing on the Water pipe. LIke you said would hate for that to happen while you were gone.

Linda, yes I am going to Denver for the day on Tues. to spend with Grandma. In the morning back at night.

I did watch Biggest Loser. Interesting about the new trainers. Did you hear Jillian is leaving? She did that once before. my personal opinion is she gets a little full of herself so maybe change will be good. She's got so much stuff out there now on the market that she's attached her name to including diet pills of some sort. She said she's leaving to pursue motherhood but I bet she also appears on her own show some where. I think the team with the Olympic wrestler will do well or the Samoan team, he lost 41 lbs in the first week, not bad for a 61 yr old! Also am rooting for the twins just because they are in their 50's.

Almost forgot to find my replacement....Will someone please take over junking up the thread until I am able to do it again? Please make sure just to ramble on and on and on and talk about senseless crap. Thank you.

Look at that above post. How did that crap happen?

As I read, I was wondering how you "crossed thru" your post. This new format is very frustrating.

It allowed me to select size, but not color - oh well.

Like Lori, I've hopped on computer to check posts before heading to the gym. Just wanted to brag - third time this week.

Back on track.

Wind is whirling outside and 43 degrees.

Looking forward to Tucson.

Morning Ladies and Gent,

The site was down last night by the time I got here, so I didn't read all the posts.

Phyl is back in the desert. Welcome!! Now you can rest up so you can go play some more.

Lori, I really like the idea of your can organizer. I may have to go look at costco to see if I can find one. Of course one Costco doesn't necessarily have the same stuff as another. I too buy my paper goods there and some meat, like salmon. I only go maybe 4 times a year though, when I run out of toilet paper or paper towels...LOL. I hope your daughter can hang out for the remainder of the time. I bet it will drive her crazy, but the longer that baby cooks, the better. Keeping my fingers crossed for her.

We bought our new TV at Costco and it has a gremlin. The volume bar appears and the volume decreases to 0, all by itself and not just during commercials. It also fights you trying to raise the volume. It does this many times then stops for a while then starts again. So I call the Costco concierge service and he had me reset some stuff, but it did it again that night so I had to call again yesterday. The Costco people finally had to call the Vizio people and we went through some more menus and reset something else. Well it worked just fine last night, so maybe it's fixed. I was impressed by the service people at Costco, they were helpful and nice and they were American. I'm really am not prejudiced, but I do have a bit of a problem with companies sending our work to other countries. It may help the company's bottom line but it sure doesn't help America.

Enough of that soap box.

Linda, I'm amazed at how dedicated you are to your life style. I'm so glad you are there for your GD because she needs someone stable in her life. I'm sure her mom loves her but she seems to want to take the easy way out a bit and that isn't a good example for Aylah. I haven't seen laughing cow cheese but I haven't really looked for it either. Might have to do that.

Meredith, good for you. Passing by all that good stuff does take determination.

Arlene, I'm sorry to hear about your Mom. Guess it's your time to sit at the hospital, your friend and now your Mom. Hope she recovers quickly. I've noticed my "old lady" friends getting more and more stubborn as they get older, like my parents were. It is hard to deal with sometimes.

Apples, are you on your way? I better get my backside in gear because I don't have the bed set up over there yet....don't even have it moved over there yet.

LauraK...Mr. Filet Mignon? Sounds interesting.

Joyce, are you going to have time to call when you are here? I'd love to meet up with you or you can just come over. It will make me clean my house.

Janet, thanks for the recipes. I love stuff cabbage rolls, but DH isn't so fond of them. Maybe for those of you that don't care for cabbage, you can substitute zucchini.

Jodi, I've been to a couple of bar mitzvah's for my friend's boys. I even got to participate in one of their ceremonies. Both of them had big parties, expensive parties, but that's what they do. I've always been impressed by the ceremony and the community involved. Enjoy this time, as I know you will. So you have a date?

Going off of memory and I can't.....remember that is. Hello everyone else.

I worked on the computer yesterday and fell off the wagon. I guess I needed to understand it is my choice to stay focused and today I'm back on. I didn't even get all that much done on the work I needed to do, but at least it's started.

I made chili....just regular old ground beef/turkey with no Beans. It came out wonderful. DH even ate two bowls. I ate too much last night, but as I said, back on the wagon today. Working on my coffee with Protein powder.

I have to get moving and get more stuff moved over to the house. DH left me his truck and is perfectly happy letting me move stuff....hahaha, he's still going to have to assemble the beds whether he likes it or not.

I'll try and check in tonight

EVA