Bandster Conference????

I have seen a lot of posts about this, but where do I go to get the deets? I don't know that I'll definitely be able to do it as this has been/will continue to be a 'spensive year for me. But where do I find the who/where (I know Chicago, but are we meeting at a certain place?)/when of it all?

Hiking on a Mountain

While it is rumored that there is one mountain in Florida (in a state park in my county of residence, in fact), I've never seen it, so I'm a little skeptical. But, as most of you know, Florida is quite flat. We don't have the hilly trail thing going on like Gen does in Colorado. Thus, when I exer-ma-cise, I mostly do it on flat land (or some type of machine). There are some exceptions...a couple of pseudo-hills and such, but, by and large, there aren't too many variations in elevation. I'm sometimes a little jealous of those of you who get to take advantage of interesting terrains (although jogging/walking near the water is nice too--I guess we all just want what we don't have?).

Well, my guy and I went to Birmingham this weekend and, while we were there, we decided to hike to the waterfall at Oak Mountain State Park. The hike was a little scary at some points because of the steepness. There were even ropes attached to trees going down the side of the mountain so that hikers would have something to hold on to and not slip down the mountain. SCARY! But we made it to the waterfall (the bottom and the top of it actually). It was nice because I haven't seen a waterfall in a while (not many of those around these parts either). By the way, I found a picture of the waterfall online (below), but it doesn't at all convey how steep--or how long--the climb was.

And did I get a workout!!!! I had to stop and sit a couple times coming up just to breathe. My legs hurt too, so I guess I got some sort of benefit from all my puffing and panting :) .

****I hope everyone's week is starting off well!!!!

PB Annoyingness (at a Work Function)

Last night, all of the attorneys at my firm went out for appetizers and drinks. We did the alfresco thing at a popular downtown seafood place that sits right by the water. The weather was just perfect for eating outside. It was a beautiful view of the water, and we were right beside a marina too.

We were kind of limited on the types of appetizers though, but I thought I would be okay eating the Blue Crab Artichoke Dip...famous last thoughts, I know. Everything was going great until I got stuck on either an artichoke or the bread for the dip. Right after I determined it wasn't going to go down (I have only been wrong once or twice when I came to this conclusion), our managing partner proceeds to tell a really long story. There was no way to excuse myself. Not that I'm an advocate of PBing or anything (I HATE being stuck at all--it scares me--and I'm certainly not one to use my band for purposeful binging and purging), but when I'm stuck, I want it gone ASAP. I can't stand sitting there in misery. FINALLY I was able to head for the bathroom. Not pretty! But at least it was GONE.

Saying all that, I wonder if being stuck or PBing causes more harm to the band? I'm sure that neither are good for it, but I would still be curious to know. ???

Side note: I am watching the Blue Angels (Navy show planes stationed in Pensacola) practice over the bay outside my office window right now. My view is a work perk, I guess. I hope that isn't bragging or anything.

I hope everyone is having a great week and enjoying wonderful weather.

Work and WLS

At work, we sometimes get firmwide intraoffice emails from other attorneys to request knowledge from those more familiar with certain areas of law, to determine good investigators for specific geographic areas (our firm has several branches across the South), or to try to locate certain types of doctors for litigants. I won't go into too much detail on the specifics in order to maintain my anonymity, but, hopefully, that makes sense.

Well, it is no secret that I keep my WLS a secret from most--particularly those at work. Interestingly enough, yesterday I get one of these emails requesting a doctor who does gastric lapband procedures and who will accept a certain type of insurance (and some other requirements). Of course, I don't know if my own doctor accepts that type of insurance, meets the requirements, etc. ... AND, of course, it is of utmost import for me to keep my secret. It also wasn't clear which region the doctor was being requested for. I will not be sharing my information for those and some other reasons--I don't think you'd fault me either. Still, I thought it was interesting that I received this email within just a few months of beginning my job here.

Also, because I spend a lot of time reviewing medical records, I find it interesting how many litigants have had some type of WLS. Perhaps you could argue that it has something to do with the population of people with whom we deal, but really it is quite a broad cross-section of folks.

Anyhow, those are just some observations for this Thursday AM. I hope everyone is doing well and having a productive week!

Wearing Jean Shorts

I went on a picnic at the river on Easter Sunday with my wonderful guy. I put on some jean shorts because it was really nice weather on the coast that day. I hadn't worn any jean shorts in forever (although I'd hung on to one pair for several years, which was, of course, the pair I wore). Suffice it say, my guy was quite shocked when he saw me in them as he has never seen me wearing any during the entire course of our relationship. I am not saying that I rocked them or anything (in fact, probably quite the opposite since my legs are blindingly white), but getting them on and not bulging out was quite an accomplishment. I did feel a little naked though with the shorts and the...wait for it...sleeveless shirt, which I also haven't worn in forever (without a cardigan or some other cover-up, that is).

By the way, I still have pics to upload here, but things have been SO crazy lately, and I haven't had a computer at home for the last couple of months (long story). I am still planning to post them. I promise.

Thin Fantasy Future

When I'm thin, I'll...

Did/do you ever contemplate your future in Thindom? I certainly had many of my hopes and dreams pinned on the tail of my thin future that would be. I would be funnier, smarter, and people would love me more. I would be successful. But I'm learning that I still have to take the steps and be proactive in accomplishing goals and creating my future. That is not to say that I don't feel great. I am definitely a lot more at peace with my current weight and how I look than I have been in years. I also feel less judged when I see people from my past--when they give me the up-and-down once-over looks, they aren't thinking, "Wow! She's gained a lot of weight!" There is definitely some confidence that comes with not having to worry about that. But, as many have mentioned, being thin is not a fix-all for life's issues, and it is not a yellow brick road to happiness and achievement.

What were some of the things you imagined doing or becoming when you achieved thinness? Has anything been more attainable as a result?

The Nagging Question: Does Eating Sweets Mean Restriction is Needed?

I have noticed on a few blogs this week that people are mentioning issues with eating too many sweets; this is leading to their thoughts of needing fills. This confuses me.

I was told by my doctor's office before I was banded that if sweets were my primary food issue (as opposed to generally eating too much of the non-sugary type of food), then the band wasn't for me. This is because sweets liquify and go down with no problem, band or no band. This is why many sweets are in the 'slider' category. This applies to candy, cookies, ice cream, pies, cakes, sodas, milkshakes, or any other type of sweet (although there are certainly other non-sweet sliders like mashed potatoes, chips, pretzels, etc. too). Unlike gastric bypass and other procedures that have 'gastric dumping' as a side effect of eating sweets, there are no controls on eating sweets with the band. This made sense to me based on what I've researched and read.

So I was told that if sweets were my main problem, then I could still eat sweets all day without the band causing any real obstacle to that. The surgeon's office was straightforward with me and told me that though they would love to have me as a patient, I should definitely know that information up front so that I could make an informed decision. I honestly told the surgeon's office that I do love sweets (chocolate especially) but that I also had a big problem overeating in general. It was decided that the band would help--but still would not help with limiting my intake of sweets. That would be up to me and my self control (unfortunately).

At the same time, I've noticed that some of you have said that you've gone through periods where you don't crave sweets and have attributed this to the band. I can't say that this has been the case for me. While I have also not wanted sweets during some periods as much as I have at others, this was the case pre-banding too. For instance, I might crave them more around my period, after commercials for certain kinds of sweets, or when someone at work was doing a Subway run (it almost always made me want cookies--two or three--unfortunately). Other times, my cravings have taken a back seat (THANKFULLY!!!). I have honestly probably gone through more periods of craving sweets than of not craving them, but I guess my point is that I really don't think my band has made those cravings diminish or has really had much effect at all on those.

There are possible exceptions, I suppose. Sometimes, as I'm eating a cake or cookie or something like that, I'll feel kind of full for just a little while...but it seems like there is something to the liquification thing because I'll go right back to my status quo soon enough. And if I eat a doughnut-type of sweet item, I can potentially get stuck because of the bread-like consistency. Lucky for me, I'm not a big doughnut fan (although the custard-filled, chocolate-covered ones are mighty nice at times--by the way, I'm not advocating sweet consumption just in case anyone is taking this post as such).

Again, I'm just stating my experience here, and I understand that we could all have different experiences with this. I hope I'm not stepping on toes here. I'm just curious about the sweet issue and restriction. Are there other issues making you guys think you need fills? Are you having issues with solids such as meat as well, or is it just the sweets? Do you subscribe to the above information about the sweets liquifying? Do you still crave sweets post banding? What are your experiences? I've long wondered about this from reading certain statements in posts, but I figured it was high time this was explored since there are so many addressing this lately.