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PADOT Falling Rocks Sign (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
But, someone provoked me to attack my blog design this morning. Please to ignore moving objects, and be sure to watch for falling rocks. KTHANXBAI.
Posted at 10:48 AM | Permalink
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Obviously. Judging a person based on how they appear is WHAT PEOPLE DO. It's wrong, but it's WHAT they do. Try something new. Listening.
Posted at 07:54 AM in Advocacy, Motivation, Music | Permalink
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Category:Images of Dallas, Texas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
OAC Special Alert - OAC Officially Unveils Plans to Host Inaugural National Convention in 2012.
The wait is over! Since the OAC was formed in 2005, our members have constantly asked us when we would host an event of our own and give our members a chance to come together and experience the OAC first-hand. The OAC is excited to announce that day has come, and we are officially hosting our Inaugural Your Weight Matters Convention this year, October 26 â 28, 2012 in Dallas, Texas.
October 26 â 28, 2012
Dallas, Texas
Hilton Anatole
All about the OACâs Your Weight Matters Inaugural Convention
The OAC is so excited to embark on this endeavor, because this is our chance to let you experience the OAC for yourself and show you what we are about â solid and unbiased education, useful and hands-on tools, and empowerment that goes beyond what youâve experienced before. Whether you have been following us since we opened our doors seven years ago or you just stumbled on our Web site today, the OAC invites you to join us in our Inaugural Convention!
To kick-off our Inaugural year, weâve titled the Convention âExplore. Discover. Empower.â This theme perfectly captures the essence of this annual event and sets the tone for what is to come not only this year, but the many years to follow. Our Convention is all about helping you seek-out the information you need, finding the answers you have been looking for when it comes to weight-loss and management, defying the status quo through discovering your voice through advocacy, and surrounding yourself not only with like-minded individuals, but renowned health professionals whose sole focus is to help you in your journey.
What you also will find different about the OACâs Convention is that we literally have something for every individual who is struggling with their weight. Our overall message is to let individuals know that weight and health go hand-in-hand, and our goal is to cover fascinating general topics on weight issues for individuals at all stages. From those who are newly energized to take charge of their weight and health, to the post-bariatric surgery patient on a quest for more answers, our Convention promises to give you what youâve been looking for in education, action and empowerment.
Posted at 10:42 AM | Permalink
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It's nearly the last day to get your BBGC Tee Shirts ordered! Get a bad girl on you.
Once the order is in - I'm DONE. (Yeah, I've said it twice before. But. Really.)
Posted at 08:54 PM | Permalink
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Celebrate Vitamins announced it's new Celebrate Rewards program today!
How do you take advantage of Celebrate Rewards? It's simple:
1. Register on their site. Once registered, you will automatically be a member of our rewards program. If you were registered before we created Celebrate Rewards, then your account will be converted automatically.
2. Purchase your vitamins. Be sure that you sign in before placing your order.
3. Redeem Celebrate points for free or discounted products. You will be able to view your point balance from your account page and these points may be used at any time for the purchase of products from our website. Point balance will update once an order has been shipped. Points may be used at anytime once they are earned and they do not expire.
Whether you are a new or existing customer, you can now enjoy an additional benefit for choosing Celebrate Vitamins...
Posted at 01:23 PM in Vitamins, Supplements | Permalink
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Diagram shows insulin release from the Pancreas and how this lowers blood sugar leves. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
WLS can and often does put diabetes in remission. This isn't really new news, but, more good news.
CHICAGO (AP) â New research gives clear proof that weight-loss surgery can reverse and possibly cure diabetes, and doctors say the operation should be offered sooner to more people with the disease â not just as a last resort.
The two studies, released on Monday, are the first to compare stomach-reducing operations to medicines alone for "diabesity" â Type 2 diabetes brought on by obesity. Millions of Americans have this and can't make enough insulin or use what they do make to process sugar from food.
Both studies found that surgery helped far more patients achieve normal blood-sugar levels than medicines alone did.
The results were dramatic: Some people were able to stop taking insulin as soon as three days after their operations. Cholesterol and other heart risk factors also greatly improved.
Doctors don't like to say "cure" because they can't promise a disease will never come back. But in one study, most surgery patients were able to stop all diabetes drugs and have their disease stay in remission for at least two years. None of those treated with medicines alone could do that.
"It is a major advance," said Dr. John Buse of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a leading diabetes expert who had no role in the studies. Buse said he often recommends surgery to patients who are obese and can't control their blood-sugar through medications, but many are leery of it. "This evidence will help convince them that this really is an important therapy to at least consider," he said.
There were signs that the surgery itself â not just weight loss â helps reverse diabetes. Food makes the gut produce hormones to spur insulin, so trimming away part of it surgically may affect those hormones, doctors believe.
Weight-loss surgery "has proven to be a very appropriate and excellent treatment for diabetes," said one study co-leader, Dr. Francesco Rubino, chief of diabetes surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "The most proper name for the surgery would be diabetes surgery."
The studies were published online by the New England Journal of Medicine, and the larger one was presented Monday at an American College of Cardiology conference in Chicago.
More than a third of American adults are obese, and more than 8 percent have diabetes, a major cause of heart disease, strokes and kidney failure. Between 5 million and 10 million are like the people in these studies, with both problems.
For a century, doctors have been treating diabetes with pills and insulin, and encouraging weight loss and exercise with limited success. Few very obese people can drop enough pounds without surgery, and many of the medicines used to treat diabetes can cause weight gain, making things worse.
Surgery offers hope for a long-term fix. It costs $15,000 to $25,000, and Medicare covers it for very obese people with diabetes. Gastric bypass is the most common type: Through "keyhole" surgery, doctors reduce the stomach to a small pouch and reconnect it to the small intestine.
One previous study tested stomach banding, a less drastic and reversible procedure for limiting the size of the stomach. This technique lowered blood sugar, but those patients had mild diabetes. The new studies tested permanent weight-loss surgery in people with longtime, severe diabetes.
At the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Philip Schauer studied 150 people given one of two types of surgery plus standard medicines or a third group given medicines alone. Their A1c levels â the key blood-sugar measure â were over 9 on average at the start. A healthy A1c is 6 or below.
One year after treatment began, only 12 percent of those treated with medicines alone were at that healthy level, versus 42 percent and 37 percent of the two groups given surgery.
Use of medicines for high cholesterol and other heart risks dropped among those in the surgery groups but rose in the group on medicines alone.
"Every single one of the bypass patients who got to 6 or less got there without the need for any diabetes medicines. Almost half of them were on insulin at the start. That's pretty amazing," said a study co-leader, Dr. Steven Nissen, the Cleveland Clinic's cardiovascular chief.
An obesity surgery equipment company sponsored the study, and some of the researchers are paid consultants; the federal government also contributed grant support.
The second study was led by Dr. Geltrude Mingrone at the Catholic University in Rome, with Rubino from New York. It involved 60 patients given one of two types of surgery or medicines alone. The researchers set as their goal an A1c under 6.5 â the level at which someone is considered to have diabetes.
Two years later, 95 percent and 75 percent of the two surgery groups achieved and maintained the target blood-sugar levels without any diabetes drugs. None of those in the medicine-alone group did.
There were no deaths from surgery and only a few complications. Four patients in the Cleveland study needed second surgeries, and two in the Italian study needed hernia operations. Doctors note that uncontrolled diabetes has complications, too â many patients wind up on dialysis when their kidneys fail, and some need transplants.
An adult who has a body mass index (a calculation based on height and weight) of 30 or more is considered obese. That's 203 pounds or more for a 5-foot-9 man, for example.
The government recently lowered the criteria for use of gastric bands from a BMI of 35 down to 30 in diabetics or people with heart disease, opening the way for wider use of this and other procedures for obesity.
Dr. Alvin Powers, director of the Vanderbilt University diabetes center, said the results are very encouraging for people like those in these studies â very obese, with diabetes that can't be controlled through less drastic means.
"We still don't know the long-term outcomes of these surgeries" and whether the benefits will last for more than a few years, he said.
Others were more positive.
The studies "are likely to have a major effect on future diabetes treatment," two diabetes experts from Australia, Dr. Paul Zimmet and George Alberti, wrote in an editorial in the medical journal. Surgery "should not be seen as a last resort" and should be considered earlier in treating obese people with diabetes, they wrote.
Posted at 03:58 PM in Diabetes, Diets, Weight Loss Peers., WLS Success Stories. | Permalink
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Sam, this is beautiful. Thank you for being a BBGC, also.
And, Candi. wonderful.
Posted at 01:24 PM in Adversity, Advocacy, WLS Support | Permalink
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One month from now Team MM + BBGC will be walking for the Walk From Obesity in Natick, MA! (Again!? Yes, again.) Please help out! I need walkers and donators -- which are you? If you've already signed up to walk - go get you some donations! I don't see a single one!
There will be prizes!
Keep your eyes open and thank you!
Posted at 07:29 PM in Advocacy | Permalink
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Thanks for helping me raise $5400.00 for the Walk(s) From Obesity last year!
As a thank-you, I am gifting my gift to one lucky donator!
Watch @meltingmama on Facebook for the name!
Posted at 05:55 PM in Advocacy, BBGC, OAC, Weight Loss Peers. | Permalink
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Posted at 11:50 AM | Permalink
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Has your weight-loss journey lead to excess skin? (Um. Yes.)Do you find it affecting your activity, work, and relationships? (We aren't discussing it.)If you've experienced extreme weight loss, have consulted and selected a doctor for reconstructive surgery, and would like to be considered for our program, please send us a short description of your experience and the impact it has on your daily life to [email protected].
Please make sure to include your name, age, city of residence, a before and after photo, and a phone number or email where you can be reached for further questions.
Posted at 09:01 PM in Body Image, Post WLS Reconstructive Plastic Surgery | Permalink
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Posted at 11:54 AM | Permalink
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Click on the below video at the same time to add a bit of a soundtrack to the photo slideshow. Hey, I tried. I am functioning on two hours sleep. First is Fort Lauderdale, Florida, then Labadee, Haiti -- and Jamaica.
Enjoy.
Posted at 02:51 PM | Permalink
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We are home, relatively unharmed and full of sunshine.
I will blog about the trip just as soon as I get these photos uploaded whilst sitting here inhaling coffee with two hours of sleep in the last twenty-four.
My internet is apparently working on Jamaican time. No problem.
Please to go back to the islands. Thank you.
Posted at 09:11 AM | Permalink
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Continue reading "From the archives - Hoarding, Hoarders and Inside-Outness" »
Posted at 09:00 AM in Psychological Issues, Random Spew., Verbal diarrhea. | Permalink
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Funny thing about this product -- I was ready to post a review about these particular chewable vitamins, and the company had a mad rush on it and sold nearly clear out. "Don't post yet! It's been too popular! WAIT!" I guess that means it's an automatic Pouchworthy, MM.
I was amused.
Celebrate makes a variety of tasty chewable vitamins for post bariatric patients, and this is one of the newest additions to the flavor family: Pineapple Strawberry.
(Girl not included)
Plus sweet, sweet...
Celebrate says:
When it comes to chewable multivitamins, there are two important things to consider, formulation and taste. No other bariatric multivitamin can compete with us on either. Developed specifically for surgical weight loss patients, Celebrate Bariatric Multivitamin provides the most thorough blend of vitamins and minerals available in a great tasting chewable. Our integrated formula provides maximum bioavailability as we have carefully selected each vitamin and mineral level and form to enhance interaction and absorption. Key things to look for in our multivitamin:
* Taste - When you have to take a product every day, it needs to be something that you like. Our Pineapple-Strawberry flavor chewable is unbeatable with a smooth texture (no grit) and great taste, it will be easy to maintain your compliance. This has a delicious pineapple flavor with just a hint of strawberry.
* Vitamin B-12 (cyanocobalamin) - With nearly 6,000% of the RDI of vitamin B-12, Celebrate Bariatric Multivitamin contains the highest level of B-12 available in a bariatric multivitamin. Studies have shown that at these levels, 95% of patients will NOT need additional sublingual B-12.
* B-Complex - In addition to vitamin B-12, the other b-complex vitamins are critical for your health following surgery. Certain B vitamins such as vitamin B1 (thiamin) are critical immediately following surgery and our multivitamin contains the most appropriate levels of each vitamin, in the proper form for bariatric surgery patients.
* Vitamin A - By blending pre-formed (retinyl palmitate) and beta-carotene to make up our vitamin A, we are providing the safest and most effective approach available for this key vitamin. This blend allows your body to regulate its intake of vitamin A, absorbing only what it needs to function properly.
*Magnesium - This critical mineral is most effective in the citrate form. Celebrate contains the highest percentage of magnesium citrate of any bariatric supplement.
* Chelated minerals - Chelation simply means, "attaching to". By chelating our mineral forms to amino acid, we have increased the likelihood that these minerals will be absorbed in a reduced acidic environment.
*Water Miscible ADEK - We utilize dry, water miscible forms of vitamins A, D, E, and K to further enhance absorption.
I tasted these vitamins a couple times prior to this review, at ASMBS and at the last Obesity Help Events, so this is not my first try. Here goes my attempt at pretending I haven't ever smelled them.
Opening the bottle, PINEAPPLE! YOU CAN SMELLS IT!
Sweet tropical pineapple! Not overwhelming, but you don't smell vitamins, you smell a bit of fruit. (Pleasant for the smell sensitive girl.)
Biting the vitamin - it's sweet and a tad sour - delicious. You can taste both pineapple and a touch of berry, and like the other Celebrate Vitamins, it crumbles away into nice sugary texture. But, this product doesn't have any sugar, it's simply how it feels. Like. (Facebook has infiltrated my life. I am "liking" real life all too often.)
I must say that the initial flavor here - kicks ass. It's pineapple. This flavor profile would be awesome as the base of a protein shake. (Just saying for the sake of saying.)
The aftertaste is minor, as with most chewable vitamins, there's vitamins. But, I'm not at all displeased or running for a drink to "wash my mouth out." It was also simple to overdose for the sake of review -- I've just ingested three chewable vitamins with ease and enjoyed them.
The stats -
Yum.
[email protected] 
Posted at 09:00 AM in Food, Drink, Product Reviews., Vitamins, Supplements | Permalink
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TLC's newest special THE REAL SKINNY, premiering on Monday, March 12 at 10 PM ET/PT, will take viewers on the emotional journey of a man and woman who have decided to undergo skin removal surgery.
At an event many months ago I was approached to take photos and fill out paperwork for this show. I had no idea that it was actually going to materialize, and I didn't follow through. (I, uh... fail to do things like that.)
If you recognize the brave girl in the clip, that's because that's Sarah! She's Sarah Will Be Skinny from Youtube, Facebook and the WLSFA and this clip just made it all very real -- she's showing the last of her journey on TV.
OMG. Overwhelming. I set my DVR.
Posted at 10:00 AM in Body Image, Weight Loss Peers. | Permalink
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I'd like to ask you a favor -- help me out here! I'm trying to raise $3000 for the Obesity Action Coalition!
Please help me raise $3000 for the Obesity Action Coalition.
If each of my RSS Feed Subscribers offered $1, and each of my Facebook "fans" offered $1, I'd be MORE than done today. Thank you, very, very much!
Let's do math!
That's 5,875. We could absolutely raise 5.875. Well, minus spammers, I suppose we could do 4,o00. Maybe 3,000. ;) Let's do this.
We could EASILY hit goal and beyond if you all participated at a very small amount. Please do. I appreciate it.
The Walk from Obesity is the only event that brings together those who are directly affected by obesity. Our team's participation in this event is key to raising funds and drawing attention to obesity and the need for treatment and prevention efforts.
We need your help to reach our fundraising and participation goal!
Please join our team or make a donation today.
Any contribution will help the work of the ASMBS Foundation and Obesity Action Coalition and all donations are 100% tax deductible.
- Thanks to the Wellesse Company for a very generous donation to Team MM + BBGC!
Posted at 09:00 AM in Advocacy | Permalink
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I'm on vacation - so I'm bumping archived posts.
I have heard it before. I will hear it again. And, again, I'm hearing it loud, clear and I don't know how to respond.
Due to the nature of who I am or how I present myself, not everyone is going to "like me." Fine.
Back when I taped those long-forgotten web videos of Melting Mama's Reality Bites, I was told something. I was told that I couldn't go "mainstream" until I cleaned up my "act" and you know, changed. At that time, I couldn't fathom what "mainstream" was, because I wasn't blogging for any reason other than to blog.
What do you mean mainstream?
Bloggers didn't blog to make wads of money, for fame or notoriety, did they? Certainly not in my niche. Weight loss? That's crazy talk. Oh, they DO? Nobody told me! Clearly I wasn't paying attention.
"If you'd just ____________ you'd be unstoppable." For what? I wasn't trying to be unstoppable. I just wanted to write.
You mean -- if I stopped dropping the f-bomb in my personal blog, that's going to make me Successful Beyond Compare? I just wanted to write.
If I don't get exasperated and rant once in a while, I will land a million dollar advertising contract with Johnson + Johnson for Band Aids? "Sure Thing!" Uh. No.
Even if I buff off the rougher edges of my personality, it is still unlikely that I would fit a corporate definition of whatever it would take to be "unstoppable."
What is it that you want me to do? I told you I was open to options, I am "technically" unemployed, but, what? I just want to write.
I already told you, I'm not a billboard type. Even if I had a one hundred percent perfectly post op experience, I don't see the Before and Afters the same way you do. I see Before and During and Later. It's a constant progression, undefinable by a certain time frame or others descriptions of success.
If it's clear that I am not a success by the standard definitions, why would you want me to be "unstoppable?" Why would you want me as your example?
Because, if you ask me to "just stop doing this, change that, alter this, and start doing that," it's no longer me. Who do you want? What do you want? I just want to write.
I didn't get HERE by being a Picture of Post Op Perfection. I got here, by just writing. I have had more success than I could imagine, by just writing.
I am somewhat respected by those who want to know they don't HAVE to be a Picture of Post Op Perfection, and want to know that they did not fail, because their surgical procedure FAILED THEM. Also, by those who have had a super successful experience, but enjoy the candor of being a little too real, because you know what, it's like looking in a mirror, no?
The reason I have any success at this point, is that I AM THE MAJORITY. We are the majority. The not-perfect results.
*Your Results Will Vary. And, they do. I ask you this, do you know ANYONE that has had weight loss surgery and NOT had a side effect, complication or emotional distress?
No. You don't.
For those who we "look up" to in the community, who propogate the ideas of Post Op Perfection are more broken than you know. We are all equal.
The difference between they and I? They may have learned to hide the "broken" a little bit better to sell themselves. "Fabulous! And don't you look AMAZING!" I didn't care to do so, because I didn't care about the potential for money nor the career goals in my WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY. What does lying get you anyway? I am not out to get a career as a long term weight loss surgery whore, so why am I constantly asked to do just that? What am I not seeing? I just want to write.
My surgery was a complete success. I am a success. I repeatedly say this. So what? I don't need to plaster it somewhere. My blogging came out of the need to write because I needed something to keep me entertained while I was home, because my "successful surgery" broke me in other ways! I just wanted to write.
So, you tell me. What do you want from me? Honestly.
Besides the obvious: "Don't say fuck, Beth, it's offensive. Don't pick on Beachbody, that's irritating and I do not appreciate it <pout face>."
You don't think I know this? Do items like this require emails to discuss? Come on. I'm not stupid. I know it's offensive. I know I push buttons. It's half the reason people follow my rantings.
What? What is it that you think is this magical thinking that is going to take me from a semi-successful blogger to UNSTOPPABLE LIKE OPRAH? Seriously. I just want to write. I think I just did.
Posted at 09:00 AM in Verbal diarrhea. | Permalink
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Melting Mama I'm writing a blog post about the cruise, and I insert a photo of Mr + I from our first cruise in 1999. My five year old says to Mr, "Mama gotted married to you, and got us, that's why she got big... but so why did you be so fat?" Oh. dear.
Kids. They are honest.
It's been that many years since I went on an actual away-from-everything vacation with the Mr. I didn't really consider it before now, but we haven't been anywhere without kids since then, aside from one quick jaunt to Long Island last fall for another OH Event. The kids have been on vacation with family, he and the kids have also been on vacation, but he and I have not.
We went on a Carribean cruise for our honeymoon in 1999. Of course at that time we were the parents of a 1.5 year old and a five month old and it was all very overwhelming but it was... fun? I hesistate, because... my only real memory of it is getting very sick with a stomach virus. Hitting up the ER in the islands is "A Lot Of Fun?" Also, maybe something about falling off of a Seadoo. Sharkbait.
I am not dredging up those details right now, (even if my mind just went there...Sharkbait...) because I'm leaving in four hours headed to Fort Lauderdale to become Sharkbait...
We are going old-school and driving to the port in Fort Lauderdale. Partly because apparently during spring break time, airfares are hugely inflated -- and because someone who might be driving might no admit to being anxious about flying. Clearly he has not flown with ME since 1999 <insert sedatives here>
I'm bringing this suit.
It's not all sun and sea (and sunburns) we'll spend time learning and sharing and trying products with our WLS friends!
I mean it. Products from all sorts of super sponsors have *hopefully* made their way to Florida to get on the big boat! Yours truly will be doing some live product tasting and testing. Thanks to many of the following sponsors for sending goodies to the boat... including some of my own wicked awesome MM Sponsors -
It's a super time for my house to spring a pipe leak (plumber is scheduled, but could it have worse timing as I am packing up the car?!) and for other stresses to amp up because guess what -- I'm going knee deep in the water somewhere. And, hopefully, we're not describing my basement in approximately a week.
Posted at 07:48 AM in Travel, Weight Loss Peers., WLS Success Stories., WLS Support | Permalink
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