♥LovetheNewMe♥

Raven I wish you success with out your band, there are many who can not tolerate the band and have continued problems. WW is a great program and there are many people who have been very successful with that program. I can tell you even with LB the one thing that has really helped me is hiring a trainer, I feel he taught me more about nutrition and how to really listen to my body and what to eat. Learning what your body needs and how your body burns calories is key to WL with or without the band. Good luck and success with your journey.

Confession is good, we all slip. This is life and about the journey and not about feeling guilty. The old way was to feel guilt, the new way is to admit and recognize where we went wrong and move forward. Hope your furnace if fixed and hope today was good day and this will be an awesome week.

Congratulations on hitting one of your goals. Keep up the good work!

Raven, I can identfy with how you felt when you looked at the pictures. I weighed 160 plus at my highest but I am shorter than you and when I first started losing and had lost about 60 lbs or so I thought I would look a lot smaller than I did in pictures. I had a really hard time with body image and it took me a really long time to accept I was thiner. As far as no losing and not being able to eat. Honestly you have to be able to eat to lose witht he band, my personal experience has been the more protein I could eat the better I lost weight. It took me a long time to really understand how my body burned calories, for a long time I ate 1000 calories or less and did not understand why I did not lose weight. Hang in there and just continue to montior your protein intake and increase your activity. It really is more that just watching what you eat, it is portion control, mix of protein and carbs and how your metabolism burns the calories. Just keep working at it, I bought a fit bite and it helped me to really understand calorie in and out and how my body burned calories. Good luck to you.

Wish more people would speak up for the Steve's of the world. Our pets love us no matter what we say or do. They have forgiving hearts and deserve so much more. But sadly in this world we live into today we treat animals and humans alike very badly. Thank you for being a voice for Steve and I hope he is resting tonight and finally has some peace, warmth and comfort.

Congratulations on getting your date, so your journey begins, :-) Great time to start setting small goals for your new life.

Thanks Arlene, you are correct Dementia is hard but taking it one day at a time and taking each day for what it is helps a lot. Hope you also have a wonderful holiday season with your family.

Good luck!

Congratulations on your 4 year anniversary!

Jill, so sorry for all the stress and anxiety this has placed on you. I hope you are able to get this resolved before the end of the year. Some people are just very sensitive to the band and it causes problems for them. My surgeon no longer places them and has started doing the sleeve on everyone due to problems like yours. He says he has more patients fail than succeed. I was lucky, the band has worked for me,. Good luck on your revision.

Congratulations on your loss and good luck as you move forward. I have never really known what was in my band, I tried to keep track in the beginning but lost track along the way, I have focused more on how it worked than how much is in the band. At 3 years post op, I still have days when it is easier tot eat than others. I will tell you from my experience I learned that the increase in exercise programs really helped me to lose my last 40 lbs and tone up. Good luck to you as you move forward.

Good Luck!

Ditto!

I always have problems with lettuce. I know it is soft and it should go down but some of my worst stuck episodes have been when eating some type of leafy green veggie. My theory, which may be wrong is that even though I think I chew i feel it must slip down partially unchewed and lay over the opening of my band causing me to be stuck. Sounds good in theory. Some of the dishes you are eating are more difficult to digest, pasta, lettuce, salads, cereals. If I may make a suggestion, stick to simple cooked soft proteins. Fish is a moist soft protein that is easy to digest and packed full of protein and oils that are good for you. There are also some other cooking methods that will allow you to eat chicken and some of the other proteins and this will make them easier to digest. One method is to seal your meal in pouch, vacuum and cook the meal in boiling water, this method is called Sous-vide. It may sound like a lot of trouble but it works and the food is moist and delicious. Also another method to tenderize meats is an old Chinese method using baking soda. The baking soda will give the meat an almost silky texture and make it so tender and much easier to digest. I realize that this may sound like a lot of work but learning to live with lap band requires a life style change. I am 3 years post op and have worked through many tight episodes during this journey. Many of my problems were not my bands fault but mine for making poor choices and finally learning that I needed to make this work. I was determined to make this my life and make it work for me and my family. I cook wonderful meals that most would think, you can't eat that, you have a lap band. But you know what I can and do eat most anything I want but some days, I have to remind my self to slow down, chew and spend a few days in the penalty box for not following the rules and drink my protein. So rethink what choices you have been making and stick to basics for a while. Good luck and I hope your journey is successful. Also, never feel stupid.. this is a learning curve and we all learn everyday even 3 years out.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5560702_tenderize-meat-baking-soda.html

Awesome, post and so true. We each own our own destiny!

Never be tempted by the wonderful smell of yeast, butter and syrup. I stick to my oatmeal with egg whites or a protein shake. I guess you could have whipped them up in the Ninja and had a waffle shake. ;-0

One thing I forgot to add to my blog was "Friends"! Friends are key in your journey, surround your self with a healthy support system of friends,. If people are not supportive and constantly encouraging you to eat this is not being supportive, deal with them and their comments and excommunicate them if they can not be supportive. I have a network of wonderful friends, some I work with, some live in my neighborhood and some I have met on LBT My friends on LBT are truly the best and are always there for me and I for them. I can not stress how important a good support system is, this is a very emotional journey and really is about changing bad behaviors we all have developed over our lifetime. If your head is not screwed on right it is hard to be successful, after all when alone who sees you just ate that bite of Cake! Have a great day and have a shake and a nice walk in the park.

Kime, it is so easy to fall back into our old ways and into our comfort zone. Here are a few suggestions from someone who works a lot of long hours. Plan... Planning snacks and meals is key to being successful and staying on track. Yes it takes time and energy to get this started but it pays off in the long run and than you are not tempted to migrate to those comfort foods and allowing your head hunger to rule you again. On your days off take the time to sit down and plan some meals that will allow you to take the left overs for lunch the next day. Make yourself some healthy snacks and place them in snack bags in a container and keep in the cabnet or fridge. I keep my protein bars in the freezer, this forces me to eat them slowly and take the time to enjoy them. I place my nuts or chocolate in individual bags that are my serving size. I never trust my self to know when to stop eating because honestly who sees it but me and if no one sees it it does'nt count RIGHT. That was my old way of thinking and it is so easy for me to go back there if I don't stay focused. I like snacking as much as the next person so I plan. I have also found that if I allow myself to eat Pizza or a pasta dish I am soooo hungry in a very short period of time and this makes it hard. I work hard to eliminate carbs at night and focus more on protein and green veggies for nights. I always try to save some calories for night time because when I watch TV I want a snack some nights and I figure planned snacks are better than just eating anything and everything in site. My last comment is don't give up on your self, you have done a good job of losing weight and will continue to lose. Stress is unfortunately part of our daily lives and there will always be something that triggers us to eat or graze.

Good luck and I know you can do this and reach your personal goal.

Eating out was more difficult for me in the early days but much easier now. It really is not about how much you can eat as much as how much you should eat and what your choices are. In my early weight loss days I was very OCD about what I could or should eat vs what was avalible to eat. I always make sure I eat at places that serve food that is actually cooked and not processed foods. Staying away from fast food is key to nutritious food choices. I never made a big deal over not being able to finish my food, I order off the appetizer menu usually or share with someone.. I have had my share of stuck episodes eating out but usually they were due to me not following rules, eating to fast, not chewing, etc. Learn to enjoy your new eating habits and start thinking more about eating healthy than what you can't eat and than it becomes more natural.Good luck in your journey.

Believe in yourself and all these dreams will become a reality! Good luck achieving your goals!

I mix mine with Oranges, lemons, limes, cucumbers and mint. I could drink it by the gallons on hot days!

My typical day:

Breakfast:

1/2 cup oatmeal with 1/3 cup egg whites cooked into the oatmeal with 1/8 cup blueberries, 2 pecan halves and 1 teaspoon raw sugar, substitute breakfast, Greek yogurt with 1/8 cup granola ( I love crunch) or small tortilla with egg whites scrabbled with some peppers, onions and tablespoon of cheese. ( I have an addiction for Starbucks SF Nonfat Carmel Machatta on the days I indulge I have my coffee and a protein bar)

Snack mid morning: small protein bar or shake depending on how breakfast went or how busy my afternoon is going to be

Lunch: 2-3 ozs of lean protein, turkey, chicken, pork. or fish. (early days I ate a lot of thinly sliced lunch meat, other meats were dry and got stuck. 1/2 cup green veggies, or a very small salad with oil and vinegar. If I am going to eat a starch this would be the meal I would do it.

Mid afternoon snack, small apple or banana with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter or a protein bar. Depends on how portable I need my snack to be.

Dinner: Again lean meet around 3 ozs and a veggie.

Snack: 1/8 to 1/4 cup of almonds or sometimes 2 cups of popcorn.

I have ate this way for over two years, I have always done snacks, I was never able to do just 3 meals. It took me months to work up to a 1000 calories a day and I try very hard to keep my calories around 1200.

I am at goal and I still eat this way but now I try to hit 1400 to 1600 calories a day and yes I still weigh and measure my food and I still eat off a small plate with a big fork. I do not drink with meals.

I do not deprive myself of anything I want, if I want something that is high calorie and not as nutritious, I eat it and adjust accordingly. I say that now but I am at goal, when I was trying to lose, I rarely indulged. I allowed my self one splurge meal a week on a Thursday.

I find weekends, especially Sundays difficult and exercise was the key to continued successful weigh loss for me.

Good luck and hope this helps.

Jealousy is the ugly green eyed monster and it is unfortunately a natural response for your cousion. I think you may want to look deeper at what she is really trying to tell you. She is scared, scared that if you loose weight and she does not that your feeling about her or how you look at her will change. Your choice to have surgery was a personal choice and everyone has to want it for the right reasons and yours are sincere and for the right reasons. Give her time and space and hopefully she will come around and realize that fat or thin you are the same person. I the am half the person I used to be but I am the same person inside that I was 3 years ago, difference is I like me better. Remember you can not change her and how she feels but you can be in control of how you respond to her comments and reactions as you loss weight. Good luck to you and wishes for great success in your new life style choice.

You are not bad, it is only bad if it becomes a habit. I call this an opps day, we all have them at sometime in this journey the key is getting right back on track and remember this is not a DIET but a life style change and it takes a life time to keep reminding ourselves of where we were and where we never want to go back. I think you will be just fine. Keep doing what your dong and good luck to you.

Take me with you, I don't eat much nor do I take up much space these days. Enjoy and have a bite of something yummy for me!