♥LovetheNewMe♥

Stay strong, I read an ariticle on a physicians web site that said, "Your band is not worth a piece of pizza." I wish I had read it before I ate 2 small pieces of thin and crispy pizza with grilled veggies, cheese and chicken from dominos. It sat in my stomach like a brick for hours. Like you I love, love, love pizza. I think I miss it more than anything, I know it is a food group they left off of the pyramid. I like Judy s idea and think I may try it.

Yesterday I went shopping to make myself feel better, retail therapy is my new addiction, it always makes me feel good. My clothes are starting to get a little big again and it makes me feel better when I can buy something new that may be just a little bit smaller. Well here's how it went, I took several dresses into the dressing room ranging in sizes from 12 to 16. For all of you who don;t know me I started this journey wearing a size 24 womens. Now I am only 5'1" so I was pretty round. Not sure why I thought I could were the 12 but I just wanted to try it. I did get the dress on but the look was just not me. Now if I had wanted to add some 4 inch heels and work a street corner the dress may have worked. Sorry about that visual but sometimes it helps if I can laugh at my self. I did find two really cute dresses after trying on about 8 or 10. For some reason I thought I bought size 16 in both dresses but to my surprise when I was taking the dress off tonight, yes I had to wear it to work today, I noticed it was a size 14. Wow, I have not had a size 14 on in years. Still need to get on the stick and exercise. I have also developed a bad habit lately I need to break, eating almonds. I think they are my new substitution for salty snacks, so I threw them out tonight. I found my self grazing on these off and on and this is not something I want to start. My husband gets a little frustrated with me when I start throwing away the food in the house but if I don;t think I can trust myself, in the trash it goes. I know that sounds silly but I gotta do what I have to to remain true to myself and this journey. I will not allow myself to fall back into bad habits. I spent way to may years lying to myself about what I ate and never told anyone. I used to stop off at McDonald's and eat a snack on the way home from work and then come home and eat dinner. My addictive thinking was if no one saw me eat it, it did;t count. Well let me tell you that will get you a few pounds overweight real fast. Like I said last night, old habits die hard and we do what we need to do to develop healthy habits. Everyday is a new day and everyday I love the new me that is blossoming from within. My success is all on me, I have been given the tools I just need to continue to apply them.

We are all food addicts, some of us just are more willing to admit it than others. You have made the first postiive decision, you are doing something about your addiction. First you need to stop beating your self up, of course you are moody, food was our comfort our way of coping and when you take that way we have to cope with a vast amount of emotions. Support is key for all of us, some of us get it from family and friends and some of us get it from these blogs and forums. Just know we have all been where you are and are all here to help you through this journey. Your support is here, just use us and post what you feel. Feelings are better on paper or computer than bottled up inside of us. Think of this blog as your new addiction to finding that healthy person hiding inside. Good Luck

Just as an FYI, in the majority of the literature you read about lap band patients, they really do not expect us to loss in the first 4 to 6 weeks post op. Our bodies are healing and the majority of us have not had any fluid in our bands and we really have no restriction and can almost eat about anything. You will still fill hungry until you have your first fill, there are a few patients that fell restrictions immediately after surgery but they are rare. Don't expect to much the first month and don;t become a slave to your scale, if you stay true to the foods they have you eat you will lose, maybe more inches in the beginning than pounds but it will come off. I think the hardest thing for me to learn was patience and I work on this daily. And believe me some days it is harder than others. I have lost 64 lbs in about 7 months and my MD told me to expect the additional 30 lbs to come off slow. Most lap band patients lose about 40 to 50% of their weight in the first year, some lose more but none of us are the same. The band can be very fickle, and what we can eat one day may not go down the next day. You will do great, just make healthy choices and remember to get all your protein daily. It takes our digestive tract longer to digest protein so it stays with us longer helping to curb that hunger feeling. One day you will be able to eat the 3 meals a day and be satisfied without snacks between meals. I never believed it would happen but it does. The discomfort you feel when bending over is your port, that also gets better with time and now I don't even notice mine is there. Good luck with your journey and the best advice I can give you is to educate yourself about the band and the foods you should be eating. If you listen to your band once filled and not your head you will do great!

How many days does it take to break a habit? A post from the internet: I always hear the statistic that it takes six weeks to make or break a habit. That may be true in cases like turning off the porch light in the morning, but I haven't had the same success in life when it came to overcoming various destructive habits of mine. Often I gut it out through those six weeks only to either give up, or quit that habit but replace it with something just as bad. I likened the experience to a stress-ball. I squeeze it really hard in my hand, and it may even squeeze through my fingers. Did the material in the stress ball disappear? Nope. What happens when I release the ball? It all goes back right where it was before. Compulsive and/or destructive habits seem to work in the same way. Why does it seem that every time we identify a bad behavior in our life and work to chop it down, that another takes it's place almost immediately? That is because we are attacking the evidence that there is a problem, not the problem itself. Identifying the root issue takes time, but it is well worth it. When I say "time", I'm talking about anywhere from a year or more. That's correct – to truly break the root cause of your destructive habits or addictions will take at least one year. Don't despair though, because that can and will be a very good thing. I am seven months post op and there are still some days when my eyes do not listen to my brain. For me I think food and eating is no different than anyones, addictive habits, mine was just legal and more acceptable to society. But honestly is it? I wake up each morning and remind myself that this is a journey and I did not wake up Fat one morning but did this to my self one forkful at a time. I am trying so hard to break old habits and develop healthy ones. My scales have not moved for several weeks now, this happens to me every time I drop into a new set of numbers. I know hat I need to do is exercise, I sometimes wish that people would tell me I was fat instead of "You look great!" I need the push to make me do what I know I need to do. Today I went to see my family doctor, we discussed my BP meds, I take 3. My BP was 128/80 for me this is awesome. I used to be consistently 140-150/90-100 on meds and over 200 without. We discussed reducing my meds, I told her I would like to drop 20 more pounds before we do this. I think part of me just wanted to make sure I was going to be successful. Kinda like been here before but didn't stay. So to all of us our their trying to develop new habits and change old ones, Good Luck!

You are doing great, keep up the good work!

Funny what pushes us over the edge. I agree the message was delivered wrong, but seriously all of us have a mirror and no one needs to tell us how we look. I think my favorite is, oh, she has a really pretty face. I laugh now becasue people say to me, boy you are really getting skinny, I weigh 180 lbs and am 5" 1", now in my book I am still fat, but if you look at pictures of me from 2009, I do look skinny because back then I was really Fat.. I can say that about me, but I can lose weight to fit into that pretty face but your boss he is just plain damn stupid and you can't fix stupid. Enough about me, back to you. No matter how hurtful your bosses comments were, he gave you that little extra nudge you needed to make a choice to live a healthier life. Keep your head up and celebrate your success along your journey, you will be successful because you really want this for YOU! IGood luck in your journey!

Cathy, Everything you are feeling is normal, or at least it was normal for me. The first few days and weeks after surgery I think it finally sinks in for all of us the reality of the situation. We made a choice, a choice to surgically alter our eating habits because we could not control them. I still go through periods when i sorta feel sorry for my self because I can't just go and grab what ever I want to eat. Then I look in the mirror and at some old pics and believe me I do not want that person back. I love how I look now, even with my shrinkles . You will understand that comment as you loss weight. The majority of us had been on the diet rollacoaster for years and had small successes but a lot more failures. I used to believe having weight loss surgery was the easy way out but now I believe it is much harder than any diet I have ever attempted. This is a life style change and all change is hard and it takes time. I am 7 months post op and I want you to know it will get better, give up the scales, they can be your worst enemy. With weight loss surgery sometimes we lose inches that do not show up on scales. Your energy will come back, it is gradual but it does return and as you loss weight it gets better. The gas for me was awful, I lived on Gas-X for months and sometimes still have to use it becasue something I eat makes me feel miserable. when you return to work, it will be hard for a few days maybe even a week, people if they know want to know how much you have lost, curious about what you can eat. For me I was upfront and honest with everyone about my surgery, I figured it would make me stay honest to myself, if everyone was watching. Keep reading on this web site, I have found that reading about others issues helped me to understand that what I was feeling was normal. Cathy you can do this and you will be successful, take everyday as the first and never look back if you slip. Remember in 6 months, 12 months, or 2 years, you will be healthier and feel great! Good luck with your journey, I know we all think we went to bed one night and work up obese but truely it took us years to get this way and it will take us a few months to find that tiny person hidding in all of us. :party: Remember celebrate all successes no matter how big or small! Good Luck.

Celebrated my wedding anniversary this weekend. We went to dinner theater to see " You can't make this $^@! Up at the Café and Then Some in DT Greenville. We had a great time, I did appetizer and a salad and had a few bites of my husbands dessert. It was yummy! They served us Champaign, only one sip for me, way too many bubbles. One drink and I burp like a sailor, too funny. It was a great celebration of 18 years. No weight loss this week, but I learning to listen to my body and making good choices. My challenges are exercise, I have to make more time for exercise, I need to do this on a regular bases and I have not been good at this. I have 40 lbs to go and these are going to be the hardest 40. I bought a tread mill for Christmas but I just have not been good at using this. I am going to challenge my self to do some type of exercise this coming week daily for 40 minutes. So here goes, starting tomorrow, Monday June 12, I Diane will exercise 30 minutes a day and blog about my exercise every night. Keep me honest bloggers, I gotta do this if I want to move that needle. I would like to be at 175 by the first of July. I am at 183 today so I gotta some work to do.

http://www.muschealth.com/weightlosssurgery This is the web site for MUSC, this program is at the University of South Carolina and there are several really nice tools for food diary, shopping lists and healthy lean protein choices. Good luck wth your journey.

I have gotten rid of all my big cloths. Keeping them was just a reminder for me, I donated some to Good Will and Salvation Army. There are also a large group of women at my work who have had the surgery so we have been handing down some of our cloths, this has helped cut down on purchasing a bunch of summer out fits for some of us. I did keep one pair of jeans that I want to take my picture with when I reach my goal. A reminder of how far I will have come. Good Luck!

Well it's Sunday evening and I am pleased to say I made it through the weekend without any issues. I went to a web site of a hospital here in SC, MUSC and they had a few neat tools for Lap Band patients. I down loaded the forms so I could keep track of my food and check it off. They also had a nice shopping list and lists of types of protein we should be eating. I have done good with my weight loss and in the beginning I used the Lap Band web site to record my food diary but after I returned to work I was not as consistent. It is hard to stay honest with eating for me unless I write down every bite I put in my mouth, today I did this and when it came time for dinner, I realized I only had 3 protein servings left, 1 Vegetable serving and 1 Fruit serving. So dinner was Grilled Shrimp and a small salad. I still had all of my fats so I added salad dressing to my salad. It was yummy! I exercised both yesterday and today so check for exercise. All in all this has been a good weekend but I am so glad it is over. Well off to do homework, been procrastinating this all day. Ugh!

I think that is a good Idea. Keep a video diary. I feel like I eat too much sometimes also and sometimes I don't remember all I eat, not sure if that is my evil twin trying to hide things from me or my denial creeping in. lol Good luck, I say do what every works best to keep you honest.

Great Job, your family will be proud.

<BR><BR><BR>The Chocolatey Coconut Protein Bars are Biggest Loser Brand. i found mine at Walgreens, you can order off line from their web site. The are 10gms of Protein, and 160 calories. I also tried the Banana Nut Bread ones but they were ok, but as good. Like I said in my blog, I love chocolate and coconut so, they were a perfect alternative to unhealthy treats for me. On the peanut butter I do this two ways, I order 90% of my protein drinks from a web site, <A href="http://www.bariatriceating.com">www.bariatriceating.com</A><BR> I really do not like really sweet drinks and in the beginning I had to find something in small quanties that I could tolerate and not feel like I was drinking ensure. I am a nurse and I hate the smell of those drinks like ensure and boost that we fee patients. I don't like carnation instant breakfast, reminds me of my brother and the strawberry nestles quick he drink as a kid. I love the peanut butter protein powder drinks, you can mix them in water or milk and it only takes 4ozs of liquid. Skim milk makes them richer but also adds protein and calories. My second alternative is to use my favorite Vanilla Protein powder and add peanut butter powder to this. (The peanut butter powder is 85% less fat than regular peanut butter, mixes well in the shakes and tastes the same for only 45 calories. I also order my peanut butter powder online from Bell Plantations. It is located in Georgia. They have two, brands, plain peanut butter and perium chocolate peanut butter. 2 tbs of the powder mixed is only 45 calories and 1 gm of fat and 4 protein. You get the same flavor but you don't get the fat and calories of regular. I am always looking for new ways to drink and eat my protein becasue I do not want to get bored and risk reverting back to bad habits. Adding a little liveliness to my diet keeps me honest and on track. enjoy!

Sometimes I really hate weekends. Weekdays are so much easier to stay focused and on program, you are always busy with work or scheduled activities and I never think about eating or worry about snacking. But weekends need to be as full so my brain does not drift back to the grazing mode and the little devil lurking in the shadows does not win by saying, "Just take one bite, one bite won't hurt anything." Yeah right, one bite got where I was 7 months ago. So today I decided to emulate my daily activities of my usual morning routine and kick it up a notch. Up at 6am, showered and got dressed, minus the make up, it is Saturday you know. Mixed my unflavored protein in 2ozs of water and off to star bucks for my Triple Granda Skinny Caramel Macchiato, Total count of 18ozs at 240cal(calories for protein powder-24 gram protein and 140 calories for drink with 11 grams protein) Breakfast total 35 grams protein. Drive to the dog park with Lexis and do a few laps. Now Lexi thinks this morning was all about her and we will let her think that but actually it was really all about me needing to exercise and get my coffee fix on. Lots to do this weekend, need to complete a school assignment on Linear Equations! (yuck ) First I have to read the chapter so I can even discuss what a linear equation is. Duh...........Laundry..clean house, etc..etc..etc... I live such an exciting life. As a side bar update, I did keep my challenges I made to my self on "No Regrets " Wednesday's post. I parked my car at the furthest point from the hospital, and I walked to my office. Mitch the shuttle driver looked at me and said, "What's up you don't want I ride today!" So I stopped and explained my new goals to him and he just smiled and drove on. I managed to only take the elevator once on Friday and that was to the 10th floor, up town 3 and 4 flights I was OK with but I decided, heels and 10 flights was pushing it a bite for a Friday. I have decided that I am going to use this blog to keep me honest and true to this journey. I have this little OCD thing about writing things down, if I write it down and check it off I am more likely to comply. It is hard to ignore what is in black and white under your nose. So I don't go back to my MD for 4 months, (very scary thought to me). That is unless I need a fill, or start feeling hungry I am suppose to call and make an appointment. I though on Thursday when he told me this. OMG, you are trusting me for 4 months to stay on track, you are my mentor, my honesty guage. As long as I was going to see him every 4 weeks or so and I knew I had to face him and the dreadful scale I had to stay on program. So Mr or Mrs blog and bloggers you are my new honesty guage. I am pledging to all my blogger friends out there I am using all of you to keep me honest. So don't let me down. Ask me questions, keep me honest, challenge me. WE will not fail, We will stay on track and focused. WE will over come all obstacles and be SUCCESSFUL! Go Team! Always wanted to be a cheerleader.

Everytime I get stuck and throw up I worry that my band has slipped. I think this is what scares me the most because I know without my band I will not be as successful. I do know that if your band slips you should know, it will become more and more difficult to tolerate solid foods, liquids and mushy foods are easier to tolerate with band slipage. I have a friend who's husband slipped but he was not always following the plan and was constantly over extending his lap band by eating bread and pasta in large amounts. Keep us posted hope all checks out ok.

I started this journey 7 months ago and yes it has been a journey. I had my appointment with my surgeon today, it was 4 weeks post a fill and slight unfill of .4 cc's. I had lost 10lbs since my last visit. I am down 56lbs since surgery now and have dropped from a size 24 to a size 14. I really am enjoying the new me, I went to the beach last week and actually was not embarrassed to wear a bathing suit. My husband and I had so much fun, it was great not to feel short of breath or have the pain in my knees I had the summer before. We road bikes, walked on the beach and had a wonderful time. It is the first time I can actually say I went on vacation and actually lost weight not gained weight. But back to my journey. This journey has had it's ups and downs, I have had to learn to listen to my body and what my band is telling me. Eating early in the morning is just not an option for me, I drink protein. I have learn to be creative with my protein drinks and use unflavored in my coffee or lattes from Star Bucks and call this breakfast. Unfortunately I was one of those people that thought weight loss surgery was a cop out, but believe me I have changed my opinion. This has been one of the hardest journeys of my life. It truly makes you learn to make healthy choices or pay the price. I have paid the price along the way when I have tried to eat pizza or pasta. Yes I can eat them but it is a painful process and they sit in my stomach like a piece of lead as the digest. I have found new loves, vanilla protein shakes with peanut butter powder, I consider this a treat, a little crushed ice to make it thick and I think I am drinking a milkshake. Yummy! One of my favorite desserts has always been German Chocolate Cake, last week I found, chocolaty coconut, Biggest Losers Protein Bars. I told my husband, you know you have crossed over to the other side when a protein bar is the best tasting thing you have eaten for a while. He thinks I am crazy most days, but is one of most devoted supporters. Life post lap band surgery is truly a journey and a new beginning to a better life. I ask my self daily, why did I wait so long to do this, I could have been so much further than I am. But honestly I was not ready emotionally. The emotional part of weight loss is probably the most difficult for all of us. I mourned the loss of food in the beginning and really did not realize how much I had used food as a coping mechanism until I could no longer use it as a crutch. Food has much less importance in my life now, I see it as nutrition for my body and not something to run to when I am frustrated. My family sometimes has difficulty dealing with my honesty and so do co workers, but if it is between me binging or purging my thoughts, the thoughts are coming out. I have learned in order to be successful in this journey, I must listen to my band and not to the emotional eater that hides in the shadows waiting for me to let my guard down and find a weak place in the armor. I will not fail in this journey, this is for me, I do love the new me and I love the commitment I have made to myself to give this journey 100% of my ability to succeed. As I continue I need to challenge myself to increase my exercise. Actually I need to get off my butt and exercise daily. I am making a pledge to myself today to increase my activities by taking the steps instead of the elevator, walk from my car to my office instead of taking the shuttle, spend 20 minutes each day doing some type of physical activity. I will be successful in this journey!

Congratulations on being in Onederland! It is a great feeling and accomplishment when any of us hits a mile stone. Every pound we loss is a great accomplishment and we should Celebrate. I agree with everyone else, others see our weight loss much more than we do. We look at our selves in the mirror everyday and sometimes changes are hard for us to see or accept. The other day someone referred to me as skinny and I laughed. How could anyone think that 182 lbs is skinny, well I went back and looked at my pictures from 6 months ago, a year ago and even two years ago. You know what from those pics I do look skinny. I also have not been under 200 lbs for a long time. Look at some some old pics before your surgery and I am sure you will see a difference from then to now. Keep the old pictures in plain site as a reminder of where you were than and a new one to look at your accomplishment.

I had my band placed last year on Oct. 28th, 2010. I have lost 56 lbs since surgery. I started experienceing some hair issues, loss and breakage about 45 days ago. I take Biotin 6000mcg per day and have been for the past 3 weeks. My hair and nails are looking much better. I am taking bebeautiful a GNC chewable product. I did a lot of research before choosing a product and most of the reasearch says in order for Biotin to be effective for rapid weight loss you need to take at least 6000mcgs per day. These chewable squares are 3 mg each or 300mcgs so I take two daily, along with 1000 mg of CA and my Multivitamins. I know they say that lap bands may not need as much Vitamins as Gastric Bypass and Sleeve patients but my experience has been that if we do not get all our protien in on a daily basis we have the same issues as other rapid weightloss surgeries. Hope this helps you, Good Luck. and great job on your weight loss to date.

By no means I am not an expert at this but from my experience if you are to tight you can not pass food and end up vomiting most of what you eat. The slime and foam you experienced is referred to as "sliming". Sliming can happen when your band does not allow food to pass because we eat to fast, fail to chew our food or take too large of a bite. When I had my fill I went through a few weeks of experience the grossness of sliming at least twice a week until I really learned to what I could eat and what I could not. Occassionaly my band feels very tight early in the morning and late at night so I have learn to drink something warm and it helps lossen things up. I have had a steady weight lost of about 1-2 lbs a week since surgery and I am satisfied after I eat. Good Luck

I agree! People ask me this every week also, I stopped weighing myself unless I had a doctors appointment becasue I was tired of the scales not moving as fast as I thougt they should. I wish I had measured myself becasue I have also lost inches. I just tell people, "I have know idea how much I have lost, but I feel great" Thank god no one ever asked me how much I gained before surgery. Good luck with grad school, I also am trying to finish Graduate school.

This is what happens when we fail to chew are food or eat to quickly. I experieced sliming after my first fill. It was a piece of chicken, it really isn't throwing up, the food gets stuck and if your pouch can not accept the food it pushes it back up with large amounts of mucus. Sometimes after slimming your pouch may not allow you to eat for a while. It's pretty gross, I am just glad I was home when it happened and not at work or in a resturant. It freaks my husband out when it happens because it happens so quickly I have to run to the nearest trash can. Good luck, I am 4 months out and I am so glad I had this surgery. I have dropped 6 sizes, and lost 38% of my body fat. Just remember to chew your food, chicken and eggs seems to be problems for a lot of us. Good luck

I am new at this was(banded 10/27/10) but I had a friend that this happened too and it sounds like your band may have slipped. You need to call your doctor and have him to do an x-ray or ultra sound. Good luck.

Like we need someone to tell us what to eat. I agree with everyone's comments, plus I will add no one trying to lose weight needs anyone to point out to them what they should or should not eat. We all carry enough guilt around on our own and don't need the added pressure. I think I would have slapped her friend on not.. Oh but I think I would have waited for her after work and did it in the parking lot.