♥LovetheNewMe♥

Good post Diane.

Great Post! I will never allow my band to be to a point where I "can't" eat. I want it to help me....not rule me.

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.

Di, what a beautiful tribute to your mother and I always appreciate you keeping it real. I haven't been on here much these days and didn't see your post earlier.
You are an inspiration and a great friend. I appreciate that you are encouraging and not afraid to keep it real. This journey isn't easy but you are proof that through trials and tribulations, successes and failures, it can be done!!!
The picture is lovely and I am so happy you and your family were able to truly celebrate the holiday. <3

A holiday to remember and friendships to cherish!

Diane, this is the best blog post ever! That list has relevancy to all of us who are on this journey.
You are an inspiration and a treasured friend. Even through the difficult days you manage to see the silver lining in the challenges found in each day.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom! <3

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.

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.

Wonderful picture. I am glad your mother's mind was still with you Thursday. Thursday was the first Thanksgiving we didn't include my mother. She is 95 with really bad dementia. She knows her children but we think she forgot our names. She thinks my sons 35 & 38 are babies and they are parents. Old age is very hard.
Have a wonderful holiday season.
Arlene

Congratulations on your 4 year anniversary!

Good luck!

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

Ditto!

I engaged in a pissing match this week and not exactly proud of it. I have moved on and will refrain from feeding the trolls from here on out. I used the block option on here for the first time. Just not worth it to go back in forth.

Jim I agree we all have those moments but no one has to post a rant about how we should not use our professions to give advise. Well I am proud of what I do and those who spend their entire day on lapband talk and have to be the first ones to post after everyone then there is something wrong with that and the same person that had to rant is guilty of the same thing.

I agree with the 2 of you. If you hate what someone wrote in a newspaper, do sit through the whole story, no you move on. TV shows, the same, turn off the horrible show. We are the USA, freedom of speech and freedom to move on to the next.

Too much common sense around here!

A great topic Cheryl...so many on the forum seem to have forgotten the rules for the forum, and common courtesy in interpersonal communication.
I can agree to disagree with the best of us, and sometimes the need to be right for others makes the forum too devisive to be an effective tool for sharing best practices and information.
If members feel the need to rant, it is a better choice to type their frustrations out to externalize their feelings, and then delete their message before posting. You still have the therapeutic benefits without all of the resulting turbulence.
A nebulous caste system does not exist on an open forum...J/S

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.