Holly Dolly

I love Luna bars! Maybe try some of those packets of tuna. I haven't tried them, but they don't need refrigeration and they open easy so that may be an option.

I thought about that before having surgery too. But you know what? Almost every fast food place has healthy options. I just make a point to look at the nutritional info for a place before I go there and know what I am going to eat. And I do still eat pizza. I make my own occassionally on super thin pita bread with turkey pepperoni and it's good. I have also had pizza from Pizza hut, they have a crunchy thin crust that is much lower in calories too. I don't deprive myself of much. I look at the calorie count and go from there.

Hopeto lose, you are rocking it! 75% is awesome! Congrats!

The icing on the cake was not being able to tie my shoes comfortably. Also sitting at work in my tight size 22's was really starting to get to me as well!

at 3 months I was down 29 pounds and at 1 year 80. Don't be down on yourself. Sounds like you are doing great!

I had my surgery a year ago on Feb 4th. I am down 80 so pounds. My original goal was 75 pounds and a size 12. Well, got some size 6 pants on today and they are a little loose in the waist. So to say I am happy is putting it mildly! Happy you have been successful too!

woo hoo! NSV are great, especially when cute clothes are involved!

I was like you before too. I loved food, ate when I wasn't hungry. But ever since I got the lapband I write down what I eat. It makes a huge difference knowing how many calories I have had before I eat something else. I know a lot of people don't need to do this , but I am still hungry in between meals, I do think about food and what I will be having for my next meal. But the journal keeps me in control. I'm not perfect, I eat things sometimes I know I shouldn't. But there have only been a handful of days that I have reached 1800-2000 calories. And for me, that is huge in itself! So even on the days when I felt out of control eating, I really was in control still keeping my intake within reason. I'm sure prebanded days I had more than 5,000 calories a day many a times!

sounds like you too need a little bit taken out msladymm. I had the same problem going on yesterday. Soup for lunch was going down slow, but as soon as I started spitting out saliva I knew it was time to get in there. So my fill from the week before was removed.

There are some finance programs that offer interest free promotions for a certain amount of time. One is www.carecredit.com. I would suggest start looking in your area for a dr and start calling them to see what they accept.

yes, what is the recipe?????

I contribute my success to journaling my food intake and having my one good buddy who had her surgery the week after me to talk to all and I mean ALL the time! Until you get into the green zone you may be able to eat whatever you want and more than you should. It was hard many days, but I kept my caloric intake at 1,000/day for a long time. Good luck to you!

Congrats on your 4th bandiversary!

are you crazy weighing in at night time?!!! JUst teasing, I always try to make my appt for the first one in the morning! How funny, just read your little note at the bottom!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

I am a year out and wish I was in the green zone! Thought I was there yesterday and then had soup for lunch and realized I was tight. Everyone is different. Yesterday was the first day I didn't feel hungry way before my lunch time and I was excited. But then I ate and realized, that nope that last fill wasn't good. So I had the .4 taken out that she gave me last week. I guess I am in the small minority who the band doesn't help my hunger. Well, with too much restriction it did but I can't live if I can't swallow my own saliva! So after a year of sucking up to eating only what I measured out I am sucking up that I will still be hungry. I am going to up my calories to 1300/day and have a morning and an afternoon snack. I am happy that I had that last fill though because I had been wanting one for the last few months and she thought I was already full enough. So my questioning on whether or not I was full enough has been answered! I go back next month and may try .1 cc and see how that goes.

A lot of people say they are tight in the morning. I am not sure really if I am or not because before breakfast I always a huge cup of hot tea which may loosen it a bit. I would say if you haven't lost since Oct.and you are more hungry now, I would get a fill. Do you keep track of your calories? Maybe you are consuming more than you think. If you end up being too tight, you can always go back in to have some taken out. That's what happened to me this week!

I miss my morning 2 pieces of toast and snow peas with dinner. Now I could still eat the toast but choose not too. As for the snow peas, no matter how much I try and destring it, the still get stuck!

the controversary was with fen/phen. Now they only give you the phentermine. I say whatever it takes, it takes. I feel like it really helped me for a few months.

well, you prob don't have much in your band so everything is prob going down fine. When I had surgery the dr put in 3 cc initially. I am filled to 6.5 and still feel like I can eat pretty much anything, no problem. Only a few things go down slower. You just have to get focused on what you should be eating and stick to it as best that you can.

Where you are at now, I was having 3 shakes a day and having broth, sugar free jello and popsicles. I had my postop visit at 12 days and she said I could start food that night. I started eating fish every day after that for awhile. What are you eating now?

one thing that has changed for me after the band is eating what I really like to eat. Before I would do mindless eating and eat just because it was there. My work is bad and there is always tons of food around. Since I don't eat that big of a portion anymore I savor every bite til the end! I enjoy food way more now than I did before, and never thought that could be possible. I am not one of those that the band has made indifferent to food and not hungry.

when I have had a bad stuck episode, I feel it is harder to eat the next day or so. My dr said that the stomach got swollen around the band and that is why I felt the way I did even a day or 2 later. I actually had a problem today. Didn't even eat much, thought I had finally reached my greenzone and was on cloud nine! Then I had a little bit of soup and a bite of a pastry and bam! There I was feeling like I had to spit up. Did it 2 times in the car and decided to make a beeline for the dr office. She pulled out the .4 cc she put in me last week. I thought better to be safe than sorry because I am going away for 5 days. I go back on the 9th and planning on getting half that amount next time and see how I go from there.

In the beginning I really ate within a small box. My dinners have always varied because I usually will eat whatever I am making for my family. If I make spaghetti I just have the sauce and skip the noodles. other than that, I eat just about everything they do. And crazy thing is, my 14 year old boy now rarely eats any carbs at dinner. He eats a ton of meat and some veggies. The kid has gained 18 pounds since school started! I told him he is gaining what I am losing and soon he will weigh more than me!!

I would say for me it is to aim for 15-20 grams of protein for each meal. For lunch I have 3 oz protein and veggies, sometimes a little bit of fruit. For the last couple of weeks I have been having Lean Cuisines for lunch. For dinner I have 3 oz protein, veggies and 1/4 c potatoes or a small baked potato or other starch. My breakfast of choice was egg whites and an oz of chedder cheese but now I am hooked on CarbMaster yogurt, 1/2 c Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal and a few chopped up strawberries. The foods that I avoid now are bread, pasta, raw carrots, and my beloved snow peas. Obvious foods to avoid are cookies, chips, ice cream, crackers.....all the bad stuff that goes down easy!