TerriDoodle

Good Morning, Michelle! :welcome: I'm so glad you found LBT! There is so much information and WONDERFUL support here! Spend those 6 months here learning about the band and life after surgery. Use that time to get your head in the right place and maybe start a moderate exercise program. You'll be very well prepared by the time your date rolls around and you'll sail right through!! Best of luck with your insurance process. Please post often and let us know how we can help support you!

Kat - I'd be honored to to your pics for you. I'll PM you my email address.

These are just incredible inventories, you guys. You make me so happy when I read these!!! Life is soooooo GOOD! Who knew?

Just because you want to have a 1/2c of mac and cheese 4x a year doesn't mean you're not serious about losing weight. C'mon!

Have you tried warm tea or broth? Until you talk to your doctor you need to try to get as much Fluid as possible in and warm drinks may go down more easily. Sorry you are having trouble Hope you are better soon.

The best way to answer your questions is to refer you to the area of the board where the monthly groups post. Go look at the recent posts from the July and August 07 bandsters and see what they are going through at this stage. This is the stage when people post a LOT, so your questions will definitely be answered there. Or go to any month's group...I'm in April 07....go look at the posts from April & May in our thread....then you can fast forward to August and see how we're all doing now that we've had a few fills! (Hint: we're all doing great!!) Good luck to you and Welcome to LBT! :welcome:

I'll tell you if you give me the recipe!

Hey, Michelle! Welcome back! We missed you! I hate the beach too, for all those same reasons. Except here in S. Texas we don't have those kind of waves but the water is not wonderful. Give me a sparkling river any day. Rest well tonight and we'll see ya back here tomorrow. Kat - hope you did alright. I'd be a bit panicky too. I haven't ventured into the world of BBQ since I've been banded...maybe a little sausage here and there. I miss brisket!

I have a new Tanita "Inner Scan" scale and I'm not too happy about the BF% it's giving me!!! It says I have 44% body fat! I looked on my doctors wall chart today and if I was 44% BF I should weight 280#!!! (I weigh 190.) What is UP with that??? I've had the scale for about a week and the reading is fairly consistent.

LOL!! THAT's a new one!! Not recognizing yourself!

Take a look at the FAQ section... this thread helps: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f73/abbreviations-what-they-mean-7959/

Yep, me too. That's why I got this Tanita. If I gain a pound I can look at the water reading and see if that's the culprit ...if it is, I don't worry so much. If it's NOT....well, it's time to get serious again!

Well, at least you CAN work outside today Judy!! It is so incredibly hot and humid here today. I just got back from the gym (10:00am) and my car thermometer said that it's 94 outside already!!! Add Houston humidity to that and no breeze and you're looking at a heat index of about 102....AT 10:00 A.M. Today I have nothing else to do except laundry and beading! YEA!! I ran around in that heat yesterday and swore I wouldn't do it again today! DH is playing golf in this stuff. Crazy human. For cottage cheese eaters.... I am sitting here enjoying a delicious treat! Cottage cheese, strawberries, splenda and 4Tbsp of Bare Naked banana nut granola. YUM! I'm hoping the fiber from the granola will help it to stay in my pouch longer. But seriously...this is GOOD. Jenn - Now THAT sounds like a good job!! Gotta love those benefits! Medical insurance too?? Bless your heart...you've been on a bazillion interviews. So exhausting, isn't it?? Ok, so if I don't get a fill til after vacation, that's another 5 weeks! I dunno. Maybe I'll go in and just have them see how much is in there....did I lose some? and if so just have them fill me back up to where I was. I was at a great level for awhile there. Tracy (aka HAWT Momma) - sorry, i got confused and thought it was ur birthday. I'm so out of it sometimes. Happy Birthday to your daughter...I'm sure you'll have a blast! You have MUCH to be proud of!

I got it more for the body water reading that it also has, but that BF# is driving me nuts. Whether the number is accurate or not, I figure it can at least give me a comparitive number over time to chart my progress. actually, i don't mind scales so much anymore!

NSV = non-scale victory!

The second Monday in September is the 10th...not the 14th. Ya'll are meeting on the 10th, right? I'm leaving for Vegas that day so won't be able to join you, but you're meeting right by my office, so I'll subscribe to the thread and hope that I can join you in October! Josie & Schexy -- keep me posted if I forget, ok?

I'm sorry, but I have to veto the idea of planning to pick up your son from school the very afternoon of your surgery! i'd say there is a 90% chance you won't be able to do that (although you don't say how far of a walk it is). I went in for surgery at 9:00am and didn't get home until 9:00 PM! The effect of the anesthesia was the culprit...I couldn't stay awake! The next day I slept a lot, too. I don't think I could have driven and was taking walks to the end of my driveway and back was all I could do at one time. The following day I was much better.

HA! Yeah, sometimes you have to get that lesson over and over and over again before it sinks in. Then two weeks later you have to start from the beginning! We have years and years and years of unlearning to do. It doesn't happen easily.

I hope you know I was kidding about the fins! I'm sure you do.... it was just the first thing that popped into my head. I have never learned the art of just shutting UP! If I don't swim regularly (only once a week) I prolly don't have much hope of increasing my laps. I mean i work with weights and other cardio the rest of the week...maybe I will eventually. The most I can do is 3-4 and then I do the dumbbells and other exercises, then 'cheat' with a floater for a couple of laps, then freestyle a couple of laps, etc. My goal now is just to keep moving in the pool for 30-40 minutes. Any suggestions?

Judy - I am speechless!! You are soooooo beautiful!! Just an incredible difference and you look so much happier and healthier! For those of you who have not posted to my thread "What has Improved for You?"....please go do that! It's so inspiring to see all the wonderful things happening for everyone!

What do ya'll think..?? I'd like to start a thread in the general discussion are called something like "There are two groups here on LBT..." in order to inspire people to exercise. But my point is NOT to make fun of people who choose not to...or to diminish whatever success they've had. I also don't want to be perceived as 'tooting my own horn'. I just want people to realize that exercise is really a very cool thing for so many reasons. I probably shouldn't risk it, huh?

Sure, it's easy to gain weight if you don't maintain restriction and indulge in things like milkshakes and cheesecake!! It's not impossible to "eat around the band", as my doctor says. This does take some work after all! Being self-pay will definitely work in your favor. I had several co-morbidities that were starting to raise their ugly heads and I was just trying to avoid allowing my health to deteriorate any further. I had a weak back, plantar faciatis, insulin resistance, suspected sleep apnea, and borderline high lipid levels. I'm sure there are many doctors who might work with you, but you are right to be concerned about fills afterwards. That is something you have to make sure you have worked out before you are banded. Your best bet is probably to go with a very well known surgeon that has a good reputation so that the fill doctors aren't afraid to maintain his work, y'know? My doctor (Spivak) in Houston is one of the lap band pioneers as he was involved in the FDA trials way back when. He's done thousands of these procedures and has proctored many of the surgeons that are placing them today. Going with someone like him would be a good bet on finding a doctor willing to do the follow-up. Being banded in Mexico is risky...there are those who have problems finding doctors to do fills on Mexican surgeries. Dr. Spivak won't. I think we're all afraid going in that it won't work for us. We're so used to failure!! I'm loving my band and I hope and pray that it will serve me for many years to come. It's the best thing I ever did for myself.

Damn straight.

Hey MsJen - You look incredible...not even like the same person! You must feel so wonderful! Hi Tracy! - Congrats on the NEW number!! Isn't that refreshing!? May you see another for your birthday! Jenn - you and I have about the same amount to lose now! You must be looking some kind of hawt!! We want pics!!! so sorry about the foot. Are you putting ice on it? You'll need to tonight for sure! Advil would help too. Take children's liquid Motrin....NOT the pills! I learned a hard lesson on that one. Denise? Ahem. Have you just not updated your exercise challenge 'ticker'?? I know you can't possibly be at -0- (as in zero) workouts for the month! Judy - How are you feeling this evening?

Ok, ya'll convinced me. I need a fill....AND to slow down my eating even more than I have been. Ya'll vote: should I wait a month to get my fill or go ahead and get the hard part over with (1st 2 weeks for me)? I am seriously hungry all the time....not losing an ounce. Today was my 'official weigh in day' and I was at 190....this is the 3rd Friday I weighed the same. If I'm tight in Vegas...then have even a couple of cocktails I'll be sorry. So I wouldn't be able to drink at all Oh, how I would hate to be PBing on my vacation!!! What to do?