TerriDoodle

<sigh> I used to love chicken. Careful with that stuff, Tracy!! G - O R - E - A - L S - L - O - W

Thanks for noticing, Tracy! You've got a real good memory, don't you!!? I don't know why I'm losing -- I ate like a piglet all weekend! I can't believe that DF (dear FIANCE) has made such an about face!! Whatever!!! Enjoy yourself! :) Laura - I'm so glad you have found relief from your pain. If you never lose another pound then it's all worth it, don't you think? When the BIL moves out (soon, i hope) then you'll be getting back into a normal rhythm. You've had SO much going on ever since you got banded!! When life settles down and you get your next fill, you can re-commit, and with the help of your ever-lovin' Violets you'll do just fine. Be patient with yourself a little longer, friend. It will be alright. I promise. I haven't heard confirmation from SchexyMomma or Haydee that they are coming tonight, but me and Josie are meeting for sure! Good thing, too....my son's phone pooped out so we had to get a new one. While I was there I decided to give him mine and I got myself an I-Phone! Josie has one, too, so she can show me how the dang thing works! Didn't get to the gym last night so I'm hoping to go late tonight, after dinner. If I don't one of you is allowed to kick my a$$.

Michelle you are on a SERIOUS roll girlfriend!!!! Good Lawd!! Congratulations!

Heck NO!!! I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Best thing I ever did!!! I finally have CONTROL. I took a poll when I first came here asking "Would You Do It Again?" 300 people responded and 91% said YES. That's amazing to me. 91%!!!

1/4 cup of food?? How in the world would you get enough nourishment that way?

Josie - I don't know what i'll be wearing tomorrow, but I'll PM you at some point and let you know. Otherwise, I'll try to be sitting close to the door and you've seen enough pics of me to possibly recognize me. I'm excited!

I went to my fave nutrition vendor Netrition.com - The Internet's Premier Nutrition Superstore! to refresh my memory about CLA. It looks like the prices have gone down drastically. I do remember that back in the day they found that Tonalin CLA (http://www24.netrition.com/horizon_cla_page.html) was the only effective CLA out there. Also, you have to take 3000-4000 mg /day. A liquid (Clarinol CLA Plus) might be your best bet rather than 3-4 pills.

Haydee - are you still planning on coming out tomorrow night? Ok, I'll let you slide on the exercise this month because we all have to learn from our mistakes. BUT next month I'm gonna be on you like stink on poop, so be prepared!! You want those wonderful compliments to keep coming, don't you? Not to mention you'll feel sooooo much better. Give it 3 solid months...give it as a gift to yourself....and you will NOT be sorry. Regarding CLA, I used every supplement out there when I was low carbing a few years ago. I spent over $150/month on them. CLA is one of the expensive ones and I didn't find that it improved my rate of weight loss at all. I probably took it when I was stalled out at some point and found it didn't make a difference.

((((((Tracy))))) OMG!! I am so happy for you!! I don't know if I'm more excited about the 'proposal', the ring or that you got lucky!!! You must be floating on air today!!! ....and MAN!! You you must have really looked hot!!! You GO!!!!

I was looking at this list again, and I realized that each of these books is about enduring great hardship and the resulting growth of spirit. Hmmm. Learned something about myself today. Has anyone (but me!) read the Poisonwood Bible or Angela's Ashes???

Jenn!! It's TOM!! The scale goes into the closet for a week, girlfriend!

I was very fortunate that my doctor only prescribed a low carb diet pre-op. No liquid diet at all. His post op diet is also very liberal. There is a wide range of prescribed diets out there, so if you have a wide variety ofqualified doctors to choose from you may want to check out their pre-, post-op and post-fill diet requirements as part of your criteria in choosing one.

Ten Gal - Well, would you rather start your day with suppositories or nausea?? LOL I imagine that the nausea is caused by the swelling so there's not much you can do about it, really. Try some ginger tea 1st thing...that might help, too.

I'm sure that Optifast is probably low-carb, right? So 10# of that is probably just water weight. The other 14# might seem more reasonable in that light. Your losses should slow down soon, I would think. If not, I would check with the doc or nutritionist to make sure you're getting enough protein to sustain your muscles while working out so intensely!!

comfy pants with loose elastic waist - like yoga pants ...or a loose dress house shoes because you will be walking! Have you stocked up your pantry with appropriate post-op foods?

Go Jacqui!!! LOL TexasRose - I'm sorry that happend to you. Hey, but if it makes you feel any better, that's happened to me twice in my life. Once when I weighed about 175 and the other time when I weighed about 160. (I'm 5'7" so it wasn't like I looked like a pumpkin or anything. The point is that others perceptions can be very messed up and then you add a stupid brain and a big mouth into the mix and you've got trouble. Yeah, it can be real embarrassing, even humbling and enough to ruin your day...IF YOU LET IT. You have so much to be proud of!!! Focus on that and let the small stuff roll off your back. Who cares what some drunk fool in a bar thinks anyway??? He's an idiot.

I went to one class at my gym. I'm 49 and many were about my age, but not much younger. I also found that the workout did not get my heart rate up at all. I have many other options, so I chose to stick with my other routine. HOWEVER, I did hear that the 'other' instructor is very tough and you get quite a workout....so I'll bet good money that his class is full of younger people, and this one happend to be the older group. So perhaps you should just try out different classes and/or instructors...or call around and express your concerns. I love to swim and that DEFINITELY gets my heart rate up....so much so that I have to take a break between laps. So I swim a lap or two then do exercises at the end of the lane either with the 'weights' or side kicks or whatever. That's a great workout for me and the best part is NO SWEATING!

Am I gonna have to come up there and kick your ass???

Calories consumed = the energy you get from food Calories burned = the energy you use to move around and to keep your body functioning In order to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you consume, so you want a calorie deficit every day of X number of calories. A calorie deficit of about 500/day is considered a safe rate for weight loss. At that rate you should lose about a pound per week. A deficit of 1000/day should result in a loss of 2 pounds per week. Is that more clear?

Pamela - It sounds like you and I have the same taste in books! I've read and loved The Secret Life of Bees and have read Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood at least twice. The movie was pretty good too, I thought. Give me an off the top of your head list of your 5 favorite books of all time! Mine are: Angela's Ashes The Poisonwood Bible Divine Secrets... The Grapes of Wrath Joy Luck Club Oh, Thanks, Michelle!! Lots of good suggestions! I love to BUY books....'cause if I love them I hate to part with 'em....so I buy them cheap on Half.com. Heading over there now to get some of these you and Pamela have suggested! Jenn - I'll bet you DID look really cute in your outfit! Did you take measurements before you started working out? It might be important if the scale is going to be stubborn. Did you get to meet Hillary? Where is TracyKS this weekend?? Hope Kat is having fun! Doesn't she sound like she's got a wonderful life? I envy her .... except for the cows part. LOL After my last post about the golf thing, I just had to get out of here...so I went to the gym then to my mom's. We had a nice day just being lazy. I even took a nap on her couch. Nothing like being at Mom's <sigh>.... it's always been a haven for me. Well, nothing else to report. Ate a bunch this weekend. I am going to have to get my fill checked. I think I've got a leak or something...not feeling much restriction now. I have no idea when I'll be able to do that! Maybe Friday.

The British Open is on. My husband is obsessed. If I hear ONE MORE STORY about golf or golfers I AM GOING TO LOSE MY MIND. :car:

You are in Bandster Hell....and it's called that for a reason! Since the swelling has now gone down but the band hasn't been filled, you are "wide open"....meaning it's just as if you were never banded. Getting going with the fills will change all of that soon enough!! In the meantime, just try your best to make good food choices and keep practicing the eating guidelines....you will be making good use of them after your fill!

I definitely agree that you should try to find another doctor. EW!! I don't like his attitude! Not to mention the fact that he's just plain wrong. Personally, you couldn't pay ME $1 million to hack away on my intestines....the complication rate is way way way too high for my comfort, and irreversible! Keep in mind, however, that this board IS a bit prejudiced! :car:

I agree with everything Jacqui has said but would like to add a couple of things. After your wife has adjusted to her new way of eating (which doesn't take long) she may be quite 'amazed'....even a bit disgusted....by the amount of food that un-banded people can put on their plates and actually injest!! It's like watching people eat a huge Thanksgiving dinner every single meal. My husband is about 25# overweight and would like to lose it. So I find myself suggesting to him all the time to reduce his portions and slow down his eating!! I'm sure he's getting pretty tired of it! LOL The other thing is to mention that it is quite normal to have some feelings of depression around 3 weeks after banding. It has something to do with the sudden weight loss that you experience in those first few weeks and the release of estrogen stored in the now-melting fat cells. There's a hormonal imbalance for awhile....kind of like PMS. As Jacqui said, all in all it's not such a big adjustment for the family. The best thing you can do in the way of support is to encourage her, be proud of her and tell her how absolutely MARVELOUS she is looking! :car: Good luck to you both!

Hi everyone! Judy - I usually use frozen raspberries, blueberries and strawberries with my cottage cheese. They work great! When i pour my coffee in the morning, I also pour my frozen berries in a bowl and by the time I'm ready to eat, they're thawed out. I got my beading area all organized -- again-- and it looks great. You can imagine how difficult that is. I have 250+ different kinds of beads, plus all kinds of wire, stringing materials, hammers, tools, books and findings. My dining room is my 'studio' so to keep in functioning as a dining room it has to be oraganized very well. Sad part is that I hardly ever have time to work anymore! But my daughter loves it, too....and it's something that we do together when she's here. Went to get my hair cut, mani & pedi....then later we're going out to a nice dinner with my good friend & her new beau! Can't wait to give him the once over. But I am SO tired! I haven't slept worth a darn for 3 nights :car: . I'm holding at 192 but I'm not complaining! Michelle - sounds like you're having a blast with your book and the party. I agree that we need pics!! I think I read 20 pages of the 1st book and that is it. I WAS very impressed with her writing - so incredibly imaginative!! I'll have to give them another go. Looking for something fun to read now anyway. speaking of which....ANYONE READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?? No Tom Clancy or Danielle Steele, please! LOL I like believable characters in realistic situations.... love southern fiction, too. Gina - good to be home, eh? what kind of work do you do? Judy - glad your friends liked our little joke....but did you tell them it's not really a joke???? And thank you from me too about saving poor Jetta. I'm a big animal lover too. Had to put our beautiful Golden down in February and we miss her so much. I just love on doggies whenever I get the chance. They built a new bark park not far from here and I can't wait til the Fall and I'll go visit them there. It's so much fun! We don't have any plans for getting another dog for a year or two. We want to do some traveling, and may be moving at some point soon. I'll pray that Jetta finds a forever home real soon. Jenn - Interesting about the need for you to up your calories! I can think of plenty of ways to get them up: Rocky Road, Butter Pecan, Double Dutch Chocolate, Coffee, Peppermint, Cookies & Cream, Strawberry....to name but a few. :car: TracyK - I'm glad I didn't go to Vinton with you! I had money for a mani/pedi today! (Sorry!)