Alexandra

Tricia, nope, I didn't eat any rice. The night before when we'd had the Chinese food for dinner, I did eat a whole eggroll PLUS one dumpling along with the half of my tofu dish. All of that went down smoothly. I think it was a pea in the tofu dish that wasn't chewed enough. They were cooked in such a way that they were sort of crisp (I don't know how that's done) even though floating in sauce. Vomiting makes my eyes tear up too, Blossom, if not actually cry. I also tear up every single time I yawn. Those tear ducts are just so sensitive!

What a great post, Audrey. Big applause from me, too!! I understand about feeling a little defensive about being banded; in general I don't tell people I don't trust to take a kind view of it. And even then I've been unpleasantly surprised. But over time I've decided that no one's opinion matters except my own, and if anyone is going to have the b*lls to express a negative view to my face they don't deserve my respect either. There's never any way to control what people say to one another outside of my hearing, but I know that those are the people who will be eating crow as I actually lose weight. Do whatever makes YOU comfortable. I've ended conversations with "friends" if I think they're taking a negative turn. I'm the one going through this process, I'm the one who knows what I went through during the 40 years prior to it. I just don't care at all what anyone else thinks. (Most of the time.)

Coming a little late to this, here are my CONGRATULATIONS!! too!! What a great milestone, you must be thrilled! I'm still dancing around the 250 milestone, which my vacation probably set back by three weeks. But no matter, I can take pleasure in other people's achievements and know my day will come. Good job!!!

Hi Dana, This is not a chat board but a message forum. By reading old messages and threads you can learn a lot, but if you have questions or comments please feel free to post a new thread whenever it occurs to you to do so. We're all happy to share whatever experiences we can. Welcome!!

Hi Lainie, welcome! Please feel free to ask whatever questions occur to you. It helps us all!

Thanks, everyone. It was a very good reminder, but I hated how intense it was. Everything seems to be fine now, but one always worries about one's band in situations like this. Jeanie, I don't know of any definitive answer to your question. People have had the flu, morning sickness, etc., and survived with no band problems. My theory is that post-banding there is just a whole lot less food IN out stomachs, so vomiting of any kind is less of an ordeal. But it's never a good idea so if you think you might be prone to it you might ask your doctor for some anti-nausea meds. People know if they're "vomiters" or not. Through 40 years and two pregnancies I think I've thrown up maybe a half-dozen times all told, and most of those were alcohol-related. And I've had the flu, of course, but I can only think of once that I threw up due to sickness. Other people throw up if they eat a bad grape or if someone walks by who has a fever. People in the last category probably should stock up on anti-nausea meds if they're getting banded. This edisode of mine probably didn't involve any vomiting from below the band, it just felt like it. But what's more likely is that the tofu that came up had been sitting in my pouch for four hours, causing the misery that it did. I still don't know what it was that plugged me up, but whatever it was it did a good job.

Hi Lainie, PB is a delicate way of saying "barf" or "bring food up." It stands for "productive burp" which to my mind is wholly inadequate to describe that phenomenon. But for the sake of shorthand, that's what gets used. speaking of PBs, I had a really unpleasant experience two days ago. I'll share the gory details in another thread.

Congratulations and welcome back!! I hope your recovery proceeds smoothly and uneventfully.

Donali, wow, what a project!! I'm in awe. I can't wait to see how it all comes out. You are so inspiring--maybe someday I'll pick up a hammer or something!

It's so weird that there's no logic to this system. I wear an 18/20 on top and usually a 20 on the bottom depending on the cut. I'm much heavier than other people in the same sizes, but I'm also much taller than most. What frustrates the hell out of me is that according to the size charts of most vendors, I should be wearing a much larger size. With my 45" bust, 43" waist, and 53" hips the charts say I should be wearing a 26 / 3X, but now I'm wearing an XL top and 2X bottoms. I repeatedly ask my husband if my clothes actually fit, or if it's just my imagination. He swears I'm not walking around in too-tight clothes, which is something I've always tried to avoid like the plague. (NSV alert: On vacation it was so cool to be able to choose from the huge selection of XL t-shirts at the souvenir shops, instead of having to limit myself to what's available in 2X or 3X. I haven't EVER had this choice as an adult. I love it!)

I completely agree with Marie. My doctor's post-surgery diet was pretty lenient compared to some others I've seen, with permission to move on to mushy foods at one week out. So I tried that, and really found that I couldn't. My body just wasn't ready for it. So listen to your body, and if it hurts, DON'T DO IT. Lots of doctors call for multi-week liquid regimens, and I think most really recommend waiting at least two full weeks before attempting solids of any kind.

Holy crap. I just ate 8 oatmeal cookies!! I'm completely out of control on the carb cravings. Ignore this post--I'm just airing out my embarrassing secret so that tomorrow it will face me and perhaps, just perhaps, I'll be able to get this monster back in the closet. That is all. Thank you.

Donali, are you kidding? Wow!! It's people like you who deserve to own houses. I'm afraid I am probably cut out for apartment dwelling--though I own a lovely 120-y.o. home it's woefully neglected. I mean, Dh does what's needed when he can, but I look around and all I see is unrealized potential. Does that get me motivated? No. Can you bottle some of that motivation and energy? You're going to be so proud of yourself!!! And, of course, we want to see photos. Back on track with this thread: I'm finding that as I eat less I actually WANT less. Overeating is a self-fulfulling prophecy, which is probably due to pouch stretching and the numbing of nerves that otherwise would be more sensitive. So the answer to the fact that it's taking more to make me FEEL full is to eat less and allow myself to feel satisfied. The band makes that possible, and I just have to sit on my hands after a reasonable-sixe meal and let the band do its magic. Everyone with me? SIT!

LOL!! Have a good time!! Take it slow, though; your body may not be as ready as you are to eat more solid food. (Of course, by now it may be hankering for steak!) Enjoy!!

Hi Dazzey, Wow, first of all, you're doing GREAT!! Maybe there are people who do it, but I sure as heck don't measure or weigh my food. I want to live like a normal person and normal people don't whip out scales at the dinner table that I've noticed. Something that has helped with my knowedge level is Fitday, because by logging in what I eat I can see what the real effect is on my caloric intake. That's as far as I go toward measuring.

I have these days too. Sometimes I have to put on my "fat" clothes and I marvel that these are MANY sizes smaller than what used to be my "fat" clothes. It is all in our heads, indeed. By the same token, once over the summer I had a day in which I was 6 lbs heavier than the day before, and I didn't feel any different. It took two days for that to come back off, and on the third day I was lower than I had been before the spike. It was hard to believe I could be retaining 6 POUNDS of Water, but that must have been what it was. And I didn't feel a thing. This is why it doesn't pay to worry about what the scale says. What's happening in the macro world (the mirror, your clothes, your stamina) is much more important than the fluctuations on the scale. This morning I took my older daughter to school and had to park two blocks away. When I walked to the school it dawned on me that last year this same walk winded me. (It's uphill, mostly.) This year it felt like absolutely nothing.

Wow, Babs, you are an inspiration! I know you've been working really hard and your progress is amazing to see. Congratulations!! And I'll bet that you HAVE been below 200 on occasion in the last week or so, but just didn't happen to jump on the scale at that moment. (I think we all are, at all times, a range of weights. Hence the "ish" in my sig.) Sorry I won't be going to Vegas (this year), but I can't wait to see the pics from Lisa's backyard bbq!

Ah, Kimberlilly, give it a couple of days and you will feel 100% better. You have probably overdone it, and need to rest up a bit more. Surgery is hard work, and healing takes time! So take a nap, and then get up, walk around the house, and go down for another nap. You'll be better in no time! Um, well, yeah, it can get grosser. Just ask DeLarla.

Blossom, don't worry, we've all been there. My "last supper" added 7 lbs. It was disconcerting since I really thought I had a handle on my eating--I'd lost 30 lbs in the previous 8 months--but my subconscious had other ideas. It just proved to me how big the disconnect is between what I *should* eat and what I *want* to eat. I just had Chinese food for dinner, one of my all-time favorites and always a gorge-fest in the past. Well, I ate one eggroll and half of my small tofu Szechan style, and I'm as full as if I ate Thanksgiving dinner. It's NOT a good feeling--once again, I ate too fast and outpaced what my body can hold. AARGH!!! But, and here's the big thing, this amount is a mere FRACTION of what I would have eaten before. Now this much makes my stomach and chest hurt, and hopefully the next time I will stop before this point. I love my band. Sometimes it's hard to tell, considering the way I try to ignore it, but I do.

I never get tired of saying this. Donali, you're my hero. How ya doin'?

Kim, you're wonderfully normal! I was pretty much the same way, having gone away for the previous weekend with my family I wasn't really able to focus too much on my impending surgery. But the night before I was a little nervous. Good luck with everything!! We can't wait to hear how smoothly it all went.

Bright, I so hear you on this. That's why I think we have to cut ourselves some slack when we get off track like this. My "journey" is PERMANENT, for the rest of my life, if I don't want the second half to be like the first half was. So a backslide of two or three weeks in no way endangers the success of the project. I can't keep a "goal" in mind because that sets me up for a constant feeling of falling short, not making it, the distance left to go. These past two weeks I've been amazed just to see my reflection and see how much smaller it is! My friend who hasn't seen me in a year was so thrilled to see how I looked, and she reminded me that this is a HUGE improvement over me a year ago. So I gained 7 lbs on vacation, so what? It's already coming back off and I had a great time. As for motivational tips, I know it's helped me a lot just to come here and post what I'm going through. I know that typing it out forces me to face it--and if I'm not willing to do that then I'm not willing, for whatever reason, to change what's getting me off track. So my "tip" is to come here and force myself to own up to the facts of what I'm doing that I don't want to be doing. I'll let you know if it's working. Being back at work gives me the structure I need to plan my eating, but it's been a crazy week with DH at home and the girls getting ready for a new school year. Within a week things will have settled back into a routine, and I'll be doing the same. You will too.

Hell yes. I don't have a problem with sugar if it's in food in normal, natural amounts. Like even in ice cream, it doesn't have the same sleep-inducing effect. But if I have a candy bar or something like that, I'm passed out 10 minutes later. There are just SUCH concentrated levels of sugar in processed food these days. Of course, that doesn't keep me from doing it up once in a while. Snore.

Teresa, these are great pics!! I love the one of you by the Water...wish I'd thought of that last week when I was at the beach. Where was that? Was it as deserted as it looks here? You go, girl. You're doing great! And hubby's a cutie, too!

Thanks for sharing your story, Gene. Sounds like you had that doctor on your side--good thing!! Everyone with insurance needs to be on their toes at all times. Read your policy BEFORE you make any commitments with doctors or facilities, and try to do everything by the book. If you're staying in-network, the cost of the procedure is negotiated between the providers and the carrier--usually the patient has no say in the matter. If you're going out of network, though, all bets are off and it's VERY important to get as much information up front as you can. Gene, what kind of policy do you have that you had such a big out-of-pocket? Did you go out-of-network for the procedure?