Alexandra

These are great! Thanks for the St. Patty's day laughs, everyone. Happy celebrating!!

No one will EVER accuse me of being "thin," that's for sure. But for now I am indeed at what I would consider a "goal" weight. In fact, just over the last few weeks because of my gastritis/esophagitis, I lost a few more pounds and actually started feeling a little weird about it. I just really can't imagine being truly slender, so I'm happy at my current shape. The "brakes" on this vehicle are self-regulating. Let's say you've gotten your calorie intake down to 1400 a day, at which point you're losing 1-2 lbs a week. Once you lose 100 lbs, the same calorie level won't mean any weight loss because your body no longer needs more than that to maintain itself. So don't worry, P'Nut, you won't waste away to nothing! :biggrin1:

Congratulations on your approval! Glad it was nice and easy--that's the way it should be. Synthroid pills are small enough that they don't need to be crushed or broken. At least, mine sure are. Anything smaller than a pencil eraser will be fine, pretty much whenever.

Yeah, I tried it too. Didn't do a thing for me. It was nice and relaxing, but that was it.

YIKES! You mean NOT eroded, right? But thanks!!

Honestly? I wouldn't do it unless you are TOTALLY positive you won't be motivated to eat on top of it. Not that the booze would hurt you--it won't--but the relaxation of your stoma and your inhibitions might cause you to take a chance you woulnd't otherwise take. A brand new fill can take some getting used to, and you don't want to be doing that in the middle of a party. But the booze itself won't hurt you.

What a wonderful daughter you are! This is a tricky minefield indeed, but it sounds like you are really empathetic and understand the many layers of feeling that might be evoked by this gesture. She should be very proud of you. :thumb:

Machelle, this is a really key point that you have made: YOU KNEW YOU WERE FULL. This is HUGE!! You have a physical sensation of being full that possibly was absent before banding. Now what you have to do is surrender to it, allow it to dictate your behavior and not fight the feeling. This is the whole point of banding, to FEEL FULL and then to STOP EATING. The band helps with the first part, which is its miraculous power, but nothing can help with the second part until we're ready. I found, early on, that sometimes when I reached that point I had to physically get up and walk away, throw away my food and just wrench my mind into doing something else. Sometimes this involved yelling, briefly. :hat: But each time, after a very few minutes it would be clear to me that really, I didn't need any more food and I was in fact done eating. The next meal would come soon enough and there'd be more food then. Now throwing food away is second nature. Here's hoping it will be for you too, soon. THROW IT AWAY!! That's how we lose weight with the band.

Diana, I know how it looks, believe me. I've been hanging around this and other support groups for three years, and the truest thing anyone ever said is that people with problems are the most frequent posters on support groups. MOST people come, get banded, lose weight, leave and don't come back at all. Those who DO come back do so because they are experiencing trouble of one sort or another. The majority of bandsters are off living their newly healthy lives. I know it's hard to credit sometimes, but it's true. Ask your doctor for some referrals to their patients who AREN'T having problems. They're out there, I promise.

I'm sorry I missed this; I didn't know you had posted since your surgery. Don't worry, it DOES get better, and pretty fast. In a week you'll look back and be amazed at how good you feel. Congratulations, Eileen!! Welcome to Bandland! :welcome2:

LEENERBUPS!! How did it go??? How are you feeling??? Congratulations!!

My endo isn't scheduled until Thursday, sorry! I'll keep y'all posted. The good news is that the Prevacid I got last week seems to be helping, and I'm feeling much better. I'm no longer convinced I have an ulcer or worse, just think I had a nasty bout of gastritis and/or esophagitis, plus ongoing, really bad reflux. Since I'd never had any of these things before, I pretty much thought I was dying. Thanks for thinking of me, Kathy! I'll let you know what the answer is...

Happy Bandiversary, sweet Crystal! May year 2 be the year you find all the success you deserve. :hug:

Hi Dr. Pam! Welcome! All best of luck to you in your banding and weight loss. Hope to see more (or less!) of you on LBT in the future. :bounce:

How do they say Happy Birthday in Malawi-ese?

I'm thinking of you too, Jonathan. All best for a swift recovery and hope to see you soon!

Of COURSE it's not up to him! We all know the "magic" formula for losing weight--diet and exercise. If you want to lose more weight, you know what to do. Why think it's up to your doctor? At one point my doctor said that I may have lost all I'm going to with the band, and I recall feeling a bit like you do. But he may be right--my band may have done all it's going to do for me. That doesn't mean it's leaving me totally defenseless, though; the capacity I had before banding will not suddenly return just because of some words my doctor said. I'm still eating a fraction of what I ate pre-band, so the weight will stay off. And if I want to lose any more, I know how. I've always known how, and so have you. It's always been, and always will be, completely up to us.

Having been overweight ALL my life, I have come to many "turning points" before. There have been many times when I swore THIS was going to be the time, the difference, the real work was going to begin. And every time I'd give up, move on, resign myself to being fat. Until I had children. That just changes everything, and my focus was suddenly not on the inconveniences being big caused me, but on the DANGER my size put my kids in. I couldn't chase them if they ran into traffic, for example--which is something that actually happened...thank god my husband was around! It was a new vision of my future that got me off the couch and into the doctor's office. Two little girls who called me "Mommy."

Good luck with everything, Kellie!! And when you get back I want to see a new username and title, k? Here's to a whole new you!!

Hi Karen, I don't have any ideas for you but wanted to wish you good luck with everything. It's so unpleasant when we're not feeling right and don't know why!! Good luck with the gastro and I hope he finds out what's wrong, and that's it's a whole lot of nothing. :hug:

A sticky thread in the References section is a perfect idea for this! I'll take care of it.

Kati, does it feel as though the oatmeal wants to come back up? If it does, go ahead and let it. If it's not coming back up you might try walking, stretching, moving around so as to help it pass through. Don't drink anything; that might make it worse. Welcome to the land of restriction! This is called negative behavior reinforcement.

That item doesn't mention her banding at all, as far as I could tell.

Oh my lord, girl, what a life you are living!! That sounds incredible and will be absolutely life-changing. You're amazingly courageous! God. It's so cool that there are people who can do stuff like this so people like me can read about it and wish. In my next life I'm going to do what I threatened to do as a teenager and join the Peace Corps. Those pics are cool. The bars on the windows and doors remind me of my garden apartment in Queens, NY.

Leener, you are indeed in good hands with Dr. A and we are all here rooting for you. Tell him that Alex and Ali said he'd better take extra care with you!! :evil: Good luck, lady, and remember that stress is self-fulfilling in people with panic disorders. Just leave it all in a box by your door when you leave in the morning. Don't take it with you. You'll be home before you know it, and banded!! :)