kyethra

When my mom lost a lot of weight, and then cut her hair short, she said some people asked her if she was sick, and if she needed anything, or asked her how she was. I think they were worried she might have had cancer or something. She thought people were being nosy, but from what people said (and a couple of people asked me about her), I think they were just honestly concerned. Maybe people who have had issues with body image and stuff like that for so long still have some of those issues and are going to take comments about weightloss more seriously than they might be meant. Also, it is unusual to lose this much weight. How many moribdly obese people do you know who go and drop 100 pounds? Or end up normal weight after years of being obese?

My blood pressure is high. Not very high, but high enough and sticking up there for a while that I got on lisinipril a few months before my surgery. It was about 140's over low 100s. Now that I have lost 50 pounds, my BP med dosage is cut in half! Its normal with the meds, unless I'm sick, and then it tends to go up. Doc says its quite likely that after I lose more I can get off the meds completely, but I have gotten on another medication since then for a different medical issue that is high sodium, so who knows (I naturally eat a low sodium diet and I've been watching it too since then, but...)

I take a vitamin thats especially formulated for skin, hair and nails. Or just for one for hair. Mine has all the basics, plus lots of the B vitamins and high levels of biotin as well. So its an all in one thing-- easier that way. But with mine I have to have somthing other than water to down it with because it tastes nasty! Or get a coated one, that would help too. Mine is just a large caplet. But it does help, I think. You also really need to get your protein in. For hair there are some other things you can do to help protect it. (I'm vain about my hair and trying to grow it longer). Avoid heat! Heat is bad unless its a heating cap for a hot oil treament. No blowdrying or curling irons or straighners etc. Cover with a hat or scarf if out in the sun. Wash it in water that is only warm and rinse it with water that is as cold as you can stand. Wash it less. Try washing it with conditioner only (you need to let the conditioner sit in there for about ten minutes and then rinse for a while). Oil the ends of your hair and other dry parts with jojoba oil or coconut oil. A tiny bit goes a long well and it helps with dryness. Sleep on satin pillowcases and with hair braided or wraped or help avoid tangles. Limit brushing hair. Use a detangling comb instead, starting at the bottom and working your way up. And of course, ask your doctor! It could be a sign of other issues in your body as well.

Ok so I called and made an apointment to get an unfill on Monday. Not a complete unfill, but some of this needs to come out. You know what I had for lunch today? Two saltines with some peanut butter on them. Thats all I could eat! I'm telling you, four bites. I know that I don't have a calorie minimum here but I don't like being this tight. I like being able to eat stuff. How else am I supposed to get in nutrition and good stuff? I just want good restriction, but not a ton. When I can't eat anything more than a couple of bites like this I feel cranky and deprived. This being too tight is not for me. DH says I'd probably loose a lot and then in a few weeks it would be looser, but I reminded him I don't like the pound a day weight loss (Yes I know I am crazy) and I am aiming for 1-3 pounds a week instead. Well, at least I can get protein shakes down!

You shouldn't have trouble drinking. You need to be able to get a liquids down especially if you exercise or if it is hot out, etc. And you do need to be able to get nutrition from food as well. You should not feel any restriction drinking Water.

Ugh. I am too tight! I was afraid this would happen. I know I needed a fill. But I didn't want this much of one. Hey, at least I can get Protein shakes down. Yesterday I had half a cup of Soup for dinner. PB. Today I had about four bites of beef stroganouf-- and not big bites either. Massive PB! And I mean massive. As soon as I thought it was over, it would start up again. AFter tons of slime and stuff came up I was foaming. Yuck! I tooks some papaya enzymes. I think those are helping. I starting hicuping for a bit after that. now I am burping. Burping is always a good sign. I'm going to see if I can get in on Monday. And I'm going to ask to have half of my fill taken out or thereabouts unless the doc has a specific idea. I've been dryer lately in general. I know why though-- its because I cut my estrogen dosage in half (its supplements my low hormone birth control). With the weight loss I have been having spotting and early periods, heavier ones, etc. So gyno said to cut it in half. I'll see how it is after a couple of months. It takes a while to adjust to hormonal changes. I never washed my hair a whole lot. Now I oil the ends every night as well to help with dryness (I have long, very thick hair as well). My tummy was talking to me before the fill-- it does this whole feed me seymore type thing. Well now its cursing me out (more slime). Ugh. We are redoing our laundry room right now. This includes scraping off ugly old popcorn ceiling texture and stuff. So thats good for my upper body. And then I'll start spackling soon. DH is tiling the floor. Then we paint and put up shelves and put in the new machines! And to think, this sunday I have to go to a dinner buffet. I think I'll to nibble on some fish.

I actually have some panties now that are incredibly big on me. They were always a bit big and since they are boyshort style, they seem even bigger. Now they are huge! The biggest underwear ever! I love them! Not to wear, of course, they fall off, but because I know I lost weight! I also have size 22 items that now literally fall off of me (jeans and skirts) if I walk around in them without securing them with saftey pins or belts or something. I love it! (except for the wardrobe limits). I just might be a size 12 at goal after all (big ole body frame). Julie, your boobs are beautiful! I have begun talking to my husband about how, after I finish grad school and have a kid I'm going my rapidly sagging and deflated boobs done, along with other body work as needed. And my arms a lot sooner than that! I figure talking about it all now will get him really used to the idea when it is finally time. He seems pretty resigned already, but I feel it is best to reinforce this.

I PB more than I would like to. But it is getting better. I have found that its usually caused by eating too fast. I need to chew well! And I need to pause between bites and wait and moment to see if I am full. And sometimes its as simple as just taking one bite too many. Maybe I thought I was getting full but wasn't quite there yet, etc. Part of it is me getting to know my band and how it reacts to things and so forth. Its getting better all the time.

Lately I've been learning more. I discovered that diorshow makes their mascara in waterproof now. How perfect! Its mascara that I love-- it actually doesn't smudge on me when I rub my eyes unless its really hot out and I put a ton on, then after a while some of it might smudge. But its great stuff. Eyeliner-- I finally found eyeliner I can use! Lancome le crayon kohl. It goes on pretty smooth, its easy to correct oopses with a q tip and its not all smudgy. And normally I hate eyeliner and mascara, but I love those. I also found some liquid foundation that matches my skin-- just for redheads. justforreadheads.com its a makeupline for redheads. Its really does match my skin tone great-- pale and pinkish. But it doesn't do anything to minimize my pore appearance. I'm going to see about prescriptives and their color match next. I have a good eyebrow pencil at the moment from lancome but I was excited to find just for redheads because do you know how hard it is to find a ginger eyebrow pencil? I've also decided to grow my hair out. Its around bra strap length now and I have seven more inches before its waist length. While its been close to that before, its never reached it. So I figure that will take about a year. So ideally in a year from now I'll be at goal for hair and weight. To help out my hair (my hair is something I am vain about) I've started oiling the ends. It takes just a few drops of oil. I usually do it at night and then braid it. Any excess oil is absorbed. Its helps with dryness. I am also using just conditioner to wash it a lot of the time and I'm thinking about getting a heating cap for deep treatments. I don't use heat to style or dry my hair, and I only wash it two or three times a week. Since I'm a hair idiot I've been learning how to style and braid my hair finally. I got some books on the subject. I'm finally learning how to do a french braid after all these years!

So had my fill today. No flouro. Put in 1.6cc in my 4cc band. To me that seems like a lot, numbers wise, but he said it might take a couple of fills before I noticed and since I could drink Water ok, we'll see. I'm on liquids for two days and was told to expect some tummy discomfort. Doc said that the volume of the band probably would't be a concern for me, given my weight loss already, and that most people didn't have any issues with that so that was good. When asked what weight I should end up with said that depends but I should be able to end up mid 100's without a problem and that I was doing great considering everything. So far today I have just sipped on some crystal lite. I'll probably have a Protein small Protein Drink later. Its nice to not be hungry! I'm a little nervous I'll need an unfill or something, but if I do, then I'll deal with that. Right now I'm scheduled to come back in five weeks, but I can keep pushing that apointment back they said if I don't need to come in. I'm sort of cranky today because I can't find a piece of paper. I hate when that happens. I need to resend my admissions office the results of my basic skills tests because the person that needs them doesn't have access to the database the university gets the results on. Well I got those results back in March. And I have no clue where I put them!! You would think I would have put them someplace good. I hate it when I can't find stuff. Its for the K-12 certification program. So I either need to find that soon or get another copy. And get organized, of course. My to do is too long. Find test results, call and see when I can get a new autopap mask (mine is wearing out), call about bills (why is this always on my lists), clean (again, why is this always on lists), sort, organize, clear stuff off of dining room table. Hey at least laundry isn't on there! And no cooking or dishes for a couple of days! Whoo Hoo for that! I have a portable scanner, its USB powered. I need to keep it with my notebook compute and scan in papers that are important so I always have copies. If I ever unpack and find that thing, that is. Someday... Before the fall semester. I even mean it this time. I wonder how much weight I can lose by August 20th? Halloween? Christmas? When will I reach goal? I'm not in a hurry to have it gone, but it is interesting to me to consider these things. Latley I have been learning about hair and makeup. Now I have tons of hair, but I am a hair idiot. I've decided to grow my hair out however. It has about seven more inches to go before its waist length. I figure that will take a year. So I'm learning how to finally do stuff like french braid and fliptails and well, hairstyles now. I really have no idea how to do any of this stuff, but I got some books on the subject. And I've been reading up on makeup and trying out different brands and products. I actually found a foundation that matches my skin! Its from justforredheads.com. Then when I get down to goal weight and my final size I can start to learn about clothes and things like that. Its all very confusing, at least to me.

I can't believe its June already! DH and I went away for memorial day weekend, then had the flu for a few days. Nothing bad, mostly annoying. I get my first fill today! I decided last week that I needed a fill. I was eating more and more and the big deciding factor for me was my apetite and cravings. The junkfoodmonster was rearing its ugly head and winning. Grrr! It was that sort of hunger like from before the procedure. But I've been watching myself and doing better the past couple of days. So small fill today. I'm a little nervous about that since my restriction can go up depending on time of month and time of day-- I'm tighter earlier in the day. I guess I am worried about getting overfilled. Last night for dinner I stopped by culvers and had for dinner half of my cheese curds and half of my burger melt. But I guess I had a couple of bites too many. Slime! Ugh! Thats been a lot better latley, but sometimes I still need to remind myself to slow down. I've also been pretty busy lately. The other day I took the dog for a walk-- she jumped in the lake so then I had to give her a bath. She needed one anyway. Then on campus the next day to see my advisor about classes and I got my nose repeirced (it had closed up on me, I hate it when that happens) and my nails done. Then after that I had a book repair workshop. And at home we've been working on our laundry room. We are getting a new washer and dryer this week, and DH decided that this would be the perfect time to tile and pain the utility room. Granted, its a tiny room, but we haven't even started on that yet. At the moment we are still getting stuff out of it and making sure there is a good path for moving appliances in and out of the house. I'm pretty excited about the new washer and dryer. We are getting a frontloading washer and matching dryer since our dryer no longer works like it should (half of its cycles don't dry) and they are both getting old and not working so well. We are actually getting the LG Trom, the steamwash in blue. At first I didn't want to spend that much but then DH found a really great sale and he had a coupon... So yippee! In addition to some short walks I've also been doing some basic stretches when I remember. I want to join the gym again soon, but I want to build up a little bit of stamina first. Looks like everyone here is doing good!

Since my pre band days I've been fond of soy crisps. For me they are an alternative to rice cakes. I've never been fond of rice cakes for a couple of reasons-- they taste bad and the nutritional facts stink. The soy crisps I get are made from genisoy. They don't taste great, but I think they are better than rice cakes anyway, not bad. Good crunchy wafer. What I really like them for is eating hummus. Or pesto. Or olive stuff. But Hummus plus soy crisps is always a favorite diet food of mine. And lately they have also been good for my tummy that can be unhappy at times.

food and weight and BMI and things of that nature. Back when I was 16 and weighed 180 I thought I had to lose 60 pounds-- that seemed like a lot of weight to me. How was I ever going to get down to 130, let alone 120? Little did I know that if I had been able to lose 20 or 30 pounds I probably would have been pretty hot and I wasn't nearly as fat as I thought I was. Teenagers never are. Now when I watch tv or a movie, I often want to feed the actresses (and some actors too). I look at their thin upper arms and protuding collar bones and I think of sending them Cookies. And they say the camera adds weight! The other day I watched sleeping with the enemy, an older julia roberts film, on tivo. I was curious so I googled her stats. They came up as 5'10" and 123 pounds. Now I have no idea if that was accurate or not. But wow, thats so thin! Then a magazine I get recently had tyra banks on the cover and they had an interview with her about body acceptance and she was in a bikini (of course I'm sure the picture was airbrushed). Her height was about the same. Her weight, however, was 161 pounds I think. Thats actually a normal BMI! So I think normal BMI models are a good idea. It helps teens set reasonable goals and not so feel so bad when comparing stats.

I get mine at the grocery store or at a health food store. They are in one of the health food sections of my grocery store. They recently started to carry more brands of them, actually, so now I get to try different things.

There is nothing quite like acid in the lungs to freak you out. I know this feeling well. Stomach acid has always been the main trigger for my asthma. Its good you are taking care of it, that acid can be nasty stuff.

I would try calling docs with good reps in your area and explain to people that you are having problems finding a decent doctor and you are in pain, worried about a slip, etc. If they won't see you, ask them if they can please recommend because you really need help.

My house is worse now! After recovering from the band I started to work on cleaning, naturally. Then I got really sick. Gall bladder needed to come out (unforuntately sitting upright for more than a few minutes at a time make me throw up fascinating colors). So out it came. Then I got mono or something like that. Ugh. Now I am finally, finally, starting to feel better. I'm working on the laundry that has piled up. I think part of the problem is living in a construction zone. I got my kitchen looking beautiful. We even had a place for cardboard recycling in there and so forth. I was about to clean out the deep fryer and put it up and away and consider that room DONE when DH took the largest cabinet off of the wall and then cut a large hole in the wall. Part of the problem, of course is the bathroom. The never ending bathroom renovation. He needed access to the plumbing. He also mumbles incoherently when I ask when this plumbing will be done and we can put the cabinet back up. In order to get into the house I trip over a large air compressor. Then there are the piles of tile. Ugh. At least he ordered the tile I wanted. Latley DH has observed that our house is pretty messy. This has prompted me to tell him that gee, maybe he should clean it! I've been mostly calm lately because, frankly, I haven't had the energy to be upset. I have my own office. Its mine. DH is not allowed to make a mess in there. IF he does that starts me yelling. That is sacred space, for one thing. Or if he asks me when I am going to finish unpacking my stuff, most of which is in the garage in boxes still. I point out to him that I need freaking space for my stuff and space to unpack. I then ask him when the last time he cleaned out a closet was and what he is going to throw away. More mumbles. And paper. So much paper. He says he has to spread stuff out so it won't get lost. Whats wrong with his office? Oh that. Thats too messy to use. One of these days I might just snap. Should that happen I will have to hire people to come in like on those TV shows. DH may need to be sedated. We'll see. Because one way or another this house is going to get organized. We can put his paper in storage, whatever. It will happen. He is willing to work with me though. But sometimes it can be like pulling teeth... "what did you clean today?" "I tiled this". "Thats great, but it isn't cleaning. What did you clean?" "Blah Blah Blah". "Clean something!" Once it gets organized we are getting chores with checkboxes on the fridge, or a cleaning lady or something. But we got to get it to a certain point first. I feel better about it now. I know the number for local storage and the best rate on dumpsters.

Yes. Sometimes. In some people. Not always. I was hypoglycemic growing up. I mostly grew out of it. Anyway, sometimes when you have something sweet the body thinks "sugar!" and releases insulin to help digest it. But if it is artificial sweetner then there is no sugar to digest and you just get all shakey. Most diabetics and hypoglycemics I know really like their sweetners. They don't get that reaction. They may, on occasion find they have that sort of reaction to one sort of food or drink. Just like one type of food, or sugar, can pull some people out of a low better, some find that one food or drink can give them a low. I know someone who can't drink fruit flavored Water because of this. But diet soda-- no problems with that. Or anything else either. And some people don't take well to splenda either. They absorb it like it is sugar. But from what I have been told, most of the time that isn't the case. Sometimes our bodies are too smart for those little tricks. But most of the time they work. I haven't seen anything on the news or read anything about splenda getting pulled. Where is that info from?

I'm on the mend. A couple of days ago my appetite returned! While this is a good thing, I've done some bad things. Too much chocolate, and not keeping track of stuff. Bad me. My hormones are also going crazy. My last two periods came early. The last one was longer than usual and heavier. Ugh. And now I'm spotting between periods. Never had that happen before. So I was thinking that maybe with all my weightloss that means I can go to a lower estrogen dosage (I'm on the nuvaring and can't take oral birth control because I take provigil). So I called gyno. She told me I was an unusual patient because most patients could take oral birth control. I realised this was just her venting, so I let her vent. Now I am on half of my estrogen dosage and going to try that for a month or two and see how that goes. If it isn't enough it will catch up to me eventually, but if it is enough than thats great! I've been doing some laundry. OUr dryer is dying on us. It decides it is finished every five minutes. Very frustratiing. The washer has been declining for a while now, but we thought we would get a couple more years out of it. With the dryer acting up though we will probably just get a front loader and matching dryer in the sales sometime soon. Its not worth the cost to repair the current machines. I also suspect I might need a fill soon. I think I am getting looser. I seem to be able to eat more and am hungrier. I'll see how I feel over the weekend and then call tuesday if I do need one. With my hormones being wacky and sleep schedule is kind of off this week too, so it can be hard to tell (I'm tigher in the AM usually). I got a couple of skirts online in a smaller size. Skirts are good and these have drawstrings in addition to elastic waists so they will last a while. My denin skirt won't stay up anymore, it doesn't ahve belt loops! I need to take it in if I want to wear it anymroe. My blouses are all big on me too. It is sort of funny, I feel like those things are getting bigger when in fact I am really shrinking.

I turned 24 in April, was banded when I was 23 in March. So far I have lost 50 pounds. This past year I have only been a part time student. I go full time again in the fall. I'm also a grad student now, not undergrad anymore. And I am married and live in a house with my hubby off of campus. I decided after freshman year that I had had enough of the dining hall! I didn't have to lose any weight for my insurance to approve me. Which is good-- it didn't happen. I also lost only about 7 or 8 pounds on the preop liquid diet. But then I really lost after the surgery. Enough to cause major gall bladder problems. That got taken out in April. I was super sick due to the gall bladder, but my profs were great about it. I just explained that my gall bladder went evil and now it was making me really sick and I never even knew I had one before this and everyone completely understood. I'm also a student with disabilities-- I have a learning disability and narcolepsy and fibromyalgia, so I already get accommodations so maybe that made that whole experience easier since I already had stuff in place. Currently I am thinking about places I might eat on campus since I'll likely be there for lunch a couple of days a week. Places that serve tuna salad are good, fruit is good, etc. At the supermarket they sell sliced fruit in plastic bowls. I like that because i am lazy. I can always put it in tubberware. I buy fruit and say I will slice it and do that but it rots instead. So if I buy it sliced I eat and evereyone wins. I never did a lot of the drunken partying thing. If I was going out to drink, I liked tequila and still do. Wine is also nice. But I don't like getting drunk. I haven't tried a beer yet. I figure I can drink so long as I count those calories like I would for other stuff. I just had my first glass of wine yesterday post op. Protein bars can be good for between classes when you need a quick lunch type thing. I like south beach diet ones because of their nutrition facts. Make sure you have a place for your Water bottle in your bookbag or something like that-- having it there helps to get those liquids in. I'm sure not counting on sips from water fountains to do it and vending is always iffy-- whats low cal, non carbinated, and non caffinated? Remember to chew slowly and carefully. And know where toilets are at first in case you need to spit up some stuff (PB) or whatever. A group discussion is one place I would hate to have that happn, but if it does, then at least one has ample warning. Just say, "excuse, stomach troubles, be back in a bit" (if you must say anything) and go take care of yourself. Then come back to class when you are able to. Class should also allow good flexibility for scheduling fills and so forth. If you see yourself moving from where you are in a couple of years ask your surgeon about finding a fill doc/ongoing band care doc for when you do move. Most of the people in my life have been very supportive of the band right from the get go. As far as the youth argument goes, an once of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I figure with all the pounds I need to lose (and have lost so far), the exchange rate on cures is pretty high. Investing in your health is a smart thing to do at any age.

Happy Birthday Denise!

Thanks. I've got mono or something like that so I'm getting better slowly. But I am improving so that is good. I'm not sure how big my band is in length. I know its an inamed and it holds 4ccs. I haven't had a fill yet. I haven't needed one yet-- I had a ton of restriction at the beginning. I'm starting to loosen up though, so maybe in a couple of weeks I'll need one. We'll see.

I got an A in my class this past semester. And since I got an A last semester too that means my graduate GPA is officialy a 4.0. Granted its only for 8 credit hours thus far and very light loads, but still, its a 4.0! I've never had one of those before. Nope, not even close. I think thats pretty good for a learning disabled narcolpetic esp considering we are still working out some of the narcolepsy treatments. I'm just super excited! I'm going to go full time in the fall. Lets see if I can keep it then! So far grad school is definitely my favorite.

Thats what I graduated with in undergrad. I'm in Library Science.

Go for it! I know a couple who had their wedding aftere they had been married for 2 years. They got engaged and starting planning a big church wedding, but then due to military stuff they had a quick courthouse wedding. But they also kept on planning their big church wedding. Really fancy actually. And of course they got gifts. If you got gifts from people the first time around, then maybe its better to specify no gifts this time. But if you never got wedding presents or anything then, then why not register too?