shakey88

I am going to be completely honest. In the beginning, I was counting my calories and making sure that I stayed between 1000 and 1200 a day. The last couple weeks I have been lazy about it, but I am still losing. Here are some things I eat. Breakfast During the week (M-F), I have a Protein shake (EAS Carb Control) and some sort of fruit or a Fiber 1 bar. Weekends, I usually have a cup of Koshi Go Lean Cereal with 1/2 cup of skim milk or Weight Control oatmeal lunch This varies...last week, I had turkey and cheese on wheat bread with mustard. This week I am going to have a salad with chicken breast. Sometimes I have Laughing Cow Cheese with 6 reduced fat crackers and a yogurt. I could have yogurt and a string cheese. dinner Some ideas...1/2 of a chicken breast with a cup of veggies, a turkey burger with cheese, chili, Soup, Chicken Parm. I do not deny myself food either. If they have something at work, I eat it. If I dont, I find myself wanting it even more. I just eat an extremely small portion of it. I went to a birthday party for a kid and I had a cup cake. I go to dinner with my friends to the Olive Garden and Applebees. I just watch how much I consume. I drink Water and crystal light and sometimes Diet Snapple. Though I have wanted a Pepsi and I will have it. I do workout almost every day. 35 mins on the Wii. 35-45 mins of resistance training (weights, body ball or resistance band) and 30-45 mins of cardio I hope this is what you wanted. It is working for me, even though I do not follow all the rules. I do not have any Fluid, so I am able to eat basically anything. The PA in my office jokes with me telling me I wasted my money because I am basically doing this myself. I say it is the best $5 I ever spent!

It all depends on your skin's elasticity. Our skin has a limit to which is can be stretched and if yours has been stretched for awhile, it will be hard for it to bounce back. Think of a rubber band and how eventually they can no longer stretch. With that being said, I have lost a decent amount of weight fairly quickly and am not seeing much extra skin at all. My arms have a little as well as my thighs, but I am doing specific exercises to tone those areas up and muscle will fill some of the void left from the fat.

So after 24 weeks of hard work, I have lost 85.5 pounds! I stood on the scale this morning to see the number 199! I started dancing, ate my cereal and now am about to begin my workout! This is such a great feeling!

Way to go!!! I love my band as well!

I definitely know what you are talking about...I am eating things I never would of even tried before surgery!

After my surgery, my knees and back started bothering me. Come to find out, I have arthritis in my knees (confused why it didnt bother me when I was heavier) and I have been going to physical therapy for my back. It has really helped but all they do is core exercises, so maybe you could try that if your back is bothering you!

You will do well beings you are being banded on my birthday! Only advice I can give you is to follow your doctor's advice. I listened to everything they said and have been doing what I learned in my nutrition classes. Also, exercise is key! I started about 6 weeks after surgery and wish I had started earlier! Good luck with everything!

I bought one of those body ball things, so that I could work on my core. I can not lay on it on my stomach because it hurts my port. Mine is not sticking out at all, but I can definitely feel it. I would make sure i put some sort of protection over the area if you are planning on sliding across the floor. It may be painful!

Congrats....I was so hoping to be there this morning, but still one more pound to go! I can not wait to have the same feeling you do!

I ate potato soup and cream of chicken. I just put them in the magic bullet to make sure they were nice and thin!

Thanks all...it is hard to believe that 5 months ago I was wearing a 22!

I do all my shopping online, but a friend asked me to go shopping at midnight. I went and while she was shopping, I said well I will get me a pair of jeans beings I have only one pair that will fit. I go and try the 16 on...too big. I needed a 14. I was super happy because the ones I wore on Thanksgiving (yes they were a little baggy) were a size 20!!! I have not even put the jeans in the laundry basket because I keep looking at the size!!

I am averaging about 3.7 pounds a week, but my doc said 1-2 pounds is usually normal. I work out a lot and luckily have no loose skin (well my arms a very little) and I do a lot of resistance training so I know I am building muscle.

I am 5 months out and down almost 82 pounds with no fill. I agree with what Thee-O said...plenty of times for fills later on if needed!

The doctor has yet to take me off of it, but I stopped taking it the day of surgery and have no problems!

I had my surgery in the summer, so when I went back to school, a few people said something about my weight loss (I was down around 50 pounds), but now almost every teacher I run into says something. I teach at a big school, so there can be months that I will not see certain people.

The key for me has been exercising and putting a variety in my life. I do not eat the same amount of calories each day. I read somewhere that your metabolism will stay there if you are constantly eating the same amount everyday. For example, last weekend I was at a birthday party out of town. I know I ate way over what I was supposed to, but I came home and went back on my normal 800-1200 calories a day and I lost 5 pounds this week. I also change up my exercise routines. I do not go to the gym. I do everything at home with DVDs, free weights and resistance bands. THis works for me so I thought I would share it with you! Good luck and dont get frustrated.

I do not have a fill, but I do eat pizza...only a slice though and I chew very very carefully!

A totally awesome NSV! I noticed yesterday how much more confortable my seat was in the car...something I never thought about when I was heavier! Keep up the hard work!

Lisa- Thank you very much and no my band was not filled at surgery, I have nothing in it.

I am also a teacher, so I understand the no energy when you get home. I often do not have any energy at all when I walk in the door, but I make myself workout and amazingly it gives me so much energy. If I do not exercise, I am in bed by 9 because I can not even keep my eyes open any more, but when I work out, I have to force myself to go to bed!

Thank you everyone for your kind words.

Skinny- I do not feel like I am doing all the work. I am really never hungry. I think the 2 weeks of liquids helped shrink my stomach. I also eat 4-5 small meals a day instead of 3 bigger meals a day. That way my metabloism stays up and I am hardly hungry. I got down to 215 3 years ago and gained 70 pounds after a very close friend of mine passed...now I am at 209 and have a goal to lose a total of 100 pounds by the 14th of January. 10 weeks to get off 24.5 more pounds!

Hey Skinny...let me see if I can answer some of your questions. I do still drink a Protein shake every morning for Breakfast. I like the EAS carb control. As far as my diet, I really just try to keep my calories between 900-1200 a day. Other than that I do not do anything special. I do eat a lot less than before. I do not have any fills yet, so I do not have any restriction. I can eat bread and whatever. I only drink Water and crystal lite. Now, working out...I do that. Before work, I use the Wii Fit for 35 mins and then after work, I do about 45 mins of cardio (Walk Away The Pounds or Cardio Hip Hop or something like that) and about 40 mins of resistance (one day weights, the next resistance band)! I was walking about 3-4 miles a day before it got cold, so I have replaced it with the videos. Hope this helps!

My goal was to lose 75 pounds in 6 months...as of this morning, I did it in just 4.5 months! It is so exciting...only 9 more pounds until I hit onderland!