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Good to hear from you Ms Lady. Spring break in Vegas sounds like fun. I have not been there since 1969 and it has changed a lot since then I have heard. Take healthy snacks with you and you can always eat good lean protein. I need to do the same next week as I will travel to FL and sample food at restaurants looking for a rehearsal dinner venue for April 2013. Anybody live in Jacksonville FL or know of any good restaurants there for large a (40-50) group? It sounds like to me you are still overfilled. Throwing/spitting up every day cannot be good for you. Maybe you should talk to your Dr. I've had that maybe 5 times but over the last 6 months, not daily. You have done so well so don't let that trip keep you from your goal. We have all worked too hard to go back into our old ways. I know personally I am working my butt off to get rid of the weight and it's not easy. Just remember the old saying. "a minute on your lips, forever on your hips!" LOL We can do this, 2012 is our year. It takes 2 years for most people to get to their goal after lap band surgery and we are only 1/4 of the way. Give yourselves a break and learn from your mistakes. I hope to hear you had a great spring break and did not gain any weight. I will give a report when I return too and be accountable to you. Blessings, GG

Hi everybody, How is it going out there? I'm hanging in there and ready for spring now. We are going out of state next week to meet our son's future in-laws and they live in Jacksonville, FL. I have no spring/summer clothes that fit now. The weather is so strange this time of year. Cold one day, hot the next. So I went shopping again and still had a hard time finding anything I even wanted to try on. I did get a cute short sleeved sweater by Jennifer Lopez at Kohl's. I would have bought it just because I got a medium, the large was waaaay too big. I kept trying on XL things and my friend fussed at me and said I should not try XL anymore, go to Large or medium. Medium's are usually too small but Large fit well now. It was a great and unreal moment, I still have a smile on my face. I have been at a plateau since early Jan so I joined Weight Watchers online. It keeps me accountable and I lost a little over 2 lbs in the first 3 weeks. At least it's a loss. I feel like a turtle, slow but steady. I finally got into a pair of jeans I bought at BJ's months ago so even if I am not loosing lbs I must be loosing inches. I'm still walking and drinking and counting. Hard work for sure but necessary if I want to get to my goal. I'm almost half way there and I am not going to get discouraged. My thighs have not been this slim since high school, and that was a loooooog time ago! LOL I cleaned out my closet and had 3 huge piles of clothes I cannot wear so I am making progress. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Stay on your programs, drink that water and keep up that exercise! We can do this!!!! We need to keep this thread going. Let's hear how everyone else is doing. Blessings, GG

Bobrocky, I cannot believe you were fussed at for loosing 46 lbs in 6 months! What an idiot Dr. I think that's fantastic and you are looking great. Pretty soon you will be able to get another person in those shorts with you! LOL If you are staying on the program and not eating much and still not loosing maybe exercise would do the trick. Start slowly and increase weekly. You don't have to join a gym, just walk in your home or neighborhood. It's not any fun for me but I force myself to do it. As I said in previous post, even our dog has lost weight and inches and her food has stayed the same. All from walking daily with us. I went shopping today and I must say to me the clothes out this season are just plain ugly. I don't want to wear peasant tops or dolman sleeves. The florals and prints and horizontal stripes are bad. Some of the tops look like something my grandmother wore in the 60's. I've finally got a shape to show and don't want to look frumpy any more. Of course I stopped in Chico's and saw about 15 outfits that I loved but I cannot spend that kind of money. Yet. I've still got more weight to loose. Does anybody else like the current fashions?

Ms Lady, Thanks for missing me. I've missed everyone too. I bet you really are falling out of your clothes! All that weight gone must make it hard to even keep your pants up! LOL I am so proud of you!!! I am just about ready to get into a 14 pants and that thriils me. Not been that small for 20 years. My goal is a 10 or 12 so it's getting closer. I do like Stein Mart and TJ Maxx but sometimes the clothes are just too young looking for me. My friend buys most all of her clothes at Goodwill but I find it too tiring for my back to stand and go down rack upon rack of jeans that are not sized. There are a few resale shops so I too will try them next week. I might even take a few nice outfits from last spring to the tailor. She cut my winter coat down for me and I could not even tell where she did it. It was not cheap but it was a lot less than a new coat. Have a good one! GG

Hi Banders! Good to hear some oupdates. 49 lbs, 79 lbs, 23 lbs, all of it is gone and gone for good if we stay on our programs. Do you realize how heavy 25 lbs of anything is to pick up? Get some weights and try and lug around 25 lbs. Bet you can't do it. Just think, most of us have lost that and more. Congratulations! I went to Dr and got a small fill Tues and his scales say I've lost 27.5 lbs and I will take it. My scales are evidently heavy and my hubby confirmed it yesterday after his Dr appointment. I kinda knew they were when they said I had lost 79 lbs overnight. LOL I recently went out to lunch with friends and one of them said, "good grief, you're like the incredible shrinking woman!" I could have kissed her! People are finally noticing my weight loss. Hurray for NSV's. I think one of the reasons she noticed is I had on clothes that actually fit, I am still trying to wear things that really are too large but don't want to purchase much yet. I've still got about 30 lbs to go. I will try and alter some things for spring. We are traveling to FL to meet our youngest son in 3 weeks and find a place for his wedding rehearsal dinner in April 2013. It will be warmer there and I'm not sure I have much that will fit. It's a great problem to have I think. What is everyone else doing about their clothes? I'm still walking 5 or 6 days a week and even our little dog has lost weight and inches from the exercise so I know it helps. She's also a Senior citizen at 13 and needed to loose a little. I had to start gradually because of my back, 5 minutes first, then 10 then 15 and now I do 25 minutes. After 25 my back hurts too much to go longer. I'm old so I know you younger ladies can do it too. If you are not exercising start gradually and ease into it. I sleep much better too. Also, get that water in every day. Hope everybody has a great weekend. We can do this! Blessings, GG

Hi Everyone! Sorry I have not been on here, been super busy. How is everyone doing? I've been reading the posts and sounds like we've had some success, a pregnancy, (congrats Jess! ) some sliming and some slowing. I promise to get back to posting and hope everyone else will too. We need each other to stay in line. I am feeling great and I'm doing OK. It's so good to know my heart is OK after the heart cath and the damage from the chemo I took will not get any worse. No symptoms from it and they said it will not ever bother me. I hit the 25 lbs mark last week. Slow, slow slow at about 2 lbs the last 2 months but I was super glad not to gain but a few lbs over the holidays and got rid of it and lost 2 more so I am happy. I started walking again 25 minutes a day 2 weeks ago and have not had any problems since New Year's day when I could not get anything down in a restaurant. I'm pretty sure the sliming comes from eating too fast and not chewing enough. Bread and chicken can do it to me. I have not had a fill since the first week of Dec and feel I don't need one yet. If I eat too fast or don't chew enough I get stuck. Stay on your programs and let us hear from you! We can do this. This is our year and we can do this! Blessings, GG

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. I'm feeling fine and back on the program. Lots of bruises from the heart cath but doing fine. I started walking again daily on Monday and can feel it in my calves! Had not really exercised since early Nov. There are still a few little goodies here and my hubby is eating them so I will be glad when they are gone! They do call my name. I've also started tracking my food & exercise intake again, I've got to get some more weigh off. Like you Bobrocky, my knees and back are better but I need to do more. Glad you are still loosing, 2 lbs a month is better than gaining. I agree with you, seems like you would have gone down more size wise with all that weight you have lost. Wrinkly fingers is funny. Never thought about them loosing weight. Ms lady, get that 5 lbs off. Maybe it's Water weight! LOL I know you can do it. Healthywoman I am so jealous of your 179. Congratulations on that and an actual loss over the holidays. Kristen, sounds like you are doing great. 3 1/2 lbs is wonderful. Everyone give us updates on how you survived the holidays. Hopefully we are now all back on our programs and exercise and doing well. Any NSV out there? I need your encouragement to stay on my program so everyone speak up! You are my accountability group. Does anyone track their carbs and Protein? I had not been lately and when I did today I was shocked to see my Crystal Light has 12 carbs in each serving. I've been having 3 of them a day and maybe that's why I am not loosing. I think my Dr said we need about 80 grams of protein a day. What limits do you all do? I nearly died of embarrassment Sun after church. We went out to a deli, the only thing open, for lunch. I ordered a grilled turkey reuben thinking it would be grilled and I would eat half. It was sorta toasted, not grilled. After 2 bites I had to excuse myself to the rest room. Nothing would go down or come up so I went back out and a few minutes later had to go in there again. This time it came up and I slimed for the first time. Yuck! We were with one couple that knew I had surgery. The other one did not but they are pretty good friends so I told them why I kept leaving. No more toast for me. It just won't go down. We can do this! Have a great week. Blessings, GG

We are home! I did not have a blockage, I have not had a heat attack and they did see a shadow on the stress test. PTL! He said my arteries were beautiful with not one speck on plaque in them. It's good to have something beautiful concerning my body at my age! LOL I do have slight damage to the heart muscle itself and he attributes that to the chemo drug I took in 89'. It will not get any worse and not shorten my lifespan. Thanks you so much for the love and concern you have showed me and thank you for your prayers. Back on the program and after this weekend, I am supposed to rest, back to exercising on Monday and back on my program. We can do this! Blessings, GG

Hi Everybody! Hope you had a wonderful, restful holiday. We certainly did at our home. I am very blessed and truly grateful for all my many blessings. I've maintained my weight loss through Dec and hopefully I will start to loose again this week. I am vowing now to start walking again and watching my diet. I notice my portion sizes have decreased considerably and I am trying to do as CakeLady says, not eating unless I am hungry. The last of the pecan pie is gone and healthy eating resumes today. Who will join me and get back to our basic programs? Tomorrow is my heart cath. It will be early, 6 or 8 am. I appreciate your prayers and thoughts and will keep you posted as soon as I can get to a computer. It's a fairly routine procedure I am told and not much risk involved. It will be good to know what's going on since I have no symptoms. My only stress again is the IV. I still have problems worrying about them getting them in on the first try but they have assured me they will give me lidocaine and so it won't be a problem. They did not have lidocaine for my stress test last week and I did OK but I did cry from stressing about it. The nurse was very sweet, got it on the first try and I was embarrassed. It just brings back all the cancer chemo treatments right to the present second and stresses me out. If it goes in OK the first time then I will be fine. Off to clean the house. Then I'm going to walk. Happy New Year to all! This is gong to be our year of getting slim and more healthy. We can do this! Blessings, GG

Had the stress test today and it went fine. Dr has ordered a heart cath Dec 30th. Here is what he said. There is a chance I have had a heart attack and did not know it or I might have a blocked artery or the chemo drugs did damage my heart or there is a slight chance this is a shadow they see. Since I don't have any symptoms they are stumped. We will find on the 30th. If I do have a blocked artery they will fix it and put in a stint when they do the heart cath. If that's the case, there is a good chance having the lap band pre testing might have saved my life or it might have gone undetected for years and something really bad might have happened. I'll keep you posted. Please continue to pray for me. Merry Christmas everybody! Blessings, GG

I would appreciate your prayers for me for tomorrow. I am having a nuclear stress test. When they did the routine EKG on me for the lap band they saw an irregularity on it. They then did an electrocardiogram and saw something else. I had breast cancer in 1989 at age 39 and it seems the drug they gave me for chemotherapy might have damaged my heart. Great huh? Take this drug to save your life from cancer but it might give you heart damage. 12% of patients that get that drug have damage in their left ventricle. That is the main pumping chamber of your heart. So, tomorrow they are doing the stress test to see how much damage I might have. I don't have a lot of the symptoms (except weight gain and I'm not sure that's why I gained) that people with severe damage have so please pray there is no damage or minimal damage. I'll post when I know more. Blessings, GG

2012 is going to be our year. Congrats on finishing finals. Now maybe you can relax during the holidays. Onderland is in sight for you and we will all be skinny in the new year . Merry Christmas! GG

Congrats on the 16 jeans, that's wonderful. I bet people are noticing now and also I bet you feel terrific! Keep it up. Merry Christmas! GG

What you said, yes to all of the above. OK, after Christmas we all need to make a pact to get back on the program and exercise and use our bands and get that weight off. Agreed? Blessings, GG

I think I am doing the same thing, eating too fast. I get that feeling too. Not stuck but I can definately feel restriction. I cancelled my appointment last week for a fill because If I got any more I think it would be too much. Got to slow down and no more bread. I had a PB again this morning, my 3rd. It was soft bread. I think I might be too tight in the mornings so I might have to have some hot tea or something. I too was hoping to have more weight off by the end of the year but I am happy. I'll work harder after the holidays with more exercising and all these tempting foods will be gone next week. Merry Christmas! GG

That's fantastic about the wet suit. I know you were thrilled. Congratulations on that NSV. When we were getting certified many years ago they had to put so many weights on me when I wore a wet suit or I could not go down unless they did. All my fluff and then the wet suit made me float like a bar of ivory soap! LOL Merry Christmas! GG

Congratulations! Great job. Sounds like you are on the road to a really healthy recovery. I'm stuck at 192 but if I can get through the holidays without gaining I will count it as a plus. Merry Christmas! GG

Hi everybody! I think all of us must be so busy getting ready for the holidays we have not been posting. I am doing well and feeling good. I finally lost another 1 1/2 lbs. and hopefully this will start weight loss again. I am in my "green zone" I think. I don't get hungry and probably need to eat more. If I don't eat slowly and smaller bites I can really feel it sticking and not going down for a few minutes. I had not walked for about 3 weeks and finally did last Friday. Sat morning my calves hurt so badly I had trouble getting out of the bed! How is it going for everyone? Any weight loss to report or any problems? We need to keep in mind our eating programs when we are out at holiday events. It's very easy to get back into those bad eating habits. Eat something before you go out and then you won't be starving when you are at a party. If you have to have something like sweets try a few nibbles and not a huge portion. Remember how hard it was to loose that weight and as the saying goes "a minute on your lips equals a pound on your hips! " Victoria Principle says that about cheese. So glad everything is OK now Ms Lady. You are doing an amazing job with your weigh loss. Keep up the good work. We can do this people! Blessings, GG

Congratulations Healthywoman! 30 lbs is a huge loss and 180 is awesome. It sounds like you are doing very well and well on your way to your goal. What a great gift to yourself this Christmas season. Keep up the good work. We can all do this! Blessings, GG

Hi Diane, Welcome to the thread. Sounds like you have been very successful so far in your weight loss journey. Tell us a little about how you are doing and a little about yourself. Cakegirl, that sounds like the way to go. It's amazing how many times we are conditioned to eat when we are not really hungry. Our old habits need to cease. You have suggested one that will help us all I bet. Eating half as much will surely result in weight loss for you. Keep us posted. Hope everybody has a nice restful Sunday. We can do this! Blessings, GG

Try a heating pad on it. That helped me a lot. Have you used any kind of Gas X or something like it? Sometimes it's referred pain and not really gas at all. Just like when people have pain down their arms or jaw before a heart attack. Their jaw or arm is not having a heart attack. It's referred pain from their heart. My Dr says this is common. It will eventually go away. Hope this helps and blessings on your new weight loss journey. Blessings, GG

I went to Dr today and he gave me a small fill. Hopefully this will do the trick. He asked me if I was getting hungry. I am, but not until late afternoon and I usually just wait and eat dinner. He asked me about portions. I eat about half of what I used to and he asked if I could eat even less. I said I would have to think about that. I know most of my eating has always been emotional and I wonder if I could, in fact, eat even less. i will try it. It looks like unless I walk 25 minutes a day, drink my water and eat less than 1100 calories a day I do not loose weight. But, the good thing is I finally left 195 behind and saw 194.4 this morning. It's been 2 weeks since I lost anything so I was thrilled. My question is, how are we supposed to eat 1100 calories a day and eat less? I have always heard if we don't eat enough our bodies go into "starvation" mode. When I was on 900 calories a day I still did not loose. It's all very odd and complicated isn't it? I guess I will try and limit my carbs and sugar and eat more protein. My Dr does not want me to be able to feel the lapband and not get hungry. He says that is the green zone. He said I should be able to have the occasional treats, like over the holidays, and not feel guilty about them. So, I am not guilty and pleased I am back on the road to more success. I love my Dr! We can do this! Blessings, GG

Jess, We could be twins. I am in the same boat. I go back tomorrow and I'm not sure if I really want a fill. I'm also afraid I will not be able to eat anything if I get a fill and it's too much. Not such good choices on my part the last 2 weeks. I am hanging at 195 - 195.8 and really only have trouble with dry chicken or if I eat too fast. I have to keep reminding myself to chew and eat slowly. My Dr keeps telling me he does not want me to feel the band. I guess I will talk to him about it tomorrow. I feel like I am so close to my green zone and don't want to go over the limit. But, after the end of the year I am paying $200 out of picket for each fill. We have a $5200 deductible. So, I need to get them in if I need them. LOL Blessings, GG

Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday weekend. My final guests left this morning and after 10 days of different groups of folks to feed I am ready for a little rest. Tomorrow I have to get back on my program. No exercise for weeks, too much pumpkin pie and cupcakes I'm afraid. I really don't want to go to Dr Tues because I am afraid I have not lost, might have gained for the first time since surgery. How did everyone else do over Thanksgiving? Can anyone tell me how to respond to a post? We used to be able to hit "respond" on that post. Now the only thing I see to do is make a new post. Now sure I like the new format yet. Ms Lady, how are you doing? LisaAnn, are you overfilled maybe? Any better now? Kauai, congratulations on the NSV size 18! Fantastic and I know you feel good about yourself too. Thanksgiving is over. We must forget any overeating we did and get back on our programs again. Walk, exercise, drink that water and eat that protein. We can do this! Blessings, GG

Ms lady, so glad it went well. If you get back on your program it will all even out. Sometimes we just have Water weight gain so maybe it's that. Bobrocky, hope you next fill will do the trick. T'giving is going to be a challenge for all of us so stay on course. Chich, congratulatuons! 30 lbs is amazing. Let us all know how the fill works out. You're doing an awesome job. Genesishanna, steady loss is good. I've heard a lot about Zumba. Sounds like fun. Keep it up I bet it is amazing exercise. I've had lots of company since last Wed. I've fixed dinner for 20 three times and I am exhausted. Our youngest son Daniel flew in from NY Wed with fiancee and my hubby's niece and her whole family came up from GA. We had an engagement party Friday nite for our closest friends to meet Rebecca and I cooked an Italian dinner with lasagna, chicken parm, and Pasta with cream sauce,salad and dessert for 20 that night. We had enough leftovers for Sat nite.for everybody so I didn't have to cook again. Then Sun we had T'giving dinner for 20 also. Everybody goes home today and tomorrow we are taking the kids and grandkids to see the Rockettes Christmas Show. Thursday my hubby's sister and hew new husband are coming until Sun. It's been a lot of cooking and lots of fun. I have not overdone yet but have eaten a few things I probably should not have eaten. So far I have not gained any. I am back on my program and will start exercising again tomorrow or Wed. Still sitting on 20lbs loss and hopefully can start loosing again soon. I am not in a race with anyone and will take i slowly and steady until I am at goal. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving and stay on your programs the best way you can. If you falter don't bet yourself up, jump back on the program and don't look back. We can do this! Blessings, GG