DynamoMini

mdrai - Good for you telling yourself positive stuff. Why not? It really helps not to wallow and to take control over your destiny! I found I slept better in the recliner for a few nights. I do believe we create our destiny through our thoughts, or at least our reactions to life situations are something we do have a say in. happy healing.........

Sunny112 - Here is the other thread site: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/how-weight-loss-people-over-50-a-21117-new/ You are doing really well! I didn't lose as fast after I went back to real food. My first fill was pretty minimal. I'm not sure how much it helped and I probably need another one. I was so nervous that I think my throat closed when the doc was asking, is this right? I will get a more aggressive fill next time. I have had a few PB and some slime when I eat too fast or don't chew enough. So I am really new at this too. We'll all learn together.

Hello Cathy - So glad you are going to join us. We are a great group here with a wide range of aches and pains. Just kidding. I love this thread because it is specifically for me and not a 20 something. BJean - actually, I didn't sleep very well, oh well, think I am less lactose tolerant than I used to be. It is weird, the symptoms come and go. Do you feel that your fill loosens up after a week or so? I think my fill was pretty minimal. Dr. K only put in .9 cc in my 5 cc band, but then I thought it was perfect the way the water was not going down quickly, I also think I was scared to get filled too much - you know the horror stories. Are you doing well, recommited to a healthy life? Best to you all, Michelle

Good Afternoon Shrinking Violets, Michelle -I'm so happy you are now in bandland. Hurrah! Exercise Queens - I admire what you are doing and strive to push myself more. Basically - I do 5 days of aerobics a week with 45 minute workout on the EFX machine (it's like the elliptical without the arms). Two days a week I work an extra 30 minutes with my trainer on all different muscle groups. I recently added five minutes more cardio. As I lose weight I will capable of more time or difficulty. I also want to get my scuba license, so I am finding out what I have to do to get that. I want my lifestyle to be more active so i will naturally maintain my weight loss when it comes off. Best wishes,

This site has been weird! There are hesitations, blank pages and I don't even try to edit anymore. Flutternut - how are you doing? Are you ok? Let us know. Best wishes to all of you on Hump Day!

sunny112 - welcome to this site! Glad to hear everything is going well for you. You are close to my age, there is a site called "How is weight loss for 50 and older?" that I have found really supportive and helpful too. Best wishes on your continued success.

Well - Happy Wednesday! Drews - so glad you are out of the Percocet fog. Yeah for Vicodin. Glad to hear you are up and at 'em. The PT is so important for your knee. I have a friend who didn't want to do the PT because of expense and she didn't really recover well. You are wise to follow through. Can't wait to see you next week. mal - I have my fingers crossed for you. Whatever Dr. K has to do, you know it will be ok. He's the best. Hugs. When is your appt? Everyone - Can't wait to meet everyone at the Red Robin, next Wednesday, June 6th. So far I think that Mal, Lap Dancer, Woofay, Drews, are definitely coming. Let me know so I can get a big enough table - don't be shy. Red Robin isn't deluxe dining, but it has a variety of food and drinks, and this one is easy to find. Whatever about the food, it is the comraderie that I am looking forward to. hugs, Michelle

BJean - you are a precious person and a delightful story teller! green - did you get it? BJean and I really want you to get healthy! Smiling and going to bed,

Congratulations Michelle! We are name twins. Did they give you a little plastic machine to blow into? It really helps with the chest tightness. If not, practice breathing deeply four or five times every hour you are awake. Glad you are doing so well! Heal first, then let the loosing begin! Hey Teach, Katy, and all the other teachers - I'm a retired teacher after 31 years teaching in middle school special education and ELA (ESL). I was happy to retire. I have dedicated the last three years to taking care of myself, something that I didn't have time for during the teaching years as I raised two boys on my own. They are 19 now. Teachers work very hard and I agree the kids did really change during the 31 years in the classroom. Teachers are in a difficult position, with little authority, everyone questioning them, parents siding with kids and then administrators not back the teacher up, changing curriculum with constant revisions, wide disparity of needs in the same classroom and kids that don't have the foundation or desire to learn - I was very glad to get out of the profession without a law suit (in the special ed area). I miss lots of the kids and the contact with colleagues, but not the endless meetings and hassles. Hugs to you all - you deserve the summer off!

Janet (IndioGirl55) - I had the same thoughts of "I can do this myself" or that the band was the "easy" way out. The reality is that the band is only a tool. It won't do the work for you, you do it. What I originally wanted the band for was so that I wouldn't regain the weight I lost. I have been able to lose up to 40 pounds at a time with real food, but then things get crazy and I regain all the weight and more. It is a compulsive eating issue. Volume is controlled by the band, but not food choice. I have heard that people can gain weight with a band by eating ice cream and chocolate. Many people get banded and continue to follow WW or Atkins or South Beach. So really consider that you are making the choice for the surgery to use the band as a dieting tool. Best wishes to you on your decision. Don't let anyone belittle your effort to get healthy. You deserve a healthy life! Michelle

travelbug - the 200 pound barrier is really artifical ( meaning the difference between 199 and 201 is only two pounds) - we can break through it! I think the recommitment to writing food down and exercise will get us right over. I agree that not moving the 50 pound weight will be a delight. Best wishes and have a great tomorrow!

IndioGirl55 and MomLambert - I agree with the sentiments of Git R Dun, but it isn't going quickly that way for me. I think the weight is as much mental and emotional as physical. Each time I get stuck at a weight, i seem to have to break through some emotional barrier. It has really become a process for me. Lots of hard work and some painful memories, but this is it. I won't be doing the yo yo thing again. So I feel like I'm on the ride of my life. I do love this site, so much realness (is that a word?) Hugs and good night!

Flutternutter - What does that mean? You said your stomach came up through your band, can they fix it? Does it mean another surgery? I am so upset for you. Don't abandon your efforts, you deserve a healthy life. Did your doc stitch it into your stomach muscles? Inquiring minds want to know...... hugs sweetie!

Woofay - Good for you, remember the scale is just information. I also find that less is more - it's a very good thing. No, I don't think my fill is close to being enough. I am able to gulp Water more and more, and I wasn't able to do that when I had more restriction. However, if I eat and don't chew, then I have an issue. So, I am not sure. There is an over achieving part of me that wants to go back to get more of a fill. Are you thinking that too? I only got .9 cc, so there is a lot of room for filling me. I also think I was very scared about the process, not wanting to be too tight. Well, have a good night!

Debi - I think the GBypass surgery is a faster weight loss, but there are so many risk factors, that I didn't want to go there. About the lapband - I also think people are different. Some people have lost 30 pounds after 6 months and others much, much more. You need to realize that the lapband is a two year weight loss process, and perhaps longer. It requires a lot of effort, but then so does life. For me it was the best choice. Good luck with your decision.

Congratulations! Everyone here seems on the move, and it ain't up! Way to go!

Woofay - Come on. You look GOOD! say thanks! Mal - I am thinking of you. Are you oozing, in pain, or feeling punk? I hope you'll be able to join us next Wednesday at Red Robin at 7pm. Lap Dancer - so when are you arriving. Do you need directions, a ride, or anything? Hugs to all of us - you know getting through the last 8 weeks for me has been a roller coaster. One minute I am flying, the next I feel like nothing has changed. It's the same with the band. One minute a slug of Water makes me gurgle, the next I can eat quite a bit of food. So I think I need to Celebrate the fact that I am aware of what and how I am eating. That alone is new behavior. hugs to you all. I am working on the picture thing. I finally got one posted, but it is really tiny.

Bless you wonderful women - Carlene - I really liked your story and felt and affinity when you said that love is really a friendship that has caught fire. I think that is the best way, perhaps the only way. You put yourself out there, which is easier said than done. I'm proud of you! cathy - I think the self esteem from weight loss will free me up to socially feel better about myself. I have hidden in my weight, then used it as a shield, daring people to love me through the fat, now I just wanna be me, inside me body and connect with the person I see in the mirror. I want balance and some understanding of my processes so I can live the healthy life I deserve. It is hard work, but I'm motivated. Exercise definitely helps. Green - so sorry to hear of your bug, harvest the poop for gosh sakes, it is just a P.U.'ey body function. You want to get better, right? hugs to all, Michelle

Lap Dancer - I haven't written specifically to you because I don't know your travel arrangements. We are meeting at the Red Robin that is 1 block West of the I-25 and Arapahoe Road intersection at 7 pm on Wednesday, June 6th. We planned it so you could join us, so I am hoping that this works for you and everyone else. I did ok on Memorial Day - I did break down and have an ice cream bar (230 cal), other than that, I've eaten pretty close to perfect for two months. My relationship with the ice cream bar was strange. I worked to NOT eat it for two full days, actually more nights, finally, the urge was still there so I gave in to it with the promise that I wouldn't beat myself up about it. It wasn't that great, but I enjoyed it. I will have to figure out how to deal with food on the brain - when "will" power overrules "won't" power. I'm glad I have a therapy session today to unravel it. I had also made dinner for the family, my sister, her husband and their two kids, my mom and my son, Max. That in itself has an underlying stress factor built in. I planned a healthy dinner, but mom brought a coffee cake from her freezer so I was happy with watermelon but had to focus my "wOn't" power on that freezer burned coffee cake (Entemanns). How did I end up like this? Then my sister is worried about her 5 year old plumping up. "She's fatter than all her friends... I'm worried about her being fat" my protection mode goes up. I said, "don't make her feel bad about herself, consider your history." My sister was buolimic (sp). Not another generation. Sorry about the length here, but it is good for me to work it out, and who better to share it with. You are my sisterhood. Michelle

green - I am amazed that everyone has a story. I think it is hard to quantify grief. It was much more powerful than I had ever imagined after Ira died. I'm not sure if I breathed let alone lived for at least three years. People tell you to be kind to yourself, but I turned my grief inward and ate to console (blanket) myself. It is only now, after 6 1/2 years that I am beginning to hear the birds sing and leaves woosh in the trees. Thank you for the acknowledgement. I am so proud of you at 155. That sounds soooooo good to me. My turn will come. Rejoice and enjoy your inner balance. Won't it be great when the outside looks like the inside feels? Hugs to you all, Michelle

Marie - Welcome! Yes, there a plenty of younger bandsters, but we've been there and back so I think it is like older people going back to college. We are serious, but willing to laugh at ourselves. Good luck with your upcoming surgery, I am sure it will go well.

Mdrai - Good luck tomorrow. I know it will go splendidly. So much has tried to block this positive change in your life, that nothing will be in your way now. I feel confident!

Widows Unite - Both my husbands are dead. I just found out last year, that my first boyfriend of (9years - he had commitment problems) was also dead. So every man I have ever loved is dead. What does that mean? Someone jokingly called me a Black Widow, I didn't think it was funny. In fact the thought has stayed with me, which isn't healthy. How have you moved on Carlene and Denise? I would love to have guy friends, but being a teacher for all these years I really didn't have that male contact. Yes, I raised my two 19 year old sons alone. It wasn't easy, but better than bringing men in and out of their lives. My first husband (divorced, but adoptive dad of my boys, alcoholic) died one year after my second husband, Ira (great love) died. The boys were 13. Hugs,

Good Morning Violets! Happy Memorial Day! I just caught up with you chatty bunch. I think the "diet" focus ebbs and flows with me. This is one of the bumps I always face. About two months of "dieting" (preop - now) and it is hard to concentrate for so long on food - what to eat, what not to eat, how much, weighing, measuring....yadda.....yadda..... and I've had some success. A weight loss that gives me some room. This is usually the time I "give up the fight" - but it is different this time. There isn't a way to give up, now do I want to. But I can see that I can't only live to eat, but I can't only live to diet either. I find time that I used to spend eating or thinking about eating needs to be channeled. The first thing I am going to do is to get cerified to scuba dive. I have always wanted to do this, so why don't I? Hugs and be happy and gentle with yourself today,

Woodys - Wow you have made it to goal! I am impressed that you continue to do the headwork and heartwork here. It isn't only about the pounds is it? Brave!