Fenton

Oh, great! Now I'm the last person in Christendom to NOT own a Wii and Wii Fit! O2BTA - that "heart attack" panic is something that I certainly shared! Luckily, I'd learned from this site that I could expect that. If it had worsened or spread to my jaw or down my left arm, if I'd started sweating and vomiting, THEN I'd have started to worry! I believe it's generally a good idea for people my size (well, for ME - I'm not the doc of you) to take preventitive aspirin; I take an 81 mg baby aspirin every day, and tell me that's going to ward off the heart attacks by thinning the blood a tiny bit, but it may just be wishful thinking...

A-Dub! If you want to see my before and after photos, you'll have to pick up my first book, then the sequel next year.... :thumbup:

Hey, O2BTA. It sounds like you're having either gas pain or some sort of local pressure on the diaphragm muscle next to the stomach - most of us experienced gas pains in that area after our surgery.

Also, I've been slowly switching over to using the powdered peanut butter, which has 75 less calories per tablespoon. That's still in progress - I can't throw out my original organic peanut butter! - but I think the shake will still work with the freeze-dried peanut butter.

I make that identical shake, except with premade vanilla SlimFast Optima, the low carb stuff. I have that shake down to an art! I freeze ripe bananas, so they'll always be ready to go, and keep the blender cup and blade in the freezer too, so they're as cold as possible. About half an hour to an hour before I'm going to make the shake, I stick the can of SlimFast in the freezer to ensure that the shake will be as dense and shake-like as possible. I also add a couple tablespoons of whey Protein powder, and a big pinch of salt - the salt is key for flavour, I think. It really has been a fun project, perfecting that shake. I bought an Oster Professional Blender ($75 at Amazon) that feels like an outboard motor on my countertop - that thing could blend rocks! But the best thing is the Oster Blend'n'Go cup, an insulated 18 ounce or so cup that you use on the blender instead of the normal blender container. I fill the cup with the frozen banana, SlimFast, Protein Powder and Peanut Butter and pinch of salt, then attach the blade assembly tightly to the cup, turn it upside down and plug it into the blender. You blend, and then you go! It's so great! It truly is a miracle of modern science.

Love is love! Take it where you can get it! Unless you're married, then you should probably be a bit more careful. Harley, congrats again - I remember how good I felt when I entered threenderland as if it were only last week! Which it actually was.

And if you go the tasty refried beans route, remember that you can get low fat refried beans!

And A-dub? The trick to my impressive weight loss is to start at a weight so high that it's almost incompatible with life! Your weight loss is every bit as impressive for coming off a smaller frame. Also: I'm really pushing it with the walking - I burned over 5,000 calories yesterday, and I reach similar numbers most days. Of course, as I get smaller, my burn rate will go down...

Woohooo!!!! And, for Texgirl, Yeeeehawwww!!!! Well done, all of ya! All of us! Cathy and Christine, hang in there. You'll get the restriction you need, but don't use that as an excuse for taking it easy on yourself, or worse, don't start feeling sorry for yourself that you don't already have the restriction that others are already enjoying. (Somehow I assume that other people share my overeating triggers, like self-pity, and an ability to rationalize eating too much "just for a little while"!). Keep a sharp eye on how much you're eating, and ask yourself why you're allowing yourself to gain weight. You can't let disappointment with your band actually drive your weight up! You're going to get there...!!!

I like yogurt with apple or pear sauce. And I spent some time pureeing soups, too, to get them smoother.

Ha! We all had to embrace some bit of denial to get where we got! For people like you and me - for particularly overweight individuals - the band really IS an extra lease on life, a true second chance. I'd say go for the filter, and I'll bet your surgeon will say the same. Anything to be as safe as possible! My understanding is that the clot reaches the filter and just gets trapped, and gradually broken down - the critical thing is that it stops the clot from reaching the lungs, where it'll block the artery and stop blood from flowing, and that's all she wrote... The filter is, of course, icing on the cake - the thinning agents (do they hold those before the surgery? I know we weren't allowed to take aspirin etc to allow the blood clotting to get back to normal) and the stockings will do a good job of keeping clots at bay. But if the icing is offered, I'd say Yes. The other important thing is to get up and get walking ASAP after surgery, and to walk as much as you can. When you sit around, the blood stagnates, and is more likely to clot, so keep moving! And you'll quickly learn that moving is GREAT for the gas pains (in the left shoulder and back) that many of us feel in the first couple of days.

FINALLY! Jeez, waiting for Rick to hurry up and get his band has been like being 9 years old and wishing Christmas would come while you're still on summer vacation... Nerves are part of the price of admission, Rick. We all had 'em, we all dealt with 'em, and now we're all banded. Except for you, ya lazy bastid! Get in there, get your band then come back and talk with the other big dogs! Everything will be fine, and then it'll get better and better.

Wait - what are you worried about? The filter is an extra safety net, and is just slipped in through a vein in the thigh, if I understand correctly. Placing the filter is not a big thing. I'd say that, unless you're, like, a researcher in blood clotting, I'd let your docs make the call as to whether the blood thinners and boots are enough to prevent clotting. Why take the risk of catastrophe? Do you think you might be dealing with some kind of internal denial about the seriousness of our condition and the significance of surgery? At our size, I think it's very important to do everything we can to make this simple surgery as safe as possible. Ask your lap band surgeon - maybe he can be a deciding opinion. Either way, whatever you decide, we're here for you.

Awww, bless you! Weighed in today - one step closer to Morbid Obesity! Just five more pounds to go...

I'd say if your pulmonologist is recommending it, you should probably go with his advice. You're a big fella, and so the surgery might take a little longer. Are you a smoker, or do you have a family history of vein thrombosis? Those might be relevant factors. The thing is, you're lying on the table for a while, not moving, and that makes it more likely for clots to form in your legs. So I think he just wants to play it safe. Which sounds reasonable to me!

Good Lord, woman! There's men here!

It actually sounds like a really great trip. And congrats on becoming Obese! I hope someday to be Morbidly Obese - I know it'll take work, but, mark my words, I'll get there in the end!

Chica, what the hell does "drink like a man" mean? We use our mouths. Plus I thought the puking emoticon after the Clamato juice, while probably honest, was a little over the top...

Bratz, Kerri - you guys are doing GREAT! Its really impressive how different you both look...

Don't sweat the surgery - it's a really minor one. Besides, they do all the work! You just lie there, and wake up banded. The first couple of days aren't much fun, but no worse than a day or two with the flu. After that, you'll recover quickly and lose quickly... Welcome aboard!

Michelle, I think you really hit the nail on the head when you talk about this being a critical time for us. I don't think anyone reached the band without a long road of struggle, success and then failure with the weight loss process. We each of us have so much invested in this that we really have no option but to make it work. It's too important to screw up.

Teri - have a lovely time in Nashville. It's really a fun city, I think. Sharona! While it's zero fun, maybe being laid off is a blessing in disguise: being able to make your own schedule in the gorgeous summer months is a bit of a luxury... Make the most of it! And well done on not giving in to impulsive eating!

Hey, Kelly - congrats on your decision to have a band! Two months from now, you'll be a whole new you... It's perfectly natural to get nervous, but really, don't sweat it - it's one of the easiest surgeries there is, just about a nothing of an operation. I was anxious too, worried about surgery and anesthesia - I was 473 pounds when I started - but you're dealing with doctors and medical staff who do this all the time, so everything will flow as a smooth routine. I walked into the Operating Room, lay on the table, they put an IV in my arm and then I woke up banded - it was just that fast. It would be really helpful to you to read this thread from the beginning - not ALL of it, but in the first part of the thread, we're all discussing our run-up to getting banded, then talking about surgery, then about recovery, then about getting mobile again and going back to work, then about the challenges and satisfactions of getting to know our bands. I wrote very specifically about what my own experience was like, starting on March 6, my band date, and did my best to post every day about what I was going through or noticing. So have a look at that stuff. And if you have any questions, don't hesitate to shout them out!

Lynn, first off, you've done GREAT so far! And you can continue to do well - you know it's all up to you. If you're saying that the second fill didn't get you the restriction that you need, perhaps you should call your doctor's office and schedule another. The snacking/overeating habit is hard to manage, isn't it? The important thing is to keep your goal in sight. Force yourself to recognize that continuing to eat as you're eating now will put you right back where you were before you went through the whole process of a band. Don't let yourself think that snacking is fine, because it's "just 50 calories" or "just 80 calories". Perhaps you should be journaling your food intake, or at least keeping a running total in your head, figuring out how many calories that snack adds to your intake, and how much exercise it will take to recover from that calorie hit. Or maybe commit to exercising immediately - "if I eat this apple, I will go for a 30 minute walk". Mostly, though, you're lying to yourself constantly to let yourself snack. It's not easy to do, but you HAVE to recognize that short term "satisfaction" can and will destroy your weight loss, if you let it. Ask yourself "Is this worth undoing all of the hard work I've put into this process?" And don't "wait to lose weight until the next fill", either! It's completely your decision. And if you keep on eating, ask yourself why it is you want to be fat.

Nice work, pipes! Last week I took my belt to the cobblers and had them put more holes in it. I'm going to ride the thing down until it's just a little nubbin of leather and a buckle...