Fenton

Welcome aboard! It looks like you've already made a pretty impressive dent in your target already...

Over in the Men's Room, one of the dudes posted some charts from his BodyBugg, and it was really pretty cool. The device appeals to me, but what *doesn't* is the $100 a year charge for the web service. For some reason, that is a deal-breaker for me. The equipment is expensive as it is, but for them to charge so much money in perpetuity seems outrageous. Does the Nike + thing cost anything for the website access? I don't think it does. I could understand a nominal yearly subscription fee, say $25, but that $100 just bugs the heck out of me.

Spirit, that longer incision is your port incision, and that knot there is probably your port itself, into which the doc will inject saline when you have your fills...

Hey, BodyBugg people! SO, break down the cost for me, would you? How much is the basic unit, how much is the watch, and how much is the web service?

Good God, man! I don't know that I've EVER managed to get in 100 oz of Water in a day! What are you doing for Protein?

Thanks, Chrisann. I was about to continue, "But alas, I'm a dude", but, well, that would be wrong! I'm a guy, so I fear Rochelle isn't right for me. Thanks for the tip, though!

Congrats on the banding, and on the great weight loss, gurgiphoenix. I don't know what a Trike is - can you upload a photo? I know that there's a website, livingxl.com or something - betterlivingxl.com, something like that - that offers extra large bike seats, if the seat you have isn't large enough.

Happy to hear the scales are budging for many! MoverM - wow! You've had SUCH rough ride! Hang in there - it sounds like your doctors are on top of things. Kjlared - I think that what you're feeling is your body's unfamiliarity with stress. I suspect that a combination of air swallowing, tightening the muscles of your abdomen while you were on the ride, and the normal gastric effects of stress, plus the worry you might have done something to your precious band are what's putting you out of order. Amanda's suggestion of going for a walk and taking it easy seems like a good one to me. Give yourself timie to get over it - you didn't do anythign wrong! Oh, and, two other things: 1. Congrats on the great weight loss 2. I LOVE roller coasters too!

High five, boxwes! Welcome aboard! Since the first 24 hours post-op are generally the hardest, it sounds like you're already in clover...

OK, Amanda, you're more than welcome too.

Also: be wary of my advice! I started at 473 pounds, so I can lose weight eating a lot more than I should! What works for me may not work for everybody.

I think that golf ball bump IS your port! I don't think it's weird that you did better on the pre-surgery than after - I think we have a big, scary motivation coming up, and that helps us Do the Right Thing. Also it was easier for me because when you're on liquids, you KNOW what you can and can't have, and it's much harder the cheat while pretending that you're not.

By the way, Teri - nice work on the weight loss there!

I've been thinking a lot about Paul McKenna's guidelines for weight loss. I watched the entire I CAN MAKE YOU THIN series, and I believe he's spot on about the process, particularly in his Golden Rules: 1. When you're hungry, eat 2. When you eat, eat what you want 3. Eat consciously 4. When you're full, stop There's a whole lot of stuff in there, but those are the guidelines that I think are key for losing weight, and they echo the guidelines in the CAMP program Harley posted previousl. I need to be more conscientious about eating consciously. This morning, I followed rules 1 and 2 - I was hungry, and I wanted to eat what I wanted, so I bought a loaf of seeded wheat bread, and some lemon curd (what I really wanted was marmalade, but it's out of season). I had a piece of toast for Breakfast, with French butter and lemon curd. And I loved it. But later I regretted it a little. It was v. tasty, but I didn't eat it consciously enough - I satisfied a craving, but I didn't focus on the food. McKenna's guideline (also encountered in various eating guidelines issued to bandsters) is to take your bite, put your fork or spoon down, then chew for a count of at least 20 before taking your next bite. And I didn't do that - I just, you know, ATE it. So I wasn't happy about that. I picked up some Golden Rules from the NYU banding people, and one of them was, after swallowing your food, count to 50 before taking the next mouthful. So I was disappointed that I just wolfed down my precious piece of toast. And I'm also a bit sorry I didn't go for more Protein in my breakfast intake. Or even ANY protein! I shall concentrate more at lunch.

After my Weekend of Steak, I'm stalled this week. Although, to be frank, I don't know if that's because of the steak, or because I lost so much in the days leading up to the Weekend of Steak, and this is just a natural re-equilibration of whatever. I'm not worried; I'm keeping my intake low and am more active than I've been for a long while. Indeed, just yesterday, I suddenly realized that, without thinking, I'd walked to the top of a hill that had always made me puff and pant. And I hadn't noticed it at all, or even thought about having to walk up the hill. And I walked it FAST. Tomorrow is my six week week anniversary - uh, forgive me, *bandiversary*. I'm all healed, so tomorrow I'm going to start doing yoga again, something I haven't done for probably three years. Last time I did it I was about 50 lbs lighter, but the practice is fairly forgiving. We shall see!

Hey, Starbux - welcome aboard! Markella, one of the first things you'll see if you read through this thread is that different MDs have different recommendations for how long people should be on different diets. Your doctor has his reasons for recommending that particular approach with the band he's installed in you, and ideally you should try to follow his guidelines. You're out about 3 weeks now, so you've done quite a bit of healing; you probably won't damage the band. But the guidelines are, I think, as much about changing eating patterns as they are about protecting the band. Well, almost. The advantage of the liquid diet is that it is a way of resting your healing band, breaking your old bad eating habits and allowing your stomach to shrink a bit. I think a number of us, if we're worrying that we've overdone it a bit, return from time to time to the liquid diet to get back into the groove. Anyway, if you are going to eat the "wrong" things, you should try not to eat too much of them, and try not to eat them too quickly...

Man! Because of traveling a lot this year, I didn't really get any snow at all! I (heart) snow!!!

Can anyone recommend a personal trainer in NYC who has worked with very overweight people before? Thanks in advance, F.

Hahaha! When you say "some cheese", how much cheese do you mean? Obviously, cheese is a high cal thing, so you know you want to keep an eye on it, but it's hardly the end of your banded life!

You're more than welcome.

I'm reading this late - but congratulations on your decision and your FANTASTIC weight loss!

BTW, I chronicled my NYU surgery and the first couple of weeks of my experience with the band in fairly extensive detail in the March 2008 Bandsters MASTER THREAD, should anyone be interested in what it's like being banded there. One thing: because of my extra-large size, I stayed the night in a stepdown ward, and was very closely monitored. I think it was the right thing medically, but it wasn't fun - particularly because the ward had only reopened the week before after being refurbished.

I live in Manhattan, near Union Square. Dr. Fielding banded me 3/6/08, and I've been feeling great and losing pretty well. I have enough restriction from the unfilled band that yesterday, when I went for a follow up visit intended for the first fill, I declined any additional restriction. I told Dr. Fielding I want to wait until I stop losing or plateau before I have a fill. He encouraged me, saying "When you wake up starving, that's when you know it's time for a fill..."

Yeah, he's a good guy - he has a band himself.

CHRISTINE! I'm happy to hang on to them for you! I'm going to be out of town this weekend, but I'll leave the case with my doorman on Friday night before I leave. Do me a favour, remind me Friday morning, just to be sure.