Fenton

I have two black cats. They really admire and respect me, but I also I'm pretty sure they're waiting for me to die so that they can eat my face. I had to go to a buffet dinner with a bunch of cops today - baked ziti, chicken parm, eggplant rolatini, lasagne, sausages and peppers etc. I had two meatballs and some lettuce - they're now pretty sure I'm gay. Of course, the English accent doesn't help to dispel that notion - my old girlfriend used to say "All Englishmen are queer until proven bisexual", which still cracks me up.

Yay! And now you must tell us how to pronounce "evelas". I've been rhyming it with "Weevil Ass", which probably is unfair.

There's a TV Show in England called something like KILL EAT, COOK IT, EAT IT where a studio audience is introduced to live animals which are then killed and cooked in front of them. They're then asked to eat the animal, and discuss their feelings about the whole experience.

Whoa, Harley! That CAMP stuff is GREAT! It's exactly what Paul McKenna says - and Jack, too (the part about learning to recognize satiety). Thanks so much for that URL - I'm going to thoroughly explore that. For me, the hard part about mindful eating is that you can only do one thing at a time: eat. I'm so busy that I feel badly if I'm not multitasking.

Kerri! You're making my life of frustration HELL with your over-achieving weight loss since banding!!! Are you sure you wouldn't like to relax with a nice kruller, let some of that weight creep back on until the rest of us catch up with you?

Harley! As a motorcycle gear head, I'm surprised the Magic Bullet was enough to satisfy you! I'd have thought you'd need the Oster Professional I picked up, a slab of pure, hulking torque sitting on your counter top. I swear to God, as I made my morning shake this morning, energy waves blasting from my blender knocked a squirrel off a tree across the street!

Hey, Sharon - I'm not even hitting the gym 5 times a week and *I* am frustrated by my weight loss! I weighed myself today 5 days after my last weigh-in - no change! I've been doing a lot of walking, and my intake has been good. But I know I'm losing weight - I'm down another belt notch (NSV - yay!), it's just taking the scales a while to catch up. You and I have to be a little less numbers-centric - the scale will change eventually. If you're eating right and working out, the weight will come off! And if it doesn't, your body has found a way to create energy, which means scientists will come and study you in order to save the world. Scrappy: are you SURE about your intake there? If your intake is low, and you're as active as usual, you should be burning fat, and that weight gain is probably Water - some kind of hormonal situation I don't even want to THINK about! I'm, uh, sending positive (but manly! Oh so very manly!) beams to evelas...

And nycm Christine: let us know how you're doing, too...

OK, the main thread is up again! evelas, you must tell us what happens tomorrow and how you're doing!

And we're back! Welcome, Pam! You just made it in! SpecialK, what a lot of work that must have been!

Ay yi yi evelas! That's no fun! But it'll be a lot easier surgery this time. How horrid to have to deal with all this! Did he originally fill the band during surgery? I can't remember when you were banded. Whimsy, you rock! I really admire your dedication...

Thanks, Jack. I'm going to do my best to follow your lead. I shared your thoughts on this matter in one of the Master Threads in the March Bandsters forum - I seem to be just about the only guy in here, and I thought the advice was something that all the ladies should see. The ladies who don't read the Men's Room, I mean. SO, what do you eat mostly? How much restriction do you have with your band?

JDUB, it's pretty common for people to gain weight when they switch to more solid food. That little bump will pass.

I think that Jack is right. Well, I guess, OBVIOUSLY, looking at his weight loss, Jack knows how the band works. BUT WHAT I wanted from (my bloody cat keeps on pressing his paw on the shift key!) the band was a gentle break applied most of the time, and a hard break applied when I was going too fast. And that's what I have now. I assume that as I lose weight, or as my stomach becomes accustomed to this, I might start eating more - at THAT point I'll get the fill.

BUT oops But now we have a continuation thread!!!

I started it. It's called something like MASTER THREAD 2: BAND HARD WITH A VENGEANCE.

I think what I'll do is go onto solids on Thursday, and see how I do both in terms of my eating and in terms of my weight loss. In a couple of weeks - ie when I'm on the scales in the surgeon's office - I'll decide then...

I asked this question over in the Men's Room actually, and got a really great response from Jack - Super Moderator, a veteran of the process, who's down 126 pounds. I'm going to relay his thoughts here (he quotes some of my original post in that item), because I think they're pretty instructive in terms of mastering this whole process: JACK: re: "I don't want to eat as much as I used to, I feel full on less than I normally eat, and I don't seem to be falling for my old bad habits. I've almost never felt hungry, and I've never experienced "bandster hell"." Restriction is best in our BRAIN and our eating behavior....you are beginning to experience this reality! What you are feeling is SATIETY. Good job!!! re: "Should I be eating until I'm full, or should I be using Protein grams and calories for my guide? Eating until we were FULL is how we all got to be MORBIDLY OBESE!!! Eating until the very FIRST inkling of 'NOT HUNGER' is when we stop....then 'restriction' is where is should be....in our behavior! I never knew what 'satiety' was in practice...once I had to do a report on it, and while I learned an amazing amount about it....'satiety' was to me like 'tone deaf' or 'color blind' or 'without sense of smell'.... I had no way to relate to that physicality.... Seek that point at which you can discern 'NOT HUNGRY'.... remember this: "full" is NOT the same as 'not hungry'; I strived for decades to eat till I was full, and all I got was 373 pounds mostly of extra fat. Normos eat until they are NOT hungry, then stop. And the difference is NOT their sensation of 'full' it is their sensation of 'satiety' or 'NOT hungry'. If we continue to eat until full...we will continue to eat ever more regardless of physiological hunger. Learn that trick, and we will conquer our eating errors.

I've been trying to decide whether or not I want to get my fill. I'm scheduled for the 14th. Right now I'm almost four weeks out, down probably about 16 pounds since surgery. I feel pretty good, and my eating is moderate. I don't get hungry, and I've NEVER experienced bandster hell. I eat a lot less than I used to, and I somehow don't seem to be falling into all my old traps. I have, for example, a hardcore love of hot chocolate. The real stuff, French dark chocolate melted into skim milk, with cream and sugar and cocoa powder added. In my liquids stages, I'd have the occasional cup, and would make it last for two days. Now I'm out and about and I swing by City Bakery (the best place in NYC for hot chocolate), and I don't get hot chocolate - even though you can choose a Dixie cup-sized serving! In fact, I don't get anything at all, and I don't want to. So I'm pretty good at the moment. I'm watching my intake, occasionally stretching it a bit, but I don't think I've really gone over 1700 cals at my most extreme. And the weight is coming off. Now I can eat or drink whatever I want, but I only want to eat or drink a bit before stopping. THis is exactly what I wanted from the band. I can have salad if I want to - uh, I think; I've not tried it yet. So, shall I get my fill in two weeks?

I don't know why we lost it, but the Master Thread seems to have died. So here's a continuation...

I can't get into it.

But I don't know why I should get the fill now, since I'm losing, and am comfortable. Why not wait until I slow down or start screwing up on my intake by overeating? I work literally next door to the surgeon's office, so it'd be pretty easy for me to just head over...

I'm almost 4 weeks out from banding now. I'll have a clearer idea when I weigh in tomorrow, but I'm anticipating that I'll be down around 15 or 16 pounds since surgery. I don't have absolute restriction, but I have some restriction, I think - I don't want to eat as much as I used to, I feel full on less than I normally eat, and I don't seem to be falling for my old bad habits. I've almost never felt hungry, and I've never experienced "bandster hell". There are some moments when I'm less than perfect - yesterday I got some tasty gyro meat on salad with pita from the cart in front of my office, and I ate more gyro than I should have, and more pita too. But until a month or two ago, I"d have ordered the same thing, polished it off with gusto and gone looking for something (s) sweet for dessert. Yesterday, I probably ate two thirds of the plate and felt overfull; the difference is really big. I'm absolutely committed to losing weight, but I AM losing weight. I assume that with time my current "restriction" will ease a bit, making a fill more important. But until them I'm happy eating less of whatever I want to eat. I know Jack didn't get his first fill for 6 months - am I in a similar situation? I have my fill appointment for April 14 - should I get a fill? And if I don't get a fill, if I just stay with my current degree of restriction, what should I be eating? Should I be eating until I'm full, or should I be using Protein grams and calories for my guide? Jack, other Delayed Fill Weight Loss Masters, advise me!!! Thanks, Fenton

Ack! Christine! How horrible! I hope they call soon and sort you out - you're in a tricky situation, there. Do you have iSopure? I think that that and Water would be the way to go for the time being. Hang in there! And good luck with the Mushies, Harley. Don't be surprised if you get a little weight bump at first... As far as to fill or not to fill, I'll see how I feel on the 14th. If I'm losing at least 2 lbs a week without a fill, I think I'll stick to it. That said, I'm still eating soft food; I wonder if a shift to solid food will affect me much. Of course, I've had a bit of solid food, too already, without incident.

I must say that I'm still astonished by how quickly that cat wolfed down the tortilla - I'm amazed he didn't look as if he'd just swallowed an umbrella. I hope the spicy bean dip smeared on it isn't playing havoc with his guts right now.