☠carolinagirl☠

Happy Marathon Monday from Boston. We are BOSTON STRONG!! Info about Boston. The Marathon is always run the closest Monday to April 19th, that is Patriot's Day. In MA it is a holiday and also school vacation. Our spring vacations are not around Easter but this week only.
 
The wheel chair racers started, then the women and finally the men. They have all started. This is a very important day in Boston. For WLS people, every day is an important day, why? because we are all running with our new journey.
 
I am far from a perfect Bander. I eat wrong but my band does say, Arlene, stop eating. This past week I had two stuck dinners. Ate too fast and too much. But I am the marathoner and I will not let this stop my journey. I have been too good with the gym either and my legs were tired yesterday. I thought I would do 5 minutes on the bike. My friend was there, so we talked and before I knew it, I did 11 minutes. It felt great!! Today is my MIL's 91st birthday and we are taking her out for Japanese food for lunch. One of the steak house restaurants. I will have shrimp, a filet, veggies and a little rice and I will feel good about my choices.
 
Well, I hope everyone in WLS land has a wonderful Patriot's Day. That was when the battle of Lexington and Concord happened. In June we have Bunker Hill Day. In March was evacuation day which was also St. Patrick's Day. Boston has a lot of history days. I went to Boston public schools and those were no school days.
 
Enjoy the spring day.
Arlene

Hi All,
 
I just want Everyone to know HOW EXTREMLY IMPORTANT it is to keep in contact with your doctors and support team. I have to admit I did not do this
and it has cause me to deal with a Life or Death Situatuation in which could of possibly been avoided if I didn't let my Self Loath of failure get to me.
 
I am recovering from a Small Bowel Obstruction caused by the scar tissue and wrapping and twisting of my intestines around my port and bands.
 
I was rushed to the hospital and was told I was on the verge of dying ( Still can't comprehend the severity ) Well after emergency surgery and I still trying to recover as of today due to many complications. I had to admit to all m surgeons that I did not follow up with my LapBand surgeon as I should of and I have payed the
Almost Ultimate price ( Ultimate would of been death) I am on going dealing with infections and more repair surgery. In which this may of all been forseen if I followed up as I should of.
 
I want you to know that you should never ever not go to your follow ups no matter if you feel you failed (as I felt). I just want you all to know that you are important regardless and that not everyone is the same.
 
Please keep your appointents with your doctors and all who help you throughout your life. I happened to learn a very hard lesson , I wish on No One ever.
 
So Please, you are never a failure and these doctors are here to help and please always talk to them.
 
God Bless and Believe in Yourself and I pray No One goes through the pain I am going through, just because I didn't believe in myself and was ashame.

Today I am so excited about my decision to get my Lap Band. I know I still have 70 lbs. to lose to get to my goal weight, but I've lost almost 100 lbs. I don't know what you would call that, but it sure feels like I'm succeeding.
 
Now, if I'm going to be honest I want to vent a little bit. I rather enjoyed being ignorant/uniformed about how the majority of people (not all) who chose to have VSG or RNY look at those of us who have the band. Most days I just move on and SMH, but other times I feel disrespected. It feels like I'm being told I'm ignorant and made a stupid decision and that they are in some way guaranteeing that I am going to fail. I know at one of the seminars I went to they had a person who had the band and another who had RNY. They guy who had RNY said that he knew he would find a way to eat around his band and that is why he chose to have the Bypass surgery. I also have an Aunt who had Bypass. She lost weight but she also figured out a way to eat around her surgery and gained her weight back. She still struggles with diets now. You can find bad things about every surgery, but why such disdain for the band? The idea that you either do it the way I did it or you're doing it wrong makes me cranky. Excuse me, my way seems to be working perfectly fine for me. I also always try to be diplomatic and say that we are all on the same page if we had WLS, we want to get healthy, so why worry about which surgery you or I had.
 
I guess its just like anything in life, you can find information anywhere to support your point of view. The integration of the site has just made me more aware of how people view me as a bandster. Often times, I get dismissed as if my opinions or my weight loss is of little or no consequence. I'm not the type to rip someone in the forums when this happens... so, here I am in my blog, pounding away on my keyboard getting it out of my system so I can go on my merry way.
 
In the name that all is holy... people PLEASE stop posting questions in the forums on what surgery you should get. You can get that information online, from your Dr. and just your own informed decision making skills. We can't tell you what to do and it almost always turns into a battle of my surgery is better than your surgery. Aren't we all adults and cant we just be happy for each other that we're taking steps to improve our quality of life?

Hello everyone. I have been reading everything but just haven't written much. I am busy with my family. My 95 year old mother's mind is getting worse. Last week she didn't recall my name. That sucks. My mentally challenged brother, he is 6 years older than me, is a handful. Tomorrow we are looking into adult day care for him. I hope it works.
 
Today my oldest son is 39. Can't believe I have a child that old. I baby sat his son, Max the other night. Max is 14 months and priceless. Laughs, yells and loves to eat fruit.
 
I belong to a gym and Friday was my first time there since November. I went yesterday and today and I feel much better about me. It was like starting over again. I went slow and didn't push myself but loved it. Do you know what you call people like me that pay and don't go to the gym?, profit! My husband won't get off his fat ass and go with me.
 
A high school friend posted this, funny and dumb: I want to die like my grandfather, in my sleep, no pain not yelling and screaming like the people in his car. I have a weird sense of humor.
 
Before the band my tops were either a 2 or 3 xl plus size woman's. Yesterday I bought a new sweat shirt, size misses large! Yeah! me! Now to just get rid of the muffin top which is my largest part of the body.
 
Everyone have a great week. Thursday, Boston is either getting lots of snow or rain. They don't know yet.
Arlene

Man that Superbowl was a blowout! And so has my first three days of pre-op liquid diet been. I jumped on the scale this morning and it read 285.0 which is 6 #'s less than where I started on Jan 31st. I'm very pleased. I managed to get some good exercise over the weekend shoveling snow and chopping wood for the fireplace. Tonight I hope to get to the gym for a cardio workout. This all sounds really good and it is. But, I must say there are times when the cravings are really strong. So far my will power is in check and each day I gain the confidence I can keep this rolling to the surgery date. I'll check back in on Wednesday. Until then, good luck to everyone in the same boat!

​So today would have been my parents 74th wedding anniversary. My father died at 89, almost 90 April, 2006. My mother is 95, good to decent health but the mind is gone, full blown dementia. I saw her yesterday and she hates to be bathed, needs to wear Depends and won't. She wears a huge gold ring and while lashing out broke her finger and won't let us cut the ring off. I tried to talk to her, forget it.
At 4ish am this morning she fell. She wasn't great getting an x-ray. Don't know yet if she broke anything.
Ok, now my rant!! Why is it we can put our beloved pets to sleep and not our parents/spouse or whoever, who is suffering?????????? When my father was dying, my mother, age 87, bathed him, cleaned him, spoon fed him and every day she would say, "Today is a good day for a funeral, Melvin, close your eyes". My mother is that way and if she saw the way she is, she would try to kill herself, I know that.
Sorry, but I needed to voice my thoughts. My oldest brother feels the same way as I do. It is enough for our wonderful mother. She was great!! When I see her she always says who is watching the boys. I keep telling her they are 35 & 39. She thinks they are still very young. Sad.
Thank you for listening to me.
I hope you all don't have to deal with all this.
 
I also have a brother, 69, I am the very youngest of 3, who is mentally challenged . He lives alone but I take care of him. He has type 1 diabetes and takes 4 shots a day and he doesn't get it. I try to explain and help. I have a full plate with family.
 
Everyone enjoy your day. Stay warm.
Arlene

I went to my first bariatric support group meeting tonight. It was the first time this group was meeting in our area. There was about 10 of us, some sleeve, some gastric bypass patients. I was the only band to sleeve patient. There was a variety in our ages as well. Average was probably 50.
 
We talked about many things:

What stages we were all in; which was great because it varied from 12 days post op (me) up to 2 years post op.
Struggles & triumphs (mostly triumphs thus far). One person was "stuck" since Oct with no weight loss. But, in listening to what she eats, it sounds to me as though she might be eating more 'bad' carbs than she should. But, I'm no Dr.
Strategies for success: Since I had lost 90 pounds with my band, I talked about how I felt it was very important to pre-plan my meals. I'm a bit neurotic in that I like to plan my family meals 1 month in advance. Some days are off due to activities & things get changed around. But, nonetheless, it helps to plan ahead (at least a few days or a week in advance). This way you're not running around scrambling for ideas & just grabbing whatever....
Protein intake (how much & what kind). Many that are early in recovery are using protein drinks / shakes to increase their protein. Found out its OK to use Premier Pure Protein, found at Costco. I used this before when I was a lap band patient.
Fluid intake, which I seem to be struggling with but no one else was. I got a few tips, such as drinking warm or room temp fluids might be easier to handle than ice water or cold drinks
Caffeine - do you know why we shouldn't have caffeine in the early stages? Apparently, it dehydrates us. This is something that I definitely have to avoid for the next month, at least until I have this fluid intake down properly
Exercise - I asked about going on my recumbent bike. Not something I should consider until week 6 because my stomach needs to heal better. However, walking was highly encouraged!
Maintaining a support group outside of this meeting group. Discussed the importance of how sharing our experiences helps > whether by blogging (like writing a diary) as its helpful to vent & get feedback from others, or finding a bariatric "buddy."
Focus on limiting sugar intake & increasing protein.
Fruits like strawberries, blackberries, blueberries should wait until we're 6 months out. I think it was because of the 'seeds.'
We're all planning to bring a favorite bariatric recipe in hopes of collecting 1 per person for the next few months. Then, we'll create a bariatric group recipe book. GREAT idea.

 
That's all I can think of it. Glad I wrote it down so I can remember too I hope this might have helped some of you just starting out in this journey. And, if you're an "old timer," I'd appreciate any feedback you might have on what's making your journey successful. What keeps you motivated? What helps you stay on track?

This is really a repost of something I said yesterday but thought it was worth a blog entry
 
Watching my 600lb Life on TLC can be inspirational, aggravating and downright annoying. Many times I want to reach through the TV and slap patients but more importantly the non-supporting people in their lives. I will admit I have only seen a handful of episodes.
 
One thing I can tell you from being a 5'6 488 pound morbidly obese person is it was just a struggle to wipe my butt and it was to a point where I showered after to make sure I was clean and the shower alone was a task because of the aches and pains in my muscles and joints. Walking from my car to my office even with the use of an elevator took a lot out of me. I would last 10 minutes walking the grocery store with my wife and would end up going out to the car and wait for her to finish because I was out of breath and legs ached so bad.
 
I don’t recall eating food and gaining weight simply because I was lazy or didn’t care about myself. I didn’t eat with the intent of becoming morbidly obese to a point where I couldn’t do those simplest of daily life tasks. I have a serious junk food addiction and I loved it. I ate from the moment I wake up to the moment I went to bed.
 
I am not making excuses for myself or anyone else but keep in mind you’re watching an edited reality t.v. show. Do we really know what is going in these people’s lives? They edit the crap out of these things to create the draw and because everyone loves a train wreck and more often than not they will put those things front and center.
 
One thing I am certain about is I will always remain humble and will make sure I never become like the people who used to judge me. I was a terrible mess physically and eventually mentally and I am lucky to be where I am today. I absolutely refuse to forget my 488lb self. Sometimes I wonder why me? Why was I successful? Just because someone doesn’t care about themselves doesn’t mean they don’t WANT to care about themselves.
 
Hope is a very powerful emotion and it can make or break you

I have not been around as much lately and several LBT friends have asked why……
 
I was banded in February of 2012, lost 80 pounds in 10 months and have maintained that weight until I had a tummy tuck on Halloween…
 
After the surgery I had 2 drains, they were removed after 2 weeks. Within 5 days, my tummy filled up with fluid and my doctor drained it (this is like drilling for oil with a really BIG needle….. not fun!). Within about 5 days my tummy was full again so my doctor put a drain back in. The next week the area above my belly button filled up with fluid and I had another drain put in just below my bra line.
 
About a week later I had the upper drain removed & that issue was resolved, BUT….
 
I was still accumulating over 50cc of fluid a day from my lower drain. Doc said the magic number was less than 20cc a day for 2 days in a row, well that wasn’t happening. So on Monday doc flushed Ethanol thru the tubing of my drain into the pocket in my tummy (100cc total). This is supposed to irritate the area between my skin & abdomen wall and cause it to stick together. Today (Thursday) I am still getting 30cc of fluid a day from my drain…… I go back to the doctor Monday.
 
My options are, do the flush again and if that doesn’t work…..another surgery. Ugh
 
Complications happen, I know that. But, how has this affected me mentally? Well, I can’t exercise (every time I do the amount of fluid goes up), I can’t go in my hot tub with my husband (open incision), Have this glamorous drain to carry around in my pocket….. IT SUCKS!
 
And I have gotten very depressed over it. I have disconnected from my life lines (Local support group, LBT wait I mean Bariatric Pal, and my family) Yes I looked to food for comfort. (We won’t even add the holidays on top of all this….)
So you wonder….how is my weight? I am about 10 pound over my original goal weight (I weigh between 177-180, depends on the day). But even more important is how I am mentally? I will be honest, I am struggling. I am pissed, why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? WHY? Oh WHY? OH WHY????? Full on pitty me party here!!!!
 
This is my confession, I am not the perfect role model. I struggle, I have pitty me parties, I ask why me…… and so I stayed away from my support. Too many people saw me as inspiration. How can I be inspiration when I am like this????
 
I am taking my complications day by day. I am not giving up (& yes the tummy tuck was worth it). I just don’t think I can motivate anyone right now.

As I write this, the snow has started, again. It is around 10 out and it may get 35 tomorrow or what I call a heat wave. Every year my husband wants to go down south but my children and grandsons live here. Our elderly mothers live here. Also you need $$$ to live in 2 places but tonight is Mega Millions, over $550 million, so that would get him his warm weather.
 
This past week I have had vertigo and the room has been spinning. Awful. I am seeing my ENT today for my annual and hopefully he can help me. My oldest brother told me he has it too.
Not an excuse but I have not been to the gym because I am afraid of what could happen if I do any of the machines. That is why we have wonderful doctors, to help us. They help with our band questions, also.
 
I love when people bad mouth other's WLS choices. If you did not have a band or sleeve or by pass you can't judge. I do know many people who had by pass and after 7-10 years they are larger than before. One of these women said her surgery failed. WRONG! she failed. I have seen her eat and drink cocktails and wine, daily. The only sleeve people I know are at my monthly support group and they are newly done and they have no complaints, good for them. I decided I didn't want anything other than Band because it can be removed and the others can't. Each to his own and band bashing is just RUDE!
 
I hope everyone has a warm and safe week.
 
Arlene

I have not written since the new site has been up.
There are things I hate and things I like but it is Alex's brain child not mine or yours. So just grin and bear it.
 
So I am a natural red head. Only color I have ever been in 63 years. Money is very tight so 2 months ago I bought s decent color and it looked good. I couldn't do hi lites but that was fine because I wasn;t born with them. Last week my husband was with me when I went to buy another box of dye. He choose a different color. Sunday I had bright red/orange hair. It glowed!!!
I called the company and they said to buy light brown. I left it on for 20 not 30 minutes. My hair is almost black. UGH!!!!!!!!! Today I am puling out the credit card and getting hi lites. Who the f**k knows what I will look like. Anything is better than almost black on a very pale skinned red head. When you get older you have to go lighter not darker because you do get paler I think.
I can't do Thanksgiving with this color. My youngest grandson, Max will be having his 1st b. day party with about 40 people next week. Can't embarrass him.
 
I have been staying in the middle 190's for a long time now. Today I am back down under 192!!!!!!! I have been 188.? after a fill for 1-2 days. I would love to see the 180's again soon.
 
I do not eat any pies so I am not worried about Thanksgiving desserts. I have never had a pie because I don't like cooked fruit.
 
This is very long but I needed to rant about my hair color.
Have a great day. Boston is cold and rainy today. Stay warm.
Arlene aka Eye Candy

Hello and happy holidays to everyone. Tonight is Hanukkah and tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Being Jewish always meant fried potato latkes and other non healthy foods. As far as I know we are not doing a Hanukkah celebration this year being that tomorrow is turkey day. Saturday I will be seeing the whole family, plus. My youngest grandson, Max will be 1 on Friday. I don't ask menus because my son's MIL (she likes to run the show) is coming in and she is a cook and baker. She loves to bake so much that she researched her new oven ($12, 000.) She also is very thin and healthy. And she is the most frugal person I know. She likes her stuffing so much she isn't going to my brother's tomorrow. Weird!!
I hope all of you eat accordingly. I am bringing green beans to my brother's because I know that the sweet potato casserole is very sweet with marshmallows etc. and I really hate it, any way. I don't like my SIL's stuffings either which is good. My son's MIL's stuffing is the one I make with Ritz crackers but mine is better because I have added a few things. My DIL said it was much better. It was the great grandmother's recipe. So now you want to know how I have their recipe. Well, my DIL's grandfather and my MIL's brother-in-law were brothers. We are NOT related. We just share cousins and the same aunt and uncle.
Well everyone enjoy the weekend. The food, the shopping deals. MA, where I live, the stores do not open tomorrow. They open mid night, and even that is crazy. I have never gone black Friday shopping and never want to.
Peace to everyone and remember our wonderful troops that make it that we can celebrate all of our different holidays as one country.
Arlene

So I was updating my weight on the website and when I went to view my profile I saw it. Yes, I saw it. I am officially down 61lbs. My first mini goal was to get to 250 and I achieved that; my current weight is 244. But to actually look at the number of pounds lost is blowing my mind. I could never fully understand what some people meant when they said they would look at themselves and still see the fat person they were. Now I get it. Sometimes I feel like I've lost most of the weight and then other times I look at myself in the mirror and still see the same overweight person.
 
I promised myself that I wouldn't get overly obsessed with weighing myself as I don't want to get discouraged. And so far I have been doing good. I weigh myself once a week and sometimes I go two weeks without weighing myself. As long as my clothes are fitting differently and I'm able to get into clothes I couldn't wear, I know that I'm doing something right.
 
I just can't believe I've lost 61lbs!!!!!!

Well hello everyone and fellow Bariatric Pals!
 
I am so happy that the blogs are available I was going thru withdraws to a min. LOL
 
So what has been going on with me?
Well last month I did my first 5K walk and I was amazing. (see pics below)
 
I am set to have my port placement surgery on Nov 20th and I decided to take the rest of the month off.
 
I am at a plateau now on my weight lost but that will changed soon.
 
Other than that I am loving my Band!
 
Thanks for reading.

Happy Wednesday everyone!
I just like to say that consider myself a good and peaceful but when it come to me wanting to work out I become a BEAST!
 
So why am I wrong? Let me explain. I recently moved into a nice size office and my boss told me that she will be putting a float desk in there with me as a back up. It really didn't bother me because we have 10 other computers in the bulding the my co workers can used no one would used that extra desk.
 
I recently discovered that I can access YouTube at work and my office has enough space for me to work out. I usually walk around the buliding but since it is getting cold I decided to try working out in my office. I found Walk away the pounds One Mile walk on youtube it a 12 min video and it was perfect. I did it and felt amazing afterwards.
 
Okay I get straight to the point. For the last 2 day I have a co workers that been working at the spare desk in my office and I've been purposely to sweat him out. I like to be nice and warm so my office is Hot as Hell like a Sauna.
 
Did my plan work.....
 
 
YEP!!!! I came in this morning and he was not in my office. So now I can workout today. BAHAHA!
 
 
Thanks for reading.

Remember starting a new school? Having to make new friends? Trying to find your way around? Everything was so different and you hated it….
 
Remember moving to a new town? Not knowing anyone? Having to leave all your friends behind? Everything was so different and you hated it….
 
Well here we are, starting a new school…..
 
Alex has built WLS University (BariatricPal) and within that university are the specialty colleges (Lapband, Sleeve, Bypass). It is all new and SCARY! We don’t know where to go, we don’t know where our friends are…… and we are expressing feelings of dislike.
 
What if we meet some new friends? Learn about their struggles with their WLS? What if we gave them support? We all know the one similarity we share is that WE have a problem with our weight and WE had to do something about it. That problem didn’t go away when we had surgery. We just started a new journey of healing. A journey that is for life. The same journey for all of us.
 
Let’s embrace what Alex has provided us, a place to go for support, for help and for education. I know it is scary right now, we are only 2 weeks into the new school. (Don’t know about you but I keep getting lost.)
 
But, in time this new university will be our old familiar stomping ground. We will be running into all our friends all the time. We will know the layout like the back of our hands…..If only we give it a chance.
 
Thank you Alex for building us this beautiful WLS University called BariatricPal.

So things have been going pretty well. I am getting one or two 30 min walks in every day and sticking to the diet. I was down to 229 lbs. this morning, the first time I have been under 230 for months. I was feeling very positive. I headed for Walmart for a few groceries. As I was entering the store, sitting on a bench in the entry area was a 30 something woman who appeared to be having trouble breathing. She was extremely obese, likely over 450 lbs (I can reasonable make that guess because I had an aunt who weighed that much and was about the same size). As a nurse, I was concerned for her and I asked her if she was ok. Through her difficult breaths, she indicated she would be ok and she said "I'm waiting for an electric cart. I just walked in from my car." I was stunned and felt a fear I hadn't experienced before....I could be experiencing those same symptoms if I don't take care of myself. Funny how I don't think I was ever afraid of being overweight before. It didn't interfere much with the things I do, but did I only do the things I was able to do, not everything I could do? That is a thought I am going to give much attention to as I go through this journey.

As some of you know I watch tv until the wee hours and sleep late. On Nightline last night was about going out of the country for less expensive surgeries. A company in NC with letters like HSM (can't recall exactly) had two employees who needed surgery. The company sent them to Costa Rica first class all the way. The woman had by pass or sleeve (was not the band) and the man had knee replacement. Plus the company gave them each $2500. for sh*ts. The company felt by sending them to Costa Rica they saved about 1/2 price.
 
After they showed everything and of course everything came out ok they had on a Harvard lawyer. The lawyer said that if there was a problem there is no mal-practice insurance and how great are the doctors etc. The knee replacement inserts (I'll them) were around $7-9000. and in this country double. They said that is why people go to other countries for surgery.
 
Just giving Arlene's thoughts and informing others about out of country surgeries. I have seen on this site that some people go to Mexico. There is a weird saying that a person who finishes last place at medical school is still called 'doctor'.

The weather today in Boston is around 77 degrees and sunny. Tomorrow even warmer.
Lately I have been going to the gym again. I go for around 30 minutes, better than nothing.
 
I live about 2 miles from a community college and my husband (age 63) is now a student 2 days a week. We have one car so today I drove him. I got to the college early so I could walk around the campus. WOW-it took 10 minutes and my Fitbit said about 800 steps. I was shocked how fast the long walk was and how little steps I took. Before the band I never would have even thought about walking to the end of the parking lot, let alone walk around the building. I guess being obese you look at the picture as huge, like my body was, and not as I can do it and will do it. My husband said I should have walked around 2 times but I didn't like the area. The side walks ended and you had to walk through a parking lot with vehicles always moving. Not very safe. Before you know it wonderful winter and snow will be here and you can't walk around outside.
 
Enjoy this wonderful weather where ever you are. The walk is shorter than you think
It takes me 30-60 minutes to do food shopping than take a fun walk. Never thought of it like that.

I went home, to my home church, for Homecoming yesterday. The pastor spoke on being sucessful. He said in order to be a success at anything we have to admit our issues, deal with them and let them go- you can't look back and forward at the same time. Sometimes, I admit I hold on to the past to much.
 
At 186 I still see myself at 240. It's hard to admit that I look pretty good now, because if I do I might slip up and go backward. My weight loss has stopped since summer, I have stayed in the 186-189 range. With stress, the NUT says that is good. I haven't gained- true, but I haven't lost either.
 
I realize the definition of insanity, is continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result. I do make better choices when it comes to my diet, but not the best choices. With the band I physically can not eat the amount I use to, but I don't always chose the healtiest option. I must get better at this. I know that exercise can make a huge difference, but I have yet to really settle into a work out routine. The occasional workout is BS. I walk a couple times a week and I work in the yard at least one day a week. Yes, I stay busy, most of the time. But, I know after I finish the dishes at night- I need to do something physical instead of getting my shower and crashing in front of the boob tube.
 
Right now, I am not having issues with eating to much at the time, but to much over all. While I am not diabetic, my body is having trouble keeping my sugar levels regulated. I pretty much have to eat every 2 hours or risk getting shakey and passing out. It doesn't seem to have a bearing on what I eat. Last week, I got really bad off. I started talking out of my head- my sugar was in the 30's. A friend of mine just moved back here and she is a ER doc- she finally just got a Twix bar and made me eat it. It still took about 30 min for me to come totally out of it. I have got to see an endocranologist for test, but can't get an appointment until Dec. So until then I must eat something every 2 hours. So I have my phone set to go off- Even during the night I have hard candy by my bed to eat one when I go potty- this ensures when I do get up I can function. This totally sucks and I know it has nothing to do with my band, but still make things difficult.
 
Work has been rough for a few months now and it isn't getting better, so with everything going on it really gets me down in the dumps. My husband is great encouragement, but he is busy to with his two jobs.
 
I know I must now get back to basics and teach my self yet a new routine, so my body gets what it needs, not to much, but enough and timed so I can keep everything in balance.
 
I must look forward- I can't ask myself why, how, or whine about the circumstances I find myself in- I must look forward, develop a new plan of action and empliment.
 
Any of you have issue like this that can offer advice?

I was bad with my dinner last night. But I loved every bit of it. Today is another day and I will be better. I did not over eat, I just ate the wrong things. I had 3 coconut shrimp, great bread dunked in oil and cheese pizza. The local restaurant has a great football special when the N.E. Patriots play. Yes they won!!!
 
On one of my other WLS groups one person spoke of her friend and by pass. The woman had by pass about 10 years ago and was doing great for a while. She is now in the hospital for revision. She stretched out her pouch and when the doctor went to sew her insides it was like cotton candy, her words not mine. The woman is on ice chips for a few days and in the hospital for at least 10 days. If that doesn't scare the S**T out of you, nothing will.
 
​I never was a drinker. In fact the last frozen Girl Scout cookie I had I broke out into hives and never had a drink since. That was over 15 years ago. So drinking was never anything I was going to miss with my journey. I never liked fast foods and yet I was and am obese. Fast food was always a comfort food but not for me. Give me bread and more bread, ice cream. I now have bread in restaurants and maybe once or twice a month in my own house.
 
I think we all went into this new journey to get healthy, be thinner and move our bodies that were just sitting around. No one forced us but we need to be smarter with choices. Like CG always says, Listen to your doctor!! Listen to your dietitian and finally listen to your body.
 
Have a great week. October is tomorrow and before you know it Halloween. I only buy candy I hate and I hate more candies than I like. I never had a problem with buying candy. Yes, I hate Snickers!!
 
Arlene

At the beginning of this year I decided once and for all I would finally do something about my weight. For years my weight has yo-yoed. I have dieted and lost 50 lbs, just to turn around and gain 60. I needed something a little more permanent. However since I really hadn't been going to the doctor I had to go through a 6+ months of meeting with my PCP, dietician and psychologist. We are getting close. The paperwork has now been filed with the insurance company and we should hear back within the next two weeks. Hopefully it should only be another couple of weeks after that when I can truly start my weight loss journey.
 
While I can't wait the surgery is probably going to take place less than a month before my next big BBQ competition and of course Thanksgiving. Clear liquids during a BBQ competition and Thanksgiving will suck. I will have to trust my "pit crew".
 
My pre-surgery weight is currently 455. When I got married, I was 270 with body fat % of about 10%. My goal weight is to get back to the weight I got married at, that will be 175 lbs. Wish me luck.
 
Paul "Bear"

I love the old cartoons. Warner Bros. use to have retail stores and I bought everything, clothes, gifts, dog toys and art. Yes I have cartoon art all over the house.
About 18-20 years ago I was thinner and purchased a pair of jeans with the Taz, Bugs Bunny and others on them. Today, they FIT!! A super duper NSV for me. I even have the matching 't' shirt. I own a few long sleeved shirts with characters all over them. Like I said. I love the old fashioned cartoons.

​One of my favorite prints is called 'Speechless'. It is a microphone and off to the side are the characters that Mel Blanc did the voices for. It was when he died. That is my all time favorite. Yes I am a 63 year Grammie who is young at heart and I show it off.
 
Do other young at hearts have cartoon people in their life?
Have a great weekend. The weather in Boston is great today. I went to the gym in shorts.

I've found that in the 4 weeks since I've had my surgery I am obsessing about how much weight I'm losing. I'm losing a decent amount, but I want to make this work so badly I've forgotten about patience.
 
Patience hasn't always been a virtue of mine, but I'm thinking this is something I'm going to have to work on. I didn't get fat overnight. It happened over years and I'm expecting to lose so much in months. Don't ge me wrong, I still think its important for me to have goals. I just need to be realistic.
 
This is not a sprint to the finish line its a life changing marathon, with hills, valleys, and bumps. I'm really appreciating the people on here who are so open and caring to give me good advice and help keep my mind straight and help me realize what's happening with my mind and body is normal.
 
Today, I am going to stop worrying. I will follow my Doctor's instructions and walk through my journey, so hopefully one day soon I will be able to help others.

Well, it's post op day 4 and I'm trying to figure out this new me! Happily I am feeling really good! The surgery went well and I'm glad I was able to stay overnight in the hospital...I do feel it made quite a difference in my confidence coming home. I did not experience the gas some complain of and was able to sleep in my own bed laying on my side the very first night. Only needed some liquids Tylenol for pain too.
 
I have tons of info to read and re-read but when it comes down to the nitty gritty your pretty much on your own to figure out your new "innards".
 
I need to drink lots of fluids as not to dehydrate but that's tough one sip at a time...I'm getting in as much as I can! Not nearly what I should. Will keep working on that!
 
Eating...wow...that's a whole new world...again get in your protein shakes first...very important, but only can take in 3-4ozs at a time...trying to throw in some soup to add some variety but not a lot of protein there! I'm very much looking forward to mushies (actually looking forward to some tuna fish)-don't know why but I am! Then there's the whole- are you full??...it sounds easy to know pre-banding but not so much after! Afraid of taking that one more sip that may push you over the top....I'm getting it-slowly but surely! Still some very old habits to break there (going slower, actually thinking about what your doing when you eat, and the whole clean your plate club)--all of which are very embedded after years and years of use.
 
Then there's the vitamins...need to get them in but their chewable and big and I'm on liquids-so I chew and chew and dissolve them all the way! They taste pretty yummy...lol.
 
It's a lot of pressure to follow all the rules. That parts a no-brainier for me-it took me a long time to finally decide on WLS and I won't jeopardize anything by cutting corners...but it's hard...not a bad hard just a new hard.
 
Many said the band is a lot of work and they weren't kidding! I know I'm fresh out of the starting gate and things will continue to progress, heal, and I will become more accustumed to and knowledgeable about my new me!
 
I'm blessed to have the most supportive hubby and two little ones who are being gentle on my belly but still sharing lots of hugs and kisses with their mama. I'm blessed to have been given this new chance to make a change for the better concerning my health and to finally feel better about myself and who I
am.
 
So this is a whole new chapter in my book of life!
 
And these weren't complaints or gripes about the band but more of an acknowledgement that I have much to continue to learn about me and my new little friend...
 
They say you learn something new everyday...ain't that the truth....and a good truth it is!
 
So to all those who have helped me get this far, and you know who you are...I say a great big THANK YOU-because as scary and as daunting and as exciting of an adventure as this whole banded world is -it's nice to have people who know what you're taking about and care to help!