hagerteresa

Hey Donali, My hubby helped with the pic. They are so handy sometimes;) My thoughts are with you over the next few days. I am sure everything will go smooth but wanted to let you know I am thinking about you and hope you have a short easy recovery. I am hoping your tummy has shrunk A LOT with all of that weight loss this past year and it won't be so difficult after all to maintain your loss and keep losing. Thanks Penni for the nice comment. I absolutely hate pictures of myself so I let my better half choose the portrait. T

I finally got a picture in place of my non-existent avatar. Yeah!!!

Good luck Debbie

So is it officially Oct. 8-10? Vegas still, right? Lisa that was funny about the chicken. LOL I WILL get my picture on here soon. Cant find one I like yet. LOL. I have a lot of good features that would be hard to show off on such a small picture.

Lisa, I wouldn't worry about those pea brains. You inspired me to go check up on that board and I saw what that rude moderator had to say. You NEVER have offended me and quite frankly I enjoy your sense of humor. Can't speak for others but I am glad you are in this group. I have never found those yahoo groups to be useful and always liked this group a lot better because it does seem more personal. Is that just because I get to see your cute little pictures along with your names? I don't know but I do love this group. Have a good day Lisa, Teresa

Hi again Donali, I have been thinking and came to this conclusion: Nobody ever said you were an expert about the band. When/If I ever had a major problem I would run straight to my local family practitioner. He has had patients in the past with the band and is a pretty common sense kind of doctor. He would know what to do if I had a problem. In fact that is exactly what I did when my port wound leaked and wanted to give Old Faithful (I think that is the name of the geiser at yellowstone) a run for it's money. I call on my fellow bandster friends for those days that we get those quirky temporary sensations or just need reassurance that we are doing everything correctly. I think your advice always sounds very common sense and based on facts. That is why I like it. It just sounds educated. Trust me, if you advised me to do something really wacky or unheard of I am sure I would question it. Teresa

Donali, What could you possibly advise me about that could cause an erosion for me? Don't eat screws or nails??? That might help, but can't think of much else. LOL You lived a bandster life for 18 months and I am sure you had lots of experiences that newbies will find useful. I know you are indecisive about what caused the erosion but it was probably a combination of LOTS of factors most of which are probably just complicated body chemistry. Maybe you did have an occassional bigger than normal meal, SO WHAT! I have heard more than one person mention a time or two of slight over-indulging. I am sure you weren't gurgling acid or anything of that nature. You were the first to tell me NO NO NO SODA! (Which I have stuck by I might add). Your the BEST! T

Donali, Did you ever consider having the removal done in the states as an emergency procedure? Would your insurance cover that at all? I know I have suggested this before but never heard why you won't seem to do that? Just curious... I have mentioned before that my insurance would cover a major emergency with the band but wouldn't actually cover the installation of the band. Hope you have a good night, Teresa

A big slumber party sounds absolutely fabulous!!! We can all relax and jibber jabber. Too bad we don't know anybody with a great big vacation house. One thing we could see about doing is renting out a whole bed and breakfast. We frequently have people do that at the one I work at. Last year a group of airline stewardess rented out the whole place for three days and they had a blast. When we have weddings we require the family to rent the whole place out for a two night minimum. I don't necessarily need a bed as I have an air mattress. I cannot wait!!! Teresa

If you are still in your mushy phase some blended up chicken salad is good. I just make it homemade and then throw it in the processor for a minute. Great on saltines (if your at the cracker stage) I call it my own version of chicken pate' I add celery, onion, olives, shredded cheese, a little mayo, mustard, salt and pepper. If you need to track your Protein more, use the fitday program. www.fitday.com. I like the free version. Best of luck, Teresa

Yes, yes, yes yes yes. That does sound fun!!!! Teresa

I gave up on the mexicanbandsters and smartbandsters sites when I found this sight. There was just no personalness to that site. People rarely answered my questions and I didn't find it very helpful. Like the prior person I mainly just found it unorganized and a bit confusing. I just don't like their format. I love the pictures we can add to this site and truly think it is more of a SUPPORT group. I never got any support from those other sites. Its like they took the words "support" right out of the mix. I haven't even bothered to read what they posted towards Lisa and Donali but no doubt I would be furious. About the half cup servings. Your all right, that may be plenty for someone with great restriction but since I have yet to get a fill my meals are definitely a little more than a 1/2 cup. I AM STILL LOSING!!!! If I was following any particular diet plan it would probably be most like weight watchers. I don't do points but I do keep a careful record of my calories and where they are coming from. Fitday lets me check my nutricianal requirements as well as activities done each day. I love that program! Alex, did you ever figure out or get advice about the calories burned thing on fitday? It always says I burn around 4500 too including basal, lifestyle and activities. It just seems like a lot to me, but as long as its semi accurate I won't complain. I thought this was a great topic and have been curious about it for a long time. I thought one of the benefits of the band was being able to eat less than normal and feel comfortable. It sounds like some people in the other forums just think they need to continue to starve and be uncomfortable. Teresa

Hi Shelly, Good luck on getting the band. I hope it all works out for you. I have only had mine 7 weeks but don't regret a minute of it. Best wishes, Teresa

I think if we did Vegas, wouldn't we want to wait for a little cooler weather. Say late this fall? Or early next spring? I would love to go to Vegas or anywhere. Carmen, I may need to take you up on those reduced cost airline tickets. Definitely 3-6 months out would be ideal. Thanksgiving at Lisa's sounds like a lot of fun but plane tickets probably wouldn't be the cheapest. What about a few weeks before thanksgiving? This sounds like soooooo much fun.

We could plan it several months out so that we all can try to save up money for a flight. Ussually flights to Vegas are one of the cheaper ones. I have NEVER been to Vegas and would love to go and meet all of you. I don't really care where we go but meeting all of you would be fun. It is possible for me to plan ahead and travel. Alex you absolutely must come so how can we figure out a way? I have never been to the east coast either and have always wanted to. I am game for anything. Penni, if you need help planning let me know. What about a big group camping trip somewhere? Yellowstone? Never been there either-LOL. I love to brainstorm ideas. Keep thinking folks. It has to work! Teresa

Hi Tawn, My name is Teresa and I live in the Eugene, Oregon area. I am 30 yrs old, married 5 years, no kids but lots of pets. Maybe if we are ever headed in each other's direction we should try to meet up. I am 7 weeks post op and down 32 lbs. Your banded friends will be very important support for you. Best of luck to all of you. Teresa

Michelle- You are doing great! I am impressed. Alex- I think this is a very good issue to bring up because I am never sure how much to eat of anything. I've just kind of followed my gut feeling and comfort level. Donali- I can't imagine you could have possibly done anything to cause your erosion. Granted I am fairly new at this but as far as I'm concerned you seemed like you knew what you were doing as far as eating. You always gave clear cut intelligent advice on dozens of subjects and I don't believe you are a person that would give advice but not follow it yourself. You had best keep your presence on this board because people like me and other newer people really need you. Lisa- you always crack me up, so you had best not go anywhere either. Teresa

She is gorgeous!!! Congratulations to the new family and grandmom. Best wishes, Teresa

Hi Lisa, I was in bird 4-H years ago. Helped handraise many baby parrots. We have had several birds in our adult years too and here is what I think: THEY ARE MESSY (and it hurts when they bite!) I purchased a beautiful adult female Goffin Cockatoo several years ago and the witch fell in love with MY hubby! She would act all cute and sweet with me and then whammo! she would bite me to the bone! One time she bit my finger, leaped down and bit my TOE! She cornered me in the kitchen one day and I had to call for help. This bird was only the size of a football but she had me beat. LOL Here was my most recent critter stress: Yesterday I was going to be good and take my dogs for a walk. Just out the door I noticed blood gushing from my Corgis foot and she was limping severely. She had pulled a nail completely out of her foot bone but it was still hanging on. We had to take her to the emergency vet. For some reason the vets didn't see this as serious as some other cases so everytime we were next in line, we would get bumped out by some other tragic critter coming in. Of course they didn't know that my poor little girl is terrified of even having her feet touched much less the thought of severe pain, so we were worried about shock and seizures this entire waiting period. She was shaking like a leaf. We got there at 8:30 PM and left at 1:30 AM and $175 less money. Ugh!!! They wanted to charge $250 but I talked them down. I am so sleepy today I can't stand it. Good luck at your new job. Teresa

Okay fellows, Here's my take. As I am only 7 weeks out, have not had a fill and am still losing here is my opinion: I have become very calorie conscous. I love fitday and have based my weight loss on my caloric intake which is between 1200 and 1500 calories a day. My meals typically are a 1/3 the size they used to me. Yesterday I had 2 oz. ham for lunch, 1/4 cup of homemade Pasta salad, and 1 slice of cut up cantaloupe. Breakfast today was 2 morningstar vegetarian sausages and one egg. I try to spread my calories out, eat more fruit, excercise a little more and allow myself one real treat a day. I am a chocolate addict so most times I'll allow myself 200 calories towards a special chocolate treat. I don't get anything that is in a bulk package as I probably would cheat but am safe if servings are individually packaged. I am trying to find the perfect calorie count to allow the most comfortable weightloss. Teresa Dr. Lopez 5/8/04 -32 362/330/?

Congratulations Julie! Welcome and Keep up the good work, Teresa

Hi Lori, I tried to email you a couple of times but just get an error. Where do you live in Oregon? I live just a few minutes from the Eugene area. I would love to find some local bandster friends. Teresa

I get the depo-provera shots and have for years. I imagine that is one thing that has kept me heavy and gaining weight over the years. I was due for a shot as soon as I got back home after surgery and went and got it. I have been losing just fine though. Even though the hormones of the pill may typically cause weight gain, I don't think it will be able to counteract the band. I am not an expert though, Teresa

Hello, I have had my band 7 weeks and have done just fine. I had all of the same anxieties before I got my band. I even cried all the way to surgery just because I was so nervous. I had been scheduled for an 8 am surgery time and they finally got me in at about 3 pm, so I had several hours to starve and get more nervous. None of the nurses spoke much english so we didn't know what was going on. All in all, everything went great and yours will too. Donali has mentioned in the past that erosion statistically happens 1-3%. It's supposed to be very low. Best wishes to you, Teresa

I have gotten pretty good with fitday also. I haven't gotten the "purchased' version but seem to do fine with the free one. recipes are a pain in the butt. I initially had to do each ingredient one by and and divide it by the number of portions I thought it made. I then found that if you have a recipe that at least has the nutricianal facts you can just custom do your own nutricianal portion thingy which makes it easier. Also if its something you have more than once the custom thing gets saved and can just be pulled down and reselected for a different day. I noticed that basal, lifestyle and activity excercise thing too. In fact I asked a nurse friend of mine about it today. She said that the basal did in fact just represent the energy it takes to live, pump blood, digest food, etc. Lifestyle I guess is just want it says but it seems I put a lot of my lifestyle type things as activities. Don't entirely get it either, so let me know if someone else does. Teresa