lisacaron

@@Amanda.Root Very glad to hear that you have found a place that is determined to help you get to the bottom of what's plaguing you. You are right about all the vomiting not being good for the band. You could have issues, but hopefully those will not happen and your band will stay well placed and you will find out what is causing you to be sick and continue to work with the band if you choose. If not, and it is the band causing the issues, and/or you have a subsequent issue arise from being ill and have to have the band replaced there are several options out there for you if you wish to continue on the road of WLS. The first thing is to get to the bottom of what's wrong. Keep breathing, eat light, and have faith that your in good hands with this new group. Best of luck to you, let us know how you are doing.

@@Amanda.Root I'm not taking a side here with your surgeon, however I would like to tell you that it sounds like what might be needed here is an OB/GYN Dr. Years prior to my band I had some similar issues that would happen to me on a cycle and not in conjunction with a period but outside of that. In the end I had to have a subtotal hysterectomy and I have 100% better since then. It took a very long time for them to diagnose the issue since it was hidden behind my intestines. One of my fallopian tubes was so swollen it was about to burst and as each cycle would go it would swell and shrink and cause all kinds of symptoms and when it was at it's most swollen it would impact my intestines and cause a blockage that would cause vomiting diarrhea and/or constipation all with brain searing headaches. Don't just assume that everything wrong with us is our bands, or our WLS surgery. Find a good hospital that also has a bariatric team and have them get to the bottom of it.

Dr. Garber's office stopobesityforlife also has an office in NYC. I have just recently switched offices to the Roslyn office since my surgeon retired. I can't say enough great things about their office. Please consider joining us for our live Bariatric Pal Support group this Sunday details are below. The next meeting of the NYC/Long Island Bariatric Pal Support Group will be held on Sunday, January 11th, from 2PM till 4 PM at The Atrium at 805 Third Avenue. The building is on Third Ave between 49th and 50th Streets. The Atrium is at the back of the space on the lower level.

I just love this! I need to remember this more often than not!!! I spend more time on energy on the wrong things and not enough on the things I need to be doing for my self and my health!

@@livlife We all have our different paths, and you started out with a few speed bumps to say the least!! I can totally understand where you are coming from and applaud you for acknowledging that as well and making a commitment to yourself to getting back on track. I have to do this with myself nearly every day!! If I don't then I can find myself in a tail spin out of control and looking for who's head I can chop off as the guilty party!!! In the end I know that it's all me. Yes I might have some real complications along the way and it sounds as if you totally did. So don't beat yourself up, just pick yourself up dust yourself off, today is a new day and another opportunity to make reach your goals. I find that if I set mini goals daily for myself I feel great when I accomplish them and I take note of the reasons why I wasn't able to if I don't. Sometimes I am too aggressive with myself and my goals and I have to reassess and revamp them a few times before I can cross the finish line. The five day pouch reset is a good way to start. I am banded, but when I know I have gotten off track and lost sight of things, the best thing for me to do is to get back to the basics and reset. Not just my body, but my mind as well. I know you can do this, and @@gowalking is right you will find lots of support among the members of this site!!! Best of luck to you and Happy New Year!

@@BloomingLotus even though you have not had your surgery as yet our group is open to all pre-op and post- op. We find there is much to learn from those just starting out as well as veterans who have been at this for a while

This is a sad thread...but also an uplifting one!! I love seeing all the fur babies!!! I lost my kitty Cat of 15 years in September, and that was not easy they spend so much time with us. We remember her every day, and right after she passed we rescued 3 dogs! two pups and their Mamma to add to our collection of 2 other adopted kitty Cats. Here are a few photo's

@@Fluffy_Gurl I totally understand where you are coming from. Stress is a big trigger for me and you have been through a lot. Don't underestimate the power that our hormones have over us. It's great that you are ready to refocus and get back on track. I have to do that every day!! I can easily be knocked off track by stress and find it very hard to get back again. First let me tell you that you are and have done amazing in losing your weight. Now take a deep breath and here we go!! This site is wonderful place to come to for support, guidance, information and a myriad of other things. When I am "off track" what I find works the best for me is going back to basics. From early days of banding and just resetting my mind and body. I will go back to Protein shakes, and things like that and what's even better is that they don't get me sick when I am super stressed or upset and I am getting in the protein that my body needs. I try to schedule and pre-plan my meals and workouts so that I am on a schedule. My biggest issues are allowing others to derail my efforts and I know this. It's as simple as my hubs telling me he doesn't want to go food shopping...and I know I have to get things for work to be "on track" or my son who is picking up his first car tonight and needs me to be there with him...can keep me from keeping my gym appointment. However I am working this year on keeping my resolve FIRM and sticking to my plans and having other things work around my schedule vs me doing for others in-spite of myself. I am a self saboteur and I know this about myself so I have to work on it I come here when I need the support and the advice of others on the same journey. Hope to see you here as well and together we will all make it work!

Wonderful and you can tell how happy you are!!!

@@Band Aid mom very exciting!!! I'm sure that you and your daughters will do great!! It is wonderful to have people in your life that understand where you are coming from. My husband and I were banded 3 days apart and it really helps to be able to work together on our journey and understand what's going on with each other. If you are all having surgery the same day, I really do feel for your husband if he is going to be the primary care taker for you all at the same time. My advice is that if you are able to stay the night in the hospital do so. Also prepare your home with everything you will need X3. Ice packs, heating pads, Gas Ex, sugar free ice pops, Sugar free Jello, shakes, all of the things you will need so your husband doesn't have to be stressed getting things for each of you to make you comfy. You will find that you will have lots of supporters on this site!!

@@Deedee13 you are right about the mucinex. This will only make your issues worse. You want something to "dry" it up. See your Dr. and and ask for a nasal spray. Additionally go to the pharmacy and try getting a saline nasal spray this will help to clear and dry up the sinus and prevent some of the post nasal drip. I am a horrible allergy sufferer and I have post nasal drip more often then not, and these things are definitely a big help especially during cold and flu season. You want the area to be clear and not create a breeding ground for bacteria and viral infections which is what post nasal drip does. Because the area is moist most of the time it creates a breeding ground and we can get sick more often. It also doesn't help our tummy or our stoma when it's clogged up with nasty stuff. Mucinex is great if your impacted sinus or chest congestion but if things are moving try something more to dry it up then to make it more productive now. I also find a cup of warm tea will help to clear the mucus from the stoma and make eating more palatable and smoother as well, and tea is a natural antioxidant that will also help to boost your immune system. Feel better!!!

It's Monday!!! Back to reality!! I have to be honest I really enjoyed these holidays. The time off from work was awesome. 2 weeks of 4 day weekends plus some extra time off. I have to tell you I am spoiled and I was getting used to it!!! TOO used to it and now it's time to get back into the groove again of getting work done and focusing on my goals. Here are a few fun photo's of Ken and I on NYE.

Today is New Year’s Eve, and it’s the end of another calendar year and the start of a new one. I have been thinking a lot about all the events that transpired over the last year, thinking to myself and wondering if there is something magical in the changing of the year. At midnight tonight the numbers of the year will change from 2014 to 2015. Thinking about this had me thinking about all the changing numbers in our lives….and wondering if we can find magic there as well…. We can find so many reasons to celebrate and often those “celebrations” can be the very things that sabotage us. All the food the drink the sweets oh my!!! I find that it’s easy to lose the magic amidst the buffet tables of chocolate covered everything, roasted, toasted, glazed and sugared where even the sweet potatoes are candied. You vow to just enjoy a bite OK maybe two and raise a glass to toast the season, and then you find yourself amidst the crowd being offered this and that and handed beverage after beverage and you really aren’t eating so much as grazing among the sugar plum fairies that dance in your head. Before you know it someone has passed Uncle Joe and/or Aunt May just one too many beverages and you are now caught in the center of the next family drama. Your friend spilled wine on your new couch and your niece is making out with the neighbor in the basement. {{Scandal!}} The magic of the “New Year” has lost its shine. The high of the Winter Season’s festivities has crash landed into a New Year. That slate wiped clean….or rather the sparkle and glitter have flaked away leaving behind a pounding head, a bloated belly and the weak resolutions to “eat better” and get thee to the gym! So my friends I ask you how do you spend your New Year’s Eve? Do you set it up and time it out perfectly with the ball dropping in Times Square or some other place on the planet? Do you plan an elaborate party or plan to attend one? Do you snuggle up with your loves and quietly celebrate?? No matter how you choose to celebrate, think of all the times the numbers in your life that change, not just from year to year but each number on the scale, each birthday, and anniversary, each day, hour, minute and second that provides us yet another opportunity to celebrate life!! Forget the family drama and the scandals navigate the buffet tables and beverage bars with mindful thoughts of celebration knowing that today is not the last time you will celebrate. Your head and belly will thank you in the morning and if you’re lucky you might just find that the sparkle, glitter and magic remain in your life and your resolutions are more of a commitment to yourself. To be happy and healthy and to celebrate life all through the year!!

Today is New Year’s Eve, and it’s the end of another calendar year and the start of a new one. I have been thinking a lot about all the events that transpired over the last year, thinking to myself and wondering if there is something magical in the changing of the year. At midnight tonight the numbers of the year will change from 2014 to 2015. Thinking about this had me thinking about all the changing numbers in our lives….and wondering if we can find magic there as well…. We can find so many reasons to Celebrate and often those “celebrations” can be the very things that sabotage us. All the food the drink the sweets oh my!!! I find that it’s easy to lose the magic amidst the buffet tables of chocolate covered everything, roasted, toasted, glazed and sugared where even the sweet potatoes are candied. You vow to just enjoy a bite OK maybe two and raise a glass to toast the season, and then you find yourself amidst the crowd being offered this and that and handed beverage after beverage and you really aren’t eating so much as grazing among the sugar plum fairies that dance in your head. Before you know it someone has passed Uncle Joe and/or Aunt May just one too many beverages and you are now caught in the center of the next family drama. Your friend spilled wine on your new couch and your niece is making out with the neighbor in the basement. {{Scandal!}} The magic of the “New Year” has lost its shine. The high of the Winter Season’s festivities has crash landed into a New Year. That slate wiped clean….or rather the sparkle and glitter have flaked away leaving behind a pounding head, a bloated belly and the weak resolutions to “eat better” and get thee to the gym! So my friends I ask you how do you spend your New Year’s Eve? Do you set it up and time it out perfectly with the ball dropping in Times Square or some other place on the planet? Do you plan an elaborate party or plan to attend one? Do you snuggle up with your loves and quietly celebrate?? No matter how you choose to celebrate, think of all the times the numbers in your life change, not just from year to year but each number on the scale, each birthday, and anniversary, each day, hour, minute and second that provides us yet another opportunity to celebrate life!! Forget the family drama and the scandals navigate the buffet tables and beverage bars with mindful thoughts of celebration knowing that today is not the last time you will celebrate. Your head and belly will thank you in the morning and if you’re lucky you might just find that the sparkle, glitter and magic remain in your life and your resolutions are more of a commitment to yourself. To be happy and healthy and to celebrate life all through the year!!

Today is New Year’s Eve, and it’s the end of another calendar year and the start of a new one. I have been thinking a lot about all the events that transpired over the last year, thinking to myself and wondering if there is something magical in the changing of the year. At midnight tonight the numbers of the year will change from 2014 to 2015. Thinking about this had me thinking about all the changing numbers in our lives….and wondering if we can find magic there as well…. We can find so many reasons to Celebrate and often those “celebrations” can be the very things that sabotage us. All the food the drink the sweets oh my!!! I find that it’s easy to lose the magic amidst the buffet tables of chocolate covered everything, roasted, toasted, glazed and sugared where even the sweet potatoes are candied. You vow to just enjoy a bite OK maybe two and raise a glass to toast the season, and then you find yourself amidst the crowd being offered this and that and handed beverage after beverage and you really aren’t eating so much as grazing among the sugar plum fairies that dance in your head. Before you know it someone has passed Uncle Joe and/or Aunt May just one too many beverages and you are now caught in the center of the next family drama. Your friend spilled wine on your new couch and your niece is making out with the neighbor in the basement. {{Scandal!}} The magic of the “New Year” has lost its shine. The high of the Winter Season’s festivities has crash landed into a New Year. That slate wiped clean….or rather the sparkle and glitter have flaked away leaving behind a pounding head, a bloated belly and the weak resolutions to “eat better” and get thee to the gym! So my friends I ask you how do you spend your New Year’s Eve? Do you set it up and time it out perfectly with the ball dropping in Times Square or some other place on the planet? Do you plan an elaborate party or plan to attend one? Do you snuggle up with your loves and quietly celebrate?? No matter how you choose to celebrate, think of all the times the numbers in your life change, not just from year to year but each number on the scale, each birthday, and anniversary, each day, hour, minute and second that provides us yet another opportunity to celebrate life!! Forget the family drama and the scandals navigate the buffet tables and beverage bars with mindful thoughts of celebration knowing that today is not the last time you will celebrate. Your head and belly will thank you in the morning and if you’re lucky you might just find that the sparkle, glitter and magic remain in your life and your resolutions are more of a commitment to yourself. To be happy and healthy and to celebrate life all through the year!!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Holiday Season!!! As this year winds up and a new year is set to unfold, lets take some time to reflect on what we have accomplished in the past year as well as what goals we set for ourselves. Did we reach those goals? If not....lets ask ourselves where we are in relation to those goals. Did we get close...or did we fail to make a start? Did we give up? Do we need to revise the goal to make it more attainable for us? Lets begin to think about and write down some of our goals for the new year. Not just in weight loss, but in all area's of our lives. Health, well being, financial independence, work, family, schooling. Perhaps this year we might start something new, perhaps make a commitment to keeping a journal, taking scuba or sky diving lessons, practicing and participating in a race.... What are some of your goals, and what are you looking forward to in this new year? Liz and I are discussing putting a meeting together on January 10th. The date is tentative at this point, but keep following the thread and we will have more information to you soon! Happy Holidays!!! Be safe, happy and healthy wherever you find yourself as you ring in the New Year!

You look marvelous!!! I am going to remember these words...and hope that I can get to my weight loss goal and then think about this surgery. I may have to put this into my retirement plan so that I can have the surgery before I retire

I'd be interested in what kind of healthy living challenges. Maybe a bit more information??

@@Janett09 I'm looking at your photo's and you look totally amazing. I have to ask how did they do this tuck? I see only a tiny bandage on your belly button and your skin looks awesome. Please give us a few more details if you would. What was your recovery time, pain level etc? I have a very young cousin who lost a lot of weight and her incision site was nearly the circumference of her body. I'm not close to this point as yet I have a bit more weight to lose, but defiantly looking forward to having this done as I already have that hanging belly.

@@JackieBrown Love the topic! I was just talking to my hubby and a couple of friends about recommitting to our goals this year. I'm not shy so I've pretty much done all of the things you mentioned minus the Elmo tat mine is Winny the Pooh and Tigger, maybe this year I'll have them touched up a bit and give that tat and upgrade into 2015!! This year my focus is going to continue to be on my health and well being and to stop sabotaging myself with food and sweets after killing myself in the gym!! I'd like to reach a couple of goals that I have set, and begin working on our long term retirement plan. Yes we are young but now is the time to get those plans started!!! Especially given the fact that I want to move half way around the world in the next 5 years I'm going to be here often I'm sure to remind myself of these things and get some inspiration and continued motivation!!!

@@JustWatchMe you are awesome never forget that!!!!

I had to take a minute or two to catch up. I have been in digital detox for a few days. In all honesty I think we all need to cut ourselves a break every now and then. I know we all want to lose weight and be that “perfect” size whatever it is in our mind’s eye. We want to be healthy and happy and prosperous productive valued people. Friends you are already all of those things! Yes we have dysfunctional families, and some of us ourselves are dysfunctional! I think that’s what makes life interesting. Imagine how boring life would be if things were perfect all the time. If you woke up every single day with no drama, no thoughts of what you were going to do or eat or wear or think. Life is not boiler plate thank goodness! It’s those ebbs and flows that make life worth living. It’s the roller coaster ride that makes your heart race with excitement one moment and dread the next. It’s the not knowing of it all that makes the uncovering of it so much fun!! Some things SUCK (this is my word of the week by the way) they can suck the life right out of you if you let them. Or you can pop a chocolate truffle in your face and suck that up (I just did) or you can strap on your sneakers and get your *ss to the gym and suck that up ( I will later). You can dive into the Water and hopefully not suck up too much of it pool or sea or whatever J (Maybe it’s just me but there’s just something about fruits and vegies…that doesn’t inspire sucking them up but hey if it floats your boat grab that lemon and suck away!!) I’m not perfect, not in the least bit. My life can be insane and crazy and quiet and peaceful all in the space of a minute. The best part about it is that it’s my life and I am living it. I am human and yeah I get caught up in the who’s late to dinner, and who was going to bring the dessert and forgot, who is supposed to be my family but forget that they are even alive much less that I am. Sure I have feelings and they get hurt, and they get hurt pretty easily too. At the end of the day though…you know what….who the heck cares? I am hurt, I am feeling sad, and the best I can do is to feel it and move on. Sometimes I talk about it, I let the feelings be felt I let them have their voice and sometimes it’s louder than others and the burning hot molten lava covers the earth and burns up everything in its path…{{sitting in zen position deep breath….}} sigh… and then I move on. Nothing more I can do about it and if I throw myself a pity party…well I forget to invite anyone else {or I incinerated them} and I end up eating all the cake and Cookies and chocolate truffles myself!!! See now this is my issue!! J There are always going to be bills to pay money to be made and things to be done. Long before me and long after me, this will be true. All I can do is float along. Life is what happens around and in between those things. It’s not the cookies it’s the baking of the cookies and sharing them. It’s about sharing yourself and who you are with others and allowing them to share themselves with you. Thank you all for reaching out to share your thoughts and your stories, your inspiration, motivation and humiliation! (OK so that’s me) and I confess, I had a salad for lunch, a bag of bean chips, two chocolate truffles and may just have a candy cane too before the work day is done. I won’t beat myself up over it, but I’ll enjoy it and move on….to the gym and hopefully tomorrow I will be able to tie my sneakers!! My legs are still sore from Saturday and I think tonight is core work! Lord give me strength! Muffin top sounds so delicious doesn’t it…too bad it doesn’t look as good!!!

@@HealthyNewMe Nah just stop having parties and get invited to them instead!!!! It's so much easier to pick out the right outfit and bottle of wine!!! OK so maybe I'm spoiled..I have all those things. I call them my husband and children

@@Julie norton {{{hugs}}}} xoxoxoxoxox all those fluffy things headed your way extra extra today!!!

When you read the word Ego…what do you think of? Some arrogant self-righteous holier than thou person? OK you would be right, that’s me. That is also YOU. We all have an ego, it’s that part of us that we identify with that can be good or bad but mostly it keeps us contained. It’s thoughts of what is good and bad what is right and wrong are rigid. They are set in opposition to enlightenment and growth. Perhaps we do this because we need the challenge and who better to challenge us then ourselves? After all do we listen to our parents, our children, our teachers our Doctors when they tell us to do this this way or that way and that there is no other way because they said so?! Or do we learn our lessons best when we push against the boundaries of what we know or think to be true? The ego puts us in a box, and it’s our job to lift the lid no matter how many bricks we have piled on top of it, or baggage we stowed on top of it we must pick it apart and lift the lid. Eventually to free ourselves from the box to live the life we were meant to live. So I have found myself battling this ego of mine, there are days when I really think it’s beating me and I am just so darn tired I want to allow the box to stay closed and just lie down at the bottom until all the baggage falls in and crushes me. I want to stop trying to hold it all up! I have a strong will, a strong sense of self, and yet……and in that moment I had an epiphany! These are the very things that are holding me back. I am trying to lift a lid off this box it’s laden down with box upon box upon box of which I find myself at the bottom of. Holding it all up, and of course I am weakening! I am not meant to hold up all of this!! It has to drop, I have to let go!! How to let go without being crushed? Maybe because of my ignorance I deserve to be crushed beneath the weight that I have chosen to take on!!! And so the pity party has begun!!! Lisa has RSVP’d and decided to bring all the cake and Cookies and candy and make sure she ate her share of them all!!! Zing…. there it was again, that nagging feeling that this is my ego talking. My ego wants to sustain the pity party and keep me in that box. Keep me laden down with all this weight, keep that control at all costs. I admit it, I caved and I am cowering at the bottom of the box. My hands are curled around the peppermint candy and fresh baked cookies and as that little zap of enlightenment hit, I realized that the celling did not cave in. I am still here, yes I am at the bottom of this box. Yes I lost sight of what’s outside as I let go of the lid, but I have realized that if I am busy using all my strength to simply hold up the lid with all the weight piled high on top of it, there is no way I will ever get out! So today, right now my friends this tiny insight has put a hole in the box. It’s a tiny hole, I can see the light, and I can see a little more clearly what I am working with and what I must do. My next step is not to try lifting that lid again no matter how tempted I am. My next step is to recover., to heal, to breath to understand this part of my journey and to let it be. To be comfortable enough in this box to know it well enough that I can begin to dismantle and remove the weight on top of it that holds me in. Yes it may be one tiny peppermint sized bit at a time, and I know my ego is going to fight me every step of the way. I has beaten me back a bit…but if I can use my strength not only change what is but to affect what is I know I will find success.