TLL

I'm completely opposite of you there, Sasha! I used to not really like spicy foods at all, but it's definitely a big crave for me now! Pickles, jalapenos, hotter salsas...mmmm! I think I definitely yearn for them a lot more than sweet things, and pre band I was a sugaraholic.

Fast food cheeseburgers...they are really disgusting creatures! Mountain Dew. I LIVED off of the stuff. I took one sip of my husband's a few months ago and now it tastes like generic "citrus drink" or maybe floor mop solution, definitely not the classic Mt. Dew flavor of my dreams. And sadly enough, leafy green salads. I always used Romaine, spinach, etc. and just loved it. Never iceberg. But now that I have to chew so much more thoroughly, by the time I swallow, they have a dirt taste to them. So sad!

Ya gotta love this forum? I never thought of gall bladder even though I've seen so many here who have had it removed. Isn't it great? So many experiences!

You may even want to try cutting back on your fat intake until your appointment. I don't know what the exact correlation is, it has something to do with fat causing the duct to contract to release bile. I just know that within 24 hours of the doctor putting me on a very low fat diet (I had to wait for inflammation and infection to calm down before they could safely remove it), I felt like a million bucks! Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Congratulations! Doesn't it just feel absolutely amazing every time you hit a mile stone? I don't have any before pictures either for the same reasons. I'm hoping I can get a copy of my (surely hideous!) before picture taken at my hospital during pre-op day.

Congratulations!! You look absolutely amazing!

Could it by any chance be your gallbladder? I know when I first had trouble with mine, I really thought I had horrible gas pains that I couldn't get rid of. I tried everything to no avail and wound up in the ER in the middle of the night when the pain finally had me vomiting. It felt like I had huge pockets of gas roaming around in my entire abdominal cavity.

So will the "regular" Magnesium (oxide?) tablets work the same as the Magnesium Citrate? I grabbed a bottle of the Nature Made at Walmart the other day, but kept looking since I wasn't sure enough. I'm so easily confused!!

I'll pretty much never be able to run, my ankles are ate up with arthritis and my feet are on there way. Although honestly, not a huge loss for me, even when I weighed much less and had good feet, I still HATED running. haha But walking...that I can do! =D

Last night I decided to sign up for this year's Color Run with my husband and in-laws! This is a HUGE step for me, since I've been avoiding walking long distances for years. I'm definitely not ready to walk (not run!) 5k yet, but I have six months to get myself there! I'm so glad I feel I can finally put myself "out there" and do things that I've always wanted to!

I was going to pick up some Magnesium Citrate yesterday to keep on hand, but I was only able to find one brand and from what we could tell, the capsules were HUGE! What brand did you find that you could actually get down?

I'm about 6.5 months post op and I'm starting to worry a bit about the reduction in bowel movements I've been experiencing. I'm completely aware that with reduced food intake, that it's perfectly natural to have smaller and less frequent movements. However, it seems I'm only going once every three days or so and would like to find some natural laxatives (or dietary changes) that would be band friendly to try that would get things moving a bit better. Does anyone that has experienced the same thing have any suggestions for me? Thanks!

I'm extremely proud of you!

Wow, that's some really extreme bruising. I don't have any great advice, I can only say that if my bruise from the anti clotting stuff had covered that large of an area, I would be calling my primary for a second opinion on it. Keep in mind I'm really jumpy and quick to start making phone calls. haha Mine was that dark, but only slightly larger than the size of a soft ball.

I try to approach meals with portion size in mind from the get go. I don't personally weigh food or anything, but I try to have a realistic vision of what a food's true portion size is and stick to it. I try to under fill my plates. One tool that I saw in the hospital's gift shop (and really wish I had gotten while I was there!) was a lap band portion control plate. I'm sure there's many versions available, this is just the one I saw at the time. http://www.lapbandtools.com/products/Portion-Control-Plate.html

"It Won't Be Easy, But it Will Be Worth It" I plan on gifting this to myself as a tattoo once I reach 200. Awesome thread, btw!

I haven't had to really worry about it until recently when I was put on Vitamin D by my doctor, but I've often wondered how people go about taking their various medications that must be taken with food, since we aren't supposed to drink with meals? With my Vit D, I've been taking it about half an hour before I plan to eat, but it's not something that will make you sick to your stomach or some such when taken on an empty stomach. How do ya'll handle it?

Of course this winter has been much colder for much longer than normal anyway, but I am absolutely frozen to the core when I'm anywhere other than home! At work, at restaurants, in my vehicle, and most definitely outside! I'm not complaining (much) but at the same time I really hope my body gets used to the weight loss by next winter!

Yup, your other fills will be performed the exact same way. I've absolutely loved this method, I feel as though it takes a lot of the guess work out. I've never had any problems with being anywhere near too tight after one, I don't know for a fact, but I believe that they take out just a tiny bit more once the fluids go down.

Hi there, Leepers! Great to meet another bandster nearby! I can't believe you had surgery right before Christmas, what a trooper!!

I had a really awesome appointment with my surgeon this morning! I had been feeling a bit down in the dumps because I felt like I hadn't really been losing weight at the proper speed for the last few months as I've been fighting an uphill battle with my thyroid levels having been totally tanked (having trouble getting meds readjusted after such a large weight loss). I would stay steady for a week or two, maybe even go up a pound, and then the next I would drop five. But my surgeon seemed really stoked about how much I've lost, stating I've lost about 10 pounds more than he would have expected in that amount of time. He didn't even want to give me the fill I thought I might be needing, kind of "don't poke the dragon" sort of thing since things have been working. Which is really fine by me because I love being able to eat! haha So anyway, just...WOOT! =D Talk about a motivation booster!!! In another 20 pounds I will have reached my "normal" fat girl weight, the size I was all through my late teens and early twenties. I've lost over HALF of what I need to reach his goal weight for me...I CAN DO THIS!!! No, no...I AM DOING THIS!!!

I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents that when this happened to me (and did for months!) it was my thyroid levels being extremely high after losing so much weight. Within 1-2 weeks after having my medications lowered, the dizzy spells went away completely!

Soooooooo...how are we all doing on the Halloween Candy front? lol I'm REALLY proud of myself so far! We've got entirely too much candy in this house waiting for trick or treaters, and I've only eaten ONE small piece of it. One of those little two bite kit kats. And I know I should technically be like OH NO! I SHOULDN'T BE EATING CANDY! But considering last year I would sit there and polish off half a bag all by myself...I think I've shown pretty good restraint! ^.^

I'm trying really hard not to beat myself up over the same kind of slip up last week, so you're not allowed to, either!! I think we're all going to have them every so often. Everyone, banded or otherwise, have weeks where they just plain eat like crap. I think it's really just a normal part of life in general. We just have to make sure we don't let those slips happen too often, and that we get our heads back on straight and get back on track after an off week!

Banded July 24th, now down 54 pounds. Thankfully I go for a third fill Monday because in the last two weeks I've gotten so loose I could eat a cow! Lol