phyllser

Elaine, This is THE best place to hang out! You might check out the Lucky #7s thread... those of us who were banded in July 07, but we welcome ANYONE and we have one gal from Dec and I think a couple of Aug & June.. Best of luck to you!!

Not too wordy at all!! Great NSV!! Congrats to you!! We need encouraging news like that.... some of our gals are getting discouraged. Each one's accomplishments are encouragement for ALL of us. Thanks for sharing that!! I love the new photo, by the way. What a cute little guy!! Sorry about your cold weather!! Not to make you feel bad, but the past two days have been the best so far this winter and today it's supposed to be near 80 degrees!! We actually ate dinner out on the patio last night! It's been such a chilly, rainy, windy winter that we are overdue for some warmth and sunshine!!

Good to see you back!! Sounds like you're making great progress!

Glad you're back, Cece!! Sorry to hear you are having problems coping. Have you talked to your doctor about this? Maybe you could benefit from being on some medication. But you know, you shouldn't stay away when things are going badly... this is the best support group there is! We care!!

Sorry you're having a downer tonight, Kari! Seem to be quite a few getting discouraged. You are down 8 lb in a month... that's GREAT! I know it seems like you're working hard, and you are, but like Janet says... we have to do 75% of the work, the band only does 25%. But it's worth it!! Keep on truckin'!! Here's a piece of chocolate for you!! Sorry I took a bite out of it! Hugs!!

I had my surgery at Virginia Mason in Seattle, Dr. Jeffrey Hunter. All of my appointments, pre-op and post-op have been at their clinic in Federal Way. I live in Everett, so it's a drive, but not that often, so I just deal with it! I like Dr. Hunter a lot. He has a very busy office and his staff can sometimes be a little difficult to deal with. I've found that I just have to be persistent and sometimes not take "no" for an answer. They are very dedicated people, knowledgeable, etc., but BUSY and sometimes that comes across as impersonal. Yes, Dr. Hunter told me he wanted me to lose 10% of my body weight prior to surgery. So I put myself on a serious pre-op diet that closely resembles the required post-op diet. I used the Costco EAS protein mix for breakfast most mornings. Usually had a salad at lunch time, with a little protein of some kind... tuna, cheese, etc. Dinner... about 4 oz of meat and lots of veggies. I lost 18 lb in about 6 weeks.. which wasn't 10%, but did get my BMI below 60 which made Dr. Hunter happy.

Hi, Della, This site is kind of hard to find.... try this one: New 60+ Thread It's under the age specific listing and we're trying to all gravitate over to that one. They revamped the whole LBT site a couple of weeks ago and our 60 thread wasn't there. I had my surgery about 6 1/2 mos ago and I'm doing great. I'm feeling good, losing consistently, etc. I have high BP and cholesterol, joint problems, sleep apnea. BP seems to be down, I'm walking better.. not so much pain, etc. Hoping to get off one of my BP meds when we go home in the spring (we are "Snowbirds"), and maybe get rid of the CPAP machine! This is a great place to get your questions answered. What did you mean about the liquids? supplements? I take quite a few meds... BP, cholesterol, etc. Don't have any trouble getting any of them down. I have always had trouble with Calcium, so I found some chewable...calcium citrate chews... Rite Aid sells them, and liquid sublingual B-Complex (Target or Wal-Mart). I like to take fish oil supplements and they are quite large, but I found some smaller ones, also at Rite Aid, GNC brand and they go down fine. I use Centrum Silver chewables for Multivitamin. Haven't yet found Vitamin C that i like. I don't like the chewables.

I'm too old for "hormonal issues"!! Hope this helps. I was very glad to find this thread... didn't know what happened to the old one, but stumbled on this one today!

Someone probably already asked you this, but, remember... I'm old and I forget things! Are you sure you're getting enough Potassium??? Notice at the SuperBowl they had slightly over-ripe bananas on a table for the players to combat leg cramps. Slightly over-ripe, the potassium gets in to your system really fast. I avoid bananas becuase #1, they're fairly high calorie and sugar content, and #2, they seem to upset my stomach. But, maybe 1/2 banana before bed might help.

You're just BABIES!!

Hang in there, Jackie!! You've done so well! We all go through this up and down stuff. Just stick with it and the scale will start going down again!!

Very good!!! I had forgotten that!! I'm older than you, though! I have an excuse!

You've come to the right place!! This whole LBT site is packed with info, support, encouragement. And this Christian thread is GREAT!! Don't worry about the different phases, liquid diet, etc. You'll get through them... with a little help from your friends, as they say! There will be some tough places to walk through, but it'll be worth it.

Yeah, I think what she said is that doing the 5 day test would help you to know if your band is still working for you.. I presume then, or if you need another fill. Does that sound right?? Now why can't you remember what that stupid exercise bell thing was called???? I've been searching on Google and Amazon.. yeah, I know... email Marsha!! I didn't do that yet. Stubbornly trying to find it on my own. I did find a watch that New Balance makes that is water resistant and shows your heart rate and calories burned. Amazon has it for $69 and free shipping. I might order one. For the record.... I am FIVE FEET TALL!! One nurse at my 2nd pre-op appointment measured me at 4'11" but I made her change it!! Didn't see how I could've shrunk an inch in a month... I had lost some weight... think I was a FAT HEAD??? Anyways, I was mad because it made my BMI go up. My doctor wanted it to be under 60 before I had my surgery. So I was so happy that I'd finally gotten it under 60 and then she measures me at 4'11" and it goes back OVER 60!! She wasn't the OFFICIAL weigh in/measure nurse. She was a study project nurse. I guess I intimidated her because she changed it back to 5'!!! :regular_smile:

I absolutely AGREE!! It's the 25% that is my guarantee that I WILL succeed this time, though! I can do the 75% because I know the band is there doing the other 25%!! Know what I mean?? I know it will kick me in the butt if I try to overeat or eat the wrong things, etc. and that helps me to stay on track. UH-OH, Our little teacher lady is going postal!! Settle down, Honey.. everything is going to be OKAY!! Plateaus are a horrible thing!! But, we can get through them. I lost more last week than I did the whole month of January!! Didn't do anything different either! It just happens and we have to plod our way through it and try to not get discouraged! Hang in there!

That's great, Karri! Congrats! Bra's...... ugh! I need a good fit, too. Don't know where to go. Need new ones the right size. Can't wear the new sweat pants until I cut off about 8" at the bottom and re-hem!! I'm SHORT!!

I usually have a 3-4 oz glass of dry red wine almost every afternoon, but just one. It's best to avoid liquid calories, though. Most doctors want you to avoid all carbonated drinks. I had a long-standing Diet Coke habit, usually not more than 1 or 2 a day, though. We have our own carbonator, so when I wasn't drinking Diet Coke, I would drink either plain carbonated water or I'd add a little sugar free flavoring. So, I was kind of addicted to the carbonation and I had to give it up. A month or so ago I thought I'd try a little carbonated water. But I found myself very afraid to drink it so I was just sipping at it and my water intake went way down! So I quit it and went back to my Crystal Lite, my new addiction! I drink it all day long (after my morning coffee... 1 cup).

Thanks! No, it didn't sound that bad!! I'm teasing you! She had it coming. But, Marsha kind of gave her a bad time, because of her choice of doctors. I think that was why she was a little defensive and wanted us to know she "did her research". Marsha said that doctor's patients are not "educated" enough prior to surgery.

Hi, Gang! Yes, this is the BEST support group. Though it is good to have a face to face with other bandsters. And Janet really did say to that girl, "I thought you said you did your research?? How could you do your research and not know what PBing is???" :biggrin: LOL!! As we all know, our girl doesn't pull any punches!! She says it like it is! I thought I would laugh out loud! I had my official weekly TOPS weigh in today.. down 4.2 lb for the week!! I rewarded myself with a new pair of sweat pants! I like to put on my nice warm, cuddly sweats at night when I curl up on the couch to watch TV and the ones I've been wearing are falling off! Down to a 2X, which is pretty good for me considering a year ago I was wearing anything from 3X to 5X! Oh, I had a Starbucks Skinny Latte as my other treat. Hope everyone is having a great day! I better go. We're transitioning to our new TOPS group and tonight is the night I volunteered to do the "program" so I have to go make some copies and finish my getting my act together on what I'm going to do.

Soups... I used tomato Soup, pea soup, soups with no "chunks". Has your doctor had you meet with a dietician? I had to have a dietary consult before my surgery and that's when they told me all the things I could eat at each phase. Ah, just found my list.... under "liquids" i was allowed light yogurt (no fruit, etc), sugar free pudding, custards, strained cream soups, cream of wheat/rice thinned with lots of milk, broths, Protein drinks, fruit smoothie, sugar free popsicles & Jello. Water, sugar free drinks (non-carbonated) and decaf tea/coffee. Of course, then after surgery when I asked when I could have my caffeine back, dr's nurse said "who said you couldn't have caffeine??".... Uh... the dietician!!?? So I'd take that "decaf" with a grain of salt. Best of luck to you!

Interesting... wonder why it was okay the first time and then made you sick the second time?? I love chili. We make it with ground turkey, diced and/or crushed tomatoes, no green chilis but usually 2 cans of red kidney Beans, onion & green pepper, chili powder and curry powder.

How's your weather this week?? Did it warm up any, or get worse?? This thread sure isn't very active!! Where are all the 60+ people?? I know there are lots of us out there! Anyway, hope you're all shoveled out by now!!

Janet made some good suggestions regarding clothes selection. And, I agree... take someone shopping with you... someone you can trust to be honest. Like I have one daughter who would say, "that looks great, Mom" no matter what I put on. So I'd have to take my youngest daughter who would be more apt to say, " I don't think so, Mom" if I looked ridiculous!! :tongue:

Looked at your profile and noticed you are a retired nurse. Me, too. When was your surgery? Your ticker isn't showing up in your signature. There is a tutorial somewhere, but I can never find it. But if you "copy" the bbc code and then "Paste" it in to your signature, it should show up. Welcome to our site!