mamato3

My mother in law and sister in law held a shower for me that was quite different so I thought I would share. We had it at one of those places where you pick out a piece of pottery and then hand paint it yourself. SO, in addition to the baby gifts I received, each guest picked out a piece of pottery for the baby and hand painted it. They are beautiful. Some things are just decorative, but others we actually use. I have a soap dish and lotion dispenser in the bathroom with little ducks on it. They are really cute. I have several little canisters with lids on them that I keep hair ties (she's 2 now), q-tips, cotton balls, etc. In the invitation they also asked each guest to write a quote or some words of inspiration down for mom and dad or baby which are now beautifully displayed in my little girls baby book. For food... they made "sack" lunches. haha They were kinda fancy sack lunches though. They made chicken salad on croissants, tomatoe, basil and mozzarella salad and mini cherry cheesecakes. YUM! They decorated the sacks with small pieces of material which my mother in law collected at the end of the shower and made a quilt out of! As far as cost, the only thing they paid for was the pottery that I picked to paint since I was the "guest of honor" and whatever pottery they painted. It really was a fun FUN FUN shower! I have some very precious gifts that will be cherished for a lifetime

I wouldn't spend too much time beating yourself up. Remember what everyone says, we didn't gain this weight overnight. It will take some time to lose it. I'm sure it will be a learning curve. This bandster hell thing really SUCKS! I understand how you feel. But you are doing great! You have 25 pounds gone! Yay for you! And the exercise thing.... well if you are anything like me, you really haven't exercised your whole life. It's not like we can automatically love it. LOL It is growing on me though. My little girls were sick this last week so I could not go to the gym and I was quite annoyed by that. But there is always this week, and the week after, right? Oh, and if it makes you feel any better..... I ate PIZZA last night. Pizza is my all time favorite food and I stayed away from it for 2 months! My first fill is today and I let my hair down a little last night. It was so good! It didn't kill me... I still lost 2.5 pounds last week. You can do this! We are right here with you.... falling off the wagon and then jumping right back on!

OK, this was probably way to big of a challenge for me. I have not even had my first fill yet. My weight loss is S L O W! If I make it to my small goal by March 1 it will be nothing short of a miracle. LOL Anyways, I am down 1 whole pound. :wub: Want2beme 181/171 "I can do it!" wombat712 148/138 "OMG haven't seen the 130's since 1990" curr 145 Gweniper 218/211 curr 216 mamato3 233.5/223.5 "10 pounds in 21 days. Am I nutts?" cur 232.5 MANDYJO 180/172 I HOPE IT DOESN'T COME OFF MY BOOBS Biggestloser2be 202/195 "I can do this - I need the challenge!!!" reif78 247 now/ 237 i think im crazy but i can do it!!! good luck all kyteachjules 294/288 movin' movin' movin' movin' movin' on down! mumof2boys 188/180 "If I do this, I will be 5 pounds away from 100 down" ---keeping my fingers crossed!

This is my latest. You do awesome keeping up with all of this Jeni! Thankyou! 242....199....232.5....33.5

My first day went pretty good I think. B- 1 egg omelet w/ 1 sl. bacon, 1 oz ham, 1/2 oz cheese, diced tomato L- 3 oz deli turkey, 1 oz cheddar cheese D- 1.5 chicken, spinach, asiago cheese sausage with spicey mustard S- 2 oz. chicken and about 3 cups decaf herbal tea with splenda According to myplate.com: 817 calories 40 grams of fat 15 grams carbs 92 grams protein I definately am going to go shopping today and pick up some of the things that you guys frequently have. I could get burned out on the above menu in a hurry! I sure hope this works!

I am thinking of trying the induction phase cause I am yet to have my first fill and I am REALLY annoyed with the scale not showing me any loss. I should be happy that I am not gaining, but I'm not! I only lost 4 pounds in the last 3 weeks and that just isn't enough for me. Prior to surgery I had great success doing Atkins but of course always gained it back. Anyways, I know you guys have been doing this for awhile but I was wondering if I could join in for awhile? I am trying to keep my chin up but it is getting harder each day that I dont see any weight loss. I could really use some support!

I have not hesitated to tell anyone that I had this surgery, and I have only had 1 extremely negative response. This particular person was so rude and insensitive. She basically told me that it was un-necessary surgery and when she found out that my insurance was covering it, she really went off the deep end. She thought it was rediculous that people could have this surgery in the first place and that to have insurance cover it was even worse. She pretty much blamed me and people like me for driving up the cost of health care! I am definately not a confrontational type person, so I just kind of laughed and shrugged it off. I too am very proud of myself for the step I have taken to help myself become a more healthy person. To heck with all of the negative nellie's out there!

Gosh, I dont know where to start on this. I am 5 weeks post op and I have lost 28 pounds most of which was in the pre op and first couple weeks following surgery. I had an appointment with the Dr. the other day and in the last 3 weeks I only lost 4 pounds. I suppose I should be happy with that because it is a loss and it is also more then 1 pound a week. They said that I definately should get a fill. SO, this is where my question comes in. I have hardly felt any hunger since being banded. I eat between 600 - 800 calories a day. I do some exercise 4 times a week, either treadmill, eliptical or stationary bike for 30 minutes. It seems to me like I am doing things like instructed. I think I make healthy food choices, lots of protein, some veggies, fruits and a few carbs. What exactly is having a fill going to do for me? I dont think I should be eating any less then that, in fact I should probably be eating more. How does someone eat 1/2 cup of food 3 times a day and no snacks and get more calories then that? Some days I even eat a snack at night and still only get around 800 cals a day. I guess I'm a little confused! LOL Anyway, I hope this made sense and some of you have some input. My first fill is schduled for Feb. 25th.

Hey everyone. Just thought I would say hello. I'm about 5 weeks post op now. So far, so good. Weight loss has slowed WAY down now and I'm really looking forward to my first fill on the 25th. HarleyNana... I know you had some recent surgery. How are you feeling? Are you happy with your results? I hope you are well. :smile:

Dont start to panic until you go to the seminar. They will give you plenty of info there. It really depends on the type of your insurance and what they specifically require. I hadn't had an actual "physical" in I dont know how long. But had been to doctors for other things. I attended my seminar on Oct. 4 and had surgery on Jan. 7. Things went through without a problem. Good luck!

B - 1/2 cup cheerios (dry), 1/2 cup FF yogurt L - 1/4 lump crab with light mayo over 5 whole wheat crackers, topped with cheese D - 1/2 cup bbq chicken breast, 3 bites green beans, 5 french fries ( I know, bad bad bad!)

I cant resist jumping in on this one. I hope the "accountability" thing helps me. I have not a had a fill yet so I feel like I am dieting. I force myself to eat very little. B - 1/2 cup Special K with red berries & enough milk to make it moist L - 5 chicken nuggets from Wendy's D - 1/2 cup baked ham, 2 bites mixed veggies, 2 bites coleslaw S - 1/2 cup SF pudding

HAHAHA Mandyjo!! Thanks for a good laugh this morning!

Want2beme 181/171 "I can do it!" wombat712 148/138 "OMG haven't seen the 130's since 1990" Gweniper 218/211 mamato3 233.5/223.5 "10 pounds in 21 days. Am I nutts?"

Sounds like a good idea to me too. Go for it!

Wow. I wish I had seen this. I have such mixed feelings on the issue. I have a daugther who is almost 15. She is 5'8" and about 230 lbs. My heart aches for her all the time. I try and try and try to help her with healthy eating. Unfortunately, she is only with me half of the time and seems to totally overeat when I am not around or not watching. She will do good for a week or so and then not see any results that are easily recognizable and say the heck with it, it's too hard. I would do anything for her, including surgery to help her lose the weight. However, I think that at only 15 she is not ready. She proves that over and over by giving up after about a week of healthy eating. She makes every excuse in the book why she ate this or that. She totally has it in her mind that she can not lose weight. Her father and I (we are no longer together) have discouraged her even more with the fact that I had lap band surgery and he had gastric bypass about 3 years ago. She now thinks that surgery is the only way out. Being an overweight teenager is SO hard. I know this from experience. I wish I had never fed her anything but fruits and vegetables! haha

Same here as with Elissa. The Dr. really had no preference and uses both bands. I was allowed to chose and picked the Realize because of the online support and the lower profile port.

That is pretty funny! It was acutally quite irritating to me when my doctors office didn't know. I mean, they were the one that sold me on the whole idea of the realize band in the first place. You will hear from them soon. If you dont, call ethicon again. They will get the Dr's office in gear. It took only a couple hours for me to get a call from the surgeon's office. Good luck.

I am too late to wish you luck before you leave for surgery so I guess you'll see this on the flip side! I know you'll do great. Thankyou for all of your support and well wishes for the last month (as Hilary said previously). It is being sent back to you 100 fold right now! Let us all know how are you doing as soon as you can! Renee

Here is my updated info...Hopefully I pasted the most current list? Allaboutme ...... 211 ...... 165 ....... 205 ......... 40 Allison925 ...... 175 ...... 145 ....... 175 ......... 30 Angie4b1g ....... 237.8 .... 205 ....... 237.8 ....... 32.8 Ariel ........... 199 ...... 169 ....... 199 ......... 30 babs0101 ........ 216 ...... 190 ....... 216 ......... 26 Bigbaby ......... 207 ...... 167 ....... 207 ......... 40.0 chickatee.........184........145.........184.......... 39 CQQlgirl ........ 220 ...... 195 ....... 217 ......... 22 debihaines ...... 254....... 200 ....... 227.9 ....... 27.9 Foofy ........... 244 ...... 199 ....... 244 ......... 45 Georgia Girl .... 275 ...... 237 ....... 265 ......... 28 Hazeleyegrl1 .... 233 ...... 200 ....... 222 ......... 22 Hopping To It.... 309 ...... 240 ....... 309 ......... 69 Hungryforchange . 225 ...... 190 ....... 225 ......... 35 ivyrose325 ...... 342 ...... 215 ....... 261 ......... 46 Jeni 85 ......... 214.4 .... 184 ....... 214.4 ....... 30.4 Jennie1976....... 243 ...... 200 ....... 243 ......... 43 Jfran ........... 181 ...... 145 ....... 181. ........ 36 KarenG............195........165.........195.......... 30 Legster ......... 216 ...... 174 ....... 216 ......... 42 Luluc ........... 166 ...... 135 ....... 163 ......... 28 Mamato3 ......... 242 ...... 199 ....... 236.5 ....... 37.5 Mandyjo ......... 188 ...... 150 ....... 186 ......... 36 Mary-2b150 ...... 225 ...... 150 ....... 193 ......... 43 Nadean .......... 204.6 .... 160 ....... 204.6 ....... 44.6 Nhanson ......... 226 ...... 196 ....... 226 ......... 30 Rainer .......... 256 ...... 216 ....... 253 ......... 37 Redtulips3 ...... 245 ...... 199 ....... 245 ......... 46 Smithem1 ........ 240.6 .... 190 ....... 240.6 ....... 50.6 Soaf9 ........... 265 ...... 145 ....... 220 ......... 75 Stacy73 ......... 226.4 .... 194 ....... 223 ......... 29 Starryeyed ...... 280 ...... 199 ....... 237 ......... 38 Suzzzie ......... 297 ...... 243 ....... 294 ......... 51 Sunny112..........215....... 130........ 143.......... 13 Trish5713 ....... 255....... 230 ....... 255.......... 25 Wombat712 ....... 152.8 .... 120 ....... 152.8 ....... 32.8<!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- google_ad_section_end -->

hahaha that made me laugh and I dont know why. I guess I haven't thought about doughnuts or ice cream for awhile. I am so busy trying to figure out how to eat 60 grams of protein that I guess I forgot about those yummy goodies! Good luck to you as you begin this journey. It has been an interesting one for me so far, for sure!!

My doc's office did not know the 12 digit code either. I had to throw a little fit. hahha The website support is one of the reasons I chose the realize. (also the shorter profile port) I ended up calling a customer suuport number for the realize band and they called the Dr's office to let them know what number to give their patients. I had know idea they did not stitch the band in to place. I am definately going to ask my Dr. about that. I knew about the port having the self anchoring system, but I thought the band was placed and stitched exactly the same. As far as hunger, I had surgery the same day as you (Jan 7) and I have hardly felt any hunger at all. Maybe like 3 times. They did not schedule me for my first fill until Feb. 25! Seems like an eternity away. I dont really feel like I have much restriction, but I have forced myself to stick to the 1/2 cup of food 3 times a day. It seems to keep me satisfied so far.

I also have the realize band. I think NukeChik pretty much summed things up. The only other thing I can add about the realize band is that they have an online support website that is pretty neat. You can track your meals, weight loss, etc and you can give your Dr. access to that info. The site has alot of info and recipes. You can look at parts of the website pre band, but unless you actually get a realize band you dont have access to everything it offers. The realize band holds 9cc. I can barely feel my port, in other words I have to push down kinda hard to feel it.

I tried this tonight with the canned chicken and it was yummy! Thanks for the recipe idea.

I have to say that I am not overly impressed with the Magic Bullet. Prior to my surgery I just had to have one! I went out and spent some Christmas money my dad gave me on mine. It only does a fair job on making shakes. Seems to have a hard time crushing up the ice. Works better if it is filled very full and you dont use full cubes of ice. As for food... mine is awful. I definately do not get a consistent texture with anything .... I have all kinds of chunks that I cant get it to blend out even if I tap it down, shake it...even take the lid off and scrape down the sides. It is not worth the 50 plus dollars I spend on it IMO.