bandster_1007

yeah..i'm only 25, but i already have like $7k in mine, and it lost about $2.5k.

The lower the "Federal Rate" the more the stocks suffer..so i am told.

I think it is a grand gesture, very generous..but think it all the way through. you are the only one who knows if you can do it.

i do agree with what someone else posted on here about if it is only 2 months or so..wait.. i agree.

do they not make reduced sodium versions? (i haven't looked in a while).

i've lost 26kgs which works out to about 57lbs and i find that my skin has been fine except the "bingo" arms... but i have been using light weights to tone them up and they are getting better...

i also started taking supplements called "silica compound" which is great for the skin and hair (i found my hair was thining a bit) and i can definitely see a great improvement in my skins elasticity and my hair looks much healthier and thicker!

what are these silica compounds and where do i get them?

oh..yeah..you can use all reduced sodium ingrediants, with a nominal difference in the price (except the chicken).

i have read once that if you have a meatless meal one night a week it saves a lot of money. we do that. we will have frozen veggies, some Beans, and some potatoes.

i don't know "how" cheap this is..but i think it is pretty cheap and it is super easy and fast.

chicken Dumplings-Arkansas Prices (we pay taxes on our food)

Rotiserrie chicken (cooled) $3

1 can Cream of Chicken $1

1 Can Cream of Mushroom $1

2 Can's Biscuits 9 ($2.50)

3 cans Chicken broth $4.00

Tear the chicken in to small pieces and add the cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, and chicken broth in a LARGE pan. bring to a boil (add Water until desired consistency), tear biscuits into little balls and drop in one by one (they will stay at the top) stir to get done...some people use tortilla's instead of biscuits..but i love doughy balls. (i have not eaten this since i have been banded..i would probably choose tortilla's now.

i love thedailyplate.com it has most of the foods i eat, and it allows me to customize my meals. it is super easy and fast to use.

i don't know, but i'm posting so i can find out the answer.

i've wondered that too..i can drink flattened over ice for 5 minutes, so i bet i could do the same with alka seltzer.

my doc says 2 kids Vitamins a day despite the dosage saying just 1.

question: are you anemic? personally i will only take Vitamins without Iron because we generally get PLENTY of Iron from our food and Water. i do not give iron to my son either. i was told once that we should only take an iron supplement if we are anemic.

i think it would be a grand gesture. with the way the market is right now, you might lose as much as you would take out in money. :smile:

ok, however, if you will be giving them a gift with conditions you may want to reconsider it. a gift of this sort needs to be totally selfless and not conditional. That would only lead to tension and stress for you and strain your relationship.

if you can give the gift in that way, i say do it, your parents health is important and you have seen what it can do for you.

as for the junk and stuff in the house, i could have tried and tried before surgery to eat right, but it just wasn't going to work. the band helps with all of that.

(imho)

i was like that for about a week after my last fill. first, i quit trying to drink anything cold until the evening...it wasn't going down...no matter what. i was the same with foods, i could always eat more than i could drink, but i just never knew when it would be ok.

then i lost some weight, loosened up now i can drink and eat fine. i think that by 2/8 if you are still that miserable you may want an unfill, however, it is likely to ease up on you some by then (per my experience only).

true restriction sounds like that from a lot of people

hey..you guys have probably forgotten about me..i bought my running shoes and then that was the end of it.

well... my treadmill is not in a position where i can use it right now, but i have asked dh to get that taken care of this weekend and he is supposed to. i have been sooooooo ill though lately. 2 rounds of antibiotics in the past 30 days. i'm feeling really good today though, so if this caries on until sunday, i'll be running. gotta get going that way i can boost my weight loss, and probably improve my immune system.

just wanted to check in so i feel liable to someone. it's easy to skip out on online guys. i need a buddy who will go with me, or call me and say..hey......or something.

yeah isn't it great...he can't even be still for me to comb his hair.. he literally climbs our walls (literally..in the hall all the way to the ceiling)....

maybe one day after this 100 lbs isn't weighing me down, then i will have some energy too.

Why are doctor's so afraid of patients making decisions like this? Do they think we are completely stupid? Why would we want to be overfilled? How much fun is PB'ing and pain? Why can't they trust us to determine what our sweet spot is and when we need another fill? Geesh, they act like we are all out to get away with something. I very much feel for you, dustout.

each doctor is totally different, but my doctor puts it in our hands, and gives us a little guide to go by: if you can eat more than 10 bites of solid food; if you can eat more than 1/2 sandwich with white bread; if you are hungry between meals & you are not eating soft foods; if you feel the desire to snack; if you are consuming more than 800 calories..............it might be time for a fill.

if you have night cough or acid reflux at all it IS time for an unfill. if you cannot swallow liquids for more than 24 hours it IS time for an unfill. if you can not swallow your own spit it IS time for the emergency room :smile:.

Your 3 year old has a different metabolic rate to yours. If you could get your metabolism to go like a runaway train like his does, you wouldn't need any help shedding the pounds. :frown:

amen to that!!! actually if i could get my butt to move like his (he's 7) then i wouldn't need any help with shedding the pounds. he never stops moving!!!!

i have a question...

how do you guys get off work for the 6 weeks?

this is semi off subject, but goes along a little with the previous post..i'm still not at my sweet spot, but my 7 year old eat 3 times more than me...and he does not have a weight problem.

my doctor wants us to get an unfill if we have any reflux or night cough because that is what leads to erosion/slippage.

HOWEVER..with that said..when they think they have given you a really tight fill (false hope :frown:) they say you can "ride it out" by sleeping with your head elevated and never eating or taking a pill 3 hours before bed.

so far i haven't had to do this. i'll be kind of glad when i do because my night time muchies are killer.

i cannot chug immediately after fills, but give me a couple of weeks and i'm chugging again (of course not as much as i could pre fill).

my doc says when we have proper restriction we should have to sip like hot coffee. well..i had to after my last fill, and i pb'd a lot because i could not make myself sip. i was thirsty and as soon as the liquid hit my mouth my body screamed DRINK!! so i did ice chips for a little bit and it helped. i hate having to sip, but i'm trying to get to the point where i have to.

i feel every bite of food that i take almost, but i am not tight enough..i can still eat a whole white bread sandwich and gulp my liquids.

my dos rule is...cannot gulp your liquids and you absolutely should never be able to eat more than 1/2 sandwich on white untoasted bread.

i completely agree with you lisa marie, and i am totally able to do this when i am at my correct fill.

however, i don't know if it is the drying up of phlegm, or the starting of my bc again, but i do truly get hungry now between meals. i also started getting boredom hungry again, but i'm talking tummy growling, hungery pains, hungry..trying to talk myself out of it becuase i don't really have time to take a break hungry.

between my 2nd and 3rd fill i did not struggle with that at all, but now i am again. today i had my Protein bar for Breakfast (the whole thing) and 1 hour later, i'm hungry again. after a good fill, not only can i not finish a whole one, but i'm full for several hours.

do you have a cold or anything right now? that affects it A LOT. also, try to do liquids only for a day or so and see if it calms down.

bbray..i have not finished reading this thread, but first of all let me say that you are doing a FANTASTIC JOB!!! Look at all that weight that you have lost....!!! Wow...this coming from someone who is only a month behind you and just now lost 10 lbs. I too had no restriction and just now have some (i go for my fourth fill Saturday), but man..if your willpower did all that..you go girl!!!! Restriction will come...and when it does you'll be melting 'em off even faster!

first stop drinking with your meals..and see how much that helps.

from experience it helps a lot.

i am a person who after my fills pb's on liquids ...a lot. whatever you do make sure you keep drinking, but if you are really irritated you may want to hold off on any food for about 8 hours and then resume eating. this helped me a lot..with the pain and everything.

i do not think the issue right now is so much that you are not losing, but the fact that you are hurting when you eat. focus on getting that under control..AND ABSOLUTELY NO SIPS WITH YOUR MEALS. ..if i do..i get hungry..if i drink too soon after my meal..i get hungry..

most importantly if i do sip with my meal..it causes me a GREAT GREAT GREAT deal of pain and makes the whole process more difficult. believe me..the other day..i ate 2 Cookies (hey that's huge for me..and way better than 30..well.. i thought..i only at two Cookies ..i can have a sip of milk...WRONG..not to mention that cookies and milk are bad..but i was allowing myself to do bad that one time. needless to say..all the sip of milk took about 5 minutes coming back up..but the cookies stayed..and everything hurt afterward.

last years popcorn was REALLY good..this year..yuck. but it is diacetyl free (the chemical that causes cancer)..so i'm assuming that is why it is on the bland side.

no way can popcorn ever compare to somoas and dosidos.

i have to be on liquids for 48 hours. then i am on mushies for 48 hours. then on to solids. the mushies are negotiable but the liquids are a must. the reason they gave for this is your body needs time to adjust to the fill before you put food through it. and according to my doctor eating early can cause your fill not to be as effective (don't ask me how).

i know it is hard, as i just got any sort of restriction with my last two fills and even with my last fill i was FAMISHED (until i cut out carbs and only drank slim fast high protein), but it is important to try to follow your doctor's orders. each doctor is different with their rules, but each doctor also has a different rate of slippage and erosion. i'm not sure if there is a correlation between the two..but i don't want to find out the wrong way.

(this coming from a person who ate Cookies during the mushy stage..i know how hard it is when you are hungry, but you have to try to follow the rules as much as possible).