steph_co

You know, I have discovered over the past couple of months that I suffer from a pretty bad disorder. Basically, I'm nutty as a fruitcake. I made it through the eval fine. As long as you can show maturity and control when it comes to handling yourself, that'll show through. With my psych eval, she was just wanting to make sure that I had reasonable expectations, was not currently struggling with bulimia, and that I would agree to get counseling so that I could learn healthy coping mechanisms. I'd say you're a step ahead - you already have a good support system, it sounds like. And that is definitely key.

I feel you, Alexandra. I struggle with this on an almost constant basis. I had nearly a 2-month stretch, here, where I did not eat like I should have been doing. And when I say that - I LOVE sugar, I LOVE any kind of carbs. Fried stuff, you name it. I love it all. It really takes kicking myself in the rear to not do that. I'm so used to thinking, "That sounds good - I should go eat it." And usually going on automatic and just DOING it. I have found for me that the only way I keep from those destructive behaviors is by keeping myself busy. This way I don't get a chance to even THINK about that stuff. It's when I get bored that it makes it that much easier to eat that stuff. OK, and if you don't believe me because of how much I have lost so far, let me give you an example. God, this is so embarrassing. This past Saturday I was at home by myself. (*cringe, cringe, cringe*...here goes nothing) I ate 2 Boston Creme Rolls, a package of Swiss Rolls, and two packages of little chocolate chip muffins. Yikes. This was over the course of a couple hours, of course, but so BAD! But I have found that I CANNOT beat myself up if I am to get back on the wagon and keep moving forward. I just basically had to ignore it, chalk it up to being human, and get back on track the following day. Shit happens. Don't feel bad about it. Just make a new choice. Each moment brings a new opportunity for a different choice.

I can understand this! I had a sheriff's deputy that I work with tell me that if I lose anymore weight, I'll disappear. Umm...I'm still considered 14 lbs overweight. I told him I wanted to lose 45 more (at the time) and he said, "FROM WHERE???" Cripes. LOL Trust me - naked, you'd see plenty of spots I could stand to lose 43 more lbs from. Without a doubt. I do look good clothed, but naked is a totally different story. Do what makes you happy. I agree with Fanny on the exercise thing, and I agree with Jacqui on the "genetic freaks" thing and I agree with MacMadame on the body fat percentage thing. :coolgleamA: So there you have it. LOL

Cindy (hollyberries) - Thanks. :coolgleamA: I would think at your height, though, getting down to 175 that you'd be in a 14 or even possibly a 12. I mean, I'm 2 inches shorter than you...which would mean wider at the weight I'm at compared to where you will be. I agree with Craig - you might have to adjust your goal size. Cindyg - Thank you. Exercise truly does make a difference. DH is struggling to lose weight right now, he's kind of limited by the kinds of exercise he can do because he has an old lower back injury. It's hard. I hope the elliptical helps. You can do this! You'll catch up before you know it. Linda - that's so exciting! It gets more and more fun dressing the new, emerging body, huh? :cool2:

Woooowwwww. LOL Wishing I could get some of that kind of restriction, but it'll have to wait for me for now because I can't get back to the fill doc. :coolgleamA: I'll bet you go even speedier now with the weight loss. Holy moly.

I wondered about ya the other day - glad to hear you are doing well!

Um...more fill? How much are you able to eat in one sitting? How long do you stay full? Do you have difficulty getting any kind of food down no matter how much you chew it? How many ccs do you have in your band and what size band do you have?

My first drink was a couple of months out.

I'm a self-pay. As long as you are absolutely, 100% committed to making changes in your life, exercise, and eating habits...YES, it is worth it. It has been for me. Even when I was "bad" for like 2 months, straight. Yes, I was bad, but I maintained because I tried to stay at least semi-active AND I was not able to eat as much junk in one sitting as I used to (MAN, is that frustrating...LOL). I would go back and get the surgery right now if I had to make the decision again.

Ohh! DAYUM. Gees. LOL Sometimes people say things and REALLY don't understand how they come across. My mom is one of those. Usually when I put it back to her, explaining how it sounded, she gets apologetic and tries to explain what she meant. She wasn't really trying to be venomous. One time she criticized a cow keychain I had, saying that when people keep certain imagery around, they start to look like it. Another time, I had gotten up to 210 (5 years ago) and lost back down to like 170. I told her I had gotten up that high and she said if she ever got over 200, she'd kill herself. Thanks, Mom. LOL It doesn't bother me when people ask - I love answering that question. But I could certainly understand if it was a daily occurrence. I'd probably get annoyed with that. I would probably ask them how much they've lost. LOL I usually turn a question around on the other person if I don't feel like answering it - even if it doesn't make any sense.

I slid into some size 12 shorts today. Yes...SHORTS. I have not worn shorts in dang near 5 years. The running is helping to tone my legs...they actually don't look half bad in shorts! Now I just need to lose more weight so that my knees don't look so fat. LOL

I'd find somebody else to do your fills. Your doctor sounds like an idiot if he refuses to completely unfill you and you are throwing up and can hardly keep anything down. Either that, or he could be facing malpractice once you end up in the hospital for malnutrition and possibly dehydration. Those are the answers. Whether you like them or not. DEMAND a complete unfill, and/or get a flouroscopy. With all the throwing up, it's very possible you could be slipped. Even the half-wit doc would have to realize that.

Oh, boy, am I glad I'm not the only one. LOL I've been very bad since February. Not sure why. The only thing I could think of was a lot of stress in my marriage and eating was the way I dealt with it. I'm FINALLY back on it and have managed to lose 6 lbs in the past few weeks. I'm eating low carb and I'm exercising. I started back into my Couch to 5K program and actually didn't miss a beat at all even though I hadn't run in about a month! I worked with the sheriff's office yesterday at a stationary post and I went to lean my back up against the wall and it actually HURT. LOL Yes, my shoulder blades are sticking out back there more than they used to. DH even mentioned that he can feel more bone back there. I looked in the mirror and kind of flex and can you believe that there are is also MUSCLE back there?? Wow. LOL I was standing with my back to a hallway when I hear a voice, "Gees, girl, you lose anymore weight and you're going to disappear!!" It was one of the sheriff's deputies that saw me a couple months ago and was amazed then at what I had lost. He then told me he was going to confiscate my ID because it looked nothing like me. LOL Overall, I'm adjusting to being thinner. It comes with added attention - I'm no longer invisible and it is definitely an adjustment. Sounds like everybody is doing good. I have noticed the board has been pretty quiet around here, lately. It's great to hear updates from my fellow Nymphs.

Sounds excellent, Bandpal - I always look forward to reading your posts. The visit to New York sounds especially fun! I'm sure you'll do fantastic. Eating with a toothpick...now THERE'S a trick I hadn't thought of, yet. LOL It would probably benefit me, though. I know that if I don't set the fork/spoon down between bites, that I just keep shoveling, then I get the very painful reminder from my band to chill. It's the only thing that keeps me eating slowly - setting the fork down. It also affords me time to sit and talk with people I'm with. Anybody else frustrated that you can't hurry and swallow when somebody asks you a question? I have to push the food off to one cheek or the other. It's really gross. haha It's either that, or be writhing on the floor in pain. As for deciding when I'm full...I try to pick out reasonable portions and go with that. When I'm getting close to the end of the portion, I start to eat even slower. Might be a full minute or two between bites at that point - I'm waiting to see what my body says. And when it no longer says, "hungry," I stop. That is REALLY odd for me because I NEVER used to be that way. I'd eat until FULL. Can't do that anymore. Rather than thinking of how much more you could possibly put in there (my old way of thinking and one I still struggle with), I find that it helps to think if I have satisfied my body enough. It's great to read about your journey, BP. Excellent job on the 61.5 lbs!! Happy 5th month anniversary to you, too!

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/scar-stages-share-yours-6117/ I have five and they *seem* to be getting lighter. I had somebody see my stomach up close, not knowing my scar count and only really noticed the one right off the bat - the port scar. I'm less than 6 months out. I had to point out the other 4 - I guess they kind of look like moles or something. I happen to think they're really noticeable, but others don't think so.

I went to my seminar so long ago (October) that I can't even remember what he told me was his number for Lapbands. I want to say 400, but I could be SO wrong on that. I asked what the learning curve was and I want to say he said about 100. Again - I could be so wrong on this number, I'm just trying to remember what was told to me 6 months ago. Whatever the number was, his number compared to the learning curve sounded good to me. And by the way - GBP is a lot different from Lap Band. I would not count it as LB experience.

Huh...what a good idea. Wish I had known about this before. Didn't realize it would be an issue. But I'll tell you - I was almost in tears trying to figure out where the heck it went. LOL It was like a punch in the chest when I picked it up and the display was all cracked. Funny though - it still recorded data. LOL

Angel - I had mine pop off my waistband and get run over, but I only ran into this problem when I was wearing pants that were too big for me. Before that, a belt and proper-fitting pants kept it in place. I had it for easily 3 months. It only started the popping off thing when the pants were getting to the point where the waistband puckered when I tightened the belt. So, yeah...I'm out $200. But why couldn't you wear the AT on your arm like the BodyBugg? SURE, it says it is "best" on the waist, but I'd rather wear it on the arm and have it be more secure.

Alicia - When I did wear it, it was practically unnoticeable to me. I would really only wear it during a workout. But I imagine it's not much worse than a sports bra (if I had to think of a comparison). I didn't feel it was necessary to monitor my heart rate ALL DAY LONG. Due to the fact that I'm healthy and have a great heart rate. Only was curious to know what it was doing during workout.

I just wanted to jump in here and say that I LOVED my ActiTrainer. Then I ran over it 3 times. It is not designed for that kind of abuse. LOL Seriously - I wore that thing ALL THE TIME. I LOVED getting on to see how many calories I was burning and if I needed to kind of "up" things the following day. The running over thing was not intentional. It was my own stupid fault. I was wearing pants that were too big for me and the clip slid off the waste band and the thing fell in the frozen dirt at a construction site. Where it then proceeded to be run over by me once, a pick-up truck leaving the site a second time, and then me the third time when I went back to find the poor thing. To its credit, the display was cracked inside, but it STILL gathered info for a good couple of months after that. It finally pooped out. Poor thing. I miss it. :biggrin:

I have no problem with red meat, Pasta, rice or bread. There isn't a single food that my body has rejected and I have decent restriction. It seems to go up and down based on the time of day, weather, my mood, hormones, etc (I'm half joking.... grrr) and I could probably use a bit more fill. But I HAVE been at the point where I could only get down a cup or less of food and been full for 4-6 hours after that meal. And even at that, I could eat whatever. Just have to eat slower. But I think people in general could use a reminder to slow the heck down. DH wolfs down food like I haven't seen (but I KNOW I used to do the same thing). I'm amazed to watch other people eat because I can't believe I used to do that. I do not feel like an impostor. I did something for my health and I am having to work to get the weight OFF. Now, it does not come BACK as easily, but if I want it to get OFF, I have to do the work. It's really easy to eat around this thing. My only embarrassment, and maybe it comes from my younger days when I used to get in trouble for it, is eating so much slower than my tablemates. Then people look at me like, "WELL?? Aren't you done YET?" I find myself apologizing for it, but I guess I really shouldn't. I'd be embarrassed NOW to eat the way I see a lot of people do. Yikes.

You know you're just jealous. :biggrin: But that's okay, C, I can make you a pretty widdle gwitter picture of your own. All you have to do is ask.

Oh, this post had disappeared. I guess after the re-organize, it came back. So now I'll answer for mine. Surgeon Name: Thomas Brown Location: Lowry Medical Ctr, Denver Date of banding: Nov 15, 2007 What your surgeon closed with (sutures, glue, staples, etc): sutures How many incisions: 5 Type of band (if you know): AP small Overall cost of your surgery (if you wish to share): $10,850 And your personal review of the surgeon and his/her office and staff: Dr Brown was great. Good bedside manner, very approachable, good experience. I like the NP (Allyson) that does my fills. Their social worker that does the evals is great. The nutritionists are great. The only one I kind of hold issue with is the receptionist. She runs warm and cold. I can't say hot and cold because I've never seen her overtly warm to somebody. LOL It's like lukewarm and cold. Short on the phone. Kind of irks me, but I love the rest of the staff.

DANG, Craig! You are melting through the sizes incredibly fast. Gees. Keep up the great work!

Not losing much in the lbs dept because I'm really not eating like I should (or at least should say that I HAVEN'T been eating like I should). But have lost inches...I'm now into my men's size 32 pants for work and I look awesome if I do say so. LOL It's amazing how much better I look in these 32s than I did swimming around in the 36s I last had on. I actually have a shape! Love it. Now I'm back to eating low-carb and exercising, so hope to lose some poundage in the next 3 weeks...I have a certain goal in mind. But I'm nervous if I don't get to this life goal and I have shared it with everybody. So when I get there, I'll tell everybody. LOL It'll be great for my career and is something I've been wanting for a LONG time...could not have gotten to it without the band helping me lose the weight and keeping off what I have lost.