MerryHearted

Wow, that's great Karri! I did another Couch to 5k workout tonight. I can only dream of running 4 miles, but someday.

Wow Virginia, I'm sorry you had such problems with your band. Glad to hear you are feeling better now and on your way down. I can imagine the pain you are talking about -- I got that sort of really horrific gas pain when I tried drinking a Coke once after banding. Whew.

I buy the Kashi Go Lean shake powder at my grocery store. QFC -- it's a Kroger store. It's in the breakfast cereal section with the boxed Kashi cereal.

I miss Vinesqueen. I was just checking on her blog the other day but she hasn't posted on it for a year now. She had Cushings and was really struggling with her weight. DeLarla was a hoot! What ever happened to her after she had her band removed, I wonder?

They must plan to have Snacks or something on hand. You can't have anyone, thin or fat, in a room sitting for 6 hrs without breaks that include food. Everyone would have a headache and diabetics would be passed out on the floor. Pack a couple Protein bars in your purse just in case. Or call and ask?

If it makes you feel any better, I'll hit my 3 yr bandiversary at the end of August and I've never PBd even once so far. Of course, now that I've said it, I've probably jinxed myself. Sometimes it just happens though. I agree, if it's a regular occurence then something needs to change. Most people use it as a learning experience to figure out what to do differently, and PBing a few times along the way is considered part of the learning experience of having a band. For most people, there is no stomach acid involved, so it's not as harmful as real puking as far as eroding tooth enamel and whatnot.

I drink coffee daily. I have noticed times where the caffeine affects me more than it used to, and I switch to half-caf or caffeine free for those times.

Hot topic around here. Ultimately, I think you should do what works for you. Especially if you are tracking your food & hitting a daily calorie goal, the drinking after a meal is less likely to affect you. If you are finding yourself getting hungry too soon after eating, leading to snacking or eating more than you wanted to at meals, then the first step would be to go back to the no-drinking rule. (before going and getting another fill) Seriously, if you wait 30 minutes after eating before you start drinking, you are not losing that much drinking time out of your day. Of course, I'm a bit of a guzzler, so it's easy for me to get in 64 oz of Fluid in a short time just by downing a liter bottle of Water a couple times a day.

Wow Angelica -- I know it hurts to lose friends - or to discover that people you thought were friends aren't, and to have people treat you this way. Here's hoping you will have a new set of supportive friends soon to take their place, and that you'll forgive your old ones. I won't be surprised if at least one of them hits bottom and ends up in the WLS camp themselves.

I'm so glad to hear things are better! Have you jumped in on any of the exercise challenges? That might help with maintaining or even losing while not focusing on the food. Have fun on your trip!!

Nothing bad will happen to you if you eat less Protein than 55-70g per day. If you are stressing over it, remind yourself that many surgeons don't require so much. That said, I've got a nice Kashi Go Lean chocolate shake mix. You mix 2 scoops with one cup of nonfat milk and - tada! - 29 g of protein. 2 of those per day and you're set -- you can have some cream Soup for another meal to switch up between sweet & savory while getting in even more protein. I imagine you only have a few more days on liquids. Then a little while on mushies... once you hit solid food, it'll be easy to get the US RDA of protein each day, even on a low cal diet. So hang in there!

WTG Frangipani for getting out there and running even though you didn't feel like it. It'll feel better soon, I bet.

It totally depends on the philosophy of your doctor or fill nurse. The person who does my fills isn't going to be negligent and just do whatever I say, of course, if it's going to put me at risk. But I'm thankful to have a doctor with the philosophy that patients should be involved in the management of their bands. Someone with a brand new band probably doesn't know how much they need, but once banded for awhile / after a few fills, you can kind of tell whether you need a big fill or a little one. The center I go to also doesn't prescribe set fill times like I've seen some bandsters describe. (like "You can only come in once every 6 weeks") We are given guidelines as to how to determine whether we need a fill, and then when we need one we call in and make an appt, even if it's only been a week since our last fill. (this is about fill levels, too, not about which size band gets installed or some other decision that the doc should be making without patient input)

Name................Current....Goal......Lost...Still to Lose BigBandFan..........296........270.......0......26 Epm316..............235........200.......0......35 (by 7/4) Hastings............253........228.......0......25 KarenG..............174........160.......0......14 (by 7/4) kathystrick.........318........288.......0......30 Leslie2Lose.........231........208.......2......23 (by 7/4) LessNLess...........149........140.......2.......9 Luu2008.............215........185.......0......30 (by 7/4) luvinke.............217........190.......4......23 Marissa's Mom.......388........358.......0......30 (by 7/4) MollyMolly..........201........188.......3......13 nancy52.............197........170.......0......27 Nettie..............193........170.......0......23 Newhope4me..........177........160.......0......17 NukeChik............238........222.......0......16 nurse7263...........244........150.......0......24 (by 7/4) renewedhope.........197........170.......0......27 Sunshine2...........179........160.......0......19 (by6/29) Tess415.............327........299.......2......30 TexasFire67.........170........145.......0......25 Wombat712...........135.8......120.......0......15.8 Lenore1890..........267.7......247.......0......20 Yep, Exercise sure does pay off -- congrats on your 2lbs down!! I've started the Couch to 5k, and I think that's going to definitely help me stay on track with losing 1-2lbs a week.

Yesterday's walk/run went great -- I went a little farther this time. I also discovered that I did my first workout backwards. I was jogging 90 sec / walking 60. That was tough! Turns out it was supposed to be jog 60 / walk 90. That went a lot better as far as recovery betwen jogs. Today is an off day, so I took the bus. That's my "incidental" exercise -- I get off a few stops early and walk instead of taking the bus the whole way.

How weird -- now I'm curious... looking forward to finding out what it was, if anything! Yes, do ask them to draw out the fluid each time. A little bit gone is fine, but if you're missing a whole bunch that's good to know so they can add it back in -- and if you're missing it twice in a row, there's an indication you have a leak. I had a bunch of fluid go missing once (can't remember how much now - 1 or 1.5 cc -- it was a lot). Doc added it back in, and it was still there over 6 months later, so I clearly am not leaking.

A tall nonfat latte, either with SF syrup or no syrup flavor is a good choice-- that's a glass of milk, basically. Unless your doc has said no caffeine. Mine is fine with caffeine. Drinking calories if you're on a low-cal diet is counter-productive, but 16 oz of milk per day is considered a healthy choice. If you're not getting in dairy, make sure you've got some source of Calcium. Your BFF is correct that you should stay away from the sugar, it'll just make you crave more. Or it does for me anyway. :thumbup: Good luck -- only 2 more lbs to go! You'll probably lose even more than that by the end of June -- that's another 7 weeks or so. A great way to kickstart your weight loss. :thumbup:

Here's a big hug for you (( Juli )) I hit mine at about 18 months or so out. Stalled for 9 or 10 months... gained 20 lbs during that time, but I would have gained a whole lot more had I not been banded. Mine was also triggered by a stressful but wonderful life event (adoption of our son, his subsequent surgery). But I finally did regain momentum in late Feb/early March of this year. So it's possible. My weight is dropping great, I'm starting the Couch to 5k so I can get running again, my new size 16's almost fit (a bit too much of a muffin top for my tastes :thumbup:) and I am really psyched about possibly making it to goal on this wave of motivation. And if I don't -- motivation will come again, at some point. I think part of my trigger to get going again was the same disgust that got me banded to begin with. I looked in the mirror one day and went "ew!!! I'm still FAT!!". :smile: What's funny is that with all the smilies we have on here -- tons of scary 'dancing' bananas!! -- there's no regular "hug" smiley -- just a group hug. Hmmm.... :thumbup:

Yep -- most people get too tight at some point. The closer you get to goal, and the closer you get to a "full" band, the less you'd have put in at each adjustment. In the early days, I was getting .5 ccs put in at a time. At my last fill, which got me to my sweet spot, it was .25. And next time I'll ask for only .1 cc. Tiny adjustments mean less likely of getting too tight, but there's always the chance. In the meantime, work on your strategies for successfully losing without being super-tight. i.e. don't rely on the band to stop you from eating, but rely on it to keep you satiated between meals. The tighter you are, the more chance of complications.

You need to attend a seminar, and ask him to come with you. 1) It sounds like he is thin and has never struggled with morbid obesity, so he doesn't know that it's not that easy. [presumably you have already tried losing weight on your own and not succeeded, or you wouldn't be looking at banding, right?] 2) He may have fears that he's not expressing here: fear that you'll change and not want to be with him anymore; fear that you'll get sick or die having the surgery; fear that other men will pay attention to you if they aren't already, etc All you can do is assure him that this is a safe surgery and that you are committed to him. Try to get him to express what his fears are so you can address them. If he won't budge on this then you will ultimately need to decide: a) I'm going to have the surgery anyway, for my own health and well-being. If he really loves me, he'll stick by my side and support me. :thumbup: We'll have to go our separate ways; I can't stay with someone who won't be supportive of my choices. c) I will do my best to lose the weight on my own without the band, so that I can stay with my boyfriend. d) I'm willing to give up being healthy and slender so I can stay with my boyfriend. [if losing the weight on your own doesn't work]

I found that the Glucerna drinks worked really well for me during my liquids phase. They are formulated to keep your blood sugar levels even so you don't get the headaches and shakes. Most drugstores carry them, or something similar. Even on liquids you should be able to feel like you aren't starving, if you have Protein shakes / smoothies and cream soups. Try to stay away from sugary stuff. People have already posted some good strategies: distract yourself, chew on popsicles, get in your protein, etc. Here's a couple more: 1) Change your language. Avoid inflammatory words like "starving". Use "hungry" instead, even if you are really really hungry. Remind yourself that you aren't literally starving -- your body has plenty of fuel, which you are hoping to use up and get rid of. "I'm a bit hungry but I'll manage, and in the meantime I'm using my fat stores." 2) Have you experienced anything physically painful in the past, or some sort of chronic pain recently? Like breaking an arm, or having fibromyalgia? For me it's my sinus infections. Remind yourself that on a pain scale of 1 to 10, hunger is a pretty low number. "I can handle worse pain than this. I managed to handle the pain when ____, so I can handle a few days of being hungry, even if it's not comfortable." You're going to make it! Don't mess up your band by eating solid foods too soon. :thumbup: And congrats on your surgery!

Yep, I did the first workout Friday. Felt great!! I plan to do my 2nd one today.

Another comment on saggy skin -- even if you have some you'll still look way better than being fat. Clothing covers most of it anyway. I'm looking to find some way to affort plastic surgery when I hit goal to get rid of my tons of belly skin. Even if I can't, I have to believe wearing a size 10 pants instead of a size 6 is still a gimongous improvement over the 26/28 I was wearing before banding. :biggrin2:

LOL -- there are other things you can do to help DH/fiancee/boyfriend out while waiting that week to 10 days til you feel up to it.

Yep, I've been on plateaus before -- it's so frustrating but hang in there. Don't go too low on calories -- some people lose well on less than 1000, but most of us need a good 1000+ cals a day to lose well. I'm at 1200 and finding it perfect. Some of the things that have helped me: 1) Tracking calories (which you're doing) 2) Drinking more (I was only getting in 32-48 oz of liquids and I lose best and feel best when I'm getting 64+) 3) Dropping sugar 4) Upping my fiber intake 5) Getting in my exercise 6) Using body measurements or clothing fit instead of the scale to measure progress. So many people have said they've stayed the same weight but dropped a size when they are working out. That rarely happens to me, but it's worth a shot...