MerryHearted

Ugh, I just had my 2nd laser hair removal on my chin last night. Went *much* better than last time regarding the pain part. But this morning I woke up to a swollen chin with about 20 or so whiteheads and clearly more are forming under there. Yuck!!! Any suggestions? Do i just slather my chin in some pimple cream that's supposed to dry this out? Do I slather in anti-bacterial like neosporin or bacitracin? Any other suggestions? I have a weekend full of activities involving being with lots of other people and hardly want a chin full of whiteheads! Gross!:yuck:

Challenge start: 240 Now: 234 It's hard to find an NSV this week. How about this: I'm working massive overtime right now but I'm not giving in and eating crap out of the vending machines like I always have in the past in these "crunch times" at work. Even if I'm not the perfect bandster right now, I'm planning out my day, getting in my Protein, taking my Vitamins, and getting almost-adequate rest. Which for right now is what I can handle. I'm not giving up!

I'm a "weigh every morning" person -- but I don't obsess about normal fluctuations in weight; I've been dieting too long and I know that's normal. If you are an obsesser, I can see why you'd want to only weigh once a month during the losing phase. On the other hand, if the day you weigh in you happen to be up a few pounds due to Water retention, you might think you lost nothing and get discouraged.

Wow, I've never heard of drinking causing erosion... only that it slows down your weight loss (lots of calories!). Do you think your doc is just trying to use scare tactics? It's good to be safe of course -- maybe ask on SmartBandsters Yahoo group for a 2nd opinion (Jessie would know)

Amen Randy -- we've got a Kenmore Elite large capacity front loader and it's fantastic. Although it takes huge loads of jeans or towels and does a great job on them, I do have to say I'm jealous of Debra's machine that it will take a fluffy king sized comforter. Ours will not take our heavy king sized quilt (which is oversized, it hangs over a lot on all sides) -- that is the one thing we are stuck having to take to the laundromat for a professional high-capacity washer. After having the cat first pee on it and then barf on it, our quilt has been tucked away for now as DH is pissed enough at the cat that I dare not tempt him further. :nervous

Mine is awful, and it's worst when I've been physically active. (what a great deterrent to working out! lol) My doc offered the Parkinson's medication but I was just freaked out about taking it. If it gets too bad I take a sleeping pill. I used to take a Midol but that stuff knocks me out for a day and a half, so I don't take it anymore. Maybe I'll reconsider the Parkinson's medication. Is the new stuff they've been advertising on TV for RLS the same stuff, just re-marketed? I don't know why the thought of the Parkinson's medication bothers me. Maybe because I'm on antidepressants and I hate the idea of having to be dependent on another pill.

Ooh, thanks for the tip! I get eczema rashes and I think I will try this stuff as I have yet to find a cream that works well. (Cortizone sort of keeps it under control but not entirely)

Best wishes on your surgery! Don't worry, it'll be over in no time and you'll be well on your way to recovery. :clap2:

Congrats! Be sure to jump in on one of the challenges when you feel up to it.

Depends on how tight your band is. Some people, once they have some fill in their band, literally cannot eat certain foods without it getting stuck. Troublesome foods tend to be things like bread, rice, boiled eggs, and fibrous foods that don't break down easily (celery, for example). I heard the reason bread & rice are a problem is because they glom back together after you've chewed and swallowed a few bites. Toast and crackers are apparently much less of an issue than regular bread or white rice. I haven't experienced that -- I've gotten 3 fills and can eat anything with no problem if I chew it up good. Except I'm in a lot of pain if I drink carbonation -- I unfortunately had a few sips of a carbonated drink and found out the hard way.

Have you made a decision? Great that you know him so you can go in after 6 weeks -- I think most bandsters need to get a fill *long* before 6 months! After 4 weeks banded, it was like I had no band at all -- I was hungry and having trouble controlling my intake just like before. Good luck Kabeerah!

You've gotten great suggestions. I'd do both: add Protein to your lunch (meat, Beans or egg to your salad) and if it's longer than 4 hrs between lunch & dinner, add an afternoon snack so you aren't so hungry at dinnertime. I like an afternoon snack of a latte (milk = protein) and a piece of fruit (Fiber & bulk = fills you up). If you do that, you'll probably find that you eat less at dinner as well as being able to eat more slowly. Good luck! And don't give up!

Start: 240 Now: 236 -- same as last week. Although earlier in the week I did drop below that, I am bloated like a whale today. So next week my weight loss will show up! My NSV this week: I'm doing great on my food choices

I highly recommend going to a good sports shoe store (Redmond Town Center has one -- Foot Zone) -- they can examine your gait as you walk and suggest a shoe for you. I personally love my Asics.

The psych eval seems to vary from practice to practice. My clinic seemed to focus on depression. They wanted to pre-diagnose anyone who was depressed so they can help you with it, as losing weight while depressed is difficult and frankly most really obese people battle depression to some degree. The counselor also wanted to know if you had fears about the anesthesia or having a foreign object (band) in your body so she could talk to you about it and encourage you to let the anesthesiologist know how you felt, etc. Overall the purpose was not to "weed out the crazies" so much as to know what your issues are so they can help you have the greatest success possible with the band. But that was the clinic I went to... just depends on the clinic I guess. Our clinic has the psychiatrist at all of the support group meetings so you can follow up with her if you are struggling.

Hi Lynn! There are support groups around the Puget Sound but I don't see one listed for S Seattle. Are you on PNW_Bandsters Yahoo group? I wonder if you'll have to come over to the Eastside or up to Northgate. If you are in the S end, does that mean you are going to Dr. Oh in Federal Way? (I went to NWWLS and they have a good support group meeting, but it's for their clients -- is it possible your surgeon also has a good support group already going?) Hunger isn't too bad at first. Usually after surgery you're not hungry. A couple weeks later maybe you start to feel hungrier. For me the real hunger was between weeks 4-6 right before my fill I was wide open and felt like I wasn't banded at all; it was pure willpower "dieting" at that point to not pig out. After your first couple fills you'll feel better! And you know, it goes by SO fast.

Slippage is ~2%. And yes, there are a couple things you can do to help avoid slippage. Here are the things I was told: Compliance right after banding -- don't eat solids too soon. This allows your band to heal in place Avoid excessive PBing & vomiting -- i.e. don't get too tight; follow the rules to chew chew chew, avoid foods that get stuck Avoid lots of carbonation as it may stretch the pouch, causing slippage Avoid "pouch packing" as it also may stretch the pouch, causing slippage Surgeons now flip a bit of the stomach over the band and stitch it to the stomach below the band to help keep the band in place; that has lowered the rate of slippage compared to the early years of banding. There's probably other things, but those are the ones that come to mind...

I haven't, and I drink coffee every day. Our docs say there's no reason why you can't have caffeine. Our main fill doc says "I gave up food, I sure as heck am not giving up caffeine!" She's been banded for 7 yrs with no problems. The thing to do is make sure you don't put lots of sugar or fattening creamers in your coffee. Alcohol you have to be careful of for 2 reasons: the calories in the drink and the extra calories you often consume when you're drinking (e.g. Snacks or you eat more because you are more relaxed). I was told to try and avoid alcohol for those reasons while losing weight, but once in maintenance you can figure out how to work it back in. Plenty of people who are losing still have an occasional drink though. So I'd say take your nutritionist's info with a grain of salt. Watch your calorie intake & you should be fine!

Like MsButterkup, I am fortunate to work for a great company and have paid nothing. Wow Delarla, you really got socked on the port removal & band removal! Ouch!!

We *love* Freecycle -- great way to declutter your house or "upgrade" items without throwing away things that are still in decent condition. We tend to do it with larger items though (smaller stuff gets dropped in the box for thrift shop). We've also gotten a couple things we needed on there too. Highly recommended!

I assume checkins will be Mondays as in previous challenges? I'll check in tonight since I weighed in this morning and don't know if I'll have a chance to be on tomorrow. Start: 240 Now: 236 NSV for the week: I got off my butt and exercised 2x last week. As I had stopped exercising over the holidays, it's great for me to get moving again. My other NSV unrelated to banding: I made great progress on my decluttering goals AND on one of my goals at work. :banana

I kind of stalled over the holidays, but I'm back on track now. I was hoping my weight loss would be faster. But now that I crunch the numbers it's been 1.5 lbs a week since surgery, even counting my holiday stall. So I'm doing just fine and hope to continue at this rate (or faster! ) Hope you all are doing awesome! Let's hear a checkin from more of August folk.

I'm a little late but I did lose 4 lbs during the End of 2005 WLC! Thanks for running it!

Wow Jessie, you can really see the weight loss in your face with this recent picture compared to the last one! (your avatar pic). WTG!

How long has it been since you were banded? Have you tried just getting an unfill? I had gas & burping problems initially but it's not bad now (unless I make the foolish decision to drink something with carbonation). Have you tried Gas-X? I'm sorry to hear about the pain. I hope you've had the opportunity to get checked for erosion or infection.