NewLife'sGr8

Congrats on your BandAversary, Chica Bonita!

You look amAZE!

If it's a fill- you know it. They jab that needle right into your stomach to the port. There's no way not to know

In the beginning, you won't feel a restriction and be ravenous until they fill it to close to your sweet spot.

If you want to see how they do it and how much fill you have or are getting ASK the doc to show you before/after he fills you.

Personally, I watch what's going on rather than stare at the ceiling.

the more inquisitive you are at the more you'll be 'connected' with your band.

No pain nor discomfort during the first 3-5 fills.

No prob. ever, swallowing the Water after the fill. Keep to the post-fill instructions. It will be inflamed.

Frustrating time. You'll feel ravenous without much/any restriction- yet. be patient during this time.

Congrats on your milestone and for the visual sharing of your success.

Thank you for this inspiring, thought filled post. It made me ponder my own journey; how I did it, what I'm doing now, and where I want to go.

Best wishes for continued successes

AvaFern

You are SO right!

No NSAIDS for me either. Bummer!

Curcumin, Vita D3, The enzyme in hot peppers, pepper (red, white, black), Omega3's ALL have anti-inflammatory properties. Also, eating an ALKALINE diet (as opposed to acidic) also reduces inflammation. Google it for details on which foods are alkaline and which are acidic. Ice & heat packs reduce inflammation.

Re: exercise- I had long "run" with ortho injuries too. Bummer 2

There's always SOMETHING you can do, regardless of level of incapacity.

My suggestion is to see if you can get a SPORTS MEDICINE PT RX approved by your ins co. Your 1st appt will be with a DOCTOR of PT. Ask them to give you a series of exercises you can do as a runner, now unable to run. They got you! Trust me, they are awesome! Highly skilled & trained in hi-tech biological responses to various "input" (exercises/manipulations) & will keep you top-notch (better than you could do for yourself running alone).

Also ask for re-integration & re-injury prevention exercises/program to ease your way back into SAFE running when/if you're able & ready.

My take-home:

Bummers aren't the end of us as we know. They're obstacles to overcome or circumvent to get to who we're meant to be. Sometimes the universe thumps us down (re-balances us) for being over-achievers and losing focus of what really matters.

You'll get through this better than you were before.

Best luck

So, I've posted comments about making broth-bases in a few threads.This is a correction/ revision to what I've posted about making beef broth from bones.

I posted that I don't skim the fat off the broth after boiling, because there's a negligible amount per serving in the finished product (Soup or au jus) if you make a big vat.

It's been a long time since I've made beef broth, so I thought since I've been posting about it and it's that time of year, I'd make some.

I do save and freeze steak bones and when making beef broth from these bones, it's true, the total fat is negligible per serving when making big vats from these.

Since I don't eat that many steaks and my household has shrunk with the kids on their own, there's just not enough bones to make beef broth with- so I buy marrow bones.

*HERE'S THE CORRECTION:

I'd forgotten, marrow bones do have a LOT of fat that leeches into the broth. I definitely recommend skimming off the fat at the end of beef marrow-bone, broth-production, before freezing.

Sorry if I misled anyone. It wasn't intentional.

It's wonderful to see so many making good Halloween choices! Kudos!

My Halloween plan was to save money by buying early at the big box store to get much better pricing, larger quantity, and they had a really good coupon- big-time money-saving Halloween- Yay!

I bought a giant mixed bag of those itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, popular, commercial (lots of additives) milk-chocolate-based candy bars. I, of course, had 'evolved' past any desire for 0-nutritional value, over-sugared, commercial milk chocolate- Now only eating good-quality dark chocolate to satisfy my choco-attacks. What a GOOD GIRL I am! Ha!

...and there it was, calling to me, loudly, from the pantry every night. We hit the bag- just a couple- late nights. That evolved into: Well, 3, 4, 5, 6 teeny weenies don't even add up to one regular-sized candy bar. It's not like I'm eating a full candy bar (every night).

When all the 'good' ones were gone, only malt balls were left. I really don't like malt balls. Never did. We ate those too. This whole self-sabotage 'project' was over the course about 2.5 weeks.

Candyless, and with Halloween just around the corner, next trip to big box store, I bought three big bags of pretzels in little bags to pass out. I have no interest in eating pretzels- at all.

Interestingly, I suggested we buy pretzels at that first round of halloween candy- buying & my companion said," Yea, but are the kids going to want chocolate? Or pretzels? I caved and bought the candy (peer pressure). I wish I'd been stronger.

Post Halloween, only about 28 little bags were passed out and I'm left with a huge, floor-sized basket full of little pretzel-bags & about 2.5lbs up.

Tally:

I spent double the money, even with coupon.

I filled myself with unnecessary guilt & loathing

I loaded sugar, which made me crave more sugar. Vicious cycle to get out of.

Now, I Need to spend even more money (like $30) for a body-cleanse to help detox sugar

I have enough pretzels to last me 3-5yrs. I hate wasting food & money

My weight is up 2.5lbs with Thanksgiving, Xmas, & New Years right around the corner. It'll be that much harder to A) Get rid of the added weight and keep losing weight through the holidays.

Lesson Learned:

I come first! Doesn't matter what the kiddies prefer to get on Halloween. They're going to be zinged-out from sugar whether or not I pass out pretzels.

Bonus Take-Home Lesson:

I'm not contributing to the global obesity problem if I pass out pretzels.

I've flown with no problems at all. Everyone's band-sensitivities are different.

Don't remember doc giving me special flying instructions back in '09 when I was banded.

I'm pretty sure You can bring sealed, unopened liquids in your carry-on. Muscle Milk Protein shake is sold in most convenience & grocery stores pre-mixed. It's pretty good tasting & has a lot of added Vitamins in it. It's also what I buy for road trips. Easy meal, not messy & satisfying.

I've stopped at restaurant/lounge on layovers for cocktail & meal- unrestricted as to what I eat except for the quantity restricted by my ban. I make good, healthy food choices- usually lol.

They have some fairly healthy options at these places near the gates and also at this quick grab-n-go coffee shops w/ sandwiches, yogurt, salads, etc. One of these quick stops near the gate (forget the name) has smoothies, and you can ask to add a scoop of Protein powder. THAT was a great find!

I think the issue with flying for bandsters is cabin pressurization. I've noticed when I bring a sealed Water bottle in carry-on, it looks "squeezed out"/ crumpled- sort of like when they squeeze plastic milk bottles- indented like- but more so in flight.

I imagine pressurization has a similar effect on the liquid-filled, plastic band.

It's never a good idea for banders to eat until full. It's probably best to keep it light in-flight. Another reason why I eat light is, I wouldn't want something to get stuck & have to run to ladies' room to purge- and (horrors!) miss my flight.

I've had trouble eating / keeping eggs down too. I think it's because they're rubbery-ish (whites)

When I follow instructions and chew until mush, I found I can enjoy eating them again.

Word of caution: Sometimes if I feel ravenous or cooking Breakfast for visiting friends/family, I cook two for myself as well. Every darn time, I can only eat one! (huge problem, huh?lol) Even if you think you can get two in in one sitting, thick twice, cook one. lol

Of course, everyone's different so maybe some of you can get two in...

Two or one, I LUV the yolk best.

Moreover, I'm thrilled to be free from being a slave to all those: eggs are good/ eggs are bad/ eggs are good again scientific study BS!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee @ I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeee...!

eggs, made by any method are thee best Protein source available.

The yolks have cholesterol but the good kind, plus a lot of other nutrients.

I eat the whole egg.

WLS is more of a 'diet' of restriction. It's not like ALL that other 'diet learning' we were indoctrinated with: No carbs, no fats, no sugars... etc.. We now simply can't eat nearly as much quantity as we used to.

Therefore, I eat mostly what I like (within reason- no cakes/candy etc). I enjoy it to its fullest and feel satisfied and content that as long as I can't eat as much, I will continue to lose weight. I've been making healthy food choices for a long long time. My prob was quantity- never feeling full/ always hungry.

Of course, anyone can 'eat through' the restrictions.

I tend to not set myself up for failure & focus on Dr's instructions for my new life: Eat whole foods, not sliders; don't drink high calorie liquids, stop eating at satisfied, etc

Enjoy the whole darn egg, forever more!

I admire runners. So sleek and dedicated.

Congrats on your NSV & for your transformation.

Best wishes for your continued success

Wow! What a transformation! You look fabulous! *applause @ your success

I'll bet you're tickled to death with your new lighter self

Thank you for sharing your infectious excitement and transformation pics

Keep us posted

Interesting thread

LUV the sounds of these pumpkin-y fall recipes! I'm going to try some of them for sure. That pumpkin parfait made me drool. lol

Just saying: Most Mexicans say they wouldn't have a drug problem if AMERICANS stopped using.

That said, I'm still very cautious about 'surgical tourism'. I keep seeing a lot of botched up surgeries from Mexico on that show BOTCHED. Scary. Really scary. One woman, whose Va-JJ ended up way up on her belly said the anesthesia used was a block of ice- that's it. I would FREAK!

Is the savings really worth the risk once you factor in air & ground travel expenses & rehab lodging?

I'm not judging. Just asking because I really don't know what the International costs are compared to costs of doing it here in America.

And I'm researching WL plastics now, for when I reach goal-weight or pref. under and have maintained it for awhile. I would HATE to go in too soon & have to do any of this, twice.

Yummy sounding Soup base & jish it up tweaks.

I would make a lot of it and freeze it, and then add the tweaks according to what we feel like eating on any particular night.

I like a grab n go lifestyle- keep it simple, so I pre-prep a lot of foods and freeze them pre-portioned in zip bags (they stack well).

Also, I eat for nutritional value (=satiety) so don't buy or eat much processed food. ex: Bread- I get the 12-15 grain kind, dry Cereal is Mesa Sunrise; qionoa, flaxseed, amaranth & corn grain-blend, my 'chips' are Riceworks; baked wild rice chips (so yum). I do buy flash-frozen fruits & begs with no added anything.

I like home cooked meals. I like to make them but not everyday. I did that 3x's/day-7days/week-365 for 22years. So now I have cooking days. No particular day, just when I feel like or when I'm running low on freezer-portions.

One example I do is roast whole chickens or small turkeys, eat them hot, and cut up for leftovers, sammies etc, as usual, then put the carcasses in a bag in the freeze. Then, when I feel like it, I take out whatever carcasses are in there and boil them up in a big vat of Water and then freeze the broth in gallon freeze zip bags for use whenever I want to make soup later on.

I freeze vegetable ends, pieces & peels for veg broth (toss the vegs in the trash or compost after boiling).

For beef soup, I do freeze bones if we have T-Bone steak to bone-in cuts but we don't have those often enough to make a big vat of broth. Usually, I just get those marrow bones at the butcher case, give a couple to the dogs & boil the rest for broth.

Sometimes I add veggies to flavor the broth but throw away the cooked veg cuz basically, I want clear broths. For great flavored broths, simmer on low for a day or two. It leeches all the nutrients & flavor out of the bones and really intensifies the flavor if you reduce the volume by 1/4 or 1/2 (boil it down).

This way, I know exactly what's in the broth & what I'm putting in my bod.

FYI: I don't skim whatever fat is in the broth because once the bones are reduced to carcases, there's very little fat left on the birds- tiny little bit & very little skin left on after being fairly well though not completely picked over. Any fat grams per serving are negligible when making large quantities to freeze plus the little bit of fat left adds to the overall flavor.

when making the actual soup, I throw in chicken breast or thigh or portioned out beef, or whole cuts - frozen & let them defrost & cook in the soup = increased flavor. Don't use frosted or freezer-burned meats of course. Then, when it looks cooked, I take out the meat and cut it up into soup-sized chunks & plop em back in the broth just before adding veggies, starches & seasonings.

I package everything I cook in individual serving snack & sammie zip bags & freeze, to grab n go to work or heat at home on those days i don't want to cook.

I make big pans and crock pots of every meal I make & do the same; portion & freeze. Healthy & in accordance with the WL diet for life & in the right measured amounts. No calorie counting!

This gets me through, Particularly in the fall & winter. When I'm ravenous & could eat the bark off a tree, I grab a ready-made frozen meal that I made- that's good for me & my family.

I was told Clear Liquids first 1-2 days, then light Soups for a day or two, then Protein shakes & soft foods like cottage cheese, then soft foods like eggs, then ease back to whole foods slowly & chew until mush forever more.

If I felt like something was 'sticking' then back off to the previous phase for another day or two.

Sounds like the band was too tight

Not that I've done it yet, and not that it might be the most popular post but....

This thread brought me back to my art major days & fashion design classes... and home ec- back in my younger years. It also brought me back to basic family training. In my family, the boys learned to sew & cook and the girls learned how to do years work & minir repairs- as well as all that traditional male/female trajectories. My family cross-trained. We also learned to buy GOOD quality and make it last forever. lol

So I've hung onto a few meaningful 'fat' pieces. I have the intention to either alter them to fit me or to recreate them into something else altogether; a skirt, new tank, scarf, even a pillow or throw. Those things that have a place in my heart like the gown I wore at my daughter's wedding, my first date with.... outfit , my later-in-life graduation from college dress, that kick-ass power suit that I kicked ass at work & got kudos with, etc.

I think it's important to surround ourselves with what's meaningful, even if it's not recognizable as what it once was.

It makes sense though, because I'm not recognizable as what I once was either, but I'm still the same me and what's meaningful still matters, imho.

I love making homemade Soups of all kinds in the fall.

A great fall "cream" soups is: Creamed Acorn, butternut & carrot Soup.< /p>

I like to freeze portions so usually I make a lot of soup at a time Adjust the amounts to whatever you like.

start with peeling & de-seeding the squashes and chop into ~ 1in chunks. chop up the carrots ~ 1 in chunks. I wash & don't peel the carrots to get more Fiber & nutrients in. Toss all of it in olive oil, pop on a big cookie sheet or roasting pan, sprinkle with sea salt and pop in a 425 oven for 30-40 min (=roasted veggies)

In the soup-vat, brown up lots of big chunks of onion, celery, garlic, then dump in 8-16c broth (depending on how much you want to make) into the vat when onions look clear/ browned.

bring to boil & simmer until the roasted veggies are done cooking. Toss in roasted veggies, bring back to boil, then down to simmer again.

throw in some cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, sea salt & pepper. simmer for an hour or so. TASTE THE broth & AJUST SPICE TO TASTE.

let cool a bit to not scalding hot.

If you have one of those stick blenders, stick-blend the whole vat until smooth & creamy. serve with a dollop of sour cream on top & a few chopped scallions if you like.

If you don't have a stick blender, then let it cool to tepid, then spoon the broth & chunks into a blender & blend until smooth & creamy. If you don't let it cool before blending, the lid will blow off from pressure & you'll get 2nd/3rd degree burns like I did 1st time I tried this.

Don't worry about the lil dollop of sour cream because you're not adding any extra cream or butter fat other than the olive oil you roasted the veggies & browned the onions with (not much per serving).

SO YUMMY! Enjoy!

If you're feeling ravenous again, go get a fill (as long as it's not 'head-hunger', i.e.: all in your head)

I lost weight. Looks great now, but it literally took me 4yrs to lose the 100lb you see on my ticker here. That's ~25lbs a YEAR! Doesn't really sound like that much when you do the math; less-than a 1/2 pound a week.

It's MY doing. I asked for a loose fill so I could have enough nutrients to heal from ortho surgery. One surgery led to another, to another to another... 8 in total during those 4 years. I was in so much pain, either on crutches waining for the next surgery or laying around post-surgeries. No exercise other than rounds of PT. Pain made me not so hungry, so I think I would've lost the weight without the band- a lot of it anyway.

After the last ortho surgery, I was literally good as new. No contraptions just to walk- walking freely, with a bounce in my step again even. Hunger hit me hard. I gained 15 fast. Went in for a fill, then the acid tummy kicked in with a truckload of stress dumped on me. had to un-fill a little. Lost the 15 but am not at that sweet spot yet. Not sure I was ever at that sweet spot even though I lost fairly steadily.

I'm now trying to work out the band fill -vs- tummy acid + weight loss. I'm back at square one with re-learning all the do's and don't's again. This site is a God-send for me. Learning so much here.

Be patient. Don't jump into the band weightloss like another yo-yo fad diet. Take it slow. Communicate with your doc good and bad habits and keep coming here for support. You'll get there. Be patient. The band isn't like the sleeve or bypass. Not a quick drop like that. Make good choices. Read up on nutrition and satiety. Forgive yourself when you stumble. Most of all, LOVE yourself, which includes making healthy choices & daily activity (something I need to work harder at), and trying on new clothes to ramp yourself up occasionally. Maybe even an occasional pedicure = self love.

Best wishes for your success.

I've never been a runner. Never wanted to be and won't be due to bi lateral hip replacements & knee-meniscus scopes.

That said, I do know a little about nutrition and exercise. I don't count calories so I hope my advise still helps you.

This is what i do know:

Within about 15-20mins after your run/workout/walk, get some hi quality Protein in. A Hi-gram of Protein (not energy) bar (a little one) or Protein shake (1 scoop), or a hardboiled egg ( I keep a few hardboiled eggs in the fridge to grab & go), 2-3 cheesestix. Try not to do much carb (after the workouts). Just protein. Keep it quick & easy so it doesn't interfere with your day (prep time). Try to think ahead and have a few of these quick-grab Proteins around just for this purpose- no thinking involved- just grab, get it in, & go.

The exercise literally shreds your muscles up. The protein re-builds muscle fast as long as you get it in within 15-20 mins post-run/ exercise. That way, your bod won't eat up your muscles due to your too low caloric intake- assuming you want to keep it that low. Your bod will burn up the post run protein calories immediately so no real need to add it to the daily count.

Alex: I started having acid reflux a while back and cut out coffee (as well as caffeine, most chocolate, tomatoes, high fatty foods etc) about 20 months ago.

I don't remember going off coffee before surgery. Maybe I did but I'm pretty sure I'd remember. Coffee has long roots in my family growing up & I carried it through m own adulthood.

I've been struggling with acid belly on & off for over a year. Doc & I trying to regulate the acid and get the band into that sweet spot now that my 8 surgeries are complete, finished, done.

It's mostly at night, I wake with a belly full of acid sometimes 3,4,5 x's a night- sometimes bloody. We're getting the bloody under control with Omniprazole but when I stop the med, the acid starts up again.

At the same time, I can eat pretty full portions, a regular dinner plate full usually, so the bands not too tight (I think).

Did quitting coffee and acidy foods cure your acid reflux? I really need to get that stopped to I can tweak the band to lose this last 35 and maintain, in a healthy way.

I used to drink coffee all day up until 3-4pm.

Now, I have a big mug in the morning & that's it, for Breakfast. Can't seem to eat anything early most days. I still need that jolt to get me going.

Around 10am, I'll eat a little something like a Protein bar.