Shinyhappymommy

Ezma, Just requested you as a friend. My name is Melissa and my last name also starts with M. :wink2: I am really enjoying eating again. It's amazing. I can eat breakfast which is so cool. I had french toast the other morning before 8 a.m.! That's unheard of for me for at least the last year. I'm happy to find that I do get full after not huge amounts of food. I'm not eating plateful after plateful of food in order to get full. Maybe about twice what I was eating before, but still, I'm okay with it. I'm really enjoying eating grapes which I couldn't do before. They taste really good and I don't have to chew super slow and then spit the skins back out. :biggrin: My heartburn seems to be doing better, but then I have still been taking my medication. I will stop for a few days and see what happens. I've started wearing maternity pants. They are just what I need. Instead of going up and up in pant size, I just need to get some that stretch over my midsection.

Hugs, you Guys. The holidays can be hard all the way around. Hopefully the memories will comfort you rather than cause you pain. My mom was big into Christmas traditions. She died in 1998 and I faithfully carry most of those traditions on with my own family. I feel that it's a tribute to her. I got my band unfilled today. :sad: I had 7.8 ccs in there. It felt so good to eat dinner and stop because I was full, not because I was in pain. And I can drink Water freely again. Oh yay!

I'm going on Wednesday. I'm so excited! I told my hubby to give me a few days to eat some actual food, and then we would get on a really healthy couple of weeks before Christmas.

Hi there. I am sitting here eating some Wendy's chili because I need something that will go down. My band is really tight and I'm having trouble getting much down. This morning I tried eating a bowl of Chex with milk on it and ended up throwing it back up after a lot of pain with the eating. I am so tight first thing in the morning, it's really like I can hardly eat before lunch time. I am really looking forward to getting my fluid out and being able to eat without pain. I have this fear that he won't be able to get the fluid out, or that the band will still feel tight without my fluid in. And I am very tired of the heartburn and reflux. Sorry to be such a downer. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving, even if I can't eat much. We're spending the day with good friends. Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.

Hi Ladies. I'm all moved in. It was hard and exhausting, but I'm liking the new house. Okay, all moved in makes it sound like all the boxes are put away and that's certainly not the case, but we're doing pretty well. My heartburn has been better with the Nexium I'm taking. I am still going to see my doctor on December 2 and I think I'll go ahead and get my fluid out at that point. I hurt most times when I'm eating and I'm frankly tired of it. I am still getting food in, but it takes me forever and is sometimes painful. I just hope I can still keep my pregnancy weight gain to a reasonable amount. I haven't weighed myself in more than a week. I'm afraid to. I know I'm going to be over 200 again and that's just rough. I haven't been exercising much, but I did go the other day to the gym and run on the treadmill. I was glad I could still do it!

My computer is having issues, so I'm not using the internet as often or as long. You'll have to forgive me if I'm posting less often. I did get out for a walk. We walked about 15 minutes. Haven't done any exercise since then. This is harder than I would have thought. I've been having bad heartburn. I started taking Nexium every day again, but it's not taking care of it like it used to. I'm wondering if an unfill would help with the heartburn. It doesn't seem like it would, but it's the only thing that's different (except the 100 pounds gone) from the last time I was pregnant and the Nexium worked just fine then. I hate this, though. It makes me grouchy. :w00t: Drinking Water gave me heartburn first thing this morning. Ugh. This is the week to move. We are moving in 6 days and I have got to get my butt in gear packing this place. I won't be working at all this week, so I should have plenty of time. I am having an ultrasound on Tuesday. I hope to see the baby's heartbeat since we couldn't hear it in the Dr.'s office.

My surgeon's visit was great. He was very happy with how I look and how I'm doing. I was about 200 last time I was there, I've gotten as low as 188 and am back around 200 again. I weighed exactly 200 at his office. (Deep breaths!) But apparently I look different to him, so that's cool. He said since I'm not having issues with vomiting or extreme band tightness, he'll just leave my fill until my third trimester at which point he'll take all the Fluid out. Won't that be weird? I haven't even had to have an unfill yet, so I haven't gone backwards on restriction except for the natural fluctuations in the band and weight loss. He said one of the biggest issues for pregnant ladies is the port bothering them. Since my port is detached, it should be just fine. He said he has actually removed ports from two pregnant women. One of them he put back in shortly after the baby came and the other one he said decided to just get her band out because 6 months after baby she hadn't put any weight back on. She was confident in her new lifestyle. Last night I woke up with burning in my throat from acid reflux. I used to have that a lot before my surgery, but it was under control with Nexium. After surgery I was able to stop taking the Nexium. So last night I got up and took a Nexium and drank some Alka Selzer Heartburn Relief. Looks like the surgery helped me with run-of-the-mill heartburn, but maybe not pregnancy-induced heartburn. I've been so tired I haven't been exercising lately, but with the beautiful weather today (74) I think we're going to have to go for a family walk!

I have an appointment with my band doctor this afternoon. We'll have to see what his attitude is about pregnancy and the band. My first maternity appointment was yesterday. I was unprepared to see that number 201 on the scale! I weighed 195 at my house that morning, so it was unexpected. Sigh. I'm going to have to figure out a way to cope with the raising weight and expanding clothing size.

I have fallen off the exercise wagon! Help! I went running one day last week and that's it for the last two weeks. I just don't feel like doing anything strenuous. I don't have major nausea, just enough to make me want to sit on the couch and watch tv. My poor hubby is not getting his exercise either because I'm a bad influence, I guess! LOL I will get back to it. I refuse to get out of shape just because I'm pregnant. As far as eating goes, I'm just eating what sounds good. More often than not it's simple carbs, unfortunately. I will get better on that as well, once I'm feeling better. My weight isn't suffering. This morning I was 193 again, which is mid-range for me right now. It's been a little on the high side. This is going to drive me crazy, watching my weight go up. If it gets too hard, we'll just hide the scale again. That's my favorite technique. We are moving in 2 weeks and I haven't got a single box packed. I'm not worried. It's getting to be old hat almost.

Ejm, Yes, I am a patient of Dr. Mel's. You have a great memory! :cursing:

Just wanted to pop in here and say Hi. I'm Melissa. I was banded in Feb of 2008. I've had great success with the band, losing about 115 pounds (depending on the day). I still have 30-40 to go before goal, but I'm very happy with my results so far. I'm about 7 weeks pregnant with my fourth child. I'm 116 pounds lighter than I was with my last baby, so I'm really looking forward to pregnancy not being as hard this time. With my last baby I was obese enough that I wasn't ovulating, so I got pregnant using Clomid. After losing a significant amount of weight with the band my cycles became normal again and so this one was conceived with no fertility help! Yay! I'm also 37, will almost be 38 by the time I deliver, so I'm no spring chicken. I just really hope I'm able to not gain huge amounts of weight. I didn't gain much with my other kids. 25 the first one, 15 with the second and lost 5 with the third. Of course I was very obese with that last one. So, anyway, I'm hoping to keep the weight gain to a minimum, though I refuse to freak out over it. I'm just going to enjoy this pregnancy and embrace all these changes.

The snow storm petered out and we got less than an inch. Didn't give us the snow day I was hoping for. Did I tell you guys that I've been substitute teaching? It's been an adventure. I've done 4th grade, 2nd grade and 5th grade. 2nd was my favorite so far. My appetite has been greatly reduced with this minor amount of nausea that has set in. I'm grateful for that. I need to do better about making sure my consumed calories are nutritious. Although sometimes nothing but tapioca pudding sounds good. So warm tapioca pudding it just was. :seeya: I haven't done my exercise except for one day this week. I'm feeling a little wimpy. My husband is out of town and it's hard to get there. I won't quit though. I need to have a fit pregnancy. For sure.

I haven't seen my surgeon yet. My appointment will be on November 4th, I think. We got official word today that the position was awarded to someone besides my husband. We are terribly disappointed. :thumbup: I've started feeling nauseated which is helpful to avoid the sweet tooth. So that's a bonus. I like the 5 year to goal perspective as well. I just haven't been able to get much below 190 with the way I've been behaving the last few months. Hopefully this pregnancy will help me reset and after the baby comes I can finish the weight loss journey! Supposed to get many inches of snow tonight. It's already been raining all day. Wet and cold!

Thanks, everyone. I guess you could consider it an NSV. :cursing:

Well, I wanted to let you all know that I've decided I'm not going to lose any more weight. In fact I think I'll start gaining some. I'm going to start wearing bigger clothes again. . . . . .at least for the next eight months! Yes, I'm pregnant. :thumbup: I'm happy and nervous about the band and pregnancy. It will be a new adventure. Baby should be due in June. Still waiting for official word on the job.

Yay, St. Louis Gal! I'm glad you had a great trip. I love living life as a smaller me. We found a house. Phew. It'll be a real nice place for us. It's a 4 bedroom house with a basement. We'll hear on the job in the next day or 4! :scared2:

I'm frustrated. My weight is back up a few pounds. I just can't seem to curb the sugar demon. I have to, though. Getting fat again is not an option! I am at the point that I like to almost pretend that I never had a problem. I like to forget about the fat me. That's dangerous, because I have to learn from my past, not put it out of my mind. Still don't have a house to move to. Hubby interviewed for his promotion yesterday so we'll see if that comes through. Have a great day!

I'm here. I've been substitute teaching this week. Fun, but busy! Lil, that's a major decision. I hope it all goes well for you. I'm glad you won't abandon us. The rest of you are great inspirations with your never-say-die attitudes. Thanks for always posting and your support. My weight is pretty stable. I've lost most of what I gained over the summer, but can't keep my eating good enough to get much further down the scale. My workouts have been stellar, though. It snowed here in Kansas today. Winter needs to hold off a bit. I need more fall!

This is a great place to post this! Are you at goal, then? I think plastic surgery is just out of reach financially for me, and maybe even emotionally, I don't know if I could actually go through with it. But I do certainly have a lot of stuff I'd like to see gone! Wiggly arms, baggy legs, hanging stomach, not to mention the formerly size H girls that are now flat against my chest without any support. I feel fine with clothes on, but it is always there. Keep us posted on your progress!

Ezma, I have a few years until my girls are old enough to date. I'm glad I don't have to worry about that just yet. I told my girls they're not allowed to kiss anyone until they're 30. We'll see how well that one works. :smile: You asked if girls are still trying to get pregnant on purpose. I'm guessing that as many as ever were, probably are. I'm also guessing that for every girl that intentionally gets pregnant, there are others who are careless about birth control and safe sex. If you think he's having sex, or about to be having sex, you should definitely be having some serious discussions with him. As far as weight loss, I'm doing okay. Haven't lost anything in the last couple of weeks. I just can't keep my mitts out of the chocolate and occasional sweets. I think this next week I need to completely purge the house so that there isn't anything in here that I shouldn't be eating. Maybe then I'll be able to lose these last few pounds. I've done great on my exercise. Haven't missed a workout in a couple of weeks. It's the darn eating. Our housing situation is still up in the air. We found out we're not able to buy a home right now because of our credit score and student debt. But, we have found an amazing home to rent. It's not finished being renovated, but the landlord said he would try to get things lined up so that he could be finished with the house in time for us to move in there. We don't have an official closing date on this house we're renting yet, but we are hopeful it will be long enough for that house to be finished. Also waiting to hear if my hubby gets this long-awaited promotion in his current office. This coming week should yield a lot of info about our near future! The uncertainty is what's hard.

Irene, I hope you are able to get a resolution to your band problems. We had surgery to make life better, not worse! The sleeve seems to be a great alternative. Tskelli, Hang in there. Family stuff can be so emotionally draining and food sabotaging! Jul, You hang in there too. Sounds like you are making some great realizations. Keep up the good work. I'm doing pretty well. Making good choices and my band is still doing what it's supposed to without being too tight. I'm feeling grateful for that. I wonder how long that will last. As I read the complications, I have to face the fact that it may not be as permanent a fixture in my body as I initially thought. I'm so curious to watch cjjktWallace's journey without the band. If I were to lose the band, I wonder if I could maintain my loss without it. I like to think I could, but who knows? I'm at the point right now that if I'm not very careful about my eating and exercise my weight will creep back up, so how is that different band or no band? Just found out our house sold. The one we're renting and have only been in since June. So we're moving again, by November 15th. Sigh. There are some good things in the works, though and we may be in a position to actually buy a house this time.

I'm here! I'm doing really well. I'm enjoying this fall weather and keeping crazy busy. I made a really awesome cake this week. I'll attach a picture of it. Ckktwallace, the situation you are in would really scare me. Do you have a specific plan for your eating and fitness in order to help you make good choices? Won't that be amazing when you are able to keep at your goal weight by your efforts? You can do it! Tap, Awesome NSV with the size 8 pants! Woo hoo! STLGal, that would drive me crazy to have my port at my beltline. Maybe you can just wear high-waisted pants? Anyway, I can imagine you just being grateful for your band at all at this point. Since starting the Body for Life stuff at the beginning of September I'm down 7-9 pounds. That is the most weight I have lost in a very long time. I need to be more careful on the eating part of the program. I wast stricter at first which is when most of that weight came off. Hope you have a great weekend.

Hoping all goes well for you ladies. Please keep us updated.

Here's hoping everyone has a great weekend! I'm thrilled with how this week has gone as I've done the Body for Life program. I have lost 8 pounds somehow. I think there's definitely been some retained water that I've lost. My husband has stuck with it really well, too. He didn't actually weigh to start with, so I'm not sure what his weight has done. We have entered a new world of weight lifting! Part of this program has you do weights, three times a week. We did two upper body and one lower body work out. We're like a couple of goofs in the gym trying to figure out which machines do what, looking at the pictures in our Body For Life book, and then trying to figure out what weights are best. I'm glad we live in a small town and have a really low-key gym because I don't really feel conspicuous here. It's really nice. I really like the aerobics part of this program. You do three days a week of 20 minute aerobic workouts. You workout according to intensity level, scale of 1-10. Whatever fitness level you are at and whatever activity you're doing, you can do this. You start with two minutes of level 5. Then you do a minute each of levels 6-9. You repeat that three times, the last time you get to 9 and then the next minute you go all out and go to 10 for one minute. Then one minute of 5 cool down and you're done. I feel like I'm getting so much more done in a 20 minute workout than I was in 45-60 minutes at a slower pace. We took before pictures, but didn't take measurements. I think we will probably do those this weekend so we have some way to gauge our progress besides the scale and looks.

SLG, I'm glad you've gotten good news about your insurance. Keep us posted on your progress. I'm doing really well! I am down to 193 (192, actually after exercising and bathrooming) again. That's a 5-6 pound drop from where I was at the beginning of the week. I had just had a couple of really bad eating days, so I don't know how permanent the weight gain would have been. I do know, though, that it would have stayed high and continued to go up if I hadn't made some big changes. Now to just continue on down the scale! I'm ready to change my ticker back, even though I don't think it will stay long. Have a great day, Ladies.