shortgal

Hey who made that tree fall? Hi Ladies, Just checking in and saw this thread. Shortgal is fine and surviving withour her band. I know, I have trouble believing it, too. Of course sometimes it's hard, but overall it's ok. I am still overweight, but there was no way I was ever going to be "normal weight" at my age and height even with a working band, so it's ok. I'm still close to what I weighed when the band came out 175. I look better and I feel better. I am still walking, weather permitting, which has been the thing I thing saved me. Also from dieting before and after the band, I learned to eat differently and I make better choices now, MOST of the time. I have become a grandmother!!! My daughter gave birth to a baby girl in March. She wasn;t due until June,(like right around now) so the baby was a micro preemie at 1.5 pounds! But after 13 weeks in the NICU, she came home and is 5 pounds now. It was great to read about how you're all doing.

the Dr. said it eroded. I say HE screwed up. I never had restriction and the band was filled a lot. He never did an x-ray or flouroscopy until I had issues. Doesn;t matter. I read my answer to the original poster and since my response in Feb. I realize I am still eating the way I advised her to and still maintaining my weight. Actually, I think i eat more now than ever. At least I don;t feel deprived very often. I walk as often as the weather allows. With or without your band, you'lll do much better overall if you start doing something for exercise. For me that is walking. I like it ( most times) and even when I don;t want to go, I know I feel better after I do. Good luck with your journey on losing weight.

Marie, First, congratulations on your marriage. I'm sorry about the stress you've been going through and the problems with your band. I have been living without my band for 1.5 years now and I know how hard it is, but it is possible to at least maintain your weight without gaining more and I would probably start there. Some of the changes I have made living without my band is to substitute one food for a lower calorie option. Check out the book, " Eat this, Not that" for ideas. I substitute lower calorie Cereal and look for ones that have the most Fiber. Use non fat milk ( which I measure) and I always measure out the serving of cereal. Lunch: Cafe Steamers by Healthy Choice followed by a piece of fruit. or Tuna (packed in Water, not oil, but drained) and always use Whole Wheat bread or whole wheat pita pockets. I use a limited amount of mayo as I prefer my tuna on the dry side anyway. Snacks are often low calorie rice cakes with sugar free jelly and in the winter have the snack with a cup of hot coffee or tea which helps fill me up. I also have canned peaches or pears ( the lite sugar type) on hand for a snack. Anything that is a "trigger" food must be kept out of the house completely. Cravings: Get the donut, but share it with someone or get two munchkins. Always buy the smallest size of any "bad" food you eat. Example: at the movies, I like Twizzlers but the package is too big at the movies, so I buy the small pack at the drug store and bring it in my purse. If I want popcorn, I pop a 100 calorie snack bag and carry a bigger purse! I no longer keep bags of pretzels or boxes of crackers etc in the house but always have apples, pears or oranges available. Steam a few small (like fingerling size or the small red ones) potatoes with dinner instead of having a whole potato. Make only what you need to eat at that meal, avoid having leftovers b/c you will go back for seconds. Always have one or two vegetables with dinner prepared in a healthy way. My last piece of advice is to walk, if you can or whenever you can. Park farther away at the mall or work. TAke the stairs when you can or invest in a pedometer ( they are not expensive) to keep track of how many steps you take in one day. Make it a game to walk more steps each day until you get as close to 10,000 steps a day as you can. I would concentrate on maintaining first b/c trying to lose is hard and will add more stress and that can add to weight gain which will only stress you even more! I make plenty of mistakes and eat things I shouldn't but I try really hard to get right back on track and not let that day turn into a week. I wish you well and I hope some of my suggestions work for you. Perhaps they will help you until you can get more fill back in your band.

Glad the second time was the charm!

You look great Shalee! Total transformation. Have all the issues from the tummy tuck been fixed or resolved? I remember you had some problems with healing.

I've chosen an "OLD" thread in the hopes of reaching as many November people as possible. I have come upon a web site called "WISH UPON A HERO" after seeing it featured on a news show. People in need ask for a wish and people can grant the wish. Now many of these wishes can be frivilous and some are just plain NOT going to get granted. I mean no one is going to pay off someone's mortgage!LOL! BUT many of these people just need some clothes for their kids or for themselves and some have simple requests such as grocery coupons, that can be mailed to them. Right now there are many wishes for Easter gifts for their children. As you can imagine many of these people are in areas that were hit hard by the economy or natural disasters, so they are spread all over the U.S. If any of you can spare a few mins. to look over the site, you can also do an advanced search and look for people in your own state, that might be easier and save on possible shipping costs. Of course some of the people can be scammers, so please be cautious with any donations of cash and the site does "certify" some people with wishes. They are designated with a red star next to their name and you can do a search of only "certified" members. If you have old clothes (you outgrew from your weight loss) or clothes your children have outgrown, many of these people would be grateful to receive them. You can also register with "Freecycle.org" where people give away good items instead of filling a landfill with them and perhaps you can pass a free item from Freecycle to a person in need. I feel bad for many of these people who cannot afford food for their families and hope this messages reachs some people on the forum that might want to help a few needy people in the state you live. My husband and I recently granted a wish for a military family that needed gas money to visit family out of state. Thanks for reading this Nymphs and if you're able to help someone, thanks for that.

Bandpal: I KNEW you'd make it to goal. I agree a small unfill once you reach goal makes sense and not risk being too tight and having your band slip. You can increase your food intake a bit for maintenance and that might help avoid the feeling of a need to binge. Cindy: So glad you found your dress! What color? We'll be expecting photos for sure. Wendy: Looks like you'll be at goal before this Summer challenge ends, good for you! For me, I'm struggling a bit now, I make mostly good food choices but snacking a bit too much and my walking suffered with this terrible weather we had here in New England this year, so I'm up about five pounds. Weather is breaking so I've had a few good 3.5 mile walks, hopefully the frequency of those walks can increase now and I can lose those five pounds. I know I become much more active in general in good weather! Good Luck in the challenge Nymphs!

Bandpal, You're close enough to goal to be a winner already, in my book! It's just a matter of a little time and you'll be there, the exact date of it all happening is not really significant. Great job! It's interesting to see how different everyone's lapband journey has been.

I would NEVER want to bet against you Bandpal! Hope you make it.

Bandpal: THAT analogy cracked me up!

I am so sad to hear this news. Kendra was a member of our November 2007 group of bandsters (the November Nymphs) and I feel so fortunate to have known her. Kendra shared stories of her daughters weddings to me, as I had an upcoming wedding for my son, which finally took place last Sept. I'm sorry that all our prayers and "Boot Kicking the cancer" could not save her. My sincere condolences to her family.

It's gotten worse the older I get! Can't wait for spring or at least March!

Shalee, Good to hear you are finally feeling better and able to enjoy that flat tummy! I think we all overindulged over the holidays, I know I did ( can you say godiva? LOL) but I did manage to stay within a couple pounds. Wendy and Linda, We are not going to get into this height thing, are we? Because when it comes to short, I will win, but I know all too well how it affects our sizes. I am at 175 today and I wear a size sixteen. Now that could be a 12 or 14 if I had a tummy tuck, because I get a bigger size to fit the belly fat. Oh well, it's better than it was 14 months ago. Without my band, I am kind of surprised that holding my weight has not been that big a struggle, some days are harder than others but I think my body likes this weight. I wish it liked 20 pounds less, better!!!! But then I'd need all new clothes again. I have not been very motivated to lose more weight. I think I am tired of it and just want a rest from counting calories. Winter doesn't help either, I just want to hibernate, so I'm not moving much. Looking forward to spring! Name........Start......Current......Goal......To Go CindyG......................190....................190.............175 ................15 Momto1plus1..............178...................176.............159.... ...........17 Shortgal......................176...................175..............168...............7 Shalee04...............178...............178..........168...........10

There are lots of people who don't eat meat but are still healthy. Eggs can be soft and have protein, some cereals have protein ( like Kashi Go Lean) and you could supplement with a protein drink or a protein bar. Getting 20 mins of outside direct sunlight can help supplement vitamin D and they do have iron pills you can take. But I agree with the other poster maybe you need a small unfill so healthy food is easier to get down. Ask your Dr. about it and the nuttritionist should be able to offer healthy food suggestions.

That's gotta feel great Wendy, not being sick, but fitting into the jeans! I am struggling to get back on track, as we had a box of godiva's that up until last night were unopened and now they are gone. Ouch! That's gonna hurt when I get on the scale. It's so cold that I am hibernating and just not getting out and moving. I need Spring to get here soon so i get out of the house and now more snow is predicted tomorrow. At the minimum, I will just try to maintain until better weather and my walking return! Hope you're on the path to recovery, as least you have smaller jeans to show for your misery of being sick!