cathychatts

You certainly are in my prayers!

Hi Ashley: There is a thread for people banded in June! Join us anytime! congrats on the weight loss!

I have learned to take food in moderation! I have learned that most of my hunger is in my head! I have learned that there are wonderful people in Band-land! I have learned to be proud of who I am and what I do to better myself! (IE: the return of the photo):cursing:

Hi: I am a slow loser, there seems to be several of us. I stick to the plan, eat right and the pounds come off, but very slow! The thing that works the best for me is to keep the carbs low and protein high... that is very hard right now, but I intend to get back on the Atkins plan, that seems to work the best for me! Good luck to you all. Stay in touch, I am sure we will all lose and as my mentor Janet says "this is not a race"

Hi all you strugglers! I am a slow loser! Here is what I do to kinda shake things up: I do low carb liquids for about 3 days. I need to do that again for a few days again. Try it Good luck

Hey Snuffy! Haven't seen you on the LB. I am down to 197 and waist is 41 now Can you update! Thanks and Good luck!

Mary: Welcome! and congratulations on your banding. I strongly suggest you get another fill!~ Don't feel alone for giving into the Carb-comfort thing! Most of us were banded because we couldn't do it alone! The band it only going to help if you are at the right restriction! Just keep at it and you will get to the right place! It has taken me 4 fills and 6 cc in my band to really feel the band! I am also a slow looser... you may be too! Just keep in touch, even if you don't always post the other's post will offer encouragement and support. Some on here are "super-stars" and will give you wonderful hope of what is in store for you once, you (and ME) reach that level of restriction. As my Doctor said to me on Friday, "once you get the right fit on your band and you start to really loose then the will-power will increase as well!" That made me feel so much better! Good luck! Remember we are all friends here and their are a bunch of Wonderful threads all over the board!

GREAT JOB! Long! I am so proud of you! I went to my doc Friday, got .5 put in my band. I had lost 7 lb since my last visit. I complained about losing so slow, He said I was right on track, He said since I was small and had a muscular build that my percentage of loss was equitable to someone else losing 50 lbs. That made me feel better. I can certainly tell by my clothes. I never know from one day to the next what I can wear. Things are just hanging off of me. Have a great day! I am going to play with my new granddaughter!

Hi Folks: I had my surgery in June and Dr. Kramer was my surgeon, He is excellent, One of my students had surgery in July by Dr. Watson and he is excellent also! Dr. Kramer had a practice in Virginia for years before he came to Kingsport. Dr. Kramer onley does a few WL surgeries. I think anyone you choose in either practice will be a safe choice. Kramer has had WLS himself. He had a bypass. I was able to get the surgery quicker with Kramer and live in Kingsport, so it was easier. When I had my pre op I didn't have a program fee, in fact my entire process only cost me $50.00 and that included the hospital. I had 2 copays at the office. I will begin co pays again this next visit, because they don't charge for office visits 90 days after surgery. They may have added the 150. charge recently. I can understand they spend a lot of time on patient education and getting the insurance approval. Again, whichever doctor you choose, Watson, Hodge, Kappa or Kramer, you will be in good hands! Good luck to you all! PS My first visit to Kramer was in March and I had Surgery in June

Hi Amanda: Don't get discoraged, if this was easy we would not have needed surgery! Let me ask you a question, do you eat the quanity of "bad" food you did before the band? I am a very slow loser! We are at about the same weight loss. I do have a "bad" food on occasion, but try to eat healthy most of the time. As long as you are going down on the scale keep your chin up and try harder. One of the things I am doing is to schedule my treats. Like a TCBY low fat yogurt every 3 days, or a samll bag of chips 120 calories once a week. Hope you have a better week, I am going for another fill this week, and then I hope to be at my sweet spot!

Hello Folks: I had surgery with Dr. Kramer on June 6. I also saw Dr. Kappa in the beginning. I was one of the first 3 to get the Realize band, that is why Dr. Kramer did my surgery. You will love all the people that work in that office. Dr. Kramer is excellent and has had WLS himself! I have lost bout 26 lbs since surgery and doing well. Let me know if I can answer any questions.

Strikeuptheband! I am so sorry to hear of your job trouble! I pray that you will find a job that is 100 times better... I know you will! (I believe in positive thinking)! Tell my students all the time that positive thought bring positive things. These words sound shallow, knowing you are facing having to job-hunt! Just know that my thoughts and prayers are with you! This too shall pass. I am doing very will with my last fill, but I know I have restriction now! I can hardly get any food down and I am full! I have pb a couple of times. I am also re-painting and cleaing my house so I am dropping the lbs.! Finally Good luck and know that I am thinking of you!

Hi June Bugs! I got a fill on Friday, and it is really one that I can feel. I have had a pd on two occasions! It hurt so much it has made me afraid to eat. I think it has been because I didn't stop eating soon enough. I realize now that I have been able to take a short break and I could keep eating... there was not enough fill and the food could ease past. Now, when I am full it hurts to keep eating! I sot stuck on a cucumber slice... not peel...! also a hotdog...no bun.! I know it sounds crazy, but the pain made me so happy! I know know the band will work. My doc didn't fuss at me, but he said I was loosing at 1/2 lb per week, and I could be doing better... Thus the new fill. I now have 5.5 in my realize band. Strikeuptheband.... we both seem to be on the same page!

In her book Outsmarting the Midlife Fat Cell, Debra Waterhouse says that the stubbornness of fat in menopausal women does, indeed, have to do with dwindling estrogen levels. You see, it's not just that estrogen creates fat - fat also creates estrogen. You might call it a feedback loop. This ability of fat to create estrogen (and other hormones, as well) is why women who are a little overweight are far less likely to get osteoporosis than women who are underweight. It is also a reason why serious obesity is a risk factor for hormonal disorders. Because fat is a source of hormones, when estrogen production by the ovaries starts to drop as we approach menopause, the body hoards fat to buffer the decrease in estrogen. Waterhouse claims that women who aren't painfully thin actually have fewer menopausal symptoms than really skinny women, for this very reason. This means that our bodies are increasingly reluctant to give up their fat cells as we advance through perimenopause, and apparently supplemental estrogen doesn't encourage them to let go - it just increases fat deposition and holds water, just like it does during our menstrual cycles (or, for that matter, in farm animals fed synthetic estrogens to fatten them.)

I get a fill this Friday and it is a good thing... I could eat the house! I have been pretty good up until this morning and I wanted to eat everything. It is a funny thing, sometimes I feel a great deal of restriction and can only eat a bite, and then wham! Everthing I eat just slides right down! I am making good choices for the most part, and I have lost another 4 lbs that I haven't changed on my ticker...! Yea! I am just a few lbs from onederland! Anyhow! I get my fill and hope it will be the sweet one!

I hear that fat emits estrogen... so that could be the problem, your estrogen is falling as your weight drops. Perhaps you should mention this to your doc... I hope you feel better soon! I have felt mean too lately... and very unmotivated! I go to my Gyn doc soon. I am going to ask about the hormone levels and weight loss. Good luck! you are doing great!

Great!:thumbup:GrGreat!:wub:eat!:Banane34: Great!:present:Great!:cake:Great!:thumbup:Great!:thumbup: Gr,,,,Great!:thumbup:,,,,,eat!:thumbup:,,,, Gr,,,,Great!:thumbup:,,,,,eat!:thumbup:,,,, Great!:wub:Great!:thumbup:Great!:thumbup:Great!:thumbup:

Congrats Telford on the loss! I am so ready for another fill, I will get one next Friday. Long2bthin: I have had you on my mind. I know you got sucked into that thread about not exercising. I have avoided that, thankfully. It is not a reasonable debate in that thread, I have read it over more that once. Seems to be posion... I hope you are ok. Thanks for defending us old ppl! :biggrin: I think the whole thread is just a series of misunderstandings. I hope it becomes extinct! Apples: I will be looking for you in NE Tennessee. PM me when you will be traveling. Perhaps we can meet. Waikiki: bread products give me problems too. greyhoundmom: I saw that you got onto that posion thread too. I think everyone meant well. Strange how the internet can be. I saw Hunzi and Brownbear got caught up in it too. Hope it just dies now. The June bugs are a great bunch! We don't need to fell afraid to post, thinking we will get blasted. Some times we need to just agree to disagree! Oh! I hope this post doesn't rub anyone wrong.

Hi: I have Cigna (Open Access) I had a $100 co pay at the hospital and they gave me a 20% discount for paying at the pre-op, so I paid $80. Then I got a refund from the hospital for the $80, because I did same-day surgery and had no co-pay. I have had a $25 co-pay at the surgeon's office twice, so that is $50 total. My surgeon give 90 day follow-up included! Cigna has been GREAT! A nurse even called and checked on me the next day and again after the 1st month. Good luck on your surgery!

Did you recognize me? Another instructor's wife somehow stumbled upon my photo... I thought perhaps I would be a little less identifiable. I don't know why they would be so interested in me, there is no way she needs the surgery(almost too thin.) Apples: Hope your surgery goes well. I love Destin, my sister used to have a house in Santa Rosa Beach. We would go every summer! Lucky you! Stop in Tennessee on your way down! I live at the foot of the Smokey Mts! in the Beautiful Tennessee Valley! Welcome Minou! Always good to have a new June Bug! I am a slow looser too. I just plain slip up too often and eat high calorie foods! I have no other excuses. Most of the time I am good. I go to the urologist on the 27th, so hopefully I can find some answers to the continued occurance of UTIs, I have had 7 in the past 8 months. We shall see. I have been walking in the evenings as the weather here has been wonderful! It was 49 degrees this morning. I think that is a record for North East Tennessee! I love it! Long: continue to recover well! You and Apples have lost so well! I am jealous! I go for another fill on the 22nd. I hope that helps! Take care and have a great day!

I am from Tennessee, the tri-cities area - Kingsport.

I have now lost over 20 lbs! I am so excited! I am counting down to ONEDERLAND! Just 7 lbs to go!

You guys don't know just how much better it makes me feel to know that I am not so far behind on the loss since surgery!

I hope I am back on the loosing train again! I have been having trouble with my Fluid retention again and have another UTI! This is the 6th one since last October! THey are going to do studies to see what the problem can be... maybe kidney stones. (too much high protein) I am feeling better today, got a round of Cipro and Lasix. I can tell a hugh difference in my clothes! I have gone from an 18W pants to a 14W! And from a 1X shirt to a Large shirt, so I know the fat is melting. I just want to scale to talk to me! Long: good luck on your surgery! I am sorry you have to have another surgery so quickly! It will be good though to get the GB done. Didn't you have to have a scan and check it out before surgery? I did, they said if it was bad they would do both at the same time. Apples! Glad to hear from you again. I suppose you are still enjoying the lake house. i keep looking at Target thinking that they will have some beach houses or lake houses on clearance.... but no luck! :biggrin2: Looks like the weight is just falling off you! GREAT JOB! WOW everyone on here has lost a bunch! GREAT JOB! I haven't lost too much, but what I have lost has all been since surgery so I think that is ok! Take care and have a great day!

billiedaycare: I was banded June 6 and I have only lost 18 lbs. I don't include pre-band (cause I didn't do a pre-diet). I am a really slow looser!