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I'm just happy the hagim are OVER! Sukkah is down, and no more big meals. I haven't lost in a couple of weeks- I move two up, two down, and I think it's the weird eating and constant eating in other homes. And Challah! I never serve it. We use whole wheat pita and I don't always wash anymore. Most the time, but not always. But it's good to get back to controlling my food more.

Hi everyone, all of a sudden my thyroid, which has been very slow, is overactive (just had new blood work done). I'm thinking it's the almost 70 pounds off. I took a lower dose when I was thinner years ago, so maybe I just need less. Less body, thyroid works better so I need less meds???? Anyone else experience this or have any other ideas? Thanks

When I went for my appt with the nutritionist, I was told based on my weight, etc. I needed to take in 77 grams of Protein a day while healing. No one has told me to have less and my surgery was 8 weeks ago. I know that SOMEWHERE I saw a formula for figuring out how much protein I should have now that I'm over 40 pounds thinner. Just can't find it of course. Does anyone know the formula to which I'm referring? It wasn't the .4% g/lb....it was a more complicated formula. If anyone knows it, or if anyone weighs about 270 and was given an amount, that's what I'd go by. Thanks very much.

Hi eveyrone. I'm 5 months past banding and down about 68 pounds. I just had all new bloods drawn and suddenly, my thyroid is showing as "overactive". I have a feeling that all that's happened is that the weight loss and activity mean my thyroid works a bit better and I probably just need to lower my prescription for my thyroid meds. When I used to weigh in the 240 as I do now, I took a lower dose, so maybe all this is is my body needing less to keep on an even keel. Has anyone else experienced this or anyone have any other thoughts? Thanks

Bea- How do you post thumbnails to the posts? I found the album thing on personal profile, but am lame and need step by step for anything like this. THanks. AND IT SHOWS!

I want to redo my drivers license also...but I'm waiting until goal. My passport photo was taken when I was on South Beach, and I'd gotten down 50 or so from the high, so it's not too bad at all. Certainly works for while I'll be travelling in November. Brandy- what's your living? Police, security? I shoot for fun and personal "protection" (hope I never need to use it). Just targets. In LA, one can't get a permit to carry (personal). Only the bad guys get to carry (HAH).

Hi Leslie, At 57, I still have the need to make the house sparkling etc if my mother visits. I worry about how I look when I see her as well. It's not a good feeling, either. I'm working on it. My sister is better about it, but I'm the elder and I think there's just more mom-shit with the elder. And my mom is very difficult. She'll walk through my clean, set-up living room and move a vase by 2 inches...that kind of thing. GOSH, anyone have an idea why I find comfort in food????????????? Oh yeah. Anyway, it may change but it won't go away entirely. Glad you had a good food weekend. Hi everyone else. It feels like everyone's really working it....I love coming here.

If you're in pain, you really should phone the doctor. I've had gas pains, and they can come anytime, but you shouldn't really have port pain now unless you strain or do a lot of exercise, and even then, it's more of a dull discomfort, not pain. Gas can get quite severe, but I've even checked that out.....call your doctor....why take a chance.

will photo show now?

YAY MOM! That's great news. Hope everyone is well. I'll be MIA during Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, as we're observant and don't work or use computers, etc during the holiday which is Tues and Wed. I'm not cookin' this year. Gioing out the the two dinners. I'm hoping to behave well. I'm sure I won't be able to eat much of what's made. I'm trying to be very careful and not PB much. I ate too much yesterday of the things I can get down, so today I'm really watching. I uploaded photos into an album. Just too. One awful at 315 and one taken a few days ago. I hope I did it right. The most recent should now show on my emails as my profile. I'll check to see if that's down right also. Later.... Gwenn

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE HICCUP INFO. See, I'm always in good company here! I'm not getting them as much now, nearly 10 days after the tight fill. I think it is from being tight and is a warning. Most of the time I was coughing and it turned into a hiccup .Or I'd get one. Just that one extended awful day. Now I'm still tight, but a little looser I think. Still stay with liquids until evening as day is still too hard to eat. Lost another pound- I have to fix my signature. 247.5. I'm in shock. I shopped in the back of the closet again today and people noticed. Feels GREAT. I haven't caught up on emails last day or so, so I'll respond to everyone once I backtrack and read to catch up. Gwenn

I like it very much. I also hear about people being stuck several times when getting a fill and stories about missing the port and injecting the saline into "nowhere". The fluroscope helps with that as well. Just don't know if it's something one can "insist" on. I'm banded by a hospital group, so it's part of the set-up.

OOOPS. Forgot to ask. I've had hiccups alot since this last tighter fill. Sometimes it's set off by coughing. I finally took a valium to end them last night. Nothing else worked. Anyone else had this or have any suggestions? I think it's being caused by trying too hard to get food down. What do you think?

I'm gonna try to catch up with everyone: Brandy- too much alcohol. And NO Water TO COMPENSATE? ONLY 9 POUNDS!!! It will go away fast if you drink GALLONS of water. Really. Gallons. Do a no salt and lots of water day or two. You'll feel much better. Carol- YAY. 1.5 is a lot for me so if the same if true for you, you'll have good restriction. At least your doctor is trying to correct the error and take care of you. And getting you in fast is part of that. YAY....I better watch cause you're coming right up behind me. And believe me, my behind is easy to locate- LOL. As to journaling, this is my best way....to write to you guys. But yes, I do write down the food- that kind of journaling, for the first time in my life. Only skip it when I'm eating in restaurants and can't really figure it out...but I try. I use a pay to play site called www.myfooddiary.com. Yes, I had to add some things in (I keep Kosher, so I had some products not listed) but after a couple of weeks that dropped to almost never. My range for day to day isn't that big. And they do have a LOT prelisted. I add them to my on-line "fridge" and the regulars are just there for me each day. I see Protein, calories, fat,etc and it tracks exercise, weight etc etc. It adjusts calories exercised as you change the weight. The funniest so far was sex. It's listed as an exercise. The first time, I chose low to moderate paced sex (funny,eh) and 10 minutes duration, and it said I'd used 3 CALORIES!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hilarious. Instead of low to moderate, they should have said "lays like a lox". But I really like the site so I pay the $9 a month. For now, it's another support system. If money gets too tight I'll deal with it. As far as what I'm eating.....not much. Protein drinks during the day, I can't eat during the day until weeks after a fill. At night, mostly fish. I buy salmon burgers and dover sole and Tilapia (which I cover with bread crumbs). I dont' eat more than a few ounces, so it's not costly. I buy 2/3 days at a time. I also like dark meat chicken so I make a bunch of thighs and eat them one at a time. I make my own soups- nothing complicated. And I give my husband the chunky version, while I puree mine. I use some canned mandarin oranges in lite syrup, low calorie soy ice cream for a treat, or a healthy choice fudge bar. Diet hot choc late at night when I'm nudgy, and I try to have a cup of milk everyday. And at least 8 glasses of water. I don't lose if I don't drink. Leslie- don't hate the new scale anymore. Decided to just go with it. If it's a pound or 2 off, so what? The overall is the answer. Maybe this scale is good and the old one was off. I use the monthly weigh in at the doctor as my official anyway. And now that it's coming off, I feel that it's not about a pound or 2- it's about 120 of them. So as long as the number keeps going down this time, I just refuse to care (until I hit a plateau....then you'll hear my whining again). Later.

Those who are TOOO tight. Do you get fills with a floroscope there or just the doctor - no xray? I had my banding in a hospital program so they use the imaging center for every fill. I think it helps so much. We all watch as I take a drink after the salines in and sometimes it just sits in the pouch. SO the doc can pull a little out and we do it until it's moving. I wanted to be a little on the tight side this time round (I can only take a little in the band at a time) so we went with slower movement through the band, but it was really my choice. The beauty is seeing it move and talking it through with the doctor. I'm very restricted now...but never brought up water. Did liquids (slow intake) two days. Now I'm on mushies and soft. It goes through better at night, so I have a little fish and pureed soup or mashed potato (pureed). And protein drinks if food is too hard during the day. It will loosen up in a week or so but it's good for now....I needed to get off a plateau. Again, using the floroscope may help you to not be tooo tight. Good luck.

OH MY GOODNESS, OF COURSE!!! Then's no joining....just jump in with us. We're all April anniversary for our bands and so we find we have had a lot in common along the way in this journey. By the way, you can ask anything here, but there are also other groups you can join as well. I use the site for support, band friendships (no one gets what's going on with me better than other bandsters) and a great place to ask all the questions you'd like to ask. And you know what, other than really medical issues, you'll find more everyday answers and suggestions here- annecdotal, but much really works. As Turler (Carol) already told you, there are more active threads that we're on. Play around with them, or start another until you find us. I think we've been using the multi-page "calling all April bandsters", but I'm not sure until I look. Anyway, welcome and congrats for joining in.

You know how amazing you are???? With all this aggravation and "false fills", you've lost 50 pounds. That's awesome, Carol. Really really truly. You're gonna fly once you have the next fill. I'm very restricted. Really can't do anything solid during the day. Today, I tried and brought it all back up. Pineapple juice doesn't seem to help. Just tight. So, tonight I try some food- a little filet of sole- very thin and light- and I'll bake a potato. I did that on Friday, and then whacked it to nothing in the blender. Like baby food. I did have a protein drink, and if I can get in 35-50 grams of it, I'll be fine. I dropped to 249.5!!! I haven't seen a 4 in the middle for at least 7-8 years, maybe longer.

Shows you that these things can happen. Who'd think it. The thought that it could go in the sink kills me, but I understand about making waves. Listen, you know the system there and the surgeons so you just have to make it work within perameters you can live with at work. I have been weirding myself out over a new scale. Mine died. Just died. So, I bought a new one that calibrates too. Trouble is they are a couple of pounds apart. And the doctors scale falls in the middel (and his is the best I"m sure). So, I decided to that it's too much trouble to keep adding 2 pounds everytime a weigh. And I've decided that two pounds is not the issue and every scale can vary so I'm going with the new scale and dropped myself down two pounds. This is really just for me anyway, because the surgeon's is the offical weight. I wish this was adjustable. If I take it back I may find the same with others. My scale did not exactly match the surgeons but at his office there's a variable in what I'm wearing that day. So, I'm throwing caution to the wind and that's that. But a week of thinking about it- LOL. Wednesday's fill is tight! He said it would be and gave me the option. As I'd gained 2 pounds, I went with it. YIKES. Just getting down hot fluids. Water has always been the hardest to get downand still is. And as I couldn't eat in the mornings before....you can imagine now. So, I continue with fluids only in the AM and will attempt mashed potato with a little fish mashed in for protein tonight or tomorrow. But I'm not complaining. I have the Jewish Holidays starting in two weeks and so I'd rather be tight and not hit the holiday tables too open. Congratulations Brandy and everyone on perservance and sticking it out no matter what kind of week you've had.

OH MY G_D, Carol! What the hell?????????????????? Do you think you want to stay with this doctor? I'd be furious. Was he at least very apologetic? I guess because my surgery was done as part of a hospital program, when I go for a fill, I have to arrive first at the office for the update and weigh-in, and then I have to go to the imaging center, where it's done with a floroscope. I watch while more or less is added until we can see how fast or slow the liquid they give me goes through. I've always hated the hassle because this means i cant just run in for a fill, but when I read what happened to you, I'm more tolerable because at least it's all on the screen each time. Maybe you should insist on something like that. Can you?

Hi Everyone. Been gone a while. Some "too much work" weeks, coupled with my husband's business woes wearing on me, a small medical issue, and we tore out our bathroom to fix up before the world decided to throw us a couple of curves. Anyway, dealing with it all, but just barely. I started eating as my band was far more open a month after last fill, and it was okay for a while but started getting out of hand (no problem eating bags of sour cream and onion potato chips and crackers), so I called my surgeon and he had a last minute opening and he really tightened me up. I'm not only feeling restricted, I'm barely getting down liquids. But he said it would begin to loosen a little in a few days, and maybe going back to liquids for a few days will be good for me. Cleansing. My scale broke. I bought a new one that's supposed to be very good, but there is a three pound difference between my old and new scale. Lighter. Doctor's scale is actually 2 pounds more than this new one. What do you do? I can't constantly add 3 pounds and who says the old one was right? It was slightly off from the doctor's as well. I guess every home scale can be slightly different and this one doesn't have a thingee to change it. I think I should treat the doctor's as official and the rest as just a way to track, rather than the "gospel". Anyway, off to the medical supply store. Seems I have venous insufficiency (no, doesn't mean I don't get loved enough) and have to protect my legs more. Oy yey!