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Fat Tuesday - *laughs* That's awesome! Welcome to Bandland, Scott! I'm so happy (jealous) that your surgery was such a breeze! I agree with Kim though, do be careful not to overdo it. *nudges Kim* We're such mom's! heh

As I was thinking about this question, I was thinking of any reasons one might find in favor of avoiding sweet drinks. For me, and I emphasize this, for ME when I eat or drink sweet things, I end up with the head hunger for more sweet things. I made some sweet n sour chicken in the crockpot the other day. I only had 1/2 of a breast, but I swear for three days after that I was plagued with cravings for more of that sauce, which also lead to cravings for other sweet things. *shrugs* Not sure if that's scientific or not, but it's what I've found. One could also point to the chemicals that are in the drinks, but we are all aware of those.

From another newbie that looks forward to hearing more from you both.. Hello Darcy and Becky! It's always fun to go back and see old friends, isn't it? There are a lot of us newbies arriving everyday, so I'm sure you'll both be busy getting to know everyone and making new friends. But please do share your stories with us when you get a chance.

The only problem I have with bananas is that they can cause constipation. If this is something that you are dealing with already, you might want to eat them sparingly.

Um, so it was YOU that's trying to hijcack the board?!

No you were not being an airhead, and no it wasnt a stupid question. But! You might be NUTS! LOL Which is ok, cause that means you fit in with the rest of us! *hugs*

Now now.. don't start on Kathy. She was being light hearted you guys. And by the way, I have you both on my ignore list! Muwahahaha! (you -know- I'm kidding! Love ya both!)

*burps* ow

Kathy, you are too funny! Kathy? Kathy! Turn me back on! :horn:Can you hear me now? *hugs Kathy* --------------------------------------------------------------------- *sings* What the world needs now, is.. a whole lot more of this: :fruitsex: :Banane54: :Banane10::peace: :scared: :whoo: :Banane21: :rockon: :welldone2: a an whole lot less of this: :deadhorse: :fencing: :flame: :flame:

Heyas Janet! You know, I think it's very normal to be completely focused on your new lifestyle and to be anxious to see the pounds falling off. Although weighing in the morning, then again after you pee, before you get in the shower, after you get out of the same shower, yadda yadda yadda! LOL That was me! I was driving myself nuts. Dawg finally took the batteries out of the scale and hid them. They go in once a week now. At first, I was even stepping on the scales knowing they werent going to work. Once I searched the bathroom for the battery! But now it's been six weeks and I'm relaxed about it. I look forward to weigh in because I know I'm only looking for 2 pounds gone. Two pounds. Can you imagine what your body does during the week? The ups and downs it must go through before settling down to that two pound loss? I am so much less stressed about it now. Weigh in is now fun! And I don't think there is anything wrong with tracking your daily intake. It's so easy to fool ourselves. "Oh, I'm not eating that much" and then we add it up afterwards and say "Oh crap!" *laughs* Dawg put together an Excel spreadsheet for anyone to use that lets you track your daily intake (counting your calories and Proteins only - although you could add columns for carbs and fat if you wanted. You can download the zip file from this thread if you're interested: http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14941&page=2 (post #23) Also, I would like to ditto Mousecrazy's disclaimer below. It's a shame things have come to this, but since it's obviously necessary to cover our bums when we share what works for us.. well.. you know. *smiles*

*laughs* I had planned on doing the baby food stuff too, but never got around to it. Between soups, cottage cheese, flaky fish, peas and carrots, green beans, mashed potatoes, etc.. I never found the need for it. It's easy to get in 60 grams of protein with cottage cheese (1/2 cup has 14 grams), skim milk (1 cup has 9 grams), tuna (1 can has 34 grams), or moist fish fillets (gortons unbreaded, 2 fillets have 34 grams) in your diet. All of these qualify as mushy foods. No more stinking protein substitutes! Yayeeerr.. wait. I just had a fill.. back to the shakes! hahaha!

Welcome Liketorun! You mentioned you aren't comfortable about talking about being banded yet but would like to be. Well, you've come to the right place. Open up and let it out! We all want to hear about it! You sound like a person who has come to terms with what made you fat. The same thing that made me fat - addiction! How refreshing to hear your testimony and how exciting to hear of your success! I, for one, can't wait to hear more about your journey.

Hey Sunta.. Youre really on my mind today. I'm praying for you and hoping to hear from you soon! *big warm (but very gentle) hugs*

I ordered mine from there and they came out beautifully. I used one of my own landscape pictures across the top, did the layout and stuff on my own and they came looking exactly as I set it up. I was very pleased with them.

Hiyas Donali :wave: *big dorkie smile* You know, I do know this. My wording just sucked. I have talked to folks who have been banded six months or even more who've never had a PB. That's what I was referring to. Didn't mean to imply that everyone who has PB'd wasn't following doc's orders.

Hi Shontel, Welcome to LBT. It really is an amazing place, isnt it? It's been a huge help to me and so much fun making new friendships. Good luck in your early stages of the journey. Really do your research and pick a good doc. :mad:

Lambchops, Rene is right, you're not getting all of the code. Click in the bbCode box then do a Ctrl+A (selects all) then do a Ctrl+C (copies). This will copy it all. Delete the one you have in there now, and then paste in the newly copied one. However, you will notice there is a URL in there that you won't want. You can either manually delete that part off after pasting it into your signature line, or you can first paste it in a text editor like NotePad and then copy it again to put into the signature line. This will remove the active URL link portion. Hope that helps. :mad:

Here is the diet I was on for two and a half weeks: Optifast or Slimfast (3 times each day) Protein powder (75 grams per day) Fruits and Vegetables (Amount desired eat day) Water (60 oz per day) 30 Minutes of aerobic activity per day 1 Mutlivitamin per day I was told to follow this diet 75% of the time. If I needed to add something more, I should add carbs like Pasta or rice. I ate salads (sometimes with a bit of tuna or chicken) and had some brown rice a couple of times. Guidelines for the protein powder: Carbohydrates should be less than double the amount of protein (i.e. 20 grams) Protein should be at least half of the carbohydrates (i.e. 10 grams) Fats should be not more than half of the protein (i.e. 5 grams) I lost 16 pounds while on this diet.

So.. I was a bit nervous about getting banded, but not scared of the procedure. I was more nervous about losing my food. Today, I go in for my 6 wk check up and the doc decides I need a fill. My first. I got so freaked out over that needle that I almost cried. His nurse had to hold my hand! LOL Go figure. Turns out, you can't even feel it! Sweet! I asked the nurse before hand if the doc was good at hitting the port. She said, with a serious look, "Oh, he usually hits it about the 5th or 6th time." I look over at the doc and he is holding the syringe like a dart aiming at my stomach with an evil grin. LOL Sunta, I have been thinking about you all day and praying that peace came over you as you prepared to go in. I have also been praying that you were brave enough to do what you knew was the right thing for you. And if that was going thru with the surgery, I do so pray you have a very speedy recovery. I'll be waiting anxiously to hear from you and to welcome you to bandland!

I started at 307 (prediet) and have lost 26 pounds since surgery on Jan 9th. You couldn't pay me to get a bypass. Not noway, not nohow! The bypass will take it off quicker, but there are too many trade-offs for me. Stats show that three years after surgery, bypass and band patients have lost about the same percentage of excess body fat, but that bypass patients tend to regain the weight again. Best of luck in your decision. And I agree, find a doctor that does what YOU want. Don't be pressured into anything you don't feel good about.

Me too! I was so pissed! LOL It was gone within a couple of days. I was told it was Water retention from all the fluids that were pumped into me via IV. Welcome home and grats on your band!

I tried. OMG I tried. I wanted Cracker Barrel so badly that I was going insane! But I have a watch Dawg who wouldn't let me. *sobs* I know exactly how youre feeling. It's almost a dread of losing the foods you love so much. Try to ease your mind by remembering that you aren't going to be deprived of these things forever. Only for a short time. You can do this for a short time, right? Lord knows how many times I did it for a short time. But the sweet thing about this time is - youre going to have your band to keep you from falling back to square one! And Leener, you're only giving yourself more weight to work off with the band. You know this. Instead of thinking about your lapband journey beginning the day you get your band, perhaps decide that today is the first day of the band journey. You'll feel so much better by the time you get the band! I promise! *hugs* Oh, and buy a cowbell. Run around the house playing your cowbell whenever youre temtped to eat! LOL I've got a fever!!!

It's also for digestion. This is how the nutritionist explained it to me. The whole stomach contains acids which break down the foods before they pass on to the intestines. Since our stomachs are now divided, the upper portion (or pouch) has only a small amount of acids in it which come up through the banded area from the lower stomach. Therefore, the foods don't get broken down as much as we are used to before they move along. I don't think our food passed through the banded area prior to this process with the stomach acids, so even though we chew, chew, chew this does not mean the food will just pass right on by leaving the pouch empty in no time at all. If that were the case, there would be little point in telling us not to drink with our meals. I hope this helped.

I'm still laughing over that one!

I had my first fill today. I've been promoted in the Qualified to Post ranks! Woot! By the way, I was so freaked out when he said he thought I could use an adjustment, that I almost cried! I was afraid it was going to hurt and I was afraid of choking on my own spit afterwards (oh yes, I've read the horror stories). But I'm HAPPY to say that it didn't hurt at all! And I feel great. And I'm on 48 hours of liquids. (Ok, so that's not such a happy thing) AND at this rate I'm going to be under 200 pounds before I turn 50! Yay!