lianna

Oh I am so excited for you all!!!! It almost makes my palms sweat to think back to my surgery day and the mixed excitement and nervousness I felt! You girls are SO SUPER LUCKY to be there together! I want some pictures of yall in Monterrey, lol! I will be sending prayers and positive thoughts for you all today!

Good grief! I would talk to the police and see what legal recourse you have, they can tell you what steps to take and what charges to file, if you havent already filed any. (Did you file a report over this incident?). At the very least the man needs to pay your medical expenses. Let us know what happens. Sending you hugs, sounds like it was a bad night all around. Hope this resolves itself without you having to pay for the medical bills.

Hope all are doing well this weekend! Welcome to the new members!!! I have a need to vent. Yesterday was a horrible day of eating for me. It is my fault, I grazed ALL day. Protein drink in the a.m. . Some leftover Tbone steak and brocolli later. Snacked on some fake crab meat stuff. A handful of almonds later, then 5 little mandarin orange slices. 3 more crab chunks and within 10 minutes a spoonful of peanut butter. I finally decided I needed a "real meal" and heated a Beef and veggie Lean Cuisine. Ate 3 bites of the meat and gave the rest to DH, went and ate half of a sliced cucumber, then half a cup of fatfree cottage cheese. An hour later had a bowl of Tomato soup. Disgusting and depressing, because I normally have a protein drink for breakfast and a solid meal for lunch and dinner. Okay, looking at this the foods werent that bad...but I felt like I was eating AALL day. (looking at this written down I was in the fridge ELEVEN times!) Main issue was eating out of boredom, and I am missing the structure of having a job.....which leaves a set time for breakfast and lunch. I didnt even go walking yesterday. It was a little depressing for me having that feeling of "being hungry" all day, and having a touch of feeling the lack of control over food again. I rarely feel that anymore. Just needed to vent...I know what to do about it, lol.

How have I missed this thread? I love that quote Jacqui! I have no problem/guilt putting half a steak in a doggy bag, or half of a meal in the fride as leftovers. For me, the times that I have only 3-4 bites left is when I am tempted to just go ahead and eat it...there is too little left to save and I hate to throw it away. This "garbage bin" analogy will stay in my head now!!!! I think it is great how this continues to be a learning process.

There are a minor risk for complications with this surgery, but it is still a MAJOR surgery. The first 3-4 days were the worst for me. I dont know for sure if it was due to the anesthesia or the surgery itself... but I was super tired, rundown feeling, and slept up to 14 hours a day for those first few days. After the 5th day it was better and better each day.

I found out that I am not walking as fast as I though I was! I found a way to figure out at what speed you are walking by counting your steps for one minute. (it was in Prevention magazine) I have been walking around 3.5 MPH. I guess I will have to kick it up a notch and find a longer route to get my 45 minutes in! I did reread those articles and it makes more sense now. I will be better off upping my speed and keeping with the longer time.

You will be fine! It is perfectly normal to preoccupied with the surgery in the days prior to it. You will find that Dr. Sanchez has a laptop available in the guesthouse for you to use. Let us know when you get out of the hospital how you and Amy are both doing! There is a restaurant called VIP's within walking distance that will serve you a bowl of BROTH from their chicken or vegetable soup. It was great! They also take American money, lol. Try not to stress too much these next few days!

Apron surgery and a tummy tuck arent exactly the same. A tummy tuck, a full abdomniplasty (sp?), involves them tightening up the stomach muscle wall and removing excess skin and fat. An apron surgery is just the removal of the excess skin and fat.

Yep, I am diabetic. I am super carb aware, lol, and onions arent the best in large quantities, but neither are carrots. I actually used green onions, just didnt enter it as such on fitday..... on the second pot I also didnt use the chicken noodle soup mix. I used chicken broth and a chicken breast diced up instead. I also dropped to one can of tomatoes and no carrots, and am using 3 bell peppers, 3 cans of green Beans, and more celery for more low carb veggies in this. It is very easy to tweak this recipe. I need to make a pot of this,,,I am out right now. Does anyone else find themselves spitting out little balls of chewed up celery fibers? I am afraid to swallow that, lol!

Damn, I am torn. I really really want to go....but the money I am putting aside is for TT and lift, lol. I am right here in south Texas already, DH could literally drive me to Galveston. It would be way too cool to meet yall and go on a cruise! I will have to think about this...cosmetic surgery is high on my list and I am planning and saving to have it at goal. Let me ponder.

Me too!!! Amy, just in case you find time to take a look here today I want to send you off with a reminder that we will all be sending prayers and positive energy your way on surgery day! Sherryjo, sending a prayer to you also....I am not sure when you are leaving? It is really great that you will be there at the same time and have surgery on the same day! Talk about band buddies, lol!

I am 8 months out and haven't had a problem at all. Not even reflux, chest pains, etc.. . Ok, the rare slime, but that is not really a scary problem to me! Just a reminder. At this point I have no regrets and no fear of anything going wrong. Positive experience all the way.

Congratulations!

I had my surgery done by Dr. Sanchez in October 2005. I also researched for months, and spent many hours on the phone with other bandsters before I chose my surgeon. I was initially torn between Sanchez and Rumbaut, and chose Sanchez because of a final conversation with someone he had banded. What they were saying about their surgery experience just "sounded right" to me. I have only heard great things about him from every person I have asked. He arranged aftercare for me locally, but I have been able to see him for 3 of my fills and each encounter reinforces my trust in him. H

Yikes, I seem to know my liquor. I scored higher than 94% of others my age on the liquor index, lol. I guess I remember more than a little from bartending! also, i thought most people had several e-mail addresses. Like stitchy said, it does want an e-dress but I have one I use for nothing but stuff like this...it gets all the spam mail, lol. Bourbon Congratulations! You're 120 proof, with specific scores in beer (20) , wine (100), and liquor (121). Screw all that namby-pamby chick stuff, you're going straight for the bottle and a shot glass! It'll take more than a few shots of Wild Turkey or 99 Bananas before you start seeing pink elephants. You know how to handle your alcohol, and yourself at parties. My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 48% on proof You scored higher than 27% on beer index You scored higher than 59% on wine index You scored higher than 94% on liquor index

I entered it the way I made it into fitday.com. (i know we probably vary the ingredients some!) I entered 2 cans tomatoes, 6 large carrots, 7 large celery stalks, 2 cans green beans, 3 med bell pepper, 1 pack of instant chicken noodle soup, fourth cup of onion, 1 can beef broth, 1 diced chicken breast. I came up with just under 700 calories for the whole pot. It is virtually fat free also. I never checked how many bowls I got out of a pot of this, but am 100% positive that there is signifigantly less than 100 calories per bowl. It is very tasty and I am sure that a big bowl of this is much lower in calories and fat than just about ANYTHING else I could make an entire meal out of. I havent followed the "diet" per se, but have been having this for at least one meal a day and credit it for breaking me out of a 2 week stall where I was bouncing from 186-87.

There have been numerous threads here lately on the costs of self pay. Run a search and you will find TONS of information! Good Luck!

She needs to go see her regular MD. I see no way that the band should cause a heart murmur, and pre-op tests would have detected an existing murmur. But if she doesnt feel well she needs to see a doctor! Hope she feels better soon.

Since you are doing this on your own there is no reason you cant tweak it to give more nutrition. Have some grilled chicken and some salads. You should be able to add just about any lowcarb veggies. Hope you are feeling better! It is getting close to surgery day for you, I will be thinking of you and sending prayers!

Good for you!!! I dont think I could go without my nails, lol. It would depress me. I love the idea of a spa day!

Walking/Jogging Hmmm....I am still a walker right now. I simply cant jog for very long, lol. At this point, I am taking 45 minutes walks and there is no way I could jog for even half that amount of time. Yesterday we went at 8:00 a.m. and it was already 84 degrees with 87% humidity. Today, we only made 30 minutes becuase it was so miserable...its hard for your body to cool down naturally when the sweat just wont evaporate. It literally gets hard to breath in the humidity here, and we have to carry a bandana or sweat rag to keep the sweat out of our eyes. We walk at a very brisk pace, about as fast as I can walk and keep with DH without breaking into an actual jog. I dont think my body could handle sustained jogging in this heat. I am curious though......I read back through all these pages and have some questions. Am I better off, regarding FAT LOSS, doing longer periods of easier exercise (45 walks) or doing lesser time like 20 minutes at higher cardio exercise (16-20mph on my recumbant, which kills me, lol)? Should I throw in a few minutes of jogging in my walks just to get my heart rate up more, will that make much difference on calorie burn?

Amy, you will need new clothes WAY before 250! You will be shocked at the difference at each new 10 lbs that come off! (Unless like me you have a closet full of multiple sizes that you are just waiting to fit into again, lol!) PNut, glad you enjoyed your bender and still have a loss to show for the week! Sometimes it feels good to step back for a moment and then resume with new enthusiam....that is pretty much where I am right now. All our other Losers and Maintainers and Gainers...it is a NEW MONTH! Lets make the most of it!

OMG, I absolutely hate waxing my top lip! I have the finest of hairs there and instead of being dark at all they are very blonde. The tiniest amount of time in the sun and they bleach to totally white and just shine like the dickens. It becomes very obvious....it bothers me more than the darker ones on my chin that I have to pluck. They are just a few scattered but that darned bleached upper hair literally glows in the dark, lol, and I am not happy until it is ALL GONE! So for me, I wax the upper lip and tweeze what I refer to as the goatee, lmao! I had electrolysis done twice....it isnt worth pain or money IMO. The lady performing it explained it to me this way: The hair follicles grow in a cycle of 3 stages....the mature hair that has emerged, the hair growing in the follicle that has not emerged yet, and the root of a new hair forming. They slide the microfine electrolysis needle into the follicle beside the emerged hair, and it works with the moisture of the root bulb and kills the root and the mature hair slides out. So any given session will only work on the hairs that are emerged, only one third of the hair growth cycle. Plus it can take more than one go at each hair to totally kill the follicle. It takes multiple sessions to get any results. I didnt find it worthwhile at all.

For one entire month I was completely at my "sweet spot" and felt just that way! I was actually concerned when I used fitday for 2 days and came up with 600-700 calories 2 days in a row! I had to make an effort to have a decent lunch just to get my calories up! I have not felt like that for 4-5 months now. I had a tiny tweak of a fill (from 2.1 to 2.3) and it has made no difference. Is that total lack of hunger related to your fill level, do you think? I have done a really good job of keeping my portions and calories under control, but I hate that freaking "hungry all the time" feeling that has returned. I see that you are at 1.5 ccs on your fill....but that means little since we are all so different in relation to our fills, lol. I hear that stress can affect restriction (the packing and MAJOR move to Africa, etc...) .....are you maybe having better restriction with the same amount of fill?

Erica, Welcome to LBT from another Texan! This is an excellent place for information and support through you journey!