greythope

Yes they are great aren't they! I mean with pounds it could be because you're dehydrated or went to the bathroom or whatever, but putting on a pair of trousers you couldn't breathe in before is awesome! I can't wait for more of those. I feel like I am going back in time with my weight. Right now I am where I was around my son's 1st b-day. My next goal is my weight before I got pregnant. Eventually I will make my way to my size 12 jeans (lucky me thin at a 12!) and I will be back to where I was happy. And hopefully this time it will stay off like it didn't when I did Jenny Craig and lived in the gym.

Snuffy your advice is spot on! I have fought depression for years, ha - like since birth! Exercise really helps. I do take meds also but if I exercise they work much better and I am in a better mood. I had a real downhill snowball effect earlier in the year. I was doing relatively well at the exercise thing (crap at dieting, but that was pre-band). Not sure what I did but my back and hips (I'm hyperflexible, they pop out of place sometimes and swell) flaired up something severe and I had to start physical therapy. So I was told the only exercise I could do was what they were having me do there. A nice combiniation of pain all the time, weight gain, and not getting good cardio and I was a complete mess. I didn't start coming out of the funk again until I got over the hump of my pre-op diet and then recovered from the surgery. Back on the road to wellville now. Still having pain but of course exercise helps that too as long as I don't start thinking I am training for the Olympics again! My PCP says once I get to a weight where they'll take me seriously I can go to a sports medicine specialist. We can give each other good and correct info but you catch a lot more flies with honey as they say.

I am eating my lunch right now and having a DEEEEEE-Licious one. It is an Amy's brand entree called the Sante Fe Enchilada Bowl. It is packed with goodness and real ingredients. 350 calories. 16 grams of Protein. 9 grams of Fiber. 11g of fat, 2 which are saturated. 10% of Calcium, 40% of Vitamin C, 20% of Iron. You can find it in the healthy food/ vegetarian option frozen section of the super market. I have had it two days in a row. YUUUUUUUUUM! ********************* Also (and I can believe I saying this) but cottage cheese done the right way is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. 1/2 cup with 1 equal packet and cut up peach slices (sugar free of course). Such a nice snack. **************************** So what good finds can everyone recommend? Do share! recipes are great also.

I work in HR/Benefits and see this sort of crap all the time. Sounds like they asked for additional information from one of the providers but didn't get it. So they just gave up and denised the claim. What I would do is give them a call and ask EXACTLY what is needed. Document the call, name etc. Also go online and see if you can get copies of your EOBs. I am sure since it was pre-approved it was fine, someonen just didn't do their job along the way. Good luck!

Sigh. give the poor girl a break. It's her own road to travel down. 35-40% of her excess weight might help her get the apnea under control and then start exercising or maybe she's doing it this weekend. Dear God just leave it. She's got the message - exercise aids weight loss and a healthier lifestyle. So let's all stop being catty bitches shall we? Original poster and me included!

I wish we could just kill this thread. Yeah I know if I want it dead I shouldn't be posting... I just have to say something though. I like being in the June section because we're all in the same place. I feel comfortable there. If everytime I post about a foible I don't want to be told off. God knows I can do it myself enough. It just makes me feel better to share stuff to people in the same time frame. Which we'd happily been doing, encouraging each other. Sort of like my due-date club when I pregnant. I didn't go on other months and look around for posts to questin people's committment to becoming mothers. If someone on my month posted a question and it was either a ridiculous question or her freaking out over whatever she'd done I tried to encourage and not make her feel like sh*t. Not everyone's style. I had some doozy of replies to posts I made about a few issues and someone seriously told me I didn't deserve to be a mom if I didn't try a natural birth and that I was selfish. I am not saying those who are long-time banders do this on purpose of course! But I know I see an attitude around here that newbie banders as uncommited and generally dumb. Hence some of us getting our feathers ruffled. Don't we all know that making someone feel like sh*t doesn't encourage them very much?

Mekadig here is info re sleep disorders as they related to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Job Accommodation Network This should help you and your job. From what you have said, your Apnea is VERY bad. The daytime walks are great. My only bit of assvice to you is to USE THE CPAP! Even if you have to duct-tape that thing to your head every night, you'll eventually be able to sleep with it. In fact I can't sleep without it. And just so everyone knows, sleep Apnea is not just a disease of the overweight. I think maybe 50% of sufferers aren't. It just one of those things that happen. I used to burst into tears fighting sleep at work and the slap ritual as I drove my kid to daycare was rotten. It increased my chronic pain and made me no fun to be around. But you can fight it and it will help your mood to exercise. And help keep your body asleep (if you use the CPAP). I was so depressed I wanted to die and all I wanted to do was sleep all the time. Even before the exercise you have got to sort out the CPAP thing. Apnea shortens your life just like excess weight does with the same sorts of diseases associated with it. Try different masks, talk to your doctor. Maybe if he gives you something to relax you can sleep with it and eventually get used to it. Or even some benadryl to help you go to sleep. Guys I can see why Mekadig felt the need to come on here and rage. I was pretty tempted myself since this is a sore subject with me. Don't be too hard on her. We all want the same thing out of this all - to be healthy, happier, and live longer. You can give lots of advice but at the end of the day people have to make the changes on their own terms. WE CAN DO IT YES WE CAN!

Guilty as charged, although sleep apnea doesn't let you sit up and watch infomercials! And it took me close to 10 months of hoop jumping to get my surgery approved. I apologised in the other thread and explained a bit for getting my knickers in a twist. It's sensitive one for me because it really is such an awful thing to have, I really did just feel like dying before getting it treated. Before things got really bad I was a regular exerciser, hell I worked out until I got put on bed rest when I was pregnant at 35 weeks! Unfortunately I was a very regular eater too with a bottomless pit of a stomach. So sorry again. I totally understand your frustration at people thinking WLS is the easy option and doing stupid things that could hurt themselves and not putting on their big girl pants and take charge of their lives etc etc.

I did just work out. I am lucky i have an elliptical. DH played outside with the wee man while I worked out for 30 minutes. Wee man is eating a little later than normal but we all survived. 5:30 am is going to be a while before it can happen regularly. And i can't leave the full burden of just home toddler wrangling to my husband each night. I also can't do my old habit of a 30 minutes turning into an hour and a half and end up hurting myself, particularly when it comes to weights. I need to a picture of my back MRI on my Ipod to remind me I am not superwoman!! But I can try this a few evenings and at the weekend I can sneak off during naptime. Am before you ask why I have time to type this, I am supervising toddler feeding :cool2: My sensitivity is because I have found myself with situations that people have told me are only because I am weak or a sissy. I have a sort of friend who says people shouldn't take pain killers unless they're in end stage cancer and chronic pain is an ailment of sissies. So does my dad and he says sleep apnea isn't a real condition. And of course the world is full of fat people who are that way because they're lazy when in reality it is lifestyle AND physiology. Why do they say this? They've never had chronic pain, are naturally thin, and don't have sleep apnea. They can't even spell empathy. That is why I got my knickers in a twist over the sleep apnea thing. Honestly it is the hardest thing I have ever dealt with. WAAAAAAAAY harder than weight problems or arthritis in my back or anything else have ever had wrong with me. You ladies are just trying to help and not be horrible like people I've met before. So for those posted who are farther on the journey and have good sage advice - can we try this again? I am Jenni and I accept your advice and guidance OK!! Original poster let's take this opportunity to kick ass and take names at this weight loss and exercise thing OK?!:thumbup:

I don't really know what to say other than I was trying to help the original poster not feel so alone in it all. Sometimes just knowing you aren't the only one can actually help inspire. The sort of 'hey WE can do it.' I think all of us have gotten a life time worth of blunt advice about our weight. It just stings now because it's the same sort of tone the 'well if you just had some self-control you wouldn't be so fat' sort of advice I am sure we've all gotten. Even if we need it!! The Junes are just at the start of our journey. I don't know about the original poster, but I have made huge changes and am working on more. we didn't get fat overnight and won't get thin overnight either. 'If you don't do this you're going to fail advice' tends to have a negative affect of people even if you meant it in the nicest possible way. The irony is I used to be the gym junkie giving that same advice all the time. I am certainly back in my place now aren't I?! but at least I still feel stronger and working out isn't bad like it was when I was completely sedentary. So in short, thank you for the advice. You've motivated me even if it stung. I still contend walking a mile in another man's shoes wouldn't be a bad idea though even just to phrase things differently. I am glad you guys are doing well and of course it's an inspiration! Honestly I am grateful for the sleep apnea because it because that was the final straw in deciding I had to do something. As I lose more weight it will go away and it will be a snowball effect. And maybe before I know it I can do that mini-triathlon I've always thought about. Watch this space for success!

I know first hand that losing weight and getting thin can affect your personality a bit. Although I was still nice to people and the same person, when it came to diet and exercise I became a real smug b*tch about it. I lived at the gym so was sore a lot of the time and hungry a lot so that affected my moods. I felt like that was how the rest of the world should live too. Circumstances changed, couldn't live at the gym anymore, couldn't stomach Jenny Craig anymore, had a baby. Smugness came right up and bit me in the ass I deserved it. I have vowed not to be like that again.

A few years ago my post would have been similar to Jachuts. I would have said make time etc etc. But my experiences have taught me that often you don't know a situation until you walk in another man's shoes. I developed the sleep apnea a few months after my son was born and I would never have thought it would be as debilitating as it is. Fat person tired is a very different tired to having to slap yourself continuously to stay awake tired while driving so you don't crash which is what sleep apnea can do to you. I am already a bit better and cpap is more effective with a small weight loss. As we start to feel better it will get easier. I will start getting up at 5:30, the original poster will be able to do it after work. I love to exercise and I know how much is can help weight loss. But I know not to depend on it for weight loss. I made physical problems worse I have with my back and hips worse by not listening to my body when I was injured. I am not going to go down that trap again. When we get home at 6:30 there are too many responsiblities to tend to including getting my son fed and get ready for the next day. I won't sacrifice quality time engaging him and truly being with him even if it is for my own good. Oh and what I meant to say is that she said it shouldn't be used as just a weight loss tool. It should be about over all health. There are of course weight loss benefits but to not depend on it and work on getting the right eating habits in place. I used to do 100K bike rides at the weekends. Of course I lost a lot of weight doing that!

I could have written your post. The CPAP helps but not enough. I fight the daytime sleepiness. It won today and I had a little snooze at work. I get scared there is more to it than just sleep apnea but I am trying to stay positive. I have started drinking coffee in the AM to help. I could probably manage the gym after work but I have an almost two year old little boy. If I went after work I wouldn't see him and I feel like I have too little time with him as is. My other option is to get up at 5:30. But the way my body clock is wired I am actually getting good sleep at that time. As is I am bad enough. I am praying as I lose more weight if improves and I can work out again because before I had a baby I was a gym junkie. I love the feeling of accomplishment and I love the exercise buzz. I am losing weight but probably not as quickly as i would be if I exercise. Having said that, my dietician said exercise is not a weight loss tool it is about general overall good health. So we need to exercise to be healthy but in my experience you can't over do it because if you're not able to keep it up you'll have a hard time maintaining. That happened to me before. I used to do an hour of cardio and 30 minutes of weights 6 times a week. I was a size 10/12 but couldn't keep up that routine and made my back and hip problems worse. What I really need to do is go on Saturdays and Sundays when I am more rested. I don't think I answered your question but do know you're not alone.

This might sound crazy but maybe you need to add calories. Maybe try to get up to 1500 and see what happens. Our bodies got used to be overfed for a good long time and we're shocking them into think they're starving! You could do this by adding some good fats like avocado and nuts to help the skin and hair.

After my 2 to 4 back to three fill fun Thursday I have no idea if I have any restriction since i haven't had anything of substance since lunch on Thursday. I had a slimfast, oatmeal for lunch, cottage cheese snack, and soup for dinner. I did feel full after the soup I think. I guess we'll see when I eat some real food. Anyone else's stomachs act weird after their fill? I have had some 'poopy tummy' issues since Friday morning. I also have an ugly bruise from the poking around for the fill. PRETTY!

I had my first fill and then my first unfill today. I wasn't a happy camper, getting shots isn't fun but there is something particularly icky about on the stomach. The lovely physicians assistant gave me the lidocaine in a few spots but then couldn't quite get the fill needle in the right place so got the doc to do it. He hit it first go, pinched a bit, felt weird and then was done. So sigh of relief, it was done, time to do the water test. Too bad I belched straight away, sign it was too tight, so I had to get a bit taken out. So I went from 2cc to 4 cc back to 3 in a 10 cc band, not that I have any notion what the means in real terms! No biggie, we'll see how it goes. I have appointments scheduled for the next three months, glad to have the first one done, looking forward to seeing some weight come off. One thing they did say is that most of their patients gain between surgery and their first fill and it was good I lost weight. That made me feel better even though it was only a few pounds I lost. My port site hurts from all the messing around with it. They said I had some inflamed scar tissue which I can feel. WONDERFUL! Ah well I am still DELIGHTED to have it done and feel so lucky to be on the other side.

Hi All! I have had some of the most wonderful last few weeks. Once I got over the hump of recovery I have just felt AMAZING! I feel like a cloud has lifted and I am so much more positive. It's particularly coming through at work where I am slowly but surely getting things together and organised. And I am actually ENTHUSIASTIC again :thumbup:. I do love my work (I am a Human Resources Manager with a company full of wonderful people, even if the company and the place makes us crazy sometimes) and I just feel like the possibilities of what I can do and help everyone accomplish are endless. I got a bit disoganized last year after coming back from maternity leave and was suffering from bad post partum depression. I finally feel like I am fully out of the funk i've been in. Anyway, I feel like I have gotten my real self back and feel so amazingly positive. Long may it last. I guess the big part of it is taking control and getting the band. It took 9 months for approval and the whole time I felt like it would be denied and my life was over if I didn't. I was having intense chronic pain with my back and hip that I was treating with pain meds AND giant cadbury bars. I was fatter than the heigth of my pregnancy (and my kid isn't even two!) and I was despondent with my inability to just take control and get my shite together. Now I am full of the joys of life! Everything seems to be coming together and I am so positive about the future. Next project is to work on the house a bit and also keep up with work. It's a real struggle juggling a job, marriage, and a child for sure! And hopefully this time next year I will be close enough to a happy weight to start thinking about another wee one. That scares but hopefully with hindsight and better health I will have an easier time than before. The July gang is talking about a meet up in Vegas in 2010 - we should too! Although how cool would it be to do something that would scare the crap out of a really fat person - skiing! Can you imagine trying rent ski gear and say 'do you have that in a 24' and getting up on the lift and wondering if it will hold our fat bottoms. And getting on the plane and all the extra room in the seat and several inches of extra seatbelt. Anyway, I hope you're all feeling as good as I am and if you're not do share and maybe the rest of the gang can turn your frowns upside down! Off to feed my son dinner and pray this isn't a manic phase! I might have a glass of wine too Jenni

My first fill is tomorrow and not soon enough! I am to the point now I have no restriction. I was doing great up until the last couple of days and I am back to feeling like I have a bottomless pit. Right now I am not paying attention to pounds, but how I feel. I feel pretty good. The only problem is work has gone to hell. Morale is at an all time low which is rough because I am unhappy and being the HR manager everyone wants to tell me how unhappy they are. Makes it easy to want to stress eat.

But think about how cheap it will be once you get there with the exchange rate! The dollar is worth nothing these days. Will you send me a fiver so I can pay my house off?!:biggrin: Sterling is very dear these days so first rounds on you!:blushing:

OK I have to admit these something primeval about mommies and feeding their children. We do it from birth, even with a great dad around it feels like it's solely our responsiblity. Might be a bit of that leftover for her. Having said that, some moms go overboard, cook with butter and instead of cooking healthy nutricious meals cook meals you need to stay away from. If you mom was cooking chicken breasts and vegetables I can see how you should eat with them, but she sounds more like the biscuits and gravy = love sort of mom. Perhaps discuss what sort of meals you need to eat and see if there is a compromise that doesn't sabotage you. As for the exercise, yeah that would make me insane. Your mom sounds quite overbearing and I would lose my mind too if she talked about me in front of the whole family like that. Are you moving out soon? Distance always help! I would say, 'mom I love you and I appreciate you, but please be aware that I have to work at this. It isn't that I don't love you, your cooking, or I am miserable, I am just making a big change so need to stick to my guns to ensure my success.' If she responds well to that then great, if not, well, we can start a 'my parents are a PITA' thread! I could begin by saying I noticed my dad watching how much I eat again this evening. I feel like he's looking for failure..... sorry not my thread. Let us know how it goes.

Hot toddies by a roaring fire? I am just dreaming of a place as fatties we'd be fearful/embarassed to go. Sorry I am hyper and all full of desires for action adventure. LOL - see you guys on Everest!

Sorry about that! I will edit my post. I spend the rest of my internet time on mommy boards where men fear to tread! How about somewhere beachy?

The surgery was on our tummies, but I think it works on our brains too! Long may it last everyone!

My BP was 132/82 yesterday, nearly normal!!!!!! Pre-surgery it was 155/95 ish, even with meds. I am still on meds, was even when I was thin, but I am so excited about this. Yes I want to look good, but the real reason for this surgery was my health and a benefit like this after just 15-20 pounds in AMAZING!

I think it takes quite a while to harvest an organ, even a kidney. This is a ridiculous story, obviously urban myth. People like to look down their nose sometimes of people who go out of the country for whatever procedure they need because of cost. But based on the experience of my friend who had her lap-band done in Mexico it sounded wonderful and it's nice not to be completely raped by the state of the US healthcare system when you're self pay.