Manatee

It's not the insurance company that you should be irritated with, but rather the company that employees you. Insurance companies provide a buffet of services, and each company decides what the best combination of coverage and cost fits their needs. Talk to your company's owner or HR department, many companies are right now in negotiation for their 2008 coverage and a gentle nudge might help.

Well, first day of eating solids after the second fill, and that restriction is very definitely in place! I can barely get half a small chicken breast down. I can tell I'm going to have to retrain myself with my portions. :car:

Only had mine 2 months, but I've had no issues with the Vanguard band. I've heard that it takes a while to get a proper fill, but I just had a barium-assisted fill and the doc was able to close it up just fine.

I do -- but not NEARLY as often. I simply know that when I have my <multistep overpriced coffee order here> that I am sucking down X calories and will have to be on my exercise equipment for an extra hour or so that day. See starbucks® beverages & food details Some of those drinks are downright scary -- might as well get a milkshake

Had my barium-assisted fill today. Went from 3 cc to 4.8. Definitely a tighter restriction, and I could actually feel it this time. If I were to do this over again, I would have had the first fill done this way. The sensations are simply too unusual on that first fill to know if you're telling the doc the right info.

Had my barium-assisted fill today. Went from 3 cc to 4.8. Definitely a tighter restriction, and I could actually feel it this time. If I were to do this over again, I would have had the first fill done this way. The sensations are simply too unusual on that first fill to know if you're telling the doc the right info.

Huzzah! Hit my first short-term goal, 22X by 7/29! Next stop, 20X by 9/22

Welcome to the Band, Bill

Try taking up smoking :car: For me, I've found that I'm now a lot more aggressive/assertive than I've been in the past. Between the slight loss in weight and not being able to sublimate when things bother me, I tend now to just take things straight on. Maybe not the best way to handle things, but then again the jerks always seem to get ahead :car:

I scheduled an x-ray assisted fill for Tuesday, hopefully the restriction will be better this time.

Thanks for the tip on adjusting the Remstar machines. It worked great on my Remstar Plus

Well, I think Chrispy is the only one actually dating at this point. What's that leave for the rest of us to say? "Ummm. Today I went into work on my day off because Legal screwed up again. After blowing the whole morning there, I visited my parents and their new puppies. Left there, went to B&N and picked up a copy of the latest Harry Potter. Came home, cleaned house, surfed internet." Yeah. That's exciting :car:

I too have a problem is low/no restriction. My next fill is going to be done in the hospital so that they can do the xray thing during and make sure I'm closed up well. On another front, this morning I grabbed a pair of jeans out of the closet, and after I had them on and zipped I realized that they were much tighter than usual. I checked, and I had accidentally pulled out my old 40" waist jeans instead of my normal ones. I haven't fit in this this pair of jeans in years! Hurrah! I did end up changing, looked a 10 lbs of sausage in a 5 lbs casing. But still, they buttoned and zipped. :hat:

Your doctor works for you, not the other way around. Tell him that you ARE going to be having this done, and ask who he recommends. That's the way I did it, and it worked out fine.

Well, I'm definitely going to have to get a fill. I decided to test my restriction today, and a full Chicken Murphy with pasta later I'm feeling no restriction or any signs of discomfort. Not a wise thing to do, but now I know :confused: Off to row for a few hours, got some carbs to burn of...

I like Big Medicine, but that psychiatrist they have on there has absolutely NO CLUE what it's like to be obese. She tries to hide it, but it's obvious that she's one of those who believes that all we have to do is get off our butts and work it off. I was appalled by her comment tonight about how much easier fat guys have it in the world, and how obesity wouldn't affect the young man's social life. Old Doc: So, have YOU ever dated an obese man Her: Well, no Old Doc: Why not? Her: Ummmmm, obese guys aren't attracted to me Yeah. Right. Fat guys have NO trouble in the dating world, because women are all deep and don't care about external factors

I've had encouraging comments from 3 different people over the past few days. One was up at work on Thursday, where one of the women stated that I had really lost weight and was wondering how I did it. I'm open about the band up at work so I explained it to her. Funny thing is that she's not fat at all, but she sure seemed like she wanted one Then Friday my ex-wife made some mention about changes in my face and profile when she came by to pick up the dogs, said I was looking better (hah!) The last night I went out with a bunch of friends, and one that I hadn't seen in a while specifically complemented me on "looking slim." He asked what I was doing. My reply -- "eating less and working out" Technically, it's even true... So I'm not too far into the journey, and I really don't see the changes in the mirror, but there must be something going on.

What's in your home gym, and what do you really use and like? For me, I'm using my rower and my exercise bike (plus a daily multimile walk). I have some other stuff that I've accumulated over the years, such as a bowflex unit and an elliptical machine, but I've not yet added them to my new program. How about you all?

Just added this to the home gym Still like my rower best. Also added a 3 mile daily walk starting this past Monday

So a question Should I eat when I'm not hungry? I really never feel hungry at all, and when lunchtime rolls around I'll go out and get a chicken breast or something. The weight's coming off ok. Should I just start skipping lunch or dinner if I'm not really hungry, or will that slow the weight loss?

Well, I ran headlong into my restriction this weekend. I guess I don't need another fill after all. I was worrying because my weight loss had stalled and I seemed to be able to eat anything. As it turns out, it's the fact I've been eating mainly fish that hid my restriction from me. Glad it's there I've been continuing to pull on the rower for an hour a day, and yesterday added a 5K walk to my routine. Feeling good, and the scale is moving again

It was a good time. Kind of a strange group of people, half coworkers and half gym buddies of the host. I hung out for quite a while for the drinking and talking and such. Finally late in the evening almost everyone got into the pool/hot tub, and that's when I made my excuses and headed out. I actually DID bring a swimsuit, but just couldn't force myself to wear it in public -- especially with the Perfect People there

I think I'm going to have to go in for more fill. Admitedly it's only been a week or so since my fill, but I'm just not feeling any restriction and I haven't dropped any weight since the fill despite exercising. :confused:

If so, and you want to sell it, please send me a PM

I absolutely LOVE my rowing machine. It's an off-brand clone of a Concept II that I picked up cheap at a garage sale, but it works well enough. Some day I'll buy a real Concept II machine. Lately I've been spending an hour a day on it. I just turn on some Tivo'd GeekVision show and start pulling