Florida Pete

The Salmon was better the night before when it was fresh. But nuked it was a little dry and we all know how dry food is. The first bite got stuck and took a couple of minutes to pass before I could finish my lunch. I made sure that eating the rest to chew it extra long. As far as "lettuce" goes it's hard to break down when you chew it. That's why the surgeons recommend to not have salad. I have a feeling tho that if you had lettuce that was finely shredded and chopped up into smaller piece like what you get in a Taco Bell Taco Salad that it would be ok. But I am only guessing on that. Haven't tried that yet. I know that at the local Winn-Dixie grocery store down here we can buy bags of shredded lettuce like that so I am tempted to try it but we will see. Really all in all food is going to very from person to person and what you can eat before a fill and after a fill can be and will be two different things.

Yeah you have to keep one pair around so you can show later on how much you have lost!

For Monday I had the following. B - Oatmeal S - None L - Piece of Salmon and some Zucchini S - None D - Scrambled egg, small slice of ham, cottage cheese S - sugar free Popsical It's amazing how a meal can sound like a lot but then you look at the actual portions and it's not much. LOL I am a stickler for measuring everything out.

That's very cool! I have a good friend of mine that my wife and I come visit a few times a year that lives in Richmond. It's amazing how many people I meet from Virginia. LOL

Got It thanks!

Front - Hard to see much. Side - Horrible Posture! Ugh! Topless - Yes I am daring but I am going to be looking a lot better one of these days. Head Shot - You ever feel like your standing up for a mug shot?

Got it added Jewels!

Gotta stretch your wings our Veronica and see what else is out there :wink_smile: - But then again Spotsy is a decent place to live and in this day in age a good job is something to hold onto.

Honestly it takes a good amount of work to kick any addiction. Weather it's food, soda, alcohol, drugs, work or whatever. Of course most of us on here I believe are battling food and soda addictions. But for me I have beaten one addiction many years ago. I am a recovering drug addict. I was a heavy meth user and dealer years ago. Before the weight gain. For me I had to get myself into a intensive drug and alcohol treatment program and attended NA and AA meetings for a good solid 2 years. I have been clean for over 12 years now and will never trade my life now for what I was back then. So much like my drug addiction food is another addiction that has to be battled. I do that by gaining as much support from those around me and work to change my thinking. I have to think about why am I consuming this food. Do I really need this or is this something that I want? By the grace of God I am doing very well with the fight and will continue to push forward. Migraines can be treated with medicine by a physician. I know because I am a person who has gotten migraines since I was about 10 years old. I do still get them today but I also have medication to take when I feel one coming on and deal with it in that manner. As for soda that was a hard one to stop. But I did back in October. For me it first was a change from Pepsi to Sprite to Sprite Zero to no soda at all. This actually was over a period of about 5 years but I did it. I do not drink any carbonated beverages anymore and don't even crave them anymore either. It just takes telling yourself that you don't need it and being strong to change your ways. Best of luck!

Before I moved down to Florida just over 2 years ago I was in Stafford just off of Winding Creek road for about 3 and a half years and then up in Alexandria for 10 months. I was working at the Pentagon thus my yahoo name of PentagonPete. And before all that I was back in Oregon with a short time in Colorado and Idaho. I tell everyone that I am the gypsy of the family. LOL The longest I have lived in anyone place since I left home after high school was when I lived in Stafford. So yeah the snow and ice just sounds like so much fun. Not! We're enjoying our 70 and 80 degree weather with blue sky and at this time of the year lower humidity! Best time of the year to be in Florida. (especially this year with all the winter storms)

I'm going to through my name in up for this challenge too! Name___________StartWeight___CurrentWeight______Goal_________ToGo *****<?xml:namespace prefix = v /><v:shapetype id=_x0000_t75 coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" filled="f" stroked="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe">:cool2:</v:shapetype>************************:tt2:***********:thumbup:********** :wink_smile:*** Brandy.............198............196...........166...........28 Chocolate_Snaps....244............234...........175...........59 Ebonie.............307............307...........200...........107 GratefulHeart......226............223...........135...........88 Lindar172..........246............246...........150...........96 LocomotiveEngineer.311............311...........220...........91 Long2BThin.........216............212...........169...........43 lotzasunshine......270............270...........180...........90 Loveislovely.......216............216...........175...........41 lucyavery..........205............205...........140...........65 Mair...............231............231...........140...........91 Mamanmidwife.......264............264...........200...........64 Under200...........242............199...........155...........44 vzghj3.............202............202...........150...........52 WOWOX7.............173............170...........125...........45 Florida Pete.......413............413...........300...........113

Got you added Veronica! BTW I used to live in Stafford. Hope your not having any snow right now!

That's great! I have some older clothes that I haven't worn in a long time that I might be able to wear with the weightloss but I will have to start buying some clothes for work before to long.

Got you added. What is your goal for the month of January? Also Jewels we need your goal for the month of January also.

Have any of you early December bandsters already seen a drop in clothing sizes? I have already noticed a big change in how some of my shirts that were tight before are loose now. My belts I am on my last notch and all of my pants I need a belt for now which I didn't need on most just a couple of months ago. There is a couple of pairs of pants that I have that I had stopped wearing and now I can wear them again. It feels great!!!

This actually is common. You swelling has gone down and thus your hunger will increase. It is the natural cycle of the healing process. I didn't have any hunger for about 2 weeks and then when I did get to mushies I had lots of hunger at first. Since then my hunger has leveled out. I have never been able to eat more then 2 cups of food, which is a normal sized can of Beans or Soup, and get full. Normally I eat about 1 cup of food and have no hunger for 2 to 3 hours. This is how we know that we need a fill. With the proper fill amount you should get your hunger after about 4-5 hours. I controlled this with a very small light snack between meals. This goes back to having 3 square meals a day with a small snack between meals. Please if you think this might be abnormal at all do call your docs office to talk to a nurse to see what they might have to say.

I'll have my wife take some pictures tonight since today is my 1 month anniversary date of surgery. Everyone says they can see the difference in my face so you all get to be the judge tonight! BTW Doxie congrats! It's great to see those changes already!

Ok Rafa I got you added! Welcome to the challenge! ogg it's really hard to lose the weight before your first fill. It's very common that people do not lose or even gain a little before your first fill but the best thing I have found for myself to do is even still after going off the liquids to keep on working at a low carb diet and to step up the exercise each week. I had surgery the same day as you and have lost 29 lbs since surgery. This last week I only lost 4 lbs. I this week have stepped up my exercising and looking for more low carb ideas for the meals. I am on solids now so I know it's going to be new challenges but still it's a process we all have to go through. Don't get discouraged. Remember this is two steps forward and one step back. You have made progress overall and will continue to make progress! Just keep working your program!

Today I am walking for 30 minutes at lunch time, then another 30 minutes after work, and I will finish it off with about another 30 minutes of workout video this evening. I do this 3 days a week and then the other 4 days it's just the walk in the evening and at lunch.

Welcome Christie to the group! Congrats on getting banded! Check out the forums there is lots of hot topics and great support around!

He is a great choice for your surgery. My surgery went very well and I was back to work in no time. I am doing very well with everything and continue to lose weight! Best of luck to you!

Ok Redmom I got your date added. And MattySue I got your info added to the spreadsheet.

Ok Haley, Got you added!

I got you added to the spreadsheet. :thumbup:

Oh for sure. I don't feel hungry but being bored I start thinking of food. It's totally changing those thinking habits.