TheGh0st

Just a quick note. I just heard about a free Protein sample you can get from the following link. I've signed up for mine but have never used their products before. 7 Natural Laws teaches you how the benefits of whey protein supplements, and healthy eating can help you lose weight and have a healthy lifestyle I'll post again after I get it and let you know what I thought of it but I didn't want to wait to post the link as most free-sample offers out there are usually only good for a short time.

My first re-fill is scheduled for tomorrow and I'm SO ready for it! I believe I've only gained 1 or 2 pounds over the last 6 weeks but I'm still nervous to get back on that scale. Even more so as the nurse practicioner (sp?) will be the one administering the fill. She has always been nice to me in the past but has a reputation for occasionally coming across as if she is scolding some of the patients for their behaviour. She has only been working with the band for less than a year so I'm not too sure how I'd take it if she started in on me considering I've lived it for 3 years. Then again I probably would deserve her comments as long as they didn't sound like she thought she was telling me something I didn't already know.

I've found an easy way to save some money shopping online and possibly earn some extra income. BigCrumbs.com gives us cash back when we shop online at places like Best Buy, Target, Gap, Old Navy, Overstock.com, even E-Bay as well as a lot more. Even better, when we tell people about it and they sign up, we get paid every time they shop! And it's COMPLETELY FREE! http://www.bigcrumbs.com/crumbs/frontpage.jsp?r=TheGh0st This is one of those portal sites that if you go to this site first then click on their link to the site you want to buy from they give you a percentage of the purchase back. I've been using sites like this for years, but they were always sites that gave me back frequent flyer miles not money, and it never gave me anything for referring other people. Now for the begging. If you plan on making even one online purchase this year please, Please, PLEASE. Sign up using the above link so I can get a referral credit. Like most people nowadays every penny counts around my house.

Great Post Jaqui! You know it may sound crazy, oh how do I say this without it coming out wrong? ... I've always felt like I would never be successful at reaching my weight goals unless I fixed all my head issues with food, exercise shoot and life in general. And every time I would start to get close to my goals I'd find myself self sabotaging it like I didn't feel I deserved to get there as I hadn't "fixed" all the other issues yet. But when people, like yourself, who I look up to as an example of Lapband success are willing to open up and share their continued struggles with food and or exercise it really helps. Not because misery loves company or that I want to feel my own failings are being validated. But because it helps to remind me that I can succeed on the scale even while I'm still struggling with the head issues. Who knows I've spent my entire life stressing and struggling with my weight. More importantly I've always assumed the "beautiful people" in life didn't have those same issues and that was why they didn't have the problems with the scale that I did. But maybe I'm wrong, maybe they aren't all that different than me and are dealing with many of the same problems with food. Maybe they have just learned to catch themselves and bring themselves back from the brink before there is any permanent weight gain. My suspicion is that the true difference between the "beatiful people" and myself is the level of guilt I associate with my slips and how that guilt tends to pull me even deeper down rather than just shaking it off and moving forward.

Hey there Esmerelda & T/N. Glad to see you two. Congrats on the baby T/N. Is it a boy or girl? How are you finding the time for exercise with a little one? I'm due to go back in next Wednesday for my first refill after letting my esophagus "rest" I hope I start to get some restriction back soon. I've only gained 1-pound back according to my scale at home but I feel like I'm eating like crazy. Ofcourse after spending over a year with a fill that was too tight who am I to say what normal is any more. But I highly doubt it is an entire 24 ounce container of cottage cheese in one sitting.

Oh, I forgot. I was going to post some links to a couple of the better sites I found that talked about this in more depth. Protein Info - How Much Protein Do You Need Low Carbohydrate food Guide - Food Pyramid for Low-Carbohydrate Diets Common Sense Protein FAQ - Get Answers To Your Most Frequently-Asked Questions About Protein And you wouldn't believe the online forum debates you can find out there in the bodybuidling world as well. Ranging in opinions from you can eat 100's in one meal to no more than 6-grams. You should have saw the flak the one saying 6-grams got from his fellow body builders.

...And I had heard 30-35g per meal was the max. I just spent the better part of the last hour digging my way through a couple dozen of the google results for the phrase "how much Protein can the body absorb in one meal?" I did my best to skip over the over-abundance of sites promoting their own protein product and looked mostly for those that might be tied to universities or health sites. End conclusions: Who knows? But the majority agreed that eating too much protein is not harmful as long as you don't have any pre-existing kidney problems. A couple said that too much might be harmful for even healthy kidneys but most said that there was no medical evidence to back that up. Whereas they all seem to agree if you eat too little your body will start to break down your muscle tissue to get what it needs. So for me I guess I don't go out of my way to eat too much protein in one meal (what ever too much is) but I'd still rather eat too much and have it pass thru unused than too little and risk losing muscle tissue. Finally, I am NOT a medical professional nor do I play one on LBT. I'm just another bandster curious about the same issues and doing my best to lose this infernal excess weight.

Hey there Cindy, I am so sorry you are going through this. I'm actually a bit worried I'm on the same trend. I was banded in Sep of 05 and like you lost nearly 100 pounds but ever since I had plastic surgery last fall I've been slowly gaining weight. Depending on if you add in the weight of the skin the doc says he removed I've gained as much as 25 pounds! I was closer to goal than you stated but am still beginning to get into a similar panic. After so many years of being banded I am starting to discover that running for a fill everytime the weight doesn't come off is not always the answer and in my case can sometimes be contributing to the cause. About a month ago when I went in for another fill to help stop this weight gain my doc actually ended up taking nearly all the fill out. I had approx 11 cc's in the lapband VG and he thinks that I had lived with a fill that was actually too tight for over a year. I hadn't been pb'ing but I've had bad heartburn and reflux almost nightly for over a year and had moved more and more away from solid Protein rich foods to softer carb heavy foods like mash potatoes (as they didn't give me heartburn as bad). I was also finding that I was slowly eating larger portions of food than I use to. The doc believes this is because I had stretched out my esophagus but that it should shrink back to normal after "resting" for a month or two with no fill. Sorry to give you a novel here and for not having any wonderful solutions to suggest. But I wanted you to know you are not alone and I'd be glad to "buddy" up and try to work on reversing our trends together.

After doing much research the best option I actually found was a credit card that was willing to give me a promotional rate of 3.9% for 4 years on a transferred balance. So I paid for it with a frequent flier credit card I had which gave me nearly enough miles for a free plane ticket then transferred the balance over to the new card. The key to using a credit card for something like this is to one NEVER use the card for anything else as any payment made will be applied to the lower interest rate balance first and the new purchases would be at a much higher interest rate. Secondly, immediately set up an autopay system with the credit card so that the minimum amount due is paid each month automatically. You want to pay more than the minimum each month obviously but if you are ever late on a payment they immediately raise the interest rate on your remaining balance. So by having the minimum setup on autopay you never have to worry about being late on a payment and having the interest rate go up.

Oh another strictly Protein drink I like is the glass bottles of Isopure. Some of the flavors are not too great but the Grape Frost mixed with a bit of Crystal Light tastes good. A full bottle has 40g of protein and 9 carbs. I think it has around 160 calories but not sure. NOTE: I'm not a doctor or nutritionist but I've heard the body might not be able to properly absorb as much as 40g of protein in a short time so I try to split the drink up into two servings. I don't think there is a problem drinking it all at once, just some of it my go through without getting used.

My personal favorite at the moment is the chocolate Slim Fast LOW CARB. I've only found it at Walgreens and Sam's Club but it has 20 grams of Protein only 2 grams of carbs, 190 calories plus other Vitamins & minerals you don't get from the other protein supplements. Sometimes if I want to "boost" the flavor I will mix it with a tablespoon of Nestle Low Carb hot chocolate mix. It only adds 25 calories an I think around 4 or 5 carbs. It mixes better if you stir it in a small amount of hot Water then add it to the Slimfast. I've also found the colder any of these drinks are the better they taste.

Maybe I should give it a second look. One other site I frequent on rare occasion is thecouponclippers.com It doesn't tell you about any good deals but if you find out about a good sale coming up you can often find coupons for sale on that site. They only charge a few cents per coupon and the cost of a stamp to mail it. I've mainly used it when I find out what the Walgreens (or CVS) free monthly items are then use the coupons to make them "money makers". For example Pert shampoo is free after rebate this month at walgreens but there is a $2 mfg coupon out there. Use the coupon to buy it mail in the rebate and still get the full price back, making it a $2 profit. I don't actually use Pert but since they are going to "pay" me to buy it I went ahead and got it and then donated it to the city homeless shelter.

Congratulations! :thumbup: Try not to panic.:thumbup:

I started using coupons a few months ago with all the rising prices and considered using that site as well but was put off by needing to pay a fee. In the end I found the best (Free) advice by frequenting a few frugal women's blog's My two favorite are: moneysavingmom.com and itsmorethanenough.blogspot.com Moneysavingmom is on vacation this week but usually posts more frequently than itsmorethanenough. They give links to various sites sending out free samples. Post information on various restraunt promos like free food a couple weeks ago at Chick-Fill-A if you came dressed as a cow (Seriously!, I didn't do it but I know some did) More importantly they will give summaries of the best deals at various stores and what coupons are out there to make the deals even better. Frequently they will even have links to printable coupons right in the description of the sale. For example July 16, 2008 Target: Deals for this week--Free diapers, Free Bic pens, and more! Many people are reporting finding Pampers Splashers swim diapers and Huggies Little Swimmers on clearance for $1.50 to $2.99 at their Target stores (some aren't marked so you might price check them at your store to see if they are on clearance)! There are coupons out for $1.50/1 Pampers and $1/1 Huggies coupons--making these free or incredibly inexpensive. Stock up for next Summer! (Does anyone know if you could use the Target Pampers diaper coupon in conjunction with this deal?) Bic Pens are on sale for $0.50 per 10-pack Buy 2 and use this $1/2 coupon here Free after coupon! to get them free! Electrasol Tabs are on sale 2/$5.58 Buy 2 and use 2 $2.25/1 coupon from the 07/13 insert Stack with $1/2 Target mailer coupon $0.08 for 40 tabs after coupons! OTHER DEALS STILL AVAILABLE: Powerade Zero is $0.79 at some stores Use the .75/1 coupon from 06/08 insert $0.04 after coupon (Thanks, Wendy!) Schick Razors (trial sized) - $0.97 Use the $2/1 coupon from the 5/11 SmartSource insert Free plus possible overage! (Thanks, Angie!) Band-Aids - (SpongeBob, Miss Kitty, and a few others only) - $1 Use $1/1 from 05/18 inserts or use $0.75/1 coupon here Free after coupon (Thanks, Kristin!) or $0.25 after coupon (Thanks, Samantha!) Clean and Clear (trial sized) - $0.97 Use $2/1 coupon here Free after coupon (Thanks, Kristin!) banana Boat Sport SPF 30 (trial size) Use $1/1 coupon Free after coupon (Thanks, Tiffany!) Johnson's Buddies Soap - $0.99 Use $1/1 coupon here Free after coupon All Small and Mighty (travel size) - $1.00 Use $1/1 coupon or printable here Free after coupon Degree Deodorant (travel size) - $0.99 Use $1/1 coupon Free after coupon Tylenol (trial sized) - $1 Use $1/1 coupon here Free after coupon (Thanks, Kristin!) Shout wipes (travel size) - $0.97 Use $1/1 coupon here Free after coupon (Thanks, Kristin!) Dove Deodorant (travel size) - $0.99 Use $0.75/1 coupon $0.24 after coupon Scotch Fur Fighter hair Remover Kit - $10.99 Use $4/1 Target coupon here Stack with $4/1 coupon here (Thanks, Heather!) Find any other great deals at Target this week? Let us know! My son loves the Johnson's Buddies it smells a bit like Watermelon and is sewn inside a washcloth. They cost 99 cents per bar but there have been tons of $1 off any Buddies product coupons that you can print from the internet allowing me to stock up on over 25 bars of soap so far ALL for FREE! The first time you look at these sites it can be a bit overwhelming as it is like reading there savings diaries (sometimes they even post pictures of their shopping trips) and you don't know how far back to read. But after the intitial visit or two it's just a matter of reading their newest posts for information relavent to you and your area. Another good site is Hotcouponworld which is set up just like Lapbandtalk but is for people to discuss the various deals they have found. There are forums dedicated to all kinds of different topics I haven't formally joined and tend to just "lurk" around the Walgreens, CVS & HyVee Threads looking for the deals others have found so I don't have to look through the ads myself. On the CVS & Walgreens threads they often have posts referring to items that can be purchased for so little money that the rebates or store coupons you get back after buying the item are worth MORE than what you paid for the item. And they have employees that are always posting the ads BEFORE they come out in the paper. The problem with this site is too many people talking at once an no simple summary of the overall deals for any one store. On the other hand if you wade through the posts you can find out about the deals faster than at the other two sites sometimes.

As I'm sure you are already well aware. People who are lactose intolerant need to avoid any Protein supplements made with whey. I found another thread talking about some of the same issues below. A couple posters seemed to have some good suggestions including a Soy Protein powder you can find at most health food stores and even the dreaded Walmart. Hope this helps, things should get easier once you are past the liquid stage. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f9/need-dairy-free-liquid-diet-due-allergies-65720/

Just quit trying to please everyone and go back to your plans for Aruba if that is what you and your soon to be DH really want. Remember, to everyone else this is just a date in their calendar book but for you this is going to be your life long memory, it should be what you want. Ofcourse if you are determined to please at least one other person besides yourself and your fiance I say have it in Kansas City then you'll have pleased one person on LBT, me. :cursing:

Tina, We haven't seen you post in a couple weeks now. I hope things are continuing to improve. If so I would understand if you wanted to back away from this thread as it may just stir up emotions you are trying to work through. Anyways, I'm still praying for you and your sons. - Diane

Good Luck SoccerMom! I had to wait several months myself. Some clinics talk about patients having a "Last Meal". But I think the hardest part of the extended wait for me was feeling like I had to go on some sort of Farewell to food Tour! Honestly though I can't say there is one item I ate in the run-up to the band that I either can't eat now or just plain don't want to anymore. Again good luck and glad you found this site. Its been a real blessing to me to have such a large community of fellow bandsters.

Hi there Cindy, Our stats look similar. I started at the 255 range as well. I had lost 90 pounds at one point but over the last year for various reasons some out of my control and some not I've lost some ground and am currently sitting at about the same weight as your signature line states. Surprisingly though I'm still wearing the same size slacks. Sadly a few shirts don't fit as well as I use to think. Part of the problem for me is I spent nearly a year with a fill that was too full, maybe even longer. I started getting heartburn and reflux pretty bad at night about 1-1/2 years ago and suspect that's when I was first too tight. But instead of getting unfilled I even got one or two small fills over the next year. I never had one of those I can't swallow my own spit moments nor did I PB on any kind of a regular basis but I was living on Tums nearly everynight and sleeping with about 10 pillows propping me up. The few times I went in to the doc I'd end up with the nurse practitioner. I tell her what I was eating, how I wasn't losing and about the heartburn/reflux and she would give me another small fill and send me home. This last time I finally saw the doc himself and he said he thought I'd streched my esophagus out and took almost my entire fill out to let it "rest". I go back to see him about starting the fill process all over in a few weeks. Surprisingly, I haven't gained any additional weight these last 3 weeks even though I'm eating 3 times as much as I was before. I only hope I can start losing again soon.

I'm so sorry for your regain Karey, but you need this time for your body to heal. Try not to beat yourself up to badly over it right now. I seem to have regained the 1/2 pound I lost the previous week. Two more weeks and counting until they will start refilling me again. I have to say I'm actually shocked I haven't gained more. I feel like I'm eating WAY TOO MUCH! Maybe I just don't know what normal is anymore? Let me rephrase that I KNOW I'm not eating normal. but I don't know if the quantity or calorie level I'm eating is as terrible as it sounds to me. I'll bread down one ot two of my recent days for you guys to dissect tomorrow but have to rush to second job now.

Glad your computer is back up and running. Do you have the lapband or are you researching it at this point? Do you have any questions? I'm no expert but I'd be glad to help in any way I can.

Don't ask why but yes it will work. You don't even have to buy multiples of 2. Walgreens Coupons alwasy have a published limit but for some reason they don't enforce it. Ofcourse if you get the one stickler of a clerk that reads the fine print and refuses to do what every other store does then you would end up still getting all 3 packs for the 2.97 as the loss of coupon on the 3rd item would be $5 which is equal to the register reward coupon that would print after you paid. And 99-cents per package is still extremely cheap. Let me know how it works. I'm one that doesn't need them myself but still plan on doing it for the $2 profit, then saving them for a present or donating them. If you ever make it over to the KC side of the state I'd be glad to "donate" them to you. :thumbup: One tip: You can do the deal multiple times by going through the line more than once but you can't use the first $5 coupon to help pay for more diapers or it won't print out another $5 coupon. The deal state one per customer so when you use the coupon it the register recognizes you have already participated and won't print out another one. Again I have never heard of a store refusing to let a customer do it more than once just because they saw them doing it before. Good Luck

Even if you don't need diapers for your family this is such a good deal it would practically be a crime for anyone who can not to go buy them to donate to a local church, women's clinic or other charity. And it really isn't as hard as it sounds. You just need to hand them 2 coupons one from each month's book available at the front of every store.

OK this one is a bit more complicated for the uninitiated but here goes... Walgreens has a monthly booklet at the front of the store called the Easy Saver book next to the weekly sales flyers. This Saturday the "July" & "August" books will both be out and valid creating a situation where you end up saving more money than you are spending or effectively getting paid to buy their diapers, if you buy them on Saturday (IT MUST BE SATURDAY). Here is how it breaks down. $ 17.97 for 3 packages of diapers at the sale price this week of $5.99 each ...........(Sale ends Saturday night so you must do this on Saturday) - 7.50 using the coupon out of the July Coupon/Rebate Book - 7.50 using the coupon out of the August Coupon/Rebate Book $ 2.97 Final Price out of pocket for all 3 packages of Diapers Note: you only need one coupon from each book the register will automatically adjust the discount to apply to all three, and YES they will allow you to use the coupons from both books though don't ask me why. On its own this is already a fantastic deal BUT it gets EVEN BETTER as after you pay for the diapers when they hand you the receipt they will also give you a $5.00 coupon (called a Register Reward) which can be used to buy anything in the store except tobacco or prescriptions. In other words after you deduct the $2.97 you just paid they are basically paying you $2.13 to buy their diapers on Saturday. Yes you have to spend $2.97 to start but then you could turn around and use the $5 coupon to either buy yourself some milk/bread or some other necessary item you would have most likly bought from somewhere this weekend anyways. If anyone really loves this deal and wants to know how to make it into an even BIGGER moneymaker just let me know. It involves saving the register reward coupon you get from the diaper deal and using it to pay for another "money making deal" that is coming up next Friday at Walgreens.

Old thread but thought I'd post a new one or two I found. Here is a simple one: Borders $5 off $5 or more at borders.com Promo Code: BR41925 Expriation Date: Unknown If you pick something under $5 and choose the option to pick it up at the store then you pay Zero Zip Nada!! I found a cute CD for my 4 year old for $4.99 before the discount. I couldn't believe the number of items under $5 I had to choose from Not bad at all.