riley4183

YAY TAMRA! You go girl!! Nothing is an motivating as a little drop on the ol' scale, is it? You're in the home stretch now; keep it up!!

I just counted 22 pairs of jeans that I have here @ home that I have to try on today . . . . ugh. Most of them are probably WAY too small yet, but sometimes clothes get by me when I'm not looking so I'm going to try them and sort them into piles - can zip but not breathe; can pull up over butt but not zip; can pull halfway up thighs, and 'oh hell no.'

Monique you best NOT eat a slice of pizza! Pull the toppings off and eat that; do NOT eat that crust! You could really hurt yourself doing that girl . . . . . you worry me!

Ha ha, only twice - but the day is young! :thumbup:

I had surgery on a Monday and went back the next Monday (desk job), but the first 2 days I could only handle it until noon. I got an infection on day 4 and I had to take some awful antibiotics to cure it - they made my sick and tired. I honestly felt better on day 4 than day 7 - if I had not gotten the infection, I would have been fine with 4 days. Your port is going to sting for weeks anyways! Good luck, and congratulations for making this choice! You will be so glad that you did :thumbup:

Candra do you see that upswing in my weight loss graph, not the flat line that's recent but the line that actually turns and starts going back UP the darned hill back in April? That was when I was waiting for my first fill! You will go back down the hill after your fill - promise!!

Lee, you are doing great! Candra hunny . . . . frontal lobotamies, bottle in frontamies . . all the same. Wellbutrin worked that way for me too; now I have Tofranil very low dose - works. I forget that I was obsessed with eating a minute ago. Sounds like estrogen to me, dear - you know, that hormone that's stored in your fat, and when you lose a bunch of that fat it gets released and pulses through your body causing neurosis until you can get it out of there? I'm serious here - drink a LOT of water, non-caff beverages to flush that crap out. And yes counseling, even if you feel better on Monday - the structure needs to be in place before you need it. If that doesn't work, call me & we'll go drink :thumbup: Love ya!

That's cause you haven't seen the pillsbury (doughboy) rolls!! Shopping for the right compression-wear (or -ware) now :-) Check my graph - this is COOL - boy that weight loss sure does slow down doesn't it . . . .

Ah but Maria, you will understand this - my port shows under the dress! Darned thing is so sticky-outty after working my abs at the gym today - it's crazy!! When I turn sideways I can definately see it! Looks like a mini-boob . . . . oh joy . . . .

I bought this dress on eBay for $8.50 . . it's a slinky little 10 . . I figured if I worked hard, I could wear it by New Years - a motivational piece, ya know. WELL I got it last night, and guess what? I stepped in and zipped it right up! Fits like a glove. A glove with a lot of lumps, but it fits! Girls I am steppin' out this holiday season . . . .

Sorry I don't know any bad band stories, except john's 2 failed attempts and my infection and a few of this group's emergency unfills . . . that's about it. Really no "bad" stories out of Kaiser, I think they are mostly out of Mexico. Kaiser Richmond is one of the top facilities in the nation - no worries :-) Well I did it, went to the gym at 5 am and did my cardio for an hour, then went back at 1 for resistance training - REALLY helpful to have someone who knows what they are doing! Sge is going to work with me again Monday at lunch, so I will be hitting the gym twice then, too. SO. After gym & back to work for an hour, I went to the eye doc that I had asked my PCP to refer me to . . . .I don't know if you guys have noticed, but the skin above my eyes is so excessive that you can't even see my eyelashes - it just droops/bags/whatever. Covers that top portion of my field of vision. So I went in today, told the doc that this problem has gotten much worse after losing 115 lbs., that I compensate by tilting my head back to see better and that is causing me neck and back pain, and he's like, say no more - you need the surgery. I bet they did not warn you about this when you got the lap-band - well no, they did not! He says it's usually only in folks over 50, well lucky me I have had it (to a lesser degree) since age 16! So he says congratulations on my weight loss, I look great etc., and will look even better after my surgery. KAISER IS DOING MY EYE LIFT!! For my co-pay!!!!! They determined it was medically necessary in like 8 seconds. I LOVE KAISER!!! The journaling is really working folks! Someone mentioned cognative therapy, I am a big fan! And I highly recommend it! It was the basis of my "overcoming emotional eating" class (which I refer to as my "head-hunger class", they are startinga new one next week - the 24th, runs for 4 weeks so perfect for getting through the holidays! I am not taking that session, but am taking the session that starts in January. The mental stuff is for sure the hardest part of this journey - and probably the most important thing to get a handle on for life.

170.4 for me this morning - it took me a whole month to lose that one pound! You guys are doing GREAT!

I am a crazy woman at the gym now - I crank the treadmill all the way up to 15 incline - as high as it will go - and set the speed at 4 mph and I can burn 400 calories in 30 minutes that way, including warm-up - whew! Feel the burn :bored:. Plus when I go out hiking now, I pop right up those hills and don't even get out of breathe! I have to add weights tho - am going and doing my usual cardio at 5 am tomorrow, then going back at 1 pm for weight training. PAMMIE that sounds almost as much fun for a Friday as your exciting life, LOL! The gym is my ping-pong table :-)

Maria hunny, I hate to tell ya but - it gets better by 6 weeks :-) Slowly! It stings like a bear for a long time, and that's normal. As long as that area does not become red and hot to the touch, you are good to go . . . but NO LIFTING yet!!

Oh! Tina seeing you post reminds me . . have you tried the tomato basil pizza burgers fro Morningstar yet? YUMMOOOOO I swear it tastes like you are eating a piece of pizza!! And for some reason, one plain patty of almost anything Morningstar makes fills me up!

Exercise Tina, it's the only way . . . . . sorry girlfriend :-(

Hey girls, I have to tell ya - do what Robin says and log all of your food AND YOUR FEELINGS when you eat when you are not hungry - viola! Down 2.2 lbs in 1 week of logging. Combine that with exercise and increased water intake, YA you can lose weight!! Even with only 16 lbs to go, WOOT!

cafe mocha vodka valium latte I keep telling Starbucks they'd have much better evening business if they would just get these. . . . .

Hiya Tina!! Glad to hear how much you're liking your new job :-) Protein shots are not a bad idea, don't know where else you are going to get meatless protein at D-land! Maybe a veggie burger in one of the sit-down restaurants, but $$$$! Are you bringing a little ice chest for the hotel? I pack around almonds and string cheese . . . also Atkins bars, but they are really high calorie so they need to be a meal replacement not just a supplement. Kaiser uses all the same kind of lap-bands (maybe different sizes if they need them, but I don't think any of us have a 14 - I think we all have 10's): Here is what we have: Lap Band AP Standard Max fill volume: 10cc They have the phone # and everything for the docs at Richmond. It's pretty cool . . . like Med-Alert, has a # they can call & a website for more info in an emergency. Going to take my pill & get ready for bed . . . had to be at a homeless benefit breakfast in Petaluma at 6 this morning, then worked until 4:30 then went for a 5-mile walk - so I'm pooped. Hope I sleep good! CONGRATS MARIA!!!!!!! :thumbup:

"Normal" is whatever is normal for your doc. Allergen (Lap-Band brand) recommend 4-6 weeks for first fill. Dr. Baggs is the most agressive of the Richmond docs; almost all of his patients get a fill at 6 weeks (unless they don't need one - he relies on Robin for this determination). Basically, All I had to do was say that I could eat over a cup at a time, and she'd OK me for a fill - but then I was losing steady, too. Now I just email Dr. B and he sets me up - they trust me to know when I need one, and they know that I do not EVER want to be too tight! Stories I have gotten on here scare me. RE: different threads - Heather tried that, did not work. The support and comradarie here are the best anywhere on this site and I'd not want to give that up! But here is a suggestion: if you create a yahoo group, you can all email each other all the time & read what each other is saying, just like on here. Pat & I are on a yahoo group for the Sonoma County WLS support group

They only day that I did NOT take them was surgery day. Every day since then.

Reggie, hunny - we miss you too! Damn that Dr. F - how dare he make you feel even worse! I would email Dr. Park & tell her what happened. Books - I do the head hunger ones: The Beck Diet Solution - the book AND the workbook. It's cognitive therapy for emotional eaters The End of Overeating, David Kessler - this was our textbook in the Overcoming Emotional Eating class, and Robin talks about the studies in it. If you only buy one book, my psych says this should be it. Most helpful to me: A little logbook called "DietMinder Personal Food & Fitness Journal" by MemoryMinder Journals, I got mine on learance at GNC they also have them at Barnes & Nobles or you can get them online just Google it. Not only does it have places for you to log everything food-and exercise-related, it has goal setting and extra columns for you to log your emotional stuff. My extra columns are labled "Hunger 0-5" - with 0 being full and 5 being the most starving I can be. My last column is labeled "Emo?" and there I record what my emotions were when I ate, esp. with my snacking - and I find I'm usually bored, restless, or feeling entitled - not the reasons that I thought I was snacking. I am back down to my ticker weight again after logging like this for 1 week. It takes about 30 minutes a day, but I'm worth it :-):w00t:

And yes to the "after" pic! I am doing one in a couple weeks with my Santa Rosa group up here . . . . problem is that we all lose at different rates, so some don't want the "final" pic yet - so we call 'em "anniversary pics" and they show our journey together :-)

OK gang, prayers for our Maria for strength & peace! You will be SO HAPPY to have your band, so very soon! The waiting is SO hard but the last few days go by too fast - and then you're on the other side! nYay :-)

Annalynn, we missed you! The times when you are most busy and have the most stress in your life are the same times that you most need support - please remember that! We ALL have to learn these new ways of dealing with our stress without stuffing it with food, and it's HARD!! Couple more support meetings coming up tho; hope you can make one! Can you tell I'm a support group junkie? :biggrin: