Band_Groupie

I still think it is (magic). Good job! -BG

CONGRATULATIONS Bander!!! Hope this note finds you at home and doing well! -BG

Great job on making the first step!!! Good luck with your journey! -BG

Ahh...I had a migraine all weekend long...luckily, not a puke and assume the fetal position all weekend, but Sat. it was bad. My preventative (Elavil) was working well for almost a year, but I've gotten a few of them lately...into the doc for my physical tomorrow, so we'll see what's going on. NO FUN...I can relate. Great job on the WL...what a pain to have to lose certain amounts, isn't it?! I also had a '5 month' '6 month diet'...started in Nov., had my last weigh in April 1 and was banded April 22. I don't get why in the world they call it a 6 mo. diet...symantics, I guess since we do have a visit to the doctor each of 6 months. I'm wondering how many people here do an extra month without knowing this (although some do have to do 7 visits). Great job! -BG

We got our live tree for the foyer (I think it's 12' this year), as usual, the weekend after Thanksgiving. The boys got all my outside decorations up that weekend as well (Attached Pic 1- Front porch/door). I made the lighted garland, decorations and the Williamsburg arch over the door. Everything is now on the tree (Attached Pic 2- This year's tree), and all the decorations are finally up around the house, except my kids displays which they will do (Christmas dollhouse, train set, and monorail). Lest I repeat myself, If you want, you can read more about my Christmas obsession at last years blogs here on LBT: 12/4/08 Fa la-la-la-la... - LAP-BAND®®®®® The tree/ornaments: 12/29/08 It looks like someone threw up ornaments on our tree! - LAP-BAND®®®®® Oh, and if you're wondering why my mantle has a nativity with a pink light in it that makes it look more like a brothel than a crèche (Attached Pic 3), then you must read my last year's blog with my very favorite family Christmas read: 12/17/08 I Believe in Santa! - LAP-BAND®®®®® In this pic you can also see 2 of the 3 cradles my kids made on the hearth...read: 12/6/08 Traditions...What's in Your Shoes? - LAP-BAND®®®®® I love setting the Dining Room table for Christmas (Attached Pic 4 & 5- Dining Room). I made the decorations and fruit cone on the table. My MIL gave me a few pieces of Lenox Holiday Christmas china that someone had given her and that got me started on setting up service for the holidays. I didn't select a china when we got married as our everyday setting was expensive, so it's fun for me to set out this china once a year. So get going folks and Deck the Halls!!

We got our live tree for the foyer (I think it's 12' this year), as usual, the weekend after Thanksgiving. The boys got all my outside decorations up that weekend as well (Attached Pic 1- Front porch/door). I made the lighted garland, decorations and the Williamsburg arch over the door. Everything is now on the tree (Attached Pic 2- This year's tree), and all the decorations are finally up around the house, except my kids displays which they will do (Christmas dollhouse, train set, and monorail). Lest I repeat myself, If you want, you can read more about my Christmas obsession at last years blogs here on LBT: 12/4/08 Fa la-la-la-la... - LAP-BAND®®®®® The tree/ornaments: 12/29/08 It looks like someone threw up ornaments on our tree! - LAP-BAND®®®®® Oh, and if you're wondering why my mantle has a nativity with a pink light in it that makes it look more like a brothel than a crèche (Attached Pic 3), then you must read my last year's blog with my very favorite family Christmas read: 12/17/08 I Believe in Santa! - LAP-BAND®®®®® In this pic you can also see 2 of the 3 cradles my kids made on the hearth...read: 12/6/08 Traditions...What's in Your Shoes? - LAP-BAND®®®®® I love setting the Dining Room table for Christmas (Attached Pic 4 & 5- Dining Room). I made the decorations and fruit cone on the table. My MIL gave me a few pieces of Lenox Holiday Christmas china that someone had given her and that got me started on setting up service for the holidays. I didn't select a china when we got married as our everyday setting was expensive, so it's fun for me to set out this china once a year. So get going folks and Deck the Halls!!

You haven't failed at anything! Many gain weight during this period and your doc shouldn't be expecting you to lose weight during this period (I lost a little, but only because I did it). This period is for healing...it can take six weeks for the internal stitches to heal. You need a better protein shake (slimfast doesn't have enough protein). I bought a flavored protein powder at GNC and added milk and fruit. The more protein you get the better. Thei period 'Bandster Hell' is tough, but it won't last forever...with restriction, soon you won't be hungry and you'll be dancing the LB jig and all this will be a distant memory. Hang in there! -BG

INCREASED APPETITE? HE!! TO THE NO!!!!! I hope it's not true, but now I'll be more aware in case, thanks. Barbara- yep, off it completely...the one he gave me last year was both of them in one pill and I was getting suddenly getting whacky side effects, which I assumed related to the pill. Both my PCP and now the new OBGYN said with my sister/history of stroke I shouldn't be on hormones without a really good reason...bummer...I keep hearing great stories about woment 'turning back the clock' with the estrogen...oh well, at least with the weight loss I'll only feel like a 50 yr. old instead of an 80 yo. Do you have any advice? -BG PS- I just went and looked at the Rx and it is for Effexor...YAY...she said it was like Prozac and she gets the best results with that one.

Hey 50's gals...I thought you might enjoy my blog here (on LBT) today as it's a 50's issue... Have a great weekend all! -BG 12/4/09 Happy Pills Posted Today at 10:12 AM by Band_Groupie Tags Yesterday I had my yearly OB-GYN annual checkup (sorry dudes, no details). I was ushered into the room by a very young morbidly obese nurse/or MA. Before I got on the scale she asked me what my weight usually is...hmm...I replied 'Well, I never know because I'm on my way down...I got the LAP-BAND®®®®!' (I was 180 on their scale fully dressed in jeans and after breakfast...down to 177 on my scale today, so that head is staying OFF!). Then the questions began about the LB...How much have you lost? When did you get it? How is it working for you? Have you had any problems? Do you have to keep going back to your doc...for? So I answered them all and then some...she was really interested. I told her she could feel my port...she thought it was on the outside of my body so I had to lift up my shirt to show her...then she asked if they have to open me up every time to do the fill...I couldn't help it...I started laughing (OK, how does someone in the medical profession think that? I thought most people knew, like I did, from all the commercials!)...then I explained the port, what it looks like, and how fills work. We commiserated about dieting (she's a yo-yoer, like me…and has lost up to 50 pounds before dieting, like me) and before they came looking for her (we were talking awhile) she left me with a 'I'll have to look into it!' I almost gave her my LBT name, but then I thought she might not like that I unkindly called my one PCP nurse 'Nazi Nurse'...you know, the one who wouldn't give me the 1 flippin' POUND I needed at my should-have-been first month weigh in (I did eventually bond with even her...over the Steelers). 　 It's fun for me to get to talk about the LB, since only DH knows about mine. I have to tell all the medical people I see (it was on my form I filled out there at the OB-GYN; ‘surgeries you‘ve had’), so it’s always interesting to see the reactions. Pre-band I got ‘You’re not heavy enough to need that! You don’t look like you need a LB!’ from every medical person (even my pre-op requirement ones) except my LB office and one of my PCP nurses (and she had a LB). Now I always get the comments of how great my weight loss is and lots of questions. It’s been a nice change…I went from having to defend my decision to compliments. 　 I saw a new doc there for my exam as I wanted to talk to someone new about HRT’s (hormones). My first doc there, I loved, left the practice, so I saw an old guy there last year who put me on an Estrogen/Testosterone pill at the first mention of hot flashes. I think I mentioned last year that I stopped taking the pills the first month. I went to my PCP for my physical and he suggested I stop taking them after I complained about sudden morning dizziness and joint swelling/pain (my fingers). Since then, I’ve been paying attention to articles/TV about HRT’s and it seemed to me that they do wonders for some people, and there are all kinds of ways to approach it, so I decided to try a new doc there so I could get a new approach. Well, she discussed the pro’s and con’s, patch, different meds, etc. She didn’t agree with me that they needed to check my hormone levels (I had a partial hysterectomy so it’s harder to determine what stage of menopause I’m in). I was concerned about trying a patch because I’m allergic to all kinds of adhesives (even band aids). She was concerned about me even being on an HRT because one of my sister’s had a mini-stroke in her early 40’s…I suggested that I’d rather have the hot flashes than a stroke (I told her I'll just lay on the tile floor and and alternate pressing my face cheeks to the cool tile). So she suggested something new, since my main complaint is the ‘burning up red face’. She gave me an Rx for a very low dose of a form of Prozac…yes, the anti-depressant drug…I’m going to be on ‘Happy Pills’. She said they’ve found that women have found that a happy side-effect is that this has helped many with the hot flashes…interesting. I had all the usual concerns about taking an anti-depressant when you don’t need that part of the effect, addiction, etc. (not to mention I'm tired of adding pills when everyone else here is getting to get off of theirs), but she quelled my fears with how super low the dose is, etc. …she couldn’t possibly have thought I was depressed because I was beaming talking about my LB with her too…it’s not possible that I could get much happier! 　 Happy Pills! I’m not making fun as I know depression can be a very serious disease (it’s touched my extended family too) and medicines do help a lot of people, but I had to laugh when she told me which pill. My GF’s/neighbors and I get together now and then for a girl’s night out, or more likely for a girl’s lunch out. We have a running joke when one of us is complaining about our kids, teens, husbands or we’re stressed out that we need some ‘Happy Pills’…and hey, two of their husband’s are doctors…they could be our “Happy Pills dealers’…OK, just kidding, again…maybe you had to be there to think it’s funny. We’re planning a girls holiday lunch out soon and I can’t wait to tell them I’m on Happy Pills…they‘ll have a good laugh! 　 OK, I AM wondering if they’ll help me even a tiny bit through those stressful moments with my extended family (remember the holiday drama)…or my teens…DS1 is coming home for the holidays soon and it’s been ‘his turn’ in life to be the argumentative one…I’m predicting a few stressful moments over the holidays now that he’s had a dose of having freedom to be his own boss at college. If I tell you I had no stress over the holidays…you’ll know for sure it was the pills. So watch out folks…if you thought I look at the world through ‘rose colored glasses before’…well, I can’t even imagine LOL. Look you can get some too...in candy flavors... ...or camoflaged as a first-aid kit!

*Post Deleted for Lap Band Book 　 　 　

CONGRATULATIONS Bander!!!! -BG

WLCOME to LBT!! Congrats on the banding! Take things slowly and you'll do great! The pain is just from the stitches on your stomach holding the band and it will go away when they heal. Best wishes! Join the Dec. group here on the home page if you haven't yet. -BG

HOLY COW!!! A first fill of 7.5 cc's? That's the biggest one I've ever heard of...I'm hoping it was under fluoro? You should NOT be having pain when you eat (unless you get 'stuck'/didn't chew enough). Your NUT or doc should have given you a diet plan with amounts, so give your doc a call and let them know what's going on. I usually eat about 1 cup at lunch/dinner and about 1/2cup at breakfast (I'm tighter in the mornings). I'm allowed up to 1.5 cups. Good luck! -BG

WELCOME to LBT! There's a Mexico surgery forum on the home page...lots of people go there (you can do a search or start a thread there). Good luck! -BG

CONGRATULATIONS! It's so great to get a date!! -BG

My doc also got rid of the mushie stage...somewhere between when I started and when I was banded (he said that's the new thinking, so I think it will be more common). He had me on clear liquids and milk for 3 weeks and then I was allowed to gradually add food back. The gas isn't an issue with the turnips (your pouch has 2 exits for gas, and my doc allows carbonation even). The real thing you need to watch when adding food for the first six weeks (besides the chew, chew, chew) is the amounts...you don't want to pull any stitches while they're still healing. As long as you take small amounts, you'll do fine. Trust me, your band will let you know. -BG

Allie- You look GREAT!!! Your before/after's are incredible! Enjoy the new you, you deserve it after all the hard work! -BG

RIGHT! You'll have to put yourself at the top of the list for awhile to be successful at this, so get used to it. This time it's all about you! You deserve this, so don't feel guilty!!!

177 today...moving a little again (finally lost another head this week, but it took 2.5 months). JT...100 pounds is SO COOL...that's my fantasy. You'll be in the Century Club soon!

Me too JT! ...and don't think I didn't notice...12 POUNDS FROM GOAL!!! Awesome!!! ...are you sure you need a fill LOL. WELCOME to the April group Crimson! That's some GREAT WL! You can also join us with Friday Weigh Ins, also under the April '09 forum if you'd like. -BG

*Post Deleted for Lap Band Book

OK, first; I sympathize, I'm very protective of my fills too and hunger after the band sucks. NOW...put on the BG 'rose colored glasses' and look at this from a different perspective...you DO NOT want a fill right before Christmas (I know, not because you want to pig out, but who wants to go through a post-fill diet then and there's a new learning curve with each fill...too busy for that at Christmas)... and more importantly...a few more weeks is NOT going to be a huge deal; you won't have to worry about the same things with New Year's and...most importantly...YOU'RE 14 FREAKIN' POUNDS FROM GOAL!!!!! IN 8 MONTHS!!!! WHAT'S THE RUSH LOL!!!

1) Not being on another 'diet' (I've lost weight much faster on diets...been there, done that for 20 years...I never feel deprived). 2) Being really 'aware' going through this journey (ie. I could eat more, but I don't need to. I could get more fills and be so tight that I can't eat certain things, but I don't need to- I can still eat anything, just small amounts). 3) Support...my blog and my friends that support me here on my blog have been invaluable.

CONGRATULATIONS Bander! -BG

Sounds like you're doing better. Congratulations on the banding! -BG