Randi

Marieze, This is probably a rhetorical question, but have you ever eaten something like chips or sweets when you weren't hungry, or eaten until you were just stuffed? Well, that's what we referring to as head hunger and the band does not solve those mental urges. You'll have to develop strategies for dealing with issues such as boredom, holidays, general celebrations, mindless eating, etc. just like in WW. All the band does is restrict the amount you can eat in one sitting and helps keeps you from being "physically" hungry only IF you follow the band eating rules your doctor/surgeon prescribes -- usually eating Protein first, then vegetables, then fresh peeled fruit only after you've consumed your protein and vegetables and you're still hungry. Choose not to follow the rules consistently and the weight creeps right back on.

Was this your first fill? If not, are your fills done under fluoroscope? I've heard of people who get blind fills sometime having to have their port tubing replaced because it got punctured by the fill needle.

There's a website which lists suggestions for dealing with head hunger. Here are the links: Why am I hungry all the time? Coping with head hunger and overeating triggers http://www.amihungry.com/pdf/101_things_to_do_besides_eat.pdf

I vote for wait 'til she asks, then at that moment it will be your decision if and when you'll tell her. The reason I say "if or when" is because you may be in a group of people when the question is finally asked and the question may not be asked by your friend. I think it's possible that your friend was able to come up with 75 reasons not to have weight loss surgery because she, at some point, considered the surgery herself and used those very same reasons to talk herself out of it. So, she could have been just projecting her feelings about the surgery onto you. Also, there are still a lot of people who don't understand the fundamental differences between the gastric bypass or a similar procedure and the lapband. However and whenever you decide to address this issue to your friend you definitely know her better than any us ever could. If you're a very private person and you share this information with her, will she keep your confidence? Or, will she be angry that you didn't tell her and turn vindictive telling anyone and everyone who will listen?

It's a little past 4:00 a.m. my time. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to get up and take my official Wednesday weight, which was 234.4. I actually peeked at 233 this week, but I ruined getting solidly to that number or past that number by eating too many carbs. After I pigged out on all the carbs at the end of January, I had a party challenge on Saturday, February 2nd. We had some neighbors from the old neighborhood bring their family over for dinner. We decided to prepare fajitas for the main portion of the meal, but I also made snacks to tide us over for the meal and to ensure that there were leftovers for at least Sunday's dinner. I wasn't disgusted with myself after the party. I had a small meal of brisket and beans earlier in the day. So, that held me pretty well. At the party, I tasted all the snacks I made and after I fixed everyone a quesadilla who wanted one, I made myself a very small plate of fajitas and beans. If I had to admit to going overboard on anything, it was probably the corn chips with guacamole and one to many oatmeal cookies. Other than that I did fine. Although I didn't enjoy a six-pound loss like I did the first week, I kept up with my exercises and ate decently for the other days of the week and still had the projected two-pound loss. I must lose 10 more pounds before I will reach my first major goal of 224, which was the lowest weight I remember reaching before I regained it all. I think I will make some homemade chili. I ate chili from Red Robin the first week and did pretty well. So, with homemade chili, I'm hoping to do even better.

It's a little past 4:00 a.m. my time. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to get up and take my official Wednesday weight, which was 234.4. I actually peeked at 233 this week, but I ruined getting solidly to that number or past that number by eating too many carbs. After I pigged out on all the carbs at the end of January, I had a party challenge on Saturday, February 2nd. We had some neighbors from the old neighborhood bring their family over for dinner. We decided to prepare fajitas for the main portion of the meal, but I also made snacks to tide us over for the meal and to ensure that there were leftovers for at least Sunday's dinner. I wasn't disgusted with myself after the party. I had a small meal of brisket and beans earlier in the day. So, that held me pretty well. At the party, I tasted all the snacks I made and after I fixed everyone a quesadilla who wanted one, I made myself a very small plate of fajitas and beans. If I had to admit to going overboard on anything, it was probably the corn chips with guacamole and one to many oatmeal cookies. Other than that I did fine. Although I didn't enjoy a six-pound loss like I did the first week, I kept up with my exercises and ate decently for the other days of the week and still had the projected two-pound loss. I must lose 10 more pounds before I will reach my first major goal of 224, which was the lowest weight I remember reaching before I regained it all. I think I will make some homemade chili. I ate chili from Red Robin the first week and did pretty well. So, with homemade chili, I'm hoping to do even better.

I've also been looking at buying an elliptical, but I want one that lasts and that is close to gym quality because this old body can't take any more aches, pains or injuries. The specific model is Precor and it runs over $3,000 at the Hest store in Texas. Before you sell your treadmill, you may want to try out the elliptical for a while to make sure it doesn't irritate your joints in some way, especially since it doesn't sound like its gym quality.

I've heard of people sewing fish weights into their clothing.

Make it fun. Run this experiment every time. If water is brought to the table or you request it just to avoid the beverage hassle, immediately shake a lot of pepper into the glass and then add a pinch of salt in the middle. What happens? The pepper moves over to the sides of the glass. Now THAT'S entertainment!

I record my weight once a week on Wednesdays. Also, on days I go to the gym, I weigh in the a.m. so I know what weight to enter for my workout on the elliptical.

I completely crashed and burned yesterday. Since I restared my journey to health, I've been eating one or two meals per day. Yesterday, after I exercised and took a shower, I was hungry. So, I asked aloud, "What can I eat?" I settled on two strips of Turkey bacon and an omlette consisting of one whole egg and two egg whites, fresh tomatoes and red onions. I also added some fish sauce, garlic powder and onion powder to give it an oriental flavor. Until about 2:00 or so, I just kept drinking water and chewing sugarless gum, but I chewed almost a pack of gum. Since I was getting hungry again, I decided I would eat leftover turkey and pinto beans that I had purchased from Rudy's Barbecue the night before. After I ate that, I had this feeling like I needed something crunchy. So, I stepped into the pantry and that's when I completely lost control. Before I stopped myself, I had consumed an oatmeal pie, four granola bars, a handful of animal crackers, and three snack bags of chips in the form of Doritos and Cheetos. Although my crunch, as well as my sweet tooth, was satified, I was disgusted with myself for eating all that. I should have known it was a mistake to stay home all day, and I should have made an effort to get some of the errands on my list taken care of to get me out of the house. When I'm out and about, I'm just too busy to continually focus on food. Fortunately, that binge occurred early afternoon and I didn't eat anything for the remainder of the day, but that really isn't the point. Needless to say, after cosuming all the carbs, I fell asleep on the couch and woke up in a bad mood. Today, I'm trying to satisfy my crunch early with a Special K protein bar and two crisp slices of turkey bacon. I also plan on getting out the house and getting some of the errands done that would have kept me from binging yesterday. Hopefully, that one day of eating won't keep me from achieving the two-pound loss I've projected for next week. I'm also hoping to get at least two more exercise sessions in before the week ends to help combat yesterday.

I completely crashed and burned yesterday. Since I restared my journey to health, I've been eating one or two meals per day. Yesterday, after I exercised and took a shower, I was hungry. So, I asked aloud, "What can I eat?" I settled on two strips of Turkey bacon and an omlette consisting of one whole egg and two egg whites, fresh tomatoes and red onions. I also added some fish sauce, garlic powder and onion powder to give it an oriental flavor. Until about 2:00 or so, I just kept drinking water and chewing sugarless gum, but I chewed almost a pack of gum. Since I was getting hungry again, I decided I would eat leftover turkey and pinto beans that I had purchased from Rudy's Barbecue the night before. After I ate that, I had this feeling like I needed something crunchy. So, I stepped into the pantry and that's when I completely lost control. Before I stopped myself, I had consumed an oatmeal pie, four granola bars, a handful of animal crackers, and three snack bags of chips in the form of Doritos and Cheetos. Although my crunch, as well as my sweet tooth, was satified, I was disgusted with myself for eating all that. I should have known it was a mistake to stay home all day, and I should have made an effort to get some of the errands on my list taken care of to get me out of the house. When I'm out and about, I'm just too busy to continually focus on food. Fortunately, that binge occurred early afternoon and I didn't eat anything for the remainder of the day, but that really isn't the point. Needless to say, after cosuming all the carbs, I fell asleep on the couch and woke up in a bad mood. Today, I'm trying to satisfy my crunch early with a Special K protein bar and two crisp slices of turkey bacon. I also plan on getting out the house and getting some of the errands done that would have kept me from binging yesterday. Hopefully, that one day of eating won't keep me from achieving the two-pound loss I've projected for next week. I'm also hoping to get at least two more exercise sessions in before the week ends to help combat yesterday.

Today was my first official Wednesday home weigh-in since revisiting my surgeon's office. My weekly goal is to lose two pounds each week. I identified my starting weight as 242; this week, I'm down six pounds and the scale is rewarding me with a weight of 236.4. Ordinarily, I would be ecstatic about a six-pound loss. However, I plan on keeping my excitement in check until I'm at or below my last known weight in January 2007 (224lbs) before I started slowly putting the weight back on. The thing is, I've been in the game long enough to know that you always have to ask yourself, "Six pounds of what -- water, fat or muscle?" I can't answer that question, but I can I do my part to work with my band and not against my band. So, I ensured that I drank at least the recommended amount of water and switched to Propel when I got tired of water, exercised at the gym, which included using the elliptical for 45 minutes to 1 hour and performing my standard series of weight training exercises, stuck very closely to the prescribed eating order of protein, vegetables and fruit, skipped meals when I wasn't hungry and last, but not least -- journaled to ensure a written record of my journey.