Zannie

I'm still on track for July...must keep at it every day to make that goal! Swimming at our reunion this afternoon will count for today's workout! :clap2: Feb'07 July Challenge: Level 3-Moderate 14 of 20 days exercising for 30 minutes

Okay - so you're not in any miracle summer-weather location... Poop. I really would leave my extended family behind here in VA for some place with summer highs in the upper 80's and winter lows that allow for a handful of nice, sled-able snows storms! :biggrin1: Any suggestions? I say that dancing with the kiddies is the very best exercise there is!!! :dance: I always feel physically exhausted but mentally enlivened after twirling around with my own. But the treadmill leaves me exhausted and TIRED -- and I have to force myself to shower before falling in to bed. And it definitely counts toward your goals in the July Challenge! So tally up your dancin' days!

I saw how long ago your last fill was... Seems to me you'd be ready for another...it's been 3 months & we've only been banded 5!! But you've got FAR less to loose than my initial 200 lbs, so maybe I'm wrong. (It's been known to happen -- occasionally! :confused:) Maybe the advice I was given would help you to determine if it's time for another fill or not. Now, this is just what I was told... If you can eat more than 1/2 cup of food other than veggies, get a fill. The goal is 1/4 - 1/3 cup (or 2 oz - 2.6 oz, or 4 TBSP - 5-1/2 TBSP) of food per meal. My clinic's dietician says that salads aren't a problem because lettuce grinds right down to hardly anything IF you cut it fine & then chew it up. So have a salad with your meal and have 2 oz of protein and a .6 oz smidgen of carb, that's a perfect Bandster meal. If I regularly eat more than 8 TBSP - 1/2 cup - 4 oz at a meal before feeling "no longer hungry" (not necessarily FULL), then it's time for a fill. Every now & then I measure out exact portions & stop eating for 10 min after finishing that "perfect Bandster meal" and pay attention to my sensation of hunger. If I'm "done" -- GREAT, if not I'll serve up to that 1/2 cup and "pay attention" again. Usually I can't finish that 2nd helping, but if I can I call in for a fill. Personally, I LIKE having a guideline of what a meal should look like. It gives me something for comparison. So maybe it will help you determine if you're eating too much. I can't eat 2 tacos -- I can't finish one, or couldn't last week anyhow!! But that may be the shell more than the amount of food. With this last fill, I've got great restriction -- not too tight for protein, but now all sorts of different breads (like my mom's delectable blueberry muffins, as I found out yesterday:(), cakes (& brownies:straight), some chips (though not all kinds:o), and pasta feel just awful until they finally pass through my band. That's a good thing in my mind, because who wants to eat stuff they know won't feel good!?!

I've been slacking off with my routine exercise, but having a great time! Our reunion will last until Saturday, so hopefully I'll squeeze in exercise every day the rest of this week & still really get back into the swing of my routine once everyone heads out of town! If I don't miss a day, I can still hit my goal for July... How are y'all doing? 7 days left in July... The thread has been pretty quiet since BabyGrl headed off on her vacation. Where's everybody else?!? :guess Suzanne Feb'07 July Challenge: Level 3-Moderate 13 of 20 days exercising for 30 minutes

Congrats on the 14, skinnyjeans!!! :clap2: (I haven't been a 14 since high school! But I'm stoked to be wearing today shorts I haven't had on since before my 1st pregnancy! Guess it's time to head to the attic for some shopping! :biggrin1:) I use the protein shakes to balance out crappy diet choices. If I've got an event to go to, I'll "drink my meals" prior to the thing. Or if I've had a bad day of sweets I shouldn't have eaten, I'll try to curb the gain by sticking to protein shakes the following day. The only time I do an extended full liquid diet is post-fill though... The protocol my clinic has us follow then is 48 hours of liquids, 48 hours of mushies and then back to regular eating. If I were stalled out like you seem to be, I'd call for a fill rather than try to "diet away" the pounds as we all would have in the old days... When was your last fill? Don't forget to make use of your tool!!!

Ugh -- talk about your binges... :hungry: Yesterday I ate TWO saucer-sized oatmeal raisin Cookies (sent to us by my MIL)! To make up for it, my only other "food" was Protein shakes...until DH brought home a pack of king-sized Peanut Butter cups, which we split! Saturday was NOT a good one for eating. Today has been much better -- just Protein Shakes so far. dinner will be salmon with mashed potatoes and a salad at Day 2 of our week-long family reunion...but who knows what is on tap for dessert. :phanvan I am bringing over the rest of the cookies my in-laws sent. Even if I do eat more tonight, at least they'll no longer be in MY house for tomorrow!!!!! :heh:

Our fearless leader is abandoning us...?!? :ip: Well, have a great vacation! :wave::car: And sure, I'll start the August thread next week. (OMG. August...is in 10 days!! Egad!) Personally, I like the choose-your-own-adventure aspect of the last 2 months, but then I'm an "individual goals" kind of girl... So unless there are other ideas or suggestions from y'all or the main Feb thread, I'll set August up like the one for July. Suzanne Feb'07 July Challenge: Level 3-Moderate 12 of 20 days exercising for 30 minutes

Thanks, ARMKAM! :high5: And good for you, too!! :clap2::clap2: It does feel good to finally see some changes other than in my deflated, sagging boobs! :eek :straight I like your idea of hanging up in plain view something you want to fit in to... Think it'd be too disappointing to have a pair of skinny jeans in a size 8 on the back of my door?!? Single digit jeans is my real goal!! :bandit Maybe I'd better just start with something that doesn't have a W after the numbers! :roll: Um, where do YOU live that the weather is so perfect?!? And do you know of any well-paid computer tech positions open for DH?!? I hate the heat of summers here. It's 100 & humid in my part of Virginia. Ugh, ick, blah... I was actually feeling a bit guilty about NOT taking my kids (4-1/2 & 2) to our local water-park (because I am not swim-suiting in public just yet), but then neither of them swim, so... :car: I AM vowing that swimming lessons & the water park are on the agenda for NEXT summer. We ARE renting a house at the beach this September -- and I will be in a swimsuit then. But I'm much happier just living in denial about that!!! :biggrin1: :heh: Today is our only "day off" before more company, so I'd best head back to the my family before they think me neglectful! Hope everybody's having a great weekend! :biggrin1:

Ya know...I should have thought of that myself! Thanks for the reminder!

Still running around like a mad woman, but it's paying off... I've lost more than I'd thought since my fill! Down by 57.5 total -- 5.5 since the fill 2 weeks ago on July 5th! Now that's what I'm talkin' about!!! NSV for my affirmation: I wear a 26 now, for the most part, which is down from a tight 32 pre-Band. I tried on a pair of my mom's shorts that are a size 20 (from Silhouettes) -- just to beat myself up, really. AND THEY BUTTONED!!! I'd have needed that particular pair in a 22 to really wear, but they totally closed up!!!! Holy crap!!! I know I'm by no means a 22 in most stuff, BUT BUT BUT Mom's size 20 shorts actually zipped & buttoned, too!!! I wore a size 22 over 8 years ago!!! Suzanne Feb'07 July Challenge: Level 3-Moderate 12 of 20 days exercising for 30 minutes

:help: Do you wear a medic-alert / medical ID to notify emergency personnel of your LapBand? What is inscribed on your tag? I thought about getting a bracelet or anklet when 1st banded, but didn’t know what info about my Band would actually be pertinent to EMS/ER if I were unable to speak for myself. “WLS: LapBand w/ port” and my clinic’s # Or is that not good enough in an actual emergency? I can’t imagine the EMS calling my doctor! :heh: Nor do I think they really ought to be doing that if I'm having a heart attack instead of requiring my stomach be pumped! But the ID tags can only hold so much info... My mom is diabetic & gets a catalog of beaded, interchangeable medical ID bracelets from Lauren’s Hope. It seems they’ve now got a design “just for us” WLS patients. Seeing the "skinny pants" style has me considering my own ID again, but I don't know what to put on it! Heck, maybe they’d have some advice as to the tag inscription! Gastric Bypass medical ID bracelet at Lauren’s Hope: http://www.laurenshope.com/product.aspx?id=684&cat_id=47

I'm sorry I don't have time to really read or write at the moment, but had to touch base! (This is our month of COMPANY!) I've felt so adrift without y'all, but I have been getting in the exercise... up to 11 of 20 now! And I'm trying hard to watch what I eat, too! 3 birthday parties & 2 reunions down. Four more parties & one week-long reunion still to come! I love this kind of summer, filled with friends & family, but it can be hard on the waistline. Thank goodness for the LapBand or I know this would be a serious GAIN month... I have a nutrition consult on Thursday & will record my official 5-month weigh-in then! That's right, 5 months Banded! Wahoo!!! It doesn't feel like it's really been all that long!!! :whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo: How's everybody else doing?!?!?

Good for you, skinnyjeans! That's quite an accomplishment! As for me...um, I didn't eat ANY bad foods yesterday, and I did get plenty of Protein in, but I woke up this morning with 5 additional pounds on the scale for my efforts! FIVE POUNDS overnight!!! Egad. I'm expecting AF this weekend, so maybe I'll get to chalk it up to my period like TravelGirl, but I'm frickin' pissed right now! So far today I've had a glass of that new Juicy-juice with veggies mixed in -- not very good in my opinion, but DS (4yo) likes it a lot. He's the one we''re trying to trick anyhow!!! :biggrin1::biggrin1:

Awh, shucks...thanks guys! I've worn myself ragged & am off to bed... And, Babygrl, that extra Protein () on your ride is EXACTLY why I do my exercise inside! :biggrin1: Keep up the good work, everyone! Suzanne Feb'07 July Challenge: Level 3-Moderate 5 of 20 days exercising for 30 minutes

So far today I've had 2 mozzarella sticks and 2 teddy grahams... What I have not had is all of my morning Protein shake, any substantial food for lunch, (or dinner, come to think of it), nor have I had enough water! What is my problem today?!? I have no appetite at allllllll!! And I have just forgotten to eat my meals. This feels quite a bit like the old days -- when I wouldn't eat all day & then feel like I couldn't eat fast enough until getting FULL sometime around 9PM! I thought we'd broken this lil' pattern...but apparently it's still lurking under the surface somewhere! Interesting, very, very interesting! Let's see how dinner goes once the kids are in bed (DH giving baths right now :tired)... Company coming tomorrow, and so continues my summer of eating out. Lovely.

Still a long way to go before AFTER pictures for me, but this is DURING! Here's me before & again at 4 months post-op, down 50 pounds. Expect another set when (not if) I loose another 50!

I was pondering the whole can't-see-loss-in-pictures-or-in-person stuff I mentioned in my last post. And I got to thinking that maybe I was suffering from body-image disparity delusions. After all, FIFTY POUNDS must be apparent somehow! So, since I've been taking pictures regularly to track my progress, I decided to do a PhotoShop comparison. Here are the results:o: Funny ... I can see the change in my face in the mirror, but I don't see a slimmer face in the new picture! And while in the mirror I see no real difference to my body (except chest), in the overlay picture, I do notice A) that my boobs are now, as I suspected, flat & floppy like pancakes (yes, I have on a bra) & there is indeed some change right at the waist/spare tire area. (I should have worn leggings in my before pic -- oh well.) And there you have it -- Suzanne before & down 50# at 4-months after LapBand surgery. :phanvan :straight

How'd everybody do over the weekend? I got my workout in one of the 2 weekend days -- which was my goal. Now lets see if I can stick to EVERY DAY this week... You do look FANTASTIC, BabyGrl! You ought to be really proud of all your hard work! (And I'm jealous of your chair! Mine broke about a month ago, so I'm sitting on an old, wooden dinette chair -- very hard, obviously doesn't recline or swivel, and my still-yet-to-shrink thighs are being poked by the corners of the seat!) And I'm with you, TravelGirl... I still don't see a difference in my pictures! Even though the mirror does shows a slimmer face, and my wrists & fingers are a smaller jewelry size...oh and the whole deflated boob business, well, I just don't SEE any important changes!!!! I've recently asked DH point-blank if he sees a difference yet & he confirmed it's only in my face. I mean, the tape measure is hardly moving at my monthly checks, so I'm not just imagining it through my warped sense of body image. Nothing good is happening yet!!!!!! Argh! Okay...on a positive note. I am able to wear my favorite bangle bracelets again! They'd become too tight to wear comfortably but now they totally fit! :biggrin1: Way to go ME, weight loss in the wrists!!!!! :heh: Suzanne Feb'07 July Challenge: Level 3-Moderate 4 of 20 days exercising for 30 minutes

How's the weekend coming, y'all? :confused: Hope you had a good time at the wedding, BabyGrl! Just checking in for the night... Feb'07 July Challenge: Level 3-Moderate 4 of 20 days exercising for 30 minutes

Andrea - when was your last fill? I'm tight-tight for the 1st 4 full days & then things relax a bit (I presume this is because of the weight loss I experience due to the liquid & mushies diet). Me? If it were longer than 4 days after a fill & I was having problems keeping food down (that were not due to my own stupidity), I'd be on the phone with my doc. I DO NOT want complications!! A) because complications would suck; but more importantly my surgery was self-pay & I don't have any more money for a corrective one! :heh: (Well, it's true! :straight) I've been pretty well controlled today -- "shake, shake, shake! Shake for Mommy!" as my 4-year-old sings while I make my Protein drinks! I did just (10PM) have some shredded-chicken BBQ. That's my 1st solid food & I wasn't supposed to start solids until 4 days/96 hours after the fill. It's only been 55 hours. Hopefully I don't regret that jump over mushies right to solids. Tomorrow will be an all-mushies day, I promise! Suzanne

Oh, Babygrl, you have got to be kidding me!!! :pound: I'm not out of bed one second earlier than the 1st kid is up!! DH works a 2nd job 4 nights a week, and I "wait up for him" but I'd be up anyhow until at least midnight. Night owls, the both of us. We're usually up until about 2am, so I do have plenty of time to do the working out bit at night... It's the actual starting it that I postpone & procrastinate about. And I can't imagine getting up earlier than to the 7am pitter patter of lil' feet! ROFLMAO It's a great suggestion, really, but I don't think I'd ever follow through with it! I tried the "shake on the treadmill while kids are eating breakfast" thing for a while, but something always was interrupting that workout. So I'm back to "after bedtime" treadmilling now...

Perhaps there is a clothing exchange thread already, but… I just came across some new 34W clothes. 2 pair of shorts, a couple pair of petite jeans & a couple that are not petite, and some ¾ sleeve button-up shirts. (It’s all conservative stuff, and the shirts would be fine for work either under a suit or left untucked in a more casual workplace.) All of this is tried on & some have been washed, but none of it was ever worn because I never quite grew out of my 32Ws enough to fit into the 34Ws that I'd just bought before having this surgery. And while it's all perfectly fine clothing that I could take in to be tailored, will I? Do I want to? Wouldn’t it be more fun to BUY SMALLER SIZES as I continue to need new clothes? Right. My thoughts exactly. :biggrin1: If someone’s in need of 34W, send me a PM & I can take pictures (but I doubt I’ll iron for ya!) or further describe what I’ve got. Suzanne

Well, Babygrl, you left the laughing bit out! Whew! (I'm the same way -- gotta look for the humor in the situation.) You can see I've gotten right on the chores. But in my defense, I've been having my Protein shake at the computer, before diving in to the mountain of stuff I've been putting off (which nobody else -ehem- has been doing either)... :help:Okay, I need a favor...:help: Somebody kick my a$$ if you notice I have not posted a workout by the time you go to bed!! I don't need to break them up, it's the STARTING not the finishing that is my problem (they're only a 1/2 hour & almost always at night). It's a matter of motivation. I've really got to make this a daily habit -- at least on the weekdays. I hate, hate, hate doing it - but that's not going to change overnight anyhow. I just need to stop whining & get to the friggin' treadmill!!!!!!!! I know this, but then I get distracted since I'd rather be doing anything else (except housework :eek:). So, please, before you guys shut down the computer at night - could somebody pop on & remind me to get my saggy, baggy elephant butt on the damn treadmill!?!?!?! I'd love to be at 250 by my 6-month Bandiversary, but I doubt that's going to happen. I know it's not going to happen. Poop. It was a realistic goal when I set it, but after a few weeks of not loosing, it no longer is a reasonable amount of weight loss (18lbs) before the date (in 40 days). That's 3 lbs a week, and I just haven't had those kinds of numbers on solid foods. It is realistic to shoot for being IN the 250's by then, so that's my new goal! But maybe if I workout every friggin' day of the next 40, I might hit the original mark of 250? Maybe? Okay, again - doubtful. But let me hold on to the dream. :biggrin1: And IF I'm working out every day toward a goal in August, perhaps I won't be so tempted to quite the daily sh..tuff once my deadline passes. Maybe it'll have become a habit by then...? Maybe. Or not --- wait, no negative thinking! See, it's just that I have never, ever enjoyed any form of exercise & I can't imagine liking it now. But it can't matter if I'm linking it, I've just got to DO IT!!! Perhaps if one of y'all give me a nudge, I'll actually pay attention! I'll employ a bit of this guilt-thing I'm so famous for & feel bad that you took your time to remind me, so I'll get up & do it just so i can post a "thanks for reminding me" when I'm done. (It's my Irish-Catholic/Jew upbringing -- guilt is ingrained. LOL) :biggrin1: Okay, now I'm feeling guilty about kicking my family out for the day & NOT doing the housework...my shake is long gone. :heh:

Ha!! Well, it helps ME feel human rather than freakish! Plus, I love sweets... And I usually CAN stop at 2 bites if I get rid of my plate right away. Leave a plate in front of me --no matter what's on it (besides veggies)-- and I'll pick at it until it's empty. Clean Your Plate mentality, an ingrained lesson I'm trying NOT to teach my own kids -- even though it seems like a good rule when picky, picky, picky 4yo DS isn't eating what he's served! It's "You don't have to eat, but I'm not making you another meal!" here. Go to bed hungry, m'boy, rather than grow up with THIS particular monkey on your back. What an evil mother I am...

Whaoo! :whoo: I missed this post, I guess! 4 POUNDS! :clap2: What a payoff for all your hard work! Great job!!! My fill is the tightest yet (well, obviously, but you kwim), and I'm hoping to really shed some weight this week!! I've got to cut out the junk, however! It's PMS-time, I believe, but that is no excuse for snacking on crap food! Refocusing now...