Leila

I record everything on fitday, I started with fitday.com and switched to the PC version because I don't always have internet access. I find it works for me to record it, I eat better that way - not just calories, but in terms of health, making sure I get enough Protein, avoid saturated fat, get enough Fiber, enough Water... and all the little things. So easy to give you a few typical days! Today - 102 ounces of water in total. Breakfast: -large can of V8 juice about 30 minutes before eating. -egg creations - 1/2 cup scrambled (chive and cheese flavoured fat free egg white blend) cooled and mixed with a half tablespoon of low fat mayo and a teaspoon of nutritional yeast and sodium free potassium salt. 140 calories. Hour after eating, - large bottle of water mixed with tropical flavoured protien powder. half serving of Protein Powder. 45 calories. Mid morning snack: - 30 cherries 150 calories Hour after eating, - bottle of water. Lunch: 10 7grain kashi crackers with low fat chive and garlic cream cheese and smoked salmon. 250 calories Hour after eating, - bottle of water. afternoon snack: 3/4 cup of flax plus Cereal with 1/2 cup of Omega 3 so good soy milk and package of stevia (herbal sweetner) 165 calories Hour after eating, - bottle of water. Dinner: 1 mediterranean seasoning large chicken breast, no added fat. 1/2 cup mashed acorn squash with coconut oil (butter substitute), potassium salt substitute and nutritional yeast. 1/4 cup of corn with coconut oil and potassium salt. 4 tablespoons of salsa. 300 calories Small piece of belgian extra dark chocolate - 60 calories Hour after eating - large can V8 70 calories. Before bed, bottle of water with full serving protien powder. 90 calories 1270 calories total, 36 gram of fat, 151 grams of carbs, 98 grams of protien. Yesterday - (I won't break it down into meals and Snacks, its a similar pattern every day) egg creations with light mayo, yeast, and p-salt half an apple 1 cup of chilli with light cheddar, light sour cream small mixed organic greens salad with tomato and with garlic/chilli flax oil and balsamic vinegar small can tuna with garlic and hot peppers and light mayo half cup acorn squash 1/4 cup peas - veggies with cold pressed coconut oil and p-salt 1/2 cup blueberries 40 cherries 2 poached eggs with light mayo and a teaspoon of caviar 7 multigrain rice crackers with fat free cheese 117 ounces of water over the course of the day. Total calories - 1307, 47 grams of fat, 131 grams carbs, 94 grams protein. Other stuff I eat really regularly - salmon, canned, fresh, smoked, other fish, mackerel, crab, lobster, artificial crab. 1% cottage cheese, various low fat cheeses, dannon sillhoutte yogurt smoothies, loads of fruit and veggies, drink mostly water, but also green and white tea, both hot and iced, and lots of tabouli salad. I avoid sugar, processed foods, and simple carbs, go for multi-grain high fiber low glycemic carb choices...

My Dr. says at 2 weeks post-op, I've seen other Dr.'s of people on here say 4 weeks and 6 weeks. I agree with your instinct, wait until your incisions are healed over, no scabbing, fully closed.

Check with your surgeon, there is a possibility it could affect bleeding or interact with anaesthetic. The anaesthesiologist will have to know if you decide to use it pre-surgery, like any other meds/supplements.

In my signature where my goal weight is - its says G 160 - it's a link to a page that I really liked for finding my ideal/goal weight.

:welcomeB: Cathy to the June Crew :Banane20: and the water challenge :spit: !!!!! :welcome: :Banane14: :Banane56: :Banane21: :bananajump: :purplebananna: :Banane19: :bananalama: :youcandothis: :Banane03: :xena_banana:

So, restriction seems to not be in evidence after this second fill after all. Today we were travelling, pulled into a Wendy's for lunch, I got their southwestern salad. Promptly threw away the dressing, sour cream, and taco chip strips, and poured the chili over the salad and started to slllllooooooowly eat it, tiny bites, chewing well... well, I ate the whole thing, and it was enormous, definitely no restriction. I was hungry, it was probably at least two cups in volume, more like 3, and it went down sooooo easy. I'm calling on monday and making an appointment for fill #3. I was sure I had that sneaky elusive restriction this time, but no go. We had already left Ontario Canada where my surgeon is, in New York the last couple of days, and the Wendy's was in Pennsylvania... erg! Now we're back in New York making our way back to my surgeon in Canada. Blargh! This time I'll be hanging around for sure until restriction is evident before heading out travelling again. I'm also going to ask him to take out my fill to make sure I don't have a leak or anything, and make sure the saline is still in there before adding more! At least I pigged out on something healthy - LOL.

Hey everyone, made water goal yesterday - barb - I have the same thing! It seems I'm thirsty all the time even though I'm drinking between 110-120 ouces a day. It is weird. bubbyville - I'm sorry you've been so ill, your poor body to be going through all that after surgery. It's a great weight loss, but not the way you wanted to lose it I'm sure! Take care of your health, with being ill so long you might be low on electrolytes, and may want to swap out water and drink something like pedialyte or gatorade. Or you can make your own electrolyte water with something like crystal light and adding a 1/4 teaspoon of potassium based no-salt salt substitute, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda in one litre of fluid. I do it with the lemon/lime flavor so that the saltiness of it reminds me of margaritas and doesn't bug me as much, LOL. Ideally there should be some sugar/glucose in it too, but that's optional if you want to avoid sugar calories. Randi - sorry to hear about the divorce in your family and about your infections. Try not to worry about your grandson, he's quite young and will probably adjust very well to the changes. I completely agree with the 'don't buy it' sentiment. I had to go a step further and request from my husband that he not buy junk either. He can eat whatever he wants, but to eat only a single serving size for him not buy a big bag of cookies or something to have in the house. He's totally fine with it and very supportive. So our kitchen is junk and temptation free, it makes it so much easier. He's eating better too because if he wants something he has to make a special trip for it. housecatgirl, I was wondering where you were at! Lecithin is on my list of supplements to buy still. I've turned into a vitamin and supplement junkie, with a growing collection of bottles in my little 'pharmacy'. Glad to know it doesn't add flavor to anything as some of the things I've decided to take are down right yucky, and the tablets are big, so I have to crush or chew them.. blech! Devana - congrats on the compliments, and yes! join the water challenge!!!! Even if you don't make goal it encourages you to get more in, and that's what's important. Congrats to everyone else who is making water goals too! Woo!!! Should we add a second weekly challenge on for August? XO Leila

TommyO - I like your idea a lot.

Melissa Lea - don't get discouraged with the scale not moving, the fact that you notice a difference in how your clothes are fitting shows that you have definitely lost fat weight, and that's what counts. In fact, try to think of it as good news, if you are putting on muscle weight to replace fat weight, you'll still shrink, but as an added bonus muscle boosts your metabolism and makes your body burn calories like a hotter furnace burning more fuel. It's just a matter of time before it starts showing up on the scale too, I'm sure. Muscle weight is a good thing, a lb of muscle takes up a much smaller space than a lb of fluffy fat! But the scale will catch up. I think it's great your Water intake is still getting better, you'll be joining the growing number of junbies meeting their water goals in no time!!!! Barb - I did have one night, where I had drank a LOT of water all at one time, and I had quite bad bloating, where I noticed what you describe. I rub scar cream on my scars a few times a day, and that night when I went to put it on, I felt a hard swollen lumpy area on my left side not where my port is, not where my band is, and I panicked! It felt really weird and not right. I thought maybe it could be the tubing from the port to the band as well. I figured since it wasn't there before, and I was really distended from the bloat from water and gas, that I would wait till the morning, and if it was still there call my surgeons office. It was gone in the morning, and hasn't been back. Maybe it is your tubing? If you are worried about it pick up the phone and give your surgeons office a call, hopefully they can put your mind at ease. XO Leila

I definitely hear where most everyone is coming from. I was curious about this from the other thread when someone had posted that they thought maybe the percentage of cheaters was lower because people with obesity may have simply had fewer opportunities to cheat than people without weight issues. I tend to believe myself that the opportunity is there for everyone, regardless of size. I so relate to the concept of 'but I would know'. On a personal level, I have a really hard time with any kind of dishonesty from myself. I'm much more forgiving of other people who have lied or been dishonest to me in my life, but it's something I can't tolerate in my own behavior. I've never understood people who have the ability to lie well, or who lie compulsively. Even little lies I've made in my life, like calling in sick to work when I needed to take care of a friend in crisis, would eat me up for days.

Congrats to those making water challenge. warmmorning sun - the important thing is your water intake is improving! yay! 50 ounces is great! I too am slow to lose around my waist and can see it mostly in my face and legs. And my skin does seem softer/looser though that may be paranoia! barb - if by abdominal swelling you mean gas, then yes. My surgery related gas must be long gone, but I have digestive related gas much more than pre-lab band. This seems to happen to a lot of people post lap-band. When you take smaller bites, and chew a lot, it means you swallow more often, everytime you swallow you swallow air with food - and with water. One of the reasons a lot of surgeons say no drinking through straws and no carbonated beverages is that can increase gas too. I'm going to start supplementing with enzymes taking them with my meals to see if it will decrease my gas. gas-x doesn't do anything for me at all. XO Leila btw, the spa was awesome, my whole body feels like it's made of Jello!

I prefer one month too, shorter term goals seem less daunting. Actually in the June crew thread, we've been doing a water drinking challenge, but we start it new each week. Same challenge, just broken down into a week at a time recurring. That way you can try to improve the following week, or if you slip up, you feel like it's easier to start over without feeling you've blown the whole month. Just a thought.

Made water goal yesterday, personal goal too, but it was hard, felt bloated all day, I'm pretty sure I'm PMSing - will find out soon. For the last 3 months, hubby and I have been travelling all over Canada, living in a little RV, we combined the trip across Canada to go get my surgery done by the surgeon I wanted to have do it, with exploring the country. Yesterday we started the second half of our trip, and are now down in the U.S. in New York state. We always search out RV parks with wireless internet, since he works online. Well, we didn't know anything about this campsite we booked into yesterday other than it had wireless and a pool - so I can exercise. Well, to my delight, I discovered on checking in, that this campsite has a spa/wellness center attached to it!!!! Hubby saw the longing gleam in my eyes, as I read over the spa services brochure, and said to go for it, just don't go over 200$, so we don't blow our travel budget. I am so stoked, after 3 months of camping lifestyle, I've been starting to feel rather on the grubby side despite regular swimming and showering. I've gotten rather tanned from all the time spent in campground pools and lakes and in the ocean, and I haven't tanned since I was a teen. The result, I've been feeling like my skin is in terrible condition, and my feet and hands and nails on both have been getting rather rough. Today I'm going for four hours of pampering, facial, body scrub and massage, manicure and pedicure. I think I've died and gone to heaven. I can't wait! Check in time for my appointment is 1 hour from now. I hope I lose a pound in dead skin! LOL! I'm so excited, I had to share. I very rarely ever get to do this kind of thing, I've had my nails done about 4 times in my life, had a pedicure done professionally only a couple of times. Had massages when I needed them for back pain which were covered, a series of 10 many years ago. I've never had a body scrub, and I've never had a facial (other than doing your own at home). I feel like it's Christmas in July come totally by surprise! XO Leila

barb - Tomato juice and V8 juice go down really easy for me, Other than plain Water, I drink white tea (it's a version of green tea) and I drink mostly V8 juice, sometimes tomato juice, since it's relatively low cal, and I can get more veggies in that way. Some people find it hard on their stomach, but many don't, I don't have a problem with it all. I think if it doesn't upset your stomach, go for it. chako-lady - congratulations on winning the water challenge as well! I'm thinking about adding a weight-loss supplement, what's in the Cortisol Weight Loss - was it expensive? XO Leila

thankyou! Congrats to everyone else who managed to up their Water too! On my signature there is a list of calculators - one is water, there is a link there that calculates how much water we need a day based on our body weight. It's high. Spooky high, I don't think it's realistic to be able to do right off the bat. but I think it can be worked up to. I found that the first couple of days last week I felt a bit bloated and water logged. But as the week went on, I could take more and more in easier and easier. Like with most things in life, everyones adjustment times are going to differ, we all have different bodies. I really think it's so valuable not only for fat loss and for helping prevent loose skin, but for over-all health, so I hope everyone works at it. I just keep a bottle going all the time. Here's how the week had progressed for me day 1 - 64 ounces, day 2 - 71 ounces, day 3 - 90 ounces, day 4 - 90 ounces, day 5 - 80 ounces, day 6 - 94 ounces, day 7 - 117 ounces. It's something you may want to check out to see what's recommended for you personally. I'm going to do the water challenge this week too, but have decided I'm going to set a higher goal for myself of *gulp* 116 ounces a day, with at least 64 coming from pure water. Almost double! The funny thing is, pre-band I used to be able to drink 4 litres of diet coke in a day easily, thats 134 ounces. So why not. Anyone else out there used to pack away the soda? XO Leila

Try blending it half and half in a blender with the yogurt until really smooth and then freezing it, really, give it a shot. Okay, confession time, I sneak into the bodybuilding forums and read, and those guys are obsessed with cottage cheese, as it's near thing to a perfect Protein, and they eat tonnes of the low fat stuff. So here's a link to threads they have discussing how to make it palatable for people who don't like it. A lot of these you can't use because of the things they add to it, but some, like adding cinnamon and splenda, you could try, so read through and maybe you'll get some ideas. http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=673868 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showpost.php?p=9484921&postcount=10 You could ask your surgeons office if some of the things they add to it, like sugar free Jello, would be okay for you to add to it too. Might as well play with the stuff and find out, since you've already bought it! XO Leila

He requests nothing to eat or drink for two hours before the fill. My Dr. had me lay back on the table, fully clothed, just having my shirt raised. He palpitated my stomach for the port, he couldn't find it, had me put a pillow in the small of my back to stretch my abdomen out, palpitated it some more, still couldn't find it. He told me not to worry, that he places a low profile port quite deep and he often can't feel it. So then he prepped me with an antiseptic wipe, no numbing shot (they hurt more than the fill needle, I agree) and went in directly over the small round scar he says is the scar from where they anchor the port, he always knows if the port hasn't moved from where it was stitched it's always directly under this spot. Sure enough he says, it's exactly where it should be, no worries. When he first goes in with the needle he taps down gently with it until he encounters the port, then he pushes down into the port harder. Then depresses the plunger on the needle to add the fill. He pulls the needle out quickly, follows with another wipe and a bandaid. He has me sit up, and drink water to assess my level of restriction. He does not use flouro, and feels from his experience he finds no advantage in it. He has used flouro in the past, but found his success rate with adjustments has been the same with or without flouro. He explained that even if flouro shows perfect levels of restriction, patients react so differently to adjustments - some with swelling that goes down and restriction leaves within the next few days up to a couple of weeks. Some the opposite, no restriction at first, and then all off a sudden in a few days or as much as a week or two later restriction kicks in. He has me drink about a styrofoam cup filled to the brim, and then refilled half way of the water. To assess that I'm not too tight. First fill he had put in 4.5cc's in the large VG band - I had the water - didn't go down easy, so he had me lay back and took .5cc's back out, tried the water again, and no problem. Second fill of .5 cc;s water went down fine. I've had just the two fills, one week apart. The restriction on the first fill was there for two days (so I had restriction right off the bat - so even without flouro he hit the nail on the head) unfortunately some of that was from swelling, and three days later, restriction gone. With the second fill I've reached good restriction again, not too tight, not too lose, just right. My further follow up fills will be done by another Dr other than my surgeon, but one that has been trained by my own Dr. via INAMED Health and authorized by INAMED (whom I assume you'll be recieving training/authorization from yourself.) I think there are some slight differences, usually around whether they use a numbing shot and/or flouro, but the majority of adjustments seem to be done very similarly. The best to you in your practice.

Here's an article I liked that I wanted to share with my fellow Junebies. warmmorningsun - It can take two weeks, I've heard it many times on here. You do take a risk of being too tight if you schedule a fill shortly after another. I decided to do it anyways, LOL, did my first fill on July 19 - restricted for the first couple of days, then eased right off. Starving by 4-5 days after. I knew I might tighten up again, but decided to risk a second fill only 6 days later. My surgeon was fine with it. That was yesterday afternoon, so far last night and all day today restriction has been just fine. I've eaten all kinds of different foods, all solid food, yesterday soft solids, and today regular solids, and have been full on small portions and stayed full, no hunger. If I get too tight later I can always have an unfill. It does happen, but usually it goes the other way, tighter at the time of fill and loosening up over the next week or two. So it's a gamble which ever way you look at. Everyone's different, you just have to make the decisions you feel are best for you, and then learn from the results how your own body responds to the band. There's a learning curve. 100 ounces of Water in today, I think I'm making that my new personal daily goal.

CONGRATULATIONS! That is awesome, I can't wait till I reach that day myself, way to go!

I've been increasing my Water and Fluid intake more and more each day. - I've had 83 ounces today of just water, and 16 ounces of tomato juice, and I have a lot more drinking to do before the evening is over! LOL. I've lost more weight this week than past weeks. 2.5lbs, I usually loose about 1.5 - 2lbs. And! I'm premenstrual and I usually bloat and gain water weight, and I don't feel bloated at all! My calories have stayed pretty much identical to the previous week, in fact some days even a bit higher, with a higher average over all, and I've exercised less this week. But lost more... what's changed... hmmmm... just more water than usual. I can tell you, I'm going to keep putting away as much as I can from now on. I'm really glad we did this challenge and that I participated in it. Get that fill!

Bettina - I relate to the flabby belly too, I am hoping I'll be covered for a tummy tuck when I'm done. If you're looking for other options to try to add to your program, there are a few things mentioned in this article that I'm going to try myself. Take with a grain of salt, like many alternative programs, there isn't a strong medical support to them. However, none of them are harmful in any way, and some of them, like skin brushing and massage, you can do to yourself and are free, and are good for your circulation and feel good to boot. So even if it's not having a skin firming effect, it's doing you good.

I totally agree with you, It absolutely is wrong to say it is the only factor, and I never said it was the only factor, in fact my last post I made clear that I agreed with you that all the factors you listed factor in more than the rate of weight loss.

Those things definitely factor in more than the rate of loss. I've had one dermatoligist tell me how fast you lose makes no difference, and then another caution me to take it slow as he felt it did make a difference, so even the skin pro's don't agree on this one. I like to err on the side of caution.

You have a few different things going on. One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet, is that hormones are stored in fat. Overweight people have a different hormone make-up than regular weight people because of this. As you lose weight, your hormone balance shifts, not just because you have less fat in your body, but because as your body burns fat, the hormones stored in the fat are released into your system. While losing weight your hormones will fluctuate a fair bit, once you've reached your bottom weight and maintained it, things will level out again, but your hormonal makeup will likely be different than what you've been used to. So anything regulated by hormones can be effected by weight loss, not just menstruation cycle and symptoms, but mood, skin, etc, and very commonly - an increase in fertility. A lot of people become pregnant post band, your fertility should increase. If you start eating enough that is! I agree with what others have said about calorie intake, I would shoot for 1200, and I would not go below 900, and those 900 calories would have to be super healthy, nutrition matters. Check out a site like fitday.com so you can see what you're missing out on in your diet, or sparkpeople.com a lot of people like as well. You won't lose more fat lower than 1000-1200 calories, your body will go into starvation mode and it can't get all that nutrients it needs from your fat, you will break down muscle tissue as well, and possibly organ tissues, heart, etc, and it can become very dangerous. Your energy will go way down as your body tries to conserve energy by having you do less. Also if you lose to fast you risk more sagging skin, be patient, and take care of yourself, if you want to have a baby you'll need to have a healthy body that is well nourished so you can nourish the baby too. Best of luck to you! you have so many wonderful things ahead of you, fuel yourself well for it. XO Leila