isaviolinist

Same for me. There is only one reason that I stop weighing myself: the scale is moving in the WRONG direction. I know I get crazed about it sometimes, and I'm trying really hard to focus on the changes in my body and also my body composition, but I need to weigh myself. Not gonna stop anytime soon.

Your weight loss is so great! Wow! You should be proud of yourself!

Yay!! Love it! I'm a challenge fiend congrats on the weight loss! You are doing so great!! 36 pounds is wonderful Yay!

Yay! Tofu is so yummy and nutritious. It really just takes the flavor of whatever its in. I just posted a tofu/shrimp skewer with cabbage salad and peanut dressing recipe on my blog - check it out Let me know how it turns out!

Aw, yay! Make sure you let us know how it is! Are you going to use tofu or meat?

Omg I was totally anxious as well. I was SURE I was going to be one of those people that would be half awake during surgery but paralyzed from the anesthesia so I wouldn't be able to scream, or I thought they were going to try and insert the breathing tube while I was still conscious and I was sure that the needle for anesthesia was going to hurt more than anything I've ever felt (and actually I barely felt it go in lol). So you're totally not alone. But for me, it was a very easy surgery and im sure it will be for you too And to be honest, it was kind of fun having everyone pamper me for awhile after the surgery make sure you let people take care of you afterward! You'll do great!

My boobs are getting smaller however they've always been horribly uneven (like the left side is probably a C+ and the right side is probably about a . I like the smaller size of the right side (I hate big boobs...its confusing to me why women want implants...I've always hated big boobs and have always wished for teensy tiny ones) and at some point I will probably get a reduction to even them out and lift them up a little. I'm hoping I will be at goal by this summer so maybe I could get a TT and breast "intervention" (they need an intervention...maybe I could be on that show) before I start shopping for my wedding gown in the fall. Interestingly, my entire left side of my body is a little bigger than the right side. Its really weird.

I weigh everyday (generally only twice in the morning...which is better than it used to be, because I used to weigh every few hours), but I'm trying REALLY hard to focus on my body fat percentage vs. the scale number. I get skinfolds to determine fat mass/lean mass every 6 weeks. My next one is at the end of November so I'm trying REALLY hard to just chill out with the scale and wait for the assessment at the end of the month.

Here is my chili recipe. I really love it - its delish! I don't eat red meat, pork, or poultry so I add extra firm tofu. But you could add any Protein that you like! 1 Small onion, chopped 1 Large green bell pepper, chopped 3/4 cup Chopped celery 3/4 cup Dry red wine 3 cloves Garlic, finely chopped 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained 1 1/2 cups Water 1/4 cup Tomato paste 2 Vegetable or chicken Bouillon Cubes 1 tablespoon Chopped fresh cilantro 1 tablespoon Chili powder 1/2 teaspoon Cumin 2 cans (15 ounces each) kidney or pinto Beans, rinsed and drained 1 package extra-firm tofu Preparation: COMBINE onion, bell pepper, celery, wine and garlic in large saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender. ADD tomatoes and juice, water, tomato paste, boullion, cilantro, chili powder and cumin; stir well. Stir in beans. Bring to a boil; cover. Reduce heat to low and add in the tofu; cook, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes. You can also freeze the chili after cooking. Just let it cool completely and then freeze. To defrost, let chili defrost in refrigerator overnight, then heat it up in a sauce pan over medium heat.

I kept my incisions covered with gauze and just wore things with comfortable waist bands for the first little while. But I was able to wear my regular clothing for the most part.

I have a similar issue as you. I can never eat early in the day or even early afternoon, so I dont even try (I just stick with a protein shake). For dinner, sometimes I can eat everything, and sometimes I PB after 2 bites. I am working really hard on listening to my body and stopping the MOMENT I get a full signal (runny nose, kind of heavy feeling in my chest...there are a number of them for me). But sometimes I just get stuck right away and am still hungry. I'm going to go for an appointment in January when I'm home with my surgeon - maybe he'll think I need a slight unfill (although I don't want TOO much taken out).

No problem I like fitday because you can track your calories, exercise, weight goals, etc. But I know a lot of people use dailyplate and some other ones as well.

I log everything that goes in my mouth on fitday.com. When I'm not tracking my food I go astray and end up gaining weight (its much easier to eat crap when you don't have to write it down). I also hand in my food logs to my fitness practitioner so he can look at it. I think its an integral part of my success.

Soups and chili are slider foods for me but I love soups. I do feel satisfied after I eat hearty soups/stews (chili, red lentil, korean soft tofu, cioppino etc). I don't feel super full but I don't feel hungry. If I do feel hungry shortly after, its head hunger. I do a pretty good job lately of calorie counting and stopping when I'm out of calories for the day, so I budget for soup if I'm having it. Soups like cioppino are great because there are large pieces of seafood and it definitely makes it so I really can't eat more than a cup. A good balance of soup and non-slider items, plus it is nutrient-rich and contains a crazy amount of protein. I know soups are sliders but I love them and I love making them - as long as I budget for them and practice portion control, I won't be giving them up :rolleyes2:

I'm following both of you now! Here is my blog: Violinist With A Band I post about my lapband journey and I also post a lot of recipes. I love to cook :thumbup: Great thread!

For your ideal weight, you should also seek out someone who can do skin fold measurements so you know how much lean mass and fat mass you have (especially since you have a large frame). My fitness practitioner does this for me every 6 weeks so I can tell how much fat and lean mass I have. He estimates, that when things are ideal, I'll probably have between 130-132 pounds of lean mass on my body. And I'll probably have 14-15 pounds of fat mass (we are aiming for 22% body fat which is the low end of the normal range for a female my age). That weight would put me at a BMI that is in the overweight category. However my body fat percentage would be in the low end of normal. Currently, my BMI puts me at "obese". However, my body fat percentage currently is under 39% which is 'overweight' for women my age. For me, I stopped relying on BMI and I am super focused on getting my body fat percentage down to a reasonable number. I even am getting slightly (but only slightly) less obsessed with the scale and am focusing on building lean mass and getting rid of my fat mass.

Hm, who knows. I think I attributed 10 of my 20 pound loss preop to water weight, but you can never know for sure. I'm bad about that - sometimes I think about what I've lost and I'm like, "eh, the majority of it is water weight", but obviously its not :thumbup: Just be happy its gone Congrats!

I've lost about 3.5 pounds since this past Wednesday. I'm really hoping that by tomorrow I'll be down a solid 4 pounds. I feel like 4 pounds a week for me is pretty good...I got so spoiled because I had two weeks recently where I lost 5 and 6 pounds... :-( I want that loss again. Anyhow, loss is loss and I'm not complaining I've only got 3.6 more pounds to lose to meet my Thanksgiving Challenge goal, and I'm determined to meet and hopefully exceed my goal!! If you look on the spreadsheet (all the way at the bottom), we have collectively lost over 90 pounds!! Way to go everyone!!

Congrats!!!! Wow - what an achievement!! Can't wait to be in your shoes

I cant remember now, but I think my surgeon gave me calorie guidelines (maybe 800 or 900? not sure). I remember they told me I should drink 4 shakes a day (each shake had around 190 calories). I don't think I drank 4 - I probably drank 3 and had a snack (similar ones to you - SF popsicle, SF FF pudding, etc). My calorie intake during that time was pretty low (I rarely made it to 800). But all preop diets are so dramatically different, you should just call your surgeons office and see what they say.

I have the same fears as you do. I am completely determined to get to goal with my band and make it work for me, however I may eventually revise (to sleeve probably). I'm deathly deathly deathly afraid of erosion. The stories I hear about complications due to erosion scare the crap out of me. Additionally, today I found out that my insurance won't cover adjustments. The reason why it was covered before is because my old doc did them under fluoro so the adjustments were billed as xrays. The new doc doesn't do fills under fluoro and gastric band adjustments are not covered (which is so crazy...I have the best insurance you can buy...I can see any physician I want, including physicians in other countries, but I can't get a band adjustment...unfortunate since I have a gastric band ). If I want an adjustment, I'll need to pay 250 dollars everytime. If I just want to have an appointment with no adjustment, I'll have to pay 150.00. I'm beyond irritated about it.

Well I really do love Edamame. So delicious and healthy for you. Here is an edamame burger recipe that is a staple in my diet (I make these almost once a week). Violinist With A Band: Edamame Burger Recipe If there is a supermarket near you that has raw edamame on their salad bar (like Whole Foods), you can skip the step where you cook the edamame. This recipe also uses the whole grain millet which is an awesome, very underused food (its actually a seed). I also make falafel and hummus a lot (chickpeas). I bake the falafel instead of deep frying. If you like the fried taste of falafel you could pan fry them using a nonstick pan and some cooking spray. I'm a sucker for Peanut Butter too. Its fine if you just watch how much of it you're eating and make sure you budget your calories for it. Sometimes I do a bean dip with black Beans and fat free refried beans with tofu which is so yummy. I do a similar vegetarian chili with kidney and pinto beans (and tofu). And I have a recipe for a great red lentil Soup (lentils are beans!) with barley (which is a great source of fiber).

This is actually about my average too. My fat intake is anywhere between 18-30g a day. I don't eat red meat, pork or poultry so I get my Protein from seafood, tofu, Beans, nuts etc. So if I eat an item thats higher in Omega-3 fats (like salmon) or if I have Peanut Butter or soy products/beans that contain essential fatty acids like edamame then my fat intake will be higher. But these essential fatty acids are good for general health so I don't avoid them.

The preop diet definitely helped prepare me. It made eating less already seem normal instead of being shocked after surgery. It also made the 3 days of clear liquid and 2 weeks of full liquids postop much easier. After 5 weeks of liquids, I was definitely happy to go to mushies tho I also used the weightloss as motivation to stick with it even when it was tough. I loved seeing the pounds melting off. My fiance was great for support - he did a lot of the liquid diet with me and when he wanted to eat he went out so it wouldn't be in front of me.

I lost weight this week but about a week and a half ago I hit a mini plateau (it was mini because I kicked it's butt before it got to be a long plateau). To break it, I changed a few things up. For 2 days I did low/no carb (which i dont usually do) and super high Protein (like 100 or more g a day which is more than I usually get), I started walking in addition to my regular exercise. One of the days I ran which I never do. I varied my calories a little. Basically I just tried to throw my body off and it worked. I also started drinking 70 ounces of Water a day. I wasn't getting nearly enough liquid in me everyday. What is your calorie intake per day and what is your exercise routine like?