isaviolinist

I count calories (I aim for 900-1000 a day) but I don't really count carbs or fats. I do watch my protein but if I only eat 30-40 g of protein one day, I don't fret about it (many other days I eat more than 80-85g of protein so it all balances itself out). I track on fitday.com and it creates a little pie graph for me of my carbs, fats and proteins. I try to get the graph as even as I can (33%-33%-33%). I don't do low carb or low fat or protein only or any other type of dieting method. Its most important to me to just eat a balanced menu everyday. So if I go over my calories one day, I worry less about that than if I have a day where I ate 95% of one macronutrient and not very much of the other two.

Does having laser hair removal hurt? I've always thought about, but I'm scared. Is your chin (or wherever the hair was removed from) really red and irritated for weeks after? Would love to hear from anyone who has had it done.

I changed my goal weight in that I started focusing on body fat percentage as opposed to weight. So instead of a weight, I am focused on getting down to 22% body fat which is a healthy amount for females my age. I have a lot more lean mass than most women my age and height (I have 140 pounds of lean mass and I'm not losing any...in fact I've gain 1/2 a pound of lean mass in the past few months...for comparison, most women my age and height have 110ish pounds of lean mass). Initially I was hoping to get down to 130 pounds, but if I end up with 130 pounds of lean mass, obviously 130 pounds total is not realistic (Im sure I dont need to explain but that would be 0% body fat). So I'm aiming for 22% body fat percentage and when I get there, I'll reassess how I fell and what I want my next goal to be.

I have binge eating disorder (sounds like you do too). People on here have had the experience that once they have been banded, their compulsion to eat goes away (although I wonder if they had a compulsive eating disorder to begin with...not sure). I did NOT have that experience. And please dont fool yourself - its extremely easy to binge with the band (think 4 milkshakes, or 2 pints of ice cream, or 10 cups of pudding...whatever...their is tons that will slide right through). I initially lost almost 80 pounds and then regained almost 50. And it was due to bingeing. Ive since lost all that I had regained plus some, but I've started seeing a therapist who specializes in eating disorders. I would STRONGLY suggest getting into therapy or a support group or something similar prior to being banded. I am so glad that I've chosen to go to therapy now, but I think my experience could've gone a little bit smoother if I had started to deal with these issues before my surgery. good luck!

Holy Mackerel!! This recipe sounds amazing. I don't eat meat and this sounds just divine. Plus, I love anything involving nutmeg Will be trying it out tomorrow night for din din! Thanks again!

I'm obsessed with peanut butter. I love ANYTHING with peanut butter. I was having difficulty controlling myself with it, so I've stopped buying it pretty much. However, I do always keep a couple jars of PB2 in the pantry. Its really great for all kinds of things: mixing into shakes/puddings, making peanut sauce for salads or anything really, low cal peanut butter icing, peanut butter sauce for ice cream, peanut butter greek yogurt...Its amazing stuff. And two tablespoons only has 45 calories (as opposed to 180-190 calories in 2 tablespoons of regular PB). Anyways, peanut butter is really good in moderation. At whole foods you can grind your own PB (thus you can take as much or as little as you want, and since youre literally grinding it straight from peanuts, there isn't any sugar or salt or any other additives/chemicals). But look into PB2 - it definitely helps me with my PB craving.

Much luck tomorrow!!

Hey everyone! Congrats on all the success this week! I'm checking in at 195. That's 1.6 down from last week. My goal was 193.6, so I missed it by 1.4 pounds but I'm still happy about how I did this month. 6.6 pounds (a little over 1.5 pounds a week) isn't too shabby And definitely looking forward to the Valentines Day Challenge!! So: isaviolinist 195 pounds Thanks for recording it!

Hi Ken - Thanks for your prompt response. My Content is now listing all of the posts I have posted in I think. However, now, the posts are not chronologically in order. Currently, this is the order the posts in My Content are in (by time/date stamp from top to bottom): Yesterday 10:19PM, Yesterday 11:47PM, Yesterday 7:57 PM, Yesterday 11:49PM, Yesterday 6:05PM, Yesterday 11:57PM, Yesterday 10:16PM, Jan 28 2011 10:49PM, Jan 28 2011 5:29PM, Jan 28 2011 12:28AM, Jan 27 2011 8:19PM, Today 12:22PM, Yesterday 8:02AM, Today 3:37AM, Jan 28 2011 12:33AM, Yesterday 6:32AM, etc.... I'm glad that it looks like My Content is showing all of my content now, but how can I put them in chronological order so I don't have to scroll through 3 pages in order to find a thread that was posted in 5 minutes ago? As for the New Content, I'm posting a picture of the homepage and a picture of my New Content page (taken right now at 12:50PM). From that you'll be able to see that none of the posts listed on the homepage appear in my New Content. There are a bunch of new posts that were posted between 11:00-11:59AM today (shown on the homepage). On my New Content page, there are NO new posts between 11-11:59AM. Additionally, it only lists two posts between 10:00-10:59AM today which I definitely know is not true because there were two posts made in the New Year, New You Challenge 2011 between 10-10:59 (I received email notifications and then I checked in the thread to see when they were posted) which doesn't show up at all when I click on New Content (which you can see in the picture). By 10AM there are always tons of new posts on LBT, so I know that there were more than 2 posts made in the 10AM hour and you can see from the screen shot that there were tons of posts made during the 11AM hour, none of which show up on New Content. Looking forward to a solution. Thanks. Edit: I'm sending you via message the links to the photos in Picasa. Thanks.

Yay, thanks!!

So far, changing it to 5 minutes hasn't effected anything. When I direct my browser to: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/, I can see new posts in each of the different forum topics (Introductions, Pre Operation Lapband Surgery, Post Operation Lap band surgery, General Lap Band Surgery, Lap Band Fills, food and Nutrition, Fitness and Exercise, etc). These are the titles of each of the New Posts in these categories right now at this moment (Jan 30, 10:13PM) which I can see on the homepage: "body image" (posted 9:48PM), "Getting my Lap Dance tomorrow" (posted 9:57PM), "Newly Banded. Any Regrets?" (posted 10:06PM), "5 days post-op...still hungry" (posted 10:10PM), "Acanthosis nigricans" (posted 8:10PM), "Utah fills and aftercare" (posted 9:15PM), "Calories per day" (posted 8:51PM), "Nintendo Wii" (posted 7:45PM), "Surgery Date 12/05/2011?" (posted 9:41PM), etc. The list goes on. Not ONE SINGLE ONE OF THESE POSTS (or any of the others that I did not have the patience to list) is listed in the "New Content" section when I click on it. Additionally, I know how to see my own posts under "My Content". That was not my issue. My issue is that many of the threads that I have posted in are not listed under "My Content", including this thread. So once again, I've been looking at the same 5-6 "new" threads all day today and when I want to respond to the mutltude of threads that I am subscribed to and which I have received email notifications for today, my only access to these threads is by clicking on the link in the email (as they are not listed under New Content, My Content, and they do not show up in a search). LBT is not functional for me. If there is a fix for it, I'd love to know what it is so I can stay. If this is how it will remain, I'd also like to know so I can find a new band community where I can interact with all the conversations going on (not just a few select ones everyday).

Sweet thanks!! If you try anything out, let me know And yes, I love my blogging community. I have a great group of people that I follow and who follow me. And when we support others, we are supporting ourselves at the same time (I know I always say that, but its SO true!).

Thanks so much!! I LOVE cooking - and it has become so much more fun since having my band. If you try anything out, let me know what you think!! Please do!!

I'm following your blog now! I love following others' blogs - its so helpful for us to support each other. My blog is in my signature if you want to follow it

Hi Jodi - I don't eat pork, red meat or poultry - just seafood and vegetarian Protein. Here is the link to my blog: http://violinistwithaband.blogspot.com/ If you look on the left hand side underneath the "Followers" there is a list of recipes that I've posted. There are recipes for salmon, walleye, shrimp, cod, crab cakes (2 different types), and cioppino (there are a bunch of other recipes, but those are the seafood ones). I have tons of seafood recipes that I haven't posted also, so if you're looking for something specific, just let me know

Congrats on your amazing success and thanks for sharing your story! How inspirational! I hope you figure out the pictures as I'm sure you look amazing!!

Cleo's mom is correct. Losing weight is a simple equation of calories in vs calories out. It doesn't matter if you eat them via 3 meals, 5 meals, 20 Snacks, ice cream only, whatever. If you consume less energy than you burn, you will lose weight. So try tracking your calories. I use fitday.com and I like it. I also agree that eliminating certain "bad" foods is so ridiculous. If we have a healthy relationship with food, then there won't be any "bad" foods. I rarely eat less than 60 carbs a day (or whatever the figure was that one of the above posters gave). I love ice cream and mac and cheese and I'm not giving them up anytime soon. But I track my calories (both consumed and burned) and continue to lose because my input is less than my output. Instead of depriving yourself of everything "bad" (this is not specifically directed at OP, but to the general LBT public), go to a therapist or support group and fix your head issues. I eat every single one of the foods that MarcyLoo listed (and labeled as completely off-limits) including snacks, carbs, liquid calories, protein shakes, soft foods, yogurt (and trust me sweetie, a bit of low-carb low-cal granola ain't gonna stop if from going through...what is low carb low cal granola by the way? Seems like it would be one or the other - not both), tuna salad (without apple bits or any other kind of 'bits'), bread, rice/grains, and potatoes. I eat them all and lose 2 pounds per week on average, consistently. I'll be interested in speaking to you after you've had your band for a year to see if you are still following this prescribed stringent and restrictive diet. Back to the OP, If you're doing what you should be, and your calories in are less than your calories out, your plateau will break itself eventually. If you want to speed up that process, change up your macronutrients (if you're eating tons of carbs, try to cut back on carbs for a few days and add more protein...if you haven't really been eating much fat, try adding some in to your diet), try varying your calorie intake (instead of 900 calories everyday, do 800 calories one day and 1000 calories the next) and try a different work out routine. Often tricking our bodies by changing our eating pattern for a day or two or changing our exercise will be enough to get things moving again. And please remember, this isn't a diet (diets are what lead to most of us being morbidly obese), its a lifestyle change. Think of it that way. Good luck!

Congrats!! Joining a gym was key for me as far as committing to exercise. Since I'm paying, I might as well go. Now I belong to a regular gym, cross training class (we pay for a certain number of classes per month) and a spinning class (I pay for 8 classes at a time). I love the variety - it keeps it really interesting and most importantly, it keeps me going. I feel so much better now that I'm working out and my body is definitely changing (I actually am starting to have a shape). Good luck with your first gym membership and don't be nervous!

I think I gained about 10 pounds (maybe slightly less), but it was from the IV fluids and I lost it in 3 days or so. I stayed overnight in the hospital.

I don't eat breakfast. I eat lunch around noon. I usually have some kind of small snack sometime in the afternoon (like 2 samples at the market or something similar) and then dinner between 6-8PM. I don't usually think about food or feel hungry during the day. The evening is a different story however. I am a compulsive eater, and my eating at night generally has nothing to do with hunger. I decided to go to therapy for it as I was tired of my Compulsive eating running my life. Re: weighing - I weigh all of my Protein on a food scale. Depending on what the veggie is, I either weigh it or measure it. Carbs I usually weigh. If its something out of a box/can/container/package etc and its not a one serving item (like Cereal, ice cream, cheese etc) I weigh it (I look at the serving size - 30g for example - and if that's what I want to eat I just weigh out 30g). I would be lost without my food scale.

I average about 900-950 calories a day (sometime a little over 1000 and sometimes a little under 900). I burn between 850-1400 calories a day at the gym (6-7 days a week). I've lost 60 pounds in the last 5.5 months (over 10 pounds a month, consistently). But thats what works for me, and we're all different. Some people will get extremely slow and sluggish (your metabolism begins to slow down) if they eat less than 1000 calories a day. Despite the feel-good opinion on LBT that its not about calories in vs out, it is. If you have a slower metabolism, you may only be burning 1500-1700 calories a day (without any exercise, that's probably about where I'd be). So if you eat 1200 calories a day with a slow metabolism that only burns 1500-1700 a day, you'll have a 2100-3500 calorie deficit a week (which is 1 pound or less a week). If your metabolism can't function at under 1000 calories per day (you'll know if this is the case...you'll just want to sleep all the time), you body may adjust itself so you're not burning more than 1000 calories day (which of course would lead to hardly any weightloss...if you're eating 900 calories a day and only burning 1000, thats 100 calorie deficit per day and about 3000 calorie deficit per month, which is just shy of 1 pound per month). Anyways, just figure out what works for you and your body, and then do that. And if your body changes and requires something different, revamp your strategy to accomodate.

I don't generally eat frozen food (but I LOVE to cook, and do so almost every night), but on the occasion that I do, I go for the organic frozen options with no genetically modified ingredients. Lean Cuisine, Weight Watchers, etc all contain GMO ingredients and a whole bunch of other chemicals and crap that is SO bad for you (above and beyond things like sodium content). If you do a frozen meal now and again, go for the organic ones.

Sometimes I also get tired of working so hard at this. I'm learning that it usually works out better when I have what I want to have and dont beat myself up about it, and then just get right back to things the next day (or the second half of the day...whatever the case may be). Often, I would have that kind of attitude towards myself and food that Im just messing up and sabotaging all my hard work which would usually lead to more bingeing/comfort eating, long periods of not working at this, weight gain etc. So now, even when I eat compulsively, I try REALLY hard to cut myself some slack and think about it logically - i.e. if I have a day where I eat 2000 calories due to a "snack" or a compuslive eating episode, I STILL have burned more than I've consumed. Sometimes the scale says otherwise (the scale is such a poor indicator of day to day weight gain and loss...in a day, one's weight could fluctutate up and down 5 pounds), especially when I've snacked on carbs which tend to cause Fluid retention. But logically I know that I won't gain all my weight back, or even a pound of weight back, just by eating some ice cream. Its hard to get my emotions to catch up to my logical thinking, but the more I work on it, the easier it is. But don't beat yourself up about anything - it will just lead to more frustration and no progress (easier said than done, I know). Its not a race and there is no time limit to your weight loss. Its just an ongoing, lifestyle change.

I just clicked on New Content and this post that I JUST posted is not listed. Perfect example.

I'm unfortunately still having issues with the New Content page as well as My Content. When I click on New Content, I usually get a maximum of 5 new posts (there are others listed but they're not new). So for example: if I log on at 10PM on Monday night, and then log on at noon on Tuesday, there will be about 5 new posts since 10 PM Friday night. I know that's not the case because if I click on the homepage, I can see the most recent posts in each category, and most of them are within the last few minutes and NONE of them are listed in the new content area. Additionally, I get emails that people have just replied to a topic I have subscribed to. I log on immediately and click on New Content and the post is not listed in the new posts despite having been posted in in the last 2 minutes. I then go to My Content to access the thread via my threads I have posted in, and its not there (only some of the threads I've posted in are there). Then I do a search for the thread and it doesn't come up. The only way to access the thread is by clicking on the link in my email (which sucks if I've deleted the email assuming I could acces the thread via My Content and New Content). I'm getting tired and bored of reading the same 4 threads everyday (as that's all I can access). If LBT decides to pick 4-5 threads to update for me in new content that I'm not interested in, its just pointless to log in. Is there any hope for any of these issues actually getting fully resolved?