juliansmom2003

Wow! I was going on the assumption you had at least one fill or something (and since mine does fills under fluoro, making that assumption as well, which I shouldn't have done). If you did have fluoro, did he physically see a restriction level on the screen that made him think you did not need to have a fill or did he strictly just go by the 8 lbs lost in the last month? Everyone is right about the band needing to work with you and if your tool isn't working properly, it needs to be adjusted. My doctor has never asked how much weight I have lost in the past month/2 months prior to making my appointment--they just schedule it. Signs I tell them I know I need a fill--I'm ravenous between meals, they don't last me 3 to 4 hours AND noticing that my portion sizes are getting larger. Can you try calling the doc's office and telling them about this? You certainly shouldn't be suffering like this with hunger--this should be working with you--you shouldn't have to do all the work yourself--that is the whole point of the band. Good luck to you! I hope you can get in and get that fill!!!

OMG so you've lost 27 lbs in 2 months???? That's definitely over the 'typical' results most people say of 1-2 lbs per week (even if you say 3 lbs per week)! How wonderful for you to have lost that much weight without restriction! TOTALLY amazing! The beginning is really tough. I didn't have my first fill for three months because I was smack dab in the middle of holidays when it came time for fill #1, so I really had a tough time with it. So I tried to eat like a bandster, but h*ll I was hungry! Are you getting in 80 g of Protein a day? The thing that helped me get through 'bandster hell' was just eating as much protein as I could and that gave me at least a little satiety. Even though you lost 8 lbs last month, heck that could be due to the exercise--you shouldn't have to suffer with hunger. How long are your meals lasting you? Could you perhaps add a protein-rich snack to hold you to the next meal? I am thinking the exercise might be increasing your hunger as well. Have you gotten any fills yet or is your band empty? Sorry for all the questions--just trying to get a sense of your situation and what you could do to get the hunger under control. It is a terrible feeling!!!

This is perfectly normal. Honestly, my meal size didn't really decrease until this last fill, which was my 5th. While I was eating considerably less than before having surgery, I still could eat about 8 to 10 ounces up until 2 weeks ago when I just got my 5th fill and I'm lucky if I can eat 4 ounces in one sitting now. You'll get there. It may take another fill, but you will get there. I hate saying this (almost as much as I hate hearing it LOL), but everyone is different, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that the third time is the charm :-)!

Denise- I am totally LOVING the iPad! My husband is all, "Why do you need it when you have the iPhone?" Answer is I kind of don't know. But the kids were out in the pool tonight and I had it with me and was able to surf the web, check email, etc. and it was REALLY nice (and chews up MUCH less battery than the iPhone does), so I honestly feel like I could find myself very attached to this bad boy LOL! I didn't get the 3G one, since I have the iPhone, but when they come out with the second gen, I may splurge and get the 3G model (just cause I'm a freaking brat LOL) Melody--My heart goes out to you. I can't imagine being so restricted (no pun intended) with what I can eat. You should have a salad if you want one, doggone it! I too was thinking a slight unfill might make a world of difference for you. And if that doesn't work, then you can honestly say you tried. You have done an amazing job losing what you've already lost. And what works for some people may not work for others. You're not knocking the band or blaming it defensively--you're questioning if the lifestyle is for you right now because of where you're out. NO ONE would flame you for that. We're all here for you no matter what happens. Please keep us posted. You will be in my prayers. I can't imagine how difficult this must be. (Oh and for the record--I HATE exercise--I mean DESPISE it!!! I fight it tooth and nail, honestly! So you're not going to hear how many ways you're missing out! I'm a bad girl when it comes to that in that I hate it so much, but my sister forces me to get off my a$$--but I don't want to! 2 jobs, 2 kids, 3 dogs and a hubby--who the H*LL wants to exercise in the little free time they have?!? I want to sleep LOL) ((HUGS)) to you Melody.

I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT!! Last night I went to a store I NEVER go to, but I desperately needed bread and pull ups, so I figured I'd take another disappointing look at yet another store's juice aisle for the infamous Trop-a-Rocka! Lo and behold--one lonely little 6 pack was sitting there. LAST ONE! I snatched it up and guarded it like I was robbing a bank LOL! It's DELISH!!!!! I am going to now stalk this store and stash as much as I can (and praying that rumor to discontinue it is so not true)

Hummingbird-- CONGRATS on your NSV! That had to be a great feeling coming from your son!! It's different when it's a loved one that sees you all the time. It means so much more (but hey, nice to hear anyone say how great you're looking LOL) Stacie--I'm so sorry to hear about Jeff. I have been saying prayers. Just terrible and I'm so sorry. And no matter WHAT, you will NOT fail. You aren't able to!!! And to make you feel better, the weeks where I really watch what I eat and exercise a lot, I either stay the same or gain. I attribute it to the whole fat turning to muscle thing LOL. Makes me feel better that way. Bob-- LOVE the ticket to Onederland! Just awesome! Christie--so when does your little man come back (or did he already?) Donna--don't worry about the gain right now. It's early--trust me, you will see the numbers move in the other direction very soon, I promise. Leigha--I have to agree with everyone here. You look absolutely AMAZING! If you don't lose another pound, you have made it, my friend! We're all super proud of you!!! You have worked so hard and honestly, you are a poster child of success!!! Denise--Safe travels to Florida and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I have a baby shower on Sunday too (wish mine was in Florida--sniff sniff). Soooo, OF COURSE I haven't made a purchase in, oh about TWO freaking weeks, so what did I go out and do today? Yup, bought a freaking iPad! I thought of you also as I was setting it up LOL Too funny. Told the hubs I won it at work to avoid any issues (taking it from my funny money so he won't even know ) Thankfully, I am able to eat a little better today. Still need to take my time, but I'm not in excruciating pain like I was over the weekend. I have actually had only 3 small meals today!!!! I'm shocked! LOL I was prepared to need a small snack, but nope. I did great! SO excited--I found TROP-A-ROCKA!!! It's that Snapple flavor Bret Michaels created in the last season of Celebrity Apprentice! I was in a store I never ever go to because I just needed to grab bread on the way home from the bank and BAM! One lonely six pack of it was staring me in the face! It was y-u-m-m-y!! 10 calories for a whole bottle!! Yeah! Jordyn, my daughter, did very well yesterday getting all that dental work done (she had to be put to sleep to have it done). She woke up so sleepy and cuddly. She's 4, so she's already my little baby, but she was suuuuper cuddly yesterday. I had a great day just holding her and taking care of her. I really missed her when I went back to work today. Hope everyone is having a great week! SO excited that I get to run a webinar at 8 pm for our client in Japan. Come on Friday! Hubby and I have tickets to see Tom Petty on Saturday night. Can't wait!!!

I did 2 hours of laps in the pool today and it was so humid today I stayed in the A/C all day with the kids. We had some nasty t-storms too. Tomorrow I will do my Turbo Jam with weights and some TurboFire on Tuesday. Down to 159. I can see the finish line...I can do this!

Figures. That would explain why I cannot find it ANYWHERE :-(

God, I feel your pain. I was SUCH a soda addict pre op. When I found out about the no carbonation rule for bandsters, I weaned myself before instead of doing it cold turkey after the surgery, but JEEZ was it tough. Some days it still is. But as some of the other posters mentioned, your tastes do change after a little while. I did try one and it was kind of salty to me. Mind you, I was one of the ones that HAD to have that heavy carbonation, that burning sensation in the back of your throat (ah, what a feeling), but it's not the same to me anymore. After my one moment of weakness having a couple of sips of soda, I immediately looked online about the repercussions carbonation could cause for the band and I found a couple of things saying it could stretch the pouch. I am sure that's after many incidents of regularly drinking it though. Once you get past a certain point, I imagine it would be okay to have it as an occasional treat if it still is that hard for you. Luckily, it took that one taste for me to realize that I prefer Wylers's caffeine free raspberry iced tea now :-) Hang in there! It does get better!

Honestly, I cannot believe I'm taking the time to respond to such a thread. There is actually another thread in general discussions that started enough controversy if you want to show your friend that one. I believe you are better just googling the risks of this rather than post this question, as I believe in addition to some good info, you will read many opinions that may not really convince your friend if she is set on doing this. This is such a crazy idea I can't even imagine anyone considering doing this. Sorry, that's just my opinion....

Down 1 lb this week, making me 159. Slllllowly but surely I'll get there. 14 lbs to my goal of 145 (and 19 to my ultimate goal of 140!) Hope everyone is doing well!

Wow--it looks like I missed some posts--even after my last post. Our thread is huge LOL Leigha--awesome NSV at the bank! What a wonderful feeling that must have been! You've crossed that line into a full fledged skinny person :-) Lovin'- I 100% agree with Leigha on the pics. You will be SO glad if you take "before" pics. Actually, you might even find yourself disappointed when the weight really starts dropping off that you don't have many pics from when you started on this journey. Even if you keep them to yourself and don't share them until you're ready to compare to your 'after' pics, it's such a great benchmark! Denise--Yeah on the two guys checking you out! You know you still have it anyway, but it's so nice when you see other people noticing! Bob--nice to see you! Welcome back! LOL @ Christie's comment on the sliming and puking being the glamorous life. Ain't it the truth! WTG on getting those extra pesky pounds! They don't stand a chance, girl! How's Steve treating you??? To everyone that responded about my fill dilemma--still not sure what to do. I went to a party yesterday and it took me like an hour to eat a hot dog and a couple spoons of potato salad. Then I decide to have a piece of honey dew melon and I think it was past my full point because up everything else came! I honestly think that I didn't have the 'true' bandster characteristics before this because if I follow everything text book when I eat, I'm okay. I guess I haven't had to do it until now. I managed to eat a turkey burger in about 30 mins last night and did real well. We also went out for breakfast after church this morning and I had 1/2 of a scrambled egg, 2 bites of a 1/4 rye toast slice and a few bites of potatoes and I was DONE. Holy crap, do I now have portion control?!?!?!?!? SCALE VICTORY: To my surprise this morning, I weighed in thinking I didn't get enough calories in these past few days that I would actually weight more and I saw a beautiful number 159!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm out of the 160s! Holy crap!!!! I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. Thanks guys for all your humor, advice and support. No way in hell would this be possible without my core. I wish we could plan a trip to all meet one day, like a spa retreat or something. One of the people that runs my support meetings went to this spa where it was all health activities, portion controlled healthy meals and everything. It really might be something we could look into at a middle point somewhere for this motley crue. I'd just love it!!!! We're off in the morning to take my 4 year old to the hospital for sedation to get her teeth done (apparently she has 2 cavities that are so badly infected, novocaine has no impact, so she needs to be knocked out). Wish us luck!! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

OMG me too! I have been in the 160s since the end of May, so I too got that pleasant surprise this morning when the scale said 159! I could hardly believe it! My first goal was really 150, but honestly, I am just going for my 'ultimate' goal, which is 140 (even though still higher than I should be for my height---I'm 5 ft 2) Congrats on getting into the 150's! We're almost there!!!!!:bolt:

Anne I'm so glad for your update and that you're okay. You're going to be a twig in no time, holy crap! 16 pounds in 2 weeks? WOWZA!!! Guys--need some advice. I had my fill last Thursday 7/15 and went back to solids on Monday the 19th. All was fine and then this past Thursday---BOOM! I mean, I'm needing to eat TINY pieces of food and literally wait 45 seconds to a minute between bites! I can no longer guzzle my water, must sip or it will come back up. Also, I notice with portion sizes, I still was able to eat 8 to 10 ounces, and never needed to worry about eating smaller portions when we went out. I made healthy choices, but was still able to finish a 'regular' size plate and it would hold me 3 to 4 hours. So, since then, now I am needing to take tiny bites, have to chew until it's freaking pulvarized and definitely have to wait a bit before the next bite. Dare I ask--is this how it is supposed to have been the whole time and I wasn't at the right restriction level or am I too tight? I am able to eat food, but if my bites are too big or too close together I will slime, so I really need to pay attention now. And that pain in the chest I would always say I never ever got? Yeah, I have that too!!! I had .5 ccs added to my band and thought at first it was too little because I was getting hungry every 2 hours, but I'm now only able to eat about 4 ounces, so I am thinking I need to throw in snacks because my portions have been sooo greatly reduced. If anyone has advice on this, I'd LOVE it. I just don't want to go in for an unfill if this is indeed the sweet spot. Thanks for any insight!!!

My workouts are pretty intense too. I notice when I lay off them and just do 2 days a week instead of 4, I lose weight. I am thinking working out like that really increases the muscle. Luckily, the support group I belong to also has the weigh ins right there and you can see the fat/muscle breakdown on the scale and it seems like it really is all muscle I'm gaining! Is it possible that you're just gaining numbers due to the muscle--that your weight is just redistributing? I'm clueless with this stuff, but that might be it. Your calorie burn during those workouts is about the same as the freaking celebrity tae bo cardio and turbofire I'm doing. Man I'm exhausted after, but SUCH a great feeling. (And I definitely can't eat anything else. I'm sitting here still trying to get some Protein pudding down for the last 20 minutes :-( )

Leigha--girl, I don't know what I'd do without you giving me that slap of reality I need. I don't know why I'm in that fixed mentality that I need to be satisfied for 4 hours between meals--it's certainly not my doc's orders, so I need to relax with that a bit. I guess I needed to know it was okay that I was hungry every 2? Who knows, but I am with you about the wine. Something about winding down on a Saturday night with a glass (I maybe allocate 200 calories a week to it). It's my pleasure in life. If I can't smoke or have diet coke, you ain't takin' my wine away LOL I'm glad to hear your friend looks better. I will continue to send prayers his way. Please keep us posted on the results. Thanks again for your advice my friend. You have honestly been such a help to me throughout all of this. Not many can deal with such paranoia:wink2:!

SO glad it worked out, Nina!!!! Now, you can really focus on having fun getting to know each other! Enjoy yourself on Friday!!

Denise----Oooooh, you bad girl!!!!!!!:thumbup: The only thing I have to say about the whole not exercising thing is "you lucky little witch" LOL! Lovin'--welcome--cute profile pic! Ajay--welcome to you as well! So nice to have some new blood :-)! Bobbie---I agree with Christie about you being a dork, like you need to ASK to come over here. And you don't visit, you live here!!!!! Stacie--how is the heartburn today? Any better? Bob--where the h*ll are you?!? Things are pretty good here. As I mentioned earlier in the week, I had my 5th fill last Thursday. For some reason, everything (including water) is slow going, I am able to eat, no throwing up or anything, but I start getting hungry in about 2 hours. Ugh. There is NO way I can get any more of a fill because I know I won't be able to get anything down, but what the heck gives??? I guess I need to just give in and have a freaking cheese stick in between my meals. Kind of miffs me that my meals aren't lasting longer, but what can I do? NSV NSV--My hubby and I had to perform at a Mall Bridal Show the other night. After we were done, he grabbed me and took me shopping at Victoria's Secret! He bought me the most gorgeous bras, a teddy and some perfume. I can't tell you how good it felt for me not to be able to shop in there, but to have my husband go in there and treat me to stuff I CAN wear! Did I mention I LOVE my band ?!?

Yeah! You brag away, girl! What an inspiration you are! I bet you feel amazing! Keep up the great work. I bet it won't be long at all before you're at your final destination :-)!!

How is it possible that I missed this thread?!? I was banded on October 21, 9 months ago yesterday and while my ticker says I'm 10 lbs to goal (which would be 150 lbs), I would love to be 140-145. So I'll split the difference I suppose. I'm going for 15 more (145)! Did some serious workout yesterday with weights. Thank God for my sister keeping me motivated, sometimes that's how I get through it. I just had my 5th fill last week, so I now have 5.8 ccs in my 10 cc band, but for some reason, I am hungry every 2 hours now, but Water is even slow going down. Astrasmom---CONGRATS on reaching Onederland! You go, girl!!!!!! Lots of luck to my fellow October bandster bunch!

Welcome to the thread, Donna. Congrats on your surgery, and your goal sounds wonderful--short ones make for a great experience, like baby steps, but you will get there!! Denise--gotta love the hubs for keeping us straight, right? Ugh. I honestly think that gain has something to do with TOM. I would wait until that unwanted visitor leaves and check again. I LOVE the Mike's Hard Lemonade too! I find them best after a fill when I'm on my liquid diet and can't eat any solids--then I KNOW I have the calories to spare LOL Shammah--Principal...well excuse me LOL! You go with your bad self girl! SO proud of you!!! It won't be long before those little snot nose punks are infesting your halls once again, so enjoy the desolate sound of your shoes clicking down the hall Stacie--YOU GO on the 14! That is awesome!!!! Christie--Glad Steve is back. It was so nice of him to remind you that he never left you :-) Leigha-that plate looks YUMMY!! I hit my head on the computer trying to jump through the screen and take a bite LOL! I said prayers for you and your friend yesterday at church. He is in my thoughts... So, I am thinking I might just about be ready to no longer be slave to my Body Bugg. I LOVE it, don't get me wrong, but it's almost as though, I have things figured out in terms of what I need to do exercise/activity wise to get to my burn goals (plus I look much better in a tank top without the band around my arm LOL). Logging my food is crazy too because nothing is in the data base, and it's sure easy enough to just purchase thedailyplate.com app on my iPhone and continue to log my calorie intake that way like I used to before the BB. I can't see paying to use that site either after my free subscription ends. Don't get me wrong, it's an AWESOME tool and I LOVE it! It helped me really see the science of what I needed to do to see results. I just think now, with 20 lbs to go to goal, I have established a pretty solid activity regimen to get the daily burn totals I need. Am I crazy? This thing is like my security blanket, so I am thinking it over very carefully LOL If anyone has thoughts on this, I'd LOVE to hear them!!!

Oh Leigha, I'm so sorry. Thoughts and prayers are with you both. I can't imagine how you must feel right now. (((HUGS))

Stacie--that's awesome you're signing up for a 5k! I have been thinking about it too--don't know I'd make it the whole way, but I'm sure I could finish LOL Lots of luck! Denise--did you schedule your fill yet? Isn't it funny how you just know you need a tweak?!? Hopefully you don't have to wait too long.... HB -- change that ticker! So few of us are normal these days LOL NSV--so some of you have seen on FB, but I noticed my size 12 shorts were getting pretty big so I ordered a pair of size 10 off eBay to see if they fit. WOW! Boy do they! I can honestly say I am in a 10! HOLY CRAP!!! Yeah! So, I had my 5th fill today. It's funny how you sometimes can figure out when you're ready for one. I noticed I was a teensy bit hungry in between meals and knowing it would take me at least 3 weeks to get in, I called for my appointment. It wasn't that bad, but I just knew I needed a little tweak. Sure enough, .5 ccs baby. Liquids until Monday, but today hasn't been that bad. I've had 2 skinny vanilla lattes from Starbucks, a nice banana, peanut butter, chocolate protein shake, water and will have some jello when I get out of the pool...which is exactly where I'm going right now! Can't do any cardio tonight. I just about killed myself doing celebrity tae bo cardio with my sister last night! 43 minutes of pure hell and your eyes burning with sweat LOL Hope everyone is having a good week. The weekend is almost here! Yeah!

I'm with you--hoping that the last 11 fall off (then I can go for 10 more LOL). I have my fifth fill tomorrow and was this close to canceling, but it seems like I've been ravenous all day. Fickle band. Thank GOD for fluoro!!! LOL

OMG, I am dying! Just did 40 minutes of cardio tae bo! Sheesh, Billy Blanks still has it! The freaking thing is ALL double time! I'm sooo ready to pass out LOL! Last night did TurboJam Sculpt for 40 minutes. Need to stay on track. I have a feeling it's going to be a good week. Have a fill scheduled for Thursday that I can't cancel or I'll get charged, but not so sure I need one....we shall see...