tripletmomma2000

Best of luck with your surgery tomorrow!! I'll be thinking about you, and praying for you.... and waiting like a kid at Christmas for you to come back here and let us all know how you're doing!!! :smile2: Hugs, Karen

Here's hoping you had a great surgery today!! We're all here waiting to hear how you're doing once you feel well enough to come back and report!! Blessings to you!!! Karen

updated with all the newcomers since the last posting :smile2:

Just thinking about you!!!!!! I hope everything went smoothly, and that you come home tomorrow with a big ol' smile on your face!!! Hugs, Karen

LL67....... If it makes you feel better, today is day 21 of the pre-op diet for me! My doctor asked me to do 3 weeks, since my BMI is over 50. My surgery is Thursday, so I have 2 more days of liquid, and then I'm going to guess I'm not going to want to eat solids for the next 2 weeks anyway :smile2: The reason I haven't cheated? (and to say that I have wanted to is putting it mildly) I did not want to look back at this journey, and see that I couldn't follow the rules from the beginning. The one thing that has helped me is VERY STRONG flavored, sugar free chewing gum. They have all those crazy strong ones now: Dentine Ice, Ice Cube Crushers, Orbit.... etc. I chew it like a BIG OL' COW, and it definitely makes me feel better! And, honestly, remember..... you can eat at your favorite Mexican restaurant again. But next time you go, you'll chew your food slowly, enjoy the HELL out of it, and come home with a doggie bag, because you won't be able to finish it.... so you can have it for lunch the next day too Hang in there...... honestly, it does get easier!! Hugs, Karen

Hey.... when are we starting this??

Hey mommy! I'm going to guess that it's going to be due the morning of your surgery. My son Martin had surgery 2 years ago, and I needed another $400.00 to fulfill our deductible, and I had to pay it when I registered him in for surgery. Be prepared, and have it with you (or a credit card... you know what I mean Karen

Graywolf, Best of luck tomorrow!!! We'll all be here waiting to hear everything when you get back home!!! Congratulations!! Brightest Blessings Wolfie!!! We'll be thinking about you all day tomorrow!! Come and let us know how you're doing as soon as you can!!! Hugs, Karen

I'm updating the table, and each time I edit it, it will update in each one of my posts.... too bad I can't edit my original post here, I'd add it to that! Anyway... here is the list, updated:

I obviously did!! I fold everyone's underwear at my house... but I don't Iron the BEDSHEETS like my mom does! Can you imagine??

No surprise, insurance said NO. However, since I'm having hiatal hernia surgery as well, I got a grand total for what I need to pay for the band: $6000.00 The band itself costs $5200.00.... so they are only charging me $800.00 to put it in! I'm grateful that that's all I have to pay. But don't think I'm not going to appeal my insurance's decision!

Honestly?? When I told her I was getting the LB, she got MAD. She told me that my husband would hate it if I lost my curves, and that I'd probably end up getting a divorce, blah blah blah. She and I used to be friendly.... but she has a BAD habit of complaining about me... to everyone else, AND me. We had to work together for the last year on the PTA, and she screamed out one night at a meeting "if ONE more person talks about how much work SAINT Karen has done so far this year, I'm going to go CRAZY!! I've done WAY more work than her!!!" Who does that???? So... am I a witch for wanting to grin like an idiot when I weigh less than her??? (btw.... that would be 220) YES I AM!! Watch me fly!!

Well, at least it's only 4 days, and you're totally right... if he's doing it via satellite, he will totally be doing PERFECT!! Yeah!!

FANTASTIC thread Abby!!! Here's mine: TRIPLETMOMMA'S TOP TEN LIST 1. Sit comfortably in a booth at a restaurant 2. Ride a rollercoaster without worrying that I won't fit in the seat! 3. Buy clothes at a store that's NOT Lane Bryant, Avenue, Fashion Bug Plus, Katherines... or even Torrid! 4. Not have to mentally calculate weight limits... and how far over I am! 5. Weigh less than the crabass who lives behind me! Just because I know it's going to piss her off in a BIG way! 6. Not be the largest person in the room 7. Run up 2 flights of stairs in my house, without breathing hard! 8. Have a guy on the street look at me and smile 9. Touch my goddamn toes again! 10. Look in the mirror.... and see how far I've come!

Atkins shakes do the trick! If you're looking for a mix, you could try Isopure.... that's low in carbs. As far as nachos go.... corn chips are exactly that.... ground corn (vegetable), a dash of lime, some salt, and some oil. cheese is ALL Protein and fat, and very low in carbs. Jalapeño peppers help with circulation, and rev metabolism. So, don't beat yourself up! Of all the nasty foods you could have eaten, nachos certainly wasn't the worst! You know your body best! The diet is a guideline, but by no means, a bible! hang in there!

wow.... we have 7 BANDits this week!! Good luck to all!!

How's that for CDO?? CDO you say? Yes...I have CDO, it's like OCD but all the letters are in alphabetical order like they SHOULD be! How funny are we??

It's going to cost somewhere between $5200.00 and less than $10K, because I'm also having hiatal hernia surgery/possible splenectomy as well. I just talked to my insurance company, which said they denied the entire surgery, because LB is included in it. So, my Dr.'s office will probably re-submit for hiatal hernia and splenectomy. I will let you guys know what happens.... I'm getting a bit annoyed at my Dr.'s staff however. I've been asking them for over 2 weeks what the actual cost is going to be if I have to cover the LB myself, the doctor says "$5200.00... little more, little less"..... staff says "probably a little more... not sure". WTF? Of course, you know, the hospital and doctors want to get paid BEFORE they even do anything. Out of exasperation, I called and asked if they'd take a credit card, since they can't seem to tell me how much $$ it will cost. That way, I don't have to take $$ out of savings right away. Once I pay for everything, I can pay off the credit card with the $$ from savings. To say I'm not in the mood for any of this shit is putting it mildly. Oh..... and BC/BS MI individual PPO's reason for not approving any bands after January 2009? People abusing the insurance, and just opting for it to get the surgery, and then dropping the plan. HELLO....... I've been on plan nearly 2 years now.... pretty sure if I was going to abuse it, I'd have done it already!

I use Lose It as well....... generally, when it comes to foods, I just use "create new food" so I can control what the nutritional values are. Agreed...... the database is lacking. I can't believe it doesn't have popcicles of ANY kind in it! Sheesh!

Maybe we should start a quick thread, with everyone's names by "band date" so we can 'watch over' each other, and keep our ears to the ground on how everyone's doing post-op??? I'm pretty sure there's at least 3 August BANDit's going in on Monday??? I bet there's a few next week... and today is Thursday already!! I'll start: Tripletmomma2000.....................Thursday, August 6

I'm not afraid! This picture is old however...... I was doing Atkins on and off for a few years, and belonged to a forum where I made myself accountable, and took pictures. I have it labeled with weight and date. When I went to see Dr. Gazayerli, I weighed in at 350... but I started the year at 362. My highest ever was 375.5. Today I am 331.1, so I'm about 35 pounds heavier in this picture than I currently am.... but, it still reflects ME. (However, I have only had light hair ONCE in my life, and it's in this picture) Karen

Hey Cathy! I do try to watch the salt... my mom got me some beef broth.. and I was stunned to see that the serving was only 1/2 cup...... 10 calories?? Then I saw the salt content: 860mg salt... that means 1 cup has 1720! OMG!!!!!! Thanks for the heads up..... I'll need to scrutinize every little mg! I always know when I'm retaining Water, and I certainly was yesterday. Funny thing..... I have a tattoo on my left foot (flowers) and it swells up underneath the tattoo when I'm retaining water. The tattoo almost gets 3D looking. Can't decide if that's cool.... or just freaky (or kinda freaky cool??)

FFC..... go to this website pick your text, font, size, color, and background color, and then copy the code where it says "embed code".... paste it into your signature line :biggrin:

OMG! I almost spit my Atkins Dark chocolate Royale shake all over my monitor! That's the funniest thing I've read in WEEKS! I'm LOVING you for making me laugh today!! Hugs, Karen

OK..... I must admit, I **used** to weigh once a week in 1999 when I lost 80 pounds on my own (no need to tell my classic yo-yo dieting story.... you guys can figure that one out!) and I found that when I weighed weekly, I certainly wasn't a crab AT ALL. I would weigh on Saturday mornings, and on Saturday evening, I had a "free" meal, in which I could have whatever I was craving all week long. It usually ended up being pizza. That was when I lived in New Jersey, where they actually could **make** pizza (I live in Michigan now... haven't had good 'za in over FIVE years!) That way, I wouldn't know what I gained in my "free" meal, and by the time the next Saturday rolled around, I lost what I had gained, and then another 2-3 pounds. It was a nice system, and I could have gone along forever doing it. Then I got pregnant. With triplets. 'Nuff said! :thumbup::tt2::thumbup: <---them <---me :biggrin: <----DH BTW...... the scale was MUCH kinder today, and decided that it actually wanted to maintain it's residence on my bathroom floor (next to the dust bunnies and hair tumbleweeds) and came in at 331.6. I'm much less crabby...... however, with all this GD rain lately, I may need that Xanax anyway.... we have THREE computers in this house, all very nice Mac Pro's (I have a home office) and they totally hog them during rainy days.... which all Michiganders know: has been EVERY FREAKING DAY lately! I don't know who created "fusion Fall" but I may have to hurt them. Free membership my ass.... in order to "get special powers" my kids are all begging for the $5.95/month membership. TIMES THREE. Someone's going to get hurt!