juno610

243.3 this morning. I managed to lose a few without even trying. Nice! Mini-goal: 225 (pre-pregnancy weight) This will put me back at the 50lb mark too. 18 to go!

243.3 this morning. I managed to lose a few without even trying. Nice! Mini-goal: 225 (pre-pregnancy weight) This will put me back at the 50lb mark too. 18 to go!

Three more days till I get my fill! I'm all stocked up with my liquids and mushies for the first couple days out. I'm getting excited! My little guy and I went to the zoo today. I just had to take advantage of this lovely 70 degree weather we're having. Walked my tail off! I wish I had thought to grab my pedometer; it'd be nice to know exactly how far I walked. I've been having a bit of a week long "last supper". It hasn't been total junk, just things that I know I won't be able to tolerate once I get restriction again. Like tonight I'm making chicken pad thai for dinner. Noodles are a no-no usually. I've also been eating cereal like it's going out of style. I love cereal, but generally can't eat that either. I think it's that it gets mushy in the milk and then gets stuck. Oh well. Enjoying my Special K yogurt and berries for now. And sandwiches too - I had Jimmy Johns earlier this week. Okay, I guess I should stop obsessing.

I remember those first couple days trying to get all the liquid in! I swear it would take me 30 minutes to get through 2 oz! As for being uncomfortable, I remember having horrible back pain. Liquid tylenol and a heating pad helped with that. Hang in there, in a week or two you'll be feeling good

What great progress! Congrats!

I think a lot of people here will tell you that is totally normal, especially if you haven't had a fill yet. Hang in there, and remember that it may take more than one fill to get good restriction.

When I get that tight chest feeling, for me that usually means I ate one bite too many. One of my stop signs or 'full' signs is this weird hitchy deep breath. Hard to explain. In general, I've been better off sticking with a 1/2- 3/4 cup of food, then stopping. If I wait to feel full, many times I still take that one bite too many, and I'd rather avoid the uncomfortable feelings that come with that.

This morning I had a gastroscopy. It was a follow up from a year ago when I was in the process of discovering that my gall bladder doesn't work. Things are still icky; to be specific, gastritis, ulcers, and the worst part: an irregular z line. The doc didn't say it is out and out Barrett's espophagus, but I got the impression he'll be monitoring it indefinitely. Frankly, it scares the crap out of me. The frustrating thing is that I don't get heartburn since I had my band. So, was this damage done before I had my band? Or, have I caused it since by pouch packing and the like? Ugh. Bottom line: one more piece of motivation to eat correctly.

This morning I had a gastroscopy. It was a follow up from a year ago when I was in the process of discovering that my gall bladder doesn't work. Things are still icky; to be specific, gastritis, ulcers, and the worst part: an irregular z line. The doc didn't say it is out and out Barrett's espophagus, but I got the impression he'll be monitoring it indefinitely. Frankly, it scares the crap out of me. The frustrating thing is that I don't get heartburn since I had my band. So, was this damage done before I had my band? Or, have I caused it since by pouch packing and the like? Ugh. Bottom line: one more piece of motivation to eat correctly.

I got my band January of 2007. I don't think I really understood what I was getting myself into. The first year, I made half-hearted attempts at following the bandster rules of eating, and allowed myself to be filled way too much. I managed to lose about 35lbs, down from my pre-surgical weight of 275. Needless to say, I was disappointed in my results. I got pregnant with my first child in December 2007, and only gained twenty pounds. This put me so uncomfortably close to where I had started, I was determined to make something happen. In a few months I was down to 225 - the 50lb mark! And then I got pregnant again. This pregnancy started off great -- I had barely put on 10 pounds in the first 6 months. Then, in what seemed like a matter of weeks, I put on another 20! As it turned out, I had preeclampsia, and delivered my baby boy seven weeks early. All is fine with him, he's healthy and growing. Myself, well that is a different story. I had a c-section, so there was a little longer recovery. Plus, the stress of having my little guy in the NICU for a month. Plus, it being the dead of winter. Here is what I did with my maternity leave: ate. Today is March 14. I go back to work in ten days. I weigh 246. The last few weeks, I started to realize how crappy I felt and how much of a stupor I was in. Time to snap out of it! I am here to prove that it's never to late to make your band work for you. I'm three years out, but I might as well be three weeks out! I'm reacquainting myself with the basics, and this time I WILL follow the rules. I've spent a few weeks in the planning stage, and the action stage is about to begin. Stay tuned!

Last weekend I took my toddler to a gymnastics gym for play hour. They open the gym up to parents and kids for an hour to play on all the equipment (bars, balance beams, foam pits, trampolines, you name it). For $5, you really can't beat it. My little stinker was happy just running up and down the tumbling runs (springy!) all the while yelling "Ruuuuun! Ruuuuun!" in her cute little toddler voice. And I was running with her, of course, because the tumbling runs happen to be 2 feet off the ground. I was having a great time just watching her enjoy herself, and then I realized... I was running! Well, maybe more of a shuffling jog, but STILL! It felt so good, I thought for a minute that I might just have to yell "Ruuuun!" right along with the kiddo! I bounced on the trampolines with her, I climbed the matts, and I even dove into the foam pit. Ok, so it took me ten minutes to get OUT of the foam pit. Working on it, people! The next day, I was paying for it. My hips and knees were stiff, my leg muscles were a little sore, and I must have wrenched my neck in my epic battle to remove myself from the foam pit. And you know what? I liked it. I can't wait to do it again. It got me thinking about what I'm going to do for exercise as my action phase kicks into gear next week. My dear hubby is going to pick the kids up from daycare a few days a week, so I can hit the gym. Weights and treadmill, here I come! This is good, but in an effort to forge new pathways, I need to find ways to fit in exercise on a daily basis. At work, I get an hour for lunch. As a bandster, I only need about 15-20 minutes to eat. This leaves 40-45 minutes I can make some serious use of. Weather permitting, I'll take a walk around the building. Or, as I get stronger, perhaps a few flights of stairs and some pushups in the locker room. Creativity will be key. I will keep you posted on the implementation of my lunch time frolics!

Last weekend I took my toddler to a gymnastics gym for play hour. They open the gym up to parents and kids for an hour to play on all the equipment (bars, balance beams, foam pits, trampolines, you name it). For $5, you really can't beat it. My little stinker was happy just running up and down the tumbling runs (springy!) all the while yelling "Ruuuuun! Ruuuuun!" in her cute little toddler voice. And I was running with her, of course, because the tumbling runs happen to be 2 feet off the ground. I was having a great time just watching her enjoy herself, and then I realized... I was running! Well, maybe more of a shuffling jog, but STILL! It felt so good, I thought for a minute that I might just have to yell "Ruuuun!" right along with the kiddo! I bounced on the trampolines with her, I climbed the matts, and I even dove into the foam pit. Ok, so it took me ten minutes to get OUT of the foam pit. Working on it, people! The next day, I was paying for it. My hips and knees were stiff, my leg muscles were a little sore, and I must have wrenched my neck in my epic battle to remove myself from the foam pit. And you know what? I liked it. I can't wait to do it again. It got me thinking about what I'm going to do for exercise as my action phase kicks into gear next week. My dear hubby is going to pick the kids up from daycare a few days a week, so I can hit the gym. Weights and treadmill, here I come! This is good, but in an effort to forge new pathways, I need to find ways to fit in exercise on a daily basis. At work, I get an hour for lunch. As a bandster, I only need about 15-20 minutes to eat. This leaves 40-45 minutes I can make some serious use of. Weather permitting, I'll take a walk around the building. Or, as I get stronger, perhaps a few flights of stairs and some pushups in the locker room. Creativity will be key. I will keep you posted on the implementation of my lunch time frolics!

Thanks everyone for reading! It makes writing all this down worth it It's also nice to know I'm not alone!

Hey guys, I'm going to blog here this time around. Check me out from time to time and keep me honest!

I got my band January of 2007. I don't think I really understood what I was getting myself into. The first year, I made half-hearted attempts at following the bandster rules of eating, and allowed myself to be filled way too much. I managed to lose about 35lbs, down from my pre-surgical weight of 275. Needless to say, I was disappointed in my results. I got pregnant with my first child in December 2007, and only gained twenty pounds. This put me so uncomfortably close to where I had started, I was determined to make something happen. In a few months I was down to 225 - the 50lb mark! And then I got pregnant again. This pregnancy started off great -- I had barely put on 10 pounds in the first 6 months. Then, in what seemed like a matter of weeks, I put on another 20! As it turned out, I had preeclampsia, and delivered my baby boy seven weeks early. All is fine with him, he's healthy and growing. Myself, well that is a different story. I had a c-section, so there was a little longer recovery. Plus, the stress of having my little guy in the NICU for a month. Plus, it being the dead of winter. Here is what I did with my maternity leave: ate. Today is March 14. I go back to work in ten days. I weigh 246. The last few weeks, I started to realize how crappy I felt and how much of a stupor I was in. Time to snap out of it! I am here to prove that it's never to late to make your band work for you. I'm three years out, but I might as well be three weeks out! I'm reacquainting myself with the basics, and this time I WILL follow the rules. I've spent a few weeks in the planning stage, and the action stage is about to begin. Stay tuned!

Nope, my band has been in place the entire time. I actually didn't even require a complete unfill the first time until I was about 30 weeks pregnant. With the second pregnancy, I got unfilled right away because I was having some issues with gastritis anyway, so it was a good time to give my stomach a break. I really believe that having my band kept me from ballooning during pregnancy. I imagine I would've gained a lot more than I did if I didn't have it.

Hi all. I've had my band for three years. The first year was rough with too tight fills, and when I finally got it figured out, I was pregnant. I've just had my second child December 2009, and I'm ready to make this work. I was down 50lbs before this baby, but I'm up 20 from that. I don't plan on having any more kids, so I no longer have impending pregnancies as excuses. My long term goal is to lose 90lbs. With working full time and two little kids, I'm not able to attend any local support groups, so I'd really like someone to check in with.

Thank you Sandi! I have read a lot of your site (and Gloria's too) over the past day or so, and even that is helping me get my head in the game. There are a lot of things I know I didn't do right before with my eating, and I know I need to buckle down and surrender to the process. I'm going to start journaling on another site with a calculator, so I can check my Protein amounts. If you don't mind, I'll PM you the link from time to time for feedback. My hubby has recently started losing weight himself (he's not banded), so I gotta get going!

Getting over a cold here myself. We've all been passing it around. I just hope my little guy doesn't catch it! I'm in a planning stage right now. Planning food and meals and how I'm going to handle food at work. I'm excited the weather is turning nice, so I can go for walks on my lunch hour. BTW, definitely NOT in skinny jeans here!

Hey everyone! Well, I'm officially back on the wagon. I get my first post-pregnancy fill on the 23rd, and I go back to work full time that week too. DH and I have worked out a deal where he will pick the kids up from daycare three days a week so I can go to the gym after work. So relieved about that. I'm feeling pretty frumpy. I'm still 20 pounds up from my lowest, and nothing fits (thank you pregnancy). Good thing I wear scrubs to work or I'd go broke buying new clothes. For now I live in yoga pants and long sleeve tees. I haven't put on makeup for three months, and I'm in definite need of a haircut. I think going back to work is the best thing -- at least it will get me to look presentable! Anyway, my little guy is doing great. He's 10 weeks old now and up to 7lbs 5oz. Still no health problems, so we were lucky. Hope you guys are well!

It is so cold here too. Two more weeks till I can exercise again! It's going to be interesting though -- being in bed for a week in the hospital really took a toll. I feel extra-deconditioned. I figure I'll start with Wii-fit -- something easy. As soon as it starts to warm up, I'll take my older kiddo out for a walk in the morning before DH goes to work.

Hello gang! Happy New Year to everyone. DH and I have had quite the exciting holiday. As some of you know, I was due with my 2nd band baby in Feb. Well, he's here early! I developed a case of severe pre-eclampsia earlier this week, and the docs decided the best thing was to deliver now. So, I had a c-section Wednesday morning. Vincent Michael was 3 lbs 3oz and 17 inches long. He's doing great for being underweight (thanks to pre-eclampsia). He'll most likely be staying in NICU for another 5 weeks. We're still having some trouble getting my blood pressure under control, but I'm hoping to go home tomorrow. It's been a long week! Looking forward to getting back on the "band" wagon with you guys! Maria

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I'm 32 weeks preggo now, so things are getting down to the wire. I think I'm up about 25lbs this time -- not bad. I had hoped to not gain as much, but whatever. This pregnancy has definitely been easier than my first. I am just now starting to have blood pressure issues, so I'm on restricted activity (nothing strenuous, no stairs if I can help it, etc.). Other than that, things are good. How goes it with you guys?

Hey guys! Lots of fill troubles, eh? I have some news for you! I'm expecting a boy this time! And even better news -- I've only gained 4 lbs so far and I'm already 20 weeks. I realized today that I'm still 35lbs less than my delivery weight with Elena, and I highly doubt I can pack that much on in 5 months, so I'm feeling pretty good about things. I've been keeping busy lately studying for an exam. I'm sitting for the EEG registry exam on October 8. It came up fast! So that's why I haven't been around too much. Once I get past that, I should be able to relax.

I would be ready as soon as you get it out. I had mine out in May and conceived less than a week later. Freaky fast!