KarenK

I am apparently down only 1 this week. I'll take it. It happens. To be quite honest, I am so "backed up" right now, I'm not surprised. Must increase my fiber!

Today: 30 min treadmill, 20 min upper body strength, 15 min elliptical Feeling strong!

Wednesday was a day off. In retrospect, I kind of missed the activity. Today, back at the gym this evening.

Hi all - Those of you previously on medication for various co-morbidities - how long until you were able to go off of them - if you were? (That is one poorly worded question - sorry) I have diabetes and high blood pressure. Just recently I was taken off one of the two diabetes drugs. Now I'm starting to wonder if I should talk to my g.p. about lowering my dosages on the blood pressure meds. I had a near fainting spell in the bathroom the other morning when I tried to take my pulse using the carotid in my neck. I've been taking my blood pressure, and while it is not technically low - it's lower than I'm comfortable with. It's been averaging about 100 to 110 / 65 to 75. The other morning it was 95/65. I'm wondering if it's part of the reason I'm feeling not so hot. So - how much weight did you lose before you started being able to shed prescriptions?

This! Steak and asparagus were two things someone mentioned at the first information seminar I ever went to. That was so disappointing to me - my two favorites foods ever! I was honestly going to let it hold me back from having the band.:sneaky: I have had no problems with steak (cooked & eaten properly) or asparagus. The anesthesia thing was a big scary thing for me. My daughter already lost her father many years ago. I was incredibly scared that something would happen to me and she'd be left with no parents. I kept telling myself "millions of people have surgery every day and nothing happens."

Thanks all. I'm going to have a hard time fitting in another appointment into my schedule for the next week or so, but I guess I'll force myself to do so. Maybe I'll get lucky and come back down another prescription. Thanks for the information.

The one thing I wish I had been more prepared for - the pain the first couple of days after surgery. I kept reading all these stories about how easy it was and how they were up and back at work in a couple of days. Yeah. Not everyone is that lucky. It may not be that easy - worth it in the long run - heck yeah, but not necessarily pain free. I also wish I had brought in a better supply of liquids for the first week after surgery. I still can't smell chicken broth without gagging. I had a whole week of "Last Meals" before the pre-op diet. I'm sure the doctors are used to dealing with it. The clinic I went through wasn't surprised at all when I gained 5 lbs. Honestly, I don't think I'd change that. Even months later I can remember that uncomfortably full, almost sick, feeling I had most of that week and don't in any way want to repeat it! Good luck with your surgery. The 40 days will fly by.

Today: 30 min treadmill, 20 min lower body strength, 10 min elliptical (should have done 15 - oh well - Thursday).

mjg12 - I had mine cancelled 2 weeks ahead of the scheduled day back in 2006 because of anemia (normal Iron level is 45-50 - I was at 10). I was really upset, but by waiting until I could get my iron back into the normal range, I think I've handled the surgery much better - even if it did mean a hysterectomy and another year of building my iron back. Hopefully you'll get the all-clear from the cardiologist quickly. It really is best to go into this safely. Good luck.

Morning all! Saturday - 30 min treadmill, 20 min lower body strength, 15 min elliptical Sunday - 30 min treadmill, 20 min upper body strength, 15 min elliptical followed by 30 min of walking the dog with my mom in the pm. Today I have a faculty meeting from 4-6 and my daughter has a dance performance from 7-9, so I am definitely taking a day off of exercise. Back at it tomorrow!

I thought maybe we could have a thread where we share how our first fills have gone. Some of us have already had one, and others of us are coming up on them quickly. I had mine today. Met with the clinic's exercise guy and the nutrition lady and stepped on the scale of doom - actually it's a nice scale. They were all very pleased with my progress and explained that because I'm switching back to real food it wouldn't have been unusual for me to have gained back some of what I lost earlier. I did lose 4 lbs. Then came time for the fill. The hardest part was breathing while the nurse looked for the appropriate place - she pushed hard for such a little thing! What I thought was the port is actually scar tissue. Lovely. Anyway - she got it on the first try, took a couple of seconds to get it in, and I am now the proud recipient of 2cc's of saline. My next appt is the week after Thanksgiving. Hope everyone else has as good an experience. :rolleyes2:

I'm surprised at how much I enjoy my gym! I get a much better workout than I ever did at home, and I don't feel as out of place as I expected to. I still do some things at home, though - Crunches on the ball, walking my dogs, some Wii Fit yoga.

Yesterday - 15 min treadmill, 20 min upper body strength, 20 min elliptical. Today - no time for the gym until Saturday, but I'm going to try to walk my dogs in the cruddy weather after my niece's b-day party.

It's the Friday weigh-in! I almost forgot! Went to the clinic yesterday. I love, love, love their scale. I got on mine in the morning and it showed 228. I got on theirs a couple of hours later, and it showed 224. I'm going with their number for the Friday weigh-in. That puts me down 55 - 13 in the last month. No fill this time. They want to see how I do over the next 3 weeks.

That surgeryloans.com looks interesting. I did a self-pay by spending my inheritance ahead of time (Thanks Mom!), but if I need a tummy tuck later on that might be a good source. Good luck with the decision msde83.

Good day all - I am going to try to put up a before & after-so-far image. The before is September 2008 - my highest weight 279. Squeezing myself into a size 24 because I wouldn't admit I was really a 26. Notice my attempt to be healthy - a Starbucks black iced tea no sweetner. What you can't see is the Taco Bell bag in the front seat of my truck! The after is today - down 50 pounds - weight 229 - and right between a size 18 & size 20. I actually have a neck under that turtleneck now! I hate cameras, but I was having a hard time telling if it was really making a visible difference so I asked my brother for any before pics he may have taken without my knowing. Yes, my hair is just that thin - a result of heredity (thanks Mom!) and PCOS. Can't tell you how many times I've considered shaving it all off and buying a blasted wig! So, here goes.

May I join in? Yesterday - 5th day in a row at the gym. 30 min treadmill (alternating walking & jogging), 15 min upper body strength, 15 min elliptical. Today - rest Tomorrow - I go brave the crowds at the gym again (parking lot was pure crazy yesterday).

Talk with your doctor's office or the clinic/hospital he's working through. The clinic I used had a list of financial providers they worked with for financing - they themselves did not do payment plans - the whole shebang was due up front before surgery. Good luck.

I use both at the gym. I use the treadmill for 30 minutes, do strength training (one day upper body, one day lower body), and then do 15-20 minutes on the elliptical. I really like the ellipticals at the gym, but they're also the first ones I felt fit me right. I had a cheap elliptical at home, and it was noisy and not terribly smooth and the treads were set so far back I had a hard time reaching with the handles (can you guess I'm short?). I've also had a cheap treadmill, a cheap exercise bike, and a cheap little stair stepper at home. None of them were worth the money I spent. If you're going to go with any home exercise equipment, I'd go with something quality if you can.

I got myself down to one big Diet Coke every morning, then slowly upped the ice so I wasn't getting as much soda. I'm a major ice cruncher (Sonic has the best), so it worked for me. A couple of weeks before the surgery, I stopped it entirely and switched to unsweetened iced tea and crystal light lemonade. I still have a small soda a couple times a month, but that's it so far. I was sort of hoping it would stop tasting so good - no luck. For me, it was my source of morning caffeine since I don't do coffee. The iced tea has helped with that.

Wow. Just wow. I would have been tempted to back-hand the first and tell off the second. There's a rude photo running around the internet that has the caption "Fat people don't have feelings." Things like this make me wonder if some people really believe that's true.

I actually had a small child come up and lay his head on my stomach one time trying to hear the baby inside. Nope, no baby. Just a very embarrassed me - and his parents. I've been very lucky this time around. No nasty comments thus far. In fact, not many comments at all, which is just fine.

I'm not sure I'd be up for seeing that on DVD. I think it would be hard to see myself in such a vulnerable situation - not to mention icky. I'm sort of stuck myself right now. The holidays were much harder than I expected. I did make it to the gym quite a bit (not as much as usual), but no weight loss in the last couple of weeks and I'm feeling pretty hungry. Unfortunately, I acted on that hunger far too frequently. I have an appointment on Thursday for another fill. I'm trying to decide whether to risk the drive or not. It's only an hour drive, but the roads are already bad and we're expecting snow and ice the next three days. I may try to reschedule for a couple of weeks down the line and hope for better weather.

I've decided to consider it a major achievement that I didn't gain anything over the holidays. In years past it hasn't been unusual to see a 5-10 lb gain from Thanksgiving to New Years. So, I'm trying to give myself a break from the self-criticism for not losing anything and am getting back on the wagon - off to the gym for the third day in a row. I often thought "if only I could just take a month off work and focus on my weight loss" but I've discovered I actually need the structure work provides. The last couple of weeks have been very hard! Hope everyone has had a great holiday - however you all did weight-wise.

Morning everyone - I am hitting a psychological wall. I have lost weight in the past. In fact, I have lost almost exactly this much weight in the past. I have made it to almost exactly this size in the past. And then it all came back (through no fault of my own I'm sure! :tongue_smilie:). I'm having a hard time convincing myself that I CAN get beyond this point - that I have the ability to keep going! The fact that I hit this point at this time of year isn't helping. I'm doing okay exercise wise - not great, but okay. It has snowed every day for the last week, so I'm not walking outside as much. I usually go to the gym when my daughter is at dance, but she doesn't have dance again until the 5th so I'm struggling to find time. But it's the food that's the worst. It's everywhere! Work has always provided me with the structure I need to keep away from it, but my office is closed (forced vacation) until the 5th. So, any ideas on how to get beyond that psychological hurdle? How do you convince yourself that the wall doesn't really exist?