Yvette1026

I don't count calories but on the other end of that if you're not eating enough, you could be putting your body into starvation mode so it's holding on to fat and weight, instead of losing it. I would "guess" I'm around 1000 a day. My day consists of simple low cal foods for example today: I had california eggs (2 scrambled eggs, w/ 2 pieces of turkey, 1 piece of jack cheese, spinach, tomato and avocado diced up in it) (270) then I had 2 string cheeses (160) then I had some chicken and rice (200) then I had a greek salad (small plate from cheesecake factory) (200) Then I ended it with something sweet... a zone Protein bar :smile2: (200) Most of my days since surgery have been like that, except take away the chicken and rice, and string cheese and replace with a smoothie (500 or 250 split in half)

At 5'5 my ultimate goal is 146. My dr's say because of my muscle mass I will probably never get there and should set a goal of 185 or 175 at the lowest. But the first goal is 215. Then again I'd be happy with 250, the lowest I'd gotten down to in all my major weightloss was 287. I'm lower than that now (I think, I'll know for sure tomorrow.) So we'll see just how low I can go.

Or more protein? Sometimes excess protein (especially dairy) can cause body odor.

Smell is a results of hormones and diet. Without knowing what you've been eating it's hard to say, but no I haven't had this issue. If you don't already, try switching to a anti-bacterial soap instead of a conditioning/cleansing one.. It's always good to switch between the two so they don't lose their effectiveness. So one month Anti-bacterial, next month conditioning/cleansing, etc...

This is great! Congratulations! Thanks for sharing!

Don't give up, be encouraged. Remember that there's no success without failure. You're still new to this and the best thing you can do is be sure to not compare yourself to other people. Find foods you enjoy and stick with those. For example, I like smoothies, I came up with one that I can sip for the better half of the day and get 64 grams of Protein while only 500 calories. Or chicken and rice... I baked my rice in cream of chicken Soup and chicken broth to make sure it expands as much as possible so I can chew it without worrying if it's too much, or if it will expand in my stomach. Mix the rice and soup together with some seasoning, throw some chicken on top and you have moist chicken and moist rice, also low calorie. Or eggs with your protein added, etc.. If you're stuck on recipe ideas or what to eat, I got a million of them. If your issue is time, I suggest a cooking day where you cook as much as possible on a saturday or sunday and then package for grab and go use. The band is definitely NOT the easy way out, but it is a tool to help us get to where we want to be. You're going to lose at your own pace, in your own way, and this journey is yours and yours alone. But if you need some help that's what we're here for my dear! :blushing:

I was banded the day after you and my steri-strips are still on...I did notice on the port incision a small white string hanging out, but I figured it was supposed to be there. So I've left it alone. I go see my surgeon on tuesday to have the steri-strips removed and actually see what the incisions look like. My surgery info also says that while they say 2 weeks it can take up to 6 weeks for them to dissolve completely. Who knew? Guess I shouldn't of dropped out of the Physician's Assistant program lol...

Yes I've noticed that I get colder MUCH easier since my surgery on the 18th. I too was ALWAYS hot. I asked my dr about this, he said it's the loss of weight and that my body was constantly in burn and/or heal mode which will make me feel a chill more.

Follow your dr's advise - but no. I was eating mushies on the 3rd day, then went back to Soup, when my surgeon called on day 4 or 5 they said it was fine and I could mix 1/2 broth 1/2 cream if that made me feel better. Then again I'm soooo not the person to listen to when it comes to following orders. I listen to my body, not the dr. So don't listen to me. lol

Thank you! I concur with the 2nd one, ick.

Really? I'd be interested in trying those, would you mind sharing or pm'ing?

And congratulations on your banding! :smile2:

Are you craving the crackers or are you craving the salt? If you're craving the salt, chances are you're dehydrated, our bodies naturally crave salty foods when we're dehydrated as a round about way to make us drink. If it's the crackers then it's more than likely carbs you're craving, I ate low-fat yoplait to cure my carb cravings for the first few days. That type of yogurt has a high carb content, so even though it's not bread it satisfies the craving.

For Protein shakes -I like the design whey products - it's the same products they use for the biggest loser, in fact in most stores you'll see it labeled two ways one with a plain label, and one with the biggest loser label. The biggest loser is usually a dollar or two more. They don't have a lot of flavors, pretty much just chocolate or vanilla but I've found I can do lots with it, make pudding, hot chocolate, endless amounts of smoothies, etc.. The mainstay of my diet is designer whey protein powder, fage brand greek yogurt (20 gram of protein in every serving) scrambled eggs and chicken cooked various ways. The fage brand greek yogurt is also a good sub for sour cream, also mixes well with SF Jello, etc... I made some tuna with it the other day, ehhh not so much, definitely took some getting used to. But something simple like grilled chicken with tzatziki sauce (greek yogurt sauce) served over baby spinach is a great high protein and low calorie meal.

Union coverage is VERY different from non-union coverage, the average worker is not union and does not have that same luxury. Also your union more than likely "shops around" unlike most companies who stay with the same providers year after year and don't question contracts or increases. I can assure you that your situation is not the norm and most non-union people with insurance can attest that they have received increases and not decreases. Someone else who works in insurance and with actuarial department, who sets the prices and increases (usually 5 yrs in advance) stated the same thing up above. Enjoy your decreases and enjoy working in a union because it definitely has it's benefits! :smile2:

Water and Protein... find something that's easy for you and fits into your uber busy schedule. smoothies, protein, and some exercise just 30 mins a day will make a HUGE difference. A smoothie can keep you full, hydrated and not feeling deprived, while keeping your calories down. For example...I make a strawberry smoothie that tastes like a milkshake (recipe is in my blog) it makes 32 ozs, which is easy to sip on and stay full through out the day. When you need something to eat, make the right choice, don't buy the cheese curls, don't keep them in your house, your 3 yr old doesn't need them either. Replace them with carrots, etc.. If you're like me, if it's there, I'll eat it... just remove it completely. On Sundays pre-cook your meals and Snacks for the week so you can just grab them and go, all you'll have to do is heat them up. It's much quicker than going through the drive thru or trying to make a quick easy (usually bad for you) meal. What you're going through is quite normal, what in the navy we called "west pac widows", I know it has a term in every branch, but basically we go through a period of mourning and adjustments, weight gain is usual indicator. In your case you're not gain, but you're not losing either. Is this your husband's first tour? Usually on the first tour or two we're sad, by the 2 or 3rd we're motivated and our husband's don't recognize us when they come home lol. If you need some support or just someone to talk to, message me. I've been there, so I understand. You'll get it together.. put a picture up of something that will remind you not to eat and to get to your goal, put it everywhere on the fridge, in the cupboards, in you car's dashboard, etc....

Do exactly as the dr said...walk walk walk.. even if it's just up and around your house. I paced the the hallway the first 3 days. The more you lay around, the worse you'll feel. You're 12 days post-op you should be feeling MUCH better by now. Unless you have diabetes or something else that makes you heal slower, you should be feeling like normal. But if you haven't been up moving and walking as much as you should (around 200 steps every hour) then you're probably feeling the residual effects of the anesthesia and that's what's making you feel sluggish and lack energy. Could also be a sign that you're ready to move on to the next stage of food, or take your vitamins.

STD is usually an optional (i.e. additional cost) insurance to the employee. However, what you pay is based off of what your employers contracted rate is and it varies by company, amount of employees etc... Your rate will go up (if even by a few cents) every year, even if nobody in the entire company went out on STD, it's the cost of business. So the "You defrauding the company is making me spend more" argument isn't really valid. Because whether you realize it or not, there's these people called actuaries who predetermine what the going rate will be whether an event happens or not. Even if nobody committed insurance fraud for 5 yrs, wouldn't matter, the actuary has already accounted and forecasted for it and your rate WILL go up, regardless. I've done benefit administration (a wide title and term that includes various positions like claims examiner)on both sides for companies/HR and for the insurer and most recently *gasp* for Metlife. I'm sure none of you took the time to speak with the poster privately as I did, to gain a better understanding before I posted anything. This is one of those topics everyone will have their strong opinions on, but much like belly buttons, everyone has one. My comment about MD had a precursor to it that said unless you can deal in or speak to the facts and truth of it, then your opinion isn't invalid unless you have Md next to your name. - But honestly even then, unless she's your patient it wouldn't matter. So Flychica for example- working in insurance.. knowing what it's like to process the claim and rules, FACTS, etc.. Valid. Anyone else with like experience, valid. Even if found to be wrong, opinion is still valid because they're educated and experienced in it. Everyone else, not so much. That's not discounting anyone as a person or their thoughts, etc... but it's all just a bunch of fluff.. when you cut through it all, what are you really saying? Are you educated on it? Or just making assumptions and forming opinions? Apologies if anyone was offended - that's not my intent. However, ganging up on the OP isn't exactly fair or nice of you either. As you'll come to find about me, I speak on nothing unless I have something to truly add and contribute to a forum or conversation, and when I do speak I'm always certain that I can back up anything I say with facts, references, etc.. just how I operate.

Semantics my dear...

One of my favorite omlettes is what's usually called a California Omlette or a Santa Barbara Omlette. Typically it has bacon, jack cheese, spinach, avocado, tomato and sour cream/salsa. Today I made a band friendly version in a scramble that was delicious. 2 eggs 2 pieces turkey lunch meat 1/4 cup fresh baby spinach (half a handful) 1 slice Jack cheese Fresh diced roma tomato Fresh diced avocado First dice lunch meat and put in pan to warm,as it's warming add preferred method of cooking agent, evoo, butter, etc.. If using a spray, spray the pan first. Next add baby spinach and allow it to cook down, mixing with the diced turkey meat. Once spinach is soft and wilted add 2 eggs and scramble the mixture as it's cooking (or pre-scramble eggs in bowl depending on your cooking level) stirring/scrambling constantly will insure soft light fluffy eggs. Once the eggs are about done add cheese and turn off the heat.. eggs will continue cooking while you mix the cheese into them. Once cheese is melted plate the eggs and cover with desired amount of diced roma tomato and avocado. (about a table spoon of each is good) mix into eggs and serve. You can add milk to your eggs for protein, or you can serve with fage plain yogurt as a sour cream subsitute. Eggs should be soft and moist, not dry and hard. It will look like a alot of food, but in reality it's about 6oz total. Eating that puts me right at my limit for food and being full. You can also cut in half and make with 1 egg, 1 meat, 1/2 cheese etc... Let me know if you try it, and how you like it! :biggrin:

One of my favorite omlettes is what's usually called a California Omlette or a Santa Barbara Omlette. Typically it has bacon, jack cheese, spinach, avocado, tomato and sour cream/salsa. Today I made a band friendly version in a scramble that was delicious. 2 eggs 2 pieces turkey lunch meat 1/4 cup fresh baby spinach (half a handful) 1 slice Jack cheese Fresh diced roma tomato Fresh diced avocado First dice lunch meat and put in pan to warm,as it's warming add preferred method of cooking agent, evoo, butter, etc.. If using a spray, spray the pan first. Next add baby spinach and allow it to cook down, mixing with the diced turkey meat. Once spinach is soft and wilted add 2 eggs and scramble the mixture as it's cooking (or pre-scramble eggs in bowl depending on your cooking level) stirring/scrambling constantly will insure soft light fluffy eggs. Once the eggs are about done add cheese and turn off the heat.. eggs will continue cooking while you mix the cheese into them. Once cheese is melted plate the eggs and cover with desired amount of diced roma tomato and avocado. (about a table spoon of each is good) mix into eggs and serve. You can add milk to your eggs for protein, or you can serve with fage plain yogurt as a sour cream subsitute. Eggs should be soft and moist, not dry and hard. It will look like a alot of food, but in reality it's about 6oz total. Eating that puts me right at my limit for food and being full. You can also cut in half and make with 1 egg, 1 meat, 1/2 cheese etc... Let me know if you try it, and how you like it!

Yes it is.. I even made tuna with fage the other day, that took some getting used to, but it wasn't horrible. I'm just waiting for when I'll be eating pitas so I can do some chicken gyros with the tzatziki sauce, even though I think why wait.. let me try it over spinach sans pita.. do that tomorrow I've eaten for the day, I'll have the shake the rest of the day. I'll throw the chicken on the foreman grill and make the sauce, tonight probably so I have it to snack on over the weekend. Thanks for the heads up on costco, didn't realize they had it in bulk like that, since it's hard to find in regular stores! Yes I will DEFINITELY be heading to costco tomorrow.

So last night I spent my NYE at church. We had a great time and as usual a potluck, we tend to have sandwiches as the main course because they're quick, easy and people can do what they want with it, add mayo, etc... Being banded I now see how much we as a society over eat! Let me explain... The deli didn't have enough time to make our order but they did have some ready made footlongs, you know the ones made piled high on a whole loaf of french bread? This is the same sandwich we usually order but it's cut in 3 instead of slices. We usually order a 6 foot sub and it's gone within minutes. So last night we got 6 sandwiches to equal the 6 ft sub we usually buy. They brought it into me to prepare and I looked at the huge hunks of sandwich and now in my banded eye and mind cut them into reasonable portions.. I took every third and cut it into 4 mini sandwiches. Wouldn't you know, we ended up with 3 unopened sandwiches and leftovers from the first 3.. this has NEVER happened in all of the gatherings we've ever had. To go a step further, I kept the bread from my mini sandwich, ate the meat, cheese and lettuce and kept the bread. I purposely mashed it and balled it up to see what it would look like chewed and in my stomach. I was disgusted... me, the bread lover. The person who would get a hot loaf of french bread with some butter from the store and would eat it as a meal. I was so disgusted by the ball of dough now sitting in my hand, to realized that it came from just that lil' mini sandwich and was about the size of my upper stomach/stoma. I thought about before how I, like everyone else, would take a thick slice of sandwich or two and eat them. I never realized just how much I was putting into my body.. And reality struck me... Yvette THIS is why you're fat. Your whole life you've loved breads, even meals that come on breads, burgers and sandwiches have been the mainstay of my diet. Going upscale? Beef Wellington please... that's right I like my beef wrapped in dough.. Pizza, I don't even like pizza, but I do like the crust covered in parm and pepper flakes. You name it and if it was doughy deliciousness I've probably eaten it. Carbalicious doughy deliciousness. If it was sugar or frosting coated or filled even better. I have a completely new outlook, but it's going to be a struggle. Even after being disgusted by the ball of bread, I let out an excited fat girl scream when someone came in with Hot Krispy Kremes... I limited myself to one and enjoyed it, savored it. This must be how the other half lives, because never in my life have I nibbled and noshed on something that tasted so good. If it was good I ate it, ate it quick and as much of it as I could. Prior to being banded, I have and would have eaten a dozen of hot glazed krispy kremes by myself. Then justify it by not eating anything else the rest of the day or saying "they're just so good and like air, they melt in your mouth" Gone is that person, it's physically impossible for me to do, but I've also renewed my mind to food, it's purpose and it's effects. Disgusted by the memory of me going to Krispy Kreme and ordering a dozen or a dozen and half. Eating 6 and feeling full, looking down to see the icing mess on my shirt. Going home or to work with the rest and some how losing track until they were all gone. Ugh.. seriously it makes me feel a multitude of emotions, sad, disgusted, pathetic, angry, etc.. How do you do that to yourself and not even realize what your doing. What is so wrong in your life that Food is your only comfort? I know the answer to that question and it's not something to put here for all to see but WOW.. Really Yvette??? How far gone do you have to be where you're in relationships with men encourage you to eat like that, or have fights with your husband about food and donuts, and other food related nonsense. What a site that must of been, wolfing down donuts in the parking lot of the Krispy Kreme, I remember that look he gave me, and now 7 yrs later, I get it. It was disgust. On the upside I've done something about it, so the past can never be again... That's the new reality and it's definitely struck me, whether I was ready for it or not. 2010 here we are....Let's make the most of it. This was my last fat christmas, my last fat NYE, my last fat anything... Life solutions, not resolutions. Do everything in excellence or don't do it at all.

So last night I spent my NYE at church. We had a great time and as usual a potluck, we tend to have sandwiches as the main course because they're quick, easy and people can do what they want with it, add mayo, etc... Being banded I now see how much we as a society over eat! Let me explain... The deli didn't have enough time to make our order but they did have some ready made footlongs, you know the ones made piled high on a whole loaf of french bread? This is the same sandwich we usually order but it's cut in 3 instead of slices. We usually order a 6 foot sub and it's gone within minutes. So last night we got 6 sandwiches to equal the 6 ft sub we usually buy. They brought it into me to prepare and I looked at the huge hunks of sandwich and now in my banded eye and mind cut them into reasonable portions.. I took every third and cut it into 4 mini sandwiches. Wouldn't you know, we ended up with 3 unopened sandwiches and leftovers from the first 3.. this has NEVER happened in all of the gatherings we've ever had. To go a step further, I kept the bread from my mini sandwich, ate the meat, cheese and lettuce and kept the bread. I purposely mashed it and balled it up to see what it would look like chewed and in my stomach. I was disgusted... me, the bread lover. The person who would get a hot loaf of french bread with some butter from the store and would eat it as a meal. I was so disgusted by the ball of dough now sitting in my hand, to realized that it came from just that lil' mini sandwich and was about the size of my upper stomach/stoma. I thought about before how I, like everyone else, would take a thick slice of sandwich or two and eat them. I never realized just how much I was putting into my body.. And reality struck me... Yvette THIS is why you're fat. Your whole life you've loved breads, even meals that come on breads, burgers and sandwiches have been the mainstay of my diet. Going upscale? Beef Wellington please... that's right I like my beef wrapped in dough.. Pizza, I don't even like pizza, but I do like the crust covered in parm and pepper flakes. You name it and if it was doughy deliciousness I've probably eaten it. Carbalicious doughy deliciousness. If it was sugar or frosting coated or filled even better. I have a completely new outlook, but it's going to be a struggle. Even after being disgusted by the ball of bread, I let out an excited fat girl scream when someone came in with Hot Krispy Kremes... I limited myself to one and enjoyed it, savored it. This must be how the other half lives, because never in my life have I nibbled and noshed on something that tasted so good. If it was good I ate it, ate it quick and as much of it as I could. Prior to being banded, I have and would have eaten a dozen of hot glazed krispy kremes by myself. Then justify it by not eating anything else the rest of the day or saying "they're just so good and like air, they melt in your mouth" Gone is that person, it's physically impossible for me to do, but I've also renewed my mind to food, it's purpose and it's effects. Disgusted by the memory of me going to Krispy Kreme and ordering a dozen or a dozen and half. Eating 6 and feeling full, looking down to see the icing mess on my shirt. Going home or to work with the rest and some how losing track until they were all gone. Ugh.. seriously it makes me feel a multitude of emotions, sad, disgusted, pathetic, angry, etc.. How do you do that to yourself and not even realize what your doing. What is so wrong in your life that Food is your only comfort? I know the answer to that question and it's not something to put here for all to see but WOW.. Really Yvette??? How far gone do you have to be where you're in relationships with men encourage you to eat like that, or have fights with your husband about food and donuts, and other food related nonsense. What a site that must of been, wolfing down donuts in the parking lot of the Krispy Kreme, I remember that look he gave me, and now 7 yrs later, I get it. It was disgust. On the upside I've done something about it, so the past can never be again... That's the new reality and it's definitely struck me, whether I was ready for it or not. 2010 here we are....Let's make the most of it. This was my last fat christmas, my last fat NYE, my last fat anything... Life solutions, not resolutions. Do everything in excellence or don't do it at all.

Right attitude all the way, I'm SO curious as well, but I'm going to take it day by day. Although I keep thinking to myself as I'm in the middle of celebrations "This will be my last christmas fat", this will be my last new year's", etc... I'm excited about all the changes to come. Like I said from the beginning this is all about life solutions not resolutions. We'll get it done!