LeighaMason

B: EAS Protein drink S: Greek Yogurt L: Can of tuna, tbs Miracle whip, Sandwich thin D: ??

YAY! Stacie! Bobbie! Glad your back! Shammah, Thinking of you. Melody-- Good choice. Cangel-- Welcome! Tell us about yourself. Crystl-- How are you doing? Anybody seen Betsy? FYI-- Most things in my life suck right now so I am just going to pout and not post much but I am reading and happy for everyone. :blushing:

Will you list your meals for yesterday and today?

I am a hoarder so I have a hard time parting with anything that is still "good", so I am going to share one of my coping mechanisms with you. To get rid of something I have, I have to find someone who I feel needs the item more than I do. For instance, it could be a lady at your church who is getting a divorce and needs a new wordrobe to enter the workforce or our town has a program for the crisis center for abused women who need clothes for work. This helped me give away 100% of my too big clothes.

I am fairly ignorant about diabetes but I had read this study on pubmed.gov about the sleeve vs banding in curing co-morbidities. It said " There was a greater resolution or improvement of DM after LSG (100% vs 46%). DM being "type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM)", I wasn't sure if that is what you had but I thought the info might be helpful. Here is the link to the study. Comparison of comorbidity resolution and improveme... [surg Endosc. 2010] - PubMed result

Good for you! We have to remember we are not cookie cutters! Each one of us is as different as a snowflake and we each need to find our own way out of obesity. I hope this is the answer you are looking for.

Sorry I don't have any advice, but lots of sympathy! Hang in there. ((Hugs))

I did not start losing weight until I started measuring my food and logging it on a web site, there were several things that I was eating that I thought were ok but were actually costing me progress.

The funny thing is not one person has said "You shouldn't have had surgery" now that I am at goal. Imagine that. Since it worked and I am thinner than most people that I know, everyone who had a negative opinion last year has suddenly gotten WLS amnesia!

Melody-- Here is a question to ask the Dr. for me: How the hell can you gain 7 pounds in 1 day if you don't even put 7 pounds of food and water into your body? This should be mathematically impossible. (I'm not doubting you, I just want a scientific answer!) Shammah-- Hugs on the mom thing, my mother is dead set on killing herself with her lifestyle, she has Parkinson's, heart disease, wont take her medication, smokes 2 packs a day and lives on ice cream and diet Dr Pepper. (Not that thats what your mom is doing too) Its just that sometimes it just sucks to have to be the responsible one. Elcee-- I have been complaining on facebook about the cleaning of the rent house. A girl just moved out, she was there only 4 months and you would not believe how the house was when she left. It makes me want to call child protective services because her children have to live in that. Christie-- Are we going to have to get you a keeper? Bar hopping all night? Coming home with no shoes on? Are you having your second childhood? Can I come with you next time?

I have been banded a little over a year and I am at goal. It has been easy for me since I stopped trying to lose. Monday through Friday mornings I get on the scales if they say 130-133 I eat more and I eat "looser", if they say 134-135 I tighten up my eating and I eat like I did when I was losing. Saturday and Sunday I eat whatever appeals to me. (Portion requirements are still in effect but food choices are unlimited.)

I know y'all might think this is crazy but I have been thinking about how my life is different since being banded and one of the things that has changed is I have learned how to be hungry without it being an emergency. Before, if I were out somewhere and I was hungry, I would end up eating a bad choice, now I just suffer until I get to where I can get something good for me. I have spent too much time working on this to screw it up now. I think the diet pills will slow down the learning curve on how to learn to be hungry sometimes. Instead of calling the time after banding "bandster hell" like so many do I called it my "mourning period", its a time to mourn the loss of your disordered eating. And just like when we mourn the loss of a loved one, sometimes we are inexplicably angry or resentful (even if we choose the change) and we can even convince ourselves that we need a crutch, like the diet pills. I know I spend a lot of time when I was first banded fighting my self delusions, I thought I just had portion control issues, I had no idea the extent of my eating disorder and the first step to facing them is being hungry and proving to yourself that you are stronger than the food. OH and BTW, I was banded on 10/20 and didn't get my first fill until 1/4 and only lost 7 pounds during that time so the band was not an "instant success" for me, it was definitely a learning process and once I stopped fighting it, things went much better.

I think I have lactose intolerance now that I am banded. I have lots more stomach noises and I think its from the gas produced by the milk based products. However, dairy is a very important part of my diet so I just ignore the noise.

Dune, go to WWW.PUBMED.GOV for studies on the band, search for adjustable gastric band. The band helps me by making me full after a small amount of food. That is why I needed it, I ate the proper foods before banding but I ate too much because it took a lot of food to trigger the "I'm full" feeling. So now I eat 2-3oz steak, a new potato the size of a golf ball, and maybe 10 green Beans when before I would eat a 16oz steak, a potato the size of my two fists together, a 2 cup salad with dressing, a mound of green beans and a couple of rolls.

I probably ate it slower than I would have before just from habit. (I have to eat normal food very slowly now) but I bet I could have eaten it as fast and in as large of bites as I could get to fit in my mouth. I don't think its possible for me to get stuck on sugar foods. Like the term "Melt in your mouth" I think that foods that are sugar based, especially milk and sugar, start to dissolve in your mouth and are a slippery liquid before they get to the band. If you are looking for help with something physically stopping you from eating these foods, the band is not the answer. Sometimes if I am stressed and the band is super tight at night or if I have had a stuck episode and I am swollen and cant eat but I am hungry, I will eat chips and salsa for dinner. No matter how tight the band is I can always eat junk food.

I can eat anything sugar with no restriction from the band. I haven't tried but I have no doubt that I could eat a 1/2 gallon tub of ice cream with no problems. The same goes for chocolate. I went on a mini vacation with my son last weekend and I ate a whole piece of cheesecake at a restaurant, it was huge, probably 600-700 calories. My band didn't object at all and this was only about 20 min after I had to stop eating my fish because my tummy was full. So the band stopped the fish at a reasonable amount but let me eat the whole cheesecake. I have been reading these boards for over a year and I have never read someone saying "The band physically stops me from over eating ice cream, cake, chocolate, Cookies, etc."

Melody-- Will your insurance let you convert to a sleeve if the pain is from the band?

First I would ask myself "What are her options?" You mentioned the first one, losing weight with diet and exercise. Now ask yourself how many people do you personally know who have lost 100 pounds and kept it off? I don't know one, I have never personally met a person who lost 100 and kept it off. There was a newspaper article recently in my town of a lady who did, but that was so rare they wrote an article in the paper! There are 100,000 people here so is that 1/100,000 odds? Now add in PCOS does it become one in a million? Now for the surgery, I personally know (in real life) 5 people who have had WLS and lost 100% of their excess weight that is out of 7 who have had surgery so the odds are 5/7 for success. (Not very scientific but that is reality for me.) So when I was deciding last year I used these numbers to help me choose. The reality of the situation is this, if she could lose the weight on her own, she already would have. So her choices are stay obese, with an almost 100% guarantee of becoming morbidly obese or super obese by the time she is middle aged or do something about it now. The band may not be the answer, her personal answer might be the sleeve or GB instead, encourage her to find the answer.

Hey Claire, It good to hear from you, size 8 is wonderful, the whole stuffed effect will go away quickly. The great thing about getting close to goal is 4 pounds really makes a big difference in the way your clothes fit, it seems like when we first start we lose 10-20 pounds and we are still wearing the same clothes, but the difference between a too tight 8 and just right is probably only a few pounds. :rolleyes2: I am on the "fighting with my husband diet", its really not that cool. I have been so stressed that my band is really tight and I am having a hard time eating. I'm afraid to weigh tomorrow, I haven't eaten well for several days and I am probably going to be under 130 and I had said I was stopping at 135. Hows that for a complaint? Kind of surreal.

Sinning with a spaghetti squash...I didn't know that was possible. Too bad Bob isn't here he would have a blast with that one. Melody, I am superstitious so I am not going to jinx you but I have a good feeling about you... Well I guess I am on the "fighting with your husband" diet, I have been so stressed I can barely eat. It took an hour to eat a can of tuna with mayo tonight, I am at about 600 calories for the day. The sucky part is that even though I can barely eat I am still hungry but after a few bites I am slimming. :rolleyes2:

Yea for onederland!!!!:biggrin::crying:

Oh look I'm slumming....I mean slimming...I mean...What the..? :thumbup: I'm a size 4 who cares what they think!

Melody-- Pictures! I know that is a big emotional step for you. I'm glad you are feeling good enough to share these with us. And they are wonderful! BTW, how do you find time to diet when you spend so much time following WB. around disputing everything she says? Christie-- Girl, just buy some new boots for those skinny calves! Shammah-- Did your nut say anything interesting that will help us too? I am self pay so I don't have that resource so I mooch off of everyone else, so please share. Bobbie! Its great to hear from you, I see you some on facebook but we want to hear from you here too. I really limit what I say on facebook since my son and his friends are on my page, I feel like we can say so much more on here. Stacie-- I'm really pulling for you on the whole band position thing, it will work out one way or another. I have faith, there is always an answer we just have to look harder to find it sometimes. Elcee-- I'm glad were friends on facebook, I love seeing your posts, its refreshing to have a non-American view of things too. Even though I have not been posting I have been reading every day. I have been struggling in my personal life and it is coming to a head, I think today will be the day that hard decisions will be made, please keep me in your thoughts today.

When I crashed my motorcycle a few years ago I had a road rash the size of a salad plate on my leg, I used Reten A (sp?) and there is no trace of a scar.

Miralax-- Tasteless and odorless, mix with water and drink, tomorrow you will be fine.