Betsyjane

Marni-After my surgery I lost weight because I was inflammed. then it stopped. After my first fill, nothing happened. After my second fill, I felt some restriction and I wasn't eating as much but I could still eat anything...just didn't feel like eating as much. it was really vague, but I thought the rest was up to me. After my third fill, i began the life of a bandster. Some people take even more fills to get it and some take less or none to get it. Don't hesitate to get to the sweet spot so you can do the work! I'm learning nonstop about my new life now.

All I can say is that the negativity is meaningless to me when I can wake up-like this morning-and see the scale down 2 pounds!

My guess is that they CAN say that kind of stuff, although I don't know why they would bother. They can certainly tell a Dr. if someone is getting pain meds from other Drs....

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/post-op-checklists-t14814.html

Jodi: I have alot of respect for what you are doing. That's hard feedback to take to heart. And harder to act on. I'm impressed with you. If the counselor wants you to see a shrink, ask the counselor to refer you to someone who is cheap. Every county in Texas has an MHMR with sliding scale psychiatrists, and the counselor will know if there are other options. Don't give up the good fight.

I don't get it. Lunch meat, feta cheese, and porterhouse steaks sound way high calorie. On South Beach (I don't know South Beach) can you eat any protien? I remember when I did the beginning of Atkins way back when I ate any protein (lots of bacon) and initially lost weight but then not so much. i thought low fat was still the way to go regardess. I need education! Denise-I've been there. What are you eating in a normal day?

I sometimes THINK I'm missing chowing down...until I take the first bite. Then I'm fine again and can't imagine eating a whole plate full. Food tastes better in my head than it does in my mouth. Once you're banded, though so many many things start to change. You won't miss food as much as you might think because you're so busy trying to perfect this juggle of eatting property. some days I can do it without breaking a sweat. Other days I'm counting calories, fat, carbs, protions sizes, number of chews, amount of exercise...because I have to do all the structural things on unmotived days, just to get back with it. so I guess I'm stilll new enough that I've replaced my food obsession with, er, food obsession.

Hi. Congrats on starting your journey! Go to the main page of lapband talk and scroll down near the bottom, to the local USA groups. Find your area and you'll be able to read what people say about your local physicians. You might pick several first consult seminars to go to and see who you like. Join up with the group online in your area and find out if they nmeet as a support group. If so, start going. You are beginning such a huge learning curve that it's best to gather the support troops from the beginning! you'll begin to find that you let go of people who just say to exercise more and eat less, and you'll start hanging with people who get it that morbid obesity is complex, and who can cheer you on. Believe me, we all started where you are! Use this site to ask a gazillion questions as you go along, and read read read. Have fun!

Who's coming to the meeting on the 12th? BetsyJane-1

Karen, I know how you feel. My first and second fill did nothing. I was kicking myself and holding off on getting another fill, thinking I was failing. then I got my third fill and it all made sense. i had restriction and I could follow the plan. Wish I'd gotten it much sooner and quit beating myself up! Hey Angela. I'll bet there's a way to do mindful on the run. Probably terribly difficult. I'm going to see if I can feel something like that......

Hey Karen. We take other large breed dogs too when we have room....but we are in Houston.... Christmas was fun. 14 large dogs in the house...... The way I figure if I need a fill is if I'm 1. Food seeking....feeling that insatiable thing 2. Not losing weight while eating in a healthy way. I sometimes eat about a cup and sometimes a cup and a half. I do better counting calories than cup, but I do eat on small plates.

Are you losing 1-2 pounds a week? I'd go by that first...... I also have 4 dogs---3 Golden Retrievers and a Standard Poodle.....but we often ahve lots more! Here's our place....We drown in dirt if we don't reclean all the time! www.GoldenRetrieverCamp.com

"They" say that sometimes when we think we want to eat, we really need Water, exercise, or sex. Maybe that machine IS the answer! I swore off my dear diet Coke when I got banded, but I've slid..... when we are out to eat, I sometiimes order a DC, knowing that I'll only get a few sips before the meal comes and I have to push it aside and not drink. Satisfies that little urge. When I get stuck, it's sometimes because I gulped instead of chewed and swallowed a tiny bit. and it's sometimes because I just shouldn't ahve eaten it....gooey things that seal over the opening. I assume all my stucks are stuck at the top of the band/bottom of the pouch. I often feel my fullness in my throat and I was worried that that was too late... but dr. says for some people the fullness sensation is referred. It'a actually happening in the right place, but the senssation gets transferred to the throat.

Oh, sorry, Angela! I'm here. I love the concept of mindful eating. I came at that concept from another avenue. Joan Borysenko wrote a bunch of books about mindfulness based on her research on psychoimmunology. I love the term. I was in Thailand a year ago, and I was reminded watching the monks meditate in the temple, with loud tourists practically walking over them! I also do think that my past bad eating was done in a trance, so it isn't that foreign a concept to my insides to have a healthy trance now. I'm also finding that I can't get any solid food down in the morning unless I totally relax, and I can get way too much food down in the evening unless I really focus.

Cars are expensive to maintain. Purses are still worth something. If you ever prioritize it, I have faith in you that you'll do it. We tend to be attracted to, and marry, people who at our own level of emotional maturity. The better you get, the better the guys you get attracted to. The relationship payoff comes from working on you. but ya know, when I was in college, I was attracted to a guy that I could never imagine seeing myself with now. Just glad I waited until later to get hitched.

I've found either side to be at fault.

I figure some people have the erroneous belief, as my father did, that people improve through criticism. Couldn't be farther from the truth. Their loss.

I've had the same thing happen, more than once. After I get my bearings, I have fun grilling everyone, if I have the time. I think sometimes people get so busy that they forget how they look and act to others. I give them a mirror...if I have the time to mess with it. "Now, I just want to find out what happened so I'll know how to handle it in the future. Pharmacy, please show me the fax verifications. I'll need to know date and time and that it was verified received. No? You don't want to do that? Well, I'll need it for my records because my doctor has accused me of lying about it. Doc's office, here's what I have written down about what you said to me when I called to follow up on this. Is there anything else you can recall that was said to me. I just need to get it straight since I got in the middle of a miscommunication between you and the pharmacy and I don't want to do that again. I stick with it and talk slowly and use up their time until I have everything I can get about what happened. Then I write letters to all parties concerned detailing what I have found out and asking how they would like situations like this handled in the future. Usually by then, they are speaking solftly, and I have never raised my voice either.

LOL! what IS it about that? I exercise best if I try to do it before I'm really awake. I guess it's before my brain is engaged enough to talk me out of it!

OK. I promise no more haranguing about counseling. You could sell a car and a purse and get it if it were at the top of your list of priorities. Good luck finding a job! I hope it's everything you need it to be.

The price seems to be starting to drop a bit. I paid $15000 in November and my Dr. has dropped his fee since then. I'm like you. I thought about Mexico since I'm self pay but felt safer in the USA. But I've also read about lots of successes in Mexico....lots of people here went to Dr. Ortiz. Here's another thing to consider. My $15000 also pays for a year of fills, and if I lose half my unwanted weight during the first year, mt second year of fills is free. If you go to Mexico and then find a fill doctor here, you'll pay for each fill.

If getting used and using guys is what you consider a good life, then you'll really be thrilled if the world opens up to you having a great relationship someday...and love. It's worth getting the counseling so you can get to the next level. Meanwhile, the next time they want to give you a purse, ask for counseling instead. Sounds like some of them can foot the bill. See if they want you to dress up your insides as much as your outsides. Oh, never mind. You're not in a place to make that commitment at the moment. Er, how many cars?

Ipod shuffle.

100% cotton socks so you don't get static shock. Pillow for the ride home was a blessing.

Seems to me the point is to not use your stomach muscles yet, so if you do hand weights with enough strain to do any good, hand weights would be included. Just my opinion.