sandman27959

Hey Jacki. Good luck with your journey! D.

For the time or two I've had acid reflux since getting my band, I've just used an over-the-counter treatment like you get at Walgreens. I find the liquid type pretty much takes care of it in one dose. I've also chewed a Tums or two to give it the one-two punch. It hasn't happened often, but it's no fun when it does. Glad you're getting it taken care of tomorrow. Hang in there. D.

Pardon my ignorance, but does the microwave not pop the popcorn after two minutes? D.

If you go back to the gym too soon you're going to do more damage than good. Walking for 6 weeks or whatever your doctor recommends is the way to go. They're doing surgery on you and you should give it time to heal so there are no complications. Complications can get nasty. D.

Hey! Congratulations to you! My computer was doing the same thing, but I found that if I go to a page other than the home page I can log in. Hope this helps. D.

One little screw-up isn't going to do anything as long as you keep it at that and don't let it derail your efforts. Just don't do it again. Use it as a learning experience to learn about what triggers your eating behavior. That's my two cents... D.

There's also a great website called myfitnesspal.com. You can track all of your food, exercise, and weight all in one place and it's free. When setting it up, it will give you some default recommendations for nutrition. I customized them to agree with what my doctor recommended. It's a valuable tool for me. D.

Sounds like your mind is catching up to your body. Congratulations. Enjoy that realization. D.

I'd get it straight from the horses mouth and call the insurance company. My doctors office also had an insurance coordinator who handled all the paperwork for me. Yours may have one too, and they may be a good resource for specific questions. Don't get discouraged. Just because mine worked like that doesn't mean yours is going to. D.

Hey there! I'm sure you can find something different. If you do a Google search for "bariatric vitamins" you'll find some good online vendors of special Vitamins and mineral supplements compounded especially for bariatric patients. I had some calcium citrate that was so good it was like eating a piece of lemon candy. Of course it COULD be that you're a big freak, but I'm not getting that from your initial post. D.

I'm a state employee and have BCBS NC. I was in pretty much the same boat with being barely "overweight enough", but as I understand it the insurance company contacted my primary care doctor who was able to show that my BMI had been over 40 for an extended period - the last 2 years I think. This was enough to get me approved. I don't remember mine having a 10% clause, but that was a few years ago. I do remember having to articulate past failed attempts to lose weight, so you might have a few of those on the tip of your tongue. This probably doesn't help a lot, but I thought I'd give it a shot. D.

What an honor! You must be a great example of everything they want their practice to represent if they asked you to do this, so that should give you a great deal of confidence right off the bat. I do quite a bit of public speaking for a living, and I find that just being yourself is the best way to handle it. Whether you realize it or not, your story is sad, funny, adventurous, poignant, and inspirational just standing alone as it's own story. (That's why your doc asked you.) Just get up there and be as truthful as you feel comfortable being, and you'll touch a nerve in those people because you've been exactly where they are now. It's all about human connection. At the risk of sounding trite, I'd speak as long as I had something meaningful or important to you to say. As a last resort (and my own personal bailout if I'm having a day where the words aren't flowing) take questions. You're the expert in your own experience. Nobody knows more about your journey than you do. You'll do great. These people are genuinely interested in your life-changing decision because they're trying to make one for themselves.

Hey welcome! Like Jeff said, the band isn't magic, so you'll still have to do the work. It will however allow you to level the playing field of hunger so you have a fighting chance at success. Before my band I would have never been able to eat as little food as I do now and feel like I could survive without starving. What the band did for me was take away the craving hunger between small meals, and teach me how little food I actually need to live a healthy life. Because I was always hungry, I felt like I NEEDED all that food. My advice to start immediately would be to cut out one unhealthy thing from your diet. Just one to start with. If you start really small, it won't be hard to keep up with it and turn it into a habit. Pick something that is really bad for you that you shouldn't be eating any way. After you've been successful with that, pick something else to cut out. D.

Wow. You look amazing, and a better screen name I have not seen. Love it. Congratulations.

I may be an extreme case, but I take one minute between bites of food and allow each bite to pass through my band. So at "60 seconds" I take a small bite, chew thoroughly, swallow, wait for the timer to count down to zero. At zero, I take another bite and repeat. It's exactly like waiting for the sand in your timer to finish. The only difference is that this timer keeps resetting for how ever long you tell it to. I have an app for my iPod called "Interval Timer." It was free from the Apple app store. You can also buy a dedicated interval timer from most sporting goods stores or online. Runners use it to switch between periods of high intensity and low intensity - like run, walk, run, walk. PM me if it isn't clear. Hope this helps. D.

I'm no doctor, but that looks like infection to me. I'd go to the ER or your primary care doctor and get started on some antibiotics. I'd also follow the cleaning instructions listed above. If it turns out to be nothing, no worries, but you don't want an infection to get a foothold in a deep surgical incision. I don't think it's anything to freak out about, but if it were me I'd go get it checked out. D.

You can get an interval timer online cheap, or get a free app called "interval timer" for your smart phone. I use the latter. I use it to alternate between two one-minute intervals, and the timer counts down one minute for each. Confused? Here's how it works... When I take my first bite, I hit the start button. The timer counts down for one minute while I chew that bite of food. When it reaches zero the screen automatically changes color to indicate the change and starts counting down again from one minute while I take another bite of food. I have it set to do this routine 10 times, so after 20 minutes the timer stops. If I'm not finished in 20 minutes, it's time to stop eating. So far for the amount of food I'm eating, I haven't made it anywhere near 20 minutes even taking very small bites. This may seem a little extreme to some folks, but I've always just inhaled my food so I'm going through some behavior modification for myself. It's working quite well. After even a very small meal I find myself not hungry any more, and I'm actually treating mealtime now as more of a relaxing, enjoyable time instead of a time to see how much I can eat. Hope this helps. D.

Mine was Blue Cross from work. Basically my only insurance requirement was that my BMI had been over 40 for the last two years. I had the dubious distinction of almost not being fat enough to qualify. Crazy, but true. My doctor's requirements were quite a bit stiffer. I had to go through several months of support groups, exercise physiology classes, a psych exam, and a battery of physical tests (blood work, EKG, blood sugar, etc.) It wasn't terribly difficult, but my doctors office is an hour away. Also, I'm one of those people that after I've made up my mind, I'm ready to get on with it! Good luck! D.

Hey! Congratulations! You're probably still a bit swollen from surgery, so it will get easier. Quite frankly, things will change a lot before you achieve your new "normal." At least they did for me. Before long it will all feel like it's always been a part of you. Just follow your doctors orders to the letter, and realize that your success depends on you and you'll do great. Best of luck with it! D.

For me, it was after the first 30 pounds when people said something. It's nice when people notice, but I don't use that as a measure of my success. I did have to learn how to take a compliment gracefully though - a strange thing for me at first. D.

I agree with the others. I wear my scars - not just my surgery scars - like a badge of honor. I earned every one of them and they're there to remind me of my personal triumphs or stupidity. FYI also - my doctor installed my band through a single 1-1/2 inch incision, so it's possible with the right surgeon. Good luck on your journey! D.

Yup. Mine is when I can wake up and have my coffee, and that will be the only thing I'm really hungry for until lunch time. Then I eat a half cup of nutritious food for lunch, and I'm not hungry again until dinner (where I eat another half cup.) No Snacks between meals, and no food after dinner around 7pm. Two small meals, no nagging hunger. It'll probably be different for most folks, but that's my version. To oversimplify it, "yellow" means you're hungry between small meals and need another fill. "red" means you're overfilled and the plumbing is blocked so you can't get things down or have heartburn. Green means you're just right - no nagging hunger and losing weight. Hope this helps. D.

Assuming your portion sizes have crept up, it might help to get a food scale. I'm having to learn what a small portion size (4-5 oz) looks like. I got a little Taylor digital scale with a glass platform - $20. You can set your plate on top and it will zero out, then just add your food. Only thing I don't like is the Biggest Loser" logo. Jeeeze. D.

Congratulations! I hope this tool enables you to do everything you want it to. Best of luck! D.

Go see your doctor. I had a bout of dizziness and realized it was related to my intake of too much caffeine. I was drinking a lot of coffee and green tea - so much in fact I was having an irregular heartbeat that was causing the dizziness. Started drinking decaf and switched to Water and it cleared right up. Yours may be different, but a doctor can help you get to the root cause. Good luck. D.