Ondine

as i'm sure you all know, as you go UP in weight, periodically you'll clean out your closet in disgust, but there's usually one or two things you hold on to because you just KNOW that someday you'll fit into them again! today i'm wearing my last pair of back-of-the-closet treasures, and they're not even snug. i have reached the end of my tangible weight gain history. the next time i buy a new size of jeans - which i fully expect to be by the end of this month, given the way my 18s are fitting now - i will be buying a size that i wore so long ago that i can't even remember when it was. pretty cheerful about that, as you might imagine!

i never "time" my liquids prior to eating, but i absolutely can't drink anything when i eat, because it sits on top of everything in the pouch and without fail the pressure makes everything come back up!

I go back to the doctor a week from tomorrow, so I'm going to discuss this with him as well, but I wanted to ask the more experienced of you...how much should I be able to eat? Because I can still eat pretty well! I'm at 9ccs in an 11cc band, and I can definitely eat more than 1/4c at a sitting without discomfort. I'll get stuck if I'm not careful with *how* I eat, but I typically do not reach a point where I PB because I've eaten too much. I've had 3 fills total, and while I've noticed more episodes of getting stuck after each fill (I'm having a hard time adjusting to chew-chew-chewing and taking smaller bites), but I've only PBed twice in the 3 months since I've been banded. I'm concerned because at 9ccs, I don't have much more to go! I can eat a whole microwave lunch, or a large bowl of salad, or split one of the "for two" skillet meals with my husband, or a 3-4 "egg" egg beater omelet. On the one hand, I guess if I'm losing weight it's not that big of a deal if I can eat more than the 1/4 cup my doctor keeps talking about - but on the other hand, I got this surgery for serious restriction, know what I mean? I guess you never feel like you're losing weight fast enough when you have a long way to go, and I keep wondering if I'd be losing MORE if I could just get down to that magical (mythical?) 1/4 cup...

fantastic, great job!!

The impression I got from my doctor was that this is not all that uncommon. My surgery was covered by my insurance, but he warned me beforehand that many insurance companies DON'T cover fills, even if they covered the surgery - I'm still in my 3 month "free fill" period so I haven't had to submit any claims yet to find out if mine will be covered or not.

Ok, I'm starting tonight come hell or high water. Going to go with the straight Classic. I've been trying to hit the elliptical every day for 1/2 hour at lunch too, though I forgot my shoes today like an idiot.

Guh. Definitely not going to succeed at this challenge - GAINED 2 pounds over last week, probably because I overdid it at Friendlys this weekend in a fit of frustration and self-pity. I probably should not have signed up for a challenge prior to getting an actual restrictive fill. I go for another fill on Wednesday, and my doctor is pretty aggressive with them, so hopefully I'll be out of my funk and back on track.

that's great to hear! i'm kind of in a similar situation as you - i work 9-10 hour days and have an hour commute each way, so by the time i get home and deal with the kids and the house i don't feel like doing ANYTHING! just sit in front of the computer and play WoW! my only saving grace right now is that i have a co-worker who was banded about a month after me, so she and i have been motivating each other to go to the gym at lunch. hang in there, i know it seems slow now but i'll keep building and building and the more you lose, the more energy you'll have!

Since I'm not much of a morning person, I tend to eat breakfast once I get to work, and oatmeal and protein drinks are getting a little boring! I've seen this little plastic device at the grocery store that essentially lets you make an omelette in the microwave, but eggs are one of the things that I'm a little leery of zapping. Has anyone tried this, or microwaving eggs in general?

so how did everybody do over the weekend? i helped my husband unload a uhaul full of boxes and clean his company's storage unit - while not traditional exercise, it was definitely a workout! supposed to start going to the gym at lunch, if my coworker came in...

i think it's only a bad thing if it's a bad thing, if that makes sense, and it sounds like it's not a bad thing for you! i found the day-to-day fluxuations to be very discouraging, so i have to save them all up so that i (hopefully) see a more significant change once a week.

i have to limit myself to weighing in once a week. for a while there i was making myself crazy by getting on the scale every day (sometimes more than once!).

Day 2: UTTER FAIL! this is destined to not be my week, it seems. Didn't get home until after 9, dinner at taco bell! shame on me. now, in my feeble defense i still didn't exceed 1350 calories for the day, but still. taco bell?! i can't wait to get my next fill! you guys are doing great, and actually making me excited to be starting the videos. I have some 8 pound dumbells and a few resistance bands, is there anything else i'll need? as for the article, for me that just falls into the category of "popular misconceptions about fat people and people who get weight loss surgery".

Ok, I have a confession - I put off starting them yesterday! =( With school being out, the kids are all still underfoot generally until 9 or later at night, which doesn't leave me much time to myself in the evenings to focus on the videos. I decided that what I'm going to do is commit to walking every day for the next two weeks (even in this muggy Maryland weather, so you know I'm not messing around!) and possibly going to the gym at lunch. The week before school starts is when we start making the kids go to bed at "school" hours, so that's when I'm going to start. I'm not just making excuses to get out of it, right? I hate to keep putting it off, but with my workdays being 11+ hours when you factor in the commute, staying up until 11 or later to work out just isn't an option for me right now. As tough as I know they are, I'm actually kind of looking forward to doing them, guess I'm masochistic like that! Thanks for starting this, John - I'll definitely be hanging around! -Shelby

glad to hear the good things about P90X - i'm starting the program tonight, and was very worried about it being too much for me, but i'm just going to do as much as i can (and maybe a little bit more than that) and see how it goes.

Count me in! I'll add myself to the spreadsheet on Monday, when I weigh myself for the Labor Day challenge. I think I set too ambitious of a goal for that one, so I'm going to go with 50 pounds for the Christmas challenge. One of my coworkers is getting banded today, so we're going to start hitting the gym together at lunch once she recovers. Sort of looking forward to it (though the lazy part of me is not!).

Kelsey, I'm in the same boat as you, I didn't lose any this week either. I'm beginning to worry that I set myself too abmitious of a goal. Guess I need to ramp up the working out...

viking_girl, i'm a Sobe fanatic as well! I drink the 0 calorie lifewater, and now the kids love it too. It's funny, when i first started drinking it after being a die-hard soda drinker, it tasted kind of...not bland, exactly, maybe thin is a better word? But now that I've been a few weeks without soda, I guess my tastebuds have readjusted and they're so delicious!

starting my first challenge, but better late than never. i'm shooting for 20 pounds this time around!

i was banded 4 weeks ago, and have lost 15 pounds despite having no restriction yet. i've been trying to stick to the type of diet i'm supposed to be following - lots of proteins, staying away from sugars, plenty of water, etc. right now i'm eating more than i'll ultimately be able to eat once i reach the right restriction level (i do still get really hungry!), but i'm not using no restriction as an excuse to just eat whatever i want. a big key for me has been to try to stop eating when i reach "not hungry" instead of going all the way to "full". i've also been better about keeping healthy snacks on hand so i don't let myself get to that point of being so ravenous that i knock the kids down on the way to the fridge to cram something in my face! :bolt:

Great job, congrats to you!

I was banded on 6/25 by Dr. Liao and can't say enough good things about him, the GBMC Bariatric Center, and the hospital staff, all-in-all it's been a fantastic experience!

Hello everyone! Another newbie here, my husband and I both had surgery about a month ago, and I'm trying to ease my mind about my first fill... I had my surgery on June 25, and I have the Realize band. I had no restriction after surgery, but have lost 15 pounds with trying to eat the way I'm supposed to eat, and trying to stop at "not hungry", instead of progressing all the way to "full". I had my first fill yesterday, and I'm lucky enough that my doctor likes to do aggressive fills - I got 6.5 CCs. He took me to the point where I could still get Water down but could kind of feel it in my chest (if that makes sense?) and then backed off just enough that i didn't have that sensation anymore. My question is this - I've been eating (cream) Soups yesterday and today, it seems like I've been feeling just as hungry as before, and the Soup and Protein drinks don't cause any major noticable feelings of fullness. I ate a whole can of soup for lunch and while I did seem more full afterwards, it was still a whole can of soup! Is this just a normal occurance because they're liquids, and the real noticable difference will come when I start back up with solids? I'm sure I'll be able to deal with it, it's just somewhat of a bummer to think that even 6.5 might not have been enough, and I have to wait another month to go back for another fill!