Positive people unite! This thread is being created for the sole use of positive people to give positive reinforcement to others in the group that we care about. We know that we may disagree on some issues but we will offer constructive criticism, objective suggestions, we will always give kind support even when delivering the occasional (but necessary) kick in the pants.

Wow, I can't catch up........

It sounds like everyone is doing well, earthquakes, binges and all ...........

There's not too much excitement going on with me. I'm not sure my tiny fill helped. I thought it had, but I was hungry between meals today. I'm just going to have to plan ahead better and keep a tiny snack with me on work days.

My Easter was nice. Bowling was fun Saturday. We went to a different place and did the bowling with colored pins for money. It took way too long and I stayed up too late, but it was fun. I bowled my best game yet! ......................don't laugh .....145 ! It must have been the flames on the sides of my rental shoes!

It was nice to read about everyone's Easter.

Betsy- Were you unable to eat at all? Or were you only able to eat a tiny bit?

Leigha- Your pictures are wonderful and you look great!

Reading about everyone's pbs and stuck episodes scares me a little. I still tend to eat too fast and the first couple bites are always uncomfortable. I have 8 days until I see my surgeon again and I think I've lost 7 pounds this month and want to try for 3 more. That's aiming high, but what the heck. My strategy is to really up my exercise for the next week. I have decided I will get a fill. I don't want to lose slower. I walk or use an eliptical. I'm going to have to get a lot more serious about my exercise!

Morning all!

My MIA status is due to nothing more than getting swallowed in Facebook's Mafia Wars and Farmville, but fortunately FB is becoming more impossible to use each day due to the incredible lag and patience was never one of my virtues so I'm being weaned off of it. That and the nice weather that has me itching to get out in the garden. I did manage to get my asparagus bed cleaned out. Good thing because we're supposed to have lots of rain and thunderstorms (I love thunder!) over the next 4 days.

Status quo as far as my lap band journey. I decided not to go in for another fill even though I 'can' eat more than 1 cup *sometimes*. On Sunday, my mother-in-law made a standing rib roast, parsley potatoes and salad. I made it through 2 extremely thin pieces of roast, probably 2 oz at most, 1/2 cup potatoes and my very small salad. Yesterday though I had about 4 oz of meatloaf and about 3/4 cup potatoes with a salad that had homemade croutons in it. As much as I wanted more, Hilda said 'enough'...and that's what I got her for.

The pain in the arm is still there, although it seems to be lessening. Here's hoping it goes away completely *soon*.

Cocoa: I don't seem to have an issue with any vegies except romaine lettuce. Raw or cooked, they all go down easily.

Leigha: I agree that it's difficult to figure this band out. Some days tight, some days not tight enough. One day you can eat something, the next it gets stuck...and not because you didn't chew well or take a small bite. I'm getting to the point where I just don't want to eat out anymore because I never know whether I'll end up facedown in a public toilet...and if that's not enough to ruin your dinner, I don't know what is. Eating has always been a pleasurable thing for me. Not so much anymore but that is probably a good thing.

Dottie: Welcome back. Glad to hear your absence was just due to a dead laptop. Hopefully you handled the withdrawal better than I would. I would've been visiting the next computer store we passed to replace it.

Sawyer: Lucky you that you actually have fat pictures to go back to. I tended to avoid the camera so there aren't that many of me. However, when we went to dinner this past Sunday at my mil's, she had 3 albums on the sideboard and said I should look through them because it might give me a lift to remind myself what I did look like and where I am now. I found one of me at my son's graduation...a back view...when I was at my highest weight of 330. My mouth literally dropped open. I'd forgotten how big I was. I want to scan that pic now and take another one of me now and put them side by side as motivation.

JM: Congratulations on hitting your Easter goal! Woohoo!

Anne: I have to say that the information I have gained from the people on this site has helped my journey tremendously. I told my doc they should include this site in their info packet that they hand out at their seminars and tell people they should come here, ask questions and read about how others are handling the band postop. Oh, and I don't think 10 'sugar free' popsicles counts as a binge. You did 'good'.

Betsy: I can't do chicken either, but then I bought a bag of the chicken tenderloins, remembering they were more tender and less dry than the whole chicken breast. I was right. I can eat chicken again and best of all, one tenderloin is the perfect size. I am ROFL at you choosing the 18 just to keep from buying a size with a W in it. I think I'd do the same. How's Mark doing?

Bobbie: I am so sorry to hear about your job. My mom always said that when a door closes, God opens a window somewhere...and life has usually worked that way for me. Or perhaps it's because *if* we look, we can find the positive in just about anything. Take a breather, try not to stress and just enjoy the downtime while you look for another position. I know...easier said than done, but ultimately worrying won't fix the situation anyway, neh?

Stacie: Your graphic description of eating out and running to the bathroom had me howling! Been there...done that...so I laugh *with* you. I have many of my own 'dumbass' moments.

Christie: Your 5 year old is a hoot! Isn't it amazing how quickly they adjust to our food 'issues'? Still giggling here.

Bree: We could all lose 'faster'. It's just a case of do we want to do what we would have to in order to do so. Personally, I'm happy eating like a normal weight person which means it may take me a year or more to lose the weight I have left. That's ok because this time I know it's coming off and it's not coming back on. Took me 40 years to get here, so 2 years to reverse it isn't much.

HB: Try upping your protein, even if it's in a shake, between meals. I find that when I forget to drink my protein shake between meals, I'm really hungry...or at least craving...and then have to struggle not to go overboard on eating at mealtime.

Ok...it's 8:30 and I promised my 17 year old (who is on spring break) that I would let him sleep late before dragging him down to the warehouse to work. When you get up at 6 a.m., 8:30 *is* late...although I'm not sure he's going to agree. <evil grin>

Have a great day y'all!

Melody

Elfie, I am so jealous of the asparagus. I also wanted to say thanks to whoever it was that mentioned the herb plants being in the front of the house. I wanted to plant some but with the dog in the back yard, well you know. I don't know why the front never occurred to me but that is what I am going to do.

The coolest thing happened on my way to work, my neighbor had cleaned out their flower beds and had put these large clumps of day lilies and iris' by the trash! There were 7 clumps of them about 1 foot around so I did what any self respecting hoarder would, I pulled over and put them in my trunk! I bet there are 100 rhizomes in there. I took them home and put them in a plastic tub and watered them so hopefully they will all still be good when I get home. I have a place in my yard under the oak tree that I have sodded twice in the last 4 years and its dead again so I wanted to make a woodland type garden there. Ask and ye shall recieve...

Happy Tuesday, Bandsters !!

From the looks of things, everyone is doing well:thumbup: Gardens, flowers, spouses, families, dogs, and diets... I'm so glad to hear that...

So now, a bit about me, then I'll shut up :-)

I'm doing ok. Had a little pity party the past few days, but now the party is over !!!!!! I'm feeling much better about things right now. Yes, we BOTH are unemployed, and money always sucks, but we're healthy, we have each other, we both woke up this morning,The sun is shining, and I'm still cute as hell

So, I applied for food stamps and housing assistance today, he filled out a few job aplications, and I have an interview tomorrow with an optical place in town. So I may be down, but I'm , by no means, out ! ROAAAAAARRRRR ! < I am woman, and all that stuff >

Anyway, I need to run a few errands, and I'll be checking in later.

Have an amazing day, all my good friends whom I've never met !

Looking forward to reading your posts today...

I'm way behind, trying to catch up -- but do want to say to Bobbie -- hang in there, sister! This, too, shall pass. Hugs!

Here's my update -- I'm trying to find motivation EVERYWHERE!

Photo Montage:

YouTube - Progress Pics 4/2010

Vlog:

YouTube - 11 Weeks Post-Op

(My webcam is not great and doesn't sync audio/video. Wahh!)

Enjoy! Thanks for watching.

Thanks for the tip about the toilet seat cover! I know there wasn't enough time to grab one this last time...but definitly stored in my memory bank!!

Bobbi-Good luck on your interview!

Everyone sounds like they had a nice Easter. There is candy in my house that def. needs to disappear...not only that the ice cream stand less than a mile down the road is now open :thumbup:. I keep trying and swear I have no will power left :thumbdown:. The scale is not moving...and I know I am not going to reach my goal of ONDERLAND by 5/15/10. I still have well 14-17lbs to go (depends on the day lol). I am so mad at myself for not being stronger with my food choices and not exercising more

Stacie - high 5 , sister!! lol I'm right there with you and your lousy food choices. I need to lose 50 by 10/14, and I cant break Onderland either. I'vebeen stuck for the past 2-3 months.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!

Also, Where's Bob? Is he boycotting us? I see him on FB. Doesn't he like us anymore ?:thumbdown:

Leigha - set a fire under his butt and get him over here! lol

Hi Everyone!

Well, I had an interesting day!

As I was getting ready to go home, I stopped by a friend's desk for a chat. I'd been standing there for about 30 minutes when suddenly I felt hot, then I started feeling a little lightheaded, then a little faint.

I sat down, got VERY faint, apparently went very pale, and felt nauseous, and ready to pass out. If not for having sat down, I would have.

My friend called the nurse (we have one on staff). Who came up and took my blood pressure - 90/50. Yeah, a tad bit low. She got me laying down, I drank some OJ, and rested a bit. The color came back to my face and I got to feeling better.

So, that was no fun.

I see my endocrinologist on Friday, I think we'll have a bit of a chat about it. Maybe I can get him to kick up my thyroid hormone dosage. I am also slightly anemic as of my last blood test a few weeks ago.

So, I'm not sure what this is all about. I have done this three times since last September when I started on a new medication for migraines. Always after I have been standing for a prolonged period.

Really strange to go from needing medication for high blood pressure to worrying about my pressure dropping and passion out! Dang!

Bobbie Thinking of you for the interview tomorrow!!

Edited April 7, 201016 yr by Cocoabean

Bobbie-- thoughts and prayers are with you for tomorrow! Good luck and let us know how it goes!!

So glad you're okay Denise! Maybe your blood sugar dropped. But watch out for your health! Okay, so here's my update. Went to the doctor's off yesterday for a fill. I thought I only gained 1.8 lbs but really gained 5 lbs. on my vacation. I ate a lot and ate a lot of bad foods so it was to be expected. I earned it...if ya know what I mean. Anyway, he kinda scolded me and I started to cry. I told him I started with an empty band and I know my weight loss hasn't be great but he really made me feel bad. So, he decides to draw allll the fluid out of my band to "check how much is really there". I thought I had 6.5 ccs. Come to find out I only have 5.4 ccs. So he gives me an additional .5 ccs and acts like this is a lot. I'm to go back every two weeks until I hit my sweet spot. I know he had my best interest at heart but has anyone else experienced this with their doctors? My doc keeps statistics and this may have something to do with what happened. If his patients gain weight then his stats go down. Besides that I hope and pray all is well with everyone! Have a great evening all...hugs your way.

Thank you all for the prayers and well wishes for tomorrow!! I really appreciate it. You guys mean the world to me :-)

Thank you all for the prayers and well wishes for tomorrow!! I really appreciate it. You guys mean the world to me :-)

I'll say a special prayer for you tomorrow!!! Hugs...

Thought I’d pop in to say hello to everyone. I’ll have to catch up with you all when I get a chance, but I wanted to share that I know my band is working!

They brought in pizza for lunch for this team I’m on at my job. I just had 1 slice of pizza and a breadstick and I am stuffed! But, I saw others pile their plates high…2 and 3 slices, 2 and 3 breadsticks, cups of soda, and they wolfed it down! I was like, man if I did that I’d be throwing up all over the place! Then to think of all the calories! Just what I ate was over 400 calories…multiply that by 3 and that’s my calories for the day in one meal! And to think I used to eat that much every meal ever day! And I’m sure, like me before, none of them were aware! Wow! It’s just amazing when you stop and think about it!

Well, back to work and more meetings! Hope everyone is doing well and having a good day!