Hi everyone! I'm having surgery on January 10th and created a group in the groups section "January 2012 bandsters". Would love to get some discussions, support going.

woo---hoo...had a Starkist tuna salad pouch (about 2/3 of a cup) for lunch...with no sticking issues. yay! Is it too soon to say I might be in the green zone???

Chrissy, you are doing fabulous, congrats!

How did everyone do over the 3 day holiday weekend? I survived for the most part. No major issues. I had a wonderful NSV that I didn't expect. After doing errands and cleaning yesterday, it was hot and I just wanted to sit in the backyard and get some color. We opened our pool yesterday and was not able to go in as it needs to be shocked, etc. I decided to look for some old bathing suits I had stored away knowing full well I wouldn't be able to wear last year's suits as they would be swimming on me, no pun intended. I found a tankini from NewPort News, a good 6 yrs old, still in good condition and size 14/16 {last year's was 20/22}. It fit and looked really good on me! I couldn't believe it! My husband also commented on how good it looked which was an added bonus although he's been very supportive all along.

Hi everyone! I did really well this weekend. In fact, yesterday at the Y I did a 1 hour muscle conditioning class as well as 30 min zumba and 30 min zumba toning. I'm feeling it today, especially that muscle conditioning class! I did have a bowl of ice cream one evening, but counted it and then worked it off!!!

Chrissy- how's the restriction?? Are you doing better? At restriction or need an unfill? Don't be a hero!!

I have been having mini-stuck episodes, which- strangely enough- I"m happy for as it means it's working (right, Chrissy!). I have another fill next Monday of .5 cc's, so hopefully I"ll be close! I have been eating way too fast, need to slow that down!!!!

I hope everyone else is doing well! Mags, haven't heard from you in awhile, what's up???

Hey everybody! How's it going after a 3day weekend?

Meredith...great NSV! dug my swimsuit out yesterday as well. Its a 20/22 and just looking at it I could tell it would be too big. I also have a tankini from about 4 years ago. Its a 16 but I haven't braved myself enough to try it on yet. LOL.

JDI...good for you! I say don't deny yourself something as long as you count it...and great job on the workout. I'm planning to go to zumba tonight myself. The restriction is better...thanks for asking. Very tight in the a.m. so I've been having hot tea prior to eating or just having a protein shake for breakfast. I really do have to centimeter-sized bites now though. I'm at less than a cup of food finally (haven't been there since right after surgery)...and I'm down just a little more. Now...if I can just lose 6 pounds by Friday (HA!) to meet my June 1st Onederland goal...that would be great. LOL. I finally decided to part with more clothes that I'd been hanging onto, thinking oh, I can wear that one more time.HA! I tried some things on and looked in the mirror. Potato-sack is not a good fashion statement. So...I filled up a 30-gallon garbage and a HUGE Belk shopping bag and they're going to either Goodwill or our local homeless shelter for women.

LOL Chrissy, I was wearing a lot of potato sack stuff too!!! I forgot to post this, but I ordered some new bras (the girls have lost weight too, bummer), and also a swim suit. We'll see how it looks!

Also, how's everyone doing with their goals for Kymie's birthday! I have .5 lbs to go.

If I might suggest another goal date- my birthday is July 4 (that will be about a month from Kymie's b-day). I had set an initial goal to lose 50 lbs by my birthday, but I've already surpassed that! So my birthday goal is to have lost 60 lbs by my birthday on July 4th.

Who's with me????? Set your goal!!!

Ugh!!!! Okay...I've discovered a new "peeve" since having the surgery. No one ever asks me to go to lunch with a group or if someone is ordering in, no one asks if I want to order anything. Just now I even tried to "hone in" on an order-in with three other people. I asked three times, "Where are you guys ordering from?" Not once did anyone answer. Crap people! I still eat....just not as much as you or as much as I used to! I am so P*($$#^ right now! Has anyone else experienced this? Someone please calm me down! LOL.

Chrissy, that's sad and plain rude. We're not pariahs' for goodness sake! Hopefully, you have someone in the group who can share with you why they are reacting that way. Good luck!

On another note here, I lost my first goal of 40lbs and as I said 4 mths ago this week, I'm burning up my Lane Bryant Card and calling the Corp to take me off their list. Forever! I have a $20.09 balance on my card and plan on sending that payment in the mail tomorrow.

No offense to anyone here but I'm done with them, The Avenue, Dress Barn, etc etc. Yes, they were there for me when I needed them however, I still feel they were expensive and the quality of their clothes did not warrant the cost! Having said that, I loveeeee their Cacique bras and I'll miss them but I'm sure in time, I'll find bras just as nice but in a smaller size.

The killer is.... I just got their promo & coupons in the mail today. I need to get new bras and still can fit into their smallest one's, so maybe, just maybe I'll use the one coupon, buy a few bras and get $25,00 off and tell them in person, thank you but I'm breaking up with you. You just don't do it for me anymore. Now, onto my next goal of losing 35-40 lbs, my final goal. Hmmm, I know, a "little" black dress. I always wanted one of them in my closet as well as on my body. Macy's Misses Dept here I come!!!

JDI, you're on! I'll go with your birthday and try for 50 lbs. Kudo's to you for surpassing your goal of 50lbs!! That's awesome.

Funny you mention bra sizes as I just wrote above in my post that "the ta-ta's need a smaller bra size. The "ta" on the right is smaller and I have an indent in the bra and have to play around with it to "fill it" out! LOL Not only do we have losses, NSV's but we have to have a sense of humor on this journey.

Forgot to mention I went for my yearly mammo and the Radiologist Dr came out to give me my results and asked me if I've lost weight recently? Not knowing her, I was confused but happy to share with her I had the surgery and how much I had lost. It showed up in the mammo compared from last year's mammo! Silly me, I worked in Radiology year's ago and should've realized how she knew but I was just taken back.

Hi everyone- Chrissy, that's such a drag! Can you say something to them? Are they just being catty because you're thinner now???

Meredith- I can't wait to be at the point where I don't want my LB card anymore. I'm not there yet, but soon!

I lost .5 lbs last week- which was okay after such a huge drop last week. So I was thinking of my journey and I had 154 lbs to lose. I have lost 53 lbs so far- which is just over 1/3 of the way done. SO- I'm done with my beginning phase, now I'm in the middle phase, and the last 51 lbs will be my final phase. That means I have lost 33% of my excess weight- and I had my goal to lose more than my doc did, so their numbers say I've lost a bigger % (if that makes sense). So, feeling good about things right now. I had a rest day from exercise yesterday- that muscle conditioning class kicked my a$$ on Monday- I did zumba on Tuesday, and yesterday I had dd's 1st grade end of year program and a doctor appointment for dh. And of course, while I was gone, all heck breaks loose at work, so lots of clean up today! I do plan on doing my elliptical when I get home. Food is all OP (on plan) and I'm hanging in!

Post updates everyone! I appreciate everyone's posts a lot.

Meredith & JDI...I'm calmer today. No...didn't say anything. My DH helped me see that a) they probably don't even realize what I see and if they do, they probably think they are helping me stay on track by not tempting me with possible bad choices. So, I decided to go with the latter, let it go and move on. So...today is a new day! I've realized I'm not going to meet my "Kymie June 1st goal" (missed it by just this (-) much. lol)...so I'm going to move on to JDI's goal-setting for July 4th. My goal is to finally reach "Onederland" and to have lost a total of 75 lbs. So...I'll need to lose 18 pounds by July 4th. hmmm...gotta step up the exercise on that one!

RE: the bras....I SO need to find some new ones! LOL. I think there might be a breast lift in my future...though my DH says if I do that, he wants me to add some to them! LOL. I told him I'm not trying to put weight back on...even in my boobs! LOL. ah...men!

Good attitude, Chrissy. How is the restriction going? Are you good?

Oh, and Meredith- I have the same problem with one of the "girls" being about a cup size smaller. I bought these silicone inserts called full cup-tuous off amazon, that I put in the one side to fill that side out. Works great!!!!

Restriction is going well. Very tight in the AM but loosens after exercise and/or something to drink. I'm down to about 3/4 c of food. Unless its soup or a protein shake..then I can just drink, drink, drink. LOL.

So tomorrows the big goal day. I know I lost 10 but the additional 5 I'm not sure. Will weigh in tomorrow morning and see if I reached my 15 pounds in 5 weeks birthday goal. Good luck everyone.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYMIE!!!!

I met my goal!!

Everyone set a goal for my birthday- by July 4 my goal is to have lost 60 lbs!