I am SO happy that I reached out to all of you!! What a difference a post makes! I am recording everything I eat on my new MyFitnessPal account. I am MUCH more mindful of everything that I eat because now I have to hold myself accountable. Now, I just need to keep doing it; create that habit. I'm watching my portions and I'm eating slower. Even when my husband is home we eat in front of the TV and as we all know, we don't pay attention to how or how much we are eating. I am incredibly aware now.

I've used MRSINTO's ideas for meals and tonight I had 97% browned ground beef, Glory Foods - Sensibly Seasoned Lower Sodium Tomatoes, Okra, and Corn, and Margaret Holmes White Acre Peas, and sauteed sweet onion. It's a one pot meal and it's awesome!!! It will last me 5 days or maybe 6 (my portions are appropriate now...).

I'm also not mixing my Protein with skim milk or almond milk before I mix it in my coffee. Nope, I'm putting just the protein into my black iced coffee. I'm also making sure that I am drinking/consuming a lot of protein. Today I've already had 65 grams.

The icing on the cake so-to-speak? I have signed up for a 5k and I downloaded a Couch to 5k (C25K) app on my phone. I went to the gym this afternoon and not only did I do Week 1 Day 1's workout (all treadmill), but I also did another 40 minutes on the treadmill. In total I burned over 350 calories!! I will RUN this 5k!! I will!!!

So, thank you everyone for being here and for giving me the push I so desperately needed. Whether you commented or didn't even know that I had posted; because of this forum we will all succeed. I couldn't do it without you!!! Much love! :wub: Bee

5 years banded great results lots of hard work I am currently way in the red zone and recently moved to NC the DR I found refused to take ANY liquid out of my band until I had an upper GI then they have some crazy rule that they do fills 1x a month. I travel and the day they do it will rarely work for me. When they did the upper GI (Monday) they said my band was way over restricted and that the radiologist would call the surgeon to see if they could get me in before this Thursday... no call from my surgeons office. Knowing my luck I will go tomorrow and he will not listen to me and want to take too much out. I am in High Point NC and the Dr is Dr Dasher.. does anyone know any Doc's in this area who understand the lap band and don't put ridiculous restrictions on you. I have had by band for 5 years lost over 160 lbs. feel like I know what I need as unfill and don't like waiting more than 2 weeks to meet some Docs crazy schedule to get help

I think you should start a new thread for this. More people need to read it because 1) I'm sure that you are not the only one going through this, and 2) you will have a better chance of finding a GOOD doctor in NC.

Best of luck. Stay strong! Only you know your body.

5 years banded great results lots of hard work I am currently way in the red zone and recently moved to NC the DR I found refused to take ANY liquid out of my band until I had an upper GI then they have some crazy rule that they do fills 1x a month. I travel and the day they do it will rarely work for me. When they did the upper GI (Monday) they said my band was way over restricted and that the radiologist would call the surgeon to see if they could get me in before this Thursday... no call from my surgeons office. Knowing my luck I will go tomorrow and he will not listen to me and want to take too much out. I am in High Point NC and the Dr is Dr Dasher.. does anyone know any Doc's in this area who understand the lap band and don't put ridiculous restrictions on you. I have had by band for 5 years lost over 160 lbs. feel like I know what I need as unfill and don't like waiting more than 2 weeks to meet some Docs crazy schedule to get help

You go girl!

remember only one cup of food total each meal.

and i f you eat in the kitchen and set a place for your hub by maybe someday he will join you. put yourself first this time

Way to go! I'd love that one-pot recipe from MrsInto if you can direct me to where it was posted? I've also just started the C25K and my only suggestion is to do each week as many times as you need to until you don't feel like you are going to die while running. It makes it so much easier and helps keep that motivation going instead of frustrating you because you aren't quite ready to move on to the next level...I'm going to end up with a 24 week program instead of 12 week program. :0)

GREAT - so glad to hear it!

Are you guys referring to a website where we can get food ideas? (Mrsinto) Can you please post it? I can only use this app on my phone, but I could really use something like that!

The recipe ideas didn't come from a website. They were some ideas that I gave to BeeKipp. What she made isn't exactly what I gave, but she improvised and made it with add-ins that she likes.

The idea is to make a pot of something you like, that's band friendly, and can be eaten for a few days. Unless you're someone who likes to cook on a daily basis, having something ready to nuke when you're on the fly, can be a savior My recipe ideas are just about anything you can mix up with ground meat; beef, turkey, lamb, etc. My favorite is:

1lb ground turkey or beef, seasoned with salt, pepper & garlic powder; browned & drained.

1 can Rosarita traditional refried Beans (or any refried beans that you like)

1 can black beans. I do not drain the liquid because it helps keep the whole thing moist

Mix it all together, and heat through.

Sometimes I'll make Pasta sauce with meat, and eat my 1/2-2/3 cup without pasta. I'm not against pasta, but I find it difficult to control.

You can do any variation of these that sound good to you.....like Bee did. Since surgery, I've found that ground meats are the most band friendly for me, so I invent recipes around them. I made something really yummy with ground lamb, onions, mushrooms, condensed cream of mushroom Soup, low fat sour cream and couscous.

Hope that helps. Just be creative with what you like