Hello Junbies ......

I haven't seen a June Band Crew thread yet so thought I would start it .

I'll be banded on June 9th in Texas. I'm getting very excited about it. I know that the band is just a "tool" to aid in my weight loss journey and it will take a lot of hard work on my part to make it successful. I've been overweight my whole life with the earliest memories being around age 4. Although no one else in my family is overweight, I am extremely fortunate to have full family support in my decision. I know that there are many people who's family doesn't offer the support they need. I would love to meet other pre-bandsters being banded in June to walk with me to the banded side of life and offer each other support.

I wish you all the best.

Melissa Lea :hippie:

Pre-bandster 240 lbs

June 9, 2006

Spivak

self-pay

Well, I am feeling a bit discouraged today. But I am right on track (according to my bandster way of losing). I haven't lost in ounce in almost 2 weeks. It seems that I will lose a couple of pounds then nothing for a couple of weeks. Go figure!! I was out of town again this past weekend and as usual happy to report no weight gain. That's a miracle in and of itself. I use to always gain weight when I went out of town.

Glad to see so many of you doing great.

Melissa Lea

Melissa

This is really a tough waiting game. I see you are close to onederland too. Sometimes I feel like I'm swimming upstream, but then I remember it took me 2 years of Weight watchers point counting to lose 17 pounds.

This week I've cut out my liquid protein shake for bfast in favor of a hi protein cereal. Seems I'm less hungry for an a.m. snack now. I've also added a very thin sliced well toasted sandwich for lunch. (bread is crunchy enough to be a cracker) If I eat it slow, it goes down great and stays with me longer than my usual salad. I've also cut back on protein bars in favor of whole foods (apple and motzarella cheese stick) for snacks. I hope to get back to losing two pounds per week. It's worth a try and I like having "real" food.

I also think if I walked around the block a few times after dinner, I might see a quicker loss--but the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak.

Can you think of other ways to jumpstart? The protein bars I was enjoying between meals were becoming a real fixation. I found myself "chowing down" on a protein bar way too often. No more than one per day for now.

What a couple weeks!

I went to Vegas for a week, flew home last Thursday night and flew to Atlanta early Friday morning for a weekend of wonderful Auburn football.

It was a wonderful time even though I have a terrible sinus infection/cold.

Through all that.........eating out every meal.........tailgating at the football game.........consuming "some" alcoholic beverages.......getting no regular exercise........not drinking water like I should.......etc., etc.....I lost another 8 pounds.

I don't understand it.........but I'm lovin' it.

I plan to get back on track now that life should settle down. I had thought I would go for a third fill, but considering my weight loss, I think I will leave well enough alone. I can pretty much eat anything I want except bread. As long as I take my time and avoid liquids before and during eating I'm having no problems. Maybe I got lucky and found my sweet spot with my second fill.

I may make my Christmas goal of Onederland. I'm so excited. I haven't caught up on all the posts but I hope everyone is doing ok.

I need help with aloe vera juice. I went to the health food store and was totally overwhelmed by all the choices! I ended up getting one called Herbal Stomach Formula. Let me know what kind you gals use if you buy it. I also found some "Aloe Splash" flavored water. It has Splenda-so no calories but has aloe and vitamins.

Barb-congrats on fitting the new clothes. I haven't bought any new clothes, but I can fit some of my old stuff that had gotten too tight.

I can eat a little more, but I still have a little pain. I wonder how long it takes to heal one's esophagus!

I got aloe vera juice at walmart in the drug area. I came home and drank some and threw it up. I've been a little afraid to try it again.

Monday I was able to eat again. Today I seemed OK, but tried to eat dinner and whamo. I stopped eating before any PBs. I did have a few burbs. Later I was able to eat ice cream. Go figure.

All of this is a new experience for me. I've read how the rest suffer with this, but never had it since banding. So now I'm not sure what is going on. Do I have restriction or am I still sore from this weekend? Am I going to be one that now suffers from the unpredictability of the band? Am I overfilled, but just a litle? I guess time will tell. If I don't PB anymore I'll just go with this for now. I'm trying to be careful what I eat, but after not eating for 4 days I was getting hungry. Tonight was the first meal that was something different from soup. I only had 2 bites before the golf ball.

Oh well this isn't as bad as others have suffered through. Chin up barbara and march onward.

Sorry for your pain Barbara! Lord knows I can relate! You're the one who convinced me to get some unfill after being tight for so long. I know you've been filled and unfilled before, so you know your body best. But, if things don't improve, you better go to the doc.

Barbara

I've had off and on episodes like the one you described since my last fill. So much of the time I can eat quite a bit. Dinner seems to be my most difficult time. Last night I had 2 bites and threw up for an hour. It was roast, it was late and I must have eaten it too fast. I think my problem is stomach muscles contracting during dinner prep and family conversation. A good stress, but a stress any way you look at it.

DH encourages me to eat early. Sipping hot tea before the evening meal helps too. Having me leave the table to barf can't be too fun for DH and DS and also makes for a lousy evening. I can't seem to narrow the problem down, except that 99% of the time it's during the evening

After last night's episode, I'll be blending my hard proteins and hopefully be back on track soon.

My port seems to be stabilizing and I lost 2 pounds on Monday and have kept it off. Usually I gain after a PB evening. Whew!

This whole scenario is different than ones I've had before. First, I'm able to recover from it and go on. In the past I haven't been able to recover. Last night I had 2 bites and then wham. I never PB so that is good. Today, I seem to be OK. I'm taking it cautious, but so far so good. Others are tight in the morning so I'm confused.

I don't think I'm too tight because I can eat and eat when things are working. I'm wondering if I just have some irritation and certain foods don't do well. However, please explain why chili con queso and tortillia chips go down, but a small piece of meatloaf will not.

Pinkylee I think you are onto something about stress. Last night I was already sitting down to dinner when my DH sat down from fixing his plate. We were talking and he mistook something I said about the back yard. He doesn't raise his voice to me, but last night he did sorta. He was frustrated and misunderstood why I was asking about the trash can in our backyard. It was right after that I got the golf ball. I think I just got stressed and wham it hit. Later I was able to get some ice cream down and a little chili con queso.

I've noticed when I'm nervous about eating (restaurant, party, different food) that I don't do well. Most of the time I just stop because I'm so nervous before anything happens. I'm going to watch the stress and see if that triggers my reactions.

Good news continues and I didn't gain back the weight I lost over the weekend. Like Pinkylee says, claim it. I did!!!

Today is a new day. Let's see what we do with it. Have a great one!

Queso and chips definitely go down way too easy. My theory is that the chips can be chewed and pulverized. They also melt in water. Meatloaf can't. Is that a good enough excuse to make tortilla chips a mushie?

I'm growing accustomed to hunger pains. I've also given up trying to eat 6 small meals. I try to eat something every 3 hours. That gives me enough time to drink my water (and tea) without caving in. Before this last episode I was feeling pretty smug about my new regimine.

Cammomile tea sure helped me last night. I also found a Chai Tea bag by Lipton.

This new life is definitely a work in progress.

Be careful Barbara and keep smiling. You're losing and I'll bet you couldn't eat half of what you did on a normal day unbanded. No matter what the fill.

Socalgal, hope you're doing better as the week progresses. Hang in there. We're pulling for you to continue to lose thru this ordeal.

Regina, How is the new fill treating you?

Well I am reading all these posts and I am so sorry for all of you having terrible pb's. Pinkylee, you threw up for an hour? Oh my goodness, that is not good. I am lucky to say that I am being extremely careful and (knock wood) haven't had a pb in a while. BUT all of you seem to be losing, and I am not. I haven't moved the scale in 7 weeks or so. Maybe we are all thinking about it too much. Barbara, you went away and had a great time, I am sure you were too busy to think about the band as much- and you lost 8 amazing pounds!!!!!!!!!! I do think that stress plays a big part in how tight we are. I have a "friend" who knows I am banded and every time we eat together she watches me like a hawk to see how much I will eat ( because she didn't approve of the surgery and is very critical) and it seems like I always get the golfball because I am so self concious around her. Oh and about the party that I threw, I had my cousins helping me and it made it easier that I could walk and stuff. But I found it is very hard to cut and serve cake to 100 people with one hand. ) Well that is really all I know. I really hope everyone feels better soon. I am going to try not to think about it as much and see if that helps. Don't give up everyone, it will get better.

Take care!

Another evening getting stuck. Just lasted a few minutes. I'm giving up eating anything but mushies in the evening. DS was a butcher a few years back and hates the smell of fish--he'll have to get over it.

My life seems to be on a treadmill. Anyone else out there with ADD? Tomorrow I'm going to put losing weight on the back burner and concentrate on getting the house back in order.

Genn, Congrats on "keeping on keeping on". Are you taking your measurements? You could be losing inches.

I'm sorry to hear of you guys getting stuck and pb'ing frequently. I had my second fill last week and I can still eat too much, I think.

I'm wondering how Leila is. I know her surgery was planned for last Tuesday.

I have the slimes now about 2 a week and the other day I had it and I was nauseous for about 12 hours, has anyone every had this happen? I could not figure it out but at least it went away and I have lost another pound.

I got the golf ball again last night also after only 3 bites. I felt the tightening in my throat before I sat down so I knew it was iffy. Not sure what is going on in the later afternoon/evening hours. I didn't eat dinner, but was able to eat an ice cream cone a couple of hours later. No PB just tightness in throat feeling.

I can eat mid day so maybe that's my meal time. For now I'm going with this unless I start PBing. If so I'll go for a slight unfill. I must just be borderline. No stress yesterday at all so don't feel that was it.

Hang in there everyone.

Have you ever had nauseousness after the sliming?