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

EVERYTHING has to line up behind this effort. Including other people's expectations.

This is to me the hardest lesson of all. I've struggled with this for my lifetime. I'm coming to realize that my disappointment in myself is only buffered by my perceived disappointment from others...so I've got to let it all go!

By the way.....This is an official Junebie Poll:

Who is drinking their water every day?

Um....no. Nope. Not me. I really have not adhered to this AT ALL. I have gotten better on exercise and protein intake though, so one step at a time.

Aimee - Are you cold in Saintville? AS a fellow Gulf Coast gal -- this weather sucks!!!! At least in Michigan I didn't look like a weirdo in my earmuffs and mittens.

We're freezing! Good Lord. I really do like cold weather, but because Jan has been so rainy too, it's been miserable. Oh, and official statement about the Saints: we're very proud. They played with a lot of passion and heart. Maybe next year

Socalgal --so glad to hear that you did well with your procedure and that you were able to keep your band.

Pinky --I feel your frustration with that pound. I keep going back and forth between the same pound. I actully dropped a pound last week (yippeee!!!) but it went back up. I guess I'm ok with the yo-you pound as long as it moves down from time to time.

Barb12--let us know how you do with your fill

Barb4--glad that you are doing better with your unfill.

Melissa Lea

I try everyday to drink my water. I was doing great until my fill started acting up. I'm back with my water today. Hopefully I can get it all in.

About an hour after drinking that wine last night I was able to eat dinner. I don't think I'll try that for a while. Maybe I was just tight last night.

Socialgal - hurray! That's great news. Let us know how you are doing when you get better.

I am really pleased how far we've all come. I read yesterday one of the posts that a newbie posted. She was frustrated because she had only lost 10 lbs and she was 2 weeks after surgery. She wanted more. She had just started mushies and couldn't understand since she was eating less than before surgery why she wasn't losing faster. Please give me a break. Do any of these people do any research? Do they not know that its a time for healing? How fast do they think they can lose it?

That post and the responses to that post just had me really pondering. Why are we complaining of our progress when we ARE making progress? Why are we dissatisfied with the rate we are losing, when we ARE losing? Why are we complaining our clothes don't fit, when they don't fit because they are TOO big?

My job is done here. I've reset our expectations. Enjoy the successes!

Do you think we need to do that water challenge again? Not that I won last time or anything, but it made me more conscience of it and I tried. Just an idea.

Hope everyone is doing well. Praying for your fill tomorrow Regina, hope you get what you NEED.

I'm with you Poodles. When I stopped exercising, it all went down hill. And to think it all started with me trying to jog (what was I thinking. The challenges came to fast after each other and I think they lost their effectiveness. Let's try another challenge for the next 3 weeks. If we all agree, we can extend it for another 3 weeks.

Should we include exercise and calorie count too?

If memory serves me we used the blue biggrin1 :biggrin1: in our signature for each day we drank 8 glasses of water.

We could use a dancing banana:Banane14: for exercise and :hungry: for sticking with our own personal eating program.

Please give your input. It's only for 3 weeks. If it doesn't go well we can always stop after 3 and declare the winner.

The winner will get to post :first: Junebie Winter Challenge for as long as they'd like.

Let's begin tomorrow. Who's in? I'll tally each week and we'll go from there. Inputs? Suggestions?

I need something to challenge me.

I went for my fill today. I had gained four pounds since December 28th. They put back .3. I had .5 taken out last time. Dr. Spivak orders soft foods for two days following a fill. What did I do? Came home, totally forgot about my fill, went straight for the chips and salsa. I remembered after about 6 or so bites. Obviously I am not too restricted this time!

I like your challenge ideas Pinkylee. Is the exercise challenge our own exercise goal? For me right now any exercise would be a win as I am not moving at all. I don't really count calories but I will only award myself if I don't overeat or eat junk food (which has become my downfall of late).

I'm all in.............let's do it!

I'm in let's do it. I like the idea of water, personal exercise program, and eating goals. I think we should try this and also think what we can do to stop the emotional eating. How do we stop self medicating our pain, stress, or whatever? It seems like quite a few of us are suffering from that.

Hi all!

Iam doing okay I guess since January was a very difficult month for me.

As I had mentioned I started on a new Bipolar medication called Depakote and was unsure how I would react to it.

Well it is working well for me as far as my mental health is concerned, but I found out that I had to make a very difficult decision about wether to continue using the medication.

The difficult decison was weither to have another child or not since this medication causes server birth defects such as brain damage, spinal befa, deformation etc.

My physco doctor gave me this medication to start on my birthday Jan 6th and told me what type of birth control do you use. He told me you need a permanent form of birth control and advised me not to have any more children since my mental health is more important.

Needless to say I have cried about this and it has not been made easy since one of my good friends just gave her son a sibling shortly after I was advised not to have another child.

I went for my 7 month follow up on Jan 25th ( got my period that morning) feeling really down and depressed. I had been eatting food with Sugar and not really eating slowly and vomiting alot over the last few weeks before the appoinment. I have been a mess. I weighted in at 235 which is 55 pounds down so my dam scale was wrong telling me 228! I know that PMS bloat weights something but I was just not into this appointment.

Iam now watching what I eat and exercising more, but, I guess like losing a chid, Iam going through a morning period.

My mental health is important and Iam working very hard to find the right medication to help my Bipolar.

God has Blessed me with a beautiful and healthy 4 years old son who I enjoy every day.

Maybe having another child was not in the cards that God dealt for me, but I will accept whatever path he has choosen and I will get through this.

Thank you for all your love and support that you have given me in the past. The women and( some men) are such a great group and give of themselves so freely.

It feels so great to be able to come here and find support, love and friendship .

Lisa

Lisa

Glad to have you back Lisa, and happy to see you are doing well. :love:

Pinkylee- I say lets go for it. We can try the month of February and see how that goes. Our own Valentines challenge!

If we are going to set our goals, here is mine:

Richard Simmons Blast off every school day (5 times a week)

64 oz of Pure Water a day

Low Carb- Thin for good diet plan, and take my vitamins (will post this plan on the thin for good thread)

Let's Go! February is OUR month!!!!

I'm home and hanging in there. Still a little sleepy, groggy and dizzy/nauseous. Sipping some broth now. I do feel the difference in swallowing already. It felt so painful for the past few weeks! The doctor said they added some extra stitches to keep the band in place. I had to take sedatives for the endoscopy too, so I was really out of it. I'll try to join you for the water challenge, but I can't eat or exercise yet, so I'll have to wait for the net challenges there. Once again, I truly appreciate you all through good and bad! Hopefully more good is on the way!

Socalgal - All the best on your healing process.

Lady - Glad to hear from you. I will continue to remember your need for a car and relief from anxiety

Lisa - Glad you are back. Being a really good Mother of one is much better than being a halfway Mother for 2. You've made a hard but wise decision

Barbara12 - I'd much rather see you eat a few chips than gurgle water. That fill will kick in soon enough.

Regarding the challenge: To each his own, but I appreciated Poodles sharing her personal plan.

My personal challenge will be to:

- Exercise 6 days a week. 30 minutes of my walking DVD in the morning and 15 minutes of dog walking or eliptical machine at night

- 64 ounces of water (will be a challenge because of my tea habit)

- Logging my food on fitday.com. I'm searching for a lifestyle plan.

Anyone else out there have a plan they'd like to share. Remember it's your plan and you can change it at any time.

Barbara4 has touched on an important topic. Emotional eating. It's only natural that at this stage in our band-venture we would find ourselves back to some old habits.

Barbara4, why don't you start a new thread under one of the forums on the main board and let us know where we can go to discuss this? I'd love to hear some wisdom from those who've been there and have weathered the storms.

Hey guys, Ok this is my second day COMPLETELY smoke free!!!

I am going in today for a .2 fill I decided. Hope that works out ok!!!

Lisa- Glad your back, please use us for support when you need it. I am sorry you are going through all this but there is a reason for everything. I only have one child and then I had to have a hysterectomy so I know how you feel. But God blessed you with one healthy beautiful child so you have to concentrate on that!!!! And most importantly your health.

I need to do the water challenge I have been slacking off untill the last few days. Here is my goal

Water- 64oz per day

Excercise- 3 X 60 per week

log all food and excersise on sparkspeople.com

Continue to NOT SMOKE!!!!!!!

There ya go!!!! Have a great day everyone.

Here's my plan:

Drink 64 oz of water a day

Take my multivitamin daily

walk 15 minutes/day 4 times a week

ice cream only 3 times a week :rose:

Barbara4, I love your plan.

I am so far outta whack my plan may sound lame but:

64 oz of H2O per day

ANY form of exercise each day

No popcorn, only one small scoop of ice cream less than five times per week and daily focus on protein

Again, this may not sound like much of a challenge but trust me it will be very challenging for me. I have really gotten way off track these last few weeks. I need a total overhaul.

So far today I've not tested my fill. I've had coffee and protein drink but then I'm not a breakfast person. Lunch will be interesting.

Since it's another lovely rainy day in Houston I guess I'll do some inside exercise, even if it's just walking in place.

Hope everyone has a great day beginning our February challenge. Good luck!