Hi November bandsters!

Let's keep this going to support our efforts though out the wonderful we are soon to begin. Let's start with the date we are being banded and where?

Our weight and goal weight...

My date will be November 7

Dr. Aceves

I weighed myself this morning and I have gained!!! :faint:

Starting weight 225 (highest ever!!! )

Goal 150

10/26 Jdru (Jessica) 215/215/125 Dr. Hansen (Honorary Nov Bandster)

11/1 melany72 Dr. Hargroder

11/2 DeniseC (Denise) 226/219/130 Dr. Carbonell

11/2 prbrooksie 252/252/150 Dr. Malley

11/2 Kym828 (Kim) 278/278/175 Dr. Ortiz

11/2 pebbles4388 249/249/150

11/3 Jess333 (Jessica ("Lil" Red)) Dr. Ortiz

11/7 AngelaT (Angela) 225/225/150 Dr. Aceves

11/7 Jackye 225/225/150-45 Dr. Rumbaut

11/8 L8BloomR (Karen) goal: -105 Dr. Francis

11/8 dpingl goal: -92 Dr. Hoehn

11/8 niecyrenee goal: -232, down 8 Dr. Pitt

11/9 Keekahari (Kee) 280/245/175 Dr. Moazzez

11/10 FullofGRACE Dr. Curry

11/10 alix_1 (Alix) 222/222/140 Dr. Garza

11/13 swilborn (Sherrie) Size 22/???/140 Dr. Rodriquez

11/14 ahaizlip (Amy) goal: -129 Dr. Liu

11/17 Asmallerchick (Kelly) goal: -200 Dr. Aceves

11/20 Diana_G 234/234/145 Dr. Huacuz

11/20 Veggestyle 275/?/150 Dr. M

11/20 Laurba

11/21 Jess02 (Jess) Dr. Rumbaut

11/24 aussie_bandit 153kg/153kg/75kg

11/30 Inner_me (Chris) 350/350/200 Dr. Cahill

I am feeling great.. 4 days out and down 16 lbs!!! I know it is a combo of Water and the taylor hame, egg and cheese sandwiches I ate the week before... But holy crap... 16 lbs in 4 days!

I am still on semi liquid.. meaning Soup broth or opaque and applesause.. 2 protien shakes a day... It is all good as long as I do not go over 4 oz.. then HOLY COW does it hurt!

I went to Target and got 2 really cute dipping bowl (5oz) and 2 small plates, and wrote all over them with rainbow color glass paint... in the center of the plates I wrote... I BELIEVE IN ME... and LIVE!!!

Keeps me focused everytime I see them. I also made a really neat swirly design on my extra long ice tea spoon with polimer clay!

I feel like a queen when I use them.

All my best to everyone, I have homework and groceries to get before I go back to college tommorrow!

Misty

That is a great idea!

Hi Ladies and Gentlemen!

Here's my Monday update... If I've missed anyone, or any changes, please let me know!

Hey, I don't see mee. Banded 11/29... okay what are the other numbers?

So does this "feeding" schedule work for you? Does a lean cuisine meal fill you up? Is it too much? I think they will be convenient for sure....

A walk in the park is great!

Today, I'm graeful for 50 degrees and sunny skies here, and a wonderful ranch to walk around on, followed by my pet fallow deer, dogs, cats, miniature horses and miniature goats. Being thin will really top it off!

Betsyjane, the miniature goats caught my attention! We've bred and shown Nigerian Dwarves for many, many years. Since my separation, the NDs stayed with my future ex but I have Oberhasli dairy goats. My biggest adjustment is getting use to fat-free milk when I'm use to drinking fresh goat's milk that exceeds 6% butterfat. SOOOO sweet unlike the chalk-water they try to pass off as the milk I'm now drinking. And I've long admired miniature donkeys but haven't justified one yet. I do have a miniature Australian Shepherd except he ate his Wheaties and he's now a "maxi mini". <G> And just after surgery, I got a Corgi puppy just to get me on my toes.

Tom

Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again. This mushy thing is totally different for me with Muscle Milk Light. I eat my 3 tiny melas and have 2 shakes a day in between,. Muscle Milk is the only Protein shake I've found that is truly FILLING! I have no stock in the company, honest. It's jsut made everything so much easier for me.....and I get to have chocolate twice every day! But I still can only find the Light type on eBay....

Betsyjane, I bought a 4-pack at Kroger (Ohio) tonight. It was around $6.50 for 4 so a bit pricey. RiteAid had the powder Muscle Milk Light. I live in a SMALL town too. (The RiteAid had a GNC section so you might check at GNCs.)

Tom

bump....bump...bump/.... ok Nov bandsters let us know how you are doing!!!!!! :confused:

I have been still having quite a bit of soreness from my surgery a week ago. I am amazed at some of you already back to work. I think the reason I have been so sore is because after the surgery my doctor told my fiance that I had at some point either had an ulcer or had internal injuries from a car accident (I've had several in my life) which caused my organs to all bind together. :doh: So when the did my surgery they had to cut or pry things apart to get to what they needed to get to. Anyway, in chatting with others and reading posts here, I can only assume that is what has led to my being more sore for a longer time. Well, I think I found the solution to get my mind off of that pain. My brother, a tattoo artist, is visiting from SC and I decided to let him tattoo me last night (I already had 4 others). Anyway, I got the tattoo in the middle of my left calf. OMG it freaking hurt!!! :censored: I have never had a tattoo hurt that bad. And today my leg is killing me. I feel like I can barely walk! But the good news is....I have completely forgot about my tummy pain. :eek:

Hi Chrissie -

I have a tattoo also - on my stomach. I'm a little worried what it will look like after I lose weight, and if I get a tummy tuck - what if it gets chopped off? Or worse, only partway. So I'll have a tattoo of like the bottom half of a teddy bear. Or maybe just the ear. Oh I'm cracking myself up, and it hurts to laugh :eek:

Hi Chrissie -

I have a tattoo also - on my stomach. I'm a little worried what it will look like after I lose weight, and if I get a tummy tuck - what if it gets chopped off? Or worse, only partway. So I'll have a tattoo of like the bottom half of a teddy bear. Or maybe just the ear. Oh I'm cracking myself up, and it hurts to laugh

I have a large tattoo across my lower back and am hoping it doesnt get too distorted by the weight loss. Also if I had to have a body lift, and they cut me all the way around, I too would lose the bottom half of my ink. I totally understand your concern! Guess we would just have to get a coverup then. :eek: Also understanding "it hurts to laugh." :eek:

.Also, just wanted to let everyone know I fell in love with a yogurt smoothie made by Dannon...It is in grocery stores for all of you who dont know...It's 70z., 0 sugar added, I think only 60 calories and 3 or 4 carbs....They are delicious....

I think they are called the lite & Fit. They are great. I buy the assorted pack at Sams Club. They are purple bottles, right?

OK, I am sorry if you guys are sick of hearing from me yet but you are my only friends that really understand what I am going through so here it is.....I WENT TO THE GYM TONIGHT!!!! Oh my god, I was banded a week and one day ago, down 16lbs and it motivated me to go to the gym...I did 20 mins on an arc trainer, 10 mins on a bike, and 10 mins on a stepper...Where the hell did I get my energy.....Finally being happy sure does give you a kick in the butt doesnt it...Thanks again everyone....Oh yeah one more question....Has any had trouble with bad breath after surgery? Is that a silly question? Ever since my diet change/surgery my mouth is like yucky and my breath is kind stinky...That is like my biggest pet peeve and I dont know why that is happening to me....Anyone else experience this? Thanks

I swear I brush my teeth 4 times a day and pop mints! I feel that I always have bad breath. I know from doing the Atkins thing that Ketosis (low carbs resulting in your body burning fat for energy) gives you bad breath. But I hear ya!:eek:

YUCK! I've been doing well, BUT yesterday I was out running errands for a LONG time and was truly hungry. I bought a chicken breast fully intending to chew a few bites until liquid. Got distracted...took a bite...swallowed...and oy vay!!!!!! Wouldn't go down. Wouldn't come up. Pain! Thought I was going to be unable to breathe. Stood up...no help. Coughed and tried to burp. No help. Sweat pouring off me. Red faced. Started producing slime the consistency of jello. I was sure someone would come over and try to Heimlich me, but people made a point of looing away. OMG!!!!! 10 minutes later it finally went through. WOW!!!! What punishment! Now that's one trial learning. I have been soooo good today.

Oh my god, so scarey! I was wondering what a blockage would feel like! The other nite I tried mashed potatoes and might i add a piece of choc. chip cookie. I know. ANy case, I had such bad gas *again on the left side* that I couldn't lay down to sleep! I could feel it externally. It was just horrible!

I am experiencing that also. I was banded on 11/24 and it has been hard to eat also. I am noticing that the esophegus seems irritated from the procedure and is in a healing process. My brother had bypass surgery and his advice to me was just try to take it slow with transitioning into liquids and mushies. You have to take it really, really slow. Sip like a bird would and take your time. I get really bad shoulder pain after I start consuming anything right now and it is discuraging and frustrating. I went overnight from a carb aholic to liquids and smoothies aren't cutting it to satisfy me right now. I have felt very cranky and I think it is the carb withdraws. I think that once I start putting anything down my esophegus that since the procedure it is healing and irritated so my body sends mixed messages regarding muscle pain and it feels like my shoulders hurt. My Dr. and everyone else has suggested to go back to liquids for a couple of days which makes me want to scream because just some mashpotatoes right now is a dream but it makes sense to let our body heal which might take a couple of weeks maybe even a month to feel normal again. Hope this helps and I know exactly what your going threw.

Chrissie---You should post pictures of your tattoos! I am so interested in tattoos and would love one of my own, but I havent had the courage yet. Even though I have gone through so much with this WLS, ironic, huh?

For those with a sweet tooth that need a fix, I made peanut butter cookies yesterday. They were quite simple and, in moderation, perfectly legal once you're off the liquid phase of the post-surgery diet.

Take 1 cup of peanut butter (I'd use smooth until you're off mushies), 1 cup of Splenda and 1 egg. Mix well and drop by spoonfuls (if you make 16 cookies, each cookie will be equal to 1 tablespoon of peanut butter) on to a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray, flatten in a criss-cross pattern with a fork dipped in Splenda and bake for 8-10 mintues at 350. (They taste better cool than they do hot.)

Peanut butter is high in protein so as long as you use moderately (it's also high in fat), it should be fine. Each cookie would have about 4 grams of protein from the peanut butter and a bit less than .5 gram from the egg. It's about 100 calories so not a low calorie food but would make a nice between meal high-protein snack with 4 ounces of skim milk. The toughest part is limiting to one cookie per day! (I did cheat and had 2.5 yesterday. I tried one warm. When I was putting them away, one broke so I HAD to heat the half that didn't go in the baggie. I then had one as my mid-afternoon snack.) Not as good as a big "real" cookie but certainly scratched an itch for something sweet.

Tom

Thanks for sharing, Im gonna try this. The one cookie thing might be a challenge for sure!