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 want to lose a total of 80 pounds, but I'll take what I can get. I don't know how to do the ticker thing, so that's why I don't have one !

It's interesting .... I went to the doctor recently (not my surgeon but another doc) and she said I should get down to 140, according to the official chart. I said no way ! I would look like a skeleton. I am shooting for 160 and I think that will be hard. What's up with those charts anyway?

You're going to do great, too ! Hell, you're doing awesome with your weight loss !!

You are right-on regarding your goal weight..... You know how you feel the best and I 'm glad you aren't letting a doctor tell you differently!! Those weight charts SUCK!! I think insurance companies use them to torture us and/or to raise our rates if we don't fit into their concept of "health". In any case, you are an inspiration for us to remember to follow our own bodies, not some chart. Thanks and please keep sharing your progress!!

Karen

I'm getting my first fill Monday and I'm counting the hours!!!! I can eat almost anything in almost any quantity, so it's almost as much of a struggle to be good as it was without the band. I do remember when I first had the surgery, there was such a relief in only being able to eat small and forget about food the rest of the time. Looking forward to some of that feeling again.........

Has anyone tried salad yet? I am 4 days into my "solid" food and am craving a salad. :hungry: Has anyone tried a salad, and if so how did it go? I have been eating protien & steamed veggies, but just want some fresh lettuce.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Jill

I've had salad. No problem.

I'm getting my first fill Monday and I'm counting the hours!!!! I can eat almost anything in almost any quantity, so it's almost as much of a struggle to be good as it was without the band. I do remember when I first had the surgery, there was such a relief in only being able to eat small and forget about food the rest of the time. Looking forward to some of that feeling again.........

I totally agree with you! Last night I felt like a bottomless pit...and my fill is not until after Xmas!!!!:faint:

I totally understand how everyone is feeling hungry. I am beginning to start that phase too, and I will not be able to get a fill until January 5th. I am struggling with how to deal with it, I dont have much advice besides keeping healthy snacks and healthy drinks around. It is really difficult for me to exercise right now b/c it is freezing outside here with a lot of snow around, also I dont have a membership anywhere (really cant afford it)....

Before surgery, I didn't eat that many sweet things. I've been a diabetic for over 4 years so sugar hasn't been part of my diet. I made a couple other higher-protein "sweet" food and thought I'd share with you.

The first one, I made something YEARS ago when I was on Weight Watchers. Take a small packet of sugar free gelatin and dissolve in 3/4 cup of HOT water. Once dissolved, add 3-4 ice cubes (or a small handful). In a separate dish, take 8 oz (1/2 small container) of fat free (or low-fat) small curd cottage cheese and 1/2 of "regular" can of fruit (either sugar free or in its own juice). Mix together and pour the jello over it and mix well. Add 1/2 container of sugar free (or fat free) coolwhip, mix and let set. The coolwhip is not on my "allowed" list but has very few calories so in moderation, shouldn't be a problem. I use orange gelatin and pineapple, I've used strawberry gelatin with fruit cocktail. You can use any combination you want. Limit yourself to 1/2 cup and you end up with about 1/4 cup of cottage cheese (7 grams protein) and 1/8 cup of fruit. Jello is a "free" food so that doesn't count and a 2 tablespoon serving of sugar free coolwhip only has 20 calories.

I found that Jello now makes a cheesecake flavored sugar-free pudding. It's *NOT* like a "real" cheesecake but it's still not bad. I took a prepared graham cracker crust (I'm lazy-could have made one and used Splenda instead of sugar so it would be better for me but that's WAY too much work <G>). I mixed 1.5 cups of fat-free skim milk with the pudding packet, 1 scoop of the whey protein and 1 scoop of non-fat dry milk to give it a protein boost. My "cheat" was 1/2 container of sugar-free coolwhip added too. (Had to do something with the 1/2 used container from the above recipe <G>.) Once mixed well, pour into the graham cracker shell and topped with frozen mixed berries. The crust does have 5 grahams of sugar per serving (1/8 is a serving), and of course, the coolwhip adds a bit too, but compared to having a "real" cheesecake, this is MUCH better for you.

Enjoy and remember, a serving is NOT the entire dish or entire pie.

(A friend asked me when I was cooking why I didn't cook up a bunch at once and then reheat it. If I only fix one serving, it's a LOT more effort to get the second serving, even if my mind wants it. If it was already prepared, it would be WAY too easy to get up and get the second (or third) serving. If it's not prepared, it's just as easy to say I'm done. I *DO* understand the temptation issue. I've been good about not having more than one peanutbutter cookie a day, haven't had more than one serving of the cottage cheese/jello/fruit a day and not more than one piece of pie a day. And I don't have more than one of them a day.)

Tom

i was banded on monday nov, 27th starting to do better. well best of luck to everybody.

Melanie,

You and I were banded just a couple of days apart. Looks like you are off to a great start. :clap2: And there's lots of great support on here. I am also here if you want to chat. Congrats on your success so far. And good luck in the rest of your journey.

A little trick I use sometimes..especially at night. If I am hungry, I go brush my teeth. Sounds silly, but it works for me. My mouth feels clean and I dont want to mess it up again! Hey, I'll take help any way I can get it! LOL!

Jill

A little trick I use sometimes..especially at night. If I am hungry, I go brush my teeth. Sounds silly, but it works for me. My mouth feels clean and I dont want to mess it up again! Hey, I'll take help any way I can get it! LOL!

Jill

Jill, makes sense. One of the reasons people quitting smoking often gain weight is they have to replace having the cigarette in the mouth with something else. Often the replacement has calories.

I find chewing sugar-free gum or using sugar-free hard candies tend to help my between meal urges. Since going back to work, it's MUCH harder for me. I have a desk job and it's so easy to snack while sitting there. I just pop a piece of gum and chew away until my next scheduled feeding. Be careful, though, with the sugar-free candies. Most use sugar alcohols and even in people without a band can cause a "cleansing" experience. (Hey, maybe that's a solution for those who don't feel they are going as regular as they should. Eat a bag of sugar-free hard candy and you'll be like the Energizer bunny... you'll go and go and go. <G>)

Tom

Question? What are everyones expectations here? From what I am hearing a lot of us are upset at only losing 15-20 lbs in a month. I am exstatic and didn't expect to lose that much so fast and am greatful I did. I only expect to lose about 2 lbs a week. Some weeks less, some more. I figure that is over 100 lbs in a year. I also know that a lot of this depends on me. The more I excercise and watch what I eat, the more I will lose. So I am just cruious what everyone else is thinking.

I went back to work Monday (12/4) from my surgery 11/7. It's been so cold that I wore sweaters to work Monday and Tuesday. Today I just wore slacks and a sport shirt. Several people that didn't know I had surgery said it looked like I had lost a lot of weight and wanted to know how I was doing it. It was a real morale booster and gave me the strength to not eat the Reese's Cup that was left on my desk for something I did before I left for surgery. (Our company is BIG on giving food rewards. My manager knew I was diabetic so I usually got peanuts or some other non-sugar food but my supervisor at the time was new and either didn't know or, since she didn't like me, did it intentionally.) I did weigh myself at work 5 days before surgery and then again on Monday so I had a same-scale to same-scale reference and I'm down 16 pounds in 4 weeks. I'm thrilled with that! But more so that my clothes are getting very loose and people are noticing. And I have more mobility which is the prime reason that I did this. Add in that I haven't taken any of my diabetes medicine since a few days before surgery (although was given insulin in the hospital) and my blood sugars are right where they need to be, and this was definitely worth doing!!!!!

Tom

AWESOME! Lost weight, feel better, no meds. What else could you ask for!

You are right-on regarding your goal weight..... You know how you feel the best and I 'm glad you aren't letting a doctor tell you differently!! Those weight charts SUCK!! I think insurance companies use them to torture us and/or to raise our rates if we don't fit into their concept of "health". In any case, you are an inspiration for us to remember to follow our own bodies, not some chart. Thanks and please keep sharing your progress!!

Karen

My surgeon told me that those numbers are insuarance company statistics as to what person at what height would weigh to live the longest. Not look the best or be the healthiest per se. Just live the longest. And that could mean 1 day.

Hey have you guys checked out the before and after pics link? WOW! There's some inspiration!

I'm not griping about losing 15 pounds. I'm griping because the 15 pounds were before and immediately after surgery, but now I'm just struggling no to regain it! Looking forward to my fill......

Regarding a gym membership, cold weather, etc. There are exercise programs on TV and there are used exercise videos on sale on ebay. Even if it's not ideal, getting moving really does help! I'm so much better on days that I get in a good sweating half hour as a minimum. Honest.

Question? What are everyones expectations here? From what I am hearing a lot of us are upset at only losing 15-20 lbs in a month. I am exstatic and didn't expect to lose that much so fast and am greatful I did. I only expect to lose about 2 lbs a week. Some weeks less, some more. I figure that is over 100 lbs in a year. I also know that a lot of this depends on me. The more I excercise and watch what I eat, the more I will lose. So I am just cruious what everyone else is thinking.

Oh...so well put. We all have to look at the BIG picture (no pun intended) and try to reach back in our memory to pull out the enthusiasm we all felt just days after the surgery. We were all so optomistic, and still should be.

And remember ...exercise- even if it means taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and parking the FURTHEST away from the store so you can burn more calories!

It will be awesome in a year when we all connect back and total the pounds we have all lost. It is going to be amazing!

We can do this:clap2: :clap2: :clap2: !