Come join us. We are bandsters without a local support group, and we're going to meet, say hi, and chat about possibly starting our own group.

We are meeting this Wednesday December 13 at 6:30 PM at Humble City Cafe near the SE corner of the intersection of 1960 and 59, on Main Street.

Let me know if you're coming and I'll make a reservation in the name of Bandsters.

I think because they are using protein powder with water it is probably less calories. I haven't tried it yet but I am thinking about it.

My June group tried the 5 little meals a day. We didn't have success with it and actually defeated our purpose. There are several reasons, but the main one is if you adhere to the rules of drinking liquids 1 to 1/2 hours after a meal, there is not enough hours in the day to get in your liquids. We also found that we were consuming more calories and never gave our bodies the chance to give us the full signal because we were feeding it all the time.

Most lapband doctors say 3 meals a day. A few endorse a snack. You just need to experiment and find what's best for you. There is a low carb slimfast that keeps the carbs and calories within range for the morning drink. I eat activia instead so i can stay regular and same amt of protein.

We ended up with the 4th monday this month because we didn't meet on the 1st monday. A couple of us were travelling. If you want to go back to the 1st and 3rd Monday starting in April that's fine with me.

I've never had Activia, but it sounds like a nice change from protein shakes. By the way, I finally got off those lucious Muscle Milk shakes and onto Slim Fast Carb Control. As much as I loved those Muscle Milks, the Slim Fast really did seem to have all the right stuff in the right proportions.... Think I'll pick some up on grocery day Thursday. Anybody else have favorite something or others? I'm not looking for snacks....just nonsolid breakfasts and real solid other meals. Can't do TV dinners (whatever they are called in the 21st century). Too processed tasting for me. Unless it's a good old high fat Stouffers........Ah, remember the good old days of eating like a porker?

OK. Here's a weird tip. One of the dog boarders is an MD who does all the aesthetic stuff....botox etc. She says cocoa butter or something similar and also light massage in the shower will help the belly skin shrink. I'm gonna go to work on my moose lip.

For what it's worth. There's a TV show on this morning...I usually use TV as background noise, but this one made me stop. It's about women who have had bariatric surgery, stopped their food addiction and picked up substitutes...mostly alcoholism. Some also now anorexics..

I guess that just goes to show how much of this whole thing is mental... It makes me think about how important it is that we have the support that we have from each other. I can see that it would be easy to fall into another addictive behavior - particularly the anorexia.

I've heard Dr Phil say that to break a habit you substitute that habit with another. Let's make ours something healthy--like talking to support friends or exercise.

Yeah. Bulimia probably isn't much of a stretch either.

I'm thinking about doing classes for awhile at 24. Water Aerobics, stretching, weights, yoga, pilates, etc. All the classes are included in the membership and I'd like to learn about all of them without paying a personal trainer......I'd love for exercise to be a habit. It's still a conscious struggle.....

I came home today to find that the camp dogs had eaten several of the blinds. That's a first. At least they chose the cheap miniblinds. They need to work on their eating habits. I may go band them myself.

I am dressed and ready to go to the gym. Trying to go 3 times a week. Could not go last Monday bc I had to meet you girls for supper. But it was worth it.

I said I am going to the gym but not sure how much I will do. I like to do 30 minutes on the treadmill and 30 on the weights. But we will just see. It is not much fun by yourself.

Suzanne.

Oprah did a show on bypass and trading food for other addictions - gambling, sex, and alcohol. Now any of the 3 I could do. It just goes to show that all of this is a head game. If you are an emotional eater than that high has to be fed. I've heard of many drug addicts that turned to exercise to get high. I guess its the endorphines that are released during exercise. I buy in to all of this to an extent. It all comes down to we have to heal the total self, not just the food intake. I hate quoting Dr. Phil but you know "it's not what you are eating, but what's eating you".

I like getting support from others who are where I am and understand. I also am going to explore finding us a nutrionist that maybe can come help us. I'm sure there would be a fee, but it would be worth it if we had a long term plan. Many doctors have relationships with nutrionists. We just have to find lapband knowledgeble ones that can relate to our unique food requirements.

What did we decide on our meetings? Are we back to 1st and 3rd Monday at LaVilla?

My thought is since we all agree it's a mind/emotional issue, I vote for a psychologist type who understands eating disorders rather than a dietition/nutritionist. But Barb's been in this longer and has much more experience, so her opinion is important to me.

Why not both? We can begin to build a support team. Maybe invite some people as a one-time guest at our table, others for ongoing relationships. I can look for a therapist. How about if do nutritionist whenever Barbara finds one, and I'll start looking for a shrink for us shrinking folks. May take awhile. My old profession includes brilliant people and goobers too. Do we need a shrink at a meeting, or names of relevant people we can go to individually in the area?

Barbara's husband mentioned Overeaters Anonymous. Do you think somebody from there might also be interesting?

I buy all of this because I know I gained weight when I quit smoking lo those many decades ago.

I like the idea of someone keeping us positive and motivated--not eating our troubles away and being overcome with thoughts about how to eat when to eat etc. Like the cheerleader type you talked about at the surgicenter--someone who gives us goals etc. I think a therapist for the meeting--meets my needs. Lets see what the others think.

A therapist is gonna want to "get heavy", I think. That sounds more like a personal trainer. We could invite one of those sometime too. I'll look for the therapist. Ya know, we could set our own goals too. We're a bright group!

Our doctor's may be a good source to get names. I would like people experienced with our issues. I'm thinking we might need to go one of our houses if we want to talk candid to a guest speaker. I don't mind hosting something like that. We might have success on a Saturday morning.

I'm a little hesitant about the psychlogist only because they could only talk in generalities. They would have to know our buttons in order to help us as individuals. However, they could give us some pointers on dealing with issues.

There are all kinds of speakers. You can have a guest walk you around a grocery store helping you to make good choices, etc.

There are two orgs in the area OA and TOPS. I saw their meeting announcements in the local paper. OA would probably understand our emotional issues more than TOPS. It might be worth a visit just to see what its about. They meet at 10:30 at the church across the street from La Villa on Saturdays. I can't go this week, but might check it out in the future.

Anything we can do to help ourselves is a move in a positive direction.