Welcome to this new month's challenge all you April Bandits!

I think we should do the bronze silver and gold again so that we can accomodate all fitness levels.

Bronze - 14 sessions of at least 35 minutes

Silver - 18 sessions of at least 40 minutes

Gold - 23 session of at least 45 minutes

If you need to do more or less than this just put it in you signature what you personal goal is and let's go get 'em this month!

Yeah for you Tracy.............you are doing amazing! Proud of our "kiddie"!

Did our Tues walk to and fro breakfast - got a bit of oatmeal down - mornings are very tight.........but, had no problem with it......yeah!

Getting very excited about our east coast trip and my meeting with my band child Julie!!!!!

Kat - where are you?

11 pounds of fat?! That is amazing. Maybe that explains why I keep getting compliments without a huge loss on the scale. The focus is such on BMI and pounds lost, that I have forgotten the increase of lean body mass from running. hmmmm....

Tracy, FINALLY! Yeah, that picture is beautiful, but so are the others. You look great without makeup. It is odd how much our faces change through this process. While I love how my face looks now, I'm a bit worried about losing too much and finding wrinkles and sags that I didn't know existed.

Julie, I'm thinking more and more about the whole TT idea. It might be a way to get to the body size/shape I want without sacrificing my face for it. I know it is hard to judge, but I'm wondering how much time I would need "off." How soon can you take a walk? Don't answer me now, I'll try to look it up in your TT thread. Good luck at the new job!!

Betty, do you have time to get up to Washington for a small unfill? It might make it possible for you to enjoy some meals out. Otherwise, take some liquid replacements along in case you get tighter. I LOVE New York! Have a blast!

Oh Molly, hang in there!!!

I'm also a April bander, i had surgery April 23, 2007, in Boston, Mass. and i feel great, i'm exercising already, walking, and i lost about 16 pounds, good luck to all of you, this is great support

I WALKED TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW!!!!!!!! (Major, MAJOR NSV) I really really really stink at consistant exercise! On the way home I was giving myself all kinds of OUTs and Excuses to just stop and pick him up on the way home.......... (too late, I may not make it before 5, too hot, he may be too hot from playing, ohhh I'll just walk AFTER we get home... ) it was literally the voices in my head ( ALL THE APRIL bandsters 06 & 07's ) telling me to get over myself and suck it up and just do it! SO I DID.

It is only .6 miles each way.. so for all you REAL exercisers that's not even worth breaking a sweat for, but for ME it is a big deal.... cause I was sweating like I just ran a marathon! LOL

Julie, I'm thinking more and more about the whole TT idea. It might be a way to get to the body size/shape I want without sacrificing my face for it. I know it is hard to judge, but I'm wondering how much time I would need "off." How soon can you take a walk?

IMO, you MUST have two weeks off and it's best if you have 3. I'm a quick recoverer and I could have gone back at 2, but I was really glad to have the extra week. It was a full 6 weeks before my energy level was 100% back.

I took SHORT walks (less than 1/2 mile and SLOW just to get out of the house) at about 10 days. You still have to walk a little crunched at that point. By 4 weeks, I could walk any distance comfortably. At week 5, I was released to walk for exercise. At week 6, I was released to run.

Hope that helps!

PS: for anyone who was worried, my scale has rebounded after 3 days of in control eating. I'm back to 178 and looking forward to getting even lower....

Tracy...30lbs that is awesome. Congratulations!!!!!!!! I hadnt seen any posts from you in awhile, so I went looking for you. That is a great loss!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all, I am fine, I was just being a drama queen, this dating and trying to keep the self-esteem up when I have to keep selling myself, is just like a endless job interview, but hehe I am ok today.............I have got out Dr Phils book and reading his advice about dating , it is quite interesting. I have been a little worrried about whether I have stretched my band/pouch, how would I know, I think I also need a small unfill as I am struggling with food.........but yeah I am still here and today is a good day, thanx for the advice Julie, I have taken something for years, I think a lot of people on this site probably have, but I wish there was a pill for shyness and confidence, oh well, that is all, I am good and hope you all are too!

Fiona

I'm glad you're doing a little better Fiona.

Tracy, YOU ROCK on the exercise -- woohoo!

As for me, I have a date tonight. I'm actually excited about this one. He's a bit older than me, divorced, 2 kids, really funny and relaxed. I hope there's chemistry in person because on paper he looks pretty darn good!

I walked the 3 miles to work this morning, through Central Park in glorious 70 degree weather, since I can't get to the gym tonight. It was LOVELY.

Have a good day, all.

Hello April Bandits, My Name Is April, I Had The Surgery On 4-23-07, I Was 317 And Now Down To 298, I Would Like To Join.

I'm also a April bander, i had surgery April 23, 2007, in Boston, Mass. and i feel great, i'm exercising already, walking, and i lost about 16 pounds, good luck to all of you, this is great support

HI IVONEA IM ALSO APRIL 23RD SURGERY HOW IS EVERYTHING SO FAR?

Yipee! Alan had an echocardiagram today................all is good, he's off the coumadin and can begin cutting down on the betablockers............yeah..............our lives are getting back to normal!

I had another bad day with food today and called and made an appt for Friday to get a bit of an unfill - never had to do that before............hope they don't take tooooo much out, but I knew I just could not go on our trip not being able to eat solid foods!

Ivonea and April21............happy to have you join our exercise support group - welcome and get those butts moving!

Julie - how did the date go? My daughter Amy has been dating a man for a couple of months now that she says is a great guy............I'm excited for her - but she says for me to stay calm..............lots of things to work out (especially the fact that she has 2 kids and he has 3 - the Brady Bunch! - they have not introduced each other to the kids or the kids to each other yet.............they don't want to put them thru all of that if things don't work out..........it's not so easy when little kids are involved).

Didn't get to exercise today because I went to the Dr. with Alan this morning and then played Mah Jongg the rest of the day with my girly friends (exercise my fingers).

Betty, you deserved a day off. Thee cheers for Alan being on the mend! I'm so happy for you both. Your unfill is the right call too. Don't worry a bit about it. They won't take much out and you'll be back to solid foods, which is where you need to be. It's going to be perfect.

Ivonea and April21, welcome!

My date was ok, but not super. The problem with internet dating is that even if you have interests in common, your worlds have nothing in common. Unlike, for example, if you meed through friends or work, where your worlds necessarily already have commonality. Anyway, it's a struggle.

I am still here, hanging in. I am making progress, I am actually awake during normal hours! I have been having issues with sleeping all day and staying up all night, yikes not easy to be productive that way. It's a beautiful morning here in the great pac NW and today I am going for a walk! I am still waiting on that fill that I get on the 30th, one more week and I will be good again I never realized how many calories were in one cup of rice! Holy cow! My calories have been a bit high but mostly from good food like basmati rice and yummy healthy sandwhiches. After my gain from the unfill to 282 I am back down to 277 so I guess I'm not doing too badly hehe but it is really hard to be good. I threw out calorie counting for right now because I just get too hungry to stay within a normal banded calorie range. I am making them healthy ones though

Julie you are doing great, sorry your date didn't work out but one day soon you will have one that will! I hope work is settling in for you ok and go get 'em with your run times!

Tracey, keep going you have had a great start!

Betty I'm glad you are feeling better and back into the swing of things again :Banane40: And glad Alan is doing so well!

Welcome Ivonea and April glad you both found us :success1:

And yes where is Kat? I hope everything is ok.

Boo thank you for the words of encouragement :waytogo:

Eficka, wow you're doing great! Sometimes it's hard to see our own progress.

Going for Walk #3 this week! JUST DO IT will be ringing in my head as I get ready to leave the office shortly!

Julie: I did the internet dating thing... met several guys, some nice, some jerks, some boring... throw in a heartbreaker.. overall I had fun, but after one gave my computer a virus (via IM) I was done! He was an I.T. guy and his job was to test firewalls...... go figure.. ANYWAY I was logging in to cancel my account and I had a HILARIOUS message from DBF..... it made me laugh and he posted no pic so I basically replied back saying thanks for the laugh dude but you have no pic and I'm cancelling anyway... (he was on and quickly emailed back, I gave him my email addrress...... and that was two years ago) Our commonalities are Riding Motorcycles and Raising Kids...... The riding was the first BIG common interest and the morales and ethics of raising kids came later......

I would say don't give up... and GOOD LUCK!

Wow the scale moved! Yay, back down to 272 almost back to my low As for excersize I am doing really well the last couple of days which is probably why the scale is moving, lol. It's 10 am and already I have my excersize in for the day, yahoo! Now to put the last of my storage baxies into the newly spring cleaned closet and all my spring cleaning will be done! Before summer! In all my spring cleaning I found my running shoes so when schools out for the summer I can take advantage of the use of the track to start running