Is it only me? Help!

[Bandana 0]

Kat

I'm trying to get my ticker on this web. I designed it but I don't know how to paste it to this site. Can you help

[Bandana 0]

Beach girl

I got my first fill same day as you. Doctor has me on 2 day Clear Liquids again. I'm using Isopure which has 40g of Protein. There are many different flavors to try. I like the blue bottle. So we'll talk again to see how our fills are going. I got 5cc's. I'm having alot of trouble drinking Water though.

Caryn

[Kat817 19]

Caryn---click on someones ticker, it will take you to Tickerfactory. Go through setting up your ticker...enter your weights, how you want it to show...you have a choice---you can show pounds lost or your weight. So one would show your current and goal weight the other would not. Then pick the back of your ticker, there are several pages, when you decide, click on the circle and go to next. Then pick the design to show where you are on the ticker--and do the same, click the circle and go to next. Then it will take you to a page that has the codes. Use the top one. Click on the writing inside the box, highlight it all and right click to copy. Then come over here to LBT, click on edit signature in the right hand corner of options----it will show you what your current one looks like and in the bottom it will allow you to change it. Go in there, click where you want the ticker to be, right click and select paste. It should show up all the code. At the bottom click preview signature to see if it copied correctly---it should be there, then click save signature. Next time, when your weight changes, all you have to do is click on your ticker, enter your new # and it changes automatically.

Hope that helps, I am not a computer guru---waaaaay far from it!! If you have problems let me know!

Kat

[Bandana 0]

Tchil

I just had my fill also. I'm back to liquids for 2 days and then we'll see how I do. Good luck to you.

[Bandana 0]

Kat

Thank you. I'll try it.

Caryn

[Kat817 19]

I received this in an email notification on this threadm yet it does not show up, it must have been removed by the poster.

***************janeth57

I appreciate the fact that you are all understanding and supportive and I haven't been banded yet BUT.....cheating after a couple of weeks...come on!

The lap band is a tool but we have to do the work. It still takes self control and motivation. I'm paying $15,000 for this surgery and I am fighting for my life. I am healthy other than being overweight and I want to live a healthy full life. I know I'm going to get hungry before my first fill. It's those times I'm going to take a walk, get on the treadmill or get down on my knees and pray. I'm not going to do thru the drive thru at Taco Bell because I think I somehow deserve it.

You who are reading this probably think I don't know what I'm talking about because I haven't been there yet. I am so sick of eating. I am so sick of being fat. There is no excuse for it ever.....especially if you have gone so far as to have weight loss surgery. I plan on going to the support groups and surrounding myself with people who love and support me. I refuse to feel sorry for myself because I can't eat the same way other people do. I will learn new ways to cope with life rather than gorging myself with food.

I hope all of you who feel like you have to cheat will realize that once you start it's hard to stop. I've been there before. I lost 160 pounds on my own about 10 years ago. I did it with diet and exercise and it only took me 14 months. I was in fantastic shape. Once I started slacking off....the pounds started adding up. Now....I have 180 pounds to lose and I'm older and can't get the motivation back that I had ten years ago. I have no energy because of my size. I am taking this opportunity with the lap band to get a jump start and that's it. I will follow the plan and get my fills but most of the work will be done by me. I will walk 2 miles a day and eventually work up to an hour a day like I used to. After I lose the first 40 pounds (which I plan to do within a month) I will incorporate weights into my exercise routine. I will lose 100 pounds in less than 6 months and then the rest within a year after that.

I wish you all the best of luck. Please try not to cheat. You are only cheating yourself. For many of us this is our last chance at a healthy life at a normal or close to normal weight.

I'm just telling it like it is because I care.

I am not responding because I feel you are bashing those who have "cheated". You state yourself you have not been banded yet. It must have been a lot of hard work to lose all that weight before, and it will be again even with the band.

Your excited state of mind, and emotional high going into this sometimes take a beating figuratively as well as literally when the weight loss starts. The emotional highs and lows are normal, and related to hormone fluctuations. It is in times like these that some people find themselves in the drive thru---or others find themselves crying over every little thing in their life. All of us being different causes all of us to react differently.

The scary time of cheating is when you are in a healing phase. If you have passed the healing phase and are on to regular foods, the drive in is still not the optimal place for you, but that is where the band will show you what it is made of! You can eat a small amount, and get right back up and start over tomorrow, without missing a beat.

I dare to say most all of us, went into this with positive thoughts and plans for how we would handle ourselves during the hard times---and most of the time we succeed---but not always. It is a mental challenge to be restricted to liquids for long periods. And I too preach to the choir about sticking to the post op diet--it IS important. But most important of all is that we do our best to be supportive. Many of us do not have access to a face to face support group. I live in a rural area, and have to travel for my fill Dr., as well as having had my surgery out of the country. Support meetings are not available. This site is my band support. I have wonderful family and friends supporting me, but as for people who know and understand the band----this is it!

I hope you are able to realize your goals. I hope you are able to avoid the desire to cheat. And I hope you also know if any of those seem to be more difficult to reach than you had hoped for---that there will be many, many people here that understand. For the same reason--when you reach those goals, there will be people here to Celebrate the success with you.

I really don't think anyone sets out with the goal to cheat. And it isn't all cheating---that is a frame of mind. I am on a regular diet, have been for a long time. This morning I ate a waffle with my granddaughter. A lot of people would consider that cheating--because yep I had it with butter and Syrup. I don't consider it cheating. It was my Breakfast. Simple as that. Yes I could have had something more healthy and I usually do, but she wanted waffles, and so we had them. I do not want a diet, I want to live today the way I hope to live the remainder of my life. food in moderation.....not to have food be the centerpiece of my life----it is not the focal point any longer. Eating does not always equal cheating.

Do you have a date for your surgery yet janeth57?

Kat

[jrg1979 0]

I hope Janeth57 find it as easy to stick to her diet as she thinks it is going to be. It would be interesting to see what she has has to say about "cheating" 3 weeks post-op!

[Kat817 19]

I did not post it to flame the poster----they deleted it apparently---probably feeling it might come across wrong. I included it mainly FOR the poster. They have some very lofty goals! I hope sincerely that they can achieve them-------but if they find it harder, and find themselves faced with the same dilemmas many of us have---that it will be ok. I have been coasting with my band for the last several months, with other health issues, and maintenance is a non issue. I eat small normal meals, and do not regain my weight. I wanted to offer the opinion that "cheating" can be interpreted in many ways. During the liquids only stage I ALWAYS discourage it. When you are on a regular diet, one persons view of cheating is going to be different from the next. And if janeth57 finds her/himself needing support we will be here---without recriminations for finding ourselves wanting to cheat!

We all have weak times----wish mine just would be weekly weak times!! Not daily----some days hourly!!!

Kat

[make33 2]

Caryn, I had so much trouble getting my ticker for so long with mine, I made instructions for myself:

For the Ticker Factory: go in and create your own ticker (be sure to remember your password!)

At the end, highlight everything in the top box (the bb: box), right click and hit Copy.

Then come into this site, sign in and go to Edit Signature on the right. Left click in the big box. Then right click and hit Paste. You should see your ticker appear.

Be sure to go to the bottom of the page and click on Save Signature.

When it comes back, you'll see your ticker at the top of the page. (Then to change it, all you have to do is to double click on the one at the top of the page)...

Hope this helps!!!:tongue:

[Jkck660 0]

Kat,

I want to thank you for all of your advice. I was banded on Monday 3-3 and I too have found myself trying to cope with head hunger and the prospect of cheating. I know it may be easy for someone who has not gone through this stage to post about this topic. I felt the same way before I entered bandster hell! I thought I would never cheat. However, I am going through this stage and I thank you for all of your advice and support.

I am going to hang in there and know that this stage will not last forever!! This is my new beginning. I owe it to myself to press through these times of doubt.

And to you Caryn, Thank you for your posts!!

make33 I had a hard time figuring out the ticker as well!! Thanks to you and Kat for helping clarify that!!

:tongue:

[southerngirl21 0]

Hi Caryn,

Iwas bandedon2/28/08 and am having the same problem you had with cheating. Iwas wondering how your checkups have gone since you had surgery and did you have any problems such as slippage from eating solids too soon.

[Kat817 19]

It really IS a hard time, and while we know that it is just as difficult for us to walk away from the food as it is for an alcoholic to avoid drinking. If it were easy it would not be an addiction.

This forum is wonderful for that reason---lots of support anytime you need it!!!

Tickers......soon as I figure it out, something changes!!! LOL

Kat

[ssdown 0]

Me too! Help!

[JaimeSTL 4]

I really don't think anyone sets out with the goal to cheat. And it isn't all cheating---that is a frame of mind. I am on a regular diet, have been for a long time. This morning I ate a waffle with my granddaughter. A lot of people would consider that cheating--because yep I had it with butter and Syrup. I don't consider it cheating. It was my Breakfast. Simple as that. Yes I could have had something more healthy and I usually do, but she wanted waffles, and so we had them. I do not want a diet, I want to live today the way I hope to live the remainder of my life. food in moderation.....not to have food be the centerpiece of my life----it is not the focal point any longer. Eating does not always equal cheating.

One of my goals is to no longer let food have such power over me. As far as I'm concerned, all food is the same and if I want it, I'll eat my allotted 1/2 cup meal and be done with it. Now, I definitely won't go back to my fast food 10 times a week routine. In the last year or so, I've lost all desire for that crap, except pizza and nachos. Those are my favorites and I'll have them occasionally in the future. That thought comforts me, which I find sad. I refuse to think about all that I can't have, though. I'm centering my thoughts on what I can have, and all that I've gained because of my surgery. I've only lost 22 lbs and I feel better than I have in at least a year.

I have read some posts and thought, wow I cant believe they are eating that at this point in the game. Especially when I was pre-op and then 2-3 days post op before the hunger came. These last 3 days or so have been a struggle. I've been in tears, cursing myself for doing this, completely lost in my obsessive food thoughts. We all have food demons, or we wouldn't be here. Those demons don't go away when we get banded. One reason I chose the band is because it is a lifelong tool to help me fight my demons.

[ssdown 0]

Hey Kat817

I tried your steps but got stuck with the code in in the edit sig. place and couldn't figure out what to do next. Now what?!?