Hey all.

So there's a bunch of us in this group, all split up into our different banding days. I was thinking that it might be a good idea to have one master thread as we move through the month, in which all of us could post as we go, from the pioneers going on March 1st to the finalists on March 31st.

I'd love to talk about our anticipation and any worries as we approach our banding date, for people to talk about exactly what happened from the moment they walked into the hospital door until the second they walked out, about how recovery is going, about weight loss and plateaus, about non-scale victories and challenges.

I was thinking that if we all contribute to one thread, it'll form a more substantial channel for information and support. At the moment, I was thinking that we might be too spread out into individual date, and that a central thread would be a really good backbone for the group, in addition to the date-specific threads.

What do you think?

Fenton

hehe, that made me giggle.. Us March-ers are always thinking. Haa! High protein jello shots.. Man that's living it up:)

I may take A-Dub's advice and try get a little exercise with the boxing.

You've got to "give it all you got", punch like a madman and it's not difficult to break a sweat. Each round is 2 or 3 mins so I try to do 5 or 6 rounds in a row. It's great!

Oh, and speaking of A-dub, the answer is, of course, "incorrigibly neurotic Diva"...

"You love me, you really love me! I'd like to thank the Academy....."

Anyone else here finally allowing themselves to believe this may actually work? I guess the past 3 months I have sort of had the same mentality of my preivious diet and gimmic years. I just kept waiting to fail. It's really only in the past couple of weeks that I find myself believing this really is going to be it for me. The weight will be off and stay off. It's so nice to allow myself the unbelievable decadence of enjoying losing weight.

I know what you mean... I keep thinking "So, when is this dream weightloss just going to stop like it did every other time?"

And then I remember that this is not a diet, this is a lifestyle... and it's my lifestyle forever. And then I remember that i'm virtually half way to goal in only 4 months, and I can't stop smiling!

:thumbup: :crying:

Just wanted to share that I am officially in:

I am so excited! I didn't make my goal for my birthday, but I'm finally here now, and proud:) I hope you all have a great weekend! I'm off to Celebrate with some shopping!

~Kerri

WOOHOO! Congrats!

A-Dub, I'm SO impressed! I'm astonished you had nothing to add to the notion of proteinized Jello shots! I'd thought you'd be all over that one...

I still haven't set up my Wii - my living room is kind of pretty, and I don't want to derange it by having my Wii just sitting there. Also, do I have to attach some kind of sensor to the TV set, so it knows where I'm shaking my maracas?

I'm shaking my maracas?

I have a mental picture.

Edited June 29, 200818 yr by ajoneen

k-podski--CONGRATS!!!!!

westcoastmom---Welcome---you're one of us now!

Amanda--I know what you mean----I'm sort of doing well too but I want it to be even BETTER. I also don't think it was cool for that guy to push you to do something that you just got done telling him you did NOT want to do. It's like he just decided that it was OK for him to take control of decision about your body/self-care out of your hands and do it his way. It wasn't his place.

I have a dumb question about restriction. I have only had 1 fill and I'm hoping that those of you who are further along with fills can explain something to me. Is restriction about restriction around the stomach or restriction around the esophagus? I'm asking this because sometimes Water doesn't go down well. It feels like it's stuck in my esophagus. The same thing is happening with food. Today I took the first bite out of a spinach wrap (turkey, red pepper, spinach, a little bacon and cheese) and I had to stop right away. It felt stuck (hurt) in my esophagus. After a while -- it felt like it cleared and then I ate very slowly and chewed a lot and it seemed to be OK. I only ate about half of it and I had plenty of food---but at dinner I had 2x that much food (which is unusual). Most of the time --I think I need another fill because I'm not usually full when I eat. I just stop eating to limit calories. But I keep thinking that if I get more restriction then things will hurt more going down my esophagus. OR---Is it possible that the hurting or stuck esophagus is about drinking or eating too fast and has nothing to do with restriction?

A-Dub, I'm SO impressed! I'm astonished you had nothing to add to the notion of proteinized Jello shots! I'd thought you'd be all over that one...

I still haven't set up my Wii - my living room is kind of pretty, and I don't want to derange it by having my Wii just sitting there. Also, do I have to attach some kind of sensor to the TV set, so it knows where I'm shaking my maracas?

Oh don't get me wrong re: protein-enriched jello shots. I highly endorse this product and/or event.

Yep, there should be a small black sensor bar that came with your Wii -- it will have double sided tape spots on one side, and needs to be attached to the top of your tv, right in the centre. It's very incognito.

I'm sure your living room is very pretty, but the benefit of anything designed by nintendo is that, as with anything designed by Apple, it's very pretty too :thumbup: And it's all white and sleek and sexy. It is very inconspicuous tucked away in a corner, don't worry.

Enjoy!

Hey Banditos,

Well, you guys probably remember that I was having some issues with hair loss. I've now lost about 40% of my hair, and I was really paranoid about it. Basically, I thought I looked like shit every time I left the house. Very demoralizing.

So I tried weaves, but it was never quite right, because most of the loss was around my face and I couldn't cover that with a weave. So after weeks of careful consideration, i took the plunge and bought a wig. The wig people were great, they do a lot of work with people who've lost their hair from medical treatment and they were really understanding.

And I think it actually looks pretty decent! I feel like a bit of a sexpot, and let's face it, we could all do with feeling like that sometimes! It's the same colour and shape as my real hair is (was), so there's not a huge change to get used to.

And for those of you who are visual learners -- I present a picture! (Excuse the face - tired, pale, no makeup - but just enjoy the "hair").

Wow Annie, the hair looks fab! It looks so natural... Is it real hair? Congrats girl, you must feel like a million bucks:)

annie . it looks so natural, if i hadn't read the post from you first, I would not have known it was a wig. and it looks fantastic and i am sure you feel great wearing it ....

A-Dub! YUMMY! You're rocking a Kate Beckinsdale thing!

Were you blonde, though? I seem to remember you that way. Although maybe I just made that association because of your obsession with Jello shots... (Blondes and jello shots go together like bears and honey.)

Thanks for the Wii encouragement. We shall see how the Wii fits...

Edited June 29, 200818 yr by Fenton

I had an interesting talk with my trainer/nutritionist the other day. He wanted to measure me again to see my progress. I didn't want too. I tried to explain that I knew I was losing weight and inches because my clothes are fitting differently. He insisted that I needed to SEE the progress on paper. "Everyone wants to see their progress." So he measured away. For some reason I was disappointed in the results. My head thinks I should have lost more inches. I was really bummed. He was happy with the progress. I asked him if it was more important for him to be happy or me? Ya see I was happy with the progress as seen from the clothing standpoint. Like someone said here about wearing clothes that fit and seeing the proof that things are going well. Now I have these tape measure numbers in my head. They didn't mean anything to me until he made a big deal out of them. Yet I can't accept his judgment that the numbers are good. It really wrecked the workout that day. My head was somewhere else. He kept saying not to let it get to me. Ya easy for him.

I'm finally in a good place with this journey. I'm accepting that it will take me a while to get to a healthy weight. I'm working with the band. I'm getting into a groove with exercising. I've set a goal with the Triathlon. I've set a weight goal to be 200 by my anniversary (10/12). I think like Christine said I'm actually allowing myself to believe this is working. I think my judgment is the best. But now someone tossed a wrench in the works.

Grrrr. It's so frustrating. :thumbup:

Amanda...I know what you mean about other people sometimes throwing you off in the whole head thing that goes with weight loss. They just don't get it. They say the stupidest thing sometimes and it is in their way supposed to help, but it ends up hurting. We may even stumble and allow ourselves to reconsider the positives we have been experiencing.

I have a friend whose mother is a nurse who constantly does this to me. Last time I saw her she told me all these failure stories and the one succes in my opinion was a failure in her opinion. I think losing a hundred pounds is a success and the person was happy with it. She feels getting down to 230 pounds is not low enough and why stop there....so a failure. Made me wonder what she will think of me when I reach the point where I would like to stop losing.

People just don't know how to be supportive sometimes. I hope your trainer learned a lesson from yesterday's session and will be able to support you the way you need to be supported from here on out.

You are doing and AWESOME job withthe band. I am in awe of your achievement!

Christine

Just wanted to share that I am officially in:

I am so excited! I didn't make my goal for my birthday, but I'm finally here now, and proud:) I hope you all have a great weekend! I'm off to Celebrate with some shopping!

~Kerri

Congratulations Keri!!! :thumbup: