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

Well, I down loaded a couple of podcasts to my ipod, and tomorrow I will start my first day of the couch to 5K. I am not planning on running, but using it to power walk for now. I am kind of excited to try this out!!! I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the suggestion Sugarbean!:tt2:

WOW I read 8 pages when I get back from vacation and no entries for today, Saturday. Was there someting wrong with the site today?

I ran around all day, so got my exercise in, which is good!!

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend

Hi Harley! I can't complain about today, only got into the 80's here today. Just came back from our Children's Community Theater, the did a 101 Dalmations play and it was really cute. Grades 3 and up.

Hi Lynn...no nothing wrong with the site, I was trolling around on it earlier today. I guess the shamrocks are having a quiet day.

Hey Shamrocks! Yes, it has been rather quiet today, I prefer to assume that we are all out running around and burning calories!

I must say that today was a pretty good day for me. I think I hit a milestone this morning. I woke up at about 9am (ewww, early for me on a Saturday), and as I lay in bed, I started to think about what I was going to do to get my exercise in for the day. That was actually my first thought. LOL!

That is a huge 'lol' for me. Most Saturday mornings are spent by me trying to decide which pork product I am going to fry for bfast to go along with my french toast and home fries. At least pre-band anyways.

I must say that I was totally stoked! I actually got up, got dressed, and walked my dog for a half an hour, kicking up a serious sweat in the sweltering Ohio humidity. I am not, completely NOT, a morning person. This was a huge step for me!

And then, to make the day even better, the women of my family went to an early lunch, and then caught the matinee screening of 'Sex and the City'. Ten of us had a blast at lunch, and then even more fun watching my mom and her sister squirm at the rather graphic sex scenes. Good times!

I hope all you ladies had a great day as well!

Tess - Good luck with the couch 2 5K. I just finished week 3. Sometimes I think it gets harder as I progress, then other times I think it gets easier. I do know that I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I finish each work out.

I have been trying to go back to liquids this weekend. It was the only way I could get myself back on track after vacation. I have had a few "foods", but nothing much, all sofy or mushy. THink I am back to where I should be mentally to keep on the right path.

The true test will be when I weigh myself on Weds., my usualy weigh day.

Getting back to my exerecise too. walking this morning and it was soooo hot and humid. But felt great to be out for the morning walk.

Well, I down loaded a couple of podcasts to my ipod, and tomorrow I will start my first day of the couch to 5K. I am not planning on running, but using it to power walk for now. I am kind of excited to try this out!!! I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the suggestion Sugarbean!:thumbup:

Tess, what kind of songs did you download to your ipod to walk to?? I am tired of the music I have on my ipod and don't listen to the radio enough to choose any different ones.

Our day today was full of family and friends. We played by the pool, BBQed on the grill, bowled on the Wii, laughed at each other and really enjoyed the day! Yes, I am tired so good night all!!! (choices I made today were not real bad but were not my best, tomorrow is another day):teeth_smile:

Busy-I found on Itunes if you type in couch to 5K it gives you a couple to pick from. I down loaded the 2 most popular ones. I did my first set tonight, it went very well, I was really sweating:w00t:

The music on the couch to 5k Itunes is not music like the top 40 hits, its more like background music and this guy tells you when to walk and when the run intervals are so you don't have to watch the time yourself. I found it enjoyable.

Tess- WTG you did your first run/walk interval today!!!

Uh... Good morning, Angels.

So, I am back. And I am full of sin!

I had a really disastrous week away from the fold. I set off from NYC a bit enfeebled by my cold, and when I got to Florida, I completely gave in and went back to my worst eating habits. The friends I was staying with eat badly, and I was yanked out of the dietary structure I've carefully constructed for myself in NYC. But, more fundamentally, this was stress eating - work stress, writing stress, relationship stress. I had an opportunity to misbehave, and dove in headfirst.

I'd estimate that most days I was eating over 4000 calories, although "estimate" is complete bull, since I wasn't tracking my consumption. And, of course, I was deliberately not checking in - to read this site and all your reports of valiant battles and successes would have been to kill much of the joy of my blow-out.

It wasn't, actually, particularly joyful. But it did clear out all the hankerings I'd had for my standby junk food favorites. It was pretty pathetic.

On the plus side, I shamed myself into going to the gym. I bought a 14 visit pass, and most days made it in and did 45 minutes on the treadmill. Now I have to figure out how to leverage that gym momentum into getting my act together here.

I did some damage but I don't know how much. And, in the end, between exercise and possibly overestimating my intake, I don't think I ended up doing TOO badly weight-wise. But I'll never know - I skipped my weigh-in today, and will not check until Wednesday.

I don't know if I damaged my "pouch" - I don't know how really damageable those are. But to be on the safe side, I'm going to stick to fluids for two days, then mushies for two days, see how I do with that.

Now I have to go through the misery of carb withdrawal all over again!

Yeesh.

Anyway, I'm back.

Congrats to all of you course-stayers! And welcome to Nurse Niki (I hope I got that name right - I'm pretty busy this morning, and caught up this morning before posting now)...

Fenton, Welcome back!

Is anyone else having problems with this thread? When I get on this thread at home my internet gives me an error and shuts down. It's only this thread though, nothing else gives me a problem.

Hey guys! Hope everyone is dealing with Monday morning alright. I am really draggin'. I went back to work Sat night (my back is about 80% better) and had a party for my college friends Sunday, so morning time came too early for me today!

Oh, had my first expierence with the flu bug after banding, too. Thank goodness it was only diarrhea. (who would have ever thought I would say that) Feeling much better now.

Have a great day!

Tess Im glad to hear you enjoyed the C 2 5k. The music is a bit weird but somehow it keeps you focused and moving forward.

To others looking for music to run/walk to I like to set up a playlist looking at the running times of the songs. Then I know when the song changes it is time to change the interval of whatever I m doing. Short ones like Queens We Will Rock You (2:02) and long ones like Pink Floyd's Another Brink In The Wall (3:59) are good for either a hard burst or to catch you breath. Mix it up and good luck.