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

Lets get the priorities straight. You went down there to write, correct? Did you write? You went to visit good friends. Did you have a good visit?

A year ago you probably wouldn't have had a second thought after that kind of indulgence. Today you reevaluated the situation and using your new tool to get back on track.

Most of us are struggling to live our normal life. Working, raising kids, and doing our best to stick to the guidelines of the band. None of us are diving into another challenge like you are with the book.

Also you started going to the gym. I think that is SUPER!!

Gees man give yourself a break. It's not like you gave up.

Texgirl - I was having the same problems from Thursday - Sunday. The thread was shutting down and If I was lucky enough to post, I would have to copy and paste from Word to the reply box. Grrrrr.... it was frustrating. I went to the "contact" at the top right of the screen and e-mailed my "technical" problem. Alex was very helpful. I erased all the browsers cache and Cookies, and finally updated my Internet Explorer. I do not know what I did fixed it or the tech people fixed a glitch. Anyway, I am back on and happy for all the support.

Fenton - Glad to see you are back. Your human, you went on vacation, and now you are back. You'll get back into the swing of things and be okay!!

Tess - I had EVLT (Endo venous laser treatment) for varicose veins. It will slow me down on the couch to 5k a little. Whether I will run in the morning depends on how my leg feels. The doc said if I am up to it, go for it. I will walk if I am not able to run. We will see.

Fenton - welcome back. Vacati0on is a time to watch what we eat, but also have a good time.

I think all of us that have been on a vacation recently, post banding, have realized the struggle that goes alone with the band and vacation.

I did order your book this weekend, and saw it will be out in paperback in November.

Hopefully you got the info you needed while in Naples and enjoyed the time there. You did actually get a chance to do some writing, correct

I weigh ion tonight so will se the damage ihave from my vacationlast week

welcome back "charlie"....we missed you

hey don't beat yourself up over 4000 calories a day...heck my guess is you could do that in one meal prior to the band. I do think it is time to consider getting restriction though...it would probably help some. We all are human, which is more important.

Hey tell us about the trip? All you talked about it the food!!!! Come on you must tell....we were all so sad without you....

Fenton, thought this would be good to repeat:

Don't Quit

When you've eaten too much and you can't write it down,

And you feel like the biggest failure in town.

When you want to give up just because you gave in

and forget all about being healthy and thin.

So What! You went over your points a bit,

It's your next move that counts...So don't you quit!

It's a moment of truth, it's an attitude change.

It's learning the skills to get back in your range.

It's telling yourself, "You've done great up till now.

You can take on this challenge and beat it somehow."

It's part of your journey toward reaching your goal.

You're still gonna make it, just stay in control.

To stumble and fall is not a disgrace,

if you summon the will to get back in the race.

But, often the struggler's, when loosing their grip,

just throw in the towel and continue to slip.

They learn too late when the damage is done,

that the race wasn't over...they still could have won.

Lifestyle change can be awkward and slow,

but facing each challenge will help you grow.

Success is failure turned inside out,

the silver tint in a cloud of doubt.

When you're pushing to the brink, just refuse to submit,

If you bite it, you write it....Just don't you quit!

sharona

I just noticed your boobie banana. that is so funny.

well those are a lot perkier than mine!!! (sorry Fenton) I have an appt with plastics guy in two weeks to discuss reduction....

gotta love it....

Welcome back Fenton. Ya---I'm with you on the stress.

I haven't totally lost it (yet!) but I have been slipping to some foods that I don't normally allow. Had either starch or sweets for about 4 out of 6 days. I had a very stressful week writing. Wanted to get it done and in the mail before taking a planned beach trip. Ended up pulling an all nighter Sat---and then (Sharona) I ended up driving all the way down to your neck of the woods (Windsor Locks) Sunday AM to the P.O. near Bradley Airport to mail manuscripts so I could come to the Cape in peace. Today I actually stuck to my diet and got in a lot of walking. I think and hope the worst of the stress eating is over. I don't think I did any damage to my weight but I haven't lost

Does anyone ever get fluttering feelings in the middle of their chests? Is this the band? It isn't to the left where my heart is. It kinda palpitates some.

Rugman, get teh flutters cheked out. That is how I found out about my skipping heart-beats a few years ago. Nothing serious, but good to get doccumented. Pay attention to when they happen. Stress...after caffiene...different times of your cycle....lack of sleep...while excersizing. Mine really act up with stress and while excersizing I can't let my heart rate go over 170 beats per minute because it starts doing all sort of crazy beats...not good. I'm on meds for it now.

It all started out with a fluttering in my chest. Again, most likely nothing serious but better to have it checked out.

Chrisitne

Welcome back Fenton. You were missed! I actually started to worry about you because I could not figure out how you could stay away for so long. I'm so glad to see you back and getting back on track. I think I'll join you on that mission.

Things have been uber stressful here. Last week I did so well, managing it all, now I just feel overwhelmed. My DH is still in California. His mother has no frontal lobe activity in her brain....she's brain dead except for the part that keeps her heart doing what it's supposed to and her other vital organs at the ready. Now DH and his 7 siblings spread out over 3 countries are trying to make a heartwrenching decision and going full tilt at the blame/guilt game. It's so sad to watch and listen to from 3000 miles away. They should be supporting and loving eachother right now, but that's not what is happening. So sad. So I'm here with the kids, working and taking care of everything and I got an amazing job offer close to home, but decided to turn it down because there is just too much going on right now to focus on that whole transition and all involved. I am hoping the door will still be open when the right time comes.

Anyway, I have not been on the treadmill since Friday, but I will get back on. That Cto5K sounds interesting and I will check it out when I have some time tomorrow.

Christine

Penny spill the beans! What is this talk of manuscripts?

I had EVLT (Endo venous laser treatment) for varicose veins. It will slow me down on the couch to 5k a little. Whether I will run in the morning depends on how my leg feels. The doc said if I am up to it, go for it. I will walk if I am not able to run. We will see.

SugarBean-hope you are recovering without a problem. Don't over do it be safe!!! Today is my 2nd day to do the C 2 5K, I am planning to do it on the treadmill later at the gym tonight, I'll let you know how it went. It's too hot here today to do it outside.

I want to say that there isn't a day that goes by that I don't look to this thread for support and encouragement.. Even if I don't post every day, I am always reading and learning from everyone. I am grateful to have found a place of acceptance and encouragement. Thank you to everyone on here for the way that we show respect and friendship... it means soo much!!

Fenton- this is for you... (actually all of us) I came across this on the home page and thought it would be a good reflection for all of us as we experience struggles with ourselves at some point or another.

Please read and enjoy:

Get rid of your Dieter's Mentality

MacMadame

Published by MacMadame

07-04-2008

Get rid of your Dieter's Mentality

How many of us have been "on a diet" for most of our lives? Too many, in my opinion. Not just because it's bad for our health or because diets don't work. It's bad for our mental health too. It leads to something I call "Dieter's Mentality."

If you have Dieter's Mentality, you need to cut it out because it's going to sabotage your success. This is true whether or not you have had Weight Loss Surgery, are on your pre-op diet or are doing it the traditional way through diet and exercise.

Diet Mentality is evil and it puts you in a bad place!

What is Diet Mentality? It has four major components:

1) Putting food into Good and Bad buckets

First of all, food is not Bad or Good -- it's just food. Some food is a better choice than others, but even then it's really just all food. If you are getting in enough of the essential nutrients and you account for your calories each day, you are doing good no matter if you have a bite of dessert once in a while or not. All food is bad food if you eat too much of it or only eat one kind. It's just as unhealthy to eat nothing but Protein as it is to eat nothing but birthday cake. A healthy diet is balanced and can even include a certain amount of junk food as long as it's a small amount and it doesn't trigger you into bad behavior.

2) Judging your worth by what you eat

Making bad food choices does not make you a bad person. Your self-worth shouldn't be tied up in what you eat. Good people make bad choices all the time. Instead of beating yourself up when you make a bad choice, hating yourself, seeing yourself as a failure and otherwise engaging in destructive behavior, just figure out how to make a better choice next time.

It's not easy to be dispassionate about your own behavior, but telling yourself that you made a bad choice and next time you'll make a better one is a good start and much healthier than telling yourself you are a bad person and you'll never lose the weight and you hate yourself.

3) Judging your worth by how much you weigh/how much you've lost this week

The scale is just part of the picture. If you get too tied up in the scale, you get a distorted view of the world. Weeks where you lose are good weeks even if someone close to you died. Weeks where you don't lose are bad weeks even if you got a big promotion at work and did everything "right" in terms of diet and exercise.

One of the dangers of measuring everything by your weight on the scale is that you can convince yourself that making bad choices is okay because sometimes you can make bad choices and still lose/maintain. You can also convince yourself that making good choices is pointless because some weeks you make all good choices and the scale doesn't move. But clearly making more bad choices than good will lead to weight gain in the long run. Anything thinking that leads you to conclude otherwise is destructive thinking.

4) Waiting until you are thin(ner) to start living

Stop waiting until you get to goal to start living or loving yourself. Love yourself now. Live your life now.

It's easy to fall into "when I lose 25 pounds, I will start..." type of thinking. It's a fine line between thinking about how you will reward yourself when you meet certain goals and putting your life on hold until you meet certain goals.

Many of us have had the experience of thinking we were so fat back when we were in HS or college or a young adult and not being happy. But then we got even fatter and we look at those pictures from back then and we realize that we were actually pretty hot. In fact, we'd give anything to be "that fat" right now.

Why not love yourself now while you're living your life instead of waiting until 10 years later to tell yourself how good you had it back then?

Tess - thanks for the Dieter's Mentality post, I think we all need to be reminded of a few things.

Also, I am bruised and sore behind my knee from the EVLT. I chose not to run today. I will walk or do the elliptical to keep me in the groove.

Hi Shamrocks!

Going for a possible fill tomorrow. I am looking forward to it. When all else fails, I go back to the basics.