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

Okay, here is my 2weeks of meal plan, plus exercise plan that I wrote out in advance - its not filled out for every calorie at this point but I was trying to be sure I had a good band friendly combination of Protein, vegetables and fruit and then added a few planned carbs in here and there plus some Snacks.

Anybody that can post other meal ideas to help me with variety and advance planning I would appreciate any help I can get.

LapbandTalk made me post this in PDF form but if anyone would like an MS Office Excel spreadsheet where you can make your own and edit on this one, PM me and I can email it.

2010 Meal Plan form by SpecialK.pdf

Edited January 2, 201016 yr by SpecialK

Here is a link to the 2010 Shamrocks Weekly Weight Accountability thread.

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f114/2010-shamrocks-weight-challenge-107686/#post1387593

Edited January 2, 201016 yr by SpecialK

2nd Accountability thread link -- to an Weekly Exercise Challenge to run from New Years to St. Patrick's Day:

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f114/2010-shamrocks-new-years-st-patrickss-day-exercise-challenge-107689/#post1387609

Hi Shamrock friends. I love the show Biggest Loser and the next season of the show started last night. It was so sad once again to see how super obese some folks are and to know I was there 2 years ago. I pray that with the extreme exercise they can lose a tremendous amount of weight under a doctor's supervision (which the show has) and that with eating right, for a lifetime, they can keep it off. I don't think the show fairly represents that the people who lost 100 lbs or whatever are left with excess skin and at the Finale show, some of those people who lost 150 or whatever pounds and had a totally flat stomach -- they can't be totally for real given how many experiences we have shared in this forum. Anyway, I will still watch because it is a good reminder to me to keep exercising and to cheer them on to better health. In the early shows of a season, it really is about them transforming their minds. Later on, it gets into some nasty game playing and I don't like that part of the show where one person eliminates another due to them being a threat to win the $250,000 prize. I really wish they would talk more about what the contestants are eating that allows them to lose something like 25-30 lbs in one week for those big guys -- I know even with extreme exercise, that is huge which has to mean they are going to a major calorie intake reduction as well as the major calorie burn thru exercise to get that kind of a loss. They even had several of the women on last night's show lose 20 lbs in a week including some women who were in the 200s lost about 20 lbs in a week. Amazing.

Long time, no post, huh?

Thought I'd pop back in action and work on getting the last twenty freaking pounds off.

Things have been pretty chaotic for me. I know way back when that I mentioned I was going through a divorce....well, I went through a divorce and lived to tell about it....more or less!

Christmas was rough. My daughter decided to spend the day with her Dad, which on an intellectual level is FINE, but on an emotional level was really hard for me. I'm damn near fifty years old and I've never woke up alone on Christmas Day. I did have friends that really stepped up and got me through it though!

As for weight, I've been treading Water. No gain, no loss.

Not complaining, I'm in a decent place and of course, very happy with my progress.

I went to the doctor and had a very small fill today just 1/3 of a cc...just a tweak. Just had a Protein shake and could really feel the difference, so we'll see.

The doctor was very nice. He wasn't my usual doc, so uncomfortable at first. He also does tummy tucks and when he looked at my belly for the port he said, "I'd never make any money if all of my patients came out like you have." I showed him my lower stomach that I am unhappy with and he said, "If you want my honest opinion, save yourself $5K, you look fine." It really helped my battered ego.

I haven't started dating or anything yet....just working on me for a while.

Looking forward to re-connecting and checking in more often! I've missed my shamrock friends!

Hi Harley Girl! Great to hear from you again. I have to include a picture here where I bought my mother's miniature schnauzer a Harley Davidson faux leather dog coat for Christmas.. he is so cute in it and it actually is functional to keep the little guy warm when he goes out in our snow here in Ohio.

:thumbup:

Hi Harley--you have certainly had quite a year. I was really touched by your post and I have to say that when I got done I was VERY impressed with your weight loss. You have gone through really big changes since March 08 and that is not easy. I wish I could give you a hug. I do believe at some level there is a lot of inner wisdom in the choices you have made and a lot of courage in seeing it through. I wish you Peace.

Hi Desdemona - yes, I too agree that we have been through alot and yes, it was necessary to make hard choices and go through pain, including the pain of walking away from a relationship when you know it is not healthy for you... isn't that a great feeling to mentally know to walk away from an emotionally unhealthy situation being as important as walking away from a physically unhealthy situation.

I too just made a major lifechange but it involved my job. I am a professional project manager and I have managed huge multi-million dollar projects for my company over the past 14 years and was so pleased until 1 year ago when I got paired up with an emotionally abusive co-worker who had some authority over me (i.e. the project's sponsor and person who controls the relationship to the group who is funding the project). I tried everything in my power to get this abusive relationship turned around. He would shake fingers at me, raise his voice, cuss, and ultimately once he pounded his fist on his desk so hard, his computer monitor and every piece of paper on that desk jumped up including the two of us girls who were sitting in chairs across from him. I documented with my direct boss all along what was going on but it became apparent that this guy was "protected" because he worked for someone whom he had been friends with outside our company for more than 20 years. I finally broke down and scheduled counseling in November. By early December, she had assessed that I was potentially physically at risk and had definitely been emotionally 'beaten' by this co-worker and I needed to walk into my boss' office the following day(s) and ask to be removed from the project because it is still going to last at least another 4 months. Basically, I debated once again, even with professional advice to leave an abusive relationship, to try to stick it out a while longer, there had to be something I could do to fix this. In the meantime, I ate foods to soothe my anger, frustrations as I had always done. That desire to get control of my eating, and get the remainder of this excess weight off in the New Year was one of the big reasons I went to the counselor. She said, first let's get you out of that abusive work relationship, that's easy enough to do (but hard emotionally to walk away because I'm not a "quitter") so I have been going through very stressful times all through December. The abuser finally got told on Monday afternoon that I had requested off the project and he was so glad...Ha Ha! he thinks he won this battle of wills but really, I am the winner - because I will be better off emotionally and physically and he will still be a jerk!

So, I shed lots of tears this week friends, I had to tell my project team I am unexpectedly leaving them without being able to give them details that our HR Dept would not want me to share. I think they know he is a jerk. Some of them have sent me chat messages or called and said they totally support me and I did tremendous in spite of him. I have to transition things off my work plate onto others during the next week and then I am free of ever having to sit in the same room with him again. !!!

So what... I LOST 1 POUND THIS WEEK! I ate healthy, exercised, and feel so triumphant today.

Last, for those who are struggling whether with work, marriage, or whatever, please remember to be strong and do what is best for you. You won't regret it in the long term. Short term pain for long term gain.

And I better follow my own mantra there!

Edited January 9, 201016 yr by SpecialK

Special---WOW! Now it's really clear why you have been struggling. I can really relate to it. I had a similar situation about 8 and 9 years ago. It's really terrible to work with someone who has power over your work who is sick and abusive. When I left that situation I felt like I lost the excitement of doing the very high powered federally located research in the big city but I did also feel good to be free of that person.

In the last 2 years I had been feeling very frustrated and stuck because I was put on hold for tenure and that would have meant the loss of my job if it didn't come through. I knew I deserved it and I knew the problem was really the budget but politics being what they are, they denied that was the hold up. It really took a toll on my self-esteem. Finally, it came through in late Fall. I felt better - but I didn't feel I could rest until they told me the truth and gave me restitution for all the project stuckness -- loss of $$--sleeplessness--worry. Just within the past couple of weeks they actually fessed-up and admitted it was the budget and not ME. They have also come through with the proper support so I can move a head with my projects.

I just can't get over the difference. I'm relaxed. I sleep. I'm not losing it with my family anymore. I'm laughing and enjoying life again. What a relief! The best thing is I focused on losing again and I have lost several lbs in the last 2 wks for the first time in about a yr. I really do think there is a relationship between stress and how we eat. I also think the stress alone --even when we are eating less can still cause us to hold on to weight (stress hormones). I think sometimes we get stuck with our weight when we are under stress. And sometimes when we lose a lot of weight we decide at some level to throw the "rest of the baggage" out of our lives at well as the weight.

This really shows how much food is a metaphor for us and how we use it. I think we had success on the band but then "life" and hard times came along and we fell back to our old relationship with food. But it's a NEW day -- and we are going to finish what we came here to do!!!

Edited January 10, 201016 yr by Desdemona

Thanks Desdemona -- yes isn't it crazy how much of our life and self-esteem gets wrapped up in our work. I guess for me its about being single my whole life so far and my career was so important to me. Its getting less so as the years go by. Now its a good paycheck to pay the bills and do the other things in life I enjoy.

I cooked up some chicken breasts in the crockpot today and then pulled the meat off the bone, portioned it out into small containers and now I'll have the basic meat I need for anything from a chicken stir fry or whatever.

I thought I could buy this container of Fat Free Caramel Apple Dip and be reasonable but today I was dipping big hunks out with each bite of apple. I had a rude awakening when I logged in 4 servings of that on dailyplate.com and found it was 400 calories and like 100 grams of carbs and 76g of sugar!! Yikes. Okay, sad to say but I am throwing the rest of that container out because it just aint worth it. I think I was using the caramel dip as a slider food so now I know to watch that. I should buy only the individual serving thing size next time.

Special ---When you first started talking about that Fat Free Caramel Apple Dip I thought you were gonna say it was 1 of the "creative" things you were going to do with the chicken!! Kinda stunned me there for a moment! Just couldn't wrap my brain around caramel dipped chicken! LOL. But then I figured it out.

Oh I just know I can't go there on trying to bring things like that in the house. If I buy a quart or half gallon of ice-cream or anything else -- it will be gone before I go to bed. The 1 thing I can say is that I do find I can buy a box of Atkins Advantage Bars and have just 1 a night. I do low carb so it works out for me. Also -- I have never been much of a tea drinker but I'm finding that a cup of lightly brewed green chi tea without milk (Yogi) a few times a day and eve seems to somehow soothe craving and tension in me. They also claim that 4 to 5 cups of green tea help with belly fat.

What do you find helps you stick to your plan?

Thank you all for your support. I've been so down that I didn't even check back to see if anyone posted. There has been some great advice and I will take all of it! I made an appointment with a counselor for this week - that was the first step. I also had a pretty intense conversation with a friend who was a big part of my journey and she made me realize that I have isolated myself and haven't been open about where I'm at. I need to "come clean" with those four people because they were my initial support system. So wish me luck with that - I'm very scared...I'm gonna start logging food too - i'm all set up for that too...I really appreciate the advice - keep loading me up, I need it.

Desdemona -- I followed through and threw out the Fat Free Caramel Dip -- another good lesson that FF isn't Calorie Free.

I am looking at a written out food plan daily now before I decide what to eat and I'm keeping variety going. I threw in some Boca Burgers as something different for this week. I like them with my George Foreman grill when I can't grill outside and I put lots of ketschup on it and eat it without a bun and find it pretty satisfying for the one that is grilled burger. Has a good smoky flavor.

Zeke, glad you are finding your way. We all have to find what will get us on track, each person is so different but I am finding more and more of us 2+ year bandsters really wanting to recommit including those I met through my hospital support group and those in my local area that get together once a month. We all decided we were letting ourselves get a little too comfortable at part-way to goal.

Logging food -- www.dailyplate.com is a good site. I just registered on it yesterday myself. I have tried others that were part of my plans in the past but this one is pretty good and its Free! It has the capability to export out into Excel or file to keep it. The web site only keeps your food log for 45 days for free but that is okay with me because I can export it out and save it on my own computer so I don't lose it.

I'll post a sample day here and you can see what I am eating. Yesterday was a pretty good day except for the Caramel Dip experiment gone wrong. Calories were fine, good protein level. Still can't seem to get really low on carbs if I add in fruit as a healthy snack so I guess if my carbs are "good carbs" from vegetables or fruit, I can live with that.

I am trying to be careful about cereal, rice, potatoes, and pasta for carb avoidance. Have them in small portions or occasionally. I find them to be slider foods - things easier to eat than the protein so I find myself eating a bite of meat, a bite of potato, a bite of meat, .... back to my meat & potatoes mindset of pre-band. Need to be more like bite of meat, bite of vegetable, bite of meat, bite of vegetable.

2010-01-10-detailed.pdf

Hi Zeke and Special---Good to see you.

You nailed it! I feel exactly the same way about being a bit complacent with my partial success. I do think that once we find that we are feeling so much better after weight loss and improved eating, sleeping etc that it becomes easier not to finish the journey (to goal). I was first motivated because I felt so darn lousy both physically and emotionally. Then I got a Breast Reduction and felt even better. So it does get harder to keep my eye on the prize when I'm not hurting as badly. But it does feel like something is really changing in my head. It feels like now I want more than to "not hurt" and I want more than to "look and feel significantly better." I want to be all that I can be and I'm getting REVVED UP to reach for the whole enchilada (sos to speak -LOL). But I DO want to also say that looking back on this "rest" -- I DID stick to a very good eating plan for at least 8 mos (although not that much exercise to be honest) and I just plain had the MOTHER OF ALL STALLS! I got discouraged. I lost a ton of weight very quickly and then NOTHING. I DO think that my body just plain wanted/needed to rest and did not want to give up more weight. I don't think everyone's body is like that but I do believe that mine is. However, it has now had its long rest and I just FEEL like something is happening and it's ready to start losing again. I have been losing over the past 2 weeks so I'm psyched!

Edited January 11, 201016 yr by Desdemona