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

remember hunger is our enemy.....I too am having difficulty getting enough Protein each day. I'm starting to get growling and am hungry at times. Bought Protein Bars which are helping. Made a "paste" out of chicken, fatfree miracle whip, cranberry sauce (one tablespoon) salt pepper and onions. Very good to dip saltines into and fills you up quickly.

I started a journal but haven't kept it up...been so tired lately.

sharon

Terry - tap, tap, tap, shimmy, shimmy, shake, shake (that was me doing the happy dance to Celebrate your SV. As for me, I stayed off the scale today – WHOHOOO – that’s a minor miracle in my house.

Hopeinapril – I went to Wynn (CRIAS), and Sofranski (Salisbury – and now Lewes) for consults. Both wanted like $2500 extra for stuff I wasn’t going to use. Nobody drives two hours to go to the gym. I chose the practice of Drs. Singh and Averbach in Catonsville, MD. Dr. Singh does not charge any extra fees, fills are covered by insurance. In fact my insurance paid every penny of my surgery bill - I think (won't know for certain until I don't get a bill). Dr. Averbach charges $25 for trip to the hospital to use flouro (or x-ray)- I think. Dr. Singh (my surgeon) trained the doctor that trained Sofranski. He’s really big about making the incisions as small as possible. Though two are longer than I hoped for, the other three are barely visible anymore. I think (hope and pray) that the other two will disappear as they completely heal over time.

I had liquid for two weeks and now I am on mushies for two weeks.

Amanda – I blog here on LBT – I think you’ve commented on my blog a time or two. I make start a personal journal. I am sure it will help to be able to look back to review where I’ve been and determine if I’ve grown or digressed. Its also great to look back at times you were sure you wouldn’t make it and remember how you actually did make it through. Sometimes we need reminding that setbacks, plateaus, and disappointments are usually temporary – we just need to keep plugging and keep the faith.

Fenton – I respect your decision to wait for a fill, but I personally need my fill. I hate needles, but I am looking forward to my first fill. I loved the restriction I felt during my liquid stage. Never a moment of hunger. Now that I am in my mushies stage I have awakened my hunger. I usually drink Breakfast – a Protein shake and eat my other two meals.

Low point: sucking on jalapeno kettle potato chips. hmm hmm good but oh so bad!

Edited April 13, 200818 yr by enjoylife

jalapeno kettle potato chips. hmm hmm good but oh so bad!

OMG, Diva... That's my kryptonite! :biggrin: I just don't understand how you can lick 'em and not eat 'em!

I've never had jalapeno kettle chips, but can imagine that they're pretty tasty.

Yesterday I had my big steak dinner; it was the most amount of calories I've had in one day in probably about two months. And I loved it. I had about 5 ounces of steak, saved another 3 oz for today (yummy breakfast), three beer-battered onion rings, three ruthlessly slaughtered and peeled baby carrots, and some bone marrow-mustard custard. I declined dessert, but the pastry chef sent Desserts anyway, and I had a variety of tastes. None of that worried me - I think the meal probably ran about 1500 cals, and earlier I'd had another 400 or so - but I wasn't pleased by the fact that I enjoyed the dinner rolls too much.

Afterwards, I felt unpleasantly full. I walked a bit, and was kind of wired for the rest of the evening. I finished off the steak, leftover onion rings and carrots this morning.

Today I started working out with my new dumbell set. So far so good; I'm going to try not to overdo it. My dates last night recommended a gym/personal trainer not too far from me; when I hit 375, I'll start working out with him.

And today I'm going to do my best to walk a lot. I own my calorie spike from yesterday, but I'll be DAMNED if I'm going to let it affect my numbers!

Sounds like a pretty yummy dinner, Fenton!

I had refried Beans with lime and cilantro......good.....but no steak, that's for sure!

It's a BEAUTIFUL spring day today......thinking we're going to take a long walk down by the river and see if there are any baby ducks! I suspect that by this time next week, if the temps stay the way they are, the river will be pretty high and the duckies will be hiding in the shallows.

Things are going well for me....I'm just feeling so good. It's wonderful. I still get the twinges of shoulder pain, strangely enough, they seem to be related to hunger much of the time. If I eat a little something, it subsides. Perhaps because I wasn't listening to my stomach, my body is sending signals somewhere else!!!!! Ten minutes of heat takes care of it as well.

The EVIL scale dropped a pound this week, so we've reconciled for now. I would have preferred more......but down is down and I'll take it!

Hope you all have a GLORIOUS spring Sunday!

Diva, thanks for the Happy Dance, I need all the encouragement I can get. That awful scale is going to get the best of me, if I can't keep myself off of it all the time. Beginning tomorrow, I'm going to try to wean myself into weighing just twice a week, in preparation for weighing just once a week which I think will be better for me in the long run. I just can't bring myself to doing it just once a week yet, that darn scale!! Hopefully, when I weigh tomorrow, I won't have gained that 1.2 lbs back again!! :biggrin:

Fenton, your steak dinner sounded wonderful. As for me, tonite I'm going to enjoy a bowl of chicken chili that I made a month or so back before surgery that was quick and easy to make in the crockpot. I got the recipe off of this website and it's full of Protein and was very tasty. I'm looking forward to it. If anyone wants the recipe let me know and I'll post it here.

Harley glad to hear your scale finally moved, congratulations. I think you're the one who made mention the other day about everyone being stuck on this darn plateau, I'm hoping I'm over that hump now and hope to see the scale moving downward again too. Enjoy your walk, sounds like a good day for it. For me however, it's cold here today, so I'll opt for the treadmill. :tongue:

Fenton - glad you enjoyed your dinner. I am not sure steak and onion rings would be my choice for breakfast!!!! I agree though the dinner rolls are always fantstic and a big downfall for me. I'll be heading to OLive Garden in a week for a diner and will do my best to avoid the breadsticks!!!!!

Getting ready to enjoy a great Sunday. It is a bit cool outside but sunny. A great day for nice walk.

This week will be my first full week back to work.. Alot to do, but hope it goes smoothly. I was lucky enough to ease back in last week.

My grandson, age 2 1/2, wore me out last night, but i had a great time doing everything he wanted o do... alot of running around in the yard!!!!!

Harleygirl, I was having trouble journaling at first with the journal book the surgeons office gave me, but now I journal on Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate. They have thousands of food choices to journal and your able to put in your activity as well. You can set your daily goal caloric intake and it will tell you how many calories you have left or how many you've went over.

Fenton, I'm amazed at how your able to have these great meals and still loose. I had about a cup of fried rice yesterday and some other things days before. I've been at a plateu for about two weeks now.

Oh well, I'm scheduled for a fill on Thursday and cant wait.

Hi Shamrocks!

Diva: Thanks for the information. I actually almost went to Dr. Singh. He was the first doctor I found, then I found CHRIAS. I don't really regret my decision, but I did spend a little more cash then I needed. My insurance is weird. It paid for the pre-op stuff, but not the surgery. I'm hoping to get some of the money I paid back because of the hernia repair. We will see.

Fenton: Great attitude. I have had a few slips here and there, but I truly believe that the best thing is to get up, dust yourself off and keep going. Wonderful about your 50 pounds lost. I'll be doing the happy dance when I am at the point!

Amanda: By journalling do you mean like a blog for your feelings and emotions? Or are you talking about documenting your food intake? I do the journalling for feelings and stuff on an occasional basis. The food documentation I am almost 100% on. I don't know how to track my Protein and Water in any other way.

I think I am doing better. I have a day or two every month where I am a bottomless pit. I could eat and eat. Yesterday was that day for me. I feel better recognizing it. The good thing is that I didn't stray too terribly far. Basically, I ate some mushies when I should be on liquids. Those are really the days when I will need the restriction. I am actually a little anxious to stray too far. I am afraid that I will test my limits and I don't want to know that I can eat bread...... It is the exercise part that I am having difficulty with at this time. I can't seem to get motivated. I know when the weather is better, it will be easier. It's not a good excuse, because there is always some reason not to exercise. I am locating some walking buddies, so I hope that will help!

It's funny, but some of my scars are almost gone, but I still have some bruising. It seems odd. Ah well, the body works the way it wants.

fenton, i wish i'd had your dinner last night. but i was pretty satisfied with my sushi dinner (a spider roll, unagi and tamago). mmm.

it's been awhile since i've visited our merry march bandster thread. am glad everyone is doing so well. i too plateaued for a couple of weeks. frankly it pissed me off, especially because i was keeping close track of my calorie counts during that period. am not advising this to anyone else, but i decided to change things up and throw in a day or two of relatively high caloric intake. rather than my usual 1100-1200, bumped myself up to a 1600 at the beginning of the week and another 1600 at the end. i'm not a medical pro, but i think confusing my body helped. i lost 2.5-3 lbs this week.

on another note, whatever happened to whimsy? i haven't seen a post from her in quite a long time. whimsy, you out there?!

I have been logging a food journal by hand. A bit tedious, but without it i can never be sure of my actual protein intake, and carbs and fat are always hard to calculate. I am still amazed at the carb amount in certain things and find it tough to keep the count there low.

I just looked at the dailyplate site, and gave it a try. seems fairly easy and straight forward. Looks like it may become my new best friend..

Looking forward to getting in more walking, with a new group of buddies, right HopeInApril!!!!!! Sometimes it is tough to get the walk in, but with it being lighter later at night I think it will get easier to do.

Lynn it will become your new best freind. It calculates everything for you.

Everyone, I just ordered the body bugg. I'm really excited and think that will help me with wanting to exercise more. I've been exercising 3 times a week lately and want to be active everyday. Since it looks like I'm the first March bandster to get it, I will let you all know how it works.

I've been using fitday.com to keep track of my food....it works well for me. I have been loyal to that, just not the whole "feelings" kind of journal.

where do you journal your foods? I'd love to do that. I think I'm taking in too many calories.

sharon:)

Hey all! I am SOOO happy to have found this group! I was banded 3/19/08 in Denver, so I think that makes me a Shrinking Shamrock! I'd love to chat and see the stories of others, especially because I'm entering my 4th week out and having some "shrinking pains" (i.e.- Diet Cheating, Hunger, Anxiety over upcoming 1st fill, etc)

1. Where do I get the fun Shrinking Shamrock logo to add to my profile?

2. Where is our homepage I've heard referred to?

Ok! Looking forward to this! Hugs!

:tt1:EJMDIVA