The Good!

The weather here in Michigan was mild today, sunny, still chilly but no wind, so I managed to get outside for my exercise today! Fresh air, YES! :drool: Had a lovely brisk walk. I can't wait for the dang snow to melt, and the green growing stuff/Spring flowers to come in! Normally I love the snow, but we've had more than our share this year . . . enough is enough! Anyway, the walk was sweet

And, I saw my doctor today! I'm still doing great, I still can't feel my port or anything (doctor says I might eventually). Not that I want to, it just seems strange to me . . . I expected to feel something. I got the rest of my steri strips removed from my incisions, I'm healing well! It feels so awesome to be doing good so far. I worried so much before I got the band, about how my body would react to it. So far it seems my body has made friends with the band! :laugh: And best of all . . . I HAVE A FILL DATE! :w00t:

The Bad!

(vent warning!) I'm counting calories, carbs, fats, and Proteins religiously . . . exercising everyday (and increasing it), following my diet without any extra stuff . . . and still the scales are being sluggish. :frown: I don't understand it. Keeping my calories under 1000 and Protein about 60-80 grams/day. I *think* I'm doing everything right, just can't get the weight to move. And yes, I'm bad (sigh), I'm a "scale watcher" . . . maybe that's my problem! :sneaky: It's just frustrating, because I am doing good on my diet. I'm really still in the "mushies" progressing to soft foods stage. It would make more sense if I enjoyed something yummy that I'm not supposed to have, but honestly that's not the case. I guess I can only hope I can make my weight loss ticker move again soon! I probably need to increase my exercise to an hour a day, and stay active as possible. (ok, vent off!) :wub:

The Ugly!

I am officially in "Bandster Hell". I'M HUNGRY! As stated above, I'm sticking to my diet, but it seems every day it's harder. The hunger beast is back! It's gonna be a tough two weeks until I get my first fill.

And, to make it worse, I went shopping today to buy things for my son's Easter basket. I'm trying to stick to a bunch of small toys and gifts (with some candy) in the basket, hoping to cut down on the amount of sugar he's getting, and spare him my obese fate. Good to start them young! But while shopping, I passed by all the Easter candy. Oy! :frown: All those major tempting Cadbury Cream eggs, Peeps, Hershey's chocolate eggs, gourmet jelly Beans . . . gah! I'm a big choco-holic, I really had to practice some restraint. I bought some things for my son's basket, plus I got a dozen of the small-sized Cadbury cream eggs (my favorite! I wait every year for these!). They only came in a dozen, so I'm gonna save one or two for myself and give the rest to hubby to take to his work. If they stay in the house, they will be quickly consumed by the chocolate-crazed woman here! :tt2: At least these are just small ones, I hope I can treat myself to just one or two! It's really amazing at the enormous amount and variety of Easter candy the stores have to offer!

(ramble off) So, my adventures for the day . . . anyone else having Easter candy issues?

I'm right there with you!!!

I was in the checkout line today behind the most annoying lady ever. She was stopping the cashier every 3rd item to ask about the price or some such thing. I mean, it was seriously ridiculous. So there I was, next to all those candy bars. I actually picked one up and looked at the fat/calories and was totally appalled. I did that a few more times and got more appalled by the minute. No way I'm wasting 250 calories on a candy bar!

So, I guess it worked out in the end, but dammit I wanted one. LOL

Oh Lori - bless your heart! I love how you wrote this out - always best to start with the "good".

Do not be discouraged. Almost everyone gets stuck in a plateau in weeks 3 and 4 after surgery - it's part of the "hell". My scale got stuck at the same weight for 8 days between weeks 3 & 4 and I was eating 800-1000 calories a day and I started wondering what the heck I had done getting this stupid band! But do not fear - it will start falling off! I actually took a break for a few days and got crazy (went up to 1200 calories - can you believe it!) and that did the trick. Your body thinks you are trying to starve it and it goes into conservation mode. Also - I might slow down your exercise a bit (I know - that's crazy advise!!) but you might be building muscle bulk if you are exercising that much.

And I've asked the Easter bunny to bring my kids Webkinz in their baskets - no candy at this house! Maybe a few mini bags of M&M's, but if those Cadbury eggs are around - they're getting eaten! (by mommy)

Just keep swimming girl! You'll make it.

I just love you girls :smile: it's always so good to come here and get some encouragement, and not feel so alone with the tough spots! *warm hugs*

Angie - good going and congratz to you for passing up on the candy! Isn't it amazing when you start counting calories/fat, then you look at something like that candy bar . . . and it's like WOW . . . at 250 calories, there's a quarter of my daily calories gone! And I'm with ya too . . . I probably woulda grabbed that candy bar before I had this surgery. I love my lap-band!

Becca, I really appreciate the help and kind words! You amaze me with your weight lost! You are impressive! Then I think what's up with me? :blushing: But your encouragement feels so good . . . it's nice to hear that most do reach a plateau at this stage. I hope the weight will start falling off soon! Maybe I'm building some muscle . . . I've been such a slug sitting at the computer for so long, that it's hard for me to think of myself as a "muscle builder", lol! :tt2: My husband has noticed that I can keep up with him easier (Mr. tall and long legs) . . . I used to huff and puff and ask him to slow down. Now it's so much easier! So with the frustration, there's much happiness too! I really am enjoying all these changes . . . thanks again for your support! :smile:

I saw the Webkins at Hallmark today . . . they are really nicely done! So cute. Great idea for an Easter basket! Unfortunately, my son wouldn't like it . . . he's a truck/plane/train/vehicle loving kid. I would love to put a cute fluffy webkin in his basket . . . but nope, not gonna happen! :thumbup:

Hugs! :tongue:

Ok - I know this is off topic but I have a funny webkinz story. My older son is 8 years old - and of course I thought he would never go for the whole "stuffed animal with on-line life" kind of thing. So last Christmas, my mother-in-law gets him this stuffed tiger and I could tell it was one of those, and I'm thinking, "Oh no! Here comes the lukewarm thank you from my son and the animal gets tossed to the side." To my complete shock, he yells, "WOW, a Webkinz! Everyone in my whole class has one of these - now I have one! Mom, can we go home right now and log in?" I about fainted in surprise.

My frog and mud loving, baseball playing, shower hating 8 year old son now has a collection nearing 10 of these silly stuffed animals and he begs to play games on the site almost every day. So, when I saw your post, Lori, I had to laugh. How old is your son?

Oh and I have to be honest - my weight loss ticker shows my starting weight on January 7, when I started my pre-op diet. I've learned that most people start their ticker with their surgery date. (but gosh - I worked SO HARD on that pre-op...I want credit for it!) So for full disclosure - I've only lost 19 lbs since my surgery on February 6.

I'm so glad you are encouraged!

My ticker starts back in August when I joined WW. :blushing: I did good through Sept and October, then didn't go back til last week. I figure hey, 30lbs lost is 30lbs lost!

My ticker starts at my first pre-op appt when I started my journey. I worked my ass off to lose those 20 pre-op lbs and I'm counting them. The ticker doesn't show the seven lbs I lost before my first appt with my doctor.

Lori, I also plateaued for two weeks! Right around weeks two to four post op. Drove me crazy. I was barely eating and the scale wasn't moving. It started exactly when I began to eat mushies! I started to change up the way I ate a little bit, actually trying to consume MORE calories. This past week I have lost seven pounds!

So try changing up your menu, don't be so strict on yourself, also change up your exercise. Don't worry, one day you will step on the scale and it will just start falling off!

My frog and mud loving, baseball playing, shower hating 8 year old son now has a collection nearing 10 of these silly stuffed animals and he begs to play games on the site almost every day. So, when I saw your post, Lori, I had to laugh. How old is your son?

Becca, that's a sweet story! Sounds like the Webkinz are really popular with children, and it sounds very cute/computer educational for them. My son is 11 years old, but he has autism, so mentally he's quite a bit younger. Perhaps it's his autism, because it's *really* hard to introduce something new to him (children/people with autism can really get set in their ways). He does like tigers though . . . if he's gonna enjoy a plush animal, it's gotta be a tiger. He still sleeps with one. :thumbup: I might just get a webkin, and try and sit down at the computer with him, and see if we can learn this together. I know it would help his skills. :thumbup:

Becca, Angie and Jax . . . I agree with all of you, any weight lost while on this lap-band journey, should be included in the weight lost ticker! My ticker starts when I began my pre-op diet, about the second week in February. So maybe 22 pounds isn't bad for a month . . . I just got used to that almost a pound per day when on the pre-op diet! But honestly, if that kept up, it would probably be too fast.

Jax, thanks for your excellent advice! It makes me feel much more relaxed when I hear that this plateau is normal, and others have experienced it. Yes it has been driving me crazy too, lol. Maybe I should try to consume more calories . . . I might have slowed my metabolism down. Not too much though, I don't want to go back the other way! :wink: And I will try to change up my exercise.

Thanks again for the help! *warm hugs!*

I weigh myself in the morning, and also before I go to bed. I know I'm usually around 2 pounds lighter in the morning than before bed, so no big surprises in the morning. LOL

I also weight myself in the morning, every morning. It just gives me a good idea of which way I'm going, how much and if I need to make any changes. If I see the same number for a week or two, I'm going to change something up.

Hi everyone. My doctor forbade me to weigh myself more than once a week. What he doesn't know, doesn't hurt me.:smile: He and the nutrionist also forewarned me about the week 3-4 plateau. They said we have to eat between 800 and 1200 calories per day to keep our metabolism up. I seem to have a really big problem reaching 800 calories, forget the 1200. I figure that's part of the reason I have only lost 2 pounds in the past 2 weeks. My one fill concern is that I will eat even less than I am now which could throw my body into starvation mode and it will save everything it can and I will either gain weight or not lose.

Lesly,

I have trouble getting my calories up there as well. We just have to find that delicate balance of getting calories without too munch quantity or carbs! It's a balancing act for sure!

I weigh myself in the morning, and also before I go to bed. I know I'm usually around 2 pounds lighter in the morning than before bed, so no big surprises in the morning. LOL

I used to weigh myself in the morning and before bed too! But I noticed that I'm a pound or two *heavier* at night . . . it used to freak me out, thinking I gained during the day! But then the next morning it's back down again. I know it's bad watching the scale so much, but it's also interesting . . . are we heavier in the evening for some reason???? :smile:

(I did give up weighing myself at night! I didn't like seeing the "weight increase") :wink:

Sorry to butt in here but I just had to tell you one of my Easter candy solutions... :smile:

Buy them candy that you DON'T like! I do it every year so that I don't end up raiding their baskets. :wink:

You can send all your Cadbury's to me, too....I'll not even TOUCH them!! :hurray:

I haven't weighed myself in a week. I am trying to concentrate on my food and my stomach and my "fullness" I know if I step on the scale in the morning and it says a lb more or no change at all it might depress me, and I am an emotional eater. I think once a week is safe to give you a good idea of what direction I am going, but everyday would be dangerous for me. I will weigh myself tomorrow though to see how much I have lost because I haven't been on a scale in a week and a few days now. I hope it has changed.

But I have some heavier days and some lighter days. If I weigh once a week only, what if I weigh on the heavy day?

I need to know where I'm at more often than that. LOL