Here are my stats:

Starting weight: 250 pounds

Starting size: 24W

Current weight: 150 pounds

Current size: 4

Banded: August 9, 2007 by Dr. William Neal (AMAZING!) in Olympia,WA

Prior story: I was a compulsive eater. I horded food, I ate food from the garbage (I know...eeeeewwwww:blink:) and I would eat for any reason; sadness, happiness, boredom, anger, sleepiness...you nam it..I could figure a reason why to eat!

Age: 28

Residence: Hell...Uh...I mean Central Oregon (I miss Eugene!:thumbup:)

Profession: Chemistry Teacher

What I want to be when I grow up: Still thinking that one over...maybe a pharmacist...but sigh...more school!

Upcoming events: 1/2 marathon in Sunriver, June 29

Extended tummy tuck, July 3

I would love to help people out. I love to cook, revise recipes, and follow rules! Don't I just sound like a blast to hang out with! LBT is my addiction and my escape from crazy high schoolers!

Hoping to hear from someone!

You have had such a huge success with Lapband. I'm glad I can talk to someone like you :thumbup:

Wow, I am so inspired by you! I am being banded tomorrow morning and would love to be in your shoes in just 9.5 months! Any words of wisdom for tomorrow and the next week?

Wow, I am so inspired by you! I am being banded tomorrow morning and would love to be in your shoes in just 9.5 months! Any words of wisdom for tomorrow and the next week?

For tomorrow and the next week...focus on healing...take your pain meds and DO NOT worry about losing weight. Also...walk,walk,walk. It will help with the gas pains that you might feel in your shoulder. When you feel that pain try to walk...it will move it around and get it out of your shoulder. A heating pad might also work. I didn't have much of the pain because my brother had me up and walking EVERY hour.

Good luck and check back in here often. The next few weeks can be tough, but hang in there. How long are you on liquids for?

Salsa, first let me say thanks for volunteering to be a mentor. After reading about 20 different stories of bandsters offering to mentor on this new thread I liked yours the best and am hoping you can help. I'm 35 yo SAHM with a 3 yo son, I've been happily married for 15 years. I've been overweight since my early 20's and been battling that long as well. I was banded on 12/26/07 and have been blessed enough to have lost 83 lbs. so far but with 107 to go to goal. But now I seem to be failing myself and my band. After some hard self examination I've come to the realization that now that life is not as hard on a daily basis and I don't have all those constant reminders of just how much my weight effects me, I'm slacking off on my eating and exercising habits. The worse part is that even though I'm cheating almost DAILY, I'm still not gaining (it's just keeping me from losing) and the reason I say that's the worse part is because I'm not stopping and I think it's cos' I'm not really seeing the consequences of my actions like I would preband. So what I think I need the most mentoring and help on is how to keep strong long term. I'm trying to get to 250 and try to get pregnant before I'm 36 (which I'll be in November) but even though I have set that goal for myself I just can't seem to get back on track! What is wrong with me!!! I always said I would not go through something as serious as surgery and be one of those people who backslide... but here I am doing exactly that!!! HELP ME PLEASE! I'm desperate right now cos' I'm starting to get scared of this addiction. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Much love, KKG

Salsa, first let me say thanks for volunteering to be a mentor. After reading about 20 different stories of bandsters offering to mentor on this new thread I liked yours the best and am hoping you can help. I'm 35 yo SAHM with a 3 yo son, I've been happily married for 15 years. I've been overweight since my early 20's and been battling that long as well. I was banded on 12/26/07 and have been blessed enough to have lost 83 lbs. so far but with 107 to go to goal. But now I seem to be failing myself and my band. After some hard self examination I've come to the realization that now that life is not as hard on a daily basis and I don't have all those constant reminders of just how much my weight effects me, I'm slacking off on my eating and exercising habits. The worse part is that even though I'm cheating almost DAILY, I'm still not gaining (it's just keeping me from losing) and the reason I say that's the worse part is because I'm not stopping and I think it's cos' I'm not really seeing the consequences of my actions like I would preband. So what I think I need the most mentoring and help on is how to keep strong long term. I'm trying to get to 250 and try to get pregnant before I'm 36 (which I'll be in November) but even though I have set that goal for myself I just can't seem to get back on track! What is wrong with me!!! I always said I would not go through something as serious as surgery and be one of those people who backslide... but here I am doing exactly that!!! HELP ME PLEASE! I'm desperate right now cos' I'm starting to get scared of this addiction. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Much love, KKG

I hope you don't mind some tough love...love being the operative word. I am going to post something that I wrote a while back to another band friend. I have sent it to a couple of people since then and I think it would be great to post here for you and for other people. I don't like to sugar coat things. I am going to post this here and then tell me what you think. You tell me what you need. Do you need to post your food everyday to be accountable? Do you need to log your exercise? I am here for YOU. You are obviously HUGELY successful so we know that you can do this! This next segment is going to sound a little impersonal because it has been modified to sound general, but there is some great advice in here and stuff that I actually followed while I was losing.

Please feel free to post here with questions, or suggestions for what I can do. If you don't feel comfortable doing this here then PM me any time.

Karri

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Are you ready for some tough love? If you are not ready at this time, that if fine. Put it away in your mind that someone has given you some and come back here when you are ready.

Okay...here goes the tough love. And this will be a long post!

Nope the food in the last few days was not a good choice, but you ate them and now you need to move on and NOT do it again. You can't change what you have done but you can make better choices in the future. So the question is HOW IN THE WORLD DO I DO THAT? Well I will tell you that the answer is NOT going to come to you when you have a "brownie" (will now stand for anything that is not healthy for us for the remainder of this conversation) staring at you in the face. You have to have the tools and the mindset BEFORE that temptation ever comes up. We have to be ready to turn around at any particular moment and have a piece of brownie shoved in our face and realize that we are stronger than the calories, fat, sugar and piece of inanimate object that we are looking at. It gets harder as we have lost the weight and become a little more comfortable with our bodies. At first we were hell bent on getting losing, losing, losing. Well the newness has worn off and now we are just stuck with the realization that we will always have to fight the "brownies".

Alright I am all about being practical so here are some suggestions that I have.

1. Take a piece of paper (one that you can fold up into your wallet/purse/pocket ) and divide it into sections. You may have to write down everything and then rewrite it to get it to all fit.

a. Write down all the reasons that you had MAJOR, LIFE THREATENING SURGERY. Not the reasons that you wanted to just lose weight, but what caused you to make this drastic change in your life.

b. Write down where you think you would be health wise in 10 years. What disesases, illness would you have? What meds would you be on. Look at your family for "inspiration". For me my mom died at 53 weighing 350+ pounds and had heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea and a whole host of other disorders. Within 10 years, I was going to be there.

c. Write down why you are more powerful than a brownie (this one is tough!)

d. Find some typical foods that you would love to eat (your brownies) and look up the calories and then find out how much time you would have to spend working them off in the gym.

e. Write down what about you makes you important enough to overcome your demons.

f. Now you are going to want to fit all of this on a piece of paper in bullet form so when you are faced with you brownies you can look at it and allow you to mentally fight the war that has just come up. If you can justify eating that brownie after looking at your paper, then eat it, but have no regrets, and do not dwell on it. Instead you have faced the problem UP FRONT and not looked back on it.

2. Another possible tactic. I know that you are having a tough time getting your calories down. One thing that I have found that helps me is by eating the same foods that I like but with some simple substitutions and by finding ways to remove some unneccessary ingredients. For example. I make this dessert that had 1/2 cup of frozen berries, 2 TBSP of Cream cheese and 1/2 cup of granola. The cream cheese had 60 calories and I thought..."I wonder how this would taste if I didn't put the cream cheese in it". I tried it and guess what, I couldn't even tell that it was missing. Same thing with meatloaf. Instead of eating it with ground beef now I substitute grond chicken. As long as I keep all of my veggies and other healthy fillers in, I can't tell the difference. I really learned this from Subway. I found that if I went in and ordered a foot long sandwich (obviously pre-band) and got all this deli meat and cheese and then pilled it with my favorite veggies that I all I could really taste were the veggies anyways. So first I got rid of the meat and then the cheese, and the taste of the sandwich hardly varied at all. This is what I do all the time now. I will always fix something first and then think what can I do to lower or eliminate the calories without harming the integretity of the dish.

3. This is the one that everyone is going to hate. WE JUST HAVE TO HAVE WILL POWER SOMETIMES. Yep the age ol' dieting nightmare. Our will power will not always be perfect, but we have to be able to stand up to ourselves and tell ourselves no. Before this surgery I couldn't tell anyone NO, including myself. So when my stupid head told me that I needed to go to Carl's Jr and get 2 big hamburgers and eat them in the 4 minutes it took me to get home so that I could look famished for dinner that was going to be served in 30 minutes...I never said no. NOW, I am comfortable saying no. It has helped me professionally, personally, and mentally. I thought that everyone would hate me if I said no, but now they no longer just expect things out of me. And I don't just give in to all of my brain's wishes. That is making me a better person.

4. Talk about your surgery. I have to honestly say that one of the greatest factors to my success is the fact that I have been open and honest about the surgery. I don't care what other people think about me. Go to 1A of this email and that should show you why there is nothing to be ashamed of. The more you talk about the struggles and successes of your surgery the less likely people are to shove food at you. We have one lady in our science department that brings in treats every week. After the 2nd week of school I told her about my surgery and not ONCE has she come in and offered me the food. She told me, if you ever want it, you may have some, but I don't want to push something on you that you obviously don't want. Yesterday at the staff meeting, the administration gave little food baskets to everyone for all there hard work during scheduling. However instead of a food basket I got a nice card signed by all the administrators, because the know that a food basket is pointless to me. I don't feel singled out, I feel very blessed that these people care enough about me to know what I need. Some people can't make these connections on their own and they need you to school them. I know this is tough, but I had to do it with my dad, my BF, and my brother. I asked them if they would offer a beer to a recovering alcholoic. All of them said no, and then I said then why in the hell would you offer me a cookie!

Wow I knew this would be long, but I had no idea how long. If there is any advice in here you don't like. Think about why you don't like it. Is it because it is hard...well guess what CHANGING is hard, but maybe just try part of it. If you don't like it because it goes against all of your moral beliefs, then ignore it. I will never know and it will not hurt my feelings. Even if you came back and said "Salsa you are full of crap and are an idiot" I would think " her loss!" and keep on lovin' ya. This is what friends are for. We have to be here during the good times and the bad. We have to be able to look (or type) at the other person and say "stop being an idiot" If we don't do that as friends, really we are no better than an enemy.

Salsa

Your "tough love" letter is wonderful. You are truly an inspiration! :thumbup: I have been "playing with the same 2 pounds for the past 3 weeks, and have had my share of "brownies". Yesterday, I got it together... ate right and walked 3 miles. I spent so much time and effort to get thru the surgery, I want to be successful. I would love to be down a total of 100 lbs by my bandiversery.

Do you use a food journal or any other tools to keep on track? I also was wondering what you would eat on a typical day, I think sometimes my portions are larger than what they should be... I've only had 1 fill so far.

Thanks for offering to mentor!

Tess

Salsa

Your "tough love" letter is wonderful. You are truly an inspiration! :thumbup: I have been "playing with the same 2 pounds for the past 3 weeks, and have had my share of "brownies". Yesterday, I got it together... ate right and walked 3 miles. I spent so much time and effort to get thru the surgery, I want to be successful. I would love to be down a total of 100 lbs by my bandiversery.

Do you use a food journal or any other tools to keep on track? I also was wondering what you would eat on a typical day, I think sometimes my portions are larger than what they should be... I've only had 1 fill so far.

Thanks for offering to mentor!

Tess

Thank you for the kind words. I don't use a food journal because I make a menu on Sunday and follow that the entire week. In other words..I plan before I put the food in my mouth. My band mom "IndioGirl AKA Janet" does journal everything. I like not having surprises. I want to know exactly what I am going to eat and when I am going to eat it. Either way I think it is important to record what you are eating. That way you can go back and see what you did when you were successful and when you were not. At first I did journal but I got sick of writing "licked fingers while cooking...approx. 12 calories" yes I was that detailed:biggrin: Then I found that if I made a menu I was more likely to have less of those incidents because I am a rule follower and that worked for me. So I think either a menu or a food journal is good. Whatever fits your personality.

I always ate 1 cup of food. I had to measure it out because even with the band I have a hard time stopping when I am full. So if I could clean my "very tiny" plate then I felt like I had accomplished something.

I am at work now, but on my computer at home I have a bunch of recipes that I will try to post on Thursday. I am going to be out of town this afternoon and all day tomorrow, but I will post them on here when I get back. If you are still hungry and you have eaten your Proteins...eat more veggies. They will fill you up and keep you full...if you eat them after your Protein. It takes the protein a while to make it through the pouch so if you add the veggies on top you will stay fuller longer.

Breakfast choices:

KashiGo Lean Cereal with Lite and Fit yogurt (I can't do milk)

Johnsonville turkey sausage

1 scrambled egg with FF cheese

Sausage and egg lean pocket

Crustless quiche.

lunch (usually was leftovers from dinner) 1 CUP!:biggrin2:

Afternoon Snack

Pure Protein Bar (that is the brand name. I get them at Wal-mart...stay away from the fruit ones...they are gross!)

dinner

Spaghetti (with about 6 noodles so I didn't feel left out!)

Stir Fry (I can't do rice)

Ground chicken Meatloaf (I grind my own chicken with my Kitchen Aide)

Tuna Casserole with Beans instead of noodles

Lasagna with beans instead of noodles.

Chili with ground chicken

Chicken cordon bleu (with a yummy low cal sauce)

Fish and veggies

Hope this is what you are looking for. I bought the gladware 1 cup containers and that is what I used faithfully!

Glad you stopped by. Let me know if there is anything else you need!

Thanks for the info! I'll look forward to you posting your recipes!

Have a safe trip!

Tess

Thanks so much Salsa for all that AWE-inspiring advice! Can I just tell you that you are amazing...not because of your weight loss (although that is awesome) but because you are so willing to help a perfect stranger and treat them as a loved one or friend! And for that I salute you Your advice is awesome and exactly what I needed to hear, I've already started writing those things down for my list and once I complete it I will not only carry it around with me but I will enlarge it and post it in my bedroom and kitchen as well to make sure that I see it all day everyday! I think what happened to me was I got TOO confident! I started thinking (even though I still have over 100 lbs. to lose) that this was so easy to do that I didn't really need to "try" so I stopped doing all the things that had brought me the success so far cos' I didn't really see how important they really were (journaling, exercising every day no matter what, watching every bite that went into my mouth, reminding my self on an hourly basis why I was doing all this to begin with). But today I went to see my lap-band doc and along with his advice, a fill and then reading all your great advice I now feel confident and armed with the tools I need for the next part of my journey! I will continue to check in with you for support and read what you say to others as well so that I can learn from them as well! Thanks again for putting yourself out here for all of us in need! You are now and always will be a friend of mine, Much love, KKG

Hey Salsa,

I had read some of your other posts and I had already liked your "style", before the new mentor/buddy thing. I find you an inpiration because of all you have said in this thread and something no one has mentioned...you RUN!!! Running is my dream. I told my primary doctor, (who is very reluctant to approve anyone) that all I want to do is run. I'm 38, married for 12 years and I have a 11 yo daughter and a 7 yo son. I went in to my surgery at 220 and I'm 5 3". I never felt fat, I've been overweight for 15 years, since I met my husband. I was 205 when I got married. He loves me no matter what I weigh. My problem was back pain. Since I've dropped 15 or so pounds, no back pain. I just want to keep up with my kids, both are very active. Like I said I never felt that I was fat. I have all kinds of skinney family and friends. No one ever made me feel bad. I always wore cute clothes, never anything black. But my back had issues that I had to deal with. I tried dieting and excercise, nope my back felt worse. As soon as my doctor approved me I felt as though I won the lottery. I got banded on Cinco De Mayo. My surgeon has put me on a full liquid diet, since I saw him a few weeks ago. I have eaten some soft foods with no problems, except the other day, I had clam chowder and some mashed potatos. I felt like my whole esofagas was going to explode! NEVER AGAIN. Live and learn...but anyway someday I hope to run like you. Will you be my mentor?

Denise:blush:

Here are my stats:

Starting weight: 250 pounds

Starting size: 24W

Current weight: 150 pounds

Current size: 4

Banded: August 9, 2007 by Dr. William Neal (AMAZING!) in Olympia,WA

Prior story: I was a compulsive eater. I horded food, I ate food from the garbage (I know...eeeeewwwww:blink:) and I would eat for any reason; sadness, happiness, boredom, anger, sleepiness...you nam it..I could figure a reason why to eat!

Age: 28

Residence: Hell...Uh...I mean Central Oregon (I miss Eugene!:confused:)

Profession: Chemistry Teacher

What I want to be when I grow up: Still thinking that one over...maybe a pharmacist...but sigh...more school!

Upcoming events: 1/2 marathon in Sunriver, June 29

Extended tummy tuck, July 3

I would love to help people out. I love to cook, revise recipes, and follow rules! Don't I just sound like a blast to hang out with! LBT is my addiction and my escape from crazy high schoolers!

Hoping to hear from someone!

Yep you are a blast to hang with - a great motivator - great caring person and my idol :thumbup:

You are proof that we can succeed with the right mindset...

xoxox

Hey Salsa,

I had read some of your other posts and I had already liked your "style", before the new mentor/buddy thing. I find you an inpiration because of all you have said in this thread and something no one has mentioned...you RUN!!! Running is my dream. I told my primary doctor, (who is very reluctant to approve anyone) that all I want to do is run. I'm 38, married for 12 years and I have a 11 yo daughter and a 7 yo son. I went in to my surgery at 220 and I'm 5 3". I never felt fat, I've been overweight for 15 years, since I met my husband. I was 205 when I got married. He loves me no matter what I weigh. My problem was back pain. Since I've dropped 15 or so pounds, no back pain. I just want to keep up with my kids, both are very active. Like I said I never felt that I was fat. I have all kinds of skinney family and friends. No one ever made me feel bad. I always wore cute clothes, never anything black. But my back had issues that I had to deal with. I tried dieting and excercise, nope my back felt worse. As soon as my doctor approved me I felt as though I won the lottery. I got banded on Cinco De Mayo. My surgeon has put me on a full liquid diet, since I saw him a few weeks ago. I have eaten some soft foods with no problems, except the other day, I had clam chowder and some mashed potatos. I felt like my whole esofagas was going to explode! NEVER AGAIN. Live and learn...but anyway someday I hope to run like you. Will you be my mentor?

Denise:blush:

Absolutely I will.

Sorry I have been gone. I had to go see my lap-band doc for medical clearance for my TT and it is 6 hours away. With the end of school that has me backed up like rush hour in LA! I will hopefully have time to post later today.

Salsa,

I am so inspired by you, really you are awesome. I may need to ask for advise later and hope it can be you to answer. I really like that you are straight forward and that is sometimes what a few of us need. I wish you the best of luck with your TT..

P.S I am going to try your idea of having a menu planned out for the week.

Salsa,

I am so inspired by you, really you are awesome. I may need to ask for advise later and hope it can be you to answer. I really like that you are straight forward and that is sometimes what a few of us need. I wish you the best of luck with your TT..

P.S I am going to try your idea of having a menu planned out for the week.

Feel free to ask for advice anytime. That is what I am here for. The menu has worked out really well for me. Even if I have to find a substitue because something happens (like my strawberries mold :laugh::thumbup:) I know the amount of calories that I can have during that time and find an appropriate substitute. I still use this method today. After a while I have found that food has lost its appeal. My taste buds have changed and especially in the evening for dinner that I don't even care what I am eating any more because food is just fuel. It is what keeps me running. I could eat the same thing day in and day out because I have come to realize that about 20 minutes after I eat...the taste really doesn't matter. People always wonder how I am going to know what I want to eat 6 days from the day I plan the menu. Well there is your answer...it isn't about taste anymore!

I knew I was supposed to post recipes somewhere, but I couldn't remember where! So here they are.

How is everyone doing?????

I am back from my lap band doc with great news! They are giving me a photo shoot in exchange for me letting them use my pictures and story on their website and newsletter! I was so excited!

Hope to hear from you guys. If you don't feel comfortable posting things on this site please PM me. If you want, I can send you my email address from there.