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!

hi

please tell me what you are eating in any giving day. i would love to loss the amount of weight you have loss. i think i'm eating the wrong food.

Here is an example menu. I made this for someone who was shooting for 1200 calories a day. If you are going lower than you will have to eliminate something. If you go to the top of the second page of this thread I have posted several recipes.

What types of foods are you eating? If you post some of your favorite recipes I can try and make them healthy for you. This is what I did for the most part. I took my favorite foods and eliminated/substituted ingredients.

Hope this is what you are looking for!

I forgot to post this for everyone. I found 97% fat free Hebrew National Hot Dogs at Wal-Mart a couple of days ago. They only have 45 calories per hot dog. So for those of you who are not planning to spend their 4th of July in a compression garment sipping on a vicodin margarita this could be a great alternative to bring with you to a BBQ. Also if you are looking for sausages...Johnsonville has great Turkey/Cheddar sausages that are 130 calories. If you can find the Jenny-O Turkey cheddar sausages they are only 120. I eat these a lot for Breakfast. I love em! You should be able to find any of these in the hot dog section of your favorite grocery store!

I should have gone into advertising!

Salsa's DH just texted me

She is out of surgery and doing great :thumbup:

Will keep you all posted if I hear anymore...

Keep the prayers going though - she is going to need them for a speedy recovery...

Wow! It's been a month and I haven't heard,I hope your surgery went well. I'm down a total of 23lbs since May 5th. I started a program called couch to 5k. I'm sore, but I'm sure it will be worth it. Have a speedy recovery.:embaressed_smile:

Congrats. Running has changed my life. Recovery is going VERY well. IN fact I posted on my blog that I wish that it actually had hurt MORE so that I wouldn't be so anxious to get back out there. You are right though...it is definetly worth it!

Hey Salsa

I am from UK

love your word really givin me

some ways forward ,i was banded in nov

and so far i have lost 68 lbs.

I have a my 1st Goal it 's size 16 and

then size 12 but i fell i need a push for the

next stage love having the Band so much

thanks for listening

R

i an lookin to lose 100 and just need to

Sorry I have not responded. I have been out of town and now I need to get to work but I will post when I get home tonight.

Wow, just read the entire thread and it is amazing. Salsa you are a great mentor. I was banded on 8/14/08 and have lost 49 pounds so far. I feel so much better. I can easily walk a couple trail miles now and then have a tread climber that I do about 30 minutes a day. I would love to start running. Never really have my entire life but it is a dream. I am 58 years old and have the back pain and various joint pains if I don't do my stretching daily. I have been in a rut lately with my weight loss but you are so inspiring that I think I can get going now. I have printed out you tough love post and I am going to hang it on my frig to keep me thinking of it. Thanks so much for the inspiration.

Thanks for the "tough love!" I am having surgery in 8 days on April 1st! Yay! I'm on day 7 of the preop liquid diet and the first six days were great! I lost 6 lbs. and yesterday I walked over 13,000 steps and spent 30 minutes working out to a "Turbo Jam" dvd. Yet, this morning I had gained back 3 lbs! :huh2: What the heck?! I'm trying not to freak out, but do you have any advice on the daily weigh-in? I hate to get too sucked into the number on the scale, so I finally went ahead and took some measurements, so I have something else to track progress when the lbs. don't cooperate. I'm excited, inspired and ready for April 1st! I've lost 30 lbs since November by logging what I eat and ramping up my activity level (mostly by walking). I want to continue the momentum, so I was really surprised by how disappointed I was this morning. I mean, seriously ... I'm on a liquid diet of sugar-free, high protein shakes, broth and crystal light! Anyway, if you're not too overwhelmed already by mentor/buddy requests, count me in! Thanks for the inspiration and willingness to reach out to newbies!

Kaner

I did (and still do) weigh everyday...but there are going to be fluctuations in your weight. What I did was set up an excel spreadsheet and calculated my average weight for the week. Then I kept track of how much my AVERAGE weight changed. Water weight is terrible. Currently I will have 6-10 pound weight differences from day to day and that is based on what I eat (too much sugar, too much salt, not enough water, etc). I am a scientist though so I like looking at the statistics. But I still weigh everyday (most days more than once!)

Good luck on your surgery. It was the greatest thing I have ever done in my life.

Hey Salsa, you mentioned something about a compression garment in one of your posts. I have one friend who used them her first year, but nobody else seems to know what I am talking about ... including my surgeon ... who said he doesn't quite know what the benefit would be. The friend that used them her first year explained that it would help keep the skin tighter to reduce sagging. What can you advise/share?

Thanks,

Kaner :cursing:

P.S. May I ask what kind of surgery you had back in July? I just followed the whole thread and realized that it's been a long-time thread.

I had a tummy tuck in July. During that time I wore a compression binder to make sure that the skin adheared back correctly. When I was losing weight (before the TT) I wore a compression garment when I would exercise because of all the skin jiggling around. Also, I would wear Spanx just to smooth out all the bumps. However it will do NOTHING to keep your skin from sagging. The only thing that will prevent that is good genetics. There are many people who do not need a tummy tuck after losing a lot of weight. I on the other hand desperately did...and need one more. However I will tell you that if I had not been fortunate enough to afford the tummy tuck I would have taken the saggy, baggy skin over the filled out fat me any day.

Keep the questions coming...I am here whenever you need me!

Salsa, hope your tummy tuck went well. I was wondering if more than one TT is the norm? Do people have to go back for more surgery after the initial tt? I haven't lost that much yet but my stomachs are hanging and someday I will definitely get one. I think the literature I read said it is best to wait a couple years before cosmetic surger. Guess that is to see if you really need it. I really enjoy this thread. Thanks

Salsa, hope your tummy tuck went well. I was wondering if more than one TT is the norm? Do people have to go back for more surgery after the initial tt? I haven't lost that much yet but my stomachs are hanging and someday I will definitely get one. I think the literature I read said it is best to wait a couple years before cosmetic surger. Guess that is to see if you really need it. I really enjoy this thread. Thanks

No, I don't think that it is normal to have to go in for a revision. My lap band doc used to suggest waiting at least 2 years before having it done but in some cases (such as mine) he realized that the mental anguish that we went through could be detrimental to the weight loss. I was at (actually a little below) goal when I had my TT. I had 2 distinct rolls. One was below my belly button and the other was above my belly button (you can go to salsa1877.blogspot.com to see my pictures). There was so much skin that she just couldn't get it all. So I knew that I was going to have a breast reduction later on so we decided to do the best we could and then go in for a reverse tummy tuck later on. It isn't a revision but a separate surgery because of how I carried my weight.. Most people carry the fat in their stomach down low so they can get it with a traditional TT, but I actually carried most of my weight in the roll above my belly button which made it more difficult.

Good luck in your journey and realize that we are all very different. You may not need it. There are a lot of people that don't need the surgery and some that do. My Lap band doc, my plastic surgeon, and 2 personal trainers told me that no matter what I did, the skin was NEVER going to go back and the only way to fix it was through surgery. For me all the excess skin interfered with my marathon training so I needed to get it off.

Good luck and I hope to be more active on this thread so keep the questions/comments coming.