I am so happy! I went shopping with DH on Saturday - he actually came without complaint. I hadn't been to Kohl's yet and was in search of some shorts. I bought a skort in a 16 - Misses! It wasn't 16W or in the "women's section". I'm on cloud nine! Oh, I also bought a dress from Cato's in a 16 misses. I'm so excited to be out of the Plus Stores...I haven't shopped in misses since college.

Great NSV's ya'll!!

Okay, I didn't get the email newsletter. Did all of you get it? I want to see it...

I got it last night. Nip50's story is in there - she looks awesome of course! :-)

Do they have your e-mail on file? They didn't have mine at one point. You may want to call and check.

I just called and gave them my new email address. They had the old one on file but I still didn't get it on that one either. I can't wait to see it! Now, if we can just get the support meetings going...

I have the email newsletter at work if you would like for me to forward it to you Pamela. I'm able to eat today so yay! I have a fill scheduled for 08-18 too, I believe at 1pm that I am probably going to cancel. I go from one week thinking I need a fill to the next thinking 'no way'. LOL. It is weird how the band can be tight one day and not the next. I have found that drinking something warm in the mornings tends to make for a better day for me. I got a new treadmill so i'm ready to get the exercise party started!

Thanks girl! I just PM'ed you my email address.

DH and I went to Breakfast this morning. His favorite breakfast place in town is Pearly's. I used to hate going there because they have tiny booths. I used to have to squeeze in and I was really uncomfortable.

I was sitting there (must have had a little devil on my shoulder) and looked over at DH and myself. I had a big gap between the table and me. DH was "squeezed in" himself. He still loves to eat there so the booth doesn't bother him. I thought - I used to be bigger than him. I'm little in this booth. I enjoyed my little moment.

You can eat solid food for breakfast Leslie? I'm jealous! I'm usually so tight I can barely get my slim fast low carb in. I got another .5 cc fill on Monday so I am up to 7.50 in my 10cc band now. I had Leslie draw out my fluid and check it to make sure I was still holding good. I should've had 7.1 and she drew out 7 so I think that is pretty good. I'm hoping this fill will put me at my sweet spot. How is everyone else doing?

I had grits and a bite of bacon (I have to chew chew chew). Also - I have to have coffee in the morning to loosen me up. I was looser this morning than usual too. I think my PMS swelling has gone down (darnit!!!). Your ticker looks great Mia! You ROCK!!!

I bet that made you feel pretty good, Leslie! It is nice to see some progress, huh?

Mia, your ticker is rocking along now, isn't it? Very cool!

I don't know what it is but I all of a sudden, people can notice I've lost weight. I've probably had a half dozen people ask me over the last week or so how much weight I've lost and how I'm doing it. I just say I'm eating less, which is the truth. I did get back to exercising this week, so hopefully I'll really start dropping more soon.

Thanks! It seems like it is going sooo slow for me! Guys, I think I may be too tight, I tried to resume to regular food today and it has been a disaster. I tried to eat some soupy soupy dirty rice and that didn't go well at all. In fact, I'm still sitting here with that horrible 'stuck' feeling. Hopefully I will be able to eat some dinner tonight. I'm interested in seeing what foods everyone can eat. Probably the only meats that I can eat without problems are scrambled hamburger meat, steak and maybe some fish if its cooked really tender. I can eat brocolli and most veggies. All of that was before this fill, not really sure what I can eat now. Recently I found myself leaning towards chips and soft things just to avoid the pain of being stuck or pb'ing. I dunno what to do. Advice? I really don't want to live off of soups.

Mia - you may be a little too tight. Why don't you call Leslie and ask her what she thinks. I was like that after my last fill. You don't want to go too long like that. ((hugs)).

I agree, Mia. Did you just get .5? Maybe have .25 removed and see how that goes? You shouldn't have to live on soups, etc. You should be able to eat other foods. I can pretty much eat most foods. Every so often, particularly if I'm not paying attention and eating too fast or not chewing as well, I get the stuck feeling with chicken, some beef, and bread. But it isn't all the time and I usually just give it some time and I can resume eating as normal. Right after my last fill, bread was a big no-no...it just wouldn't go down. Now there isn't as much of a problem, which tells me I probably need a fill!

I went in and got an unfill. By the time I got to Albany from Norman Park my saliva was coming out of my nose! I told leslie that I thought I really was too tight before I got this last fill as I had resorted to eating unhealthy foods just to be able to eat something. So she removed .75 cc and I was actually able to EAT real food. I think Leslie was upset that I wasn't honest with her on Monday but I had started back gaining and I thought I needed a fill. I was able to eat some dinner but in the grand scheme of things it wasn't a big amount of food so I think I just might be at a good restriction level. I knew I was too tight but was scared to get an unfill because I didn't want to gain. I'm glad I went and got unfilled because honestly I have been miserable. I was lucky that this did not count as a fill because I returned within 48 hours. I'm going to really follow the band rules and give this restriction level a try. I was so tight before I could not eat without drinking a little something or heavily drenching whatever I was eating in some type of sauce. Sooooo...don't be foolish like me guys, if you think you are too tight, listen to your gut..you probably are...

Mia - I'm so glad you are feeling better and got that unfill! I go tomorrow morning for my fill....I'm nervous about getting too full - hopefully a teny tiny fill will get me to where I need to be. I'm afraid of gaining too - which is what I've been doing lately.

Hello Everyone:

I have good news and bad new.

Good news

My job sent me t North Caroline for training this week. Normally, I drive everywhere, becasue I hate flying. The main reason i hate flying is because 1. running around the airport only to find out that your gate has been moved to Saigon and 2. I never fit comfortably in the seats 3. I have been too big to fasten the seatbelts.

This weekend I had to fly to NC. I have jsut been on the road so much due to my new assignment that I had no desire to drive anywhere. I get on teh placen this time and I am actually able to fasten teh seatbelts around me. Now mind, I had to let the seatbelt as far out as i could, but It fit. It was a snug fit, but it fit. I was shocked. For once i did not have ask for a seatbelt extender. This will defitniely go down as a NSV.

Kinda bad news but with a good news ending:

I had to have more Fluid taken out of the band. Matter of fact, I went directly from the airport to the OTC. I was in NC for 4 days. In that time, it was horrible. I try to stay away from fast food, but when I travel I that is what I end up eating. Even though I try to eat helthier fast food (you know what i mean lol). i was definitley too tight. I remember buying a 10 piece chicken McNugget for lunch and I was only able to eat about 2.5 of them. Those 2.5 were forced down. People were inviting me to eat for dinner, but I still had lunch left. Truth be told, i should have had some fluid removed last week now that I think about it. But I had convinced myself that i was still adjusting to my new fill. After every fill, I have to learn how to chew even more and drink even slower. I thought that I was jsut not chewing enough or chewing too fast or something. It felt like no "real food" would go down. I serously was wondering if this was what I was supposed to be able to eat and my head was having ahard time accepting that. i remember reading somehwere that all I would be able to eat would be 2-3 bites of Protein, 2-3 bites of veggies and carbs and be done. Then I also read that our new stomachs would only be able to hold 1/4 cup of food. I kept telling myself that it was in my head. Well, after some PBing (twice I had to pull over on the side of the road after drinking) and feeling that my food was always stuck..i had to get my 0.5 cc taken out. Leslie stated that she is now going to fill me in 0.1 or 0.2 increments.

So the bad news is that i was extremely retarded for not listening to myself and i ended up having my last fill of 0.5 cc removed. But the good news is that I feel so much better and I will now listen to myself.

How is everyone else doing?