siyah

OK- so I still can't figure out how to post a new thread. Where do I go and what do I do? Help!

I was going to do that, too and the hospital told me NO! They said that the drivers don't want to be help liable for anything that might "go wrong" on teh way home. You come out on Narcs and can vomit regardless, let alone the jostling ride home. Looking back, I probably would have been just fine. They also told me that I really should have someone with me for awhile once home. (They said 12-24) Again- it was the narcotic issue as well as helping with things around the house. I spent the night and don't know how people do it as day surgery. I needed the nurses help to pee the first couple of times and getting out of bed was awful. Plus- I loved being hooked up to the IV fluids so I stayed hydrated. I couldn't leave until I drank 50 ounces as it was. I'm wondering if you have a church that you belong to. I know mine helps with rides. Catholic Community Services will help people in need and you don't have to be Catholic. Best of luck! I almost chose to go without help and took a friend into confidence a few days before because of what the hospital said. i'm glad i did.

I was asked to eat out with my parents tonight. Whew! Two nights in a row for dining out. They took me to this great seafood place. In order to combat the menu, I planned ahead. I checked on-line to find the best choices for seafood and left the house knowing I'd either get a light fish or crab. I ended up with a whole dungeness crab on my plate with a few potatoes and brocolli. I only ended up eating the crab and it took an hour to eat it. In all, I figure I ate 8 ounces and that was still under 300 calories. I sampled a small bite of potatoe, but was content with the crab. mom ordered this white chocolate mousse cake and I had a few little bites. (My first sugar in a month.) Oh well. We all need our little "cheats" sometimes to feel human. I think I'm still doing pretty well. I finished the day under 900 calories, so no harm done. Happy weekend all!

Tonight was my first meal out in over a month. A first for me! I looked over the menu and found a great tomato-basil soup and ordered a cup of it. Then- for the first time in 6 weeks I had real carbs: mashed potatoes!!! I ended up eating half of each and brought the rest home. Not much protein- which I feel now five hours later- but a nice change of pace. Tomorrow I'll finish off the food, but I'll add some plain protein powder to it. Oh- and best of all, I didn't drink! I was so tempted for a glass of wine, but I didn't and I am proud of myself. Yeah me!

Can someone tell me how to post a new topic in the general forum?

Men are big babies! And they, like many of us, fear change. It sounds like he's lashing out at you out of fear of some kind. Maybe he's aware of a financial issue and he's "blaming" the band's expense. I'd try to have a conversation with him about it, but not right after he's made a comment. Use the old "I" statements. (I feel bad when,... It upsets me when you say...because...) Just my two cents!

Soooo good to hear this news from folks who have lived through it. I'm going to work harder at not overeating so I don't go through what some of you have! Peace all and best wishes!

Okiefamily- I'm glad to see others steer you away from the crash dieting. You'll surely yo-yo from that method. (Haven't we all?) I noticed from your blog that your daily calories and food choices might need to be adjusted to loose more again. Whenever we plateau we need to shake things up again. For me, I am trying to eat more in the morning rather than at night. (VERY hard for me!) I have been told from day one on this journey that I have to get 60-90 grams of protein in as a priority. Beyond that, i can (someday) add veggies/fruits and lastly the carbs. The more whole foods you can use, the more energy it will take for your body to burn. SO if you must eat carbs, get only the whole grain variety. Dense protein, of course, takes a lot of energy to burn. The other thing- avoid processed foods and cut out the salted nuts. Both have so much sodium that you are bound to retain water. And plan ahead. This week I started laying out breakfast and lunch the night before. For dinner, I look at the calories remaining for the day and make choices based on what i feel like eating within this guidline. Lastly, excersise, but change up your routine daily to again fool your body. You'l burn more breaking out of the muscle memory routine. Hope this does not sound too preachy 'cause you probably know it all already, but we all need reminders. Best of luck, but don't let yourself be dictated by the scale. Feel healthy and feel good about the path you are on. And a big YES to the couseling! I go and love it. I found my last 2 on craigslist.org Great local gals. Maybe there's someone who works out of their home in your area. (cheaper that way!)

NN32- Boy do I know how you feel. The last two days I've wanted to munch. My godsend has been only having the "right" foods in the house. I gave away all the goodies pre-surgery. Now all that stares me in the face is PROTEIN! That and I splurged on fresh blueberries and strawberries for smoothies yesterday. Well, Seattle and Portland got dumped on again with snow so I have the day off- yeah!!! I'm sure we'll be back tomorrow as it's supposed to warm up this week.

Yup! Unfortunately that's why we're never supposed to drink for at least an hour after the meal. hard lesson to learn but it will pass. Try sitting or standing and raising your arms above your head. It seems to take some physical pressure off the stomach. The only other thing might be to try and go to sleep- it's my only sure fire nausea trick for all types of it. Good luck and be careful. You're ten days out and still healing. The last thing you want to do after going through all this is to compromise your band by putting too much in the pouch. the sutures can start to leak.

For those in the 28-30/ 3x-4x range, I am movin' on down and can pass along a variety of things. PM me.

Weird- I crave eggs and eat them a couple times a week. Usually i take 3 egg whites and blend them with a little soy milk and salsa. It's pretty creamy, light and fluffy so it goes down great. Adding milk seems to be the key to break up the more rubbery texture of egg whites alone. Occasionally I'll use one whole egg and a white.

Hey ladies! (At least I haven't seen a guy on here in awhile!) Questions for y'all: 1. I am just at the tail end of week three and find that I can eat about 1 cup of soup/cottage cheese or whatever. 1 cup to me feels "normal". As it is, i struggle with getting enough calories in per day so I am wondering how you're supposed to do it on 1/4 cup per meal? The Water wait time doesn't seem to mesh for me in terms of having 5 small meals. 2. Has anyone started the clothing swap on yahoo? I didn't see one there. (I have 28-30's to give away if anyone needs them.) 3. Is anyone concerned about getting enough of the right fats in? I'd kinda forgotten about that so I have started to add flax seed oil and virgin coconut oil (really good for you says my trainer!) to my foods. Just 1-2 tbs per day. I'm so used to buying fat-free items that I realized I am hardly eating any. I think this should help with dry skin and BM's, too!

Okie- I know what you mean! We're still under pretty heavy snow and ice, though the primary roads are passable. I still don't want to venture out at night, so I sit home and watch TV- which makes me also want to eat. I'm a total bordom eater! To top it off, i am trying to sell my house and have packed 2/3 of my things into the garage so all hobby things are out there. This laptop is my substitute for that. I can usually putz around on here for a couple hours and kill time before bed. It's a battle, though. Right now, for example, I have had breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert yet i am still under 500 calories. All the number does is make me want to eat more! So now I'll obsess over how to get another 200 calories in before bed. (That and another liter of water!) Ahhhh! This is hard to balance.

I know family wouldn't like it- they are all skinny! So husband knows and he didn't like it either. My BF knows- a supportive fellow fatty who has just lost over 100 pounds through an intense club plan (10 k). One other friend knows only because she had it done a year ago. I don't like attention anyway and the last thing I wanted was to have people looking at my weight more critically than ever.

I was just in the library of calorie-count.com and found this paragraph about Protein interesting. I know that I am thirstier than usual! ALso- some of you mentioned having really dry skin, this could be why! As mentioned before, there are many sorts of protein. Whey protein has the most filling effect, whereas animal Proteins are better for calorie expenditure than vegetable ones. However, keep in mind that protein-rich foods can cause dehydration, which, in a worst-case scenario, can do damage to your heart. Therefore, if you are eating lots of protein, make sure to drink two or three glasses of fluids more than the recommended eight glasses a day.

I bought the 20 gram protein pudding from bariatriceating.com . At 100 calories and 0 sugar, these things are great- and filling. Other ideas would be to get some of the plain whey protein (20 grams per scoop, 80cal.) and mix it with anything from juice to cocoa to yogurt- whatever you like. Some stores sell cottage cheese in 1/2 cup servings. You like cheese, so what about the 1oz string or cheddar varieties? costco carries them. Just only bring what you can afford to eat for the day so you are not tempted. The Jello brand sugar-free puddings are good fillers at about 35 calories, though not protein rich. Just ideas...

Chunkygal- I have these little airy burps all the time. Not the "diet coke" variety, just like I swallowed air and it's rising. No biggie.

I have set myself up for success! My UPS delivery of the bariatriceating.com order came today. (finally!) I have the isosure bottles of the clear-liquid Protein drinks (40 grams)- and they are pretty tasty! I also tried the snack & slim protein puddings (20 grams)- not bad! They have a bit of that soy-milk after taste, but it's not bad. I have their oatmeal, but haven't tried it yet. It's really high in whey protein, too. I bought the chocolate smoothies in a can- low sugar and 33 grams of protein. The only thing not to arrive are the protein snack bars, but that's OK since I can't eat them yet. I set all the pretty bottles,... on my big open shelf so I can see them and be reminded that protein is key in all this. And heck- adding two of these products to my diet each day will really supplement my protein intake. (I refuse to loose my hair!) People keep talking about how weird our bodies are during all this and I totally agree. Two days ago the scale said I'd lost another 3 pounds and today it said I'm up 5. Go figure! I'm totally fine with it, though. Sure, it's annoying not to get a true reading, but the scale is not measuring my fat loss. In the mirror I looked much smaller in my snow pants today than a month ago. Has anyone noticed how many lapband commercials are on TV lately! Even full-length infomercials. I had lasik surgery two years ago and the prices have really dropped with the popularity. I'm wondering if this will be the trend for lapband. So our snowday today was georgeous! Siyah and I walked through the hood and played in a school yard. I'm crossing my fingers we have one tomorrow, too. I dread trying to teach hyper 7th graders on a Friday! Hey- I just saw a commercial for the Southbeach frozen pizzas. They have 30 grams of protein. Not bad for pizza! Of course I am no where near being able to eat it, but I'll keep it in mind down the road since pizza is truly my BEST food-friend. I used to order a large thin crust and eat half or more in one sitting. Who knew a stomach could hold that much?!? Not anymore!!! Jeri

Holy crap Shannon! How awful! I have chosen to only tell three supportive friends so people can't comment on my weight loss. I have failed at so many dieting attempts before where people knew that I did not want to go through it again. It's nobody's concern whether you're gaining or loosing BTW. One of my lowest points was standing in front of the Grand Bazzarr in Istanbul, just enjoying my day, when a man walked by and directly told me just how fat he thought I was in broken English. I used to get a lot of stares there.

Hey all! I'm a middle school teacher in Seattle and have loved my different experiences in the classroom! I did 4 years in Seattle at 6th grade, moved to Brasilia for 3 years at 6th grade, taught in Istanbul grades 4 & 7 for 2 years, and now I'm back in Seattle on year 7 in my new school. This summer I want to go to Malawi and teach for a couple months over there. It will be nice to fit better on an airplane seat! jeri

Well this is an interesting group! I'm a big ole fatty, weighing in today at 299. I have lost 18 pounds in this journey- yeah! I'll keep reading about what's going on here and chime in from time to time. BTW- I have been banded only 15 days, but feel great.

Just have to share- It started to snow in Seattle about an hour or so ago and when I just looked outside there are 4 inches on my car. My yard and trees are covered and it's BEAUTIFUL!!! Yeah for a snow day tomorrow says this middle school teacher. I don't mind postponing my Dr.'s appt. one little bit. Yippee! It is soooo cold here today. I jumped into a hot shower and melted for 20 minutes after work.

Gerbera- Hang in there, girl! We all have our bad days and feel the loss of our friend, food. When i feel like you do I just cut myself off from engaging in life socially for a couple of days until the mood passes. I don't know if this is "right" or not, but it's what I need at the moment so it works for me. It's all about breaking those bad habits, isn't it. Boy- this is a tough road we've choosen, but 6 months from now think of how different we'll all be.

Good news! after almost a week of nothing the scale moved a little again! I'm now down 18.4 pounds! That feels good since I have to go weigh in at the docs tomorrow for my first post-op check up. Peace all!