Arria

I eat it sometimes when I feel like having something sweet, but I don't put it on bread. I spread a little dollop of peanut butter and of jelly on a wheat thin and make a wheat thin sandwhich out of it. It satisfies my craving, and believe me, I used to LIVE on PB&J's, so that's saying something!

yeah...i'd say bikini is my goal too! hopefully the scars won't be too visible by then...lol i've always wanted to bungee jump, so when I hit my goal weight, i'm gonna find a place to bungee jump and do it!

Ok so this is kind of a splurge carb wise w/ the Pasta...but it's chock full of Protein and it is AMAZINGLY good! INGREDIENTS 6 oz. Spaghetti, broken in half 3 egg whites 2 Tablespoons Grated Parmesean cheese 1 Teaspoon olive oil 10 oz. Ground Turkey Breast (Italian Style if available) 1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped 1 Onion, chopped 2 Garlic Cloves, minced 1 (8 oz.) can Tomato Sauce 1 Teaspoon dried Oregano 1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper 1/3 cup Shredded Mozarella Cheese DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9" pie plate with low-fat cooking spray. 2. Cook the spaghetti, rinse under cold Water for 30 seconds and drain. Transfer to medium bowl; stir in the egg whites and parmesean cheese. Pat into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate. 3. In a large, nonstick skillet, heat the oil. Add the turkey, bell pepper, onion, and garlic; cook, stirring constantly, until the turkey is browned and the veggies are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, oregano and black pepper; cook and stir constantly, about 2 minutes. 4. Spread the mixture evenly over the pasta. Bake for 25 minutes; sprinkle with mozarella cheese and bake until melted, about 5 minutes. Per Serving: Calories: 334 Fat: 5 grams Protein: 30 grams

As far as pasta goes, it usually doesn't give me any trouble and I've got a decent amount of restriction. As long as I'm very careful with chewing it goes down just fine! And if pasta gives you trouble, the filling is honestly the best part and that's where all the protein is anyway, so you could just make it without the crust...that's what i'm considering doing next time!

I can't stand the taste of most protein bars...so if you're like me, and you're willing to sacrifice a bit of protein for taste, I would recommend Special K Protein Meal Bars. They have 10g. of protein per bar, and taste really really good! I usually eat one in place of breakfast.

The best way to get your energy up is to walk, walk, walk! Even if you're just walking for a few minutes around your house, or to the end of your driveway, block, etc...it's also gonna help you get rid of those troublesome gas pains. As far as the pain in your port, it's normal for you to feel soreness around that area post-op, but if your gut is telling you something is wrong, mention it to your doctor and see what he has to say about it. Things will get better soon, so keep positive!! Congrats on being banded :thumbup:

I bought a shirt from Arden B!!!!! They only carry Small, Medium and Large! Granted...the shirt was a Large, but still, I would never even have gone into that store before I had lapband!! :thumbup:

I'm about 10 months out and I still have a bit of pain in my port at times. It may be just normal pain, but nobody can tell you for sure except for your doctor. If I were you I would call my doctor's office and ask to speak with a nurse who can perhaps let you know if pain near your port is something normal or if you'll need to schedule a visit to get it checked out.

Oh! I forgot to mention, pineapple juice works WONDERS for when you feel stuck. Sip it though, don't chug it!

Hi Sheila! Congrats on being banded Welcome to the club! Anyway, about PBing, it's not nearly as bad as you've heard. Go slowly when testing out new foods, remember to chew a lot, and don't drink while you're eating. I think not drinking while eating is the most important factor because my most violent PB's (which still were nothing compared to actual vomiting) have been directly caused by that. You will deal with PBing at some point in time, but you won't choke to death! Good luck and be careful!

small world!!

i'm from friendswood, tx (near Houston!)

My goal is 135, but hell, if I can get down to 150 I'll be happy! Ideally I'd like to wear a size 6. Right now I think I'm at 230 and wearing a size 18.

Unfortunately, it's inevitable. My girl friends do it all the time around me, and it makes me really uncomfortable. I always wonder that if they think they're so fat, when they maybe have 5 pounds to lose, what the heck do they think of me who has 100 pounds to lose?? I think it's in bad taste, but there's not much you can do except shrug it off, especially if the offending people are not people you see often.

I was also in that position my entire life, always the "fat friend" and never anything more. I haven't even lost a really significant amount of weight yet, and honestly, it's not too too noticeable, but with the confidence I have just from that I've noticed a lot more guys giving me attention. I used to think the same thing as you, that these guys wouldn't have given me the time of day before because I was fat, but I see now that it has so so so much more to do with your attitude and how you carry yourself than with the way you look. With every single pound you lose you're gonna develop so much more confidence and guys will flock to you because of that new confidence! Anyhoo... I went on a date last night (yeah i know, i said i wasn't going to date for awhile...but he was cute and how could i turn him down? ), met him on eharmony, and I was so terrified of what he was going to think of my appearance, that I wrote to him and told him that he should be expecting a "bigger girl"...I show up at the restaurant and one of the first things he says to me is "you are not big, why on earth did you tell me you were big?" It really really really made me feel good about myself (especially since I am over 200 pounds, I know I'm a big girl lol, I mean, he just kept complimenting me the whole night telling me I was cute and stuff like that...I found all of that hard to believe...I have such a huge issue with accepting compliments because I can't see what he apparently saw in me. All in all, the date was nice, and I think we might go out again sometime early next week. Sorry guys...I didn't mean to write a novel!

Ya know, I actually have to agree with you on this! Never ever ever in my life did I think there would be a point in time when I didn't want to be in a relationship...I always thought I needed a man to love me to be happy. (Yes, I know, I'm young and naive ) But for the first time, even though I have a couple guys that I am semi-interested in, I'm so happy being single that I don't think I'm going to even date them! I'm gonna cancel my eharmony account, and just be single and happy and be selfish and focus on me for awhile...I can worry about settling down later.

I don't have one yet! My plan is to get three stars kind of on the side of my boob, (where the crease is, if that makes sense) whenever I reach goal. Not sure if I've explained that well...but I've always wanted a tattoo, I've just been too scared to do it while I'm still overweight.

I just started my pre-op diet 10 minutes ago, and I've already cheated and eaten 5 double cheeseburgers!!!!! Will I be ok for surgery???? PLZ HELP THX!!!

He and his church are a bunch of sick and twisted nutjobs! His wife and his daughters were on the Tyra Banks show last year, and just listening to them spew their hatred made me feel sick to my stomach. It's one thing to hold those kind of beliefs, but to make the worst day of someone's life even worse by showing up to protest their child's funeral is pure evil. They'll have to answer for it one day, and I hope they pay for it tenfold.

I said soft bread in the poll...which is definitely true, but the absolute worst is hamburger!! Ugh, I tried to eat just a hamburger patty about a week ago, and had my first PB ever. Not a fun experience and I'm definitely going to wait a little while longer before trying it again! Everything else seems to go down well.

I had a pretty severe case of bronchitis/laryngitis that lasted for a month right before surgery. I was coughing regularly until about 5 days before my scheduled surgery, but I had about 5 good days of recovery, and fortunately my lungs were clear by then. I would call your surgeon's office immediately and let them know that you have a cold, they won't want to operate on you if your lungs are congested, and believe me, it's already difficult enough doing the deep breathing exercises right after the surgery...I can't even imagine doing them with the kind of chest congestion a cold brings on. Also, I believe that your chances of getting Pneumonia are higher after surgery, and I can only imagine that they would increase if you are already ill.

Hey Meghan!! Welcome to LBT, and I'm so happy for you that you're considering the band! It is truly the best thing that I have ever done for myself, and it seems like that's the general concensus here! There are sooo many threads about this exact same topic, and they're definitely worth checking out. Try the Lap-Band Support section, there's one called "Unfriendly Friends" and I know there are more than just that one, just can't think of them at the moment! Don't worry about what your friends say, this is not an easy way out by any stretch of the imagination. It takes a great deal of effort, and there is a lot of will-power involved (mostly during the pre-op diet phase, and before your first fill) But it is TOTALLY worth it! Friends come and go, and you're not doing this for your friends, you're doing this for you, and you have to live with yourself for the rest of your life. I would suggest surrounding yourself with friends who are excited for you, and who are going to support you. Send those friends you were talking about to these boards, let them learn about the procedure, and then let them try to tell you it's the easy way out. Good luck, and I really hope you'll be joining us in bandland !

I woke up with five as well, but all of them are tiny except for the port incision.

This war is played out. We can't fight another country's civil war for them, and it seems like this is what the Iraq war has become. I recognize that we will probably always have troops in Iraq, I don't like it, but I know that it's a fact of life. Personally, I'm for a timely withdrawal of our troops. I also think the US needs to go back to the isolationist country we used to be before WWII, at least until we can get our own crap straightened out here at home. We need to start producing our own products again and stop relying on foreign markets as we have been. But I digress...I think that things are going to get better as far as the war goes. We'll have an administration change in another year or so, and I'm trusting and hoping that whoever gains the presidency does a good job of picking up the pieces.