nurse535

I can't recommend many specific exercises, but one thing that makes toning exercises more fun is using an exercise ball! You can do crunches on it, and use it to do squats by putting it between you and the wall and leaning against it as you do a squat.

Even if you don't plan to exercise after you've reached your goal weight, I do think it would be bad not to exercise in some form while you are losing. A reasonable exercise goal is 30 minutes 3x/week. Overall it will benefit your physical and mental health. Simple walking is the easiest and cheapest way to get exercise. But you can also look into more entertaining options like doing a workout DVD or playing Wii or Kinect games that get you moving, like Just Dance or Zumba. Swimming or Water aerobics are good and easy on the joints. There really are so many options for exercise out there, and the health benefits are so clear, that there's no excuse for us not to do it. I'm telling myself that as much as you, because I'm trying to establish a good habit of exercising myself.

I am only able to work out on my days off, because I work 12 hr shifts and commute an hour each way, so there's no time left if I want to be able to get a decent amount of sleep. Although I am hopeful that working out regularly might help me need less sleep! So, on my days off, I am finding that even though I am not a morning person, if I work out right after dropping the kids off at school, I am more likely to get it done. If I procrastinate and wait until later in the day I am more likely to find excuses and/or legit reasons to not do it.

I agree with the advice to check with the doctor, but I do know for sure they won't want you to swim until your incisions are healed. It increases the risk of infection if they're not. Learned that the hard way when I had to miss out on the last of the good summer swimming weather after my gallbladder surgery a few years ago!

I got a fill around the time of my period without realizing it (it was just before my period started). I tend to be tighter when it's that time of the month already, and then with the fill it was even worse! I did liquids for about 3 days and then was able to move on to mushy foods and finally back to solids. I think as long as you can tolerate some liquids it's ok to wait 48 hrs or so.

The elliptical can be tough! If you can only do 3 minutes, then do those 3 minutes. Add 1 more minute if you think you can push yourself. Then the next time, go 4 minutes, and push for one more if you can. It's ok to start slow and only go for short periods of time! While you're at it, do the old standby trick of parking farther from work or the grocery store and walking further during everyday activities than you normally would. This will help build up your stamina as well.

My scale showed a 1.4 lb gain this morning. However, I have tracked my food and exercise, was consistently under my calorie goal, and worked out 4 days including cardio and the first level of Jillian Michael's 30 day shred. So I am assuming this is not a "real" gain but probably water retention from working muscles that haven't been worked in a while! I have to admit I was disappointed not to see a loss this morning but I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing because I know eventually it will show on the scale.

One thing I can tell you for certain: the lap band is not the easy way out! We still have to make good food choices, and we still have to get exercise on a regular basis. It's been said so much, but it's true that the band is only a tool. It is very easy to "eat around" the band, or to continue drinking too many beverages with calories. Think of it this way: an accountant can add and subtract, but they usually use a calculator. Does that mean they are bad accountants? Of course not, they're just using a tool so they can do what they do better. You're not a failure, you're just getting a tool to help you become a better you!

There's no way to know for sure, but it's unlikely that you have caused a serious problem by cheating. As the earlier comment said, the point of the pre-op diet is to shrink the liver. There's really no way for the doctors to know whose liver will be a problem and whose won't, so they recommend the pre-op diets to be safe. In my case, I was having migraines from the lack of food, so when I went for my pre-op visit with the surgeon, he said it was ok if I ate some small meals as long as I went back to liquids only 24 hours before the surgery and then nothing after midnight the night of the surgery. It really was hard getting through those pre-op diet days! But it is worth it!

I have Spanx and I have some ON compression pants and I'd say either should work fine for you. The ON compression pants are probably cheaper, so maybe try those first! It depends on how much support you need, but I think they would work.

I remember my mom having a video or DVD called Sit and Be Fit. I suggest searching Amazon for that and it will bring up similar items too!

Around the time of my period, my band is a lot tighter. Some days I have to go to liquids and mushies just to make sure I don't have discomfort. I don't need an unfill because the rest of the time it is ok, but for 2-3 days around my period I have to be careful. Is it possible you're having some hormonal changes causing the changes you're feeling?

Name: Kelly Goal weight for Jan 29: 246.5 Weight on Jan 2nd was 253.0 Age 42 Dietary goal for Jan: track food at least 5 days a week on myfitnesspal app Exercise goal for Jan: cardio at least 30 min 3x/week Personal goal for Jan: spend at least 8 hours sorting/packing/organizing my storage area to begin preparing for move to CO August 1 Date banded: 6/16/11 Total weight loss since being banded: 54 lbs - but only 5 of those were in 2012! My first 2013 goal is to lose more in January than I lost in all of 2012!! What is your favorite New Year activity?: Filling in my new fresh planner

I don't know why there are such vast differences but I have noticed them too, based on what others say about their surgeons. As for the x-ray with fill, they didn't use it on my first couple of fills but after that they did, because it's really just guesswork with a non x-ray adjustment. I am not a super strict rule follower in general, so I've tried to learn what the reason is behind any rule and what others have experienced, and then decide what to do. For example, I've heard the no popcorn rule but many people eat it without problem and I have tried it without any problem. I have had some carbonated beverages but find that I don't really like them anymore. I think it's important to listen to your surgeon but there's nothing wrong with taking a chance on a rule you've heard different things about if you've researched it.

I am intrigued by this idea of carb cycling - I'm going to read more about it and maybe give it a shot to see if it will work for me, too!

Last year was my first Thanksgiving after being banded, and I ate a little bit of everything I wanted, including desserts. I even had a bite of a yummy roll! I took small bites, chewed well, and ate slowly. I enjoyed my meal and felt really great about having enjoyed it without overindulging.

Pureed cauliflower would make me vomit even without the band. I'm just sayin.

I am going to Colorado in a couple of weeks (from Kansas). The altitude where I'll be staying most of the time is around 5000 ft, although I do intend to go higher than that at times while sight seeing. Last summer I went only a couple of weeks after my surgery, so I was still only able to eat very small quantities of food at that time and couldn't tell if the altitude made any difference. If the altitude causes the band to be tighter, what do I need to do? I'm only staying four days. I'll be bringing Protein powder to make shakes anyway, so if I need to switch to liquids that should be easy enough.

I didn't even set a goal at the beginning, because I felt like any weight loss was going to be a success. I am almost one year out from surgery now (June 16) and have lost about 56 lbs. I could have lost more by now if I had tried harder, but I still battle with eating too many sweets and I wasn't tracking my food. When I was looking into surgery, I read that with lap band it was reasonable to expect to lose half of your excess weight. For me, that would be 66.5 lbs. (Calculated by using my current weight, minus the higher end of the "chart weight" for my height, and dividing it by 2.) Currently that is my goal...11 more pounds and I'm there! Beyond that, I think I will attempt to hit 75% of my excess weight lost, which would be 100 lbs from surgery weight. I've recently started using the My Fitness Pal app to track my food and I'm making a really strong effort to exercise a minimum of 3x/week. I know that by tracking my food and working out I will continue to have weight loss success.

I was told the pouch is approximately the size of one of those plastic eggs you see around Easter. I'm not sure how much I can eat at one time but I know that I can still eat more than I should! I just got a fill yesterday so I'm hoping it nudges me a little closer to the green zone. I've been at a plateau for too long.

I use a straw nearly every day. It doesn't cause me any problems. My dr says the recommendation to not use straws is because it can cause people discomfort but it's ok if I use one. I tried to go without straws...I didn't realize how often I used a straw until I was trying to avoid them after surgery LOL!

I use Body Fortress protein powder mix. I buy it at Walmart, it's around $15 for a 2 lb container. They have Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, Cookies & Cream, and Chocolate Peanut Butter. I've tried all except the Peanut Butter one. They are the only ones I can tolerate (taste-wise) on a regular basis. I'm 8 1/2 mo out from surgery but still often start my day with a protein shake. Their website has a lot of great ideas for shakes using their powders. I tried at least 5-6 other kinds and they all tasted gross to me. They have 26 g protein per scoop and I usually mix them with 6-8 oz skim milk.

I had 9 days off after my surgery. I'm a nurse and the day I went back was a 16 hr shift. I managed it but I was definitely tired and sore by the end of the day. I think I would have been fine with an 8 hour shift, though. I was pretty fortunate and had an easy recovery. My worst time was the 2nd and 3rd days post-op when I had a lot of muscle soreness due to using a lot of muscles I didn't normally use in order to avoid the abdominal muscles.

It is normal to feel that way, but you still need to pay attention to your body's signals. It's somewhat like detoxing in that your body is suddenly being deprived of something it's used to having. I struggled to get through my pre-op diet as well. I was allowed to have sugar free popsicles which helped. I was working 16 hour shifts during some of my pre-op phase and I literally scheduled something to eat or drink every hour just to help me get through it. One thing that happened to me while I was on my pre-op diet is that I started itching! I think it was part of that detox process. If you're still experiencing headaches or feeling faint, contact your surgeon's office and let them know. They may make some adjustments to the diet to help you through it. I was actually allowed to eat some regular food two days before surgery because when I had my pre-op appointment with the surgeon I told him I was getting migraines from hunger so he said, "Eat!" LOL. I was surprised but he said he wasn't concerned about my liver being a problem during the procedure, and apparently, it wasn't!

I did an intense session with a personal trainer and gained about 7 lbs that took around a week to come back off. My muscles like to retain a LOT of water while healing! So it's pretty normal to have some gain when starting to exercise. Keep doing what you're doing and you'll see results!