MeredithMcFee

Hmm, Violet, that's odd, because I can, although I don't usually do this, I do have the ability. .

I use straws all the time as I feel I can control the gulps too and haven't had a problem so far.

Love the area. Moved out 6 yrs ago. Just took a ride last weekend to visit some friends in Belmar and Wall area and saw that Belmar is a changin' big time. Love the new look! Have a great weekend and don't eat too much on Easter.

I'm in Monmouth County between LongBranch and Little Silver. B-52: I use to live in Belmar for 25 years. 2 blocks from the ocean near Silver Lake, what I referred as the "mild side" of town, not the "wild side". Loved walking the boards from Avon to Spring Lake. Went to Bayshore in Holmdel for surgery. AscherCrasher's, Alexd: we probably had the same group of docs. Mine works out of SOCH and originally Mountainside. Kudos to all of us.

Laney, I have BSofNJ Direct Access and it covered both my husband & myself, 100%. Never knew how long the wait period was as my Dr's office scheduled my surgery a month and a half out from my initial visit and that was only because I couldn't do it sooner. I went through all the testing required and then I heard from the staff I was precerted. I'm not sure, but I think they have to wait for all the testing to come in, making sure you're a candidate and then get the precert. We were both assured from the get go we wouldn't have to worry about getting precerted.

Me Three! I'm in too! My goal is to get down to 199 {Onderland} by losing 8lbs! Good luck everyone!

Otaknam: I agree totally with Nicole, you are doing a fabulous job. I'm 9.5 weeks out and going back and forth 28-30 lbs with 1 fill of 2.5cc's. My next fill is in two weeks. I'm starting to see that I'm getting a little more hungry now but like Nicole, I'm using my willpower to control my food choices and thinking before I put something in my mouth that doesn't belong there. I too have a conservative dr. and I'm ok with that. So many things come into play, age, I'm {a very young} 57, medications we might be taking, our metabolism, etc etc. Inches count big time! Are you working out? Doing any cardio? Be good to yourself, enjoy the loss/inches, and be patient. It will come.

Congratulations! You not only feel like a million but will look like a million bucks! As well as being the talk at the Easter dinner table. Enjoy and soak it all up, you deserve it!

I have gels and just had to remove polish from one fingernail and one toe for pulse ox too.

I had my 1st fill in early March, {2.5cc's} and thought the same thing as you. I couldn't relate to other's here, however just last week ,I had a major pbing Friday & Saturday. Not sure if it was the food as I ate the same thing days before and had no problem, or did I not chew it well enough but it was a good 45 min episode of major discomfort. The next day I had another issue with something which I chewed really well, but I think it was due to the effects from the day before. The rest of the weekend, I drank protein drinks and real soft foods and haven't had a problem since.

Kim, welcome to our group. The January bandsters are a great group of people. We're all supportive and encouraging of one another. Even when we beat ourselves up for one reason or another, you can always count on someone saying a kind word or two to get us back on track on this life time journey of getting healthy. I was banded a day later then you in NJ. My surgeon seems to be more conservative then the other's here. He believes doing fills 6 weeks apart and even then he makes the decision if you need it or not. So far, I've had one fill am scheduled for my follow up appt 2.5 weeks. Losing 23lbs is great! Everyone loses differently for different reasons. If you're exercising, perhaps you're losing more in inches. I know that's the way it works for me. I don't allow the scale to control me. As long as I feel good in my clothes, that works for me. Good luck to you.

Chrissylu: funny you should mention steamed. That's what I had a problem with. I was ordering Chinese steamed chicken and broccoli before being filled. No problem. Always ate it even prior to surgery. The same week I was filled I ordered it and took a small bite, chewed and chewed until it was basically mush, and couldn't eat it either. Like other's on here have said, there is no rhyme or reason with the restrictions. One day it might not go down but the next day it does! I always enjoyed having chicken for dinner as there were so many variations of recipe's one can make. Plus, I always bought the chicken breasts from Costco that were so easy to just thaw out before dinner if I forgot to take it out earlier. Bummer......Good luck with the steamed chicken.

I'm amazed how most of you have lots of "fill" in your band. My doc put 3cc's in, then after seeing it through x-ray, he took out a .5 out. I forgot to ask what band size I have but will the next time I go back. Like I said in my post above, I didn't notice much of a restriction after first fill until a few days ago and had some PB episode's which was exactly 3 weeks from my fill. Who knows. Chrissy Lu: Chicken is no longer my friend either. For now anyway.

Sounds like we're all on the right path of getting healthy as well as thinner, if not totally on the scale at least NSV's. My doctor ony does fills every 6 weeks from what I'm being told. And if he feels you don't need it at your 6 week interval, he won't do it. My 2nd fill or shall I say my next visit is 4/19. So far, I'm doing well. Actually, it's been 3 weeks since my first fill and the past week, I've noticed a lot more restriction then initially. I don't think the band was working for me as much as my head was working for me the first 3 weeks which I'm not complaining. However, since Friday, I've had some episode's of being stuck on food I hadn't been stuck with even days before. Saturday afternoon, I had a major craving for Dunkin Donuts coffee roll. It was my TOM although I had a hysterectomy 20yrs ago, I still get the "phantom" urges of sweets during this time most months. I decided not to fight it and treat myself to it. I took one small bite, chewed real good and felt just a little feeling of something, then another and then a 3rd bite and I was so uncomfortable for a good 40 minutes. "Someone" was trying to tell me something, and I didn't listen. I came home and threw that donut in the garbage as fast as I could! I did eat some turkey chili for dinner that night and had no problem. Yesterday morning, I ate egg white scrambled eggs and took one bite and had that same feeling of restriction and stopped eating them. Waited a bit, and tried it again and did fine. Perhaps I was swollen from the day before, I don't know. So far, today, I did fine but learning something new everyday. Still loving my band and how it's helping me to stay true to myself. Erica & NJ2NC: Kudo's on getting into smaller sizes. I think most of us have lost enough weight where people are actually noticing it and saying something which helps our psyche and self esteem. It also helps to start wearing smaller size clothes and a little more form fitting which makes it more noticeable. Keep up the good work and love all your support.

Sounds like after 2+ months, our bodies/mind are finally catching up with one another and rebelling. Just think, for most of us, we've averaged a good 25+lbs lost in such little time. If we were on WW or Jenny or any other diet, I highly doubt we could lose this much weight in that little time. When I was on my own dieting, whether it be WW or some other diet, I would make it for the week and totally lose interest. I'm 9 weeks out and love seeing the changes in my body and my mind, having so much more energy and enjoying the fact I no longer hide out in my house. We're all doing great with all what we have to work with. The newness of the surgery has warn off for the most part, our daily lives continue with our families, work, stress, etc. Sometimes in life we have bad times, which we sometimes need to appreciate the good times, the same goes for plateaus. I enjoy coming on here daily as it keeps me real, and I can always find wonderful positive support from all my Janyary Bandsters and those who have gone before us and after. It's a journey for life.

Working for a professional ophthamology practice for 20 years gave me insight, no pun here, to ever evolving medical procedures that were attacked on TV news shows, magazines, etc. You will always find someone who has a bad reaction, experience, etc to something they've had. When the RK {correct myopia with a blade which I had done BTW} became popular here in the early 90's, Laser resurfacing {diminishing wrinkles} Lasik {correcting myopia with a lazer} and EVEN Botox which was originally used to relax twitches in the eye area, we always had to wait for the onslaught of naysayers' to die down and educate the community with real percentages {as Shoshanna has succintly done above}. From what I read and researched before having this procedure I was extremely comfortable with my choice in the lapband as well as with my surgeon and his staff. Having said that, my cousin had this procedure back when it was in the early studies and she has never had a problem and has kept her weight loss of 100lbs down since then. I'm still a "newbie" as I'm 9 weeks out today and so far, I've not had any problems. I am loving this tool and how it's teaching me to eat to live, not live to eat.

Just wondering if anyone bought FitBit's Premium plan and if so, do you like it?

Breakfast Deviled eggs made with Trader Joe's hummus {your choice of flavor} Or make a egg white egg salad. In place of the mayo, use Trader Joe's horseradish hummus. Had this for a late Breakfast after a good workout. Delish! Lunch: Tuna fish with lettuce and onions Dinner: still working on that one.... Trader Joe's turkey Meatballs & veggie dessert: Jello sugar free creme brulee pudding

I had a BMI of 37.9 prior to surgery. Aside from having arthritic knees, I have no co-morbidities. I have Horizon BS of NJ and they approved it. It all depends on what your employer's coverage allows. However, we're seeing more and more insurance companies covering the lapband surgeries as they can save money in the long run as long. Wishing you good luck and they approve of your sugery.

I got the cheese sauce and used it in with Hormel's fat freeTurkey Chili. It wasn't too bad but I used it later with something else, I can't recall, and it just wasn't that great. It was a temporary fix but not for long term. If I want melted cheese, I use Borden's fat free cheddar slices.

I liked it too! The only thing I didn't like was the fact you had to drink it lukewarm, no higher the 120-30 degrees. {basically lukewarm} I like my food hot for the most part, especially soups. The reason being for the low temp is due to weakening the protein. Like waterchik said, it saved me actually postop. I always put fresh chopped parsley in it to give it a little more taste.

Justdoit, sorry to hear of your husband's medical issues, hope he's on the mend. Re: full sugar pudding, have you tried Jello's sugar free rice pudding creme brulee or the caramel pudding yet? It's only 70 cals. It's soooo good and one would never know it has no sugar. I put cinnamon on top for an added boost of flavor. It's so good.

So far I can eat shrimp and lobster. When I mentioned it to my nutritionist, she was surprised as she's heard many of us can't. I was eating steamed chicken & blended broccoli from Chinese takeout before my first fill and did fine. After the fill, no more chicken, no matter how much I chewed. So for now, it's steamed shrimp & broccoli. I had lobster the night before my first fill as it was my birthday the day of my fill. That went down with no problem but I haven't had it since so I'm hoping it won't be a problem now. It's not like I eat it every week. It's a treat.

Congrats to you ValAnn! It's so good to see our Jan group continue on our journey with positive results from the band. Today is my 2 mth bandiversary and I'm down 26lbs which I'm very pleased about and have lost a decent amount of inches. It's definitely a work in progress and always will be and that's ok with me. My Dr is very conservative when it comes to fills. I don't know the size of my band however, 6 weeks PO he filled only 2.5cc's.He initially filled it to 3cc's but then after viewing the fluoro, he felt it was too much. His treatment plan is every 6 weeks, but that doesn't mean he will fill you if he feels it's not req'd. So far for me, I've been fine. I'm using my head as well as using my band to help me in my last ditch effort to loose the pounds and keep them off.

Thanks Brandi, I guess I better get on it and sign up for it too.