waitingpatiently

Ok so I have been (am) on the hunt for low carb foods that will replace chips. And boy have I tried a lot!! Anyway i ran across a product the other day that I think will help. The are called Moon Pops. They are kind of like very thin rice cakes. I wouldn't say they are flavorfull....more like the absence of flavor. But they are crunchy and thats what I needed. They have 16 calories/0 fat/ 4 carbs for 1 piece about a 6" circle. They don't hold up well to heat, they get rubbery--like a stale cheese puff. but they are good with a thin layer of peanut butter or a thin layer of cream cheese and sugar free jam, a thin layer of your favorite dip....I even put a thin layer of refriend beans,cheese and ff sour cream. They real have no flavor so they just provide the crunch I was looking for. I found them at kroger in virginia, but have not seen then anywhere else...maybe on line. Just thought I would share. Does anyone else have a good suggestion? I have considered veggies already...while good...they taste like veggies with a topping.

Hi everyone, I just wanted to take a minute to advise everyone that when it comes to elective surgeries,be prepared for complications. I'm the lucky 1 in 100,000 patients that the routine breast lift goes terribly wrong. I have an excellent surgeon (voted number 1 plastic surgeon in our area),( I work in the medical field and researched him extensively) I'm in excellent shape and have never smoked a cigarette in my life and it happened to me....so it could happen to you. We get so excited to reach our weight goals and look so forward to making our bodies match our new self confidence, that we put little REAL thought into the risks. Let me clarify, even though I have spent the last 3 months watching pieces of my dead breast tissue be cut away, been hooked to a wound vac for 2 months, and now I'm preparing for a skin graft ..............I would probably still have done it, What I hoped to accomplish with the breast reduction was to eliminate my back pain.....that it did.---so I know when I have this behind me, I will be happy. I'm not trying to talk anyone out of having surgery, I just want everyone to make sure....that it means enough to you to accept the risks,,,,because they are definitely real and painful. I have traded huge saggy breasts for perky disfigured ones. I have traded 3 days a week at the gym for 3 days a week at the doctors office. Then there is the financial risks.i honestly don't think anyone can prepare for this.We sign 10 disclaimers telling us the risks and how those complications will be meet with additional charges, but we just assume that is for someone else.....surely not us. I spend over $125 a month on medications and dressing. My wound vac alone was $6,000!!!.My doctor has covered all the big stuff (doctor visits and would vac) for me so far. I will need additional surgery and will have to have an implant or tissue transplant.( i would guess that would be at least another $8000) I know at some point I may have to pay a part, but when I ask him about it he just tells me that he doesn't want me worrying about the money....That it will all work out. I have included a few pictures of what I'm dealing with....they are graphic. I wish I had the successful pictures that others have shown, Maybe in 6-8 months when this process is over, I can come back and have a different story to tell. June 2007 Bandster Calender.doc

Thanks everyone for all the prayers. prayer is what has kept me from falling apart. So keep them coming. Janiece- as for what caused it? Just the luck of the draw. For about the last 2 years I have had numbing in my right leg especially when I exercise ( I have back issues so it wasn't a stretch that it was nerve related) but my dad had a genetic flaw in his aorta right at the belly button and he had to have part of his aorta and femoral arteries replaced... So in prep for this surgery I went and was tested to see if I had the same condition and was cleared.... After this my GP thought there was a chance I had a under lying small vein disorder. But after extensive testing I have been cleared. So... The only thing the doctors can come up with is that either I swelled more than expected causing the bandages to become too tight and cut the blood supply to the breast or that maybe I fell asleep with my arm across my chest ( which my husband did see me do) and that cut the blood supply. Neither of these would normally cause this much damage, but if it happened at a crucial time in the healing process, It was possible.

I am near roanoke Virginia. The cost of my my complete abdominalplasty was 8,000. That was about 500-700 more than others in my area, but he had such a good reputation I decided it was worth it.

Hi everyone, I just wanted to stop in and share a few photos. I know how much it helped for me to follow you guys. I'm only 5 days out and still very swollen but I'm feeling stronger each day. I will say the first 24 hours were very ROUGH!! It took a little time for me to get the pain under control, but by day 3 I started to feel like I might actually survive. Im scheduled for a breast reduction/lift on June 5. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

They didnt pay for mine. That would have been nice.

I had so much fun in those early months. Every time I did the laundry I had more clothes that were too big. I would stack them outside my closet door. It was fun to watch the pile get taller and taller as the months by. It wasn't long and the pile was almost as tall as i was and toppled over. It was a great visual reinforcer of the progress I was making when I was having a bad day.

I'm 15 months post op and still on occasion have port pain. I think for some it just comes with the territory. With the weight loss, my port now sits right where my pants wound sit. So that seems to irritate it sometimes. It will also bother me after a weight lifting workout or when I do other exercises. But on a scale of 1-10 it's more like a 3. More of an annoyance than anything else. But I would mention it to your surgeon. It never hurts to ask the experts.

I remember asking this same question right before I was banded--haha I feel pretty much the same. I can feel my port. Now that I have lost all the weight, it does stick out a little and because of where it is my pants shorts sometime fall right on top of it... Which on occasion will be uncomfortable. Internally I feel the same. Every once in a while I have a little pain or discomfort in the area I think my band is in, and i wonder if it is actually the band or something else. But it is very mild and doesn't alarm me at all. The biggest difference for me is that I can actually feel the food leave the upper band pouch as it enters the lower stomach. Not painful... I just have that awareness. Other than that it is not different than before. Good luck!

Same here. I remember thinking to my self "what have I done" . It seemed like everyone on the site did so well, some returned to work in less than a week. I guess because I had 2 hernias and some adhesions removed it was more painful....I don't know. But it took a good week before I felt like " ok I can do this" and probably another week before I was back on my feet and ready to make this work. So hang in there. It will get better. I'm 15 months post op lost 88 pounds and at my goal weight of 148 pounds. Best thing I ever did for myself.

I guess since the incision lines for the abdominalplasty were so clean and I had very little bruising and since it was considered the more serious of the two surgeries, we were just surprised how black and blue the girls were. They were so swollen and mis-shaped. Now (almost two weeks outs) they are much better. However I did have. Complication of escemea (sorry thats spelled incorrectly) meaning I had poor circulation to the incision and I have had some tissue loss to that breast. Because of that I won't have a neat scar. But he said when it heals, he will go back in and revise the scare. It won't be prefect, but he said it should be fine.

Keep up the great job! Woot woot!!

Great job! You can knock that last 25 off in no time!!!

My doctor did offer both the realize system and the lapband. He said both had their pros and cons from a surgeons perspective but both did the job when the patient did their job. I went with lapband just because it has been around longer and I thought any kinks in the design were probably worked out. I haven't had any problems with it and I was at my goal weight within one year. I've lost 88 pounds now and I am 148 pounds. wootwoot!!

My stomach is growling as we speak! But it only gets like this first thing in the morning since its been 12 hours since I ate and I've been up 2 hours already. It knows its time for food! But after breakfast, I eat because I'm supposed to. I sometimes flat out forget to.

You can absolutely see the difference!!! It takes the brain a while to see the difference. (Im still waiting) I have lost 88 pounds, wear a size 6/8 and even had plastic surgery and my brain still sees the fat chick. You just have to keep telling yourself the scale doesn't lie.

Great job!! It was those moments that kept me motivated!!! I'm at goal now and one of my favorite things is when my 17 year old athletic daughter comes and asks to borrow a piece of clothing that I have. We are only about 10 pounds apart now. It's crazy... But so much fun!!

Just be prepared for the recovery. I had a TT on may 22 followed by a breast reduction and lift on June 5. I guess I wasn't expecting to feel so drained and I'm getting a little restless sleeping in the recliner. But I'm feeling better today than I have in the last week so maybe I'm turning a corner. The only other thing I would suggest is if you are in a relationship, make sure you prepare your man for what the girls are going to look like. I think my husband was a little overwhelmed with their appearance. Good luck!

I have port pain from time to time for no reason. It just gets tender for a day or two. Doctor told me it was normal. As for it slipping, if you have been following the rules your chances of it being a slip is slim. If you haven't then it might put your mind at ease to schedule an appointment. But usually a slip will generate more serious symptoms like vomiting. But it never hurts to check in with the doc, that's what they are there for. Good luck.

I am 15months post-op and have meet my goal weight (148pounds). Breakfast: 2 egg whites/ 4 slices of pre poked bacon lunch : 4 oz lean meat and a veggie Snack: fruit or yogurt Dinner: 4 oz lean meat and veggie

I know you are worried about getting stuck, but rest assured that As long as You are on a liquid or soft diet and you take your time eating your chances of getting stuck are slim. When the day comes that you are getting solid foods like steak and chicken then you need to take it slow as you introduce foods and make sure you eat slowly and chew well. I'm almost 15 months out ( and met my goal weight) I can honestly say the half dozen times I have been stuck, was because I broke one of those two rules. As for a BM, I would use a mild stool softener/laxative like miralax or colace and it wouldn't hurt to add a probiotic yogurt (like activia) to your diet for a week or so. Good luck

In the beginning (for me) there was a thin line when came to exercise. If I did too much, it would spike my hunger and then I would want to eat way more than I burned.so I choose to keep a lower calorie count and less exercise. So in the beginning, I would exercise about 15 mins every day just to establish a routine. I varied my routine from walking, elliptical, tread mill, weight lifting, resistant bands, Pilates, yoga, and good old sit-ups,jumping jacks and jumping rope. This worked for me. I probably lost half my weight doing it this way. When the scale stopped I had to sham things up. By this time I was under 200 pounds and could exercise with out all the pain and discomfort I had at 236 pounds. Here I made a commitment to myself that I could do anything to get the last 40 pounds off and the harder I worked the quicker I would get there. So the new plan was intense! I made the gym a daily thing! I did this because when I told myself I would 3 times a week, something always "came up " on at least one of those days. This way there was no tricking myself into not going. I worked out about an hour and a half everyday and would burn about 900 calories. But the key was I would only add an extra 400 calories a day to my diet. The weight fell off. It took a out 2 and a half months of this to be within goal range. I then entered the "what can I do for the rest of my life " stage I hate exercise so there was no way I could keep this routine up forever. I needed to figure out what level. Would work for me. In January of 2013 (10 months post-op) I met my goal of 160pounds! Since then I realize my pcos will keep me from ever being able to eat a normal calorie intake. But I have excepted that. The band helps me feel full most of the time. But the weight is off and I find maintaining just a part of life and requires no thought anymore. Nowadays I by base daily calorie intake (if I don't go to the gym) is 850. Anything more and I will gain. Each day I go to the gym I burn about 700 calories so that's about 100 calories a day extra if I were to spread it out. So if I go to the gym once a week I get 950 a day, two time a week, 1050 a day, three times a week 1150 calories a day. It's just that simple. I don't like the numbers but they are what they are and I have learn to live with them. I'm now in my final phase of fixing the physical damage I did to my body by removing the sagging skin. I have had abdominalplasty about 10 days ago and I'm having a breast reduction/lift tomorrow morning. Hope then I can put this behind me and just live! Ps: I'm 153 pounds now and about 3 pounds away from a normal bmi. My doctor told me I still about 10 pounds of skin on my backside and that a shouldn't loose anymore weight. Isn't that a switch!!! A doctor telling me to STOP loosing weight! Never thought those words would told to me. Good luck!

I agree with ksaug21- I kept telling myself that that little pouch needed to heal and I wasn't going to do anything to mess this opportunity up. I know it's hard, but you can do this! Try to look for places you can add Protein powder. That helps keep hunger at bay. I made Jello and pudding by adding unflavored protein to the mix. I bought chicken flavored unjury protein and added it to my different broths If you are allowed unclear liquids, I drank the broth off of homemade pinto Beans and potato Soup (these are a little thicker and held me longer) --- put the soup through a strainer before drinking it. One thing I did discover during this time was that my band would swell a little after I walked. So by walking 15-20 mins a couple of times a day it would swell a little and take to desire to eat away. Hope that helps.