Fenton

I'm down almost 100 pounds in 5 1/2 months, and it's been easy. Whatever you've tried so far hasn't worked; this will, if you let it. And it IS reversible - you can have the band unfilled, you can even have the band removed. This ain't gastric bypass surgery. And it's an extremely safe surgical procedure.

nemesis's doc's comments seem completely reasonable to me. Since the feeling of satiety comes from the stretching of the pouch, it wouldn't be unreasonable to believe that there could be some benefit to it. If I were a soft drink addict, I'd shake up the drink before I drank, get rid of a good bit of the fizz, then have half a can or bottle or whatever. Then again, I'm not a soft drink addict, so...

Jinx! You owe me a Coke...

Hmm. I was going to recommend the iSopure - I get the premade drinks, the low carb version. Clear, and - to me at least - not too revolting. The advantage is that they give you 40 g of Protein in 20 oz clear Fluid. Most clear fluids are clear because they have no protein... You might try the Green Tea isopure? I think that's the best-tasting, and it's the newest. Although if you didn't like the others...

Oh, also: I deliberately avoided LBT because I didn't want to talk about how I was eating. To do that would have been to become mindful, and to have been mindful while trying to eat like that would've made it less pleasurable. Proof of the value of LBT, I think.

So, I did badly this weekend. I was at a conference for thriller writers, and it was my first, and I went in knowing no one, and it was pretty high stress. I ate out with strangers a lot, and I used it as an excuse to eat badly. I didn't do too badly Wednesday - Friday, but Saturday I blew it, and went back to my old patterns of pathological eating on Saturday and Sunday. Well, I wasn't as bad as my REAL old patterns, but I recognized that my eating was thoughtless and uncontrolled. It wasn't, like, going out to dinner and having the duck breast and enjoying it, it was more like gorge-y, binge-y. I had two slices of pizza, and two ice cream bars, for example. I allow myself the occasional small slice of pizza (the gourmet ultra-thin crust with few toppings kind), but haven't had two since being banded, nor have I had an ice cream bar. At some level, I was in that All-or-Nothing mode - I decided I was going to have whatever I wanted, since I'd already had Chinese food, so I'd already ruined my calorie count for the day. I didn't feel good - emotionally or physically - eating that way. I'm going to be ultrarigorous for the next few days. So that's it: I confessed! My confession is over.

Sweet Jesus! I turn my back for a few days, and the item becomes All A-Dub, All the Time! Annie! Enough mourning! The hair loss is temporary, and though your plummeting weight may have you revving up to have at the menfolk, there's no hurry! I don't know how possible it is to obey the very sound advice of "just accept yourself" - particularly in our circle. All of us are clearly people who've had a hard time "accepting themselves". But it certainly is a question of confidence. And, FWIW, I think that's a really foxy haircut! I can understand your wariness of men your age - there are *probably* some good ones out there, although I think we all know that men suddenly ripen at the age of 47, at which point they're perfect until they die. And after they're buried, they remain perfect in memories. But if you're nervous and wary of approaching/being approached, so what? You can last without a steady boyfriend for another few months. You'll be thinner, and your hair will grow back, and then you'll probably become scarily sexually aggressive in your empowerment! If I were you, I'd rock the wig as a look. You've got a pretty face - why not show it off by wearing a bunch of different wigs, different styles, different colours? Many guys like a bold woman, and you seem pretty bold. And it would be a way of being really upfront about things. In ANY case, this is just temporary. And there are lots of guys who'll love you just the way you are.

I DO type in an English accent!!!

Well, you can rest easy with THAT, Tess!

I was reading something on SparkPeople about visualization, and it recommended something along similar lines - finding an image of someone you wanted to look like - how you wanted to dress, style your hair, etc - when you were at goal weight. It actually felt a bit funny to be downloading a photo of a guy who I thought had cool style, but, hey, if it works... If I print it out, and stick it on my wall, THEN you can start to worry...

Full steam ahead! Your weight loss rate will slow down, I'm afraid - much of what you lost that first week was probably the water that hangs out with the starch and fat in the liver; supposedly, as that's broken down with dieting, the water is released. You'll continue to lose at a good rate, but from now on it'll all be fat...

No worries, mate. Some MD's start their patients on mashed food in the hospital, upgrading them to solid food within a week or so, I believe. You'll be fine with a single episode of thick mashies...

Christine, I'm sure that a PB causes quite a lot of straining around the restricted area, and you get some residual swelling. Give it a bit of time to calm down. Busy, Tylenol's pretty good about not irritating stomachs, although that can happen. See how you do for a day or to, then check in with your surgeon if it's still weird?

Hahaha! A worthy aim indeed.

Awww, K-Pod! I turned the page to get your news; what a rough time you've had. What THEY said. Three pounds is nothing, being with your Nana is all that mattered. You can get rid of those pounds in no time - you know what to do. The important thing was that you got to say goodbye. Most - probably all - of us have a similar response to stress. As WCM says, recognizing it is important, and vowing to do better handling it is key.

Yay Texgirl! Fantastic work! And Rhonda - you've lost 90 lbs, I'm betting the next 26 will just disappear...

WCM's referring to the Post Pictures of Your Progress thread that Harley started in the March 2008 Bandsters forum. It's not just a carb thing - I'm overeating skinless boneless chicken, and chicken sausage - I think I may even be hitting the beef Jerky a little too hard. The carb stuff bugs me more, though, because it's empty calories. Partly it's availability - at home I don't have any carbs to tempt me, but in my office during the day, and at the place where I write in the evenings, there are public bowls of Hershey's Kisses and M&M's and whatnot for when people need a fast pick-me-up. I think I'm still losing, but mostly because of my exercise. I just have to manage myself carefully. I'm going to be out of temptation's way for the next couple of days - let's see how I do.

You know what I just noticed? We've made more posts in the March Bandsters forum than they have in the *January* Bandsters forum, despite their having an extra two months!

Yes, the hair o' the Irish!

I've not had much in the way of hunger pangs until recently. I had a fairly calorific weekend, and now I seem to get v. hungry v. quickly. I'm snacking more, falling prey to crap like Hershey's Kisses or M&M's in the writing room where I work. I think part of it is boredom and part emotional, but I also think I've stretched my stomach a bit. I think I'm going to go back to liquids for a day or two, at least until I snap this bad behaviour. I'm a bit worried that my FL trip next week will be a challenge. But I've found a gym, and I'll go there, so that's good. I think.

Interesting! Also a link to this interesting study about how people who kept food diaries lost twice as much weight over the same time period as those who didn't journal their intake...: Writing down every morsel doubles weight loss - Diet and nutrition - MSNBC.com

Here's an interesting study: Writing down every morsel doubles weight loss Dieters who kept daily food diaries were more successful, new study says Writing down every morsel doubles weight loss - Diet and nutrition - MSNBC.com

Sounds like you're losing at a pretty good clip there!

The conventional wisdom is that for the first 4 - 6 weeks you should lift nothing heavier than 10 pounds. After that, the surgical site is healed, and you can do whatever you want.

Nice work, lads!