Fenton

I love that gurgling! If one of my cats is walking by, I'll lean over and open my mouth to emit a long gurgling growl! We both find it very satisfying...

Let 'em dry out in the air, I say! I don't mean, like, midriff-baring shirts, but leave them uncovered. If there's chafing, or if the "juice" is staining your clothes, you can put a bit of gauze on them, but keep an eye on them, and they'll soon be fine. I get the occasional little twinge of pain, but I'm pretty fine. Today I'm out 5 weeks, I believe. After 6 weeks, I'm going to start doing yoga. I was worried that, after rapid loss at the beginning of the week, I'd have stalled or regained, but I was actually down 1 since Monday, so, Yay.

Interesting stuff, Harley. What is the Health Halo - McDonalds' vs Subway?

Nervous is normal, but illogical. Sure, any surgery is a big deal, particularly if you're heavy. But I was 446 pounds when I got cut - I DREAM of being 335! They do this surgery every day, lads, and it's safe and a life-saving procedure. Which is why those tight-fisted bastids at the Insurance Companies pay for it! So you're both going to be fine for the surgery, and great after it! Congratulations...

Also, I gave more thought to my longstanding desire and secondary goal: I want to learn to snowboard. I've always thought it looks like fun. At the moment, I'd feel absurd trying to do it, just the notion of myself, like an orange sitting on top of a popsicle stick, schussing down the mountainside. But it's something I'm determined to do. So I've been reading about snowboarding, and preconditioning. You have to strengthen your "core"; my "core" is actually pretty strong, just very, very well insulated. But I'm going to be doing "core" exercises. I'm going to get a Bosu Ball, and maybe a balance beam, once I can understand what they do. I guess I should explore the exercise forums.

I came off my liquid diet today - one day and I knew I was fine, not hungry at all. I'm supposed to be on solid food now, but I'm sticking with shakes for Breakfast. Today I mixed 1/2 cup of Morello cherries into a French vanilla SFO, and added a little almond syrup. It was good, but I could still taste the Protein powder. My favourite is still Vanilla SFO + Peanut Butter + banana - I think the peanut butter conceals the powder. For lunch I had a lamb burger with zucchini pickles and spicy tomato sauce; skipped the roll, stole a french fry or two, it all evened out in the end. And I don't know what I'll have tonight - something, that's for sure. But, I feel good, not really hungry. Productive, weight loose-y. A good day.

Excellent! Fantastic work, man! I'm going to have to start taking my photo, too. I think it'll be a useful support technique.

So, what I'm saying is: NO REGRETS!!! If you screw up, you screw up. Just get back up on the damn horse...

The binge thing is a hard thing - it's my main reason for being here. For me, it always went hand in hand with the All or None thing - either I was being incredibly disciplined about controlling my eating, or else I'd commit some trivial sin - eat a stick of a Kit Kat bar or something - and the next thing you know, I'd be slamming down whatever I could find, since "I'd already broken my diet anyway". As Jack says, the band is a tool to help us relearn how to eat right. The fact is, I've had my abdomen cut open and my plumbing altered. I can't let myself mess up - that was a BIG deal. So I find myself looking at what I'm eating, and asking myself if it was OK. I've had some higher calorie days, but what has worried me more were the higher volume days - I had two beef short rib enchiladas the other evening. The calorie count was, I think, 460, but they seemd large, and I felt overfull and worried that I'd stretched my pouch. And then the next day I felt hungry, which is why I'm back on liquids too. The thing is, it's hard. It's a hard process, and, for me, a very long one. We have no choice but to keep on going. And temptation isn't going to stop me, even if I yield to it. That was one day, every day is a battle, but the war will take years, and I'm NOT going to lose that.

CHRISTINE! You are the Jason Bourne of the March Bandsters! I'm glad you and the kids (and the new minivan!) are OK! The whole afternoon sounds like a nightmare. I told Fielding they should open up a freestanding institute, so there'd be more people to look after everyone; I imagine it's a question of time before they do something like that, because I think banding is going to continue to explode, particularly when more of the diabetes studies come out.

Lisa! Ten fries and a little bit of patty? Big whoop. Seriously. A couple hundred calories? 300? That's nothing. And those are soft foods, so they didn't stress your band or anything. I think the big risk here - and I'm projecting now - is that you say "Oh, well, that's IT! I blew it! Oh, well, might as well go down and finish off those fries and eat the rest of that burger!" Because it's not like that, not like that AT ALL! You had a little calorie bump, took in more than you were intending. Tomorrow you can walk a little bit more to make up for it. Just don't use this as your excuse to fall apart. It sucks that they bring that crap in there, but you're going to have to stay strong with it. If you really wanted to stir things up, the next time she's down there chowing down on the McD's, go downstairs and say "Doesn't doing that disgust you? I mean, eating that crap, ruining your body and your health? It's just DISGUSTING!" I'd wager she'd be more likely to start eating her meals in the restaurants or in the car...

Well, I clearly need to get me one o' them Supportive Husbands! Thanks, Amanda, that was kind of along the lines of what I was thinking of doing. The liquids-for-a-while thing, not the "hot stone massage" - Jeez, I'm a dude! I'm not getting a "massage" unless I know there'll be a Happy Ending! I jest. Well, not about the liquids. But the liquid thing will be limited, for tomorrow night I'm taking two friends out to dinner, where I have every intention of having a slab of New York Strip with Bordelaise Sauce and Beer-battered Onion Rings and Bone Marrow and Mustard Custard! Which means, since I shall only eat half of my steak, that I shall have steak for the next two days... Oh, wait - that's not until Friday. OK! Liquids for two days, then mushies for two! It's ON!!!

Thanks, guys. LTD, that bodybugg chart is pretty slick - both the chart itself and your results! That's great! And Mike, good to hear that you're losing even without solid restriction. Today, I've been feeling a bit peckish; I think part of it might be that I've had slightly larger volume meals recently, and am wondering whether my stomach has stretched out a bit after all the weeks on liquids or mushy food. I'm going to try slipping back into liquids tomorrow for a day or two, see if that effects my hunger. Either way, things are going well. Since I started my pre-op liquid diet on the 21st of February, I weighed 48 more pounds than I do today. I'm down 10% of my body weight!

Congrats to all the major achievers around here! And WOW, Kerri - you look great! And WOW Ajoneen - your husband sounds like a keeper! I've been feeling a bit of hunger lately. I think I'm going to slide back into liquids for a little while, see if I can shrink the stomach again and ease up on the hunger pains. If not, I guess I'm due for a band adjustment...

Gastric bypass is a problem for all the reasons Jack mentioned. The mortality is significant, particularly in the very obese, and, while weight loss is faster, there is some question as to whether or not it's any better than with lap banding - which has all the advantages Jack mentioned.

Angelic: on this whole journey-type situation, we achieve several different types of success. Most of us focus on the weight we lose - the number of pounds we see that we've lost when we climb onto the scale. This would be a Scale Victory. But it's important to keep your eyes and ears open for things which don't relate to the number on that scale - someone saying, "Hey, have you lost weight?", or being able to tighten that belt one more notch, or noticing that you've slipped into that cinema seat a lot more comfortably than before, or that the (Gawd help me) bra that was too small now fits perfectly, or that you have so much energy that a walk that usually takes you over a half an hour now just takes 25 minutes. These are Non-Scale Victories - NSVs. Now, I don't know if I made it up, but it seems to me that, if you can have an NSV, you can also have an SV. So, there it is...

Harley, have you been celebrating your scale Victory (SV) with a beanfest? Filled up on Coke and refritos? It seems odd that you should be so badly afflicted so far out from surgery. My Number 1 suspicion is that you have done something wrong, and God has decided to smite you with gas. But I could be mistaken.

Christine, thanks. But I have all the toys I need!

OK, Teri - you're on! Let's see if we can both do it... Debbie, your grandmother's death must have been a huge trigger for bad eating habits - you've done a great job resisting. Generally, I don't think they do fills for a good four to six weeks, to give the surgical site time to settle down, and let all the swelling stop. Just hang in there with your liquid intake - that needle'll budge soon.

I have a new goal - I can't tell yet how ambitious it is, if it's do-able or not, but I want to lose 25 pounds by the beginning of June.

You did the right thing, Lisa - but you know that! And Harley? There's none so blind as they who will not see! It wasn't "chocolate-covered earthworms", it was "ground pig's liver and hearts with chocolate wafers".

One cool thing: my 48lb weight loss is 10% of my original body mass! I should by myself something cool!

I think we're all agreed that Lisa's sister is an earthbound incarnation of Evil for wanting to barbecue while she's on liquids, but refusing to allow them to go ahead with their plan - particularly if they're paying rent - might be a bit difficult. Maybe it's because I'm British and avoid confrontation wherever possible, but I'd probably let them barbecue, and go to the movies and then sit by a river and drink my Protein shake and cry, then go home really late and throw all their leftovers in the garbage. But that's just me!!! Welcome aboard SweetPea 2 - and thanks for sharing your diet. One of the things we've noticed here is how different everybody's doctor-recommended food plan is! And CONGRATS to you SV types (I'm assuming that if there's an NSV, there's also an SV)! I myself had one today too - weighed myself without my heavy Endless Winter clothes, and found that my total loss is now 48 lbs! (That's since starting this process; 21 since surgery.) And Ajoneen, have fun at your Hindoo ceremony! Don't ask "WHERE'S THE BEEF??", because that would be the Wrong Question to ask at a Hindoo Ceremony of Love...

Oh, and I'd include Dr. Ren under that, too. Another important factor is that they're active in doing research, which means they're familiar with the current medical literature in their field. So, all in all, going through NYU might not be the most PLEASANT experience, but medically I think they're pretty much untouchable. PS I had Empire BC/BS, too. They paid for everything except $250.

Dr. Fielding's a good guy. I have a medical background, and chose Dr. Fielding for a couple of reasons: first off, he has a band himself, which I think is invaluable. Secondly, and most important to me, was that I believe he's probably the most experienced surgeon in the country when it comes to lap banding. My experience of the surgery, the hospital stay at NYU had a few bumps, I have to say: it is, at some level, a factory. But I'm happy to put up with occasionally less than charming phone personnel and crowded waiting rooms and delays for appointments if that's the price of being operated on someone with vast experience. I can put up with discomfort and inconvenience, but when they're cutting you up, you want the best.