Fenton

You're losing a pound a day! That's EXTREMELY fast! You'll soon slow down to losing a couple of pounds a week or so...

Your sister is wholly out of line. It's really unfair - and possibly reflects an unconscious desire to sabotage you - that, in your own house, she is insisting on tantalizing you. You have two choices: 1. Confront her and ask that she not have a barbecue for at least a month, at which point you might be able to have some grilled food. 2. Pack up your Protein shakes and yogurt smoothy and leave home for the day. Neither of these is ideal, but she's already created the situation, and it's up to you to decide which of those options would be less psychically painful. You could also ask her why, exactly, when she's living in YOUR home, when you're on a critical ALL-LIQUID DIET which is VITAL FOR SAVING YOUR HEALTH she would choose to come in and deliberately set up a barbecue meal, knowing how much you love that. That's just f'd up. Really, if that's the sort of thoughtlessness you can expect from her, perhaps you should consider urging them to find some other place to live, somewhere where they'll be able to barbecue to their hearts' content.

No, mylah, it just means you're able to burp and drink pop! At the moment, you don't have much in the way of restriction - your band is probably empty, so it's not squeezing your stomach, so you can burp and drink pop at will. However, everyone says you should try to avoid pop because it'll stretch your stomach, and then you'll be able to eat more food without feeling full. When you get your first fill, Water will be injected into the band to tighten it. You'll still be able to burp, but it'll be harder to eat a large amount of food. How is your weight going?

Actually, the day after posting that - two days after weighing myself and being consternated that the scale hadn't budged - I weighed myself again and was down three pounds. I think the lesson is not to always be hopping on and off the scales, and not to freak out when you don't hit the numbers you expect. I've had a bunch of NSVs - my shirt size has gone down, I had to throw away a sweatervest that was recently snug because I was swimming in it, and I'm down three belt notches. But the scale is nice, because numbers feel precise and absolute.

JDub! Snap out of it! I'm not sure if I'm following you, but if your calorie excess is 300 - 500 calories a day, you'll be putting on a pound a week at the most. The bump in your weight has to do with salt and Water and probably some kind of female hormone thing that I can't even bring myself to consider. But ARE you really taking in 900 or fewer cals a day? I agree that those mashed potatoes could be a problem - besides, aren't you sick of them yet? Why not try picking up some Lean Cuisine or similar dinners and pureeing them? Why not try some Protein shakes with a little yogurt and banana? There are some items for recipes in the mushy stage elsewhere on the board. But really: watch your intake like a hawk, keep your water intake up, and keep on walking. The exercise will really help you through this part, and make you feel good. Are you keeping a food journal?

Christine! You're hardly the only person here who's eaten in secret! I used to drop my girlfriend home early after a nice dinner out so that I could stop by the store and buy Twixes and ice cream to scarf down. And one of the cleanest signs of real alcoholism is the habit of drinking by yourself in secret, and hiding bottles. So don't hold back: NO SHAME! You're among equals. We're all of us in the same boat - you, me, any number of the women in here. And we're all going down together! Well, uh, that's not EXACTLY what I meant to say, but you know what I mean: NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND! Keep posting, and we'll keep checking in on you. It might be an idea for you to start a food journal, if you're not doing it already. Really track your intake, so it doesn't start to sneak away from you. And be brutally honest. Perhaps watching yourself write down "1 pint of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia, 1400 calories, 30 g Protein, 8,000 g fat" will help underline what we do to ourselves when we "cheat".

I'm going to get mine on my lower arms, mostly because the skin of the lower arm will change less than the skin of the upper arm with marked weight loss. Also, whimsy - when you take your Thai Holiday Reward for reaching goal, you might discover that tattoos are still seen as declassé by some Thais. Although I do love Angelina's Thai - or, actually, Cambodian, I think - tattoos on her back.

I was wondering about just that problem. I'mhaving a lazy day today, and was thinking I might sit down in front of the TV. But traditionally, I've snacked in front of the TV, to the extent that it would feel odd not to have a little something while there. Like the experience wouldn't be complete without a bowl of Cereal or a chocolate bar or something. But I'm not hungry, and I don't want to eat. Is there anything people recommend when they feel the urge to eat idly? I guess it'd be out of boredom, kind of, or just out of habit.

Christine! Speak to us! Tell us how you're doing! I'm imagining you sitting under a tree, gazing off wistfully over the ocean towards the horizon, twisting your damp lace handkerchief distractedly...

Also, Christine: yeah, it would be a good idea to get rid of that leftover Easter chocolate. Opportunity is the first part of temptation.

Cathy! How disastrous! I hope you feel better soon.

OK, let's all line-up and give Christine an ass-kicking! Not really. But sort of. When I met the doctor prior to banding, we discussed ways people cheat the band. I told him how much I love chocolate and ice cream, and he told me that the major way people cheat the band is with chocolate and ice cream, both of which can slip past the restriction. I have two responses to Christine's situation: 1. Please don't allow a slip-up to become an excuse for just giving in. Your slip-up lasted a few minutes - it doesn't mean the day is shot, and that you might as well just go nuts. It doesn't mean the week is shot, heck it doesn't even mean that the HOUR is shot. You slipped up, notice it and move on. It was a choice, and even if you ultimately felt overpowered by your choice, it was still a choice, and next time you can choose to go in a different direction - and you know that. 2. I love ice cream and chocolate intensely - I have an ice cream maker, I make great ice cream, I love every form of ice cream treat and dessert, I've taken many classes in chocolate, and traveled the world looking for the best. Being banded doesn't mean that my love for chocolate and ice cream is finished. Nothing is FORBIDDEN, it's just a question of managing that desire. I don't believe that two pieces of chocolate taste better than one, or that finishing a pint of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia brings more satisfaction than eating three tablespoonsful. But you know that. The question is, how are you going to stop yourself from doing that again? If you post in here, people like me will give "helpful" feedback, and express concern, and this will, at some level, be stressful, and make you want to hide away and munch in secret even more. And that's your choice. But you don't have to make that choice, and you're capable of making the other, better one. If you haven't seen it already, I think it would be worth looking at the CAMP site that (Harley, was it?) posted: CAMP Basics The site offers several simple techniques to retrain your eating habits, and is really great, I think. At the end of the day, though, this comes down to you sitting there in front of the chocolate or the ice cream, up on the ledge, getting ready to jump. And if you keep jumping, you're going to have to ask yourself, "Why do I want to be fat?"

HEY AMANDA!!!! HOW'S THAT 'QUALITY OF LIFE' TODAY???? SORRY, AM I TALKING TOO LOUD FOR YOU??? Lise - your blog is FANTASTIC! I'm going to refer anyone who asks about the band to it. Upbeat, very active, lots to look at and think about. And CONGRATS on the weight loss! Angelic1, hang in there! Everything'll get sorted out; just be patient for a little longer!

I think brushing your teeth a lot and keeping hydrated are really important. I only had that problem in the early days after banding, when my food and Water intake were really low... You could chew gum, and I also had the occasional Lemon and Pomegranate Icebreaker, which helped.

The other day, I actually made a list of what my minigoals would be - basically: getting under 400 lbs, losing over 100 pounds, minigoals of 25 pound intervals, getting under 300 lbs, losing over 200 lbs, and so on down to my goal. Since I have a longer trek than you guys, I get more rewards! I made two columns of reward: one of the columns are physical things - I've been meaning to get more tattoos, so when I hit certain weights, I'll get those. When I hit goal, I'll have a suit made, hand-tailored, and half a dozen shirts. And every year I stay at goal, I'll have another one made. The other column is kind of tragic - it's a social column. It's about seeing people I haven't seen for a long time because I didn't want to see how they'd react to all the weight I'd put on. It's obviously much more about my own insecurities and whatnot than it is about their reactions - they'd love me either way, but I just didn't want to have them see me as I've become. I imagine some of you may recognize the emotion. SO, different weights before making plans to see old friends, old girlfriends, etc.

roster - this isn't a blog, but a message board. Conversations are divided up into forums, which cover major topics, and then subdivided into threads, which are the individual conversations. When you join a board, find the forum that's relevant for you, and take a look through the list of different threads to see which might contain what you're looking for. In this thread, we're talking about how we're going to reward ourselves when we reach minigoals. You might want to have a look at the March Master Thread, where many of us have been sharing our early experiences with being banded. There's plenty of discussions about how to get the Protein we need. FWIW, I think the breath thing might relate to ketosis, the state the body goes into when it's burning fat. It's one of the classic experiences when you're doing Atkins. It also might relate to not drinking enough. Have a look at the different threads available in the March Bandsters forum, see if there's one which more directly addresses your questions. Everyone'll be glad to help you...

First of all, Harley - save me some of that ricotta with pureed meatball! I'm on my way!!! Second of all, Michelle: YES! I burped in a meeting the other day, and it didn't occur to me to excuse myself! I was, like, yeah, bitches, that's who I AM!!! Also, MDs have all sorts of different opinions about what the pacing for the changeover should be. My guy has us do two weeks full liquids, two weeks pureed foods and then first fill and on to solid foods. The guys who've been banded at Columbia in NYC (a superb hospital) say that they try mushies the day after surgery; if they don't bring it back up, they go out on mushies, otherwise, I think they have three or four days of liquids before trying mushies again. So YMDMV...

Haha! Dr. Ren is indeed very slender and willowy! I still don't know whether to go ahead with a fill. Obviously, I'm not going to have to decide until the 14th, when I see the doc, but still. I'm losing, controlling my intake, etc etc. This afternoon I had a disaster! But wrapped inside was a triumph... A co-worker bakes the most incredible Cookies, and she takes great pains to give them to me. So I ended up with a medium-sized cranberry-pecan-white chocolate cookie, and a medium-sized chocolate chip cookie. I ate the cranberry cookie, then looked at the chocolate chip cookie; I was on a roll, and I went for it. But after a couple of bites, I thought, "WTF am I *doing* here?", and threw the cookie into the trash. And while I'm ashamed I went for the second cookie, I'm proud I came to my senses and threw it out. Particularly because I told the baker, with all honesty, that I think her chocolate chip cookies are the best I've ever had. And, Good Lord! How did I reach this tragic state wherein throwing away a baked good constitutes a major victory?!?!!!

So, last night, I had some NSVs: my sweater vest (still sounds like a weird term to English ears) has become way too big, and I put on an old one that is one size smaller. And THAT is a bit too big, too! Plus I'm now down three notches on my belt. And, FINALLY, an SV: I climbed on the scales this morning to find that I'm down three pounds since two days ago. BEHOLD MY AWESOME NEW TICKER STATUS!!!!

It actually was quite tasty, although it was the sort of dish where you felt like the chef was thinking, "Hey! THIS ought to get their attention!" Amazingly, while most of the dishes that were passed around by servers disappeared quickly, throughout the night there were plenty pork liver and heart terrine on chocolate wafers available...

I don't drink, but a number of the chefs presented cocktails. And even if I had drunk, there was such a scrum around the bar I'd not have dared approach.

I'd say it's more "lucky" than "normal", mylah! Welcome aboard! I'm liking this idea of the cocktail fork. A friend of mine is a jeweller, and makes beautiful things; I think I shall ask him to make me a special Dieting Fork.

I'm sorry, it's true - who CAN resist ground pigs' hearts and livers? Particularly with chocolate...

Oh, there was one funny dish: "Terrine of Pork Liver and Heart on Chocolate Wafers"!

I had a night of spectacular sinning tonight at a food world event. Luckily, most of the stations were serving really small dishes, so I tried everything but didn't have a huge caloric intake. INdeed, I think my date was disappointed that we didn't do a bit more marauding. I have to say that my tastebuds, so accustomed to a diet of scrambled eggs and adulterated Slimfast shakes, were kind of stunned to rediscover things like "Crayfish a l'Americaine with Watercress Gnocchi, Cockscomb and chicken Wing en Brochette" and "Poached Surf Clam Marinated in Sweet Miso and Mustard Vinegar, with Fresh Ginger Shoots, Sesame and Yuzu Zest". On the plus side, while I scooped up four little gift boxes of almonds coated in chocolate and then coated in gold, but gave three of them to my date for her kids. I did enjoy my five or six almonds, though!