jen_1381

That's kind of what I'm doing Missy. I know there needs to be a large difference between low and high carb days. I need to work on widening that difference. But, being on day 2, I'm kind of winging it too! I'm following the guidelines set by Chris, but have some work to do.

Okay Carb Cyclers! I'm on day two, my low carb day. I felt like a kid in a candy store yesterday being able to eat so much. I will admit I got into a very bad habit of not eating until about 1 or 2 in the afternoon, then splitting a salad between lunch and dinner. I lost a few pounds and was feeling pretty good, but started feeling like I was starving myself. I thought the carb cycling would be the best way to "re-introduce" food again. So my question is, how many carbs are you allowing on a high and low day? I'm following the meal plans laid out in Chris Powells book but today, on a low carb day, I'm already at 69 grams of carbs between Breakfast and snack! That was - 1 cup of Kashi vanilla Cereal with almond milk, then for snack a small banana and tablespoon of Peanut Butter. Yesterday, on a high carb day, I had 160 grams. Are we counting grams of carbs, or full carbs? Since there is 15 grams of carbs in a full carb, what should a decent goal be? I'm so confused!!

I'm almost finished with the book and have my menu set for the next week. I'm not going to do the "cheat day" because I think that will be a slippery slope for me. I hope I'm as successful as you, Missy! Thanks for sharing your info with us all.

I read some of the sample menu meals and they included almond milk. Whew, I LOVE almond milk!

Don't give up! I was denied by UHC two days before my surgery. My surgeon had to have a 1:1 conference with the approval department head. They overturned the denial the day before my surgery. It could be the fault of some tiny paperwork mistake. Mine was bc my surgeon put "hypertension" instead of "uncontrolled hypertension". It's very stressful, that I understand, but persevere and remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease!

Isn't that a great feeling?! I used to use the "beach" towels because they were the only things that wrapped around and stayed. I've graduated down to the regular towels and even then wrap nicely! It's the little things, like seeing your collarbone and being able to walk between two parked cars and not be afraid of hitting one, that make it so worth it!

I just got it off Amazon too, directly to my Kindle. Very excited! Some good reading material for the weekend.

Okay curiosity got the best of me...I'm about 10 lbs less than my drivers license!! How encouraging. I always have them bump the number up when I renew. This year I will make SURE they move it down!!

Thank you so much for sharing Missy! I think I'm going to try this. Does Chris give sample menus or lists of high carb/low carb foods? I'm so, so bad at counting carbs. I always counted calories.

Congrats! It's still very strange to me that my shirts that are size XL just hang off me. I never thought I would see a "L" again. It's a great feeling!

Good luck! I've never been a smoker, so don't know how tough it is to quit, but if you're feeling discouraged just Google "benefits of quitting smoking". That will give you a boost towards living a healthy lifestyle

Could you be sleeping too much? Also, are you exercising? Maybe your quality of sleep isn't great so your body is constantly craving sleep/rest. I notice when I'm really stressed I'm extremely exhausted, but if I practically force myself to get up and move around, I can break the pattern. If I slept well the night before and feel sleepy when I get home from work, I will go for a walk. The fresh air wakes me up enough to make it til bedtime.

I would run it past your doc. They may want to repeat your bloodwork to make sure that your thyroid isn't out of whack. I take 50 mcg of Levothyroxine and have my thyroid checked every 3-6 months to make sure it stays in line as I lose weight.

I chose the band for a few reasons. First being that my goal was to lose 70 lbs. I didn't feel I needed to go as durastic as bypass or sleeve; I wanted to keep my organs intact. Second, I needed to take the least amount of time off work. I had the band placed and hernia repair on Friday, was back to work Monday. I also am a control freak; I felt like with the band, I still had control over my weight loss. I know with bypass and sleeve, it still comes down to what you put in your mouth, but with the absorption issues and dumping syndrome that can come along with the more major surgeries, I felt that it would be partly out of my control. My insurance covered all three procedures but I decided on the band from Day 1 and stuck with it. My surgeon loved the sleeve but he also agreed that for my goals, activity level, and determination, I could be very successful with the band. Here I am, almost 6 months out, and I'm down over 55 lbs with only 15 more lbs to go until I hit my goal. You can be successful with any WLS surgery, or you can fail at it. It all comes down to making the proper lifestyle changes and choices. Do what surgery feels most comfortable for you. They all have their risks and side effects.

The past couple days have been super, intensly stressful. I usually do pretty good at managing my stress but it's been overwhelming (as in, sister starting to go through a horrible divorce, mom wanting to marry a man she met 8 weeks ago...stress). I haven't been hungry at all since my sister broke her news to me. I've only been eating usually once a day, but have noticed that no matter how little of bites I take or much I chew, I'm getting stuck. Yesterday I took it really easy and managed to get down about 1 cup of potatoe Soup for lunch without getting stuck, but that was it for the day. Today, four bites into a salad I got stuck. Tried about 3 hours later to have a couple more bites, and on the 2nd bite I got stuck again. Not - I have to PB stuck - but that intense indigesiton, make your mouth Water stuck. I've been careful to stay hydrated and feel okay, but food just isn't my friend. Have y'all noticed that when you're feeling stress your band is tighter? A little background - band placed May 18th, 6.5 cc's brought me to what felt like the Green Zone until this past week.

I'm going to wait it out, just take it easy for a few days. I'd hate to get an unfill, I'm at the perfect spot right now.

Loseordie - it really all depends on your insurance. I have United Healthcare, and my out-of-pocket portion was $2900 for the surgery and $125 for the surgeon. It took me six weeks between seminar and surgery, and the WLS surgery coordinator said it was one of the fastest she's ever seen. The process takes time for a reason though - - besides insurance, I felt like it was vital for me to see the nutritionist, take the classes, see the psychologist, etc before surgery. Good luck to you!!

If you'd like the play-by-play...I used to work in endoscopy. Basically, you'll check in at the hospital or surgery center. The nurse will start in IV that they use to give you medication through. When it's your turn, they'll take you into the endoscopy suite (or OR, depending on the size of your hospital). You'll have time to greet the gastroenterologist or surgeon and ask any questions before you get any medication. For an EGD, or upper endoscopy, they give you usually a combination of Versed and Phentanyl. Versed is to make you sleepy and not remember the experience, Phentanyl is for any pain you may have and to relax you. You are not sedated to the point of needing a breathing tube, but you are typically very sleepy and not at all bothered by the scope. As soon as you're comfortably sedated, they put the scope into your mouth, down your throat, down your esophagus, and into the stomach. If you resist the scope at all, they may put a bite block in your mouth so you don't bite the scope. If you have some mild jaw pain aftewards, it could be from the bite block (same ones dentists use). The scope is very flexible, and about as wide around as a pencil, if not a little smaller. The EGD itself typically takes less than 3-4 minutes. If they do any type of treatment during, like banding or botox injections (yes they can inject botox into your esophagus, it can deaden the area if you have a stricture) the procedure may be longer. It takes more time for you to get sedated and wake up than the actual procedure. Aftewards you'll go back to your room or area, wake up, and after usually 30-60 minutes drink some liquids, eat some crackers, and be on your merry way. Because you've had sedation, you cannot drive for 24 hours. Must not. You may feel great but your reaction time is altered. You'll need a driver to take you home, and most times they'll want someone to be with you or immediately available to you in case anything comes up. Hope that helps!

Second, third, fourth...if you weren't questioning it just a little bit, I'd be concerned! I almost bailed the day before surgery. It's a lifestyle change, and change is scary. But let me tell you, the reward is so, so completely worth it! I'm down over 55 lbs and feel fantastic (about 6 months post-op). I also had a hiatial hernia repair, and that alone helped with my acid reflux issue I was having. My surgery was life-changing but in a very good way. If you're having serious doubts, just make a list of the pros and cons. Sometimes seeing it all laid out helps.

I believe when they say "lap band over gastric" they are referring to placing the band in someone who has already had gastric bypass (I believe Carnie Wilson had this done). If the gastric bypass wasn't successful or as successful as they would have liked, they place the lap band in addition to gastric bypass. Have you had gastric bypass? Or by gastric did you mean stomach?

I got a mixer set from Walmart. It came with the hand mixer and another mixer that attached to a bowl. A blender would work, might be kind of hard. I used the hand mixer mainly.