2012

You have ways to go? What are you talking about, need to lose some weight on a foot or something ? You look awesome, great job!

Hi everyone, hope all is well! I'm pretty happy with progress, down 76 lbs, but it is sure coming to a hault, very slow now, but I didn't expect this to keep up for this long anyway. I keep getting tiny fills close to a monthly schedule, how are you guys going about this, do you get larger fills? My first 2 year fills were covered in my total surgery payment, so I have flexibility with going so often, but I would probably do larger fills if I was paying each time.

Awesome job! I would absolutely love to get there, but not sure if my body will let me

Dip it in sauce, I had it for lunch the last 2 days cut in cubes, it was pretty moist on it's own, but I dipped it in sugar free BBQ.

Checking in at 185

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as you lose weight, don't you lose some of the fat that the band is wrapped around and this can also decrease restriction? Especially since you have not had a fill since September, I would think this could be a possibility, I thought I read or saw this somewhere.

I really like this stuff, Italian is my favorite. I have not made a pizza with it, but I bet it would be good, I just use it for sandwiches or just eat it alone. Missy, look in the deli area for it. Kroger has it and I believe Wal-Mart started finally carrying it.

You are welcome. Sugar Alcohols will only show up in sugar free items, when they add sorbitol or another form of it. You can pull up the nutrition labels at the Atkins website to see an example to make it more clear. I was pretty happy when my nutritionist told me this and I trust her because she teaches other RDs at the University of Cincinnati and also had the lapband and kept her weight off for years, her picture is outside of the doctor's office door, she lost a huge amount of weight.

I've been taking biotin for years since my mom gave me a tip to take it after she had bypass done and I did not get bumps from this. And I'm not sure if the protein shakes are doing it because I actually just started getting some bumps on my face, which are not red, don't hurt, or anything and are just raised bumps that I can only feel, but I have been doing a protein shake everyday to help keep up my protein numbers and this may be it, but I also got a clarisonic, so I'm not sure if that did it . I'm probably not helping much.

I hope you like them! I just ordered some tonight from Vitamin Shoppe. I had also found this protein bar recipe on youtube that you guys may be interested in, I have not tried it yet, but the carbs are only 16.9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Qby2ZfwA4. If you click on the show more, it breaks down the nut values.

I'm not sure Wendy, I know of Hungry Girl, but I don't watch her often, so she may have. I have found them sold individually at GNC, but once you find the ones you like, you can get boxes of them at Amazon and Vitamin Shoppe. On Amazon, they even have a mix box, personally I have not found a flavor I did not like. You can also put them in the microwave for a few seconds and they taste like a cookie from the oven . And I don't work for these people, just Googled the heck out of looking for a protein bar I could use, haha.

I only buy them on occasion because they are a little too good . If you are looking for a protein bar Questbars are really good and the numbers on them are really good, high fiber content. They are a little pricey, but I can never find bars with less than 25-30 carbs each.

Not sure if you have one around you, but I have heard really good things about this place: www.runningspot.com

What about using those silicone cupcake cups? This may help hold it in versus the regular paper cups.

Thank you, that plan works for me too. I stick to my numbers, but I still have things I like, just had pizza the other night, but was smart about it.

Yes, she has me subtract fiber and you can subtract sugar alcohols from the carbs to get your net carbs. Our bodies do not absorb sugar alcohols (hence people get diarrhea when they have too much, been there done that). Atkins does it the same way, they deduct fiber and sugar alcohols from the carbs, that's why the yummy bars they have such low net carbs.

Yes, especially since I was self pay and it's not cheap. But I realized, I am a champion at losing weight, I've done it a million times since I was a kid, my downfall, keeping it off. I'm hoping this time I'll learn my lesson and keep it off. Usually I tire of a diet pretty quickly (3 months or so) and go back to my old ways, but for some reason this lap band lifestyle is sticking and I've been doing it since July. I have confidence I can do it this time. Probably will have to be on LBT for the rest of my life , but the support really helps.

Here's another for your arsenal and has high protein: cottage cheese, 1 package ranch dressing powder mix, and water in a blender. I use 1 big container of cottage cheese, 1 pkt mix, and start with a 1/2 cup water and add until I reach the thickness I want.

Good, I was afraid you were going to say the opposite . I'm not doing this yet as my plateau finally broke after a month with a 5.5 loss (woohoo ), but my nutritionist has always used the net carb number which really helps when my max daily allowance is only 60 .

Happy Birthday!!

You are awesome! Any wise words for those of us still on our journeys? One thing I'm really interested in is eating, did you have to alter your "diet" to keep the pounds coming off, or did you pretty much stick with the same thing since the beginning when you started? (meaning protein goals, carb goals, and maybe calorie goals (some don't have to watch this))

How are people supplementing their fiber intake? I've been trying those Vitafusion fiber gummies and they only seem to give me gas and I got some Fiber One (original) last night to throw into my yogurt to get in 14 grams, but just wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions? In the past benefiber did not work too well for me, which is what the nutritionist recommends, and I wanted to look into other options. I saw something called Psyllum Husks (spelling is probably wrong) and not sure if that would be good supplement if anyone has any experience with this? Thanks

That's a good suggestion, I stopped taking Sustenex after surgery because I was fearful of the size of the pill and switched to pearls, which did good for about 6 months, but now not so much. What kind did you take CG?

Yummy, thank you and thank you especially for listing the nutritional values!!

Thank you everyone for the input. Line-dancer, have you ever tried a probiotic? They work pretty well for me but it seems like the one I'm taking is no longer effective, so I may try fiber choice or another probiotic. From what I read today, it seems like both Align and Cultruelle are supposed to be the better choices in helping in this area.