Kime-lou

Great job- don't hurt your self. I hit the elliptical to hard the other night and pulled a calf muscle- sucks.

I have had a horrid cold after being banded. The coughing for me caused swelling around my band and I had difficulty eating for a few days - did a liquid and mushy diet. When you have a bad fit it does feel a little owey around the port, but that is normal due to the muscle being disturbed. If it gets to bad call the doctor.

General rule of thumb- bubbles bad. I doubt you did any major damage to your band in one night, I just would not recommend making this a habit. Not only does beer contain carbonation it also has a lot of calories. The hard stuff without the bubbles takes less to give you a buzz so you don't get the carbonation and you take in less calories. Like someone said above wine can be enjoyed. New Year's Eve I had a glass of wine while my friends toasted with champagn. I figured out that it takes far less to give me a buzz now than it did when I was 50 lbs heavier.

My first was to be able to buy non plus size clothes - check that one- I wear a regular 16 or a plus size 14. Big goal get into a regular size 10!! Get to my goal and get a boob job- the girls have been down way to long. To be able to wear shorts and short sleeves with out feeling self consious. Hopefuly this summer!! For my BMI to no longer be in the obese range!

It's hard during the holidays when we are tempted with lots of tasty treats not to fall back into our old ways. However, the easy at which we slip lets us know how strong or weak we are. I was weak Christmas day. Now I know I must take precaution in the future during that day. I gained a bit during the holiday, but so what, I am back on track and taking it off again so all is good. The holiday isn't evil, the bad habits that are hard to break are.

There are some people on this site who don't workout due to health issues preventing it. However, just moving more can and will help- ie- parking further from the store, walking more, dancing- only you can determine what you can handle. I feel like for me to be successful I need the exercise so I choose to do it. Do I really like it, no, do I need it, yes. This is me, I need to exercise. Like you I do not feel like I can keep up a major workout routine so I don't do anything majorly intense. I do my elliptical for 30 min a few times a week and my total gym a few times a week. Talk to you doctor and nutritionist and get their advice and make a decision that fits you and your lifestyle.

You do look great, but only you and your doctor can determine your "happy" spot. I don't think you can exercise to much unless you are hurting yourself. With working out remember that muscle weighs more than fat so as you work out more, even doing cardio, your muscles are strengthening so you could gain weight, but loose fat which is a good thing. In this case if you want to weight less you may want to work out a little less. Look up your BMR (google the calculator) and see how many calories your body would need at rest to survive. Then look at how many calories extra you are burning a day with your exercise - to maintain your current weight that is how many calories you must take in. To loose you would need to take in less. It's all a mathmatical equation, don't give up, do some research and play with it a bit and you will be fine.

Cheryl is right, many times when we have these issues we are eating to fast and or taking to big of a bite. What my mom told me was eating isn't a race so slow down and enjoy it. My mom had to do this because of some GI issues. So take small bites, chew well, put your fork down between bites and see how that works. If you still find you are having issues getting food down call your doctor.

When I first started thinking about being banded I talked to a co-worker who had lost 60 + lbs and gotten to a size 10 after being banded. She was really encouraging and told me if I did it she would be there to help me along. Well after being banded she turned on me- she was always telling me I was doing it wrong and not being helpful at all. I stopped discussing the band with her to prevent any bad feelings after all I have to work with this woman. Since my surgery it's like it pushed her to get back on the wagon and she has lost an additional 20 lbs and is rubbing it in my face. Rude a little? Now she has begun telling me things like- you can eat reg food after getting a fill, it won't hurt you- your doctor is to restrictive you don't need to drink all that water it's not good for you you are getting fills to often I do not ask for advice, but I get it anyway. Frankly I just ignore her advice because we didn't have the same surgeon and I trust and like my surgeon and prefer to listen to him not her. Her bad advice is just bugging me. Yes, she has had great success and done very well, looks great. I don't know if she is following the same things she is telling me or if she is trying to sabatoge me. I refuse to listen to her, but now she is giving advice to someone else who is considering the band, which upsets me because this person doesn't know anything about it. I want to step up and say something, but that person hasn't come to me to ask for advice so I feel like it would be butting in and could possibly cause some tention in the work place. My weight loss has been painfully slow, but it will keep coming down. I am happy that I was banded and have finally excepted that my body will drop the weight on it's on time table. I gained a little over Christmas, but feel confident that I will take it off. It's just hard to come to work and have someone rub their loss in your face and tell you that you are doing it wrong when I am doing what my doctor say do. What's a girl to do?

Over the holidays I learned a lot about myself. One, I can easily fall back in to my old habits. I must stick to MY way of doing things for ME to be succesful. I did very well with things until Christmas day. At my mom's house we had a lot of food and when I say a lot I think we could have feed an army. The breakfast food was left out all morning and I found my self grazing on some of my favs - I had to pull myself away to stop. Lunch was then put out- I did fine eating lunch, but then I ate 2 desserts. By this time I felt like crap and knew I had to stop. I didn't eat for the remainder of that day. Throught out the remainder of my time off we went out with friends several times and I did my best to stick to the healthiest of dishes, but some of those still aren't great. I didn't keep up with my water consumption like I should have and that has had effects. So today I am back at work and back to my normal routine and trying to think back over the last two weeks and learn from mistakes and problems that I had. My weight is up 4 lbs ( however I have not pottied much at all in 5 days). I do not consider this a failure- some times you must slip in order to learn and better prepare yourself for the future. Some of you may read that and think oh your just kidding yourself, but you have to travel this road your way and me mine. That 4 lbs along with other are going to come off, why because I am back on my routine. I will be back on my work out schedule, which my hubby and I do together so it makes it easier. I am back to cooking myself which will help keep me away for resturant pit falls. I refuse to beat myself up over the things I did over my vacation, but I do want to look at them and make plans to avoid some of those pit falls in the future. To those of you who held strong and managed to lose over the holidays I commend and you and if you did this with ease I further commend you, but I know I am not you and I will fall over road blocks from time to time. And when I do fall, I will get up, dust myself off and start going again. You only fail when you quit trying!

Christmas day for us was the FOOD day!! My mom fixed an AWESOME breakfast and then lunch. I ate way more for the day than I should have. However, it was Christmas and the foods I ate we only fix ONCE a year so I don't feel so bad about it. Back to the game now - eat less move more!!!

You look amazing and your little girl is so very adorable!

So everyone seems to be going nuts over the ending of the Mayan Calender, so it got me thinkin- what is going to be my last meal? Tonight I am planning on having yummy chicken and asian veggie stir-fry with brown rice (just a little). My husband actually likes this dish even though he isn't a veggie fan. It is under 200 calories, very filling, and very yummy!! So what will your last meal be?

A nutritionist could better answer this question. My two cents worth is..... a balance diet is always best. If you are picky and fruit is your fav then your biggest worries are getting in the Protein you need. You would have to find some way to fit that in, if it be protien shakes with fruit added, Beans, peanut butter- something to get the protein. Protein is the food your muscles need. Also, if you are not taking in a balanced diet it is very important to continue to daily regiment of vitiamins. There are some Vitamins that going with out for litterally just a few days can serioulsy effect your health. Good luck to you!

The gas pressure is normal. My gas x stips helps with that though. For the 1st week my doctor told me to just make sure I was getting enough water in- sip all day long- 2 oz ever 15 min - set a timer if I had to. The last thing you want is to get dehydrated- that will only cause you more pain and nausea- I went there and it was horrible. You will get to the place it is easier and then you can concentrate more on your protein shakes.

Christmas is almost here and most of us are in full swing party mode. I have been to 2 Christmas parties so far and was able to be good (one of them was easy because I hosted). When I started the lapband journey I choose to do myfitnesspal and track my calories. However, this time of year that is difficult when eating away from your tried and trues. Some successul banders (CarolinaGirl - I had to call you out because you are doing great) are rocking it with just measuring out their cup of food. So for the holiday season I am going to switch it up and go for the measure method. Christmas Eve I leave and head to my mom's in Southern VA to spend that day and the next with them. On Christmas day we will have around 50 family memeber at my moms and tons of food. We begin with Christmas breakfast with my parents, my hubs and me, my 2 brothers their wives and kids (which is 30 just in it self- one brother has 8 kids, nuts I know). My mom and I have gone over the menu and she has made sure there is band friendly foods. I will open my band with coffee, black no additives. I will have A scramble egg with A peice of bacon and one tiny slice of my mom's creamcheese breakfast cake (I will not feel guilty this is made once a year and it is awesome). The rest of the fam shows up for lunch - my mom's brother, sister, their spouses and kids and grandkids. This totals around 58 people (loud and crazy). Lunch will consist also of band friendly foods for me- my mom was nice. I will eat a little of my mom's yummy turkey casserole (turkey and green peas) and some pineapple from the fruit tray. No dessert for me, my mom again was nice and is making things I don't really like (cocanut cake - like eating finger nail- ugh). I figure sticking to my plan will be easy since I will have all the kids around to distract me- I love playing with them. Even my niece and newphews who are teen still like to sit around and talk to me. New Year's Eve with the friends - we will go late after dinner. I will have one glass of wine and that is it!! So this is my holiday band plan- what's yours?

Try not to get frustrated. You can show a gain in weight from Water retention, for bowel back up, if you consumed anything prior to weighting, clothing, ect. There are a lot of reasons the scale will show a gain when you really haven't gained. I know it's hard not to flip out because Lord knows I have a few times, but likely it's not a true gain. If you don't, it is always best to weight fist thing in the morning after going potty and in your birthday suit. I do this and chart my weight each day and mine can range several pounds from day to day depend on salt in take (water rention), if I have popped or not, if I have a cold, the time of the month, the moon (kidding here, but you get my drift.)

Wow- you are having a tough time right now. Hopefully things will get better soon for you and your family. Stress can also make you band tighter and crying due to the movement of the diaphram and band. Just try, try, try to at least get Water down to preven dehydration that is something you do not need right now. Some people say room temp water goes down best, but I was an odd ball cold water worked best for me with crystal light in it. Slim-fast Protein shakes are easy to carry with you and will provide a lot of nutrients as they are meant for Meal Replacement - the creamy chocolate taste so good makes you think it's bad for you. I hope you all mend soon and can get some much needed rest over the holidays.

The myoplex lite isn't bad, but my favorite right now is Slim-Fast Protein- I drink these every morning and they don't leave that odd after taste a lot of protein shakes do.

In society today people have become, well crazy. We ALL have crazy moment when we just seem to forget and make snap comments or judgement without thinking things through. What took place in CT is truly a tragedy that I don't think I will ever be able to comprehend. I had the same feelings when reading about and see reports about Columbine, Okalahoma City, 9-11, Virginia Tech - why do people hurt innocents. These are all horrible horrible things, but what about the small things. On a daily basis we (me and you) have the ability to hurt or help someone. In my job I can get easily frustrated with parents, kids, staff, and have to remind myself to be real. I should not take my frustration with one person out on someone else- they don't deserve it. This is also the situation with this site. This site was created with the hope of giving support to other who have been banded. There are some on this site who have done an amazing job with their band and really have it down, then there are some who are struggling or haven't done as well, but the one thing we have in common is the band. When I respond, write blogs, ect I try to only present what has happened to me on my journey. Each person on this site have influences that other do not- different doctor, emotional states, family situations, illnessess, ect there for the journey will not be the same for everyone. I tend to only get frustrated with those that try to tell people to go against doctors orders. If you choose a doctor and trust him/her then you should LISTEN to their medical advice!!!! If you doctor says you need vitamins, maybe there is something in your labs or history to cause the doctor to say that so take them no matter what anyone else says. If you doctor says eat xyz then do it. If you feel like you are getting unsound advice from the doctor seek out a second opinion from ANOTHER DOCTOR!!!! A bariactric specialist is the only one you should take MEDICAL advice from!! On this site we need to be here to tell our story, how we are doing, how we are making it on journey and what we have experienced. No, we do not need to sugar coat and validate bad behavior (eating food 2 days post op- I doubt this is allowed by any Doctor). What we should be doing is being a helpful encourager to stick to the program. We all are told to eat healthier (stop eating junk food every day and greasy fried foods), to move more (I didn't say be a gym rat, just move more), and to eat smaller portions ( I think most doctors recommend a cup). If you do not like a response some one has to a comment you posted either ignore it or RESPECTFULY state why you do not agree. The key is being respectful of each other, we can agree to disagree. I may not like what a person has to say, but that doesn't give me the right to bash them. If I expect respect, then I must give it. What a better world we would live in if people could just respect!!