Daisalana

Just wanted to give you some encouragement about the no-cokes. My biggest problem was Mt. Dew (not diet!).. I drank 12 cans at least a day.... that's more than I needed in food calories wise.. but I digress.. I went to my meeting with the doctor to find out more about the process, and they said you can't drink carbonated drinks anymore. I didn't know if I could do it. So THAT DAY (which ended up being 1 month pre-op, didn't know at the time), I gave up cokes (sodas/etc) cold turkey. I had headaches.. but I did it. The first week was rough, combined with the fact I do not like Water.. But that was about 5 months ago, and I've not had one since. Even in the past when I dieted, I always allowed myself 1 mt. dew a day. So this is the longest I've ever gone without it. You can do it if I can! :tea:

I get jabbed 6-10 times lately because they have problems getting to the port.. the worst pain for me is them pushing down with their hand on the port.. and then 5 minutes after the needles, I get a bruised feeling like someone has punched me. I haven't felt any pain around the actual band part. When they fill me, I can feel a sensation around where I'm guessing the band is.. not painful, just like a gurgling. I hear some people have to go on liquid diets for a day or so after a fill, I guess to let the band relax? I don't have to do this and have no problems with the band part, so I'm not sure why they do that. You actually have pain around the band after fills??

I was honest, but I made sure I didn't seem crazy. They hinted at, would I kill myself if I didn't do well with the band.. and I wouldn't of course.. Wanted to know my reasons for wanting the band.. making sure they weren't superficial (CAUSE I WANNA WEAR A BIKINI GAH!) hehe. Being depressed/anxious about being overweight is typical and normal.. but they want to know you'd be committed to it, that you would not thing it's the end of your world if you didn't do well, that you understand what it can (and can not) do for you. Just don't write an article about how this is your last resort and you'll blow your brains out if you don't lose 100lbs in 6 months..or that you expect the band to do everything while you sit back and relax. Be realistic.. be honest! My doctor monitors how you feel after the band.. when I go in for check ups, he asks me about my depression/anxiety--if it's changed.. I said I didn't have any going in.. I really didn't, I just needed my back to stop hurting. Now I actually do have anxiety and depression from my expectations, but that's another story!!

If it is any reassurance, I have called about 10 local band doctors, and no one will take me to be filled.. I was banded in USA in Alabama, and these doctors are in Alabama.. but they all have a no-fill policy if they didn't band me. Has nothing to do with where I was banded, they just won't do it for liability in general. It's frustrating!! Good luck on your search :tea: I called 2 new doctors today and left voicemails hoping for some positive news.

That's the better way to have it I imagine! This past month I did not get to weigh myself, but measured myself the day before my doc appt to see if I lost inches.. according to my chart, I haven't lost an inch since June 6.. but when I went to the doctor, I lost 8lbs. I'd have rather lost inches! LOL

Anyone banded by Gregory Adams in Decatur and if so, have a contact for him? I was trying to look into him beginning of this year, the number was an 800 number for some company and told me he's no longer there.. But then a month or so ago someone somewhere mentioned he was going to band them.. so I'm confused. I can't find a contact to him that works, and I was interested in getting fills from him since he's 30m away. If anyone has info on him, please PM me.. thanks!!

I'm in the same boat, I don't feel like I'm restricted enough yet. I eat 1/2 of what I did pre-band, and my goal is 1/3. I'm even more frustrated because everytime I go to get a fill, they disappoint me. Like Monday, I was hoping to be filled, and somehow I ended up with .5cc LESS than before. GRRRR!!!! And, for being out this far, I am NOT where I had *hoped* to be. In the month of June I lost 1lb. But I am still happy with how far I've come. I just have to play the patient game (which anyone who knows me can attest, I do not do well). I have heard 'typically' its 3 fills to get a sweet spot, and then read some people take 5-8. I feel like I too am going to be one of the unlucky ones that will take a while. But I'm going to keep on chugging along.. I did lose 8lbs in July which was a surprise, I anticipated it being another 1lb. So 1st fill did nothing really (1lb loss), but the 2nd fill brought 8lb loss.. despite the fact I felt like it didn't help me, it clearly did.. and the month I lost 8lb was my honeymoon month, wedding food, wedding CAKE.. etc.. so I was pretty happy with that. Just keep on trucking! :tea:

I join you in frustration, I was becoming obsessed with my scale and getting so mad.. so I threw it away beginning of July. It ended up working out for me.. And maybe since you are working out, you're gaining muscle which weighs more than fat. Maybe you're losing inches, just not pounds?

You mentioned not even getting 1200 some days, which can cause your body to go into starvation mode and hold onto all the calories it can get. If you're having a bad plateau, maybe try making sure you get the 1200 :tea: Good luck and thanks for sharing your experience thus far!!

You can wear a girdle for the time being to keep things from rubbing on it. It is annoying, but it doesn't last for very long :tea: I wore stretchy pants and kept them below all of my incisions, and wore baggy shirts to hide my belly.

A happy shopper hopefully? :tea:

Chicken is a doozy sometimes. I don't like it anyway, so I rarely eat it.. but when I get things like mandarin chicken from chinese places, I almost always get the first bite stuck--which kills my mood for chinese and I don't finish my dinner. And their chicken is moist, so it didn't matter about being dry for me.

I used the cup at hand chicken noodle, and just heated it up, and used the hole on the far side (not the normal spout), and drank the liquid out of it. I did this with many campbell soup flavors.. strained the 'stuff' out of the soups and just drank the liquid. I tried broths originally, but they were not as satisfying as the flavors in campbell soups. That was my clear liquids, when I could have normal liquids I had tomato soup and more strained campbells soups, sometimes mixed with skim milk (I like creamy stuff).

This week I overate. I have done this one other time since surgery... And this time I didn't feel it coming. At night I can eat pretty much anything without restriction, so I had a small steak dinner from steak out.. 6oz sirloin, small salad, baked potato, and roll. I ate 75% of the potato without any dressings on it, all of the steak...and all of the salad. I need a fill! :tea: But I was laying in bed and all of a sudden, the food was regurgitating. Wasn't a typical PB, it's something I've done most of my life if I overeat, but I was confused that it was able to come up with the band. I threw up about 1 plastic cup worth of food (I had one next to the night stand from the other night). But during and afterward, I felt a hard knot where the band is, it felt like I had so much pressure on it, it was definitely not happy and I definitely over ate!! I wish I'd felt it while I was eating.. It lasted into the next day... It felt like I was cramping on my side, and then last night (2 days later), I couldn't sleep on my stomach, it still felt bruised.

Chili! And get a big bowl, pick at it, and act like it just filled you right up that you can't eat anything more. :clap2:

KM- after surgery, I think it was 2 weeks before I had a bowel movement.. and it was induced by Prune Juice!! I was so worried that nothing was going out, so I drank 1/2 bottle of prune juice and it solved it. They were still sporatic for a while. Liquid diets don't do a whole lot for making you have to go. As for fiber, I have the benefiber powder.. which I am so skeptical, I've used it in water and you don't taste or see it, but I keep thinking it'll make something taste nasty, so I rely on the tablets. They have fiber tablets (benefiber), I take 2 a day..they also say something about promoting weight loss or curbing cravings, whatever silly thing they're pushing right now. But the times I've used the powder, it is without incident, I just had a run in with some 'tasteless-textureless' protein powder.. which was a lie, and I keep thinking about that when I pour benefiber powder into something.

Congrats on that! That would be a great feeling to have.. ah I dream. :tea:

Ok, ok... maybe you're the queen of ebay lol. But I feel like I live on it!! I have 129 feedback, keeping in mind about 50 people that never gave me feedback. Does it annoy you when you buy on e-bay and their feedback comment on you is an ad for their store? That drives me nuts.. Today I did a nice thing. VERY NICE. For my b'day, we always go to vegas.. this year we went to tunica so I could dabble in some tournaments. Husband didn't get me anything for my b'day since we were goin on vacation.. not even a card, and I let him know how much that bothered me. In other news, he's been begging me to let him get an xbox 360. He's like a kid, he is wanting it so bad, but I know if we get it, it'll be a waste of 400ish dollars because he will play it for a week and it'll go in the collection of other game systems he never plays. But this begging has gone on since Christmas 06. His birthday is coming up (Aug 26), so I was looking online, and I did it.. I bought the stupid xbox!!!! I roll my eyes at myself for giving in, but hopefully this opens the door for him to get me something I like (and not what I 'need'---which is how he normally buys me presents) come my next Birthday. Now I just have to make sure he doesn't try to buy it in the next couple of weeks! I've had my foot down for months, so hopefully he doesn't.

NOOO *I* Am the queen of Ebay! LOL! I don't mind artificial sweeteners.. I grew up with sweet-n-low in my tea/coffee and didn't realize it wasn't sugar.. so now, I have no problem using it in drinks.. and splenda in recipes is good IMO. I hate peaches though, the only peaches I like are the peaches & cream oatmeal hehe. If I tried to eat a normal piece of peach I gag (reminds me of egg yolk!). Normal oatmeal, with no sweeteners, I can eat it if I put milk and banana in it. But to me, that would end up being more calories & sugar than the peaches & cream pre-mix I like now. I guess the snubbing of flavored oatmeals pertain to the maple syrup and brown sugar, etc ones. Those are alright.. I always preffered the fruit & cream mixes. I made the roasted almonds last night from a recipe on the Abs diet page.. I don't like almonds, but these are decent. And I can snack on them, and hopefully stay full! We had 2 boxes of wedding cake left over, I threw one out, and there was very little left in the 2nd. Husband actually WOKE ME UP last night to ask me if I ate it all. I have a hard time falling asleep, so needless to say that miffed me.. but I told him I threw it away.. it's too tempting!! I can resist all things.. except CAKE!!! I've been eating little bites since Saturday and I had to get the darn thing out of my house. I think he ate the last of what was left (hopefully) last night, so no more stupid cake.

Chica- Congrats on stayin the same weight, I know how the vacations like that feel! I tried to make good decisions on our honeymoon, but we literally had room service 3x a day for our meals (after everyone else left). I was on a funk and some reason could only eat a bite or two at meals.. but all in all I was still happy I came home and apparently gained no weight! I just read the Abs Diet article. VERY INTERESTING. I read a lot of people slamming the flavored instant oatmeals, but I don't get it. The ones I have (Peaches & Cream MMMM).. has 120 calories per packet I think. I mix it with Water.. that's not bad for a meal. I plan 300 calories per meal, so I keep seeing articles saying not to get flavored, but I turn my nose up at that, because there's nothing wrong with 120 calories DANG IT! :confused: But I was glad to see some info on what things do, and the almond recipe. I don't like nuts.. but I know they're good for me, so I've tried to find ways to incorporate them.. If they're uncoated with SOMETHING, I can't stomach them. I have 0 calorie butter cooking spray I am going to coat some almonds and dust some cinnamon on them and see how that works. Now I'm browsing the Abs Diet recipes. I just got back from lunch, had cajun grill.. had new potatos, and okra.. and then the sugary cajun chicken.. I only ate 1 bite of the chicken, all of the okra, and 1 slice of the potato. That's pretty good, I was STARVING this morning some reason. I thought I would end up eating the whole thing, whew.

Hey guys! It's been a loooong day for me, so just sharing my news, will catch up on posts tomorrow. I was so nervous about the weigh in.. all this wedding food, wedding cake, the inches not changing, etc.. I wasn't very hopeful. But low and behold.. 290lb!!!! 8lbs this month. HOORAY! I know it's not amazing, but given the circumstances I am ecstatic. Also keep in mind I only lost ONE pound in the month of June. So on to the fill They jabbed and jabbed, couldn't get it. So he sent me to the hospital again, to meet me there to do it under fluero. I get there, and some other doctor said he's going to fill me, my doctor called and asked him to. That actually really made me nervous. I don't know this guy from Adam and he looked younger than me (and believe me, that'd be a feat!). He took 2 jabs, even watching it under the x-ray, which I found weird too.. since my normal doctor could do it in one quick swoop when he's watchin it on the x-ray. But whatever. Fills me, and that's that. Now, I had 2.5cc. I dunno what they were doing before I went to hospital, but he kept rambling numbers "I got .7cc that time". I assumed coming out, but then why can't they go IN? I don't understand the fill thing as much as I thought I did. Ok.. so I had 2.5cc... After the fill, I said how much was it? He said 'Your doctor called and said you had 1cc and to give you one more.. so you have 2cc now' ?!!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!!? If I had 2.5cc last month, I needed a fill, now I have 2cc.. anyone else feel my frustration!? I don't know what's going on.. I don't get it anymore. My husband's alarm clock was going off every 5 minutes, way too early this morning. I kept smacking him and telling him to turn it OFF, but he would just snooze it for 5 min.. was very irritating, so I lost a lot of sleep this morning. Now I'm going to bed. I'm so tired. It was a LONG drive today. Some reason people were exceptionally stupid on the road. We almost got into 8 wrecks today, and none of them our fault. Good night guys!!

terri you look great!!! congrats so far! Keep it up, I would hang those pics on my fridge if I were you, everytime you feel like being lazy or snacking---bam, reinforce

Ok I just had to share [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhbXzCoNugA]YouTube - we white[/ame] That's my sister on the right. (her gf is in the background) The other video I was talking about was stupid, but I stumbled across their other videos, and this one makes me laugh. I don't know what they were doing, or what the song was.. but enjoy the giggles!

Judy- I worked at hobby lobby in high school.. one of my faaaavorite stores.. in fact, the flowers on my cake came from hobby lobby. Today was our wedding reception. LUCKILY it went very good for as little effort as we put into it. We got a bunch of appetizer plates for people to help themselves to, but everyone ended up taking their own plate. It worked out, so whatever. Afterward, his family came over to our house for a while.. I didn't eat at the reception except for the cake, so by time they left I was starving. We went to Cracker Barrel.. I had 2 eggs, grits, and county ham steak (1/2). Now he's playing his video game, and I am watching an extremely bizarre Youtube video my sister, her gf, and some other girl made. My sister's gf is in the background randomly flashing. I want to know what they were smoking last night when they made this!!! Without further ado, here are pics from the reception. Nothing exciting, we didn't take a lot of pics. I loved how the cake turned out. Our gifts were good, tonight I think I'll do the thank-you notes. I get my next fill Monday and it I can NOT WAIT, I'm so antsy. Oh and one side note, we are going to bowl tomorrow night. Me and my parents use to all do professional bowling and then within 2 years, me and dad hurt our backs and mom hurt her neck. I am better, my dad is better (he had surgery).. I got my husband into bowling (I mentioned this in another post), so.. ok long story short, me husband and dad going to join a league this fall! I'm really excited. A competitive one, and we ALL need to brush up. So tomorrow night we're going to go make sure we still know how lol. The cake, us with big cheesy smiles, feeding each other, us serving (we had to serve ourself, I was nervous about this but it all worked out fine), and then what was left.. besides the top tier which is in the freezer for our anniversary.

You just reminded me it's time to wax my eyebrows (I've been trying to groom them in the morning, they're getting whacky). Just made an appointment. That'll make me feel better. Also, I play texas hold-em poker.. me and my dad, it was a 'family thing' we did for years.. Since I was old enough at 21 to go to the real tournaments, he takes me along with him to the WSOP and WPT.. Since it's illegal in Alabama, for the past year I've only been able to play online at Party Poker.. and frankly, I hate online poker.. the people are different, harder to read people, etc.. So anyway, there's a tournament coming up in MS for the WPT end of August/beginning of Sept, and my dad said he wants me to get back into the swing with him.. He played in the WSOP in Vegas while I was on my honeymoon there.. We're going next month to do the WPT though. I'm excited, since I havent' been able to play in a real tournament in a while. My first 'tournament' I played was when me and DH went to Vegas for my 21st birthday. Was my first time being able to play legally with the big dogs. It was a $45 buy in.. we both played (he's not horrible, but he's not very good.. he likes to play though)... He was out in the first 30 minutes.. I made it to the final table, 2nd cheap leader. I did something stupid.. went all in against the ONLY PERSON WHO COULD KNOCK ME OUT (the chip leader). He had pocket A's.. the rest is history. But I ended up winning 3,000 and we paid 90 total to play.. so that was neat One of those 'things to do before I die', is to make it to a final table in WSOP or WPT. It may be a stretch, but it's fun to try! Since I've been busy and aloof, I haven't made plans for being in any more tournaments.. now that my dad signed me up, I'm excited again.