Haydee

TracyKS...awesome awesome awesome... cute picture! Yes, I do live right outside of Houston, in Tomball. It's just a few minutes away... Let me know if ya'll are meeting somewhere, would love to join ya'll. This past week I haven't started getting hungry until about noon. I completely forget to eat because my tummy isn't rumbling and I just get caught up with work. Do you think I should make myself eat something in the morning? I think I heard somewhere that if you eat breakfast your metabolism speeds up? I don't. I do find that I'm cutting about 200 calories by not eating breakfast. But I know that it's a bad thing because I don't want to tell my mom that I'm not eating breakfast. That's my rule about things. If I can't tell my mom about it then it must be bad!!! he he he Judy, you inspired me to haul out all my stuff last night and to get a garage sale going Saturday morning. Last night I stayed up late making signs and pricing all my stuff. I hope I make enough in order to get one or two new outfits for my upcoming vacation.

Josie, the Houston freeway system is easy once you've driven around and gotten lost a few times! Tomball is just east of Katy but I don't know of any quick way to get there. I have to take the Beltway then I-10. So does Eharmony work? I mean do they actually pair you up with someone that is sooooo compatible with you?

Josie, I just noticed that you're in Katy. I'm in Tomball. We're practically neighbors! I'm sorry that you have to walk when you eat. How does that look when you're at a restaurant? he he he... Did you tell your doctor about the walking while eating?

Okay, it sounds like I'm right on track then. I think what throws me off is the fact that alot of you started a pre-op diet and lost quite a few pounds on that. So when I see the tickers and I see like 50 or 60 pounds lost, that makes me feel like I'm way behind. I didn't have to do a pre-op diet at all but I did mimic some of the post band way of eating and I managed to lose 7 lbs pre-surgery. I know, I know, this is not about the scale. But for me it is, just a little. Well alot.

Tomorrow is my three month band-a-versary. I've only lost 32 pounds since surgery. The other 7 I lost before surgery. How's everyones weight loss just SINCE surgery?

Okay, I just had the hardest time publishing that last post. I hope it goes through okay. It kept putting in all these arrows and then it would put in smileys in the middle of words. Weird. Hope it looks okay on everyones screen...

Morning Violets! It’s been a busy two days here on the board. Wow, I was reading forever.... JENN - 12 POUNDS, OMG girl. That's awesome! I'm leaving for vacation on the 30th and my goal was to be at 250. I'm at 262 right now. Think I can do it?<O:p</O:p <O:p</O:p Terri - bananas and peanut butter on toast is what I grew up with! Now I've eliminated the toast and just mush it all up too. Too funny...<O:p</O:p <O:p</O:p So my boss just got back from Hawaii this week. He came bearing gifts. calorie laden gifts. Chocolate covered macadamia nuts, boxes of chocolate chip macadamia shortbread cookies. I know, I know, food porn. When he handed them to me I just looked at him and blinked. He said, "I know, you can't have alot of this, but just eat one a day." Uh, that's not the way it works. If I have cookies, candy, anything sweet, I don't stop at one. I could work my way through a bag of Pepperidge Farm Chocolate Chunk cookies in about the length of a movie. So what I ended up doing was giving them away as door prizes at my last Pampered Chef party. My guests were delighted and I kept those two pounds off that I worked so hard for!! <O:p</O:p TracyKS – how did you do with the push mower? I wouldn’t even do my postage stamp sized yard with one of those. I can’t image what 5 LOTS took out of you. <O:p</O:p Lunasa – Since you got your tummy tuck before you had children what is going to happen after you have children? Will you have to get it re-done? I’ve been contemplating that for awhile now. My skin is sagging, I will definitely need a tummy tuck, boob lift, fanny lipo (British fanny). My dilemma is that I haven’t had kids yet. If I lose my weight in one year like I’m planning, then do I go ahead and get the plastic surgery or wait the two or three years it’s going to take me to have a few rugrats? <O:p</O:p I would love to plan a get-away with all the Violets. I think we need to hit a beach, that way we can all show off a year of hard work!

I have about 15 size 22/24 blouses that I need to pass along, if anyone is interested. Nathalie, if you are still looking to give those 18/20 clothes away I would love them! I'm at that size right now. PM me and let me know. Thanks!

The position that NEWGIRL07 is describing hurts my port. I really can't have anything pressing down on my stomach. If he tries to put my legs in that position I just shift them. Any other position is fine!

Rick, I'm sorry to hear that. I went through that three times before I said, F&%K it and paid for it myself. It's the best money I've ever spent...

Tammy, I've had two fills already. Only the first few days do you feel like you did when you came out of surgery. For me, it loosens up after that. About two weeks after my first fill I was back to eating big portions without having to be diligent about my chewing. Right now it's been about 10 days since my second fill and I feel restricted and am having to be really good about my chewing. Takes me about 1/2 hour to finish about 1/2 cup of food. I'm tighter in the morning than in the evening. Hope this helps!

Silry, are you getting enough protein and water? I notice that when I am getting in at least 60 grams of proteins and 80 oz of water that is when I lose the most. At least a pound a week. Sometimes it's not just about the quantity of the calories that we are getting in but also the quality.

Judy, my doctor had warned me to be careful with things that swell. He told me to take it slow and to see how it went, but he never told me never to eat them again. I've been eating bread, pasta, and rice with no problems so far. I just think that this last fill is settling in and my band is finally telling me what it can and can't tolerate from me! I better listen!

You are not the only one Virginia. After my first fill I had restriction for about a week then I felt just like before. I was able to eat without restriction. It might take two or three fills before you are able to feel that restriction. I just got my second fill about a week ago and I am feeling a little restricted. I have to chew my food really well when before I was not doing that. Good luck on your next fill!

TracyK - I have about 4.3 cc's in my band! Hope you feel better after your unfill.

Good morning Violets! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Kat, I'm so so happy to hear your baby GD is doing better. I'm sure she had hundreds of people praying for her. I had a very nice weekend except for two things. I got my first and second PB this weekend. On Saturday afternoon I went over to my mom's. She had made pancakes for breakfast and there was still a pancake sitting on a plate on the stove. I tore off a little piece and ate it. Two minutes later I started feeling a tightness in my chest. Then I started drooling and sliming. I'm over the kitchen sink and my mouth is like a leaky faucet. This continued for about 5 minutes before I finally threw up the piece of pancake. Then relief. Oh my gosh, so scary. And it hurt so bad. Sunday it happened again. I had had an early supper, around 4pm, so I got hungry around 9pm. I didn't want to cook anything so I figured I'd get 1/2 cup of Bran flakes. I sat down with my bowl of cereal and after my first bite, ack! Again... So again I'm standing by the sink, sliming and drooling. 5 min later the bite I took came back up. What is so weird about these two episodes was that I had eaten fine all day long with hardly any restriction before these happened. On Saturday I had had a scrambled egg with bacon for breakfast, some tuna salad with Melba Toast for lunch and then the piece of pancake. On Sunday I had had an egg white omelet for breakfast and then chicken teriyaki with noodles for a late lunch, then bran flakes that got stuck. So... I'm taking it easy these next few days. I do not want to experience that again...

Congrats Judy!! I will have to start keeping up with my measurements. I know that those would definetly be NSV's. Thanks for posting about that book Terry. I am in the same boat as Jenn and I will read it too. Jenn, I think about you all the time. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one wrestling with the "Should I stay, will it get better..." question.

Hi ladies. Storming bad here in Houston today. I'm at work but ready to go home. I think I might have to break down and start drinking those yucky protein shakes too. My doctor says that I have to get at least 70 grams of protein in per day. I'm only getting about 40 on a good day. A few bites of cottage cheese for breakfast. 1/2 cup of food for lunch (that takes me hours to eat), and then for dinner I can eat about 3/4 cup of food. Again very very slowly. Unfortunately I've tried so so many protein drinks and they are all very yucky to me. I was hoping to do this with food alone, no supplements. No such luck. Oh wait, do you know what makes me even madder... I'm not eating much, can't get much down, you would think that the pounds would just be dropping left and right...NOT. I'm still at 266. Since Saturday. No change at all. Sucks. Off to have a mini pity party....

Laura: Have a great time in Vegas! Congratulations!!! Good morning all! I hope everyone had a nice time yesterday. Relaxing, working, partying, whatever it is that you did. We went to Mexico to go see my grandma. She broke her ankle on Sunday and she had surgery to repair it on Monday, so we went to visit her. She is doing fine. Will be in bed for 3 months and I know that will be hard on her. She is a very active grandma! I'm going pretty good on this fill that I have. Not restricted enough for my taste but I guess it's enough for now. I went down to 265 on Tuesday but then this morning I was up to 266 again. I'm so bad about letting the scale dictate my mood for that day. I know everyone says it's better to only weigh once a week but I have to weigh every day so see where I'm at. Just to see if I need to cut back that day or excercise a little more. I'm also scared that if I wait and weigh only once a week that the pounds will creep up on me. It's easier to get rid of one pound than five pounds... Just my opinion... So today it's almost ten and I'm not really hungry. I haven't had a bite to eat. I need to get some breakfast or else my whole eating schedule is messed up. Off I go for my cottage cheese... Have a good rest of your day ladies...

BFYNE - the only thing that worked for me was walking walking walking. I would get up and walk around the house for five minutes at a time. every 15 min I would get up. That is the only thing that helped. I remember how painful the gas was. I hope you feel better soon... Thanks for the advice on the hiccups. I did realize that I got them because i waited too long to eat so then I was eating way too quickly. Chewing really fast and taking little bites but still, it was quick. I need to slllllooooowww down. And not wait until I'm starving to eat....

Kat, lots and lots of love and prayers headed your way. I can't imagine what it feels like to see your little granddaughter so sick like that. I hope all goes well and she gets better fast... My hiccups finally did stop yesterday. Mid-afternoon. I hope I don't go through that again. Now I'm just burping alot. That is not painfull, just annoying.

This is driving me crazy! I've had the hiccups for the past few hours. Each time I hiccup I feel like I want to throw up. Did this happen to anyone right after a fill? I had them yesterday too but not this bad. They are making my whole chest area and my upper back hurt. I tried holding my breath, drinking water. NOTHING is helping...

Terry, maybe the girl that wears a size 12 only wears stretchy clothes compared to your fitted, non-elastic wardrobe. I too was surprised to hear that women who weighed the same as me were wearing size 28-30 clothes when I was in a 24-26 clothes. But all my clothes were very stretchy, lots of lycra and elastic, none of them were form-fitting. That's how I got away with wearing a "smaller" size. That is probably what this girl is doing! So I went and got a second fill on Saturday. All went well, absolutely no pain this time. I told her it hurt last time so she was extra gentle! She put in an additional 2.5 cc and now I have a total of 4.3 or something like that. That sounds like alot, huh? I hope I get good restriction this time. She asked me to do two days of liquids and one day of mushies because she was so aggresive with the fill. So far everything is ok. No reflux or anything like that. My Water does gurgle when it goes down. Today is my first day of mushies and I am having cottage cheese and it's going down very hard... I've been burping non stop since Saturday, and this is gross but the burps taste like carbonation. Like when you have a Coke and then you burp, that's how my burps taste. Weird huh? All i've had is water and chicken broth. Today is storming again in Houston. It hasn't really stopped raining for about 2 weeks now. Really putting a damper on my lunch time walks. I'll have to do an extra 30 minutes on the threadmill tonight. Have an awesome day today everyone!

Too funny Judy... I'm sure a year from now alot of us are going to be on the "duct tape method" of lower body and boob lifts! Terri, I'm just a big baby when it comes to needles. My doc does numb the site but I still cry when it's getting done. Seriously, I'm 30 years old and if I have to get a shot my mom has to come with me. I'm such a wimp!

Michelle, Happy Band-aversary!! Tomorrow I am going for my second fill. I'm not really looking forward to it. It hurt last time and I had a pretty good sized bruise... Jennifer - how's the job hunt? Anything yet? What I was going to suggest to you is that you might, in the mean time, consider doing some sort of self employement. I sell Pampered Chef products on my spare time. It's not my main job but when I know I'm going to have a tight month or if I'm planning a vacation I will start planning parties. I make about $200 a party. It's not alot but it could help you out in the mean time. There is lots of at-home work you can try. Let me know if you might be interested and I can send you some information. As everyone can see my ticker has not changed. Not for the good but also not for the bad. Hopefully my fill tomorrow is good for another few pounds in the next few weeks. By the way, I'm still wearing the same size pants. A little looser but I still can't fit into a size 22 pant. I'm frustrated with the size of my lower stomach. It's not shrinking. Send some shrinky dink vives towards my lower stomach Judy... :eek: Back to work. My boss is on vacation and he has left a ton of projects for us. Have a great rest of your day!