DidThis4Me

I could eat Mexican food every day! When I do, I order steak (or chicken) fajitas with guacamole and salsa and maybe a tablespoon or two of beans. No tortillas, rice, chips, or margaritas for me anymore!!! :-)

Try hitting your refresh button. It takes me a million tries too. :-)

Restricting carbs ALWAYS gets the scales moving for me. Your yogurt probably has sugar too. I would ditch the cereal, crackers and sugary yogurt and add an extra low carb protein shake or two to your diet. I like the EAS low carb shakes (17 grams of protein, 110 calories and only 3 carbs). Good luck. :-)

With the band, we have to develop a whole new relationship with food. As many on this site have stated, the band is not a quick fix. We have to work WITH the band, and we have to eat with purpose. I bought smaller dishes and utensils, chew the food up very thoroughly, put my fork or spoon down between bites and eat very slowly, because my goal is more important to me than the food itself. For the first time in my life, I can (and have) actually thrown leftovers away. The few times that I have thrown up, it was because I ate too much, too fast, and didn't chew my food thoroughly. It was my fault. I LOVE food, enjoy cooking (am very good at it), and enjoy eating what I cook, but my desire to reach my goal exceeds my yearning for food. Some days are better than others, but I have made a drastic change to my body out of desperation, so I am going to make sure I do my part so that my band can do it's part. I would suggest that you connect with some mentors on this site that have reached their goal weight. Not trying to sound preachy, because I am far from perfect, but these are the things that have helped me so far. Good luck. :-)

Welcome!!! :-)

My daughter decided to bake 2 dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies tonight. They are sitting on the countertop, taunting me. Although my husband and daughter are both asleep, and although no one would know if I ate just one, I REFUSE to visit them. I WON'T give in to the temptation. I CAN DO THIS! I am STRONGER than those cookies! Before the band, I would have eaten at least 5 of those cookies with a tall glass of milk. Now, I am so focused, I am avoiding them like the plague. I see so many people on this site that have actually reached and SURPASSED their goals, and I am inspired. I want to be a success story. If I eat the cookie, I WILL KNOW. My band will know. I don't want to disappoint my band. I think I will go to bed now.....

I take chewable bariatric multi vitamins & liquid B vitamins. I don't feel dizzy at all.

Lucky you! I am exactly 1 month banded today and I still only have 4ccs in my 10cc band. I am still operating off of sheer willpower. Just ate dinner and I could have kept on going....I refuse to give up though. Hopefully I will get some restriction with my next visit a week from today.

Wine is something that I am not willing to part with. My weight loss is actually better with a glass of dry wine.

I feel the same way too....I think it's pretty hard NOT to think about the band, especially for those of us who are not yet at goal, and who have tried every other weight loss method in the past. Subconsciously, I'm always asking myself "is this the thing that will help me actually reach my goal this time?" I am considering joining a bowling league or finding another hobby as a distraction. Good luck finding your distraction, just make sure it's a healthy one!

I had my first adjustment today. It didn't hurt a bit, at least not the fill itself. I did find out a few interesting things about the band and about myself: 1. I have a small 10cc band 2. I only had 2 ccs in the band at surgery 3. I MUST have willpower after all since there has been hardly any restriction, yet I have been steadily losing since the surgery I had an additional 2 ccs added to the band today, and go back in 2 weeks for another adjustment. I still don't feel much restriction, but that doesn't concern me too much. What DID hurt me is when the nurse told me I had only lost 6 pounds, not the 18lbs I have worked so hard to lose. Say what??? You see, they are using my starting weight from the day of my first consultation, not from my surgery date, as I have been doing. On 9/21/12, I weighed 213. On each subsequent visit, my weight inched up a little more. At my highest recent weight, I was 230. On 12/28/12 (surgery date), after a few days of a liquid diet, I weighed 226, so that has been the starting point I have used. Even though I know what I have actually lost and the sacrifices I have made since actually going under the knife, I admit it was a little disheartening to have them showing me at a mere 6 lb loss. The disappointment is my fault though. I have nobody but myself to blame. I was on an eating frenzy from the time that I knew I was approved for surgery until a few days before the actual surgery. I know it was the holidays, but that was no excuse. I should have just said no to the carne asada nachos. No to the margaritas. No to the pizza. No to the bbq ribs, peach cobbler, ice cream, and fried chicken. I didn't say no, though. In a last ditch effort, I made it a point to gorge on all of my favorite foods almost every day before the surgery, and I set myself back 13 pounds in the process. Had I used the willpower and self-control that I have been operating off of for these past few weeks (at 2ccs), I would already be well under the 200lb mark. If only........(sigh).....I can't do anything about the prior indiscretions that caused my self-inflicted setback. Going forward, however, I vow to take every day of this journey seriously. I am DETERMINED to succeed!

The white noodles work best for those of us who are calorie and carb-conscious. I think I will go buy some more tomorrow. I had actually forgotten about them.

Well said!!! Sometimes I go through 3-4 outfit changes before I think I look slender enough to step outside. The naysayers aren't there to see that happening. Nor do they see me struggling to try on outfits in the department stores and having to take the walk of shame back to the rack to try the next 2 sizes up. I'm tired of doing that! Those days will soon be a thing of the past because of the decision I made to get my band! :-)

I was kind of thinking the same thing since she is working out so much, and it sounds like she's saving most of her calories for the end of the day which might be part of the problem too.

Yes! I used to buy them all of the time. I've tried pretty much everything! lol! I used them in place of spaghetti noodles. They don't taste as good as pasta and they smell fishy, but for the zero calories, the substitution is worth it. I had to make sure to use tomato paste with my sauce because the sauce doesn't tend to want to stick on them. After I boiled them, I drained them immediately in cold water and then used my kitchen shears to cut them up into small pieces because they are a little hard to digest. They are definitely worth a try, though. :-)