JBT222

I have the same problem so have taken to trimming in advance. But yes, the cotton ball and it might as well be duct tape they use. OUCH! When the Dr. does it instead of the NP, he just holds the gauze there for a minute or two and talks to me. No tape.

enjoy the pizza. after banding you will not have deep dish pizza again. lol The rest of that you can have once you are back on solids if you choose to. Just a much smaller portion. I remember a friend of mine and I were getting banded close together and we had what we termed our "Farewell to food" tour. A banded friend of mine is a caterer and created this stuff she calls pizza dip. She makes that and we eat it with pita chips. Not exactly pizza but close enough for once a quarter to make you not feel deprived.

One of the unforeseen things about losing a lot of weight is changing the role you play in certain relationships. You will no longer be the "fat" friend or the "fattest" one in the room. I know in my family it was hard for some people because I had always been the one they would say at least they weren't as big as me. Well now that isn't true and it absolutely changed how they treat me. You may find that old relationships need to change as there is literally less of you to go around and fill that need. This is your friends problem that she needs to address, but you can't let this get you down. You have a huge accomplishment of getting off meds. That is AWESOME. Way to go!

Oh I am so trying that this weekend! YUM Sounds like you could really rif on this to add just about any vegetable you wanted to incorporate like snow peas or whatever. Throw in some ground up peanuts to make it a little more Thai leaning.

It took a while for me to really feel full too. If you had all the fluid removed due to swelling you will probably have to go slow on the fills as they will cause swelling too. I would suggest talking to your Dr. about small fills at first so you don't get an aggressive fill plus swelling that causes you to need an unfill.

Shana Tovah!!! Usually I give the actual number. If people are local they probably saw the commercial and it is on the screen. But I know others who simply respond with "a lot". Because while they are really asking about the number on the scale, we have all lost so much more than just weight. We have lost depression, self hate, confinement from activities, and the list goes on. For those who are just starting and don't have a huge weight loss yet, you have already hit a huge milestone just admitting you have an issue and starting to address it. Remember that when people ask that, I don't think most of them mean to be rude. I think most of them mean it as a compliment, that they can really tell you are really on the way to being a healthier you. Hug their neck and say thanks for noticing.

instead of beating yourself up about it you should be proud you only ate 1 and not 6 or 7.

My wife had my sister take a pic of the little tiny medicine cups they brought my first post surgery "meal" in. I was so not happy then, but in retrospect it was an important part of the journey.

Awesome job. The first pic in the hospital gown and cap is cracking me up.

I've been banded for about 5 years now and it truly changed my life. It gave me more confidence and made life a lot more fun to live. While Lab Band isn't the right tool for everyone, it is an AWESOME tool. However, the word TOOL is the key. Remember this isn't a magic pill and you will wake up skinny. This is a tool to help you control your food intake. It can't make you not eat the junk.

Not sure of the calorie content but I usually go for gin and tonic or just a dirty martini. Not a lot of mixer in either and you can sip on them for a while to make them last. I know for me, post banded, there isn't as much to soak up the alcohol so you become a bit more of a lightweight than in the past.

Right after I was banded I decided to learn a new hobby to help confront head hunger so I taught my self how to crochet. I know sounds odd, but it was something that kept both my hands busy so there was not hand to mouth need that I think is a lot of head hunger. One of my biggest problems pre-band was the after dinner snack while watching TV. That is when head hunger hit the hardest for me. I still have attacks of it when I let myself break rules. But I find if I can make it about 3-4 days, then the head hunger goes away. Be strong. you can beat it!

I used to never take anything, then finally started taking the Target brand multi-Vitamin for men. I was having a lot of problems with tiredness after starting my fills again, so the lap band office took blood and found i was really low on B-12 and very low on D. She told me to buy them at costco. b-12 = 1000-1500 ccs D3 = 5000 IU and Krill oil - Mega red is the name brand. All of these i just swallow every morning. It has helped a lot with the lack of energy.

Thanks for the encouragement. It's good to be back in an environment where others know how hard won some of the success you have made were. @ Joanne, for me, I had to get to the point where I was literally ashamed of myself to buy that next size pants. From there I knew I had to do something. My wife and I talked about trying these things we heard like Slim for Life and things. I thought, she can do that but for the same amount, I have a tool inside me that is way more effective. I need to give that more focus. Here we go!