HealthyNewMe

Your friend has way too much time on her hands, and way too many issues on her mind. Best wishes to the both of you as you both lead your lives on a different path!

Hard as it may be, try not to compare. We each put weight on for individual reasons and we each take it off at our own individual pace. I'm not an expert on the sleeve at all, since I have the band, but it seems that it would take repeated overeating of bulky food to stretch out the stomach, not liquids that are passing through at a pretty quick pace. I may be wrong on that theory, but if worried, do what @kil724 suggested, and call your surgeon.

I don't weigh daily. I just weigh monthly. Have seen a downward trend each and every month for the past year and a half. I personally, can't handle daily fluctuations. Many people can. I'm not one of them. I may change to weekly weigh-ins once I get to maintenance, but for now, once a month is the way I avoid those fluctuations.......You've probably always had a little weight gain from Fluid retention during your cycle, but you're probably in super excited mode about your stellar weight loss that you have a heightened awareness of the numbers on the scale. Give it a few days and weigh again. VIOLA .......You may be even below that 150 mark!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I once told a friend of mine who lost weight......"Oh my gosh, Nancy...... you lost a ton of weight." Really, a TON?!?!?!?! Yep, that came out of my mouth. LOL

Those DAMN CARBS!

I repeated my mantra often....... "I can do anything for two weeks. I can do ANYTHING for two weeks. I can do anything for TWO WEEKS. ......" Best Wishes. June 4th will be here before you know it!

As you may have read, different doctors have different protocols as to pre- and post- surgery diets. Thank goodness, my doctor did not have anything restricting coffee....... I drink two cups a day in the morning, and one cup at around three in the afternoon. Are you restricted from coffee bc you were recently banded, or will you be restricted from coffee FOR LIFE? I would never suggest you go against your doctor's protocol, but I have learned through MY JOURNEY that I was going to try to use my band to live a life of "NO MORE DIETING, NO MORE RESTRICTIVE BEHAVIOR (except with SUGAR......my ENEMY), and NO MORE "all of nothing behavior//mindset." I feel that has been the key to my weight loss journey. Can't offer you any specific advice on how to live w/out coffee, other than how I learned to live without sugar. I do not buy it. I do not bring it in the house. I sometimes excuse myself from being at a table when certain trigger foods are served. Best Wishes!

Colleen, You are a talented writer. I enjoy each and every one of your articles....... Love that sense of humor you have. I try to live my life not too seriously, so I can relate in many ways to you and your wacky self........ I probably would have been personally praying that somebody had poured the rest of their Starbucks on top of it to SEAL THE DEAL of not getting it out of the trash can. On a personal note, I don't like FUDGE !

It definitely sounds like it to me...... Thought I was there twice before, but after a few weeks, the amount of food I could eat increased. Slight fraction of a fill last office visit , and I think I'm green too. Best Wishes!

I haven't had sugar in my diet for over a year and a half........ Fast forward to this past weekend...... I had TWO (not one, but TWO) CHUNKS of cake from our favorite bakery, a pitcher of RUM PUNCH (with several shots of EXTRA rum added to it).......... and I went right into a SUGAR COMA (that's an expression..... I didn't really go into a "coma") for the rest of the weekend. Woke up with a headache........ and NOT from a hangover....... I'm 100% sure it was from all the DAMN SUGAR. Thank God, I did not have the old withdrawal symptoms I used to have every time I WENT ON A DIET AND TRIED TO GET OFF THE SUGAR........ LESSON LEARNED.......... MY BODY CANNOT TOLERATE SUGAR!

A picture speaks a thousand words....... or, in this case, two pictures!

I received my WLS by participating in a long-term study (5 year committment) being conducted by LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Facility. During my initial screening, and at the 6 month and subsequent annual appointments, that measurement, as well as just my waist measurement, is documented. I was told that the Waist to Height ratio is more important than the BMI, because of the link that the W to H has with cardio issues........ Interesting!

Good for you. Best Wishes!

I thought the same thing about the BLUE print! DUH

I love your DUMB QUESTION... I'm trying it now @@enjoythetime

I can always tell weight loss and weight gain in my pictures. You can really notice the loss in your pictures. WOW

I buy the VANILLA, and add frozen bananas, strawberries, or pineapple....... Blends to a thick shake consistency in my Ninja blender. Sometimes, I add a scoop of chocolate Protein powder to the vanilla, PB2, and ice...... that one gives me over 60 grams of protein in one shake.

My doctor tells me at every single monthly visit, that he almost always expects the restriction to eventually decrease with time after a fill..... until you hit that sweet spot. I thought I was in the green zone twice, but sure enough, within a few weeks, I started seeing less restriction. Finally, I am to the point where I still keep my monthly appointments, but I don't get even a fraction of a fill. It took me seven months to get there. Best Wishes!

Bandista......You are the sweetest!

This comedian/actor died Saturday at a Pittsburgh hotel. Sadly reminds me of the toll obesity took on him as well another one of my favorite comedian/actors, John Candy. I'm so thankful for my WLS, for I, unfortunately, was headed in the same direction.

Welcome! I'm 9 months out too. It took several fills to get to GREEN for me. Only feel that I got there a month and a half ago. Exercising 6 days a week now. I'm trying to live my life one day at a time. This is what GREEN means to me..... I only eat 2 to 3 times a day. I'm not hungry inbetween meals. I eat a relatively small meals. I still deal with and fight HEAD HUNGER though. Best Wishes as you continue your journey!

I didn't see myself as morbidly obese when I weighed 327 pounds, and I don't see myself for a size 12, having lost 125 pounds..... Except when I look at myself in a picture..... A certain picture was my motivator, and a recent picture showed me how I am actually looking now! I guess I/WE have some of the same body image issues anorexic people have..... Will the mind ever catch up with the weight loss?!?!?!

Gowalking...... I told my sister, who has never been overweight......some of those same things. She takes that all for granted because it is her normal way of life....whereas, we are experiencing this from a whole different perspective. It IS like being "REBORN." To be able to do the things that most people do everyday without thinking about it, and we marvel over being able to do it. It must be like that for someone who had a cochlea implant, or corrective eye surgery. Things we take for granted, like hearing or seeing clearly, and they are experiencing it for the first time in years. A rebirth for them....... Happy reBIRTH, Gowalking......... and all my BAND BUDDIES!

I put off surgery because of the COST. My insurance did NOT cover it. I was the mom of four, living off of a teacher's salary...... I COULD NOT AFFORD IT. I did get my surgery by participating in a long term (5 year) study being conducted by Pennington Biomedical Research, part of the LSU system. The State of Louisiana Office of Group Benefits, (the health care provider for state employees), hired Pennington to conduct research on the long term benefits from weight loss surrgery vs that from three month liquid Protein shakes with intensive counseling and nutritional support. My name was randomly chosen from a computer generated lottery (over 20,000 applicants, and 300 names were chosen and screened for 100 surgeries). In essence, I WON THE LOTTERY. I already went for my six-month post-op return physical, and I will be going back in August for my one year physical. I am then required to come back on the 2, 3, 4, and 5 year anniversary of my surgery. 75% of the WLS patients had lapband surgery, with 25% receiving either the sleeve or the by-pass surgery. There are hundreds of pages of survey questions that I must answer at each visit, as well as a complete physical each and every time. All of the data will be analyzed. I will keep this site abreast of the findings of this study as they are released.

Hi Julie and "apple2hourglass".... Hope all is going well. Julie, I never did get your private message, Apple2hourglass, I too, found NOT drinking while eating to be a challenge. It's hard to break DECADES of habits. Things are going failry well with me...... just plugging along. May is always a very busy month for me, and I had my usual "hissy fit" a few times already, and we aren't even half way through May. Oh, well, THAT IS LIFE!!!!