Frustrated

I spent an hour on WII fitness with my son. Talk about hilarious fun! I got a good workout (my shoulders ache from boxing and tennis lol) and I really, really enjoyed myself. He has a PS2 and most of those games are beyond my capabilities. But this WII is the best purchase I could have (I mean Santa ) could have made. Not only do I get to exercise, but I get to have loads of fun with my son. I laughed until my jaw ached because most of the time I was ridiculously bad or fluke-ishly great. We have more dates penciled in for the coming week. After homework and chores, of course. :biggrin2:

Now that makes a lot of sense. But I also think at times we are too hard on ourselves. However, someone has to be because there were many more times when we were in denial and far too lenient on ourselves. A big reason why many of us are here in the first place. There are so many demons we have, and I know that "lazy" one of which you speak quite well. There's also the one-more-cookie-won't-make-you-fat one, the one-size-bigger-is-no-big-deal one and many, many, many more that are related. I've been struggling for a while now with the a type of size demon. I'm wearing size 14 jeans now. They're big and have been for about 6 weeks but I'm too afraid to go and buy new jeans in case the size 12 doesn't fit. Or it might fit today and next week I will have gained back 5lbs and I look stupid in them. Right now the smallest clothes I have in my closet are 14s. Some fit better than others. I've been fortunate that the weather has been cool enough here that I've needed to wear long underwear under my jeans to fill out some of the looseness. When I don't have the extra underwear underneath though, they're going to look too baggy and big and make me look bigger than I probably am. I know this. I get it. And yet I still can't bring myself to even try on a size 12 yet! Stooooooooooooopid head won't get with the program!

Jackie - you're looking terrific. Karri was right, you can really see the confident attitude. That, along with the new bod is a very attractive combination. Good for you. Still struggling to get there myself in my head, but it'll come. :cursing:

I'm confused Stephanie. :cursing: To me it looks like you had a great day! You ate well, you exercised and you rested. That's a healthy balance my dear!! Sometimes our bodies need a vacation as well. You gave it one afternoon. Just one. Don't feel guilty about that. Rest is just as important as exercise and eating well. You have to let your body rejuvenate. Now don't you beat yourself up because from where I'm sitting, you had a fantastic day. :thumbup:

You hit the nail on the head there Anne. This is very much a head game. The things I often missed when I first started this journey were the social aspects that go along with food. A barbeque, picnic, party all revolved around food. When your ability to indulge in the biggest attraction to these events was considerably reduced, I wondered if I'd even enjoy going to them again. It takes more time for our heads to come to terms with the reduction in appetite and ability to consume foods than it ever does for our bodies. In the Lucky 7's thread that is my "home", more often than not we are dealing with head/thinking problems than with the physical aspects of using the band to lose weight. Sliming and PBing and restriction physically stop us, but our heads still believe we want and need more food to keep us happy/full/feeling good. Sometimes I just miss chewing. With the liquids and mushies that we all endure at the beginning, and then graduating onto small portions of food, a lot of that chewing time is considerably reduced (even with the extra chewing per mouthful we do). So I took to sugar free gum and have become somewhat addicted to it. But it curbs my need to have food in my mouth when all I want is to exercise my jaw. There have been a couple of occasions when I've watched my hubby and son stuff their faces with sub sandwiches and wish I could experience that feeling again of a full mouth with juices running down my chin. Head games. Mind torture. Food envy. Thankfully those episodes are becoming less and less frequent. A lot of my thinking still revolves around food. But now it's more a matter of what will go down, what will satisfy me and more importantly what is the best choice. If I want to have a treat - which I allow myself probably once or twice a week, then it's planned for accordingly. A small slice of cake or pie instead of the whole thing. A scoop of ice cream instead of the whole pint. A glass of wine with a meal is savoured instead of needing to finish off the whole bottle. I've come to appreciate more the small treats I indulge in rather than feel guilty because I've over-indulged more often than I should have. We've said quite often in my home thread that we wish we had a band for our heads as well as our tummies because more often than not, that's where the problem lies.

Happy Birthday Nichole! :redface: Looking forward to hearing about your NSV. I love those stories.

It sounds like your migranes are probably connected to your back problems. Do you notice a difference after your chiropractor visits? Have you tried that HeadOn pain killer? You rub it on your temples or the areas where your headache is. My husband doesn't mind it, but I don't really like it. It seems to make my head feel tighter and tingles. Still, what doesn't work for me might work for you. And you don't have to worry about swallowing anything. :frown:

Glad you're getting things fixed up. Sucks that you have to go through surgery again though. :smile: But at least you know what to expect this time around.

KathyB it's good to have you back again. My condolences for your loss. It doesn't seem that long ago at all that you shared the news of his illness with us. :smile: May he be at peace now.

Many of them have god complexes. :smile:

Less than an hour after my last post she finally turned up!! :smile: Well at least she's easier to deal with once she's here. I know the turmoil she causes will only last a few more days. :smile:

Hey Janet, something to remember for next time; if you ask your doctor's office staff, quite often they'll photocopy the articles for you. Btw, thanks for the tip regarding band tightening and Aunt Flo. She's been threatening to come for the past few days and I wish she'd just hurry up! These aches and pains are annoying. Usually my treadmill sessions will calm them down, but this morning it actually felt worse :biggrin:. She likes to change things up on me every once in a while. The past 6 months I've had a salty/crunchy craving prior to her visit. Prior to that it was a sweet pastry craving for a few months. Now it's tightening my band and making all food difficult to eat. :wink2: Pick a drama and stick with it I say! lol. :Dancing_biggrin:

My doctor's coordinator had a message in her voicemail not to call her because she wouldn't have any news from the insurance company before I did. She told me they would send approval or denial letters to both me and them when they'd made their decision. I contacted my insurance company. Not every day, but once a week after my first denial. They would tell me when I called that they had 30 days to make a decision and that one hadn't been made yet and not to call until that 30 days had lapsed. I said I'd call back the following week anyway and did. In the end my call on the 30th day gave me the information that my appeal was denied because my BMI was too low. I said "Wait one moment, my BMI was too low when I first applied, when I appealed it was over the limit." It turns out they denied my appeal based on the original records I'd sent. I was furious! I told them I'd called every week to ask if they had all the relevant information and was told every time that if they needed anything else they'd let me know. They have records of when you call and what's discussed, so perhaps they knew then that they were in the wrong. The woman I spoke with told me she would push it through to the appeals officer, rather than go through the whole "File another appeal and wait another 30 days" thing. That would have sent me round the bend. :rolleyes2: She called back within 48 hours as promised and told me my appeal had been successful and I'd been approved for surgery! So I encourage everyone to call, call, call, call. The insurance company is the place to call once your docs have been filed, otherwise you ride the a$$ of the whomever is lagging with the paperwork to send to the insurance company.

If she's in your area, go to her office and tell her you're there to pick up the information and fax it yourself. Yes, you'll wait for her. It makes me so mad when we have to fight the red tape on top of everything else. :tongue:

Morning ladies, Everyone's been busy posting over the weekend. I've not been able to get in front of my computer because my son's been on it most of the time. Possession being 9/10ths and all that, lol. Phyl - you look fantastic! You can see a significant difference there. Good for you! I don't think I have any before shots of myself. I always avoided cameras. I let my hubby take pics of me in my bra and panties for the first few months in case I wanted to watch my progress, but I've never looked at them. I still can't bring myself to do that. Chim - good to see you back here. We've missed you! Janet - maybe your new scales aren't calibrated properly. Is there something in the manual that shows you how to do that? Twilight - Good to have you join us. You'll find that we'll become just as dependent on you for your feedback as you will on us. I still consider myself to be focused on food. It's a different type of focus now. I don't start my day eating breakfast and wondering what I can have for lunch. My focus now is more like "what can I get down and keep down that I'll enjoy". Plus it has to be good for me. I still think about food a lot, I've just changed the way I think about it for myself. Yesterday was a very strange day for me. I woke up in the morning and my ovaries ached. Aunt Flo is due next week, so that's probably what that's about. But I also couldn't get any food down the whole day. I had a glass of orange juice for breakfast. I had a tomato for lunch - it was part of a greek salad, but all I could find the stomach for was the tomato. We went to Pei Wei for dinner and I shared a meal of Sweet and Sour shrimp with my son. I was hungry. I couldn't even make my way through one shrimp without getting the golf ball effect. I excused myself to the bathroom to clear things out. I thought that perhaps I had eaten too fast and not chewed enough because I was hungry. I started again very slowly on a piece of pineapple but within a minute of eating that I was off to the bathroom again. I was STARVING. Came home and had some crackers and a little more juice and felt somewhat better. But I don't understand this sudden increase in restriction. I'm putting it down to Aunt Flo's impending visit. I'm thinking I should at least try a protein shake this morning, but the thought of it has my gag reflexes primed and ready for action. :wink2:

My doctor told me it can take 2 or 3 fills. As I mentioned before, I'm more restricted in the morning and it eases up after about noon. But I will also have days once in a while where I feel like I have no restriction at all the whole day or days like yesterday when all I could get down were fluids. You take every day as it comes and eat (or not) accordingly.

Call your insurance company and ask them to direct you online to the requirements for lap band surgery. If you have a surgeon in mind already, you should be able to contact them and tell them who your insurance company is and they'll be able to pull the file themselves and give you a copy. This is what my surgeon's office did for me. I also called the insurance company to make sure it was an up to date version. What you need to remember is that even if your insurance company covers lap band surgery, the company you're (or the primary on the insurance) with, needs to include obesity treatments in their coverage. Some companies don't include it for cost reasons.

Do you have a surgeon yet? Usually they'll give you a list of what they want you to do. Some require a pre-op diet, some do not. Everyone's different. Mind didn't require a diet but he sent me to a nutritionist and she told me about all the Proteins, Vitamins and diet dos and don'ts that go along with the surgery. Is that what you're looking for?

DANCE! BOOGIE ONDERLAND! HA! HA! DANCE! BOOGIE ONDERLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!:Dancing_biggrin: I sang this song at the top of my lungs when I made it to Onderland myself. Am I showing my age with Earth, Wind and Fire? Congrats jackie! :seeya:

:Dancing_biggrin:Congratulations 4jin!!!!! Get ready to be a loser. :seeya:

It's got me confuzzled as well. It worked perfectly fine up until recently.

We like new people. They're tasty! :tt1: Can you spot the food addict? :mad:

I've lost an average 2 year old, an average new born and a human head. Well they can stay lost, I'm not babysitting anyone. :tt1:

Good for you 4jin! That was a big mistake on their part and will do you well in the future should you have to fight them. Got my fingers crossed for you that you'll get a positive call today. :tt1:

Well this is a surprise. I got an e-mail notification of this response. :tt1: I'm not sure what e-mail service you use, but I use gmail. Sometimes if I sign up at a certain site and they send me e-mails it will go to the Spam folder. I have to go in there and open the mail and click a "This is not Spam" option tab. Then any other e-mails from the same address will come into my Inbox. I've just looked now and noticed there are a lot of lapbandtalk notifications in my spam box. Hopefully it'll fix the problem.