Frustrated

I've been tempted a couple of times to have a beer. My hubby says he misses his drinking partner. Not that we drink a lot, perhaps a beer every couple of weeks or so. Maybe next time I'll have a couple of sips when it's not quite so bubbly. The thought of putting all those bubbles inside me is enough to put me off. I was never a big soda drinker anyway, so I don't miss it at all. But the occasional beer and/or margarita would be nice.

I'm not sure if it's meant to be this restrictive but have decided to give it a little while to settle down. I have to sip slowly. I try to get all my water down, but don't succeed all the time. Mostly I'm sticking to soup with small, small portions of food here and there. I ate really tiny bit of salmon last night (would probably be no more than 2 tablespoons worth). I've been tempted to go back for a small unfill, but the weight loss so far this week has been really good for me. 8lbs in 6 days. I can't argue with that. I'm not feeling hungry. I'm not feeling weak. I'm taking my Vitamins daily and getting my Protein requirement through my shakes. While it's probably not the best to be this restricted, I also know that I'm a dirty filthy cheat and will do so if given half the chance. I can't be trusted. :embarassed: This isn't giving me the chance to cheat so I'm going to ride that gravy train (pun intended) while I can so long as it's not detrimental to my health.

Those are the two big ones for me as well. It doesn't matter how small a bite I take and how much I chew, it feels like I've swallowed a bowling ball. Right now I haven't been able to venture past anything chunkier than egg salad. It took me a while to get through 1/4 cup of that yesterday. It's hard learning to prepare meals for less than half a person. I'm still making too much. Luckily my son likes egg salad so he got a decent portion for his after school snack. Chris - my condolences for your loss. Chim - sorry you're having such a tough time with infections. :mad: I hope things get better for you soon. Big "hi" to all my other Lucky family members. :wave:

Hey Caolin, I had a bit of "last supper" mentality before my second fill as well. When I knew I was going to get one at the end of the week, my discipline fell by the wayside. The restriction I have now is good. The best part about it is that I don't feel hungry all day. I don't sit and eat Breakfast wondering what I can have for lunch. Tell your doctor all you're feeling. They may be able to give you some tips that we haven't covered here. I often find that all the info I need is right here in this thread, but getting my doctor's confirmation is always the best thing. I love when they say "that's a good idea, yes do that" because someone here has suggested it. You're right about always sabotaging things. I think I'd be in exactly the same spot if it weren't for my band. It doesn't matter how determined I've been in the past, something always went wrong. My band is there to catch my fall now. It's the best investment I've made as far as my health is concerned. Hope your fill goes well today. Best of luck for that. :biggrin1:

Congrats on making it to Onderland Lynette. I have my eye on the same prize and am hoping to get there by Thanksgiving. 13lbs in 7 weeks? *fingers crossed* I owe someone an apology and I'm not sure who it is. Whoever it was said that their doctor had told them to take 20 minutes to eat a meal. I said that there probably wasn't any way I could make 1/4 cup of food last for that long. I was proven wrong. It took me longer than that to eat my egg salad today. And it's taken me longer to get through my protein shakes and other nibbles since my second fill. I need to go slowly or I'll have PB issues. But I'm finding that I'm full after this small amount and stop as soon as I feel the signs. I had my protein drink this morning and a clementine for a snack this afternoon with soup for dinner when I get around to heating it up. I still have to keep on top of drinking my water and it's been a bit of a task, but I'm enjoying not being hungry 24/7!

Lindaa - congrats on your NSV. It's so good to know you can probably at some point get off having to take daily doses of medication for the rest of your life. That's the bleak future I was facing as well. Not any more though! Sunshine - hang in there. I went on a couple of weeks hiatus from weight loss too. It's frustrating when you know you're doing everything right and you're not seeing any progress for your efforts. I agree with lindaa, keep track of what you're eating and show it to your doctor. You may need a slight adjustment to your band, or there may be something else going on. Best to check with the experts. I got my second fill on Friday because I wasn't seeing any change in the scales and was able to eat more than I should have been. Friday night was pretty tough for me. I woke up 4 times in the night choking on my own spit. I was worried that I'd gotten too much of a fill. It was the weekend and I probably couldn't have gotten hold of my doctor unless it was an emergency. I didn't feel it was at that stage yet. I decided that I'd go for the day (Saturday) making sure I was at least getting water down so as not to get dehydrated. It was kinda tough in the morning, but as the day progressed it got a little easier. I managed some soup on Sat night as well. Sunday morning I made a protein shake. It took me an hour to get through that, but I made it without PBing. I had soup for lunch. In the afternoon I treated myself to an iced orange mocha at Starbucks. I'm not a big coffee drinker, but ohmystars it was delicious! I had a protein shake again for dinner. Today I start mushies until I feel game enough to venture onto solids. But this morning it feels like I'm too restricted for food, so I'm just having a protein shake again. Maybe I'll try yoghurt and/or some egg salad for lunch. I take my vitamins religiously and my energy levels are good, despite Aunt Flo being due for a visit this week. My hubby and son had a sub sandwich from Quizno's on Sunday and I was envious of them for being able to sink their teeth into it. I wasn't feeling hungry or anything, I just missed stuffing my face with food. :embarassed: That's probably a bad thing. :paranoid The scales are on the downward move again. :whoo:I don't feel hungry. I don't miss being hungry!!! Life is good. I love my band! :biggrin1:

Hi Judy, I was just looking at your weight loss results. You're more than halfway to your goal. Good for you! :confused: I googled the pumpkin muffin recipe, but see that you've already posted one so don't need to post mine. :biggrin1: I do that all the time. If I've tried something new and it tastes great, I'll google the recipe and try making it myself. Yesterday hubby and I went to a Thai restaurant for lunch and I had Tom Kha soup which was delicious. I searched for the recipe online when I got home, so I'm going to try it out someday soon. I liked the coconut flavor with the spices in the background.

Hi everyone :wave: Chim, glad you've finally got your first fill and it's working in your favor so far. YAY! :whoo: I got my second today. My doc told me at my first fill that it might take another one or two to find my sweet spot. I haven't been ravenously hungry, but I've been able to eat more than I should have and not lost any weight in two weeks. But the good news is I haven't gained either! So now I have 2.5cc in my 4cc band and am assured I'll definitely feel the restriction. I'm looking forward to it. There are times when I miss eating and sharing different foods with my family, but I sure don't miss the insatiable hunger and over-eating. I also managed another NSV this week. I went for a check-up with my GP for Insulin Resistance. I had blood drawn and tested for free testosterone and insulin levels. The results came back good! I'm doing better now than I've ever done on the medication I used to get those levels under control. So good in fact I'm NORMAL!!! It's been a good number of years since anyone's told me I'm normal. :confused:

Non scale Victory. Measuring success on a scale is far too limiting. It's important to have victories in other areas, such as being able to fit in a chair, wear clothes that were previously too small and have people compliment you on how good you look, etc, etc, etc. I love reading them all! :biggrin1:

Not sure if this'll help you Jackie, but before I was banded my doctor told me that any pills I had that were bigger than the tip of my little finger would be too big for me to take. I'm not sure what, if anything, has changed since my band has settled in and the swelling has gone, but it's something I'm going to ask about on Friday after the comments from some of the ladies here. You don't know until you ask, right? :biggrin1: I really don't fancy being on liquid Tylenol indefinitely because it tastes so awful! I don't like cherry or grape and most often those are the only flavours available. I've been able to find a strawberry one that isn't quite so bad, but it still tastes like I'm swallowing liquid sugar. So if I were you I'd call the doctor's office and ask them what they have to say about it for you.

Thanks for the info ribearty. I'm going to ask my doc on Friday when I go for my second fill. I thought I'd be on the liquid stuff forever, lol. I'm so glad I'm part of this group. I think I've learned more here than anywhere else. Not necessarily following all the advice, but giving me questions to ask my doctor for my own situation. Thanks again. :biggrin1:

I've noticed that since being banded, I've not suffered from daily headaches. I put it down to eating better. Today for some reason I did a bad thing. A very bad thing. I ate one of those mini Almond Joy bars. Wouldn't you know it, I've had a headache most of the afternoon. Now I have the choice of either suffering through it or succumbing to that gawd-awful liquid Tylenol to get rid of it. I guess that's a NSV of sorts. Not a very pleasant one though, lol. Still..... lesson learned! No more choccy! Bad choccy! Choccy make head booboo! :peep: Citygirl sorry to hear about your fill drama. I'm glad you got it sorted out though. I'm really surprised the doc didn't use that fluroscope thingy the first time round. I'd insist on it for every fill from now on if I were you!

Aw beth. We all have our bad days. Sometimes bad weeks. But you've come a long way. I've just had a week where I haven't lost anything either, and am going to see my doc on Friday for another fill. Perhaps that's what you need. My doctor told me that if my weight loss stopped or I gained, it was time for a fill. Perhaps give your doctor's office a call and see what they say? I still think you're doing really really well, and you should look at what you've already achieved with pride. You just need a little bit of a tweak to get you back on track.

ONLY 38lbs? That's terrific weight loss! My advice would be to enjoy the rate in which the scales are going down for YOU and not be too concerned about someone else losing more or more quickly than you are.

I was banded 9 weeks ago. I started exercising 2 days after surgery. VERY slowly on the treadmill. I can't tell you why YOU need to exercise, but I can let you know why I do. Maybe it'll inspire you or at least stop you from searching for excuses not to. I exercise because I want to be healthy. I'm obese. Correction; I'm morbidly obese. This brings many, MANY health problems with it. I got banded to stop myself from going off the cliff I was headed for at full speed. I'm pre-diabetic and have lower joint problems because my legs have to carry the extra weight around every day. I need to do myself a favour and not only correct those two issues, but prevent further health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, etc. I've already been able to stop taking my pre-diabetic medication in the short time since my surgery. The lap band was never meant to be a miracle cure for me. It was a tool to use because all the other diets, pills and gadgets I've tried have failed. More often than not leaving me heavier than before I started. Getting the band isn't going to get me healthy. Eating properly and EXERCISING will. At the moment I've hit a plateau as far as weight loss goes. It's disheartening when I'm exercising so diligently not to see any results on the scales. So why should I continue? Because I don't want to hit that slippery slope again. I feel great both physically and mentally once I've done my half hour each morning on the treadmill. There are a lot of days when I try to make excuses for not going. Often the hardest part of it is actually getting my butt to the gym to get on the treadmill. But the alternative is to die from an obesity related disease. I'm one of those disgusting people who has an ipod and sweats away during my workout. I don't chat to anyone, but maybe that still makes me disgusting in gmccon's eyes. But you know what? I'm doing this for ME. It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks of me, or who is disgusted by my sweat or my accessories. It's what I think of myself that matters. I go to the gym to sweat and I expect everyone else is there for the same reason so I'm not quite so bothered by the sight of it. I wouldn't consider myself a health freak, I'm more health conscious now. It's a far better than the alternative of being a fat slob in my opinion. :waytogo:

Thanks for all your responses ladies! They make a lot of sense to me, so I called my surgeon's office today hoping that I can get some answers from there. As every doctor seems to have different advice, it seems best that I ask them which is best for me. Maybe because some of us have 4cc bands and others have 10cc bands there could be different fill procedures. Whatever it is, I'm sure they'll help me sort this out. :waytogo: Brandy - yes I was still drinking my regular 60g worth of protein shakes like I was immediately after surgery. I thought I was supposed to. :embarassed: I just checked the sheet I was given and it says I don't necessarily need it if I'm getting my protein from the food I'm eating. So that's probably part of my problem. Indio - you also made sense with the advice about weight loss coming during the times you didn't exercise. I've had that experience as well pre-band. In fact it got me so discouraged I stopped exercising altogether because I wasn't seeing any benefits. I don't want that to happen again because in spite of not losing any weight lately, I always feel so much better physically and mentally after working up a sweat from exercise. ssankofa - morning vs night restriction doesn't sound weird at all to me. There are times when I can't even swallow fluids without PBing, but I can try again an hour later and be fine. I also feel I can eat more in the evening than in the morning. I almost have to force-feed myself some mornings, but the evening I have to dig deep into my willpower reserves to stop myself from getting another helping of food. I don't even think at times it's because I'm hungry, it's more like I feel like I could eat more, so my old pre-band brain tells me to go ahead. So now I wait for the doctor's PA to get back to me with her advice. I hope I didn't call too late in the day and have to wait till Mon for her to get back to me. Good grief I sound needy! :rolleyes :bounce:

Thanks for that Nichole. I think I'll tough it out for another week to see if there's any change. If not, I'll sign up for another fill. My doc did say it may take more than one to find my sweet spot. I've got 1.75 in a 4cc band, so there's still some wiggle room there. You've made me feel LOTS better.

Hi everyone, :wave: It's been a little while since I lasted checked in. I've been reading some of the posts but haven't really had too much to report. Congrats to everyone enjoying weight loss and/or personal triumphs. It's been almost 2 weeks since I got my first fill. How am I doing? That's a difficult question because it varies from day to day, and sometimes from meal to meal. I've been fortunate enough not to have suffered from insatiable hunger like in the bad old days. There are times when I'm hungriER than I probably should be, but I've been able to cope with those times for the most part by drinking more water and getting out and about. I'm still having sporadic problems with PBing. It's not just with food. There are times when I can't keep down my protein drink. Water doesn't help on those occasions, in fact it makes things worse. :straight I just have to tough it out until it either comes back up or makes its way through. I really don't know what triggers it. Sometimes I've gone back to whatever it was an hour later and I've been fine. My weight loss has pretty much stopped. :cry This is in spite of increased exercise and activity. I'm trying to convince myself that it's BECAUSE of it; muscle gain, etc, but it's frustrating to make gains in exercise and not reap any rewards. A typical workout week for me is: Mon-Sat: 30 mins treadmill in the morning at a speed of 3.8, incline 3.5 or 4. Mon night - weight resistance in the gym for an hour working various muscle groups. Tues night - aikido practise at home for 30 mins Wed night - aikido class for 1 hour Thurs night - weight resistance in the gym for an hour working different muscle groups to those worked on Tues. Fri night - aikido class for 1 hour Sat afternoon - aikido class for 1 hour Sunday is my day of rest from everything. It's disheartening when nothing moves on the scales and I know I shouldn't harp on it. I weigh myself at the same time each day. I do this because I know that if I let it go for more than a week without weighing myself, I'll fall off the wagon and stay off. Daily checks keep me in check. I'm grateful that the scales haven't moved up, but frustrated they haven't moved at all so far this week. No Aunt Flo excuses. No stress excuses. No excuses at all to offer. Still...... I'm here to rant because as I've said before, all of you are what keeps me motivated in this journey and it's good to see so many others succeeding! I'm not really asking for anyone to solve my problems, I'm just using you all as a sounding board. You're the best there is here. I took a look at that Catholic/Communion thread and oh-my-stars! Makes me appreciate you all the more. There are some unpleasant responses in there. Anyway, thanks for listening/reading.

I've been going diligently every morning to the gym for 30 minutes on the treadmill. It was easy to get into this routine when my son started school at the end of August. There are half a dozen other mothers who walk their children to the street from our apartment complex to catch the same bus. I'm the biggest one of them all. (us chubbies always know when we're the biggest). So this morning I got quite the surprise when two of the other mothers told me they'd be joining me in the gym this morning. They said they've noticed that I go every day and figured that if I can do it, they can do it. I set myself up for my usual routine; an incline of 3 at a speed of 3.7 for 30 minutes. Off I went.... 15 minutes later the first of the two mothers said she'd had enough and climbed off. 5 minutes after that, the other mother dropped off. I kept on keeping on and finished as schedules after my 30 minutes. Both of them commented on how shocked they were at their own lack of fitness and just as surprisingly at mine. I tell ya... I hadn't felt that good in SUCH a long time. Me. Chubby me! Outdoing the skinny ones! Excuse me while I once again blow my own trumpet and ring my own bell! :whoo::whoo::clap2::whoo::whoo::clap2::whoo::whoo: Come on girls! For those of you needing a little motivation, stand tall with me as we claim this eensy weensy little victory against obesity and the challenges that come with it. I'm gonna be shaking my groove thang all day long. :car:

Marcy you're precious! :clap2: I'm going to print that list out and put it on my fridge!

Hi Car, :wave: Good luck with your fill tomorrow. Some questions to ask: 1) How much are you putting in? 2) Is there a change in diet for me to begin with? 3) How much should I expect to eat per meal? 4) How much weight should I expect to lose per week? 5) What are the physical signs that I need a further fill or it's too restrictive? Don't let them give you a time limit such as "we don't need to see you for 6 weeks". Everyone handles the adjustments differently and you could need one sooner or later than what's considered "normal". 6) Are there any physical restrictions with regards to exercise? I asked this because I wanted to get back into martial arts and I also wanted to start weight resistance training at the gym. I just wanted an 'all clear' to do those things. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. They're the questions I asked.

Did anyone else watch the first show in the new series of Biggest Loser last night? I have mixed emotions over it. I enjoy watching the journey of those losing weight. I can relate to each of the contestants and their different struggles with weight. It's a fantastic opportunity for anyone who is fortunate enough to be chosen to be on that show. It's very humbling watching them bare their souls and wondering if I could do the same thing on camera. I don't think I could. :straight But towards the end of the show I had two "problems" with it. The weigh-in is always the highlight and some of the results the contestants were getting were out of this world. The most was 31lbs in a week! But the contestants that lost the least amount of weight (7 and 8lbs) were left feeling and looking like they'd failed and hadn't tried hard enough. I've been fortunate enough that I lost 8 or 9lbs in the first week or so and I was over the moon! It was upsetting to see these people so disappointed that their weight loss was so "small" And if that wasn't bad enough, when it came to discussing amongst the team members who should be eliminated, the group turned on that one woman Amber. I was shocked when one of the women said "Nobody's saying what they really want to say to you Amber but I will. You're not a team player and you're dragging us down." (or words to that effect) My jaw hit the ground. And it made me feel so bad Amber and yet so thankful that everyone here is so supportive. I have an instant dislike for that woman that initiated the conversation, but I also lost respect for the rest of the team as a whole. They should all know what it's like to fail and to be told you're a failure, and yet they turned on one of their own and let her have it. I know the show is all about showing the worst for the sake of good entertainment and that it's a competition, but my heart went out to that woman when they turned on her.

Do you have a pedometer? You may be surprised at how much (or how little) you're walking per day. They're relatively inexpensive. It keeps a check on how many steps you do. Typically you're meant to walk 10,000 steps per day and I've often found it motivating enough to get me moving to clock up the steps required.

Hi everyone :wave: Things are going okay with my first fill. I think. I'm not always sure as sometimes (especially my first mouthful) it feels like it gets stuck. Or gets a bubble of air between it and the banded area to my stomach that will give me that sharpish pain in the middle of my chest. I've had a few sessions of sliming that have lasted about 5-10 minutes. Once the obstruction has either come up or gone down, it's okay from there. But this is happening with fluids too. Not all the time, but most often if it's going to happen it'll be within the first couple of mouthfuls. The good news is my appetite has decreased. It feels so good not to be hungry all the time and not always thinking of food. When I do get a little hungry I'd like to be able to eat something though. So far I've just stuck with soups and mushies as I don't think I'd be able to handle anything more than that. With the exception of crackers. They don't give me any problems. Maybe my fill was a little too restrictive, but I want to see how things go for a little while longer before calling my doctor. Maybe things will settle down. My weight continues to drop so I can't complain about that! I've lost 3lbs since my fill on Friday so that side effect is most welcome.

Morning everyone :wave: I went for my first fill yesterday. YAY! :clap2: Everything went well. I didn't feel anything. My doc asked me if I was nervous, I told him "No, I'm excited!" :Banane20: I told him my appetite had increased, not to the point where I was ravenous and always hungry, but that I felt I was eating a little too freely. So we got that sorted out in less than a minute. Who said "no pain, no gain"? Pft!!! My band is 4cc and I got 1.75cc fill. He was initially going to give me 2cc, but the restriction came up short of that. I can feel it. Last night was a little tough because my head was telling me I wanted more soup, but my body was telling me it was enough. I really need for my head to get with the program! :Banane20: More good news. That sleep study bill I told you all about for $734; I spoke with the staff there yesterday and they got their office accountant to come chat with me. She took a copy of my bill and told me I should never have received it in the first place. She's going to sort it out for me and call me when she gets a response from the centre in question. According to her, yes they were an out of network centre, but they agreed to charge me as if I was IN network. Forgoing the extra cost they billed me for. Apparently this do this all the time with my doctor's patients. I didn't know if I was happier about my fill or the fact that I wouldn't have to pay this unexpected bill. And the icing on the cake, I lost 2 pounds this week when I thought it would have gone the other way because of my increased appetite. Life is goooood. Oh yes sireee it is! :Banane20: