Frustrated

Yes. You're in the right place. You're more than welcome to come and join our little family. Sometimes our bark can be far worse than our bite, but please don't take personally as we only talk sternly at times because we care. Welcome to the jungle. :wink2:

I don't think anyone's really in charge, but if you choose a goal and add it to your signature, I'll keep an eye on it and make sure it moves closer and closer to your goal. If I don't see it move, I'll poke you with a stick. :wink2: I'm a real exercise fiend at the moment so I'm going to set my target for 31 hours for the month. I've already done 2 today. 1 in the morning and an hour Aikido class tonight. The extra exercise sessions allow me to have my Sunday's off, which I think are important.

YAY! :wink2: Congrats to hubby and to you too for being able to get back into exercising. It's so strange how addictive it's become for me. I get rather cranky if I go for too long without it.

I had a much better day today thanks Linda. I kept myself as busy as I could and kept my water bottle filled and with me at all times to help as well. Putting things in perspective, the day I had yesterday would have been a normal day for me pre-band. Now it's only occasionally and I celebrate that. I wish I could buy chocolate by the bite. That would help me out. I would probably feel guilty about buying just one piece, but even more guilty if I bought more than that. :wink2:

*sigh* Yesterday was a horrible food day for me. :tongue: I tried everything I could think of to satiate my hunger demons but they were screeching at me all day. I tried feeding them protein shakes and cottage cheese but that wanted chocolate. :biggrin: Aunt Flo is due for a visit so I'm blaming her. But it's weird because I've never been a big chocolate lover. I went crazy here at home. I was by myself as hubby took the boys to Six Flags Fun Park for the day. So there was nobody responsible for me but me. :biggrin: There's no chocolate in the house and when I went out shopping for birthday pressies for my son (he's 10 on Monday) I stayed away from food stores. Although Toys R Us did tempt me with their chocolate selections at the check-out. Inconsiderate Bleeps! :frown: I stayed hydrated and tried to feed myself "good" foods. But even good foods can turn bad if you have too many of them. :biggrin: So not a good day. But that was yesterday and today is another day so I'm starting fresh again. :frown:

I'm all pouty :sad: I wish I could've been here. My stepson's vacation has been a long time in the waiting, so he needed to come first. And by this time next year we're hoping to be relocated back to Aussie. :sad: Having said that, I've been telling people the same thing for the past 2 years and it hasn't happened yet. Hubby's company keeps putting it off. :tt2: Maybe I should plan for Vegas instead. I will be there for sure if we're still here in July! Things are going well with my stepson. I didn't really have anything to worry about. Of course. :drool: He's such a terrific kid, even though he's a little shy and quiet. My son and I are on the boisterous side. But he's been slowly coming out of his shell and started kidding around with us. He's 13 and is already 4'6" with size 13 feet. :eek: He's just straight up and down though. A bean pole. And to be honest, he's helping me a lot to stay on the straight and narrow as far as food goes. He doesn't eat very much at all, and it somehow helps me to eat small and not just eat like I usually do to be social with my hubby and son. He makes it easy. I'm glad you made it home safe and sound Linda. I'm waiting like a mother hen for the rest of the gang to check in. I think it's fairly obvious who the chatty-kathys are in the thread. This place has been dead without you guys. :laugh:

I'm glad you've been able to work out a plan of action with your respective medical teams Karri. :biggrin2: Sometimes I think more effort goes into figuring out what's best to do than actually doing it. It's so time consuming tweaking and trying different methods until you sometimes stumble across something that is successful. Being fat was so damn easy. You didn't have to count this and try that and stop something else, you just ate and did nothing else. Why is it that anything that is good for you is hard work? :mad2:

What she said. You all look like you're having the time of your lives. :biggrin2: I'm so envious. What a gorgeous bunch of women. My step-son arrives in a couple of hours. I have butterflies in my stomach and haven't been able to keep any food down. I don't know why I'm so nervous. :tt2:

Good grief I'm knackered this morning. I decided to try some HIIT (High Intensive Interval Training) on the elliptical today. :biggrin: I did a 5 minute workout as recommended, then alternated between working at 100% (or as close to it as I could get :tt2:) for 60 seconds and a "rest" period, or I guess 25-50% for 60 seconds. I thought my lungs were going to drop on the floor when I was done. :svengo: Edit: I didn't do a 5 minute workout, it was a 5 minute warm-up.See? It fried my brain!

I've got my fingers and toes crossed for you and will be sending positive thoughts for a good outcome. Getting away will be the best thing for you. Plus you'll have fantastic company. It doesn't get any better than that.

Amen to what Kari said. I'm envious and wish I could be there too but am so excited for those of you who can. Take lots of pics for us. :thumbup:

This is the Soup I usually have on hand: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Uz9GVPGcL._SL500_AA280_PIbundle-12,TopRight,0,0_AA280_SH20_.jpg It only has 45 calories in it so it's a decent snack to try and curb the appetite at times.

Good work Steph and Phyl. I have Liptons chicken Noodle Cup-A-Soup on hand for the times when I'm not hungry enough for dinner or lunch and will just fix myself one of those. I also use them for a snack when I feel like my appetite is getting a little out of control. I hardly ever order a meal for myself when we go out for dinner. I eat so little that I usually forage of my hubby's and/or my son's plate. On the occasions that I do feel hungry, I will order off the kid's menu and my son will order from the adult. Typically though we'll bring leftovers home. I also have problems eating out. I feel obliged to eat more quickly simply because I don't like people waiting for me. A meal that I will typically take me an hour to eat, I try to get down in 20 minutes. :seeya: I don't know why I do that. It's not a horse race. :ihih: Sometimes I feel bad that my plate looks like it's barely touched and the wait staff think there's something wrong with it. :crying: Especially if I've gone too fast and had to make a dash for the washroom. :thumbup: So that's why I've stopped ordering and told the wait staff to bring an extra plate so I can sample off the other orders. I'm a cheap date these days. :thumbup:

I got to the gym this morning and there was someone using my treadmill. To make matters worse, there were bodies on the other 2 treadmills. :w00t: :eek: So I had to get on the elliptical. This used to be my favorite piece of gym equipment. After my surgery I just never took it up again; opting for, and falling in love with, the treadmill. Today's workout was tough. In a good way though. It made me sweat more and work harder. I think I'll continue with the elliptical every other day. On the days that I don't do weights, I'll work a little harder on the cardio. It's good that I can work harder without putting added pressure on my knee. :biggrin2: Steph and Phyl, glad you two are working out your food issues. :thumbup:

I hate when that happens. :smile: I sometimes try to zero in on it. Do I want something sweet or savory? Do I want something hot or cold? Crunchy or chewy? Of course it helps if you have an answer to these questions. Sometimes I don't. :w00t: Then I have to take the longer route and start eliminating the things I know I DON'T want. At times I'll share my frustrations with hubby and state "I'm hungry for something but I don't know what it is. You tell me." This gives me a chance to consider things he may think it could be. It also gives me a chance to blame someone else for me being frustrated when he doesn't have any answers. I read that list of food and thought to myself "How on earth could anyone eat all that?:scared2:" And then I remembered that a year ago it would have sounded appetizing and I could have easily worked my way through it. :scared2: If you get nothing else from mistakenly coming to this thread, I hope you can at least take away with you the fact that we have all been in the shoes you're standing in today; a total lack of will power and an inability to see a light at the end of a very dark tunnel that is obesity. I remember thinking at times that I'll never be able to do this even with the band in place. I'll never be able to not feel hungry. I'll never be able to lose the weight I need to. I'll never be able to exercise, eat right, etc. It's hard work. But there are rewards for hard work. I didn't know it would be as hard as it is at times, but I also didn't know how great I would feel at seeing not only my own results, but the results of my new found family and friends here. If you feel yourself slipping, slip small. Stop yourself after the pork roll. There's nothing to be gained (except weight and guilt) from continuing to eat until you can't fit another bite in your mouth. Don't promise to start fresh again tomorrow. Promise to start fresh again the moment you've had your indiscretion. Try to stay strong Mike. If you can't do it on your own, find a support system that will share the burden with you. I have my friends here in this thread to help. Perhaps the July 2008 band group is better suited to you because you'll all be going through the process together, but know that we never turn away a fresh face wanting some advice and support. You can come back in here any time. Our bark is far worse than our bite. :biggrin:

Steph - I forgot to mention.... I tried that chicken salad recipe of yours and it was delicious. :eek: I didn't have any celery (I haven't eaten it since banding) but I had everything else. You get a tiny surprise in every mouthful. I liked it a lot! :crying:

Phyl and Steph, try a couple of days on the mushies stage (think baby food) and see if you can progress from there. I've lost track of my exercise hours. I've probably done around 10 hours this past week but I don't know when I logged them and when I didn't. So this morning I decided to start doing it the old fashioned way, with pen and paper. :eek: I indulged myself with breakfast yesterday. Just because I wanted to. It wasn't a treat, it wasn't a cheat, it was an indulgence. I had a bear claw with my morning coffee out on the patio, communing with nature. I enjoyed every moment and every mouthful and didn't feel in the least bit guilty about it. Yes I broke the eating and drinking rule. It's an indiscretion I can live with because it's not going to become a habit. I'm not worried that it will be the beginning of the big slide back into obesity. 20lbs ago I would have. For the first time in my life I feel empowered. The band enabled me to get my mind to that clear way of thinking. Without it I wouldn't be here, but it's not totally responsible for the way I think. Only I am. I look at the way I thought about snacking back in the Fat Old Days. A snack was the equivalent of an entire day's eating for me now. Probably more. I figured if I was going to have a cookie and feel "bad" about it, I may as well sin boldly and eat the entire pack. I felt just as bad about eating an entire pack of cookies as I did about eating one. ONE?!?!?!? Are you serious? So yeah, no more thinking like that for me. I know now the right way to eat and I know what I "should" eat. I also know that I have to continue working on the "should" more than the "want". But to hell with beating myself up over it all like I always have. I'm tired of that. The scale is moving downwards again. YAY. I bought 3 new bras yesterday. The woman there convinced me to buy a 40G. My hubby insisted 2 of the others were 38H. The 40G SO doesn't fit in spite of her telling me yesterday it was perfect. The cup isn't too bad, but the bandeau is just far too big. When I tried it on this morning on the tightest fitting and sort of pushed my arms tight against my sides, the bra poked out about an inch away from my body. :frown: So back to get a smaller bandeau. My hubby kept telling me in the store "You're a 38H!" but I didn't listen to him. :crying: I took the "expert" opinion over his. That'll teach me. :tt2: He enjoyed making the "I told you so." comments this morning. :smile:

I've had a busy day today. I did my usual 30 mins on the treadmill this morning. Came home, showered and had a protein shake, then walked up to our local Tom Thumb to buy some things that aren't available at the SuperTarget that I normally go to. Tom Thumb is a little over a mile away. I wanted to get there and back while the weather was still cool (high 80s:tongue2:). I took a bottle of water with me because I didn't want to dehydrate. Well that was all gone by the time I got there, so I had to buy another bottle for my trip home. I'm very particular about my bottled water, I don't like Darsani or Fiji or anything else that has magnesium in it. I can taste it. I usually drink Ozarka. Well they didn't have any single bottles that were cold. It took me forever to find something that wasn't soda and didn't have magnesium in it. I settled for a bottle of Berry flavored Propel. So already today I've had 40oz of water. I probably could have done without my morning treadmill workout, but I think I've become addicted to that routine and feel weird if I don't start my day off that way. :Banane03: Don't forget to drink your water today ladies. That summer weather just sucks all the moisture out of us.

Wow! Those pictures are amazing. I've watched a lot of plastic surgery shows and am always surprised at how much they take off. I can only imagine what it would be like for you to see your own body bits on the table like that. I don't mind watching these show and seeing other people go through it all, but I'm not sure I could watch myself. :Banane03: You're a brave girl. I'll probably ask for pics to be taken when it's my time, but I'm not sure I'll have the courage to look at them. Still..... I think it's important to have them just in case I do.

YAY! I'm glad things are going well for you. Once in a while when I'm at the gym I like to pick up one of the weights equal to the amount of weight I've lost just to see how heavy it is. It's shocking! :Banane03: It's also getting harder and harder to pick them up the more weight I lose. Even with working out to build my muscles.

That's true. Karri is kind of the baby of our group and it's probably natural, but frustrating for her I'm sure, that we worry and fuss over her more than everyone else. She just does so much and you can't keep the girl still. Heck, we all worry about you if we don't get our morning message. :tt2: Jackie - wow you look amazing. It never ceases to amaze me how much we have all changed from such a short time ago. We are still no doubt the hottest group of women on the forum. That's why our thread is number 1. I have that weird pain in my left shoulder today. The same thing I got right after my surgery. I worked out my arms today, but I didn't tweak anything because it's not a muscle or a joint kind of pain. It's very strange. I don't like these phantom issues. :eek: It's been hard finding food to eat today. I'm not in the mood for anything. I made myself eat some cottage cheese for lunch. I had a couple of spoons of hubby's tuna salad but... I don't know, I just didn't want to eat any more than that. And soon I'll have to think of something for dinner. Maybe I'll have some stir fry veggies. At least drinking hasn't been a problem today. I've already hit my daily water target and had a cup of coffee and a protein shake as well. I can't complain. Give me a day like today over the eat-everything-in-the-cupboards-and-fridge type any day. :eek: Oh, and I've lost count of my exercise hours as well. That's what I get for not logging in every day. :eek:

I think the most important thing is to find something you like. That way you'll be more inclined to do it and not think of it as a chore. For me I have a daily routine (well, every day but Sunday) where I will spend 30 minutes on the treadmill in the morning. For the first 6 months this was my primary exercise and anything else I did was a bonus. A good energy day. :eek: But I would hit plateaus and get frustrated and wonder if it was even worth continuing to exercise. The key to that is often changing your routine. But for me this half hour each morning became more than just physical exercise. It gave me 30 minutes of "ME" time. It started my day off well. If I did nothing else during the day, I could at least say I exercised for half an hour. So I had to find other ways to change things up. Gradually I increased the incline and speed to make things a little more challenging. In the past 3 months I have also added other exercise sessions. I'm really working on my arms in the hopes of being able to avoid needing surgery for my bat wings. :eek: Tummy tuck and an inner thigh fix are inevitable so my focus is on my arms/shoulders/upper body. I row for 20 minutes 3 times a week, I try to swim for 30 minutes at least twice a week and I lift weights for 30 minutes 3 times a week. I also take an hour long Aikido class 2 times a week. Exercise has become quite the addiction. Written down it looks like I do quite a lot. But it doesn't feel that way to me. Not now, today, anyway. If someone had put my exercise schedule in front of me a year ago, I would have told them they were INSANE. But you need to know your limitations. I will never be a marathon runner because my right knee won't tolerate any running. It's low impact exercise for me. If I didn't have the foundation of my 30 minute treadmill routine, I can't imagine I would have made any advancements in my fitness and energy levels. There's one very important piece of equipment that I absolutely can't exercise without. It's my iPod. It sounds like a very new age, yuppy, trendy, unnecessary, over-priced, over-rated, insignificant piece of merchandise, but if I don't have it, I can't spend more than 10 minutes doing anything. :eek: I don't know if 30 minutes of running is better than 30 minutes of walking, but I do know that it's better than 30 minutes of eating Cookies.

Hi Linda, I think the biggest favor you can do for yourself is start to listen to what your body is telling you. There'll be little signs that will tell you when you've eaten enough. For me it's the start of hiccups. Once that begins I know that if I continue to eat, I'll probably end up in the bathroom trying to get rid of that last little bit that I thought wouldn't matter. Vomiting is bad. But what you're experiencing may not be the full on vomiting. It could be the lesser evil PBing. Or Productive Burping. This is when you burp but it's accompanied by food and/or a ball of slime. If it's vomiting you'll usually taste the bile from your stomach and/or your tummy will convulse while you're vomiting. For me at times something has just gotten stuck, and once I get rid of it I'm free to finish my meal. Sometimes. Other times it's my body telling me "that's enough" even when my mind and taste buds want to carry on partying. :frown: As for your experience with ice cream. Well, that turns into a liquid once it's warmed in your body and has no problem at all sliding through. You'll also discover other 'slider' foods. Foods that will slip through your band barely noticed. For me it's potato chips and Cookies. *sigh* I wish it were something more healthy, but alas I must have offended the food gods and they've punished me with yummy sliders. :eek:

A day and a half should be okay. Some people take a little longer though. Each fill for me has been a little different. With my last one I discovered that warm/hot liquids would help loosen things up. If I tried to drink something cold it would tighten up and I'd have PB/sliming sessions. Then I'd have to wait for the rest of the day again for the swelling to go down. Remember that PBing can irritate your band and make it swell. I would see how tomorrow goes. If things settle down, carry on how you are. If you find you still can't get your required fluids in, call your medical staff and ask for their opinion.

Usually for me when my band feels tight it means I can't eat very much at all before it becomes physically impossible to eat any further. What happens if I continue to do so? At first it feels like whatever I've just eaten has turned into a bowling ball that just won't go down. So if it can't go down, it has to come back up. :frown: It quickly evacuates itself from my system. When this happens a couple of times you get to recognise the symptoms of eating too much or too quickly. It doesn't necessarily mean that there is a feeling of tightness, but more often than not describes the fact that the band has tightened a little more than probably necessary so that barely anything can pass through. Hope this helps.