mcgreen

the last thing I said was "don't mess up my eyelashes" I have eyelash extensions and they tape your eyes shut during surgery. I had talked with the nurse anesthesist regarding putting gauze over my eyes prior to taping them They all laughed at me but my lashes were still all there when I woke up!

Definitely! I was a little tired the first month after surgery but when I started exercising regularly- that's when the energy started to take off!

Thank you so much for posting this! I'm very excited for you and can't wait to see your results!

I go to the gym 6 days a week; 45 minutes eliptical and 4 days of the week 30 minutes with weights. The other day I usually take the dogs on a longer walk than normal (30 minutes) This is likely sufficient for now, I had to up my time from 30->45 minutes when I hit a plateau so I'm guessing at my next plateau I'll go from 45 minutes to an hour.

I went to a concert last weekend and there is a huge hill to climb when exiting the venue- this was the first time in 5 years that I didn't have to stop to catch my breath!

great thread! I'm staying on plan today because staying on plan helped me to break my plateau and I want to lose more!

I hate that this happens. Its much easier for me to watch what I eat at work but at dinner- oh boy. I had a fill yesterday tighter than my last fill where I had good day restriction purely so I could be tighter at night. I'll see if this works. If I'm too tight to eat food during the day ( I don't want to live purely on shakes) then I'll go back to where I was but boy - moderation has never been my middle name

As of today I've LOST 101 lbs since 3/06! Most have that has been since I was banded - I had gotten stuck at 40+ lbs lost and that's what pushed me to get banded. I could see the same cycle repeating itself- gain/lose/gain here's to being a loser and now I have lost more weight than I have left to lose! Over half way there!!!!!!!

Terri - I read something similar in Shape- I've been using it the past week and it really has boosted my weight loss. Thanks for posting!

bought my first outfit at a non fat-person store! Yes the size is still big (18/20) but it didn't have a W anywhere to be seen!

CONGRATS!!!!!! wooo!

I agree- people of all sizes/shapes have body image issues and another person calling themselves fat isn't about me- its about how they feel about their own body. I've heard it all too-what a pretty face, are you pregnant, blah blah blah. My personal favorite- I was at a party in Boston after I got out of college; I was asked where I was from and replied "Texas"- the person's rude comment: "Everything really IS bigger in Texas" whatever. Bite me. I think some of the comments come from many people's lack of understanding about how someone gets overweight- these people don't have food addictions, they can control their own weight/have a different metabolism and it seems 'easy' to them. Because it is easy for them, they don't see how anyone else can have a problem. Or they do it to make themselves feel better by putting another person down. You can't control what other people say to you- only how you react to them. my current response to the "OMG you are getting so pretty!" is "I've always been pretty, you just haven't been able to see it" :girl_hug:

wow- Melissa and Sandra- sorry that yall are getting negative feedback from your friends and family. On the whole, I've been lucky- the only person who hasn't been complimentary is my older brother- he is heavy and I don't know why he isn't happy for me. It's his issue, not mine. Oy- anyone go on vacation and have a hard time getting back on the band wagon? I was not as good on vacation as I usually am (too many evil yet wonderful carbs) and my head hunger this week is killing me.

It's been with in the past 10 lbs (so >80 total) but multiple people are now saying things about my weight. I still have > 90 to go so it took a long time before it became really visible in the size clothes I was wearing etc

I agree with Jachut- I was reading in shape magazine this week about burst or interval training- the different muscle Fiber groups that are used with high intensity training (ie higher number of reps; higher speed etc) lead to increased prolonged calorie burn after the exercise is done. The article recommended 3 minute bursts at your maximum intensity during your workout with recovery time. I did it today- my normal "cardio" pace then every 5 minutes, I'd do a 3 minute burst even though it got my heart rate up. I definitely felt I had a more challenging work out and likely believe it will lead to longer turn calorie burn. its definitely a confusing topic good luck!

its what I did on vacation this week- eat high calorie foods that pass easily through the band chips, mashed potatoes; high calorie liquids; ice cream etc. vacation over. I'm hoping for the day that I don't find that stuff appealing

CONGRATS JULIE!!! (back to lurking)

Congrats Tracy, Stacy and Sunshine! Great NSV's!

I'm a doctor and you would think that other doctors would be supportive and sympathetic towards something a person is doing to improve their health but not so much. People have very strong feelings about weight and many assume it is lack of willpower/drive/intelligence that keeps people from losing weight without any extra tools other than a diet plan and a gym. I've only told the nurse I work with, the advanced practice nurse I work with and my assistant in case I have problems, they'll know why. At meals, I order a glass of wine take one or two sips and leave the rest, eat the small amount of food I want to eat and if asked, say I ate a late lunch or that my stomach is feeling a little uneasy and leave it at that. Usually if you keep people talking they focus less on what you are eating/doing and it seems like a non-issue .

I agree with Jachut that your body can adapt/get used to whatever situation (calorie wise) its exposed to. I don't think however it will be a long term "memory" for your metabolism that you will gain weight at anything other than the low calorie amount you were losing on. I do think (from personal experience and absolutely zero data) that varying your calories (some days I'm 700 others 1500) is the best way to avoid plateaus. I try to keep my week's deficit where I want it to lose 2-3 lbs but some days are more relaxed than others

I think that people do need to go in for intermittent fills for as long as they have the band because of stuff like this. When I went in this week I had 0.9 cc left of a 1.2 cc first fill- we discussed that the band material is slightly porous and given the location its in (middle of your abdomen cavity) its easy for fluid to cross out into the abdomen. Some people have faster diffusion that others so some can't use saline; others have minimal loss breast implants are in a very different environment where the temp is likely to be lower; the material they are enclosed in may not be as porous.. not 100% sure ok- gotta share. SO excited! got on the scale and I was 249.4!!!! the first time I've been below 250 in 7 years!!!!!!! SO excited! I haven't wanted to think about onderland until I was on the "downhill" side of 250 so YEA! (I'm not going back on the scale for a couple of days cause I don't want to see 250+ land again!)

I've had several people tell me they didn't recognize me at first and that they had to do a double take to see if its really me :eek:

Edit- went for 2nd fill and Brenda did it- it went great- yea!

yea! Just got my 2nd fill today- forgot how hard the liquid stuff was post banding! Makes me appreciate how hard the month after surgery was

so does anyone think the cravings for stuff that made us fat will ever go away?? I really really really have been fixated on popeye's fried chicken for the past 3 days. I may give in and have a drumstick just to get it out of my system and just exercise more that day. Sandra- you are doing GREAT! I hit a plateau for 2 weeks- no loss and a tiny gain. I upped the resistance on the eliptical and actually varied my calories from 800-1500 and my weight loss restarted LauraP- thanks for posting that info! Our bodies want to conserve energy- hang in there and we can bust that!