Band Chick

My goals, so far, are: - to be under 300 by the end of Sept. - to start back on Water aerobics on 9/10 and go at least 6 times in Sept. - to be under 240 by the January Bandsters/DH birthday Vegas trip (was 240 when we went on our honeymoon, last time we were in Vegas) Because I'm worth it! :whoo:

COME ON OVER! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f95/aug-sept-exercise-challenge-39776/ CONGRATULATIONS on your huge loss and reaching your first goal! I bet the exercise really helps.:whoo:

How odd. 10 months? Are you sure? Maybe he said 10 weeks??? (I hope) Well, every Dr is different, that's true. Mine does a small first fill 4 weeks after. I have a friend who had her first fill with surgery. I have heard of Drs waiting 8 weeks or so, but not 10 months. Hmm... :cry I would say ask him "why?" And as with anything medical, if you don't like the answer get a second, and maybe even third, opinion from other Drs in the field. IMHO. HTH.

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f95/aug-sept-exercise-challenge-39776/ You're definitely NOT too late. I made this a two month challenge because our surgery dates were spread out through the whole month of August. We are all in different stages of healing. Those who just had surgery still have a week or so left to join in. COME ON, Crazy Ates! I want to see more bandster friends join in the month of September! We can do this TOGETHER!!! :whoo::cheer2::boxing:

Welcome, brwneydgrl75 and Trish! You're definitely not too late. I made this a two month challenge because our surgery dates were spread out through the whole month of August. We are all in different stages of healing. Those who just had surgery still have a week left to join in. :bounce: Good job, Crazy Ates!!!! Becky and Pam- 45 minutes?!?! You truly are some CRAZY Ates! LOL :becky: Go, ladies, go! :thumb::banana I need to do my mindful exercise for the day. I'm going to be mindful to park farther and walk around the store extra while I'm out today. I'm doing much better with my band, but now I got hit with monthly cramps. UGH! Oh well. I keep on keepin' on. This challenge is all about being MINDFUL. Every day I have exercising on my mind, so it's working COME ON, Crazy Ates! I want to see more bandster friends join in the month of September! We can do this TOGETHER!!! :whoo::cheer2::boxing:

:pound::pop2: ROFLMAO at WASaBB!!!! That is too funny!!! Thank you for sharing!!! That wins the funniest post award for sure! :first: My story is boring compared to most. I talked to the Dr as he passed by me in pre-op. He smiled and said something like "see ya in a few". I waved back and smiled. The nurse walked me into the OR where they had music playing, something like CCR, and the anesthetist was asking me about the drive (we drove 4 hours to get there the day before). I started to talk about the drive, was going to tell him about the pain in my lower back and boom! I woke up talking about the pain in my back. I only had mild discomfort in my tummy. I was afraid they didn't do the surgery. The worst was the back pain and nausea.

Geo-Caching is modern day treasure hunting. People hide a cache, usually a stamper in a box, and list the coordinates to it's location on a website. You then use a GPS to locate it and put a stamp in your book as a souvenir. I'm not sure that my explanation is clear enough. Here is a link to the main site: Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site

WOW! You are all doing so good! 38 minutes of walking and 12 blocks, way to set that bar! I'll be catching up with you soon! Welcome, Heather! (band-twin :hug:) Go Crazy Ates!!!

Me too, exactly! ...especially the itching! UGH! (Hi, band-twin :hug:) My Dr told me to expect some bruising, because I take Aleve so much for the knots in my muscles.

This group has been a lifeline for me too. Thank you for bringing us together!

Oh, I can so relate. What I wouldn't do for a BBQ steak and baked potato! :hungry: I feel that too. It's a weird new sensation, like an allien in my tummy. LOL I've noticed it's tighter in the mornings. Anyone else notice that too? Yumm! Did you have to speak of it by name?!?! LOL!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! That's amazing! You're so close! You can do it! :boxing: Yep. I get the burps too. I hope it passes, 'cause it's kinda embarrassing.:eek I too am counting down to 9/4, the mushies day 1!!! I'm doing much better overall-- very little discomfort, no bad side affects. The head and tongue hunger is whats driving me nuts. I see commercials for these big juicy cheese burgers and I get sad that I can never pig out on one of those again. :faint: I am so messed up about food, which is exactly why I need this band so badly. Nanna, I can so relate.. How do we cope? My mind keeps going to the old "go out for a yummy lunch/dinner with DH" solution. I'm very glad to be banded. Thank God I found this message board! We'll get through this together!

Good job, Gwen and Becky! Welcome, pmmegm! Keep up the good work gang!!!

WOW! You get canned meats. Lucky you! I was banded 8/21 and still have to do liquids for the next 6 days. It's neat that your Dr is banded too! Congrats!

MY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WAS CALLED: Grace Lutheran I GOT PICKED ON FOR: having the last name Lukas-- rhymes with mucus. LOL MY FAVORITE TEACHER WAS: Mrs Stoddard. She was a very nice lady AND her husband worked on the space shuttle so we got to see it and touch it. We also had space days, complete with Tang. LOL MY WORST TEACHER WAS: don't rember MY BEST MEMORY IS: Touching the tiles on the space shuttle. MY JUNIOR HIGH EXPERIENCE: was not good. My parents divorced and I moved to a new town and school. It stinks being the new kid, especially in public school. MY FAVORITE TEACHER WAS: Mr. Flannagan who I had for 3 out of 8 classes because he was so much fun! MY FIRST CRUSH: Richie Grayson. I have no idea where he might be now. MY MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT: Can't say. Too embarrassing! LOL Let's just say I "became a woman" much too early in life. MY BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: won third place for editorial writing in a state-wide competition, with my article about teacher Christa McAuliffe, who died that year when the space shuttle blew up. THE DUMBEST THING I EVER DID WAS: I skipped a LOT of school. MY HIGH SCHOOL WAS: Woodburn High School SCHOOL COLORS: Blue, white and Gold SCHOOL MASCOT: Bulldogs MY BEST SUBJECT: History and writting MY WORST SUBJECT: Math MY CLIQUE: I had one very close best-friend and friends with everyone (my cousin was 2 years older and popular, that helpped), not in any real clique. MY MUSIC: 80's radio play-- the Police, Tears for Fears, Wham, Metallica, etc EXTRACURRICULARS INCLUDED: Mostly just hung out with friends. Though I did letter in Volleyball and High Liners (dance team). PROM WAS: good. I went to two-- mine and boyfriends from other school. It was typical. MOST MEMORABLE EVENT: Can't think of it right now. LOL MY GRADUATION MEMORY: Got my GED Senior year so I could take a nanny job in Atlanta, 3300 miles away. TO COLLEGE OR NOT TO COLLEGE: I'm currently attending University of Phoenix.

:whoo: Congratulations on your band!!! :clap2: It sounds like you're doing all the right things. It will get better each day. I'm one week out and still get tired easily (Hi, hf2havefun, my band twin!). A friend of mine was banded in June and says it took her 2 weeks to really feel ready to deal with work and 4 weeks until she felt normal again. I read a post a while back that swinging your arms while you walk also helps with the gas pains. Mostly just walk, walk, walk. Hang in there. We're all in this together!

Woo hoo! Welcome, Jim and Nana! It's great to have you join us! Jim, it's never too late. Plus, this is the challenge for both August and September. We can do 21 out of 60 days, easy. Right? Nana, cleaning out the garage does count. It's not about breaking a sweat (though you probably did). It's just about creating a mindful pattern. As I walked through the store today (which I would do anyway) I thought "This counts for my daily exercise. One more day down." :cheer2: Go, Crazy Ates! Go! :boxing:

ME TOO!!! I get full on less, but it doesn't last long. Then when I get too hungry I feel nauseous. I had my one week follow up today and was told not to worry about calories or weight loss right now-- I need to eat more. This stage is all about being as comfortable as possible while healing. Tonight, dinner is potato cheese Soup. Yum!!!

Looking forward to seeing everyone! :bump2:

I'm looking forward to meeting a bunch of fellow LBT bandsters in Vegas. I don't want any of my Crazy Ate buddies to miss out on this because the post is buried in another section. Here's the original post: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/vegas-january-agenda-next-steps-39545/#post539344 See ya there!

Good job, Gwen! I too have been down for the count since surgery, but those little moments when I make myself walk around the room or house, to help the healing, count too! It's all about being MINDFUL! How are you feeling about this challenge so far? Is it easy enough? Does it help? I'm sure glad to have a partner to do it with! Thanks :hug:

I'm truly trying to enjoy every moment with my new band and appreciate it, but the truth is I'm irritable, miss real food, hurt, am bored and don't like being loopy on these meds. I tried going to just Tylenol yesterday and ended up in a lot of pain. Oops! I keep telling myself this will pass.

Yippee! I'm home from surgery and finally have my band!!! The surgery went smoothly. The only snag I had was a bout of horrible nausea when I woke up in the recover room. The nurse gave me every anti-nausea med they had on hand and it finally passed. The pain was so little at first I wasn't even sure if I had surgery. LOL I can't even feel four out of my five insisions. I have a bit of pain in my port area and have to be careful getting up and down. Dr. Neal did a great job!!! I wish I could shout from the roof tops how wonderful everyone was! The nurses, at both the surgery center and Dr. Neal's office, were so sweet. Several of them have been banded by Dr. Neal and had many nice things to say about him. I got calls from the nurses the day of surgery as well as the two days that have passed since. Dr. Neal called the evening of the surgery to make sure I was doing good and wanted us to know that even though we were from out of town we weren't left high and dry-- he then gave us his home phone number! I've met very few doctors that were this caring. Dr. Neal is wonderful! I'm on liquids for two weeks and will go to mushies for my 3rd and 4th weeks. I am enjoying every unique minute with my new band! I'm so happy to be with the band!!!

We met again last Saturday, before my surgery. I'm not sure when the next meet will be, but I assure you there will be many more! Please send me your email address so I can drop you a line next time we get together. It's a fun group and we are growing!

I am proud to say I have done 8 days of mindful exercise. It wasn't much. I only broke a sweat once and that was shopping. LOL Since surgery I just do a little walking here and there. Every little bit counts! Good job Gwen! Keep up the good work!

I posted a thread about a week ago when I was struggling with my pre-op diet. I couldn't find it again, so I started a new thread with my update, to share my good news. :whoo:I lost 14 lbs in 8 days! :whoo: My Dr put me on a two week Medifast diet to lose 10 lbs before surgery. The Medifast was so bad that I had to reform the diet. I didn't want to share the details until I could confirm it worked. So, now I can tell you. I was supposed to have 5 Medifast things (shake, oatmeal, Soup, bar or pudding) and one lean and green meal a day, totaling 800-1000 calories. Here's what I did to improvise: I choose from one of these 3 to 4 times a day: 8oz iced V-8 juice and 1oz mozzerella string cheese or Quaker low fat smores granola bar or lettuce w/ low fat italian dressing or Starbucks iced non-fat mocha or Medifast/Slimfast/Atkins Protein shake or anything low fat around 100 calories Lean and Green It helps to measure out everything, eat Protein first and 1-2 cup veggies with salt and no butter. Our two best days were when we split our lean and green between lunch and dinner. For example: We had taco salad. I pre-measured 6oz meat (1/2 lean ground beef, 1/2 ground turkey), 2oz shredded mozzarella cheese, 11 corn chips, and 6 tablespoons of fat free sour cream mixed with Pace salsa for dressing. I split each of these things in half and mixed with 1 1/2 cups lettuce for lunch and again at dinner. It felt good to chew and have 2 meals! I had to go out to lunch and two dinners, which I didn't think I would survive. I planned ahead what I would order and eat. The dinners were at Applebees-- I ordered the WW Talapia dinner for one and the WW steak and shrimp skewers for the other. For the lunch I had 3oz chicken breast on salad greens with ranch dressing and iced tea. I dipped my fork in the dressing for each bite, to cut down on dressing. It was also VERY important that I journal every last bite. So, I used FitDay.com. You can see my journal here: FitDay.com - Diet and Fitness journal for band chick I'm not a Dr, nor do I play one on TV. I'm just sharing what worked for me:D For those who are just starting their pre-op diet: It will get easier as the days go by. You can do anything for a week or two. This too will pass. {{{hugs}}}