kimalicious

That calculator does not go below 1200 calories a day. I can't lose on that. I have never experienced this starvation mode people talk about. When I eat very little calories I lose a lot of weight. Especially over long periods of time. Every body is different, you just have to see what works for you. When I am hitting it hard I keep my calories under 800 a day and work off about 270 a day of that and can lose a pound a day that way. Maybe not the healthiest, but when it's weightloss I want and I can stick with it, it works! You have to play with your calories and workouts to find out what is right for you. If I were to eat the 1200 calories a day it says on that web site I would never lose a pound. Sad enough.

Why would you do that to me!! I need a whole new wardrobe as it is. My husbands gonna be mad at you now!!! HA! I love that site already!

I can always find plus size formals at Dillards. I know every one is a little different but the one by my house carries lots. Also, I found a few really cute ones at Torrid. They have online also I think! They are more young and hip. You are lucky you are looking during the time all of the dresses are out for Prom! As soon as Valentines Day is over they will pack the stores with these things. Also, I know this sounds crazy, but bridal stores have really pretty formal bridesmaid dresses. They are generally decently priced too. They also usually have lots of sizes and colors of the same dresses. Check places like Alfred Angelo and Bridesmart plus!

I hear of people going over 4 ccs in a 4cc band, so go get a small fill. Somes times 1 or 2 cc's will do it. If you are not eating your protien first and are eating more "easy" foods than you should then you could have the right amount of fill and just be eating around your band. CHeck back to your bandster rules. You have done great so far. But I always say, if you think you need a fill and you are not PBing on regular food, get a fill! good luck!!

Depends on how tight. You have to realize the band is up pretty far and it is "tightened" around your esophagus. It may just be that your body is getting used to this and the swelling is going down so you can really feel it. Has your doc said anything otherwise.

Vines, I hope that is not what it is but I really want you to have a diagnosis. My doctor thought I had this and sent me to the Endocrinologist. That doc yelled at me and told me that Cushings is a very hard disease to live with and the people that have it are in constant pain. I told him I was just coming on what my doc told me and I had to pee in a jug for a week. He told me I didn't have it and that I needed to lay off the bread and pasta or I would have diabetes by the time I was 30. He scared the crap out of me and was a horrible guy. I hope your time is much easier than mine was and I hope it is not this!!! Good luck, and know that you are in my thoughts.!!

That, I have learned Lisa. The smile and the empathy that comes fleeting right after the initial thought. That to me so far is progress since the band and hitting low enough to realize that I need the band and having surgery. I had gotten in that slump of pulling my hair back, no makeup since I was personally too lazy to wake up in enough time to do all of this and in such a rut I didn't care about myself at that point. I hope that smile is enough and hope that someday my pattern of thought will change for the better cause I am sick of being judgemental. At this point, for myself to feel like a woman I must have on makeup and my highlights and $150 hair straighter. I don't leave home without it. But this is all for my own self esteem, I say stick with what works.

For those that may not understand. We know that it is not right to judge, we also know we hate it when others judge us and know how this feels to our own selves. That is not the problem. The problem I have is that it is an automatic feeling and something that my head does automatically to judge someone. I am wondering how to get that automatic thought process to stop. That when I see someone who is fat, maybe even not as fat as me, that automatic thought that comes into my head that puts them lower than me or judges how they look or what they are eating or wearing or doing. We know these thoughts are not good or nice or healthy thoughts. I just have no way of knowing how to stop them. Basically how to change my thought processes or how to make myself see this in a new way. Why does my mind automatically go there to begin with? This is my problem.

So true Kare!! Good luck with your procedures and please keep us updated with everything. You know we are going to want pics too! But a small price to pay to look and feel healthy!

Ok, don't flip out yet! I lost 20 pounds in the first two weeks and then nothing. It took me 4 fills to get restriction. I have it now and lose regualrly when I can stay away from the peanut m&m's on a daily basis. Mostly, I am really happen because I haven't gained. I ate like a mad woman from the middle of December until last week and didn't gain 1 pound. I have great restriction on most days. I am at 2.9 in a 4.0. Everyone goes through days with no restriction. Those days are killers. I will go weeks with barely getting food down and then all of a sudden 1 night I will be able to eat an entire small frozen pizza all by myself with no pain, no restriction nothing. Then a few days later it comes back and I can't get anything down for days. I don't know what causes this, but to answer your question, it takes time to get right where you need, but don't stop getting the fills until you are there! Stay on top of it and make your doctor also until you feel the restriction you are looking for. I waited 6 months thinking I could just hold off. Well, I lost nothing in those 6 months. Just be patient, not 6 months patient, but maybe 6 days patient.

Awesome! Pick it close so you will be a bandster soon. The quicker you get it done, the quicker you will start losing!! Congrats!

Has anyone tried these? I saw on one of those tabloid shows that they are tofu noodles and they look and taste like regular spagetti noodles but they only have like 40 calories for an entire bowl. Does anyone know where to find them in Dallas?

Good idea, there is a japanese place near my job. I might try there.

Don't wait, I waited and waited thinking I didn't want to get all my fills at once. But that is the point of the band, if you can still eat pretty much everything you want get a fill! Just a little can go a long way!

Of course take everyone's advice and see a doc, but my mom is going through the same thing as we speak. She has been on pain pills for years after a surgery she had on her back and now has lots of metal there where her back used to be. Well, she is considered obese, being 4'11" and 150 pounds, so her doc runs every test and found nothing other than pain will make you sleep. No matter what meds she is on there is always a bit of pain. I read online that this pain can cause you just to sleep all the time. She just recently retired too, so she wakes up, moves to the couch, takes a nap, wakes up eats dinner and goes back to bed. She gets out of the house when she needs to, but as soon as she is home she is sleeping, all through the night too. She does have sleep apnea and refuses to wear the mask and chronic pain. She swears it's not depression, but it worries the crap out of me for someone to sleep so much. I hope your doc can help, because you are right, It could be any number of things. Do check the thyroid and sugars and sleep apnea. But I also know I sleep like that when I am PMSing and my hormones are all outta whack, so have them checked too. I hope you can find out what is causing this. Keep us posted.

Well, then you must buy the boat that way when you are kicked out of your house you can live on it. HA!! I've had bike fever for a year now but everyone around me thinks I would be dumb getting a bike. Only my husband understands! If I get a trike then I will know to ride inthe back. I just don't want something so big I can't handle it rounding corners, so I figured a trike would take the worry out of it...just don't want to take the thrill out of it either. I need to quit being a wimp and just try driving one and see what it is like.

Lisa, I love it. I have ridden the bull at Gilly's Dallas. My arms are so short I thought they were gonna come outta socket when the bull leaned forward. That was always my dream also to ride it really slow and sexy like Deborah Winger. My stupid ars wore a skirt since it was my bachelorette party and the whole place got a hoohaw shot the whole time. It is so much fun though. I can't wait to ride a real bull!! I'm really jealous cause my mom has a little Gilly's shirt from the original Gilly's that was in the movie and my dad rode the original bull there.

I ate cereal in the beginning religiously, but now because of my restriction I can't do cereal with milk. I suck down the milk and then chew the cereal and it all starts to back up for some reason. I haven't even tried lately because I am scared of this. Now this might be because I am trying in the morning and I am tighter in the morn. I just am not able to drink while I eat without problems and that little bit of milk is like drinking while eating, so it throws me off.

DO your docs recommend to stay on liquids then mushys for a few days after a fill? I know when I try to eat right after it seems I am too full, but if I still to my 3 liquid, 3 day mushy after a fill, I can usually slowly get on to the hard stuff. I just wondered if this is why so many people get a fill and then get unfilled right away and then need another fill right away after that again? Just a question.

Delarla that is so nice! I think chrome is an aphrodesiac because I just love it! Like that country song goes. To all you bike peeps, I am new to this game and am interested in buying one. I have 2 questions and don't know if this is the right thread for it or not, but here goes: #1: What is the best bike for an overweight girl with short legs and arms and #2: I like the trikes, mostly for the comfort factor (ie.short legs and arms). Are those sooo not as cool as a 2 wheeler?

So, why would they make a band that held more fill if they didn't want the doctors to fill it to their potential? I hear of people on here with 4.5 in a 4 cc band and they are flying high and doing just fine. I would see if there was another fill doctor in your area who is not stopping you from getting the fill you need. This band doesn't work without it. You should call and ask your doctor this and once you find a better fill doctor let him know you will be taking your fill money elsewhere since he can't help you any longer.

I think that if you are happy with where you are then the band has worked for you and is continuing to work for you by letting you stay at a level you are comfortable with and still be able to eat the foods you want in smaller amounts. This was the reason we all got the band, so congrats and it is good to know that even after 3 years all is well with the band and it continues to keep you from gaining any weight. I hope you can figure out what is causing your nausea...since to me there is nothing worse. GOOD LUCK!

Did you ever think the band could be causing your chronic nausea? Would you consider have it taken out? Do you still eat a lot less but eat around the band?? I feel like if I were to stop trying I could just sit here too until my head was in the right place to try to start losing again. I am not even half way to where I want to be. Do you think you are causing more damage keeping the band in and not following the rules than you would be to just have it out? Just questions I have, hope you don't feel I'm being pushy?

yep, definately gas pain, I still get it there now too if I drink a carbonated drink.

Lets look at it this way. I have had my band over a year and last night I overate and by over eat I mean half a peice of fish and threw up harshly. Relearning how to eat after 27 years of eating the way I did had still not happened for me. If I were to have the band out I would balloon back up to over 300 I'm sure of it. It is not about learning how to eat right. You know how to eat right now. It is the control you have over your eating. You need to make this decision for yourself and when your husband has to have a bariatric surgery for himself he can choose what he wants. Don't do something to your body you aren't comfortable with. Stand your ground!