vinesqueen

Oh! OH! I know, I KNOW!!!!! Get a beer helmet! You know,one of those beer hats where it holds the cans or bottles of been on your head and gravity feeds the beer down. Sort of like a hard-hat looking thing.

Okay, you've asked lots and lots of questions that can easily be answered if you do a simple search 1. I didn't do a pre-op diet. I was too sick. 2. I had my gallbladder out lap, and the pain from that was more than the band. I think. I remember it hurting more than being banded, but I had to have it out because it was full of stones and blocked and I was sick from it. I went shopping the morning after I was banded. 3. Sex... WOOT! okay, don't do anything before you feel like it. And if your hubbie is disturbing your band while making whoopie, well, maybe he's got a promicing career in Porn? 4. Yup you gain weight when you transition from liquids to solids. Weight gain doesn't mean fat gain. Here, your colon has matter in it again. 5. I don't know how long the longest time folks went without a fill. Im a turtle, so I'm not the best person to ask this. Kare Bear and Capt'n Jack spring to mind. 6. I have yet to lose 40 pounds so I cannot answer this.

It is no fun at all being too tight! I'm sorry you are still having issues, but try to sip smaller quantities, take true sips as opposed to big swallows. I'm sure you already know that Put all thoughts of a fill far from you mind. It is possible that if you are still this tight that you might not need a fill for quite a while. We have several bandsters who didn't get a fill until months after they were banded because they didn't NEED a fill. Cheers and welcome to the Banded Gentry!

Hi Belinda, welcome back! Congrats on your 100 pound loss, that is terrific. From what I've learned, it is to be expected that once you lose any sort of significant weight, your band becomes looser becaues there is less internal pressure on the band. As for the acid reflux, you might need to back down a .1cc. I know that that small amount can really affect how tight your band is. You might simply be too tight and might find that the tiny little adjustment might work wonders. Cheers!

Take care Trish, and drive carefully! (sending lots of white light your way!) ((((((((((Trish))))))))))

I'm actually very excited when someone doesn't meet our strict membership guidlines, because it means that they are actually doing really, really well. Jorjet, I know how very hard it is to watch some of our superstars, our rabbits who lose twice as much as we do. There are days and weeks where I absoluetly resent the success of our dear sisters and brothers who have lost SEVEN times what I've lost. You've lost a meer 4 times what I've lost in the same amount of time. And that is very exciting. But depressing at the same time.

Okay, tonight I discovered something truely gross. When you PB on chopped creamed spinach, it's form doesn't change from pre-PB to post-PB. I don't think I can ever look at it the same ever again.

Carrol of the Bells, http://www.daisychurch.com/cluck/play.html

Hey Gang, I'll be home for the holidays, anyone want to see if we can get together for coffee? I'll be home for the Thanksgiving week, and then again for a couple of weeks in December. Eastside works best for me, but Downtown Seattle is a quick bus trip away By all the Gods, I miss home!

Like Whipp, I always make the same ones over and over: I resolve to find seek balance in my life I resolve to be kinder to everyone and to myself. Oh sure, they aren't as glamorous as Whipp's but then, I'm not feeling particularly glamourous

This was so funny! when we saw it on TV I thought I was going to pee myself...

I initally had great loss, I was going like gang busters. I lost 35 pounds by almost the 3 month. Yes, 10 or 15 pounds were water weight because I had a sever edema problem. Yes no more edema was one of my first NSVS. But whee! the weight was coming off! Then my weight loss stopped. I gained about 5 pounds before my first fill. After my first fill last month I lost 1 pound. This month I lost 1 pound. 2 months, 2 pounds. At the support meeting this week, I had my official weigh-in. 1 pound down since last month. I was so angry and pissed off and discouraged, words fail to express my disapointment. I have attempted to be the model bandster. I feel like I had good restriction, and my food has been ... small. My calories have been in the zone. But no loss. 2 months and 2 pounds. So angry. So many tears. Yes, I have had so many NSV I've thought about starting a thread dedicated to all my NSV. Yes, this weekend I actually bought a LARGE jacket, not a XXL jacket. But this NSV was completely obliteraged by my non-loss. Stupid scale. Failure me. 5 months ago They were considering putting me on oxygen therapy. Again. Today I don't even cary a puffer with me, and I run for the bus without a second thought. Okay, my second thought is "I wonder what these people think of big fat me running," and my thrid thought is "don't get in my way!" I chased my sweet 6' tall baby through a parking lot this weekend, him trying his best to not get caught, me doing my dardest to catch him. We ran around for about 2 minutes. Yeah, not long, but I was running to catch him. Not even out of breath, except for maybe the laughter. But the scale hasn't moved in 2 months and I feel like a failure. I was so angry I actually had a temper tantrum. I was so upset I almost quit everything related to the band. I was so upset to the point that I almost came here a deleted every one of my posts. All of them. I felt like a lier, like what could I possibly have to contribute because I am not loosing. But I waited. I know better to act in the heat of my anger. Of course, my wonderful Spudboy and DH have tried to put things into perspective for me. They have noticed my size change. They have noticed my increased energy and my increased spirits. They keep pointing out that I've been really sick for so long, and that my body is probably rebuiling the muscle that I've lost. This summer, I have had on going health issues that are not related to the band. I've had on going GYN issues, including a ruptured overian cyst. Talk about painful! I never passed out from the pain from tthat, but man I was close. I went through almost an entire bottle of phenegren in two weeks because of the pain induced nausia. Anyway, I spent 2 months on various drugs that normally cause weight gain, but I maintained. I suppose that is an NSV, but again, the NSV is obliterated by the scale. I know the scale lies. I've known that it lies for at least decade, but yet I still listen to what it says. I am so very discouraged. I have a fill appointment schedule so I have a fill before I go off to Idaho. The next opportunity I have for a fill will be November. Why can't I take my own advice? Why can't I be kind to myself? Stupid scale.

Well, I'm a belly dancer, and not a topless dancer, but I'm going to get a costume like one of these.... http://www.pyramidimports.com/bellydancing/bdc1092.htm http://home.maine.rr.com/lila1/plussizecostumes.htm I'll bare my belly, but not my nibbles on stage... no, no, no

Well, considering everything, okay. I don't have a leak, so that is very very good news. I had .5 ccs taken out of my band, they want to give it a rest because being super tight didn't do any good. You would think that at a month of 700 calories I should have lost 10 pounds at least. But I'm only down 1.5. So I guess I would have been one of the survivors of the Donnar Party. I'll start on Thyroid medication next week, once they get the results from the tests. The doc said that even if I was on the high end of normal they were going to put me on the thyroid medication. The fill nurse gave me a whole packet for tracking my meals and my calories, and the therapist in the office took them all away from me She said that I'm only supposed to eat right now. That I've been making great choices, but the band wasn't doing its job. That there had to be something else, maybe thyroid levels, maybe cortisol levels. They are going to see how I do on just a light and reasonable fill with the the meds, and send me for additional testing if those meds don't do any good. The first thing I did after getting some of my fill out, was to go have a burrito at Taco Bell. I ate most of an entire burrito, and I felt soooo good afterwards. For the last couple of nights my entire dinner was 1 jalipeno popper, 2 nuggets of General Tso chicken, and 2 tablespoons of fried rice. my 4th meal was the creamed spinach, that I PB'd up half of.

Sorry Joyce, but hell no! I've been way too tight since before thanksgiving, and today I had an unfill, so I'm back down to 1.5 ccs. They wanted to give my band a rest since I wasn't losing weight at 700 calories. 1.5 pounds in a month of 700 calories a day. If I'd been at that restriction much longer I was going to develop some very bad habbits. Being too tight doesn't surve any purpose, and can be more damaging than not being tight enough. It rocks that you've lost so much weight, for for some of us who have other issues beyond calories in-calories out, being too tight won't solve anything but make us miserable. Okay, DOLLLL!!!! Oh my gawd! are you okay! I still think you need to get a slight unfill since I hate the thought of you having to fight your band on top of everthing. If you are too tight now, I don't see how getting you to a place that isn't too tight is going to make you stress eat or gain weight.

I typically gain 10 pounds every time I'm on it. Not Water weight. But it's like this for me, risk death or gain weight? Some people really feel good, some people don't gain weight, my mother always feels better when she take it, I however, always feel like crap, like I"m going to go into a homicidal rage, but I can breathe again. Talk to your doc about this. We can offer our experiences, but that's all we can really do. Your doc is the one who knows what's going on with your body.

One thing that people don't quite understand that a big BIG part of being banded is the mental things that go along with it. I don't know if we can ever be completely prepaired for the emotions that come up.

Sorry, I've been traveling, and now I'm home again! Yay! Since I'm traveling, I'm using my laptop and for some reason, I just can't stay logged onto LBT long enough to post anything longer than a sentence. And when do I just write a sentence??? So, yesterday I got to my morning doctor appointment, fasted as directed. Well, After I get there, fighting through the rush hour traffic, they tell me that I didn't have an apointment but that I should come back later in the week, since my doc wasn't even in the office on Mondays. I was very angry, since that just wasn't going to work for me. I was there for answers, and I was going to get answers. Well, long story short, the new doc I saw looked at my weight loss chart that I so thoughtfully provided, listened to my Band song and dance and agreed that I should go on thyroid medications, depending on what the tests showed. I'll have the results next week, and will start the meds next week. Today I go to my clinic and have some of this fill pulled out, since I'm so freaking tight. I know that there are people out there that are perfectly happy on 700 calories a day, but I feel like crap, and I am having trouble mentally adjusting to eating only tablespoons at a time, especially when I get stuck all the freaking time. It's not good when you are afraid to eat because you know it is going to cause pain. Of course, entire diet empires have been built on avoiding food because it cause pain either physically or emotionially. It's pretty interesting. Since I decided to face my situation, how just banding and excersizing alone is not going to help me lose the weight I want, I feel so much more peaceful. I've only been obsessive about my food a few times, which is quite an improvement. I have done everything I personally could, and still wasn't losing weight. Because I determined that this was something beyond me, time to call in every single professional I can to help.

Well, I sort of feel invisible in Idaho, but that is because folks tend to ignore people who don't go to their church. It is weird, but I'm not invisible because of my size, I just won't let people ignore me.

well, no one hates taking prednisone more than I do. However, I know that typically if they prescribe it for me, and they know me, I had better take it, weight gain and puffy face be damned. Asthma and pneumonia are nothing to fool around with, espeically since people who ignore their asthma tend to die from it.

I'll be there at about 9:30. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to stay, I JUST realized that tomorrow at 11:00 is when I go have some FILL REMOVED!!!! Ah to be able to eat without pain!!!! Okay, Thunderbirds are GO!!!!

and here I thought I was the geekiest on the board!

WOOT! WOOT! WOOT! SARAH! YES!

Welcome to LBT! I'm in Pokey... Most of the time anyway...

I am not actually givign up on my band. I just have to face that it isn't going to work for me like it does for other people. And this has been incredibly painful. Being banded, and being a good little bandster is not going to help me lose any significant amount of weight. It has not, and I don't see that changing in the future. But by facing this, I am able to move on. I am able to take this to doctors and DEMAND answers. I will DEMAND they try me on thyroid medication, even if I am low normal. Hell, I'm not normal anyother way to begin with. Maybe they will be able to figure out how to give me a normal body temp, my normal is 97.2, not 98.6. Maybe this is a function of low thyroid. I don't know, but I'm going to start to DEMAND answers. I have been so stressed and borderline depressed these last couple of weeks. I have one more easy final tomorrow, marketing. After work this afternoon I came home and went directly to bed and slept for 8 hours. My accounting final was particularly brutal but hopefully I did well enough in the class. I'm sure that my caloric intake has not been high enough, so for the last couple of days I've been "stuffing" myself with soft foods that dont' fight my band. I say "stuffing" because I know my sense of proportions is way off, and eating a 1/4 of food seems like way too much. For instance, I had a 1/4 cup of trim cottage cheese for dinner, half a serving. 50 calories, and I felt like this was too much bulk. I've only lost one full size. Yes, all my pants are now clown pants, since I've lost a lot of weight in my thighs and butt, but my belly refuses to play fair. Maybe all I need is a tummy tuck Oh no, I don't like my warhammers very sweet, some sweet, but 150 - 250 calories is not a zillion, especially since I don't have them very oftern, and they are frequently what I'll have for Breakfast. (bad me, but sometimes too tight for anything else.) And I gave all coffee up for over a month thinking that the extra calories in the coffee was having an impact on my weight loss. (I went to tea sweatened with spenda and 1% milk) but I didn't lose a single pound that mounth. Now Jack, the potato-spore theory sounds plausable at this point, as does the theory that I'm absorbing too many calories though photosynthisis. I am from Seattle after all, and all this direct and indirect light in the High Mountian Desert of SE ID has to have an effect.