bigmom

Sounds great. I usually check the chat room around 11:00 at night EST

Hi Norma,, I stll eat mushy fod because i find it easier. i made a large pot of beef stew for my family then tol my portion and blended it and voila mush with taste. I fif the same for chicken soup ( the kind with al the veggies and chicken) and believe it or not I also didit with vegaterian lazanga.

Hey Big T Glad to hear that everything went well. Sounds like you have a winning or should I say losing attitutde right from the start. Keep us posted, remember to drink lots of small sips of water and such. Looking forawrds to lots of updates from you. Welcome to band land

Well here is my Monday Morning weigh in last week 262 this wek 259. Hope everyone did well looking forward to checking the list later today

Dear Denise, You certainly have more than your plate full but please I urge you find someone in your area who you can feel comfortable talking to. You tok the first big step in opening up to us and that is amazing but you really need to find some human contact emotional support for all the other things that are going on in your life. You sound like an emotional eater (like I am) and since things are so stressfull everywhere else you are trying to alliviate your stress and fill the emotional void with food. I can go on at great lenght about allthe shoulds and should nots but you already know them. Some of the things you talk about you are a victum of circumstances and others you are making your self a victum where it is not you at all. Like you daughters choice of husband. Is there a carrer center in your area that canhelp you with some retraining or expertise in wht you can look for sometimes these places can help us get out of a rut and see a clearer picture or maybe even try to paint a new brighter picture. I konw when you start to feel more in control of your life then you will start to take more control of your eating. I know you can do it give yourself the chance. We are all here for you. Keep us posted.

Dear Princess, Here is a tip I use with my clients who quit smoking. Take a picture of your self and hang it somewhere you cansee it eeveryday. Under it write "Each cigerette I smoke adds wrinkles and age to my skin and subtracts a day from my life is it worth it?" The second tip is to figure out how much each cigettes cost and for everytime you win over a craving or do an activity instead of smoke pay your self in a jar, at the end of six months that money is yours to buy yourelf a present, but if you stumble you have to give that money to a charity(preferably cancer related) and start over. Good luck with the new lease on life you are getting with the band I am certain you will do GREAT!

Came back form the Dr. today and my ankle is much better I only need crutchs for the stairs and if I am going walking outside for extra support. During the past week feeling so bummed all your support was very helpful so THANK YOU ALL This morning I weighed in One week after the acident and I lost 2 lbs so I am not so discouraged. Still can't start on treadmill but I am doing upper body work as suggested by you guys. You guys are great. Banded Jan 18 Dr. Chrisou Montreal Starting Weight 292 Todays Weight 259

Been doing arm curls with 5lbs wieghts. Full round arm swings with 2lbs wrist weights and othr basic arm movements with small weights

When your arms are too far to reach the key board When you can not turn around in the bathroom stalls When your kids want to play climb the mountain while you are laying in bed When you eat at home before going out to eat so you do not eat as much infront of people When the Dr. takes out the extra large pressure cuff. When you stop crossing your legs to sit and only cross your ankles When you need two large bath sheets to dry off.Or you prefer to air dry.

The pain in your shoulder is the gas from the operation. The best thing is to move your shoulder alot when the pain comes ( like making big arm circles or swimming motions) to move the gas around. To move the gas in your stomach walk around as much as possible. I promise it will subside. Keep strong.

I am also addicated to the food channel. I love to watch top 5 and unwrapped. I also like American Iron Chef, and Mario Battalia and Travelling on $40.00 a day. But I can watch this all day long but I unfortunalty I have to work and then tend to kids then work again at night then visit this site so I usually watch between midnight and two since iam an insomniac.

Welcome to band land, sounds like you are off to a great start with everything organized. Please let us know how things are going.

Awesome site Jonathan, thanks for all the work. I will check in on Monday morning. Good luck to all and if anybody needs any support during the week just sign in here and I will be checking in often.

How do I enter my info. If you have to do it Starting weight was 292, weight today is 262

O.K. guys I am in, starting weight this morning is 262, let me know where I have to enter this info or Jonathan are you going to create the master chart. Good Luck to all and the race is on!

I like the idea of starting a new thread. I think it can be an excel spread sheet. If anybody wants I can set it up.

I was getting ready to go buy a treadmil this week end 'cause I been feeling really good, and Thursday night I fell down the stairs outside of work, broke my ankle and am crutches for at least one month, now ther is no chance for any exercise and I will probably plateau in my weight loss and everything else is really SHIT!!! Bigmom Banded Jan18 05 Dr. Christou Total Loss to date 31 lbs.

WElcome. Keep reading the posts and I usually check the chat rooms after 11:00 p.m. (eastern standard time) each night.

I am in, I get my first fill March 14 but I already feelthat I slip on my food choices on the week ends. Let me know where to find the challenge thread and lets see how much we can lose as a total team effort.,. (like the show on thelife channel where it is not the individual goal but the team number that counts at the end)

HI Jamie, Before being banded I made three huge pots of foods, One vegetable soup, One beef stew and one chicken soup. I let them cool in the fridge ,scoped off the fat the next day and then blended each one in thier own pot. After they were cool I froze them in ice cube trays and when they were frozen but a few in a zip lock. Now when I want something. I thaw one or two cubes and have that for lunch or dinner. The portions are already done and they have all the veggies and protiens I need. It made my life so much easier after the surgery. Hope this helps

Thanks so much everybody, I think that I will do the uper body thing, maybe this will give me incentive to keep up the exercise thing. I am trying hard to keep my appitite down but you know boredom begets hunger (at least for me). So this is a good lesson on howto control this (making lemonade from lemons) You guys are the greatest always ther with postive encouragement and postive real life experiences to help I hope that I can return the favor for the next bandster.

Up here in Montreal we just received another 15 inches of snow that brings us to 65 inches to date and still another few stroms should be in befor ethe inters over. But we love it.

Congrats all all around for you. I hope that you really rewarded yourself big time for you accomplisments. It is really inspirational to read stories like yours from people like me who are just in the begining of the journy.

Crystal light powder for water Drink only bottles water in Europe (so you have less of a chance of diarriah due to bacterial diffrances) Water bottle with sports cap for easy sipping Vitamin e- cream and cream for dry skin which you canget after anesthetic Non stick gauze pads in case of any oozing and to help relive any rubbing from clothing Get a good pedicure before you go you will really appreciate it when you are travelling and there. If I think of anythig more I will let you know. I am also an over planner. I cooked chicken soup and beef stew in a large batch, then blened it and froze it in small containers for when I began the musy or puree stage it really helped to not have to think about what I could eat and measuring portions.

I had staples as well, they stayed red for a long tie even now that the staples have been out for three weeks it is still red but no pus. The pus is not a good sign, definatly see your PCP If he says all is well try using pure vitamine-oil on the scar to help with the healing it really works.My DR. says that if the fat level under the skin if tight then the redness will stay longer but it will fade. Let us know what happens.