the best me

OMGosh I love Wynonna! Shucks, wonder when it will air again? I hate I missed it. Wy was on CMT with Heart for a Crossroads episode, so I'm sure she knows about banding from Ann Wilson, right? Send me a PM if anyone sees it airing again!

Jesse, just some advice from personal experience regarding the tuna. It's high protien and moist, which is good, but I can't eat it comfortably unless I take the smallest bites, or it still gets stuck and uncomfortable going down, kind of like your dark meat chicken did. Honestly, you may need more time and more weight loss before you can move to the denser meats. It seems like mushy tuna wouldn't be a dense meat, but for me, it is. Maybe I just like to take bigger bites? Cottage cheese does the same thing, unless I use a toddler spoon and I'm very careful to be sure my bite size is small. Just be careful. Keep protien shakes in your diet for a while longer, make sure you get your nutrition in, and get your mind ready to spend a few more weeks taking it very slow and easy on eating "real" foods. Don't push it, is my advice. You WILL be able to eat again with the same satisfaction, just not yet. Hang on, it gets easier. When you get a few weeks in of mushies, read Molly and Mary's advice again, and go from there. I wish I had listened when people said slow down. I thought "I AM eating slow!" but that's not what they were saying. It was more like "Slow down on what your expectaions are of what eating post-surgery should feel like. Be okay with mushies for longer than other folks. Slow down. Let your band be your guide. If it won't let you, don't, and it's okay" Hang in there, you are doing great!

jessenj, Good advice so far, just want to add that if you get stuck and have that chest pain, be sure to go to liquids for a day, then stay on mushy foods for a while before trying the dense foods again. When we get stuck or PB something, it causes swelling in the band area. Give a few days for the swelling to get good and gone, otherwise you are just making a vicious cycle of swelling causing eting difficulties causing more swelling, round and round. Give your band a rest, eat mushy foods and liquids. I would also avoid a fill just yet. Great weight loss so far, just take good care of that band.

Dr Gonzales in Winston-Salem. Sherrie posted that Dr G is now only doing fills under flouro at the hospital. I have no idea what the cost is. He's my only option besides a quick flight to San Diego and a trip across the border. Kuri or Ortiz in TJ will do fills for anyone, just e-mail their office if you can get to TJ. I know it's a pain but if you can get a cheap flight it might be worth the time. Let me know if you need phone numbers or web addys.

Paula, everyone has made such wonderful replies I haven't known what to say!!! But I have been keeping up with this thread, wondering what will happen next.:rolleyes Glad you found your cage...God has a way of making good things out of bad. Stomach bugs and all, huh? And right on time, when you reach out, and not last week when you were hiding in the dark with your carb binge. So, is the sig fixed now? 185, huh? Okay, here's some "kick your butt" because I'm 186-188 these days and I joined Curves again, so watch out! Don't let me pass you by! You have been ahead of me all along, so don't lose it now, okay? You can do this! You ARE doing it! I'm so proud of LBT. This is what it's all about. Great pic P'nut.

Yay You! Welcome to LBT. So happy to have you!!!

My daily goals: 1. Curves has my money now. Three days a week, I'm there. 2. I will take my 40 min walking route at least one day a week. 3. I will drink a minimum of 4 bottles of Water a day. That's about 70oz. 4. I will spend 15 min a day decluttering the hotspots in my home. 5. For Lent, I gave up LBT time for prayer, so M-F, for one hour while DS is napping and DD is in school, I will stay away from LBT and spend some time reading my Bible and praying. That has worked well so far, and Lent isn't over, so I'll keep that up. Hey, I have lost about 5% Body fat since my high weight 2 years ago, how 'bout that?! It's still high, though. Curves will get me strong again. Yay!

Hugs and prayers sent your way, my friend. Let us know what happens. And I think taking Medical leave from school is smart smart smart. You will have some Scholarship hoops to jump through, I'm sure, but you'll get 'er done. Take care of your business and your health. We are here for you!!

There are 2 bands, size 9.75cm and 10cm, both with a 4cc capacity. So if you have the 10cm band, you have 4cc saline capacity. I don't know the size of the band that holds 10cc, then there's the VG band...how come I can never remember this stuff? Check out www.Inamed.com and see what that says. Emily, it looks like you have 4cc capacity, especially if you only have a 1cc fill. That's my bet, anyway. You DO need to eat veggies/fruits and not JUST protien! But I swear I do better when I concentrate on the protien and be sure to get that in. The rest of it falls into place when I do that. How's the fill so far?

YES! Well, for me it's not creepy looking at YOUR face, great pic! You look like someone I'd like to hang out with. I don't think we live near each other, though. I'm in North Carolina. It IS creepy seeing my pic pop up! I kind of miss my wreath avatar. Who's next?!!!

I loved the thread title. See, we missed you!!! So glad you are doing well. Don't stay gone for long, 'kay? Dee, thanks for knocking on her door!!!!

Hey! I'm joining Curves again tomorrow! I have been missing exercise. Time to get back at it, and Curves was great when I joined a few years ago. I think it will help lots. And hubby is supportive and will make sure I make it to my workouts at least 3 days a week. Yay hubby!

Yes, it's normal for a fill to cause a bit of swelling (I'm a sweller) and sometimes waiting it out and sticking with liquids for a few days, then mushies for a while, helps. Plus, weight loss causes loss of restricition because you lose inner fat too. Now, the reason your doc said cold chicken is that cold chicken, especially with no food lube (BBQ sauce, etc) can get stuck easily. If you aren't getting stuck or aren't having trouble with cold chicken, you probably need a fill. I won't eat cold meat at all anymore though! So I wouldn't know. LOL I nuke it at least a little bit. So, it doesn't mean you won't be able to eat chicken at all...just not cold chicken. You WILL have to be super careful after a fill, and may need to put chicken on the back burner for a bit, but chicken is a staple hard protien for bandsters. You should be able to eat it well-chewed, of course. Don't panic yet! :biggrin1:

Ya'll are sweeeet! Thank you. It's not really a great pic of me, just a pic that makes a good avatar. Know what I mean? Okay Wheetsin, the spotlight is OFF of YOU! Now, where to next?

Golden Corral is a waste of money. There is no way I could eat enough for what they charge for the buffet. Today, my 3yo son and I were running errands and we stopped in a little diner for lunch. I order him a hot dog, ff, and sprite. I ordered me a souvlaki on pita. That's it. No fries, nothing to drink. I ate a few of his fries, about 4 pieces of the souvlaki meat, and had a few bites of the pita bread. That's it! I was, however, still hungry but 3yo's don't sit still long enough for Mom to finish slowly, slowly chewing and eating, so I got a box and went home. Then I sat down and spent the next 20 min eating the rest of the sandwich. It was very yummy! Compare this to pre-band, where I would have ordered the sandwich, the FF, a large sweet tea, and a side greek salad and would have eaten it ALL, and then had a full dinner. Plus Snacks. Geez, no wonder I was so fat. So, yeah, it kind of changes how you think of food. It just isn't as important as it used to be. I still get the "oooooh, yummyyyyy!!!!!!!!!" experience with food, but with a whole lot less. If you are really going to hold on to your food fantasies and not change your eating, you should think twice about WLS. Those are the habits that prevent weight loss with the band, and cause weight re-gain with RNY. It's more than just feeling full on smaller amounts of food. It still takes effort and sacrifice, it's just that now, with my band, my efforts actually get me somewhere because I can do it so much more consistently.

Wheetsin, you are still very newly banded. You don't have to worry about the liquids rules right now. You need to be concerned with getting nutrition and staying hydrated. If you aren't comfortable moving to the next stage, wait a few days. Stay on liquids for sure after that PB! Slow and steady. If it takes you 4 weeks to get to the 2 weeks post-op diet, you won't hurt a thing. Don't overthink it, it really isn't rocket science. Drink as much as you can and enjoy your down-time! You are doing great!

I THINK it's just one stitch on the front side, but not over the band buckle. This reduces slips to the front (anterior?) but not to the back (posterior?) You are faster at this 'puter stuff than I am...try a Search on anterior and posterior and see what pops up...I'm betting there's a good link in here somewhere.

Kelly, have it fixed. You said you aren't done losing. I wondered for myself what I would do "IF" and I keep thinking about Penni and La Madam (and our other former bandsters) who say how the hungries just kick in HARD with no band. I'd imagine having an unfilled unslipped band is better than no band at all. I think when we don't have restriction, we take our band for granted but it IS working, you know? Get it fixed, keep it unfilled for a long time if you have to. You have done so well, don't give up!!!

I wanna see!!! Post here Wheetsin, or I'm gonna have to hunt you down and put you in MY pocket!

Ahaaa! The diabetes explains everything. No, you don't want to crash out, and your doc is smart and well, smart, to keep such a close eye on your diet. Trust that doc, sounds like they know what they're doing at that office! You'll lose the weight. If you are able to be so compliant with a small fill, just wait till it gets easier, the weight will fall off, and hopefully your blood sugars will remain stable. Good job!

(Pat, I love your sink!) My DH is building a house and the plumber is coming out today to finish the rough in, so I asked my hubby to ask the plumber what to do about the rubber disposal thingy. My old sink had one that was removable. Easy to clean! My sink now is built in like yours, and it drives me nuts that I can't take it out and scrub/soak it. Anyhow, I'll get the word from the plumber, I hope, and post it here. Princess, your sink is NOT horrible looking, really! No, it isn't sparkling new. Maybe you could get those sink racks that sit in the bottom of your sink. Not the mats, but the plastic coated wire racks that keep your dishes from scratching your sink. It would cover it anyway, for showing the house.

223/188/186 (-2) did I do that right? Happy weighing everyone...it's Wednesday!!!!!!!!

Well, now, that was easy! Good for you Magsi!

Wonderful attitude! So glad you have an answer. Keep us posted! Has the unfill given you any relief yet?

Look! You made it to the Introductions Forum! Welcome to LBT! Ask away, we are glad to answer any questions you have. And I like your screen name...just when you think there aren't any creative ones left. Good one!