~Bridgette~

Welcome aboard, LongHornGirl! You're already doing very well, I see! Congratulations!! I know you're very excited about your upcoming surgery! You'll do great. Please keep us posted! =)

Omg, Gina, your dogs are adorable! I bought my bullet today at Target when I went out. I'm so excited about using it. I like that it has multiple cups so I won't have to wash a blender every single time I want to make a shake. I even read through the little recipe book tonight and was trying to think of what I can make in it to turn food into mushies, lol. I have another question for y'all. Are you using smaller flatware to eat off of? Like baby sized spoons? If so, are you using the plastic cute colored utensils available in the baby aisles or did you find normal looking silverware in smaller sizes? I looked at that today too and decided I didnt' want a spoon with a dinosaur on it, LOL.

Way to go, Bimbabe! Congrats Lonestarloser! How exciting.

I went and bought the Magic Bullet blender thing today. So I'll be ready for protein shakes and mushies.... trying to get prepared early. BUT ya know, I couldn't find baby spoons/forks that aren't plastic or cutesy.... that's kinda frustrating! I don't want a plastic spoon, but I hear they really help with portion control when eating.

These are some great ideas!!! Thank you. You have been doing very well! I'm impressed. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions. I think I'll have DH take my before shots and measurements tonight. I'd love to hear what you've pre-made as well. I'm going to buy one of those bullet blender things they sell on TV at Target or Walmart today when I go out (if I can ever get my butt off the computer, LOL) to start preparing myself. I also want to look at the baby utensils. I hadn't thought about the small gladware containers. Brilliant!! Thanks again!! :cry_smile:

I hope things work out for you! You've worked so hard already! You will do very well, I'm sure. Keep us posted. :cry_smile: I'm just now starting to cut my carbs and increase my protein (on my own) just so I can try to get healthier before my surgery in Oct. We can do this!! Keep up the good work. Don't let it get you down, you've already accomplished so much!

I don't know, but I sure hope you feel better! It'll be worth it in the long run! :cool2: Cyndy~ Thanks. I'll have to look for it when I go "walking" in the mall, later. :w00t: Ok, now some of you may not know about this thread I posted.... I had a bunch of ideas/thoughts and didn't want to totally hijack this thread (I've been pretty chatty already) so here's a link... what do y'all think? Please read it and give me some ideas. I'm too excited to just sit and wait for my surgery. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f282/what-have-you-done-so-far-76609/

Is it silly to take before pics/measurements before I have the surgery? Kinda like I'm counting the weight I'm losing now on my ticker... should I be waiting until after I'm banded to be counting? I look at it as a pound gone is a pound gone, same with inches.... what do y'all think?? Should I go ahead and do my pics/measurements?

That's awesome, ladies!!!! How fun! I've not been banded yet, but have been trying to watch my carbs and increase my Protein in the last week. I put on a pair of jeans yesterday and the bottoms came lower past my ankles down on my feet (like they're supposed to)... that was thrilling! I showed my hubby and he was happy for me. I can't wait for all of the NSV's!!! I just realized that all of my holiday tops that I love, this will be the last year I get to wear them, how fun! Then the new clothes shopping will begin. Someday, I'll be able to shop in a regular store. Woohoo!!

Thanks, Luv! :cry_smile: It is so great to have a group of folks here that are local who have gone through the same surgeon's office that I'm going through and know what I'm going through! What a blessing you all are!!! Thank you! Please let me know if I'm asking too many dumb questions, but I really, really, really want this to work!!! I'm tired of being overweight and feeling like I'm sitting by helplessly while my body just goes down the wrong path! It's time for me to start driving this journey and not feeling like I'm holding on for dear life! I literally feel like my body is a time bomb and it's just waiting to explode... not a fun feeling! Time to get healthy and take charge!!!

Yay, I love eggs!!! I can look forward to that when the time comes. :cry_smile:

In your opinion, was the book primarily geared towards gastric or did it have separate sections for lap banders? I know the liquid diets etc are probably the same for both types of patients, but I was curious. I was thinking of heading to the book store this week to see what they have before ordering online. I love to look through the books before buying them to see what they're all about. I'm usually a novel reader, so this would be out of my reading range, but for my new lifestyle, it'll be worth it! :cry_smile:

Hiya Luv! I'm very excited about my surgery! We should get together to scrap sometime. :cry_smile: I'm thinking I'm going to do a high protein/low carb diet from now until the last 2 weeks before surgery. Then I'll do the liquid except for the evening meals of my retreat (Thurs-Sat nights). But up until then, I'm allowing myself one meal of my favorites per week: italian once, bacon cheesburger once, thai food once, pizza once.... that's pretty much it. Other than those, I'll be low-carbing my way down until time to start liquid diet. The WLSC book doesn't say too much about pre-op diets being *required* but I don't want to go through all that and have a fatty liver so they can't place the band, ya know? Did any of you buy that blender thingy that they sell on TV? It's a bullet or something like that. I've seen it in Wal-mart and was thinking that it might be great for mixing up shakes with ice or making "mushies" out of other foods.

Hey Sweet ~ we're using the LOW Carb Slim Fast. It's got 2 grams of Net Carbs per can and so delicious. They may be thinking of the regular slim fast optima (that's full of sugar!) When I was doing the Atkins diet, I used the Atkins shakes they were ok too... but IMO the slim fast are creamier and not as chalky tasting. I like to put them over ice when I have time to sip them slowly, reminds me of a frosty from Wendys.

Good luck to both of you!! You all are going to do wonderfully this week. I'm so happy for you. :embaressed_smile:

I have to do clear liquids the day before as well. I'm going to start dieting now, even though I'm about 5 weeks away and then once a week up til the 48 hours pre-surgery, I'm going to allow myself one good meal. Not a "saddle up to the buffet" kinda thing, but a couple slices of my favorite pizza, a cheeseburger, homemade lasagna, thai food (that kinda thing)... I think I just planned my splurge meals! LOL

JG~ Once you have your code for your ticker (write down your password somewhere so you can change it) then under User CP you can "edit signature" paste the code in there. Yes, Smashing Pumpkins are for October Bandsters. I went to the site and made my little sparkly banner thingy... then did the same thing.. copy the code and paste it in my signature. You can preview your signature to make sure it looks right. Hope that helps! If you have any questions, just ask. =)

Yay, Lori! That's awesome!!!

Josiegurl ~ I've never heard of that book, I may have to check into it. Thanks! Let me know what you think of it. Has anyone else read it??

Hi everyone! We're another day closer to our journey to fitness! Hope everyone has a wonderful day. I'm making my wish list today. All the things I have always wanted to be able to do but haven't been comfortable to do so because of my weight. I want to keep this so if the scale isn't moving as fast as I may like, I can look for NSV's like the things on my list. Meshultz~ I'm going to tell my family, but I'll wait til they're back from their vacation.. I don't want them to spend their vacation worrying abotu me, LOL. I know I'll need the support and understanding to know shove food in my face just "because it's tiime to eat"...

What is Nioxin? Should I start using it before surgery to try to prevent hair loss??

Ok, I read through all those pages and now I'm kinda freaked out! How in the world am I going to go on a family vacation with my folks, aunt, uncle, grandma, and DH for Thanksgiving?!?! What am I going to do? Sip shakes while they eat food at restaurants? I guess I'm going to have to tell them or they'll think I'm sick or something.... I'm a detail person and that is one of my concerns... I need to get over it I know. I didn't read anything about blood thinning shots. I actually have to get tested for a rare blood disorder that my mom has (it's hereditary) where the blood doesn't clot. I have an appt with a hematologist. He's got a month to get me tested and figure it out!

Sorry, Vickie, it's not a real book. It's just a bunch of handouts bound together by my surgeon's office.

Hmmm... now I know. Guess I'll have to find another way other than gum to battle my anxiety! Take up smoking again??? ROFL, just kidding!