salsa1877

My PS told me to do ab workouts...not crunches but core stabalizing workouts because it can help. Not only does it help your ab muscles, but it helps your back.

Ruby - WORK ON YOUR ABS! The stronger your ab muscles the less work they have to do on the muscle repair...which is the most painful part of the surgery. When you get a TT they don't just remove skin...the also repair the muscles underneath and the stronger they are they less work they have to do. Also SQUATS, SQUATS, SQUATS. I haven't been doing them because of all the running but LosingJusme will tell you that you need incredibly strong leg muscles to get you on and off the toilet since you won't want to use your stomach muscles. I wish I didn't have to have the surgery in the middle of summer. I was looking forward to hiking this year. However since that is really the only logical time for me to do it...I will look forward to hiking NEXT summer. Besides...after a binder all summer...I won't have to wear compresion garments EVER again! I have to wear HEAVY duty ones when I run and they rub against my skin and cause "rug burns" and they REALLY hurt. I just wanted you all to know that I am going to be gone for the evening and all day tomorrow. I have to go to my band doc to get medical clearance for my TT. Yep a 6 hour drive for him to shake my hand, say congrats and sign a paper for the doc. He has to see me in person before he can sign off, but with gas prices...it sucks to go. The good thing is that I am meeting another lady from LBT for "coffee" (I don't drink it but she does), I get to visit with my brother, and I am having lunch with my dad...oh yeah and I get a day off of work! If I don't check back in before I leave have a good evening and day tomorrow!

...when you can create as much slime as a slug!

Thank you for the kind words. I don't use a food journal because I make a menu on Sunday and follow that the entire week. In other words..I plan before I put the food in my mouth. My band mom "IndioGirl AKA Janet" does journal everything. I like not having surprises. I want to know exactly what I am going to eat and when I am going to eat it. Either way I think it is important to record what you are eating. That way you can go back and see what you did when you were successful and when you were not. At first I did journal but I got sick of writing "licked fingers while cooking...approx. 12 calories" yes I was that detailed:biggrin: Then I found that if I made a menu I was more likely to have less of those incidents because I am a rule follower and that worked for me. So I think either a menu or a food journal is good. Whatever fits your personality. I always ate 1 cup of food. I had to measure it out because even with the band I have a hard time stopping when I am full. So if I could clean my "very tiny" plate then I felt like I had accomplished something. I am at work now, but on my computer at home I have a bunch of recipes that I will try to post on Thursday. I am going to be out of town this afternoon and all day tomorrow, but I will post them on here when I get back. If you are still hungry and you have eaten your Proteins...eat more veggies. They will fill you up and keep you full...if you eat them after your Protein. It takes the protein a while to make it through the pouch so if you add the veggies on top you will stay fuller longer. Breakfast choices: KashiGo Lean Cereal with Lite and Fit yogurt (I can't do milk) Johnsonville turkey sausage 1 scrambled egg with FF cheese Sausage and egg lean pocket Crustless quiche. lunch (usually was leftovers from dinner) 1 CUP!:biggrin2: Afternoon Snack Pure Protein Bar (that is the brand name. I get them at Wal-mart...stay away from the fruit ones...they are gross!) dinner Spaghetti (with about 6 noodles so I didn't feel left out!) Stir Fry (I can't do rice) Ground chicken Meatloaf (I grind my own chicken with my Kitchen Aide) Tuna Casserole with Beans instead of noodles Lasagna with beans instead of noodles. Chili with ground chicken Chicken cordon bleu (with a yummy low cal sauce) Fish and veggies Hope this is what you are looking for. I bought the gladware 1 cup containers and that is what I used faithfully! Glad you stopped by. Let me know if there is anything else you need!

It sounds to me like you are too tight. WAAAAY too tight. The band is NOT about starving yourself. It is about learning to eat good foods in smaller portions. You have to have fuel for your body to run. My belief is that if you can't sustain what you are doing for years to come then it is not healthy. I am guessing that you had the band to become a healthier, happier person. Yes losing weight is the side effect to that. But if you are not getting enough nutrition you are not being healthy. If you can't do meat, you are most likely not getting enough Iron or protein. W If you truly are just having a Protein Drink and popcorn there is NO way that you are eating enough nutrients/minerals/vitamins. PERIOD. Have you consulted your doctor about this? I would suspect that he/she would not be happy that you are not eating food. This is just my advice, but at some point your body will shut down. You will most likely stop losing weight. Your skin and hair will start to suffer. I am telling you this all out of concern...I don't want you to think that I am attacking you, I just want you to realize that there is danger in being too tight. I hope you are able to find a way to eat.

Great post. I agree that being too tight can most definetly be a culprit in NOT losing weight. Our bodies are complex machines that need fuel to run efficiently. Glad everything worked out for you.

So I get everyone here and then I don't exercise for 2 days! HA! There goes my image. Actually I am having a case of the shin splints and major traveling. I have to go to my lap-band doc (which is 6 hours away) to get medical clearance for my tummy tuck so I can't workout today anyways. I am traveling tonight, staying at my brothers and then running 5 miles tomorrow morning before the doc appt. Then workouts on Thursday and Friday! Good luck to everyone and thanks for joining. JODY WHERE ARE YOU!?!?!!

I hope you don't mind some tough love...love being the operative word. I am going to post something that I wrote a while back to another band friend. I have sent it to a couple of people since then and I think it would be great to post here for you and for other people. I don't like to sugar coat things. I am going to post this here and then tell me what you think. You tell me what you need. Do you need to post your food everyday to be accountable? Do you need to log your exercise? I am here for YOU. You are obviously HUGELY successful so we know that you can do this! This next segment is going to sound a little impersonal because it has been modified to sound general, but there is some great advice in here and stuff that I actually followed while I was losing. Please feel free to post here with questions, or suggestions for what I can do. If you don't feel comfortable doing this here then PM me any time. Karri --------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you ready for some tough love? If you are not ready at this time, that if fine. Put it away in your mind that someone has given you some and come back here when you are ready. Okay...here goes the tough love. And this will be a long post! Nope the food in the last few days was not a good choice, but you ate them and now you need to move on and NOT do it again. You can't change what you have done but you can make better choices in the future. So the question is HOW IN THE WORLD DO I DO THAT? Well I will tell you that the answer is NOT going to come to you when you have a "brownie" (will now stand for anything that is not healthy for us for the remainder of this conversation) staring at you in the face. You have to have the tools and the mindset BEFORE that temptation ever comes up. We have to be ready to turn around at any particular moment and have a piece of brownie shoved in our face and realize that we are stronger than the calories, fat, sugar and piece of inanimate object that we are looking at. It gets harder as we have lost the weight and become a little more comfortable with our bodies. At first we were hell bent on getting losing, losing, losing. Well the newness has worn off and now we are just stuck with the realization that we will always have to fight the "brownies". Alright I am all about being practical so here are some suggestions that I have. 1. Take a piece of paper (one that you can fold up into your wallet/purse/pocket ) and divide it into sections. You may have to write down everything and then rewrite it to get it to all fit. a. Write down all the reasons that you had MAJOR, LIFE THREATENING SURGERY. Not the reasons that you wanted to just lose weight, but what caused you to make this drastic change in your life. b. Write down where you think you would be health wise in 10 years. What disesases, illness would you have? What meds would you be on. Look at your family for "inspiration". For me my mom died at 53 weighing 350+ pounds and had heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea and a whole host of other disorders. Within 10 years, I was going to be there. c. Write down why you are more powerful than a brownie (this one is tough!) d. Find some typical foods that you would love to eat (your brownies) and look up the calories and then find out how much time you would have to spend working them off in the gym. e. Write down what about you makes you important enough to overcome your demons. f. Now you are going to want to fit all of this on a piece of paper in bullet form so when you are faced with you brownies you can look at it and allow you to mentally fight the war that has just come up. If you can justify eating that brownie after looking at your paper, then eat it, but have no regrets, and do not dwell on it. Instead you have faced the problem UP FRONT and not looked back on it. 2. Another possible tactic. I know that you are having a tough time getting your calories down. One thing that I have found that helps me is by eating the same foods that I like but with some simple substitutions and by finding ways to remove some unneccessary ingredients. For example. I make this dessert that had 1/2 cup of frozen berries, 2 TBSP of Cream cheese and 1/2 cup of granola. The cream cheese had 60 calories and I thought..."I wonder how this would taste if I didn't put the cream cheese in it". I tried it and guess what, I couldn't even tell that it was missing. Same thing with meatloaf. Instead of eating it with ground beef now I substitute grond chicken. As long as I keep all of my veggies and other healthy fillers in, I can't tell the difference. I really learned this from Subway. I found that if I went in and ordered a foot long sandwich (obviously pre-band) and got all this deli meat and cheese and then pilled it with my favorite veggies that I all I could really taste were the veggies anyways. So first I got rid of the meat and then the cheese, and the taste of the sandwich hardly varied at all. This is what I do all the time now. I will always fix something first and then think what can I do to lower or eliminate the calories without harming the integretity of the dish. 3. This is the one that everyone is going to hate. WE JUST HAVE TO HAVE WILL POWER SOMETIMES. Yep the age ol' dieting nightmare. Our will power will not always be perfect, but we have to be able to stand up to ourselves and tell ourselves no. Before this surgery I couldn't tell anyone NO, including myself. So when my stupid head told me that I needed to go to Carl's Jr and get 2 big hamburgers and eat them in the 4 minutes it took me to get home so that I could look famished for dinner that was going to be served in 30 minutes...I never said no. NOW, I am comfortable saying no. It has helped me professionally, personally, and mentally. I thought that everyone would hate me if I said no, but now they no longer just expect things out of me. And I don't just give in to all of my brain's wishes. That is making me a better person. 4. Talk about your surgery. I have to honestly say that one of the greatest factors to my success is the fact that I have been open and honest about the surgery. I don't care what other people think about me. Go to 1A of this email and that should show you why there is nothing to be ashamed of. The more you talk about the struggles and successes of your surgery the less likely people are to shove food at you. We have one lady in our science department that brings in treats every week. After the 2nd week of school I told her about my surgery and not ONCE has she come in and offered me the food. She told me, if you ever want it, you may have some, but I don't want to push something on you that you obviously don't want. Yesterday at the staff meeting, the administration gave little food baskets to everyone for all there hard work during scheduling. However instead of a food basket I got a nice card signed by all the administrators, because the know that a food basket is pointless to me. I don't feel singled out, I feel very blessed that these people care enough about me to know what I need. Some people can't make these connections on their own and they need you to school them. I know this is tough, but I had to do it with my dad, my BF, and my brother. I asked them if they would offer a beer to a recovering alcholoic. All of them said no, and then I said then why in the hell would you offer me a cookie! Wow I knew this would be long, but I had no idea how long. If there is any advice in here you don't like. Think about why you don't like it. Is it because it is hard...well guess what CHANGING is hard, but maybe just try part of it. If you don't like it because it goes against all of your moral beliefs, then ignore it. I will never know and it will not hurt my feelings. Even if you came back and said "Salsa you are full of crap and are an idiot" I would think " her loss!" and keep on lovin' ya. This is what friends are for. We have to be here during the good times and the bad. We have to be able to look (or type) at the other person and say "stop being an idiot" If we don't do that as friends, really we are no better than an enemy.

I have to agree with Janet...(and not just the obligatory daughter agreeing!) Your body needs fuel. I am REALLY learning this with running. I have my protein bar that I will eat almost every day, but it is doesn't not have a lot of carbs in it. Before I go for a long run I have to have carbs...not crap carbs but a protein bar meant for vigourous workoutsm, my daily one doesn't work. I can't workout if I haven't eaten. So when you up your workouts you have to up the calores (a few!) but with GOOD foods. I am convinced that calories are not created equal. For one thing your body has to work harder to break down proteins...that is one reason that we are told to eat proteins first. If you look at the biochemistry of the body...the process for breaking down proteins is long and complicated (I know I had to memorize the process for a class!) but the process for breaking down simple carbs is taught in 7 grade! You tell me which one is easier. Then you have veggies...a significant portion of veggies can't even be broken down by your body...we just don't have the chemicals to do it. So again...you stay fuller longer and your body has to work harder (and therefore use more energy) to break those down. So Denise...eat a little bit more. Vary your calories. I did this when I was in the losing phase. I would be at 700 one day and 900 the next. I was VERY lucky in that I didn't plateau...but I also didn't really "live" when it came to food. I can count on 1 hand the number of times that I had foods that were not considered healthy. We have all established that I am obsessive when it comes to food. But you were the first to point out that it might not be healthy. Even though I have lost the weight very quickly, there are parts of me that wish it would have been slower. My brain can't keep up. Not to mention that when it comes to food...I am tense and anxious over it all the time. My bet is you don't start to cry every time you go to a restaurant. I haven't made it through one meal at a restaurant in weeks without tears. SO put the ticker back up there and be PROUD of what you HAVE accomplished and not upset about what is to come. WHo the heck knows...you might just start dropping weight like a brick. It hasn't happened yet...but you can't predict what will happen. You might actually find that you will lose more weight with the small amount of unfill that you just had. If you were really tight it might be that you weren't getting enough nutrition...thereby shutting down your fat burning machine. We can't compare ourselves to each other because we are all very different and in very different situations. Good luck and when is your surgery?

...when a PB sandwich is no longer a peanut butter sandwich!

Is there anyway you can see a different doctor? If you are a self pay then you don't have to worry about insurance covering or not covering a different doctor. Did your doctor include anything that covered problems or complications as part of his fee? My doc's fee included ANY complications for 2 years following the band...including hospital/anethesiologist/emergency room...anything. I would check into it. Hope things are a little better.

Yeah! Look at all these people...I should be a recruiter! So happy you could join us!

My doctor says that it should NEVER hurt when eating if you are chewing properly and if it does you need a small unfill. I feel your pain...I have gone through this SEVERAL times and it is NOT fun. I would suggest a small unfill and until then stay on mushies/liquids.

I have some recipes on my home computer that I can send you. Can you PM me so that I remember to send these to you. Then you can post them here for other people to use. I just don't know if I will be able to remember where to post them!:wink2:

yeah you joined!!!! Good... we all had to start somewhere. Believe me I did NOT start out by running a 5K under 30 minutes. Heck when I first started I cried when I ran a total of .25 miles! The first month is always the hardest to pick because you have no idea how much to start with. I think our very first challenge was 12 days. Now I am at almost 25 days a week. So I would have done just what you did. Pick something you think is doable but will also push yourself. Congrats for joining and WELCOME!

So it is important that you get in your Protein and soup can be tricky to get that in so my trick is to add "silken tofu" as the cream part of any soup. I don't use a lot of recipes as I just love to mix things up in the kitchen, but here are 3 Soups that are a staple for me right after a fill. I wish I had discovered these during my post op. Soup recipes Roasted Tomato with Roasted Garlic This recipe yielded about 1 cup. Ingredients: ½ container of grape tomatoes 4-6 cloves of garlic (depends on size and strength of garlic desired) 4 oz of silken tofu 2 TBSP of fresh basil (2-3 tsp of dried basil) Salt and pepper to taste Directions: 1. Peal the garlic and wrap in a small piece of aluminum foil. 2. Place the tomatoes on a cookie sheet and spray with PAM, sprinkle with salt and pepper. 3. Put the tomatoes and garlic in a 350 degree oven until done. a. Tomatoes will burst and shrivel a bit b. Garlic will be soft and mash easily with a fork c. Tomatoes will probably finish before the garlic 4. Place the tomatoes and garlic in a food processor (or blender) 5. Add the tofu and blend until almost smooth. 6. Heat through and add the finely chopped basil at the end. 7. Simmer for a few minutes to let the flavors blend. 8. If necessary thin out with FF evaporated milk. Grilled Asparagus Soup Ingredients: ¼ pound or more of asparagus 2-3 cloves of garlic (depends on size and strength of garlic desired) 4 oz of silken tofu ¼ small onion (more or less depending on taste) ¼ -1/3 cup of LF shredded cheese. Salt and pepper to taste Directions: 1. Either boil grill on BBQ (much better!) the asparagus until just undercooked. a. To grill on BBQ spray with PAM and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in aluminum foil if you do not have a flat grill on BBQ. 2. Sautee garlic, onions and cooked asparagus 3. Place veggies in a food processor (or blender) 4. Add the tofu and blend until smooth. 5. Add FF evaporated milk until correct texture. 6. Heat to desired temperature Sautéed Mushroom and Tuna Soup (This was my way of eating tuna noodle casserole…soup style!) Ingredients: ½ pound or more of mushrooms (any kind will work) 2-3 cloves of garlic (depends on size and strength of garlic desired) 4 oz of silken tofu or white Beans ¼ small onion (more or less depending on taste) 1 can of tuna fish Salt and pepper to taste Directions: 1. Sautee mushrooms, garlic and onions until desired texture. 2. Add to food processor or blender. 3. Add 4oz of silken tofu or ½ can of white beans (depending on your taste!) 4. Add drained tuna fish (or any other canned fish) 5. Puree to desired texture. 6. Heat and add FF evaporated milk to thin if needed So as you can see, the base for these soups is pretty much the same. If you don’t like tofu I would assume that white canned beans would work just as well. Experiment with different spices, add a little parmesan cheese, or different veggies. Right now you shouldn’t be worrying as much about calories, but rather about healing. If you would like add meat to any of these it would work just fine. Ground chicken, hamburger, and ground turkey all pulverize very well. You will most likely just have to thin it out with the FF evaporated milk. That one ingredient has changed my way of cooking. Once you graduate to real foods you can have chicken Alfredo for VERY few calories by using this one ingredient. Another soup that has good flavor is to just take some refried beans and beef stock. It has a lot of flavor and a lot of protein to keep you fuller longer. Also take some spaghetti sauce and add some pulverized veggies to it and it makes it better. Adding some pureed white beans also helps it feel like more food.

I did it...I did it...I did it! I ran a 5K under 30 minutes. I cut 2 full minutes off my personal best...and at higher altitude! 29:45...and we have pictures to prove it. Just not right now. They are on DH's non-digital camera. I think we are taking them to Fred Meyers to get them developed. I had an almost constant pace of 9:38 and there were 2 major hills and at higher elevation. As for the after race run...it didn't go so well. My legs were TIRED! SO I walked/ran (mostly walked) 6.25 more miles. I only got to a little over 9 miles today but is still over 25 for the week so I am happy with that. I don't have any more 5K's so now it is JUST the half marathon to prepare for. Next week we will be back to the canyon and back to training. Tomorrow is my rest day and I need it. My legs are VERY sore.

did it...I did it...I did it! I ran a 5K under 30 minutes. I cut 2 full minutes off my personal best...and at higher altitude! 29:45...and we have pictures to prove it. Just not right now. They are on DH's non-digital camera. I think we are taking them to Fred Meyers to get them developed. I had an almost constant pace of 9:38 and there were 2 major hills and at higher elevation. As for the after race run...it didn't go so well. My legs were TIRED! SO I walked/ran (mostly walked) 6.25 more miles. I only got to a little over 9 miles today but is still over 25 for the week so I am happy with that. I don't have any more 5K's so now it is JUST the half marathon to prepare for. Next week we will be back to the canyon and back to training. Tomorrow is my rest day and I need it. My legs are VERY sore.

I think it is probably very normal to have port pain and even gas pain especially after increasing workout. I did a 5K race followed by a 6.25 mile walk/run today and my port HURTS tonight. I was about double over in the grocery store tonight. My guess is (and this is not a medical opinion) that the muscle that the port is stiched to is not one that we used much as fat, non exercising poeple. So now we use it and it gets sore and the fact that it has something stiched to it make the irritation worse. My feels like a REALLY bad toothache. As for the gas, you are still relatively early after surgery. A few pockets of gas may have been trapped somewhere that they were not causing pain. Now you have been moving around more and exercising and they moved. Is it this type of gas or "tooty" gas (you know the TMI kind!). They are different. If it is tooty gas it could be a change in your diet. Or it could be milk. Have you ever been lactose intolerant? I never was before, but after surgery I can only do cheese and yogurt...and in very moderate amounts. I can't do milk and I can't do ice cream (not that I need it). If you are noticing that you are having problems after eating dairy try to eliminate it and see if that helps. Hope some of these suggestions find a good home!

For tomorrow and the next week...focus on healing...take your pain meds and DO NOT worry about losing weight. Also...walk,walk,walk. It will help with the gas pains that you might feel in your shoulder. When you feel that pain try to walk...it will move it around and get it out of your shoulder. A heating pad might also work. I didn't have much of the pain because my brother had me up and walking EVERY hour. Good luck and check back in here often. The next few weeks can be tough, but hang in there. How long are you on liquids for?

I will try to post pictures from my race later today...but I don't know if we will get the film developed. DH is going to use his fancy camera! I have a 5K race for charity this morning and then I need to come home and run/walk 9 miles to get my 12 in for the day.

I ended May with a 7 miler and am starting June with a 12 miler. I have a 5K race for a cancer charity this morning and then am coming home and running/walking 9 more miles. Should be FUN!

Fangi - HOW IN THE WORLD DID I MISS THIS! Congrats...I think we both made it to 100 pounds gone in the same week! How exciting is that!

Okay I have lived in Vegas and anything after October is good. Anything before and you die....UGH. I would definetly TRY to make it then as I have a lot of friends down there. In fact one just gave birth 2 days ago!! I don't know if it will be in the budget...but I can try!

I paid 17000$ and it reallllllyyyy helped with the taxes. As long as you have a doctor that is willing to say that it was medically necessary (ie BMI 40+ or 35+ with co morbidities usually) then go for it. Though you only need the letter if the IRS audits you, which from what I understand is pretty rare. My tummy tuck will be written off on my taxes as well because my plastic surgeon is saying that it is medically necessary.