salsa1877

I mentioned my arms and she said that she hates doing them because of the scar and that she hopes that they will recoil...but I don't think they will. As for the breasts, we are hoping that once I get through the TT that we can start working insurance to get a reduction covered. There will be no surgeries for me without insurance for a while. I am still paying off the lap-band and will soon be adding the TT...almost 1000$ a month in medical bils...GULP! I am just now starting to see how tiny I actually am getting...and it will take another several months after the TT I am sure.

ok...I am an idiot...I was trying to get my runs to show up and then I realized that you are not starting the challenge until Monday night. You sneaky thing...my 12 mile run is on Sunday!

Ran 4 miles today. Going to get some walking in tomorrow as we are going to drive out to the course that I am going to be running in the half marathon.

My doctor suggested 800-1000.

My DH is worried that I will get too thin also. I told him there is enough hangin skin on my arms that it won't happen anytime soon! I am in 6/8s now and my doc is predicting a size 4! HOLY COW! Let me tell if that happens I am putting my pants on inside out and taking a picture of them on my butt! I am sooooo excited for you 2. Not much time left at all. I just keep telling myself that I need the surgery to be a long time off because I still need more training time for the half-marathon. I am really glad I have that to worry about instead of the surgery. It is a great distraction. Becky I feel you on the arms and breast issue. My arms are HIDEOUS and the are getting worse the more I run. I really have VERY little fat left anywhere except my belly and that is coming off in just a little over a month.

Working out can still cause port pain for me and I am 9+ months out! My bet is you overdid it in the gym a bit. Anything that can cause jarring or overuse of the ab muscles can cause soreness.

Thanks for thinking about that...but you get an automatic 26.2 miles! GRRRR...Only supposed to run 4 miles tonight, but I might have to do more. See the juices are flowing!!!

4 miles...Though LJM just challeged me to a running challenge through our Nike+ fitness systems that we have. We are challenging to see who can run/walk the most miles through October. Now I don't know if you have figured this out yet but I am a bit competatitve:tt2:...and I have to take AT least 4 weeks off :thumbdown:for the TT:thumbup:, so I am going to have to get in a few miles between now and then to give me a fighting chance. :cool2: But...I promise the true competitor won't come out until Sunday...Then the gloves are off and these feet are a runnin':w00t: I feel SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better today.. I am not tired, don't want to eat constantly, and haven't strangled a student yet! Progress!

I am going to have to kick it into high gear because I am going to have at least a 4 week hiatus for the TT. But this challenge should get my back. I told DH about this and he said "damn...I'll never see you now. You will be running, and running, and running." He knows how competatitve I am!. Thanks for starting this it's the kick I need too!

I have posted these Soup recipes in a lot of places, but I will post them here as well. This should help you get the Protein that you need. You will need to thin them down to the consistancy that your doctor allows. 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.

it is salsa1877 Of course I was going to be the first one to respond. 1. I need the challenge 2. I am incredibly competative 3. I don't have a life and am hooked to LBT. Actually my students are working on "busy" work today! Bad teacher today...Oh well 1 day out of 180 is not too shabby

You pick the challenge...and I am in! I think whosyadaddy was going to get this too...but I don't know if I want to compete with him! We would have to add our miles together!

I like the ones at target more than the spanx for the same reason!

No I would not wait at all. I am hoping you are not even finishing reading this. I hope you are grabbing your keys and getting to the doctor RIGHT NOW. This is not normal. I don't want to alarm you, but your doctor needs to see you right now.

Alright, so you know what you haven't done...Now what are you going to do. I am going to post something here that a lot of people have found useful. Some of it may seem like it doesn't fit because I wrote it for a specific person, but the general guidelines still fit. I believe you have it in you...Now you just have to believe. If this was easy it wouldn't be worth doing it. 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. By the time I get to post this you will probably have 100 other replies, but I want to take my time and post what I really want to say. 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 peice 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.

If you have a Target I get the knock off brand of spanx (made by the creater of spanx). They are called ASSETS and they come in a variety of forms. I wear mine everyday.. I can't wait to not have to wear them after my TT!

Well, couldn't take the day off. Just after I posted that I was not going to come to work today, my asst. principal called and asked if I would sit in on the interview for our science opening. I told him that I was not feeling well and that I hadn't planned on coming to school. Then he told me that while he wants to hire the candidate that is already working here on a temp contract and that the other asst principal has someone else in mind. Since the temp teacher and I are friends and we both believe in the same grading system/philosophy that we are implementing here, that he really needed me in there. He wanted me to ask questions on the interview for both candidates that deal with our proficiency grading from a teacher perspective. The other asst. principal is our athletic director and could care less about academics. The person he wants to hire is a coach...so...I agreed to come in. GRRRRRR. I told him that I was not happy and he asked me if there was anything he could have for me in the interview so that I wouldn't feel left out while they were providing snacks to the interviewers and interviewees...so now I am getting a sugar free hot chocolate with sugar free caramel made with water and not milk. He said he could have the secretary do that for me...and I told him no...he had to do it. He laughed and agreed. Yes I am making him walk to the coffee shop across the street and ordering that for me....This guy is a big macho guy and it should bring him down a few notches. How is that for assertive? When I got to school this morning there was an email from him thanking me again for making yet another sacrifice for this school. I emailed him back and said the only thing left to sacrific is my sanity...and it is about ready to go. I do feel better this morning. Not nearly as tired. I didn't run yesterday but I am going to make myself today. Probably won't be able to do it outside though because it is raining...though unlike Phyl I do love the rain. We will just have to see how cold it is. Oh and keep your fingers crossed...DH has another interview today for a second part time job... this could be the break I need financially!

Believe me...you will want to eat again. You are going into this with a great attitude, but I don't want you to set yourself up for failure. As you can see from my ticker, I haven't done too bad for myself, and I did eat bread, pasta and pototoes...but not a whole lot of them. My doc was adament that you don't cut out a single food unless you don't like it OR you can't tolerate it. You will notice that I didn't mention that I ate rice...cause I can't. Not even unfilled. It is OK to have those things in moderation and my doc's opinion (as is mine from doing 2 years of atkins) is that when you completley cut out a food, you will ultimately end up binging on it. When I would make spaghetti for DH and I, I would have mostly sauce and meat with about 6-8 noodles. That little bit allowed me to NOT have cravings. This is what thin people do...the eat in moderation. They don't cut it out totally. Some of those foods do have good nutritional value. I didn't have luck with bread when I was filled but I can eat it now that I am unfilled, and I do...everyday. 2 pieces of Sara Lee light bread. That way I don't binge on breads if we go out to eat. I do think you have a great attitude and that is phenomenal. The mental part is the hardest challenge in this journey. Good luck.

I know it is tough, but almost all of us have been through it and it is in your best interest to stick to this. The only real advice that I can give you is to take it 1 day at a time. Don't look at it that you have to do 2 more weeks. Make it through today. The soup recipes I gave you are pretty filling. If you want to chew something, try ice chips...if your teeth can handle them! Even make flavored ones using crystal light or juice. You can have cream of wheat if you thin it out with some milk or evaporated milk. Another tip is to just get away from the food. Try not to think about it (harder said then done...I know...I have been there). Get out of the house and go for a walk, get a good book and just sip, sip, sip your water/juice, play a game on the computer, just do something that gets your brain off of food. Try and set a schedule for yourself for when you can "eat". Then the other times, try to find something else to do. Hope some of these suggestions work. The discipline that you can show here will make you feel empowered. It truly does set you up for success. I always tell my students you never feel proud of yourself for doing something easy, but the pride you feel when you complete something that seems almost impossible is the greastest feeling in the world. Look at each day with the PRIDE you can have when you succeed one more time!

You will have to pulverize/blend these soups to meet the requirements of your doctor's thickness but these helped me when I waiting to get a partial unfill because I was too tight. The extra Protein in tofu seemed to help me stay fuller longer. Okay for the soup recipies: 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 am jumping in from another board! What kinds of foods are you eating? Are you exercising? You are at about the level of weightloss where I was told you need to make sure that you are eating the RIGHT foods and movin' the hiney! According to my doctor, just by cutting portion sizes the band will help you lose about 30-40% of your excess weight, but after that is really up to us. If you list a day or two of meals then I would love to help you tweak it if needed.

I think it is the perfect opportunity for people to be educated (I am a teacher...I think everyone needs to be educated:lol:). When they ask questions it is nice to be able to answer them honestly. I have had several people approach me at work and ask all those questions and then mutter something about wondering if it will work for them. Then I go into my speech about how you have change your eating habits, work out, and pretty much flip your life upside down at times. By the time I am done explaining the rules and the regulations of this band, the complications that can arise and providing them stories from here and my in person support group (obviously no names) they are not convinced that this is the easy way or that it would be successful for them. One lady said...there is no way I could have that much discipline...and I said, if you don't, it doesn't work. You seem to have such a wonderful attitude about the band and your mental changes that you have put in place now are going to bring you great success in the future. I think that sometimes it is good to be a role model for your peers. For me I have my students (high schoolers) questioning the foods they eat because I have been very open and honest about my surgery. So yes I have had 150+ pairs of eyes watching every morsel of food that has gone in my mouth between school hours since the first day of school. It helped me be accountable and it helped educate them. Hopefully you can do the same for your co-workers. Good luck and FANTASTIC job!

24 pounds is GREAT. :thumbup: My doc states that losing 50 pounds in 1 year is what he considers success...by my calculations, you are well on your way to that...and in fact WAY ahead. :w00t: Personally I have NEVER felt restristriction like I did the first week after surgery. Some of the things that you stated like NOT depression eating and not making as bad of food choies as you would in the past is a HUGE accomplishment. :thumbup:As for the impatient factor I think that is something that you need to sit down with yourself and have a good long chat. This band does take major discipline. To be honest, since my first fill (which ultimately had to be removed) I have never been at a good level. I was either too tight or too loose...nothin' in the middle. :sad: I knew I still wanted to band to work for me so I was really forced to change my eating habits and PLAN, PLAN, PLAN. Even now below goal I still plan my meals a week ahead of time and stick to them at least 98% of the time. I journaled a lot during the beginning stages of this journey....when I was hungry, why I was eating, what foods would I be eating, how much exercise, how many calories, my feelings about the food. As for the hunger...to be honest, from when I was banded until my last total unfill, I never really felt hunger or fullness...I felt NOTHING. It was very frustrating at first. As fat people we are used to feeling hunger and then filling up to the point that we can tell we MAJORLY accomplished something by the nice full feeling we got in our tummy...most people won't get that any more. By the time you get to that feeling you probably running to the bathroom to pb up the food you just ate. Since being banded I have felt "FULL" twice and that was when I was totally unfilled...and I was still miserable. When I first started I would put my 1 cup of food on my plate and that was all I would allow myself to eat...no more...no less. I kind of had to treat myself as a little kid...cause I was...I was starting a new life. I hope that some of this is comforting to you, and that you can find the strength to look within. Life is unfortunate some times and deals you rough hands. It sounds like the parental issue is one that you are struggling with and believe me...I get it. However, sometimes you have to focus on yourself, because if you aren't happy and healthy, you can't do much good for anyone else. Good luck...and 3 pounds in 1 week is AWESOME!

I am taking tomorrow off. I feel like I hit a brick wall. I have to do sub plans tonight but then am going to bed early!

If you are having PAIN, then I would see/call your doc. My doc says that at NO point should you have pain. I am not a doctor and I don't want to give you any advice except for to call your doc. If it was just that things felt stuck or liquids were going down slowly then I would say to wait it out a day or 2, but pain usually sends up flags for me to get to the doc! Good luck and keep us up to date!