salsa1877

Yep you brought the food cops out on this one. No way that I am going to let someone eat potato chips without some tough love...operative word LOVE. Okay if you need/craving salt that means your body probably does need it. Our bodies are very good at telling us what they need if we listent to it rather than our head. So if you are craving salt then here are some BETTER alternatives. Popcorn (100 calorie bags...add more salt if needed), pretzels, cottage cheese with added salt, beef jerky, pickles, saltine crackers, or rice with soy sauce. There are lots and lots of options without resorting to potato chips. You did AMAZING riding your bike for 2 hours...but this takes more than just one approach. You have to have food and exercise in balance. Yes you can ride for longer to make up for the potato chips, but if we learn to find HEALTHIER alternatives to food then we don't have to worry about getting in another hour or two of exercise. RIght now I am running so much that adding in an extra hour of working out just because I have to have a particular food could actually be detrimental to my training. Now I dont expect anyone to be as obsessive as I am, because where I am at right now is not healthy either, but we have to find balance for ourselves. So right now, make your plan as to what you are going to do the next time you want salt. That is what this is all about...planning! Amazing job on the bike though. I hate peddling! I would MUCH rather run.

According to the scale, I can afford to eat just what I have been. I didn't lose anything this week. I was alright with that. When I first got up this morning (at like 4AM to go potty) I was up 2 pounds, then by the time I got up for real I was down to 156.5. Don't ask me where 2 pounds went in 4 hours! Dinner sounded better than it actually was. The meat was really fatty and I ate too many baked sweet potato fries, so I was actually kind of miserable for about an hour. Even without being filled I still have some restriction and if I push it...watch out...I still get the golf ball feeling! I didn't get my dessert tonight. The fruit salad is still in the fridge...guess I will have it with some Kashi Oatmeal tomorrow. I think I should become the spokeswoman for Kashi. I LOVE their stuff. Guilt free carbs, cause it comes with all that protein. I of course only buy the high protein stuff, as they do make non fortified stuff, which I have heard is good. Good job on the pizza. Just remember it must go away tomorrow. Day after pizza was always my favorite! Peaches - Good job on the food choices and the weightloss!

Alright here are the pictures... The quality is not the greatest, but you can still see how UGLY the surroundings are around here. Everything is brown.:smile2: We all got BRIGHT orange t-shirts as a souvenier for running the 5K. Kind of made us look like we were escaping from jail down a not quite opened freeway! We are getting a new bypass through our "big metropolis" and it opens on Monday, so the local gym sponsered this run. While I was not the fastest person by any means I was one of the VERY few runners. Most people walked it, and most of those that started out running did not do it the whole time. But I did! Didn't stop once. My goal for next weekend is another personal best. I would like to be under 33:00. It might just be possible because it is at lower altitude and hopefully I can get more oxygen! Attached Images

Alright here are the pictures... The quality is not the greatest, but you can still see how UGLY the surroundings are around here. Everything is brown.:smile2: We all got BRIGHT orange t-shirts as a souvenier for running the 5K. Kind of made us look like we were escaping from jail down a not quite opened freeway! We are getting a new bypass through our "big metropolis" and it opens on Monday, so the local gym sponsered this run. While I was not the fastest person by any means I was one of the VERY few runners. Most people walked it, and most of those that started out running did not do it the whole time. But I did! Didn't stop once. My goal for next weekend is another personal best. I would like to be under 33:00. It might just be possible because it is at lower altitude and hopefully I can get more oxygen!

It must be band genetics...I have been starving ALL FREAKING DAY. However, I really haven't eaten that much Breakfast 2 eggs and 1 Kashi Waffle w/ SF syrup Lunch: 1 taco (consisted of 6 tortilla chips w/salsa, 1 crisp taco shell, 3 cups of lettuce, sprinkling of cheese and tomatoes, and 1/2 cup of pinto beans...that's right no meat...just didn' want it) Snack: THe coleslaw off DH's Hawaiian Plate meal Dinner: Well the pre-dinner snack has been handful of grape tomatoes and 2 dill pickles. Dinner should be ready here shortly (pork ribs and sweet potatoes) So why am I hungry...DId you see the lack of protein in my meals today. Damn...I am a carnivore! I am rooting for the fish...but Pizza is real food and if you order only veggies instead of any of the meat (or go with canadian bacon cause its supposed to be the healthiest) then I am okay with that. You have gotten permission from this food cop...as long as you repeat this outloud. "I, Janet, do hereby swear that I will eat no more than 2 pieces of pizza (1 if loaded with unhealthy, grease swimming meat) and that rest will end up in the garbage or the stomach of another person. Pizza is alright as a treat, but not as back to back meals." Are you willing to say that outloud! Okay if you are, you may order pizza! How is that for the daughter taking control of the situation!

Wahooo....I week until the Minnie Marathon. Orlando would be fun, though for me the humidity would probably cause me to keel over on within the first mile. I finished my first 5K today and I thought I was doing horrible on time until I got to where I could see the timer and HOLY COW, I had cut 5:30 off my best time. I am a SLOW runner (I will never WIN a marathon!) and the best I had done is a 40 minute 5K. Today 34:30! I was so excited. Next week I am going across the mountains and down significantly in altitude so I am hoping I can do even better! I would LOVE to get below 30:00 but I don't know if that is possible. Though that is my goal. I know I can finish, now it is time to start working on the time! Good luck on training this week!

Wow I didn't post here after my 4 mile run! The site has been so slow lately and I wasn't able to get on at all yesterday, so here is my update for the week. Thursday - 4 mile run (first one of my life!) Friday - Rest day (and did my legs need it) Saturday - Ran my first 5K race (will post pictures tonight) So as you can see I changed my exercise challenge. If I stick with the training plan set forth then that is the amount of miles I will have run once I am finished with the half marathon at the end of June. I am sooooooooo determined to finish this. Everyone is doing well. Just a few more days in April...gotta push!

Yeah I finished....:frown3::grouphug: and in record time for me!!!! Normally it takes me about 40 minutes to run 3.1 miles. Today it only took 34:30. I was so stoked when I saw the finish line and the timer. DH took pictures of me running and crossing the finish line. I will post them later tonight. We are going to back to the store and getting me another pair of the cheap shoes. They worked wonderfully today. I woke up with pretty serious pain in my right foot, but once I put the shoes on and started running it went away. I am going to take back the more expensive pair. That way I still have 2 pairs, but for less then the price of the 1! I am a bargain shopper! Also I think I am going to look into getting a Body Bugg. I know that most of the time they are used to help you lose weight, but I really think for me it is going to be most important for maintaining. We will see though. They are pretty expensive, but I am going to try and find one on ebay that I can afford. Well I will chat with you later, we seem to be ready to head out!

So have they checked everything out with your heart? Those symptoms always scare me because of my mom's histroy with heart problems. They sound very similar. However I would assume that if you have gone to docs that they would have checked that. I get that uncomfortable feeling under the rib cage when I run as well. I started wearing my Spanx like undergarment when I run. I have so much extra skin that the bouncing of my tummy was causing back pain and side pain from all the bouncing. I hope everything works out for you. You are doing great.

I did get my shoes last night... I bought 2 pairs! I one that was on MAJOR sale (only 20 bucks for a 75$ pair of shoes!) and the other one for 50$ I am going to try the cheaper shoes at the race today and then take the other ones back if these work and get a second pair of the cheap shoes. Actually DH bought the same pair of shoes, so now we have matching shoes, matching cars, matching computers (that sit next to each other) and matching wide screen monitors. See we were an old married couple BEFORE we got married! There are a heck of a lot of posts from last night...I couldn't get on. I tried, and tried, and tried, and just kept getting an maintenance air. I will post pictures later today. Well I need to eat breakfast before I head out. I will need some fuel to run this race. I don't usually workout in the mornings so this could be interesting. Oh and gas prices here are 3.55$ I would love to walk to school in the morning but we got down to 9degrees last week and I just don't feel safe walking there at 4:30/5:00 am. I only live like a mile away too!

I am in central Oregon with few choices for a PS. I am having an extended TT with vertical incision and some MR. The cost for me is 9580$ for PS, outpatient facility, and anesthesiologist.

I have used my same 10.92$ walmart digital scale for the last 10 years. I have been on the thousand dollar ones at the doc's office and mine is always within 2 pounds. No way I am spending hundreds on a scale:scared2:. Today is a rest day from running and I need it. My legs are really tired and my knees were REALLY sore this morning. They have felt better as I have gone throughout the day. We are going to Bend (the "BIG" city next to us, but I almost have to choke when I say big) so that I can get a good pair of shoes. My shoes are fine for the average going to the gym workout, but they are not good for the amount of miles that I am running on them. Did you see my signature...I have already run 10 miles this week and I have 3 more to run tomorrow!!! I did not get my grading done last night so I have a CRAP ton to do this weekend. That is alright though since this is the first time I have taken work home in a long time. Our 6 week grading is due on Friday of next week and I am leaving early to head over the mountains to the western part of the state where we are going to visit some friends and I am going to run in the 5K. I am SOOOOOOOO looking forward to it. It is like going home. I love Eugene! Well best get going, the next group comes in soon. This will be the 4th time I have done this exact same lesson. I love the fact that I only teach 1 subject after 2 years of teaching 6, but it can get a bit boring when you have taught in 3 times already!

Nope Salsa/Karri is the one that lives in Oregon. Oh and by the way my email address is salsa1877@hotmail.com. Kari is the wak in Michigan!

No...he is leaving them. I refuse to let them treat him the way they did. Just a bit protective!

I'm not a Dec. Bandster, but I thought I could help! First of all...do some spring cleaning. Throw it all out. If you have kids or family that still wants them, tell them to put them somewhere you can't find them. If you have to go out and purposefully buy them, you are more likely to have a moment of sanity and put it back. I am going to copy and paste a post that I wrote for someone else. Maybe there is something in there that will help you. 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 Cookies were 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 "cookie" (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 cookie 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 "cookies". 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 cookie (this one is tough!) d. Find some typical foods that you would love to eat (your cookies) 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 cookies you can look at it and allow you to mentally fight the war that has just come up. If you can justify eating that cookie 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. (And believe me, I REFUSED to diet in my entire journey, so I use that word loosely) 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. Iknow 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! 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.

Steph - The Kashi GoLean High Protein cereal is pretty much a stable in my diet. 1 cup of it for 140 calories AND 13 grams of protein. It is almost a perfect food! I will tell you that you might not like it at first, but it grows on you. Since I can't have milk, I mix it with Dannon lite and fit yogurt. I eat it for my morning snack quite often. 200 calorie snack and I stay full for a long time. Janet - I so get the waking up fat again...Check out my blog (address in my signature) to see my WHOLE post on that problem. Phyl - Sorry to hear about your DD. I think Janet is right...just keep bugging her. Hopefully she will get over it quickly. Peaches - Nice job on the diet. Much easier when you have restriction, eh? I have been working on the Canadian accent! So I ran 4 miles tonight!!!!! Insert cheer, sigh, a few tears, and a big WAHOOOOOOO!. I wanted to give up at 1 mile, 2 miles, but by the time I hit three miles, I thought hell...if I have come this far, I might as well just go the full 4 miles. Thank goodness tomorrow is a rest day! My legs are sore. Then on Saturday I have my first race. I will post pictures on my blog. As for DH, he got his evaluation for the job that he was resigning from. It was TERRIBLE. His supervisor is a total a$$, so I told him to forget the fact that he had one week left and tell them this was his last night. It would have been nice to have the extra week worth of pay, but no one attacks my hubby's character without me having something to say about it. I was so pissed I almost ran to the call center and kicked that guy in the balls. Yes, I am just as fiesty as my band mom! He already started the new billing invoice job, and won't hear back from the state job until early May. So we wait. He said that he is going to get temp jobs since he is done at the other job by 9AM. Plus he can vounteer with people that have disabilities so that he can get the experience he needs for the state jobs. It will all work out in the end. I am just happy that I am going to have him home in the evenings. It has been lonely around here! Well I am icing my legs now and FREEZING so as soon as my 20 minutes is up I am going to go jump in the shower...Though if you look at my hair, sports bra and shirt you would have thought that I had just gotten out of the shower. I was sweating like a stuffed pig tonight. Check in later!

Well I am making my menu everynight and sticking to it the following day....Does that count??? Pizzi, I am so excited for your move. It will be nice to go someplace warm. I used to hate warm weather cause I was ALWAYS hot...Now I am ALWAYS freezing. As I sit in my classroom right now I have on pants, tights, a shirt, and a jacket. But I have on dress shoes so my little toes feel like their are frozen!

Yes Beans have carbs in them, but this coming from a VERY strict low carb girl...I ate them and they were a staple in my mushy diet. Yes I limited carbs, but I did not eliminate them. I kept them lower than a lot of people, but that is just because I like high Protein foods better. However, I NEVER eliminated them from the diet. I would have potatoes or Pasta in small amounts when my DH would eat them so that I wouldn't feel deprived. I didn't do much sugar or white flour while I was losing and still at goal am trying to stay away from those as much as possilbe. During the post op stage it is important to start thinking about making good food choices, but you also have to get in nutrition as well. Refried beans are a good choice for that. As for the potato, I had mashed potatoes as well...just not as often. I posted this someplace yesterday but if you want potato taste without the carbs then boil/steam the heck out of cauliflower and mix it with your favorite herbs and LF or FF cream cheese. It is YUMMY!! Just make sure on the mushy stage that you get it really mushy (like in a food processor!)

The site has been kinda slow all day. I finished my 3 mile run tonight. Now my knees are kind of sore. Hopefully they are better by tomorrow, cuz I have another run.

Linda- I do think that I need to talk to a counselor, but I have called 3 here to make appointments and 1 said she was not taking new clients, and the other 2 called me back once each and then when I returned their phone calls they didn't call back. So I kind of said screw it. I thought I was doing really well. I don't want to lose any more weight but I certainly don't want to gain it either. This will be my first time ever maintaing. I have never been thin. I lost 40+ pounds once when I was doing Atkins, but I never got to goal weight. I was still dieting when I fell off and headed back up at lightning speed. Right now I am just freaked out because yesterday was the first day since late November (when I was unfilled before) that I have felt actual hunger. I no longer have anything except for my will power and stubborness to stop eating. I can tell that my band is there if I eat to quickly, but honestly, right now I could get my money's worth at a buffet. So at least for right now, I feel like I need to be EXTRA strict until I get the hang of this. In my opinion, I would rather err on the side of caution then end up gaining weight. Yes, I am running 4 days a week, but right now this is not much more than I was doing previously. My goal honestly is not to lose anymore weight. Though I am no skin and bones. Technically I am still 11 pounds overweight, so if I do lose a few more pounds then I am not going to look emaciated...at least I don't think. I really do appreciate everyone looking out for me. This is just going to be a rough patch. Hopefully as you all start transitioning into maintenance (and some of you are darn close) then you can learn from what I am doing or you can teach me if I am still struggling. I really wish that there was a more active "at goal" forum on LBT. It would really help to hear what and how they did this. Well as for my workout I just ran my 3 miles...key firmly attached to my shoelace so that I did not have a repeat incident of the last run. I will check back in later. Hopefully the site is running smoother now!

This site is as slow as my students! And that is VERY VERY slow! My hunger is much more under control today. Thank goodness. DH is in an interview with a state job today so I am anxiously awaiting news from him. Well I have one class worth of tests to grade and a meeting during my prep period so I guess I had best sign off. I will try to chat with you the next time I manage to get the network to plug along faster than a terd of hurtles! aka a herd of turtles!

I have heard that insurance companies will pay for the panni and you just pay for the rest. My TT (the abdominoplasty) will cost me 9580$ total for the doc, surgery center, and anesthesiologist. She quoted my 6 hours on the surgery as it is going to be extensive. Her concern to was nutritional quality which is why I have been eating more variety of foods and lot more fruit, veggies and carbs. As for the food thing...I know I need to relax, but it just doesn't seem possible right now. Yesterday was just a very bizzare day. No exercise because Tuesdays are rest days and I have to take rest days seriously or I could do damage by over working the muscles, I sat on my butt ALL day in meetings, and I was starving the whole day. Today I didn't wake up hungry. Yesterday I literally was hungry ALL DAY. But I guess now I am really going to have to listen to my body. You are all right...I can't expect to eat 1500 calories a day and be running 12-40 miles (at peak) a week. I kind of wish that I had a body bugg to gauge how much food I needed. Right now it is all guess and check and that isn't my style. Then I did the dumbest thing of all...I stepped on the scale this morning. Up 2 pounds...Now it doesn't count becuase it is not weigh in day and there is no way that it can be fat. Afterall I haven't consumed 7000 calories total in 3 days, let alone 7000 ADDITIONAL calories. It is most likely water weight as I have been very bloated and gassy from all the carbs I have been eating. You see I am not kidding when I say that my body doesn't like carbs. Well I have to get back to my test grading. Thanks again for putting up with my whining yesterday. I was freaking out, but I am slightly better today. Still think that I have to eat a heck of a lot of food though. Oh and I am eating 2.5 to 3 cups of food at a sitting. So seriously 3 times what I was eating while filled (at a normal level...not ultra tight level). However, it probably is about what a "normal" non-overweight/foodaholic would eat. I am not heaping my plate to any nonbanded person's standard, but it still seems like a HUGE amount of food to me. Just imagine tripling the amount of food that you normally eat! It really isn't as easy as it sounds. This is all a head game and I am losing right now. However I will figure it out and be just fine. I have all of you and soon DH will be home in the evenings which is my hardest time. Check back later.

Phyl- I am there already! It is alright that you asked again. I didnt even remember that you had asked! Okay I really have to go to bed now!

Phyl - My insurance said that I needed 24 months of documentation before I could get the tummy tuck. It is not worth it too me. I would rather work 2 years longer in my life then wait that long. I got financing with a REALLY good financing rate and I spread out the payments for like 60 months. While I have no intention of it taking me that long to pay it off I wanted to give myself the opportunity to pay off my lap-band and then pay off the TT quickly. I had my dad help me figure out what I could and couldnt' do. He is my unofficial financial planner. I lucked out that he is a bank branch manager!

Did he say why he wanted you on maintenance? Is it just to see if you will maintain your weight? My doc doesn't want me losing anymore weight but would have done my surgery the next day if she could have. The reason she doesn't want me losing more weight is because they can only take a certain percentage of your body weight in skin and fat and she doesn't want to get close to that level. So I am not supposed to get below 150. So far I have managed to lose 3 pounds since seeing her, but I am trying to stop that as well. The next few weeks are going to be a test though because of the increases in workouts due to half-marathon training.