salsa1877

It sounds like what my doc called a "circumfrential tt". Did he say that the incision would be all the way around the body? If so then it allows them to pull the skin tight on both the upper thigh, the back and the tummy. I have never heard of a belt lipectomy, but you could google it. An extended tummy tuck is what I am having and what I know LJM had. For me they are cutting mid hip to mid hip. I am also have a vertical incision also known as an "inverted-T" My doc said that if I had a lot of back skin that she would have done the complete circle, but since I carried all of my weight in my tummy that I didn't need it. Hope this helps, but I would try googling it...or calling the surgeon and ask.

So I haven't done my workout today, but I just had to share that I did the unthinkable yesterday. No I did NOT eat anything unhealthy...but I did sign up for a half marathon on June 29 of this year!!! I looked at the training schedule for half-marathon and said that you need about 10 weeks...well I have 10 weeks so I said no time like the present. That means a half-marathon 2 days before my birthday and 4 days before surgery. That is going to be quite the week. I can't wait to show myself how far I have come. This will be the greatest reward I could ever have asked for. I started a blog, but haven't done much with it, but I think I will start tracking my progress on there. It will be a good history for me to have in one spot. Check back with you after my run today!

Steph - Phyl is right...there is nothing you can do about the past. Was a it a good decision...NOPE, but now you have to look forward. One thing that I have decided that has helped me is to have a PLAN for when you are faced with bad choices. It will not always work, but it has done wonders for me. For example, if I know that we are going out to eat to a place that I haven't been before, I try to picture their menu based on the type of restaurant and prioritize the foods that I can eat. We were going to go to chinese yesterday (not many healthy choices) so I thought, I am going to get something that has chicken in and and if I have to I will just get a salad. That was my back up plan in case I couldn't find anything healthy. Turns out that we didn't go to chinese but went to a Hawaiian place instead, but as soon as I found that out I went into planning mode. I knew what they had there so I said, I can have the chicken and 3 bites of the potato mac salad. Again that was my plan...when we got there they had added pineapple coleslaw to their menu so I was able to go with a healthier choice. But even if I hadn't I KNEW what I was going to do BEFORE I was tempted with the menu. I have come up with a plan for almost everything. I ALWAYS say no when someone offers me something. If it is something unhealthy like a brownie, or a cookie, I just flat out say no. I won't allow myself that unless I have planned for it. However, if it is something that is a little healthier, I say, not now, maybe later. Then I will look at my menu for the day and decide. But it is easier to not eat it AFTER you have said no, then to take it and decide to throw it away. Plan, Plan, Plan! Like I said, I have a contingency plan for almost everything. Perhaps you could try something like that. Think NOW what I am going to do when I feel like this...constantly sip on water, go for a walk, put in piece of gum. It really has helped me. Jackie - Your daughter is beautiful, and she looked stunning in that dress. It is okay to have water works! Well last night I did the unthinkable... No I did not eat anything unhealthy! I signed up for a half marathon for June 29! 10 weeks from yesterday I start my training today. Fortunately I am right where I need to be in terms of training. That means the half-marathon is 2 days before my b-day and 4 days before surgery. I just felt it was fitting to show myself how far I have come. Yes this does mean that I am going to have to eat more carbs. The only downside to running all this way. Yes I know that sounds DUMB! The onlydown side to running 13 miles is that I have to eat carbs, but they really do kind of make me feel crappy. We will see... I am going to adjust my nutrition based on how I feel. I think that is something that we have neglected in the past is to eat based on what our bodies need. It tells you! Well I need to marinate our meat for brunch today so I had best get off here!

My doc told me that the reason for the variations in the post-op diet are for two reasons. 1 experience and training on the doc's part and 2 (and most important) surgical techniques. So if your doc says to stay on liquids that is what his technique requires. So I would go back on liquids and if you can't seem to do that, contact your doc and see if he/she will allow you to progress faster. Some may, some may not. I found that by sticking to the post-op diet it set me up for success in the future. 98% of this band is will power and I know that people don't want to hear that, but speaking at 8 months post-op, I can tell you that I did almost all the work myself. The band was just there with some gentle (and sometimes NOT so gentle) reminders. Good luck. You can do this. The words "nothing tasts as good as thin feels" most likely rings hollow right now, but when you get to goal, you realize just how meaningful those words are! I have some good soup recipes if you want them that actually make you feel like you are getting something substantial. PM me and I will send them too you.

Frangi - I got your picture to include the whole background. What are trying to do...make us all jealous. We had snow and 12 degrees here today!

My fun run was postponed to next weekend due to weather problems, but I did 1.5 hours of tennis with DH instead!

I hope you don't mind but I fixed your pictures for you! You really do look beautiful and much happier.

I didn't get to do the race, but DH and I went and played tennis for 1.5 hours instead. It was a lot of fun...but it is frigid outside. Explain this one to me...How can it be sunny AND snowing at the same time!

I did get the complete unfill, but I refuse to let myself eat the things that I haven't been able to eat before. I am afraid it will put me on a slippery slope. Turns out the reason that I was so tight is that the nurse practitioner actually put 2ccs in when I went in for the unfill, instead of taking anything out. I was a little pissed because I have been so miserable. However we do the fills under fluoro and I was SOOO swollen. So they called the doc in and said I didn't have a choice in the matter...the whole thing was coming out. I am starting to train for a half-marathon, so my exercise and my stubborness with food should keep me in the right direction. Thank you to all of you who gave me your advice.

Update for me as well... Two more pounds gone...My nutritionist would NOT be happy! Name: Frangipani Weight loss from day of surgery: 91 lbs Total weight loss: 97 lbs Name: Candle Weight loss from day of surgery: 87 lbs Total weight loss: 101 lbs Name: Salsa Weight loss from day of surgery: 93.5 lbs Total weight loss: 93.5 lbs Name: Pammycakes Weight loss from day of surgery: 88 lbs Total weight loss: 90 lbs Name: Ceradad Weight loss from day of surgery: 85 Total weight loss: 105 Name: KarenG. Weight loss from day of surgery: 79 Total weight loss: 79 Name: NanaRenan Weight loss from day of surgery: 52 Total weight loss: 72 Name: TexasBecky Weight loss from day of surgery: 96 Total weight loss: 106 Name: SPEBSQSAlady Weight loss from day of surgery: 57.8 Total weight loss: 57.8 Name: Brandottie01 Weight loss from day of surgery: 23 lbs Total weight loss: Name: Bergdorfblonde Weight loss from day of surgery: 32 lbs Total weight loss: 32 lbs Name: Gometros Weight loss from day of surgery: 52.9 lbs Total weight loss: 74.9 Name: Pizzicato66 Weight loss from day of surgery: 66 Total weight loss: 78 Name: Valstar Weight loss from day of surgery: 52 lbs Total weight loss: 57 lbs Name:Gweniper weight loss from day of surgery: 48 total weight loss: 82 Name: purplegirl1818 weightloss from day of surgery: 73.5lbs total weight loss: 90.5lbs Name: LessNLess weightloss from day of surgery: 51lbs total weight loss: 57lbs Name: JudiM weightloss from day of surgery: 62lbs total weight loss: ?? Name: hf2havefun Weight loss from day of surgery: 35 lbs Total weight loss: 50 lbs

Wow...Deep conversations this morning. I am too dissappointed to weigh in though. Because of the weather concerns here they moved my 5K run to next weekend. Poopy! But it gives me another week to train for it! Positive thinking! On a different note I lost another 2 pounds this week. See Janet you don't stop losing weight just cause you try to go onto maintenance. I averaged around 1300 calories last week, BUT I worked out 5 days. So if I am working out that much I definetly have to hit at least 1500 calories. As for counting calories, I still do and I am on maintenance. For me it is just is a good way for me to be accountable. I totally agree that people WAY underestimate the amount of calories in foods. Right now if I was trying to go into maintenance without counting calories I would be totally sunk. And I never once dieted throughout this entire journey (well except for 1 week when I did Atkins when I was unfilled in Dec). I never told myself that I could NEVER have anything, I just chose not to have it most of the time. In the last 8 months I had cake, cheesecake, cream sauces, pie, cookies...just in VERY small amounts with a lot of time between them. That is not allowed on ANY diet. Well since we are not going on the run, we are going to go play some tennis instead. BTW the weather here is cold, but gorgeous. It is sunny, sunny, sunny, and 13 degrees! SO much for their snow that they called for and cancelled the race over!

I am back to logging now that I don't have a fill in. I need to make sure that my portions and everything stay proper and that I am not going over my 1500 calories. Though I may need to up that for a little bit since I officially start my marathon training tomorrow. I am doing an 5K run in town tomorrow. My first road race!

Welcome to the overweight club! It feels as amazing as you look!

Well if I can't get down SOLID food I feel too restricted. As I sit here typing to you tonight I am completly unfilled. I had the entire thing removed today as I was sick of my food getting stuck everytime I tried to eat. I am very sensitive to fills though. I have spent most of my weightloss MUCH looser than most people would like because I can't handle the feeling that I can't eat real food. I tend to lose more weight when I can eat solid foods because I don't have cravings and I stay fuller longer. I wouldn't take any chances and if you are still too tight I would get some taken out. It is not worth risking your band over.

Janet -Nutritionists are full of crap! You have all witnessed what I have gone through with mine. As for the cholesterol, it doesn't always have to do with your diet. In fact, a lot of times it doesnt have ANYTHING to do with your diet. Your body manufactures cholesterol and sometimes it just makes too much. As for the nutritionist, you lost the weight doing what is best for you...that is the samething that you are going to have to do to maintain the weight. As for changing back to 160, it made such a big difference for me. I didn't feel this pressure to get to a stupid number. If I keep losing, I keep losing, but I am also happy if I don't lose a single pound. My opinion is that if you keep adjusting your goal weight lower you will always kind of feel like a failure because you won't ever hit goal. Once you try and go into maintenance you are going to continue losing weight. As you can tell from my ticker, there is no magical way to just STOP! Though from personal advice you may want to hold off on the fill. But that is just my opinon. Phyl - Okay I said I missed the rain...not the hail, freezing rain, and snow. We get that over here. I was driving home from Olympia (where my doc is) today and I got all of that and more! We are supposed to get snow all day tomorrow. I hope not...I really want to run the 5K. As for temptations, you are right...it is just a choice now. Steph- THanks for the confidence in me. I am not worried that I will eat the WRONG foods. The band never helped me decide which foods to eat. I am not worried that I will stop exercising. The band never drove me to the gym and put my butt on that treadmill. I am afraid I will eat TOO MUCH food. But as I have said earlier I already have a plan to combat that. I just eat salad and salsa with every meal. I just change up the added veggies. I will add more veggies to my meals to help combat that. But again thanks to you and to everyone else here that has the confidence in me...it helps to build mine. Alright I know there are a lot of people that I needed to respond to but I am exhausted and want to tell you about my unfill. I am a little pissed about one part of the situation. So I got there this morning and the nurse I usually see got in a minor car accident on the way to work and called in sick. They had to call in a different nurse. That didn't bother me. I chatted with a few people in the waiting room, schooling some of them! But for the most part I actually had some good conversations with people in there. THen the nurse shows up and they have me go first and HOLY CRAP it hurt. I have A LOT of scar tissue around my port and it is difficult to get the needle in the port. So after having it slip off the scar tissue and go straight into my muscle I was in tears and so was the nurse. She felt so bad. Normally they don't give lidocaine, but she gave me some. Didn't really help much but after 15 minutes and 2 needles (the first one BENT!) we finally got the needle in the port. I was crying and nautious by this point and I have a VERY high tolerance for pain. But she looks at the chart and then looks at the syringe and says that is weird. She then looked at the x-ray tech in there and says I put 5cc's in the syringe to begin with right? And the tech says yes. THen she explained that they always have 2 people check the starting volume of the syringe in case so that they can verify when checking for a leak. I asked her what the problem was then. She said... your chart says that when you came in the last time for the partial unfill that you had 2.0cc's in your band and they dropped it to 1.7ccs. However today you have 2.2ccs in your band. I said well is it possible to have liquid diffuse INTO the band (knowing full well that it is NOT) and she said NO. She said that the other nurse must have accidentally put too much in. So in reality I was tighter than I was when I went in the last time! HOLY CRAP...No wonder I was in such agony and pbing. I was pissed off about this. I am not certain if the other nurse did it accidentally or not, but they need to be careful of these things. She was not happy that she had to do an unfill in the first place. She has band and things that people should be on the tighter side so they can get the most out of their band. Well excuse me...some of us want to eat more than a 1/4 cup of MUSHY food. Anyways I was able to eat soft foods today and for the first time since the end of March I ate with ZERO pain. It was heavenly. Ok, I am going to go spend time with DH!

Okay I am headed off to become unfilled. Now this is 100% up to me. I don't have the band to help me my2%. I am going in with nothing but postive thoughts that I will do wonderfully with all the support I have here and at home. Good news, DH got the new job and starts on Monday. It will be rough for a couple of weeks as he will work both jobs. 4AM -9AM the 1PM- 10PM. Good thing he doesn't need a lot of sleep! Alright I will be home tomorrow and then I am going to run a 5K race on Saturday. There is a free one happening this weekend here in town to Celebrate the opening of the new highway bypass that is going through. We will run the re-route on Saturday and then it opens to traffic on Monday! Have a good day!

My goal is a marathon by my 30th birthday...which is July of next year. I will probably have to do some in between races, which usually start in spring. Having the TT in July might set me back a bit, but we will see. If losingjusme can plan to do a marathon must months after her TT I can do it too! I guess there is a 5K race in town this weekend, but I don't know if I will be back for it after my fill. I have to see if DH is going with me. If he does then we won't be back until Sunday, if he doesn't I will be back tomorrow night.

A marathon really is my goal around my 30th birthday. I don't know if I will get there though because of the TT. However if losingjusme can prepare for a half marathon like 3 months after her TT, I do have a shot at running one 1 year after mine. Actually running will become easier. It isn't my legs or my chest that hurt when running anymore, it is my port from the belly bouncing up and down. When I exercise I have to wear a tight compression garment or my back and port make me feel like I want to die. That is why I can't run as often as I would like. 2 times per week max really. On the days I don't run I do the eliptical for 30-40 minutes. That has really helped sculpt my thighs. I know that a lot of people have a hard time doing it, but I really do like it. Though on the August Exercise board I post on, a couple of us have decided we have cardio ADD. I get bored very easily. Fortunately Jeopardy was on the TV tonight, so I got a mental and physical workout! I am up late tonight cause I took a nap and because I want to share my good exercise news with DH when he gets home. Oh and cross your fingers for us, he had an interview today for a different job. It is a significant pay cut but he will be much happier which means that we could possible stay longer here. I know I complain about it, but things are going MUCH better at school and I know that it will get better as the years progress and I don't have to reinvent the wheel everyday!

I left the gym crying tonight...and I am still crying. Not from pain, not from sadness...but simply tears of amazement and joy. I actually did it. I ran 5K tonight (3.1 miles) I walked for .25 miles to warm up and then ran an additional 3.1 miles. I still can't believe it. This coming from the girl who NEVER finished the mile in gym class, who never even took PE in high school. 3 months ago I could barely run a mile and was so excited when I hit that milestone. Now I am running 3.1 miles. There are really NO words to describe how I feel right now. Tonight was weights night as well but I kind of hurried through that so that I could come and share with you all, because I am just over the edge thrilled. So what if the BMI chart says I am still fat...who cares that the scale doesn't say skinny...I freaking RAN 3.1 miles...that is better than anything. Certainly better that any deep fried, sugar coated, butter filled, food (can you tell I watched Paula Deen tonight!). This honestly is the greatest feeling that I have had since I graduated college! Okay enough sentimentality. I need to take a shower and get ready for bed!

Now you having me crying again! Looks like my sentimental mommy is rubbing off on me!

Yeah mine aren't pretty either. I have been big my whole life...started at DDD. I only went down to a DD, but now they are just LONG! I am waiting for the day when I have to start rolling them up! Fixing them is a bit down the road since I am dropping 10K$ on the tummy tuck. Fortunately like Jachut said...they hid well in the bra...my tummy not so much!

I had to be completely unfilled for 40+ days in Novemeber (yep over Thanksgiving!) and I still managed to lose 10 pounds. It was the slowest the weight came off, but it came off none the less! On Friday I am going in to have my fill taken completely out because I too had a fill that was way too tight and even after a partial unfill, have still been too tight for the last several weeks. Now I have irritated my tummy to the point that I keep PB'ing. However I am not getting my fill put back in for at least 3 months. I am having a tummy tuck in July and my plastic surgeon wants me unfilled during the healing portion of that. Couple that with the fact that I live 6 hours away from my lap-band doc, am out of sick days at work (I am a teacher) and you get yourself on fine test! Fortunately I am at maintenance so it should be easier this time around. One thing that I found is that if I was getting hungry in between meals is that at the next meal I would eat a salad with salsa. Lettuce and salsa have very few calories and if you couple that with some good solid protein it really does keep you full for a little longer. Now is when you have to test those new habits you learned. I was worried that I would want to starting eating anything and everything because I could, but I haven't even been thinking that way, so I am confident in myself. This is a way to show yourself and everyone else that YOU do 98% of the work. The band is only a tool! Good luck, you can do it!

That sounds very good. I don't like cold foods so if you wanted to have it warm you could throw the chicken in with some garlic and onions if you like and sautee them with some PAM. Then you could spread that on one half of a tortilla with some cottage cheese (try to strain it a little because it will make it a little watery), fold the other half over, then pop it in the oven for a few minutes to crisp up the tortilla and you have a chicken quesadilla. Top with salsa, veggies and whatever else you like. Cottage cheese does well in the oven. I use it to make lasagna sometimes if I don't have ricotta. By the way...noodle-less lasagne is DELICIOUS if you ever have to be on mushies for any reason. I tried it last night and it was too thick for me right now, but it is DIVINE! If anyone else has any recipes that they really liked pre-banding and want me to see if I can make them healthier I would love to do that. I love cooking. If I ever with the lottery (would have to start playing though!) I would go to culinary school. That is one of the things that I have done since being banded is to find out how to make my favorite foods healthier. Now once I get the surgeries paid off and have more money for food then I can really start getting creative!

Janet you are not the only one that left the gym crying tonight...and I am still crying. Not from pain, not from sadness...but simply tears of amazement and joy. I actually did it. I ran 5K tonight (3.1 miles) I walked for .25 miles to warm up and then ran an additional 3.1 miles. I still can't believe it. This coming from the girl who NEVER finished the mile in gym class, who never even took PE in high school. 3 months ago I could barely run a mile and was so excited when I hit that milestone. Now I am running 3.1 miles. There are really NO words to describe how I feel right now. Tonight was weights night as well but I kind of hurried through that so that I could come and share with you all, because I am just over the edge thrilled. So what if the BMI chart says I am still fat...who cares that the scale doesn't say skinny...I freaking RAN 3.1 miles...that is better than anything. Certainly better that any deep fried, sugar coated, butter filled, food (can you tell I watched Paula Deen tonight!). This honestly is the greatest feeling that I have had since I graduated college! Okay enough sentimentality. I need to take a shower and get ready for bed! Might check back in later. If not take care all. Phyll- glad to hear you made it home safe! I wish I was where you are. I miss the rain and the Western Washington weather, landscape and PEOPLE!

I have lost 91.5 pounds in 8 months, exercised the entire time, and still have excess skin. However my plastic surgeon said that the amount of excess skin depends more on genetics, length of being fat, number of pregnancies, and your anatomy. I had been fat for 20 years and carried 90% of my weight on my stomach. So...I am having the skin removed. However, exercise won't hurt. It helps give you energy, make you healthy, AND lose weight faster. Kinda of a WIN, WIN situation! GOod luck!