salsa1877

Yes a little more explanation would be better, but I would assume that if you can't get water down you have a problem that requires an unfill. That would scare the crap out of me!

We just got done with an hour and a half walk. It felt so good since I hadn't been to the gym much this week. My legs were actually feeling much better now that I got out and did something.

Butting in from another board but I was going to give you some suggestions is you don't mind. I always just put 1 cup of food on my plate and ate that. THis is still what I do 8 months later. I set regular times that I ate (6:30, 10:30, 2:30, 6:30 which corresponded with when I could eat at work) and I didn't eat at any other time. Yes you will get hungry sometimes, but you are going to quickly find out that this is much more about your head than about the food that you eat. What I always did when I got hungry was to start drinking because then I knew I couldn't eat. Those are just the things that worked for me. Hang in there, it does get better.

You are absolutely right and you listed the most important thing first...YOUR HEAD. You can't do this well if you are not mentally ready. For me I woke up the morning that I decided to have this surgery and I was ready. For some people that day comes a day, a week, a month, a year after being banded. But I think when you finally get to the point that you realize that we are STRONGER that the food that we put in our mouth, that is when you reach success.

I was thinking last night of some recipes that I could send your way that are low carb, but the more and more that I thought about it, I don't think you should change your eating style. I am afraid that you will feel like you are on a diet and it won't be succesful. But would you rather lose the 16 pounds in 11 weeks and feel like you are on diet or lose it slower and feel like you are eating normal? I think that is the decision that you are going to have to make. Perhaps instead of cutting out carbs completely at dinner you just reduce your carbs to 1/4 cup. As much as I am a self proclaimed NO CARB person, I still eat carbs, just less than the average person. I still have potatoes, pasta, and bread OCCASIONALLY. I can't do rice. I never tell people who are struggling to cut out carbs, because that doesn't work for everyone. It does for me and it makes me happy. My thing is...why do I have to conciously add the carbs if I don't want them. I eat them when I crave them...and for me that is not very often. Sure I will get a craving for BAD carbs, but those I just ignore. I count fruit as carbs, but my nutr. does not. Since you are getting close to maintenance you really have to start thinking about how you are going to live for the rest of your life. I tried the eating plan that my nut set out and frankly for the first time in 8 months I felt like I was on a diet and I hated it! So I said screw it. I am going to eat the way I want. When I did that I felt better. The extra carbs have been wreaking havoc with my system. I am pretty certain that I could clear a room with the "tootiness!" that I have been having. Yeah people will PM me sometimes and ask advice why they aren't losing like I did and then when I have them send me a food diary I see the CRAP they are eating and I bluntly point that out to them. Some appreciate it, others don't. I was so afraid to eat even when I could go to mushies that I would never have dreamed of going to solid foods. Even at the in person support group that I went to one lady said that she was chewing her food to pieces at 2 weeks out. The nutritionist didn't scold her, but I did. I said if you can't follow the rules after 2 weeks, you are going to have a difficult time following them after 2 months. Also she had heard that you don't have to follow the drinking during and after meals rule while you were not filled. I told here that I followed those rules even when I am on liquids! I don't drink water when I have my protein drink, soup, or broth. I waited just to get in the habit. She didn't seem to like my answers. I too wish that I could give people my will power. Now it is no longer will power for me...it is just life. I can turn down any food now without a problem. Being VERY strict with myself for 8 months totally changed the way I look at food. It really has become just a way for me to fuel my body. Sure I still obsess about it because that is just my nature. However now that I am not going to try to follow this plan my nut put me on, I think it will be much better. The types of "snacky" foods that she had me eating twice a day set off my binging cravings like there was no tomorrow. I CAN'T eat snack foods. The foods I eat have to be small meals (except my protein bars) or I will feel like snacking all day long. And it doesn't matter if the snacks are healthy or not. Okay well I rambled longer that I had anticipated, but I just wanted to give you my 2 cents on going no carb at dinner. If you want recipes I will send some to you, but I don't think you will be happy, and if you are anything like me (which we have established that we are alike!) it is going to throw off your entire eating and you are going to be miserable.

Do you know how many calories you have eaten? Even though the Latte's are FF the milk itself contains 80 calories for 8oz and the smallest drinks are usually 12.oz so that makes 120 calories just for the milk. I would try and calculate the calories and I think you would be surprised that you are probably close to 1800 or higher.

Aggghhhh... I only got 2 days of workouts in this week. But the scale was still down 0.5 pounds so everyone was happy! My nut, doc, and DH will all be happy because I only lost 0.5 pounds and I am happy because I lost something. I didn't think I ate the greatest this week either. However, I think we are going to go for a hike this afternoon so I will get in a workout on my day off. That will make me feel better. Next week...all 5 days. NO EXCUSES!

My lapband doc didn't suggest an unfill, but the PS insisted on it. She didn't want me to be too tight at all and risk not getting proper nutrition. Because I have to have an extensive TT with vertical incision she wants me getting in over 100 grams of protein and she didn't want me being too tight. My fill doctor is also 6 hours away and like Kat I didn't want to risk being to tight and having to sit in a car. It is going to take will power, but I have had to be completely unfilled before and still managed to lose 10 pounds. Now I just need to maintain. Hopefully that will be easier! Good luck

Me too...that is why I hate eating carbs!

Refried beans are a little higher in carbs that other beans. Kidney beans and black beans are the best. However, even going low carb I still had beans, just not a lot. I replaced all of my pasta with beans! There are these pinto beans with chipotle sauce (S&W brand) that are FANTASTIC! The thing with carbs is that it is really hard at the beginning to remove them from meals, but eventually with some creativity you can have really good meals. It does make cooking difficult at first. I ate hamburger patties and eggs for about the first month that I was on Atkins. Now I can almost make any meal low carb. Texture was always my hard part.

My nurse actually gave me the needle in case I needed an emergency unfill. I am with Janet, can't you find anyone to order the supplies for you? I have no advice because I have never had that, but I would second the staying on bland soup like foods and let your tummy rest. The cost of fills is the EXACT reason that I won't go to the bariatric surgeon over here. Even with the price of gas it is cheaper for me to drive 6 hours each way! I was a self pay too, but my doc throws in 2 years worth of free fills (unfills are always free). Can you find a doc that is cheaper that is farther away?

Congrats! You deserve it.

some people were having problems with this a few months ago on my regular thread and they realized that the emails somehow got switched to their junk mail. Try there.

The heavier you are the more likely you will be able to eat more and still lose weight. However, you will have to adjust as you lose weight. It takes more energy (calories) to move around more weight even in everyday living so you will burn more calories. This is why if you put 2 people on the same calorie plan, the one who has more weight will lose faster. With what you have been eating, have you been losing 3 pounds per week? Honestly I can BARELY squeeze in 1500 calories a day that I am supposed to be eating on maintenance with the high quality foods that I eat.

We tried that too, but it requires 24 months worth of documented medical issues. So we started that process, but I am not willing to wait the 24 months for the tummy tuck because I don't even know if they will cover it OR if I will be with this school district in 2 years. Plus my doc wasn't too happy about having to do both at the same time. She said if it meant getting money to pay for it she would do it, but the risk would be much higher because my TT is going to take around 6 hours to do. Adding to the time with the BR adds to complications.

I do. I will bend over and pick up my napkin any day if it means I don't look like Jabba-The-Huts' sister!:confused:

Since I have a very rigid schedule at work and when I can eat I seem to get my water in during the morning time but totally slack at night. I can drink during 1st, 3rd, and 5th period. I have gotten in 40 oz so far today, which is normal. Then I don't seem to drink after lunch at all! I hope it is not the salmon. I am going home for lunch today and that is what we are having. The coleslaw was very yummy last night and their is about 10 cups of it with a TOTAL of 220 calories so I can eat a lot of that. It amazes me how the calorie content of fish can change from one package to the next. The last fish we had contained 220 calories per 4 oz. This one is 120. I like this one much better!

I've been flapping my belly fat for the last 6 months. I still do it!

I thought about this quote when my doc was talking about this during the consult. She does laser hair removal as part of the procedure at the pre-op so that there is no hair near the incision. I was thinking, Phew...No beard for me! Thanks for the laugh.

I am having a TT on July 3 but not having lipo. My PS told me that when it comes to the port I will most likely have a bit of a bulge around there because she can't get the skin and tissues to thin without risking tissue death because of the lack of blood flow. I never thought of the tubing issue though. I would think that if you are having lipo that you make sure that you go to a surgeon that is familiar with lap-banding. My doc has done several procedures on WLS patients.

Congrats!! That is very cool. I am hoping that my insurance will approve a breast reduction for me after I get the tummy tuck. They wouldn't even consider my tummy tuck. However the doc says that they are usually more willing to do breast reduction. I am excited for you.

I happened to be flying back from Vegas on the weekend that all the liquid restrictions went into place. My flight left around 8:30 am, and I had to get to the airport by 4:00 am just to make sure that I could get through security. That was the last time that I have flown but it was adventuresome! By the time I got through security I only had to wait for my flight for less than an hour! Congrats Janet on the HUGE compliment. That will be lots of fun for you and they couldn't have picked a better person. Another NSV! My size 10 jeans are too big! I haven't tried any size 8 jeans yet. I have a couple pair of size 8 dress pants but I seem to be able to wear smaller dress pants than jeans. I might go to the thrift store tomorrow and see if anything fits. It is 50% on Fridays so that is when I go. I refuse to buy many new clothes before PS because they figure I will go down 1 size for certain possibly 2. The doc asked me if I would faint if I was able to put on size 4s after surgery. I said probably...right after I wore them inside out and posted the picture on a bulletin board! Well off to eat dinner. We are having homemade LF coleslaw and crabcakes. MMMMM good!

This doc said that I will most likely need some but she won't know the extent until she gets in there. She didn't seem to think that I would need as much as the last doc did. Plus she inserts a pain pump:thumbup: which from what I heard is a VERY nice thing. She didn't talk much about the MR but focused mainly on the fact that I was going to need the vertical incision (a T-incision) which is not very common. I have been looking for pictures online but most docs don't post them on their before and afters because they aren't as "pretty" as a non-T incision surgery. I will have a scar that runs from the groin to the breastbone along with the horizontal extended tummy tuck scar. But it is much better than the flabby Jabba-the-Hut looking rolls that I have right now!:tongue:

Wow I have been slacking on the exercise front and I am not going to be able to go tonight either, but I will get my butt in gear this weekend and do something on my day off.

Wow Steph you look great. And I think it does get easier to post the before pictures. You get to the point (or at least I did) that your pride in what you have accomplished far outways the horror of the old pictures. I am really, really tired today and I slept A LOT last night. I think the whole roller coaster week with PS has made my body revolt. Either that or I am coming down with something. The change in foods has also caused problems with my digestive system and I have been VERY gassy (I know TMI) lately. And it does NOT smell like roses either! On another note...I am sick of food. I wish that I could just eat everything I needed for the entire day and then just forget about it for the rest of the time. With all the meals that I have to eat I struggle to get in my water, and I am sick of feeling stuck all the time. Today was better for the stuck feeling. I think part of my problem this week was the stress of the PS search. When I am under stress my band tightens up like the jaws of an alligator! Never thought I would say that I was sick of food, but alas...I am! Well I have a ton of stuff to do for class tomorrow and it would be great to sleep in. Janet you are making up for my time at the gym this week. I had all intentions of going last night but I fell asleep on the couch last night and didn't wake up until my DH came home from work at 10:30 pm. OOPSY! Then he took today off so I won't want to go tonight and it is weightlifting night! Maybe I will get in a day on my day off.