salsa1877

I am just on the tight side. I am soooooooooooo sick of snack foods. I want my good ol' healthy foods. I long for my ground chicken meatloaf, my low cal crustless pizza, chicken or pork stir fry, scrambled eggs...the list goes on and on and on. I have never in my life felt so deprived because I can't eat healthy. When I said that last night, one lady said well you must have been a lot better off before surgery than I was because I still don't like healthy foods. By the way she has lost 25 pounds in 9 months. Hmmmm....wonder why???? I just can't explain how angry I was when I was there last night. I kept thinking not one person has said anything mean to me or judged me on LBT, yet that is all these people seem to know how to do. I don't think I will be going back. I know the lady that I go with really needs some support but it doesn't matter what I say...until she accepts in her heart what she needs to do, she isn't going to be successful. I have tried to get her to come here and we talked about food choices, but she is reluctant to give up anything. I guess when you make those choices you live with the consequences. You can lead a bandster to good food and exercise, but you can't make them put down the ice cream.

So the conference that I was going to on Thursday was cancelled so I get to go to the doctor early now. Thank goodness. I am getting really ill from not eating. I am shaky, fatigued and I can't think. Seriously thought I was going to pass out this morning when I got out of bed. If I stand up too quickly I get that warm, feeling that rushes over your head right before you are ready to hit the floor. On another note I went to the in person support group last night and it was terrible. I had so many people telling me that I should be happy with my fill level. Even the nutritionist said that I should use this time to really accelerate the weightloss. Ummm Hello at the expense of my health I DON'T THINK SO! The people at this meeting were just rude. Kind of like most of the people I have met in Central Oregon as a whole, but last night they were just awful. Well class is getting ready to start so I should get ready. Janet - I hope you are feeling better today. We miss you.

I think that I was hugely fortunate in the fact that the time between my decision to have the surgery and my consult was less than 1 month and the time between my consult and my surgery was less than 24 HOURS! (Yes that does say hours!) My doc doesn't do a pre-op diet unless your liver was too large. Well considering the lack of time between my consult and surgery I was afraid it would get postponed so this is how I handled the last supper syndrome. Each day I would have A VERY SMALL AMOUNT of what I wanted while the rest of the time I would eat the foods that I was going to be eating on the solid stage after surgery. It was a great transitioning period for me. I felt like I was getting the best of both worlds. Now I won't tell you what I ate in the 12 hours between my consult and the time I had to stop eating for surgery. That wasn't pretty. :biggrin: However if you are not required to do a pre-op diet I really felt like this worked for me...but it does take discipline. But then again you are going to need that discipline after surgery anyways so it doesn't hurt to start now. Good luck and May will be here before you know it!

I wish it was spring break!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mine starts next week but I am getting an early start by taking Friday off to get my unfill. AMEN!!

I am not blowing off exercise past today and it just means that I work out on Fridays which is normally my day off. I would have gone today if I had gotten more than 2.5 hours of sleep and 400 calories today. So I promise that I won't let you down in the future!!!

I am very excited, but I have heard that you don't want the TT until after you have finished having kids because stretching the skin again can 1: be painful and 2: undo all the work you have. For me it is not an issue because I don't want children. I work with them all day and I swear if I went home and had to deal with them I would just sit down and cry. I have already raised my brother so I don't need to do it any more. I have not seen my PS yet but I will let you know what he says about it.

My fill is done under fluoro so I have to drink barium. This is the second time that the fill has tightend up after getting it. The nurse leaves the needle in as she watches it flow down and thought that she was leaving me looser than she should, but I didn't want to have happen what is happening right now. I just have a very low tollerance to fills.(I only have 2.6 cc in a 10cc band!) I can't handle the pain. I would attribute it to not chewing well enough, but yogurt hurts going down so I don't think it is my fault. My doc wans me to start going into maintenance anyways so not being so tight isn't a bad thing. I am really tired of eating snack foods though. I want my dense proteins that leave me full and I can't do that with this fill. I think that sometimes people don't lose weight because they are too tight. I know it sounds weird but when you can't eat anything except what goes down easily you aren't getting good calories. It is the dense REAL FOOD which is what has gotten me to my current weight and I am always hungry when I have to eat this snack food. 2 days 19 hours until slight unfill!

Nice to meet you. If you want to join us on the main lucky #7 thread that is where most of us hang out and chat. A lot of us don't stray much from that thread so that is where most of our support is. You should pop over there and check us out.

Believe me YOU DON'T WANT TO BE ON THIS DIET. Besides popcorn makes me kind of gassy if I eat too much so I don't know if you would want to be around me either. Pretty certain I am going to gas my kids out of the room one of these days!

I too had some candy this weekend and then realized why I can't eat the sugar free candy as I spent an hour in the bathroom:scared2: Funny those would go down but JELLO wouldn't. This fill is RETARDED!! Sometimes you have to pick a battle and not fighting with the family is always a good thing. I hated family trips because it was always a nightmare with my mom and brother. They hated each other and ALWAYS put me in the middle. I got out in the middle of the desert once and walked for about 10 miles because I refused to get in the car. When I did get back in (by the way I was supposed to be driving) I told them that neither one of them was allowed to talk or I would get out of the car and walk the rest of the way home (probably like 450 miles:scared2:) but that I would not leave the keys with them this time. It was a silent ride all the way home. Next time try to find a food that might have the same comfort factor but a little bit better nutrition. I don't usually eat candy because I eat my protein bar (couldn't get it down that is why I went for the sugar free candy) or 100 calorie kettle corn. Those habits will come in time, but you are back on the "band"wagon and that is what counts. Glad you are the one living in a construction zone. I don't deal well with that. My brother is CONSTANTLY in the process of a remodel. He does really good work, but he is MESSY!!!!!! Drives me nuts when I go and visit him. As for feeding your students some suggestions that I have are saltine crackers and peanut butter (if that isn't too messy), pretzels, low fat animal crackers or popcorn. I am thinking that I am going to be sick of popcorn by Friday but the kids here seem to gobble it down and it does have some nutritional value!

I am totally exhausted today. I don't think I am going to go to the gym. I did finally get down some very thinned out pureed lasagne. That is helping but I am hungry. I know it sounds weird that I am so tight but hungry, but that is how it is. I just don't have any energy when I am not getting real food down, and that makes my workout miserable. Plus I didn't get much sleep last night. Just couldn't fall asleep or stay asleep! Maybe you can motivate me to go the gym!

Janet - Glad to see that nothing terrible happened to you, but I hope your headache gets better. I have never been one to get headaches much and I am thankful for that. As for being too tight I have invented a new diet...popcorn and crystal light. There is a combination that could revolutionize the diet industry. I am pretty certain that if I write a book on it or magically put it in a pill I could become a millionaire. Just as long as I include in the fine print..."Results may vary. Not typical. Requires surgical procedure to install an adjustable silicon band that can be overfilled and result in extreme pain when eating." Then in BOLD LARGE print state "You too can lose 7 pounds in 7 days just by eating popcorn and drinking Crystal Light." Hey you are all snickering right now, but you know prior to banding we would have at least considered trying it. Don't deny it!!! Night all!

Don't ask me if I like exercise today because it would be a big resoudning NO. But I did begrudgingly get in my 1 hour. THough I can hardly count the last half hour as it was half hearted and lackluster. But since I was there I am counting it anyways. 3 days and 18 hours until I can eat again!

Salt is the false fat...In order to gain 5 pounds of fat overnight you would have to consume 17500 calories over what you burned. I don't even think that my 3 supersized mcdonalds meals 3 times per week added up to that! I was up several pounds one week, and realized it was because my salt consumption had increased. Hope everything went well at your fill

IT SCARES THE CRAP OUT OF ME!!!! I am actually going to go see a therapist because I don't know how to stop being obsessive about losing weight. I only know how to do 1 thing when it comes to weight: LOSE IT and GAIN IT! :biggrin: My doc didn't want me getting below 160ish before the TT because he was afraid that I was going to start burning muscle tissue, but after losing 7 pounds in 7 days I obviously was not successful at that. I am going to an in person support group tomorrow for the bariatric doctors in my area (don't like the docs that is why I didn't go to them) but their nutritionist runs their support group. I am going to try and talk to her and see if I can set up an appointment with her. I have no idea how many calories to eat. My doc said 1500 but I don't know how to get to that many calories without eating all day or eating unhealthy things. Believe me if you follow the rules and eat only healthy foods 1500 calories is a lot of food! Wish I would have known that before the band! Actually this band has literally and figuratively saved my life. It is the greatest thing I have ever done for myself. Now I just need to make sure that I don't swing too far to the other side when it comes to eating. I feel like I am eating enough but most of the people around me do not. Some of the people that I work with are starting to get really concerned. They are not jealous, but are actually concerned that I am going to start hurting my muscles. I am trying to stop the weightloss, but I don't know how yet. The support group tomorrow has about 1/2 of the people that are now in maintenance and I am hoping they can shed some light. Thanks for the concern...I will keep you all informed. Workouts are tough when I am on liquids but I am determined to get there today, even if it only for 1/2 hour!

My doc doesn't do the fills...he has a nurse practioner that does and she does them under fluoro. This time she said most people would not be happy with this level of a fill because you are still really loose. However I just have a very low tolerance to fills. They really tighten up on me for some reason. And yes I was overfilled before xmas. here is the thing though, I think most people would be okay with this level of fill, but I don't do well. Seriously I think some people would kill for the level of restriction that I have. I know of a few people who purposly get this tight, but I hate it. I didn't sign up to never be able to eat. I don't have a job where I can take 1/2 hour to eat 1/4 cup of food. Besides...I have lost 7 pounds in 7 days. I didn't update my ticker because it is not my official weigh in day, but I am down another 1.5 pounds. I shouldn't be losing weight that quickly at my stage of the game. My doc is not going to be happy considering that he didn't want me losing much more weight anyways! As for this fill I went from 1.8 cc to 2.6 cc. When she said that is what she put in I didn't even think anything of it...but now that does seem like quite a bit. I am back up to the level that I was at before xmas when it was too tight, but you could see it flowing through pretty quickly. I guess we know now right?!?!:biggrin: I know she is doing what she thinks is right because i live so far away. They always take into consideration that to get filled I have to drive so far, but I think perhaps they should error on the other side of that equation and not make me drive back to get an unfill. At least this time I don't have to wait a month:scared2: like I did last time.

Nope I just keep getting tighter! Called my doc and schedule for Friday. They of course wanted me to come in sooner, but this is the first week of the new trimester and I am already going to be missing Thursday for a conference. I shouldn't miss Friday, but I have to be able to eat at some point without pain. I had some pureed noodle-less lasagne for lunch and now I am in agony. Fortunately I have prep period now so I can try and recover. And yes...where is Janet!?

:mad2::thumbup: WAY TO GO! We all knew you had it in you...It was just a matter of time before YOU found out you had it in you. Congrats...Watch out now...those sizes are going to drop and so is your bank balance!!! I just gave away 4 moving boxes worth of clothes and what I have now is starting to get to big! Pretty soon you will put your clothes on and think WTH? When did this start looking like a garbage bag on me!

I am not meant to have a fill. Last night I could eat after 7...tonight...NOPE!:mad2: I had beans and chicken tortilla soup last night...Tonight: the broth from the soup still kind of hurt going down (though I think it was because I had already irritated my tummy with the beans!). Water, juice and protein drinks go down just fine. Anything else feels like I am swallowing an elephant. SIGH! I know that I said I would be okay being on soups for three weeks, but I lied!:tt2: I will call tomorrow and schedule an unfill for 1 week from tomorrow. That is spring break and I was going to the other side of the mountains to visit friends anyways, I will just take a 3 hour detour to the doctors. Thank goodness I don't have to pay for these fills and unfills. Fortunately I am not physically hungry...just mentally not satisfied. Like my mommy I can't just eat 1/4 cup of food and feel like I am done! I am perfectly satisfied at 3/4 to 1 cup of food, but lower than that and this former fat girl feels like she got the short end of the stick:thumbdown:. Oh by the way...popcorn goes down at any time of the day! Go figure. That was one of the foods that they told me I would most likely not be able to eat ever again. Too bad it isn't protein fortified. I could just eat 15 bags of my 100 calorie popcorn to get to my daily calorie goal.:cool: Well I got back from the gym about an hour ago and I need to take a shower and hit the sack.

Just so you all know...I AM MISERABLE! My fill is way too tight and it is getting tighter by the day. When I first got it I was happy...now I am angry. Yesterday at this time I got down soup and beans...tonight I can get down the broth. I have slimed all day and now I am grumpy. Got to wait until spring break to go in and get it unfilled and that is a week away. Worried that my workout is going to suffer because I seem to have CRAP for energy when I am just on liquids. Just thought I would share because I just got done swallowing ONE BEAN and feeling like I swallowed an elephant and I wanted to share!

Okay so I am worried that I will get out of the habit when I go in for PS! I think this is for life. I don't ever want to get back to where I was. I go to the gym for ME time and it really does help. That doesn't mean that it is pleasant everyday, but I would say 80% of the time I enjoy being there. I did a total of 1.5 hours today...mix of cardio and weights

Phyl said it and I am going to second it... YOU have to take charge of your life and your body. I think you have taken the first step. Now it is a matter of taking it one day at a time. If you keep at it and keep doing what you know is right to do, I do believe it gets easier. Right now my eating habits are so ingrained in my brain that I am having a tough time changing them to go into maintenance so this is something you can do. Believe me if I can change my terrible eating ways, I think you can too. Now we have the band and we can use that to help us. My doc told me that simply by letting the band cut down our portions we can lose 25 pounds in a year...to get the rest off we have to change our lifestyles. Like you I have a job that doesn't allow me to eat except at certain times. However, like Phyl said you are probably going to need to eat a snack half way between breakfast and lunch. Below I included my schedule that I followed during the last trimester. I have to change it now because my schedule changed but this is what I have been doing for the last three months and I have had incredible success. One thing that I did when I was craving foods was to chew on gum or drink. Since we can't eat and drink together it made me not eat. By the way...how much liquid are you getting each day? If you are eating every hour or so I am assuming that you are not getting enough or you are eating and drinking at the same time, which could be a reason that you are not staying full. Also, when you are snacking, are you actually hungry or is it head hunger? (Posted this on my August board, but thought it might help you!) So before attempting to go to maintenance I ate about 1000 calories per day. I ate at 6:30, 10:30, 2:30 and 6:30 only. Nothing in between except Water Breakfast : Dannon light and fit vanilla yogurt (60 cal) and 1/2 cup Kashi Go Lean Cereal (70 cal) OR Sausage and egg Lean pocket (140 cal)OR Egg Patty (get them at walmart) (60 cal) and Jimmy Dean turkey sausage (~130) Lunch (10:30): Ground chicken meatloaf with low carb ketchup OR S&W Pinto Beans in Chipotle chili sauce (90 cal), lettuce, 1 taco shell (50 cal) and salsa OR Crustless pizza (~200 cal) Snack (2:30) Pure Protein Bar (190 cal) OR 100 calorie popcorn OR both! dinner (6:30) I usually eat anything for dinner as long as it is made with chicken and veggies. *spaghetti with very few noodles *noodle less lasagne *tuna casserole with white beans instead of noodles *crab cakes *stir fry *fish and veggies *chili I am an atkins girl so carbs to me are a no-no. Still learning that they aren't all bad, but they still scare me! I eat a lot of the same thing and now I am trying to figure out how to eat to get enough calories (doc wants me at 1500) and not turn back to crap foods. I eat a lot of tomatoes! If you want any recipes let me know, I can do my best to send them to you.

Have you seen my skin?!?!? My belly pictures are posted for everyone to see on the plastic surgery thread. Someone asked me if I was going to take those down so that my belly isn't flashed all over the internet...Nope. It is good therapy for me to see.. Guarantees I won't fill it back in again to gain the weight back.

Yeah I can't eat them any more either. But then again right now I can't eat much. This fill is so tight that I can't get anything but liquids down before about 7pm. Not happy AT ALL! I am going to have to go back in during spring break and get part of the fill taken out. food choices are a huge part of this and one of the major things that I contribute to my success. With the exception of breakfast I eat very dense Proteins with very little of anything else. Keep up the good work. You are getting there. Maybe you won't suffer from the major droopy skin that I have!!!

So before attempting to go to maintenance I ate about 1000 calories per day. I ate at 6:30, 10:30, 2:30 and 6:30 only. Nothing in between except Water Breakfast : Dannon light and fit vanilla yogurt (60 cal) and 1/2 cup Kashi Go Lean Cereal (70 cal) OR Sausage and egg Lean pocket (140 cal)OR Egg Patty (get them at walmart) (60 cal) and Jimmy Dean turkey sausage (~130) lunch (10:30): Ground chicken meatloaf with low carb ketchup OR S&W Pinto Beans in Chipotle chili sauce (90 cal), lettuce, 1 taco shell (50 cal) and salsa OR Crustless pizza (~200 cal) Snack (2:30) Pure Protein Bar (190 cal) OR 100 calorie popcorn OR both! dinner (6:30) I usually eat anything for dinner as long as it is made with chicken and veggies. *spaghetti with very few noodles *noodle less lasagne *tuna casserole with white beans instead of noodles *crab cakes *stir fry *fish and veggies *chili I am an atkins girl so carbs to me are a no-no. Still learning that they aren't all bad, but they still scare me! I eat a lot of the same thing and now I am trying to figure out how to eat to get enough calories (doc wants me at 1500) and not turn back to crap foods. I eat a lot of tomatoes! If you want any recipes let me know, I can do my best to send them to you.