salsa1877

I don't think anyone will blame you for getting in your truck and driving. 8 miles is great! So I won't be able to make the 20 days, but I do want to make 12. We are moving this week, so I should get plenty of exercise running up and down our stairs. So my revised goal is 3 more days of exercise in November.

So I just got back from the doctor last night and am very sore (12 hours of driving!) They did an unfill, but the nurse had a hard time getting the needle into the port. So she had to move it around a lot. It was done under fluoro, but she just couldn't get the needle in for about 10 minutes. Finally it went in and she pulled out 1.6cc (I originally had 3.6 put in) When I talked to the doctor he said that I irritated my esophogus, but the band looks great. When talking to him on the phone, prior to examination, he said that I would most likely have to be on 2 weeks of liquids followed by 2 weeks of mushies, but today he said I could try mushies after 4 or 5 days and see if it still hurts. On a good note, the doc was very impressed with my weightloss. He said they consider the band successful if you lose 50 pounds in 1 year. I have lost 50 in 3 months. He said it was rare for someone with my starting BMI to lose that quickly. Guess I must be doing something right! DO YOU SEE THIS TICKER... IT IS HOLDING ON TO THAT DANG 2 FOR DEAR LIFE. Val- Thanks for the kind words, I hope being unfilled won't set me back. I am literally at the tipping point into onderland so I think I will be motivated. If I was very far on either side of that weight, it could have presented more problems, but being soooooo close, I think I will manage! __________________

lindaa - I have to wait until Dec 21 for my fill. He said I could go in sooner, but since it is almost a 6 hour drive from my house to his office, and I have already missed a lot of work, I decided to wait until the first day of Christmas Vacation to go back. I am not worried about Thanksgiving, because we are moving that day, so no meal for us anyways. So I figured at most it is 35 days of will power. The good thing is, I am sooooooo close to onederland (do you see that dang ticker, it is just holding on to a 2 like a rabid dog!) that I am really motivated. I think if I had 12-20 pounds on either side I would be less determined. However, there is NO WAY I am gaining this weight back. I have worked too hard. If I do find myself starving then I can go back and get a fill earlier. He said I only had to wait a week, but after the pain that I was in, and still am in a little bit, I have no desire for restriction right now. Will power is less painful!

So I just got back from the doctor and am very sore (12 hours of driving today!) They did an unfill, but the nurse had a hard time getting the needle into the port. So she had to move it around a lot. It was done under fluoro, but she just couldn't get the needle in for about 10 minutes. Finally it went in and she pulled out 1.6cc (I originally had 3.6 put in) When I talked to the doctor he said that I irritated my esophogus, but the band looks great. Yesterday, prior to examination, he said that I would most likely have to be on 2 weeks of liquids followed by 2 weeks of mushies, but today he said I could try mushies after 4 or 5 days and see if it still hurts. Peaches, I don't usually eat the bread, but I had been very short on calories for several days and wanted to add some fiber and calories. Up until the fact that I didn't chew enough, I have had zero problems with any foods. In fact, I didn't even think I had very good restriction. I am just rarely hungry so I could eat small portions. I am trying very hard not to "diet" with the band. I eat my 70-80 grams of protein a day and then eat whatever else my BF fixes as long as I stay around 1000 claroies. Sometimes that means eating bread, cake and pie... just not very much of it. I want the band to help me change my lifestyle, and not eliminate certain foods. I did that for years with Atkins and it didn't work for me. My doctor encourages us to eat normal food like normal people, and only eliminate it if we can't tolerate it. Don't get me wrong, I don't eat bread (or starches) everyday. On a good note, the doc was very impressed with my weightloss. He said they consider the band successful if you lose 50 pounds in 1 year. I have lost 49 in 3 months. :whoo:He said it was rare for someone with my starting BMI to lose that quickly. Guess I must be doing something right!

Well it looks like my quest to hit my 20 days of exercise is going to come to a screeching halt here. About 3 days ago, my teeth went apparently went on strike and decided not to chew the piece of food in my mouth. (Always have to blame it on something other than my brain!). Anyways the food got stuck and a whole lot of sliming and INCREDIBLE PAIN occured. I didn't PB, but I am beginning to think that I should have. Anyways, since then I have been on liquids, but now everytime I swallow something more than my own saliva, it hurts like crazy. So I called the doctor and I have to go in tomorrow. He wanted me to go in today, but I can't just leave my job and drive the 6 hours there. However, I will get a sub for the last two days of this week and then we are off all of next week for Thanksgiving so YEAH!!!!! Trying to find the silver lining in all of this! They are going to completely unfill me and then let my tummy rest for a few weeks. That will be fine cause I will go back in during Christmas break. I don't think for me it will be too big of a deal about being unfilled. I am DETERMINED to get below 200 pounds soon, so no matter how much will power it is going to take, I will do it. I think I have to go back on post-op diet anyways, so I won't have much of a choice. Pureed tuna fish here I come! It just makes exercising kind of tough being on liquids/mushies only. Actually the fact that I have only 8 oz of chicken broth all day makes things kind of tough. I have zip for energy. I won't have internet access when I am back in WA visiting the doc so I will fill (no pun intended) you in when I get back.

So my doctor called me back and I have to go in tomorrow. He wanted me to go in today, but I can't just leave my job and drive the 6 hours there. However, I will get a sub for the last two days of this week and then we are off all of next week for Thanksgiving so YEAH!!!!! Trying to find the silver lining in all of this! They are going to completely unfill me and then let my tummy rest for a few weeks. That will be fine cause I will go back in during Christmas break. I don't think for me it will be too big of a deal about being unfilled. I am DETERMINED to get below 200 pounds soon, so no matter how much will power it is going to take, I will do it. I think I have to go back on post-op diet anyways, so I won't have much of a choice. Pureed tuna fish here I come! It just makes exercising kind of tough being on liquids/mushies only. Actually the fact that I have only 8 oz of chicken broth all day makes things kind of tough. I have zip for energy. I won't have internet access when I am back in WA visiting the doc so I will fill (no pun intended) you in when I get back.

Oh and Phyl, I saw your post about the Seahawks on a different thread. It was a good thing they wonMonday cause it was the only thing that was keeping me from throwing my shoe across the room. I was grading papers while watching the game. You can check my previous post for reasons behind shoe throwing fit!

Well I emailed my doc this morning. The pain is getting really bad, especially under my left rib. I don't ususally wake up in the middle of the night for anything, and last night the pain woke me up 3 or 4 times. I was ready to run for the left over pain meds, but I didn't want to get out of bed! At this point I am not drinking anything thicker than chicken broth cause it just hurts too bad. I have tried the gas-x in case it was gas and hot tea to try and loosen me up. That didn't work! Last night I couldn't get down my protein smoothie because it just plain hurt. And it had peanut butter in it. Usually nothing stands between me and peanut butter, except will power! I am really light headed and unable to concentrate because I have had 1000 calories in 2 days. I couldn't even make it to 500 calories yesterday. I'll keep you updated.

I'm in for the exercise challege. I have been participating in the Crazy Ate's exercise challenge as you can see from my signature, but I am having to get creative because I sold my treadmill because we are moving. So now I walk/jog home from work or walk/jog up and down our stairs, but I don't like doing either one, so I am not motivated to do more than 30 min a day. However, once we get moved and I have a little cash to spare I am going to join the gym. It is expensive here because I want to go month to month. I don't know how long we are going to be here, so I don't want to make a long term commitment. I will be here at least through the end of the school year, but most places don't have just a 6 month commitment, it is a year or longer. Anyways, I am still not doing well. The soup and water hurts :crywhen I swallow. I have been having terrible pains in my side too. I don't have time to go to the doctor considering he is 6 hours away, so I hope this thing settles down. So far today I have had 230 calories. As you can imagine, I am exhausted and have no energy. :notagree Thank goodness I am done with my last class for the day. Now I just have several hours of grading to finish (which is going result in me pulling out my hair because these kids think that printing straight from the internet and calling it their own work is going to cut it!). Believe me, I can't afford to lose any more hair either. It was falling out before surgery, now it is BAD. Sorry to vent, it has just been one of those days.

My last fill was Sept 4, so I don't think I am too tight. Though in the middle of the last month I had this issue too. When I get under a lot of stress, I seem to get really tight and then top that off with the fact that my teeth didn't chew and it leaves me in a not so great spot. I was hoping that I would wake up this morning and feel better, but I actually feel worse. So, soup it is for at least today. We will see how I feel then. Stress at work is very unbearable right now so that isn't helping the situation. Anyways, I will let you know what is going on.

Today was not a good day. I ate a boca burger with a piece of diet bread for lunch and my gosh darn teeth must have been out on strike cause they certainly didn't chew enough. :faint: As soon as I swallowed I knew I was in BIG trouble. I must have sat there for at least 15 minutes in TERRIBLE pain. I just kept swallowing and praying that it didn't come back up. It was seriously the worst pain I have had since being banded. I couldn't finish my burger and I probably shouldn't have eaten dinner. I ate dinner a few hours ago and since then I feel like I have a basketball in my stomach. I tried drinking something (after my hour was up) to see if that would help but no such luck. So now I just feel awful. If I feel like this tomorrow, I am going to go on liquids for a couple of days. If nothing else it will drop me into onederland!!!!! Maybe not though. If I don't get close to 1000 cals, I don't lose a thing. That is going to be a problem for me today as well. I got about 600. I know, not good, but the thought of eating anything right now makes me want to cry. I will let you know how I am feeling better, but if anyone has any thoughts about what I should do, I am more than willing to listen and try!

SOOOOOOO close. 201.5 Should be there by Friday. Definetly before Thanksgiving.

Hi! I am 28 and 10 years ago I said I would never go through any type of weight loss surgery. Now here I am and have lost 48.5 pounds in a little over 3 months and am kicking myself that I ever said that statement. I don't think that I would have been successful if I had done it any sooner cause I just wasn't ready. But now, this is the best thing I have ever done in my life. I was fortunate that I found a job this year that would allow me to afford to do this becasue I am a self pay.

Thanks! 1.5 pounds to go before I hit onderland! Walked/jogged home today and I should get bonus minutes because it is SOOOOOOOO windy today.

I eat about 1000 calories a day...on a good day. Most of the time I can't get there. I don't count calories everyday, just on the days when I haven't eaten much and need to know what to fix for dinner. I don't diet, and eat whatever I want, just not much of it. For example, we went to the cheesecake factory for lunch this weekend and I ate 2 1/2 pieces of orange chicken, 1/2 piece of bread, and 6 bites of pumpkin cheesecake and I was not hungry for the rest of the day. I actually have to force myself to eat. When I do count calories, I use fitday.com

I am fat because I am addicted to food. I was always the person that people said "There is no way that you can weigh that much... you never eat and exercise all them time." They were right, I did exercise a lot and never ate very much in front of them. Instead it was the 3 supersized meals from McDonalds that I would eat BEFORE going out with any one, the dozen doughnuts I would hide under the bed, the bag of cookies under my car seat, the snickers bars in the bottom drawer of my dresser. If I was at a party, I would take food and hide it and go to the bathroom to eat it. (I know disgusting!) It started when I was very young (8 or 9) Just before going to bed, I would grab as much food out of the kitchen as possible and sneak it off to my room. I would eat whole boxes of little debbie snacks before I went to bed. No one would miss them at home either because unless it was full of sugar and fat, it was not in our house. I don't think my mom believed in vegetables. Probably why she died at the age of 53 from a major heart attack weighing over 350 pounds. Since having my band, I have not snuck one piece of food, and if possible only eat in front of others. I just don't want to get in the habit of eating by myself and hiding food. It is amazing how fast the weight will come off (and how much money you save) when you aren't buying enough food for 3 people to eat!

I was a self pay as my insurance stated that I needed 5 consecutive years of treatment for obesity before I qualified, or sever co-morbidities. Since I didn't want to wait 5 years (which would probably lead to co-morbidities) I decided to just pay the 17000$. That covered everything including 2 years of follow ups and fills.

Josephine - I hope that your heartburn settles down. Thank you for your words of encouragement. I have a great support system outside of the bandster world so that helps a great deal. My dad, who is very large 400+ is not the greatest support in the world, but my BF and brother have been there for me every step of the way. They will also help ensure that I don't change. I know that I feel so much better now, I can't imagine what I will feel like in 52 pounds!

I just celebrated my 3 month bandiversary 2 days ago. These pictures were taken 8 days ago. I have to explain the before pics. This was at our outdoor school last year so the reason my tongue is sticking out is because we were singing funny camp songs. This was not even at my highest. I think I gained an additional 10 pounds after these pictures were taken, but you get the picture! The other pics were taken a week ago. That is the same blue san francisco shirt in both pics. I had to take another after pic in a better shirt, cause the t-shirt is now way too big and has been demoted to a weekend only shirt!<!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- / message --><!-- attachments -->

Hi! I am still here. I was just out of town this week. Everyone seems to be doing amazing. pigsrflying - I agree about grouchy people, but just think, it is 17 pounds without restriction. Imagine what it will be with restriction! Good luck. TexasBecky - Wow that is a lot of weight for just a few people. We really are doing great. You can at 48 pounds to that for me!

I have been out of town visiting family for the last 5 days, and amazingly got in exercise everyday. It is actually much easier when I don't have to worry about work and my crazy hours!!! 2 pounds to go to onderland. I should be there by the end of the week!:clap2::bounce:

Hi all, I met my mini goal last week, I have just been out of town for the last several days and didn't have internet access. I had to go Wed to Wed because I didn't have a scale to weigh on Thursday. In one week I went from 206.5 to 204. When I got home today I stepped on the scale it was down to 202. I am only 2 pounds away from onederland. My original goal was to be below 200 by Christmas! Blew that one out of the water:clap2::clap2::bounce::bounce:

Walked another 30 minutes home again today. And don't worry, when I make it to onederland you will probably hear me yelling all the way from Redmond, OR. I weigh everyday and then average for the week, and then chart it using excel. For those of you who don't know, I am a chemistry teacher! It is all about the data. According to my data and scientific figurings, I should be in onederland no later than Nov. 13. I am going away for the weekend, so I am a little worried, but I promise to let EVERYONE and their dog know! Thanks for the encouragement.

I have only had one fill. If I only ate when I was hungry, I would eat once a week. I only eat because I know I need to. It has been that way since I was banded. Nice, but I don't want to accidentally overeat and hurt something. It is amazing how paranoid one can be when they pay 17000$. I have never pb's and only slimed a couple of times because my teeth forgot that their job is to chew! I will try the squash, because it will at least be something different. Mornings are really hard for me to eat because I get to school at 5:30 and don't want to eat until around 7, so I need something that I can pop in a microwave or just eat cold. I need to work on the breakfast thing! Thanks for the advice.

Josephine, Congrats on your weight loss. I got my band in August of this year, and like you, must have had my band placed in just the right place. I am rarely hungry and have only had 1 fill. The only reason that I actually got the first fill was so that they could check in under fluoro and I could be satisified that everything was where it was supposed to be. I keep hearing about people going in for their 2nd and 3rd fill and almost feel that maybe I should. However, I have lost 46 pounds in less than 3 months, so I don't feel that there is any need to fix something that is not broken. As for Lexapro, I had a friend who took it and I vaguely remember her talking about heartburn. I have not taken that one, but I have been on effexor and I would highly suggest staying away from that one. It took me over 3 months to come off of it because if you miss a dose it makes you feel like you are terribly sea sick. I like you have stayed away from fast food (except taco bell) because I just don't want to go there right now. The only reason I have gone to taco bell is because it was either there or nothing when we were travelling. I have not eaten at mcdonalds or burger king since August 8, the day before I was banded. We do most of our cooking at home so it hasn't been a huge problem, but I know that if I tried it and it went down, I could be in a world of hurt! As for drinking, I was a big Water drinker before so that was not a problem. The only other thing that I normally would drink is milk, but for some reason I because lactose intolerant after the surgery! We started out at almost the exact same size and weight, so you are an inspiration to me. Hopefully I can be just as successful as you. Thanks for your story!