j.s.

I am not willing to give up coffee. They made me for 3 months pre and post banding. It was awful. I had to drink decaf which is just crap if you ask me. I drink it and I am gonna keep drinking it, the real columbian stuff. Cant make me quit. StrawartS - just had to tell you this, I just learned this recently.... I, like you thought that exercise high was a ton of bullsh!t, not just a load but ton. I have been walking 3 miles on the treadmill, walking to nowhere does not bother me. What bothers me is the sweating and the simple act of exercising so this has been quite the chore for me. When I walk I have to literally force myself to get on, then I say to myself I will just do 1/2 hour today. The first 15 minutes are pure hell, but I make them then push through to the next 15 minutes. Then I say, what the heck, I am half way there so I will do 15 more then get off, (45 minutes, that is good right?) By time I get to that 45 minutes I FEEL good - mind you I am totally sweaty and gross but I feel good, I feel like nothing can stop me (its freakish really). This has just started happening to me recently. I find that I actually look forward to that "feeling". I think that is the high they are talking about and like you, I never thought that existed. Now I am rethinking about that whole "high" thing. p.s. I still totally hate sweating tho I guess no high can fix that.

I dont have anything useful to add, just wanted to put in that yesterday I went to the nutritionist. She was on me about my lack of veggies. The very next sentance is always, "well just drink some tomatoe juice", what they dont realize is... if I drank tomatoe juice that would make me puke just as quick as if you put a lima bean on my tongue! ICK.

Another good product is called 123 Odor Free, I buy it on line. It is an enzyme eater too. We had a pee-fest going on in our living room by two dominent cats, my female and my brother's male cat. The male cat had to move out but not before serious damage was done. Male cat pee is the worse! This stuff is great. They ship it the next day or if you can get them early enough, that day. Can order on line or they have a 1-800 number on the web site. 123odorfree.com. I had tried everything and this stuff really did the trick. I swear by them.

No, I dont wish I had gotten RNY done. Of course every now and again when things are rough I do wish I could lose LIKE a RNY patient but truth be told, I would not be happy with that. For me the biggest issue was taking the supplements for the rest of my life. I plan to live a good long time and I sure dont want to have to take something every one of those days. I also think for me losing slowly is really helping my brain adjust. I lost weight very quickly once before and when I was able to start eating normally, gained it all right back... quicker. I cant say which is "better" because it depends on you and what you feel is right for you.

I have no problems at all with popcorn. Yummy.

Its not normal for me. I am one month shy of 1 year postop and I have only pb'd 4 times, all from eating too quickly I think. I will be gurgly when I eat dinner (after I have had a fill) for about a week or two so I have to really watch myself during those times to make sure I take my time. I have not had those kind of problems that you mention.

Hey Bubby, Hi right back at you from wisconsin! Waiting is the hardest part but once your done waiting it goes quickly! Wishing you luck! J.s.

We go to McD's every now and again. Never for breakfast tho. I will get a burger and peel it all apart and just eat the meat and pickles. I really miss eating a big ole grilled burger tho, with the bun and tomatoes and lettece, the works. We would grill out in the summer and make big slop burgers (we called em) and now there is no such thing. The bun makes the difference. It is just not the same eating a burger with a fork and knife - takes the fun right out of it.

I can eat toast. Dont really care for a muffin. Cake on the other hand I have no problem eating, I do have a problem with how long I will have to walk on the treadmill to combat the cake so I stay away from it as much as possible, for me it goes down way too easy.

These pics are great! You look like you had a fabulous time - makes me think Im in the wrong business!

I have a different perspective on this. I did the same with my husband, I was loseing and would ask him if he could tell and he would always say nope, dont see it or something along those lines. I was feeling pretty discouraged about that too. Then one day when I was picking him up from work, out the clear blue, he says wow, you really look good. I can really see a lot in your face is gone. Now I was just sitting there stunned. I was like well what is differnt today than a couple of days ago and he just said, he dont know but he can really see it today. I think the people we live with are just too close to it. They see us all the time and the change is gradual so the numbers are adding up but it takes a while for the change to register. So now I dont ask anymore and every now and again he will suprise me.

I tried that when it first come out on the market. It did absolutely nothing for me at all and I took it for like 4 months. I spent $400 to lose about 15 pounds. Not worth it in my opinon.

My turning point was the day I was at my brother's house and we were discussing the fact that he had heart disease and had stents placed. He was 46. I have 10 siblings older than me and only 3 with no major health issues and this brother was one of the "more fit" of the family. I was okay with the diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol but when the heart disease started down the chain, that scared me. My parents both have heart diasease (and all the rest of the stuff). My father died from heart disease. That was one huge wake up call. I was walking down the heart disease road and I decided right then and there to turn around and run the other way. Now I know this is not going to just make the heart disease skip over me, but if I can just shove it back say 30 or 40 years, I will be very happy with that indeed.

I just recently went on vac. I asked my surgeon at my fill appt. two weeks before my trip. He said nope, would not effect it at all. For me, he was right, it didnt. Matter of fact we ate about an hour after we got off the plane. I had no problems at all. (flight was a 5 hour flight).

Ohmigod that was by far the funniest post I read in a long time, sorry it was so bad for you, but I sure enjoyed reading about it! p.s. The papaya tablets work wonders for me, never leave home without them.

Diane, Are they concerned for your saftey and the saftey of your children because you had the band, had the band in Mexico or had the band in mexico and DIDNT tell them? I don't think you did anything wrong. You were not being decietful, you definitely did not lie to them, you told them you were going to have surgery and you did GO have surgery. I know its hard with the in-laws sometimes and you just have to learn which fights are worth your energy and which are not. Some you will never win because they will not accept anything you have to offer. Hopefully the wind will just blow this over and they will see who is really hurting the most here. Don't feel bad for what you did. Its over and done with, they have to learn to let it go.

Ya know what, I dont think it is a matter of eating less and chewing slower - well it is but.... the reason I CAN eat less is BECAUSE of the band. By having the band, that makes us have our pouch which takes less to fill and makes you feel full longer. Without that.... No small amount of food would satisfy me. I mean, I did millions of diets and ate like a bird all day but man, once it got dark out and nobody was looking..... That does not happen anymore, because I do have that fullness and am not starving by 8 pm.

I paid for fitday but I dont tend to log in. I did it in the beginning, then went without logging for months. I am trying to get back on track, have been writing down all my food and am ready to get it on fitday to see how I have been doing.

I just got a sample pack of quaker "Quakes Rice snack" , I am not much of a snacker but these are really good. I have tried the cool ranch kind and the cheddar cheese. Very light and yummy with a crunch. 9 of them are 70 calories (I would not eat more than 9 at a sitting tho). Mainly my snacks consist of cottage cheese or string cheese or yogurt.

It sounds to me like you already know the answer to this one.

Hey Margo!! You are doing great! We have had this discussion about the plateaus. you know I go from being totally discouraged from not losing anything to a huge sigh of relief when I do lose.... back to that discouraging place, back and forth, Over and over, I am like a freak show! But the moral of the story is, it comes.... just really really slow sometimes. Try not to let it get to you too much. Look at where your at now and where you have been, then you can see it clearer. And think of how you feel now, that kind of stuff you cant dismiss so easily. Its the stinking scale, they are evil. Hang in there, you ARE kicking butt! See you this week at the meeting?

I have a treadmill at home and I go to curves 3 days a week. I was considering a gym which is about a 15 minute drive from my home but in the end decided on curves because it was much cheaper and only a minute from my home. I went there just to see if I WOULD go once I paid for it and if I didnt go, didnt want to waste too much money. I do my treadmill (sears, Nordictrak) 3 miles 3 times a week. I do go to curves. When my year membership is up, if I have to pay for another year (not sure if they do that yet) then I will go to the gym since I am now in the habit of going and willing to pay more for the stuff I want. Since I was doing nothing at all it was a good trial for me to start with curves. I had my treadmill for a few years and used it off and on. I think by getting out to someplace that sort of MADE me go, it was too easy to just say I will walk "later" when I just had the treadmill.

I too hate flossing. Its a pain in my a$$. My mouth is too small and my hands too big and arrrrgghhh. I did try the Reach flosser tho, you put these little plastic floss things on it use it and pop them out. Its kinda like a tooth brush with just the flossy thing on the end so it is easier to use and get back in there. Now if I would just do it every day faithfully I'd be getting somewhere. Give it a try.

Holy crap, I saw one of these on the news - they look way too yummmy (some things I just should not know about!).

My husband has been great also. When I first started researching I was looking at bypass, he looked over all the info and thought about it (3 days to be exact) and said nope. I would rather you do not do this. So back to the drawing board. Then I found the lapband. Again researched and told him about this. He was all for it. He has seen me fight with the weight for the past 20 years, it always got the best of me. He does not have any weight issues, nor does his family. My family has terrible weight issues and all the health problems that come with it. He wants me to be happy and healthy and stay alive for a long time to come so he is completely behind me. He's a good husband :-)