JustWatchMe

Happy birthday to you!!! Best birthday evah, amirite?

Don't forget those five pound earrings.

@@gowalking, I've never chosen a goal weight under 150 in all my adult years of Weight Watchers. With my band, I chose 145. I am so scared I won't make it, which is why I almost didn't. But 145 puts me in normal BMI land. I see your progress and I know I can do it. Thank you!!!

@@gym_addict, your story is very inspirational. Congratulations on your success! I'm happy to hear that he supports you now. We do this for ourselves, but support of loved ones helps so much.

Name, real or screen~JustWatchMe Goal weight for June 30th~240 Weight on June 1st~248 Age~53 City/State~Chicagoland Dietary goal for June~800 calories a day Exercise goal for June~10,000 steps a day on FitBit and take stairs at work Personal goal for June~healthy food choices Date banded~March 13, 2014 Total weight loss since banding/pre op diet~54 pounds Favorite Summer Activity? Walking outdoors in nature

I just bought a FitBit One and I love it.

Bad pain, call your doctor. Having said that, try asking a friend to karate chop your neck and shoulders rapidly a few times a day. And walk, walk, walk.

@, congratulations on your success! And happy birthday a little early!

Haha! I got my hair cut this weekend! It was getting really long and I wanted a new look to go with my new smaller body. Congrats and enjoy your success!

@@gowalking, I'm so happy for you! You deserve all the good things coming your way. I can't wait for the day when I can see those numbers too. You're a daily inspiration to me!

If you're able to walk a lot, it will help with the gas. Gas-x usually won't help because it's not digestive gas, but rather, surgical gas that's trapped in your body cavity. It travels up to the shoulders. My daughter karate chopped my neck and shoulders a few times a day and that plus lots of walking relieved it for me. Good luck. Every day got better than the last for me.

On full liquids I had an Unjury shake in the morning, and either an Atkins shake or cream soup for lunch, and cream soup for dinner.

Today I had my first solid meal after my second fill. It was in a restaurant, and I fully intended to take most of the meal home, so I went ahead and ordered what I had a taste for. I ordered French onion soup, and a chicken fajita plate. I expected to eat a few sips of the broth followed by the cheese from the soup, and about half of the fajita plate. What actually happened was, I ate the cheese from the soup, and two bites of chicken. I immediately got a soft stop. I was kind of ticked off, because I really wanted to eat some of the fajitas. But then I realized, hey! My band is working! I stopped, asked the waitress for a box, and brought all of the rest of it home. Good thing my daughter likes fajitas. This satiety signal did not happen as suddenly with my first fill. I'm very excited that I might be on the right track, and getting closer to the green zone.

Glad to hear it was a good outcome. Thank you for this important information.

Raise a glass of red wine, Alex! My band won't like the carbonation in the beer! Seriously though, this site is a godsend. Congratulations on its success!

I can walk for miles and walk up stairs without getting out of breath and without back pain. I walked my dog in the late afternoon yesterday and my shadow is smaller. No seatbelt extenders on four flights I took this month! I donated five bags of big clothes, including two winter coats, to Goodwill yesterday.

@@2muchfun, let us know how this goes. I had a second fill yesterday of 2.5 bringing me to 7 in my 14cc band. I was worried I might not be able to swallow my Tylenol caplets this morning, but I just did without issues. How big is your band?

Ok, I'm old and married and not in the game anymore, but I have a funny computer dating story. Circa 1979. Freshman year of college. Al Gore had not yet invented the internet. Me, a shy, overweight wallflower sharing a dorm room with a shy, pretty, mousy, serious, petite classmate from my high school. I'm reading the college newspaper and there's an ad in the classifieds for Computer Dating. How exciting! I talked my roomie into trying it with me. We each sent in the five dollars and received a questionnaire by mail. Tons of questions, like what celebrity do you most resemble? I had no clue. I wrote Carol Burnett. Roomie fills hers out with all serious answers and we mail them back. A week or so later, we get a phone call from John and his friend Joe (real names long forgotten). They've been matched with us by the computer dating service and called to see if we were interested in meeting for a double date. John was matched with me, and Joe with my roommate. We all passed the phone around for introductory chitchat and agreed to meet for pizza Friday. Friday we meet two geeky, shy nerds at the pizza place. Talk about awkward. We were all 18 and 19 years old. They were nice enough, and once the ice was somewhat broken, we enjoyed our pizza and beer. You could still drink in Urbana, Illinois at age 18 back in 1979. Once the beer began to flow, so did the confession. Our Computer Dating Service was John and Joe placing a newspaper ad and trolling for dates on campus. I was buzzed enough not to be too insulted. We didn't even think of asking for our five dollars back. The next weekend John called our dorm room. My roomie answered the phone. When I heard her say, "Hi John", I shouted from the bathroom, "I'll be right there!" But John, my computer date, was calling for my roommate, not for me. Alas, I was not the Carol Burnett he had envisioned. My roommate went on one solo date with him, but they were both so painfully shy (and she didn't drink) so it ended there. Gotta give 'em credit for ingenuity.

Aw, this made me tear up. You are beautiful, inside and out, and you are such an encouragement to me. Thank you for all you do on these boards.

Amazing. Thanks for the encouragement!!! Us newbies need to hear it! Beautiful photo!

I try to remember 3-2-1. Three bites protein, two bites veggie, one bite starch. Lather, rinse, repeat.

@@lisacaron, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel.

I'm not at the green zone yet but I do feel soft stops. IF. Big IF. IF I eat very slowly and chew chew chew and eat small bites. The biggest factor is s l o w l y. Slow it down as much as you can and you may feel the soft stops. If I eat too fast I wipe out what's on my plate and feel the soft stops after the meal is gone. Good lot of help that is, right? Mine are a little burp and/or a small hiccup.

Oh man, my goal clothes are some shorts and shirts from my college years (circa 1980). My daughters wear them now. Of course, they would be considered vintage now. Hope I don't look like a damned fool wearing them again, because I AM going to wear them!

I am 11 weeks post op and had my second fill today. 2.5 added and now I have 7 in my 14 cc band. I love watching the fluoroscope and seeing what the NP sees. She drew a little out, put the Fluid in, had me swallow. I had a little gurgling so she drew some out and had me swallow again. That went through pretty fast so more in, swallow again. Perfect. I'm impressed with the accuracy and thoroughness of this office. Next fill will be 5 - 1/2 weeks from now so I can get an appointment late in the day. Otherwise it would be four weeks. She said the next adjustments will probably be much smaller as we narrow in on my green zone. I'm excited to be on this path and am already reaping the benefits of the weight loss thus far. From two blood pressure meds down to one and maintaining a good BP. Ditched my Prevacid. Ditched my NSAIDs. No more painkillers other than Tylenol for my arthritis. I feel reborn. I lost 4 pounds since my first adjustment a month ago, and two weeks of that was on vacation in Italy. This would have never been possible without the band. At my first fill, I told my NP about this forum and the Big Book of the Lap-Band. Today she thanked me. I told her how checking in here every day of my vacation kept me in touch with my goals and gave me daily support. I suggested she let her patients know about these tools. 48 hours of liquids now as I adjust to my adjustment. Bring it on!