hollyberries

Chrisann- We have alot in common. I am turning 40 in January and also am very healthy. My starting weight was 358 (doc's office) and 354 (my scale). I had a physical after I made my surgical appt. just to get clearence from my physician. She was all for it and ran every test known to man to ensure that I was very healthy. The test results proved that there was nothing wrong with me. So when I went to Dr. Lautz he looked in my file and said, "Well, looks like you want to have the Lapband.". I said, "Yes, that I was healthy as a horse but just freakin fat". To this he chuckled and said, "You are a perfect canidate for the Lapband and that I would do very well with it." He didn't even push torwards Gastric Bypass; which I would not do anyway. This surgery is to get me to have 40 more healthy years..why not get it taken care of before we have other issues late in life. I like my new friend the Band; we are still in the honeymoon stage; so we will see when it gets a bit harder. Best Wishes.

This is day 2 on Mushies (stage 3). I had the day pretty much planned out. Today was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I ate according to plan has much as possible. I ate: Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs Lunch: 2 oz white turkey breast, 2 tsp. turkey gravy, 1/4 cup of squash and 1/4 cup sweet potato and a small spoonful of cranberry sauce. Snack: a few bites of pumpkin pie Dinner: 4 oz white turkey breast, 4 tsp. turkey gravy, 1/4 cup of squash and 1/4 cup of sweet potato. I needed more turkey because I was hungry and needed more Protein. I felt pretty satisfied except at dinner time because I waited to long to eat. Hope you all did great today.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Scripture of the Day: Isaiah 41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." NIV For all who are struggling with this one meal, I pray. Lord, you see our weaknesses, you see how hard we struggle but we take the scripture for today and apply it to our hearts. Thank you for strengthening us when we are weak. I love the words to this song and thought it might be a good song for today in particular. Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart Give thanks with a grateful heart Give thanks to the holy one Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ His Son Now let the weak say I am strong Let poor say I am rich Because of what the Lord has done for us. Give Thanks! God Bless everyone have a wonderful day. Cindy

I just started mushies today so I am going to find tomorrow a pleasure. I plan on 2 oz of turkey, 1/2 cup of sweet potato, 1/2 cup butternut squash and a splash of gravy 1tbsp. I am trying to follow the Stage 2 Diet to the "T". I will also save my fruit for a little pumpkin pie filling with a little of whip cream. I will look forward to the left overs. I agree, that I will need to take it slow as to ensure that my stomach does not get upset. Today it has been a little unsettled with its new foods. I also found I was a little more hungry today than I had noticed in the last 2 weeks. It must be the fact that I had 2x the Protein with the Protein shakes during the liquid stage of the plan and now it is much lower. I will need to add some unjury to my food to get enough in. Good luck everyone! Cindy

I think that the quiet support is what you are talking about. The one that says, I am with you even if you failed before. I am with you if this is what you want to do. I am with you no matter what. I had a reverse situation, I was very apprehensive to mention to my husband that I wanted to have the Lapband and one night I got up the nerves to tell him and he was very supportive. He did say that he could not support me if I chose to have Gastric Bypass because he felt it was to risky. I had never given Gastric Bypass a thought. Give her sometime and she will come around and for now if you need support stick on this board and you will get it. Best wishes in your endeavours. Cindy

I am a small business owner of a Country Gift store in Southeastern Massachusetts. I left the corporate world 5 years ago to do this (making a pretty penny, too) and have not looked back. I have more time for family and am getting ready to launch a new store in January '08.

I was praying in the middle of night (I couldn't sleep, the stomach was upset a little) for this thread and all you Christian Bandsters. In my prayer, I felt lead to come on each day and pray for us. If you don't mind. Scripture for the day: Romans 5:1 (The Message) "By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us-set us right with him, we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus." Dear Jesus, we have faith in you to help us to do what is right in all aspects of our life; including overcoming our addiction to food. Thank you for the tool (the Band) for aiding us in the accomplishment. Thank you that we have it all together because of you. Help us today to focus on you and what your purpose is for our lives. Amen. Have a wonderful day everyone and know that you are prayered for (in the middle of the night no less). Cindy

Gadgetlady- I actually homeschool my boys (14,13 & 10). It's nice to see another banded homeschooler. Best wishes, Cindy

Not much action on this thread today...Where are all you Christian Bandsters. Have a great night and God Bless.

Glad to see things are going good for you. You will feel great shortly and the losing will keep you very motivated. I am 2 weeks out and feel great.

I just can't wait until tomorrow when I can go to mushies. I am having a hard time getting these darn protein shakes down. However, like the fact that I have lost 13lbs. in two weeks. No complaints but I am not sure what tomorrow will bring but I cannot image being able to eat alot since my appetite has not come back like a roaring lion YET! I assume the lion will show up at sometime...

Ok...I am 10 days post op and I have a dumb question. How do you drink without getting air in. I have sat here trying to figure out how to do this. Anyone can you explain it to me.

Count me in.. Name...........Chall. Start Wt........Current......Chall. Goal...........To Go Hollyberries............317....................317 .............299..................18

I lead worship in my church and yesterday prior to worship, I asked everyone to tell what they are thankful for. So I think that we should continue with what Wombat712 started. What are you thankful for? I am thankful for my salvation, for my family & friends, for my business and now for this wonderful lapband that will finally aid as a tool in my ability to lose weight and gain control over food. Tag your it! "Jesus, as we enter Thanksgiving week help each and everyone of us who struggle with food to have control over our ability to make good choices. If it is particularly harder for some than others I ask you to provide strength for the weary. May we remember that you are the reason we Celebrate Thanksgiving. We give thanks for all that you have given us." Amen

Ditto...Jfran. What planet is he living on? At least, we admit we have a problem and try to fix it. If we could just hang a bag around our neck with the disgusting smell in it we would not have had surgery to accomplish our goal. What an idiot.

Great Job Phil. You are one lucky duck to able to eat what you want. I have to do 2 weeks liquids, 2 weeks mushies and then on to real food. It is not bad. I too, am celebrating my 2 week anniversary on 11/20. I feel absolutely fabulous. Longhorn, I do not have the patience that you do. I weight myself every morning (naked of course) but I do not allow myself to be upset if it doesn't go up or down. Last year, I lost about 60lbs on NutriSystem and I weighed everyday and it allowed me to adjust my diet if I went up or down. I am looking at it positively instead of negatively and will not beat myself up. Also, I find that when I go down it changes my attitude; as well as if I gain. Steph-How are you feeling? We hadn't heard from you and I was hoping to see you post how you were doing...been following you. Details girl!

Best wishes on your surgery tomorrow. Do not be apprehensive, you will do great. Remember that this is a decision that you made to improve your life and get you healthy. You will do just great. I am two weeks out and am feeling great. The best decision I have made. Your in my thoughts.

Steph...we haven't heard from you. I hope that you are feeling better. Get well quick and let us know how things are going.

Trystelle- I have just gotta ask you how the heck you have lost 103lbs in 5 months. That is remarkable. Did you lose some weight prior to surgery. I am down 35lbs. in 6 weeks. I just had my surgery 2 weeks about this Tuesday but I want your secrets. Details girl...details...please.

My name is Cindy and I was banded on November 6th. During recovery I started to actively post and read www.lapbandtalk.com. It is funny how I did not find this thread until today. Ever since I started to research WLS; I have been at peace about it. A strange queit peace. I stumbled upon Lapband during my research and just found it to be a safer choice to me. When I approached my husband about it; he was very supportive to my decision. He actually said that he was not comfortable with GB but felt that if I wanted to do the Lapband, he was behind me. He has seen how I have struggled with my weight for a long time. I really didn't tell anyone of my decision except family; who were also supportive. A little nervous about it but once I explained it and had my Mom come to my appts with me they were on board with my decision. I must say that the peace I felt from God went right with me into surgery. I was never once nervous and did not even need to have the happy juice to calm me prior to surgery. Recovery was a little slower as I had never had surgery before so I did not know that I would feel as tired as I was. However, Thursday was my turning point and I felt like a million bucks. Each day gets better and better but I know when I have over done it because my body tells me. As for the diet, the Lord has been helping me with this as well. It has not been as bad as I thought it was going to be. The pre-op was fine and I actually lost 24lbs during the two weeks. I was astonished that I was not hungry and believe me I thank him for that. The two week post op diet has been fine a bit cumbersome with the Protein shakes and I am kinda sick of it but I will prevail. I just harken to the scripture; "He who has begun a good work in me" not sure where it is in the Bible but it has been a great comfort to me. As you can see from my ticker, I have lost 35lbs. all together so far. I know it won't be all roses and butterflys but I am looking forward to my new found body. I thank the Lord for giving the people who created the Band the knowledge and science to follow through and help us with the struggle of obesity. Thanks for listening and I look forward to getting to know everyone. God Bless, Cindy

There are so many Protein shakes out there but I chose a Body Fortress whey Protein that you can get at Wal*Mart. I like the chocolate because it is like drinking choco milk. Alot of bandsters by Unjury; which you can only get on-line by Googling unjury. I just ordered the unflavored because I want to add it to my Soups for added protein during the mushies part of the diet. I will be 2 weeks post op on Tuesday and have been on a liquid diet consisting of 5 shakes a day and 56+ oz of Clear liquids a day. I had to do a pre op diet of 3 shakes and one small lean meal a day. I have to admit that I thought that it was going to be very difficult but I had gotten my mind set and found that I did not think about it much. I must say now that I am getting sick of the shakes and am ready to eat a real meal but that is to be expected. Best of luck! It has been the best decision I made. I have lost 35lbs. in 6 weeks. Who would of thunk it!

Get a grip. You can do this. I know the mind may not have caught up with the body but you have to avoid the temptations to succeed. Obviously, you know this. I had surgery on the 6th and am still on my liquid diet until Wednesday. Tonight my family had Chinese food and it was really tough not to be able to eat but I ordered Wonton Soup took the veggies and wonton out and just at the broth. Now I am not saying it was easy but I reminded myself what I just went throught to lose weight and that I did not want to sabatoge my efforts. By the way, how the heck did you drink a coke. I though soda was a no-no. Best of luck and hang in there. Tomorrow is another day and start if off on a good foot.

I kinda of figured out how to do it. First, you take a sip, keep in your mouth, blow air out your nose and swallow. I feel like this is a whole new world. I wasn't a straw user before so that wasn't to hard but this swallowing air stuff has affected me with the bloated feeling. However, since initiating this way of swallowing it has been much better. Weird but better.

Ok...I am one who does not want to complain about pain. I am having a hard time figuring something out. The top portion of stomach just below the breasts really hurts and its almost like a full feeling. The full feeling really does not interfere with my ability to eat because I can without problems but I am not sure what it is. My first reaction is that it is still gas pains. Also, my shoulder still has pain on the left side. The pain doesn't really show up until I have moved around alot more than usual but really hurt yesterday enough to take my pain killers; as Tylenol would not cut it. Has anyone else out there had this issue 6 days post op. I keep reading that alot of you are doing much better with gas at this point and I am just a little concerned that I am still not comfortable. Any advice from you experience Bandsters would be awesome.

Awesome! Doesn't it feel good. Can't wait until I am in the "Can Cross My Legs Comfortably". Woo-hoo!