Parvathi

One thing that helped me, besides Gas X was to get up and walk around a bit. Seems when I was sitting or laying down, the gas pains were worse. I also drank small sips of Coke to make me burp (excuse me! lol), but I know alot of doctors say no carbonation so it's not something I'd recommend. My doctor doesn't care about carbonation luckily. While it is painful (the gas), it does go away eventually. Best wishes!

I've tried doing the home workout thing, but it just doesn't work for me. I never have time in the morning, as I already get up at 5am to get the family ready for the day. When I get home from work (usually around 7pm), there's too many other things to do, like cooking, laundry, straightening up .. and of course, tele LOL. I wish I could do it though, cause it'd be much more affordable than my gym membership.

LOL .. mine gets looser. Its like its wide open during that time and of course, I take that opportunity to pile in the food :/ I want what you're having hehe

Happy Birthday, Ray!!! Hope you have a brilliant one

I'm kinda sad this is ending Its managed to keep me on track for a few weeks, for which I am thankful. September 06 - 207.0 September 12 - 205.0 September 19 - 200.6 September 26 - 199.5 October 03 - 198.1 October 10 - 195.5 October 17 - 193.0 October 24 - 191.5 October 31 - 187.8 November 07 - 186.9 Today, November 14 - 184 My goal for the challange was 20 pounds. I managed to go a bit further, for a total of 23 pounds. Well done everyone!! Bring on the next challenge LOL.

Monday, November 14, 2005:- Weight - 184 Under Bust - 33 Waist - 31.5 Hips - 45.5 I would probably choose the good ole traditional black, Nana. I absolutely love the olive and burnt orange, but I know I'd end up wearing those less lol.

Congrats Margo!! What a great NSV!

LOL .. you lucky ducky! Mine's had the opposite effect - my weight loss has slowed since I started taking birth control in September.

Good luck, fee!! You're being banded in Melbourne, aren't ya? Give us a yell if ya need anything (I'm home alone from tomorrow and bored outta my mind LOL).

For me, I measure my restriction by the amounts I can eat comfortably. I know that if I can sit down and eat a whole steak with a side salad, I probably need a fill. If I can have a half a tin of tuna and some salad, that's about the right amount for me to function on. Since being banded I've realized that there is a real difference between feeling full and feeling satisfied. I aim for satisfied. PB means productive burp. Sometimes when you eat too fast, don't chew properly, etc, food can get 'stuck'. When that happens, you tend to get a tight feeling in your chest and your mouth may fill with slime (spit, but slimier). Sometimes you have to cough up the food. Its not really like vomiting - there's no acid taste because it never really made it down. Its hard to explain - I'm sure someone else can do a better job at it than me lol. The first time it happened to me it was a bit scary, but I survived:) Now I just try to remember to chew properly and eat slowly. The band has a real learning curve, but its easy to learn if you pay attention to the signs...

Congrats, Karen Wishing you much success!

While you probably *can* drink normally now, its best to be in the habit of sipping. I made the mistake of not doing that and after my first fill, took a big gulp of Water while driving down the road in rush hour. Had a massive PB, on a huge 5 lane bridge that was bumper to bumper .. not pretty LOL. It bothers me not drinking with a meal as well. I choked once when younger and I'm always paranoid that will happen now. Again though, its best to get in the habit of this if you can. It will make it easier come fill time. When I was on soft foods/mushies, the blender was my friend. Chunky soups and chili I tossed in the blender with a lil bit of water. It tasted the same, just wasn't chunky anymore. While right now, you probably won't get as much Protein as you'd like, things like tuna salad (if you make it creamy enough) or frozen fish with sauce (lean cuisine has a few different varieties of this) are quite nice. Tuna mornay was another thing that I was allowed to have after a while on mushies. Protein shakes can help too. This is a time for healing though, so eat what you can and don't worry *too* much about the carb levels and such. It will all even itself out when you get onto solids. Good luck with it all

So very sorry to hear about your Grandmother. Mine passed away 3 years ago and had always been my favorite person .. its tough. Don't stress about getting back on track. It will happen, because you know it needs to. And even when we fall off the wagon, we know the principals of losing and the bandster rules, so dont fret about giving advice Take some time for yourself, to heal. You'll be in my thoughts *hugs*

My wedding band falls off about 5 times a day currently. Been meaning to go get a ring guard, as this one can't be resized. Guess I should do it sooner rather than later :/ My shoes have gone from a size 9 to a size 8 .. but if I buy knee high boots, I still get the 9 for the extra room in the calves (mine are soooooooo fat lol).

I've lost about 75 pounds. My bra size has gone from a 42G to a 34G. I've lost nothing in the cup size so far. Everyone is different though. Its possible that it'll start coming off there. I've already decided to go for a reduction though, when I reach goal weight. C cup here I come.

Thanks Penni I know its probably silly to worry about things like that (especially if nothing specific causes them), but I just don't know what I'd do if something happened to my band lol. I love this thing!!

I can eat it no worries, I just take it slow, like all other foods. Used to get the Jumbo popcorn with extra butter lol, now I can't finish a kids serve.

Aussie slang for McDonalds lol...

Kind of off topic, but do you feel it when the port flips?

There's quite a few people I didn't tell before hand. The reason being, that I was secretly afraid I'd fail miserably at this and I didn't want them to get their hopes up or have any expectations. I tell everyone now. If anyone says, OMG why didn't ya tell me? I just tell them it was because I wanted to make sure I could do it without any added pressure. They've all been very supportive and understanding. Good luck and enjoy your visit with your parents

LOL .. you're lucky Spydr. I had last supper syndrome and gained like umm, what's good descriptive for gaining? Anyway, too much! Then I had to do the liquid diet thing for 3 weeks prior to surgery and it evened it all back up. Its gonna be here in no time! Good luck

OMG Kellie - that sounds like sooooooooooo much fun!!! Congratulations! I'm still too scared I'll get stuck in the tubes to try it lol.

This may be nothing, or it may be something, I'm just not sure (thus I'm posting for advice lol). I woke up this morning and when I hopped out of bed (yes literally - I'm a morning person hehe), I noticed my stomach was hurting. Not like tummy ache, but more, something in there was hurting. Around the top of my stomach. As the day went on, I didn't notice it much. Probably because I was sitting at the desk all day. But when I stood up and picked up my bags to go home, my port area started stinging. Like, sharp pains right around the muscle there. Now, I've felt pains around the port area once or twice after serious ab workouts, but nothing quite like this. I haven't made it to the gym in about two weeks, so I can't think of any reason for it to be hurting. The only thing I've done differently in the past few days is wear heels to work. A coworker suggested this arvo that perhaps, because I'm not used to wearing heels, I was working different muscles. That's understandable around the calves and such, but surely that wouldn't make my port area hurt, would it? Just feeling a bit apprehensive about it. Any ideas?

Kathy, you're doing fantastic!! We all have our weeks of up and down. Main thing is, you're below where you started. Would you have been this time last year? I hear ya on the needing a break from challenges during the holidays though lol. I'm looking forward to my Mom's cooking, even if I can only get a bite or two of it down hehe. Keep up the great work

Glad to hear everything went so well, Kat! Take care of yourself and get plenty of rest.