steph_co

There are 4 of them. Boy - 12, Boy - 10, Girl - 7, Boy - 5. I think I did okay with their gifts...it's the stockings I'm having issues with. Great ideas, so far.

Which Slim-Fast are you using? Slim-Fast Optima...yes, too many carbs. The Low-Carb Slim-Fast, however, only has 2 "net" carbs meaning only 2 carbs that actually have an effect on your blood sugar. 5 carbs total. Good luck with your pre-op diet.

I am confused. You mean the BAND, or your PORT. The band is around your stomach, as Grace put it, several inches in. I'd have to press pretty dang hard to feel it. But my PORT, yes, I can feel it. Everyday when I get up and get ready for work, it's comforting to me to feel my port and see how much it's sticking out that day. I have no idea why. But it is kind of cool and it reaffirms that they really DID put something in there. LOL

Fully clothed for the weigh-ins and for my "before" pic. Thank goodness. That WOULD have been a deal-breaker for me. Yikes.

Jack, you are my hero. I love your posts. The things you say just make so much SENSE. It helps me to keep going in the right direction!

I didn't have any insurance advice, Bente, but wanted to wish you well with Tricare. I have heard one too many stories with them from friends still in the military (DH was HD'd in 2005 after 17 years). The surgeon I went to did not have a problem with banding me. I thought for sure I would be scoffed at, too. My BMI was around 37 and yes, I had co-morbidities of varicose veins, joint pain, unexplained infertility, family history of diabetes and obesity on my paternal side. I only had to deal with my surgeon. No PCP and no insurance...I was self-pay. You might get better information if you post a Tricare-specific question in the Insurance forum further down in the main forum list. Like asking people with Tricare to give their experience. Good luck! I hope you get it! Plain old diet and exercise never worked long for me, either...I need help with the maintenance part!

Heck, yes! Are you kidding? LOL I couldn't get on the computer the other night (way too busy at work) and I had a lower number to report and was having withdrawal. I LOVE clicking on it and updating it. Tazz - Click on your ticker. Put in your password. Click the edit/update button. On the next screen, make sure you put in your password again. Input your new info, submit. Click on your ticker on the next screen to see what your new ticker looks like. GL

What do you love about your band surgeon and their practice? My doctor was very friendly, excellent bed-side manner. The FNP that assists him with surgery seems to genuinely care about people. The social worker that did the psych-eval gave me great suggestions for dealing with life after the band and openly welcomes emails and contact with her for support. She spoke quite thoroughly about the possible danger of addiction transfer and how to avoid it. The surgery center that he is in partnership with was excellent! I LOVED it. Clean, new, state-of-the-art. The staff was very caring, very kind and helpful. Excellent follow-up from the surgical center staff after my op. What do you hate? His receptionist is a little short on the phone. She seems okay in person, her phone manners just aren't very good. What do we do well? Genuinely caring while I'm in the office. What could we do better? I'm not sure...I just kind of feel a little alone out here with this band. Of course, I live 3 hours from my doctor's office, so maybe that makes a difference? What more could we do to help you succeed? Hmmmm. I think talking more to patients about the pains or possible problems after the surgery. A lot of that I have read on these boards, so I was prepared...but not everybody comes to boards like these. Also talking about under which circumstances it would be absolutely necessary for the patient to call the band doctor (possible signs of erosion or slippage, for instance). How could we improve your customer experience with our practices? The only thing I can think of is because of my own experience - make sure that your receptionist knows how to sound welcoming on the phone. She/he is the gateway to your office. You don't want it to sound like you're ALL like that...but that's what it would seem like if I didn't know the whole staff.

Awwwww! Cute! Both of your boys are adorable. Congratulations!!

GL, my fellow Nymph!! You can so do this. I have 10 more lbs to lose to be in Onederland. I'd love to be there by the New Year. We'll see. I won't beat myself up if I don't make it because even the amount I have lost since my surgery is fan-freakin-tastic. GL to everyone on their way there, and GREAT JOB to everyone that has made it...don't forget us little people (or should I say heavier people?).

I love the snow. I feel sad for you that you don't have any, Wasa. LOL I'm not kidding. I work in a ski town. There are easily 2 feet of snow sitting around that built up over several days. I think this is the same storm that headed east. But I do wish we had more snow down by our house. Sadly it's only a couple inches. I didn't shovel it - I still don't know who did because I don't think it was DH.

Absolutely, LH! That IS a great victory!

Huh. Wow. I wasn't around for this post, but it's very interesting. Thanks, faithmd.

Ang1982 - I've heard of that. I think I would talk to somebody. Medicated doesn't always mean out of it.

Last weigh-in was this past Monday, I believe...I'm weighing again tomorrow. But I'm down 18.5 lbs from surgery to this past Monday.

I think your nutritionist makes a good point about habits. :Banane20: I've never really been into popcorn anyway, but I think situational eating is something that at least I MUST break away from if I am to be successful. What she may have meant about fiber is the rough texture of the popcorn...I don't know. That's the only thing I can think of. I remember my nutritionist telling me to be careful with fibrous veggies like brocolli - One of the only veggies I can stand.

Phew. I'm glad I'm not the only one on this stuff. LOL I have restless legs. The seat I am sitting in in the car MUST be all the way back ALWAYS so that I can stretch my legs out and move them around. I pick my skin. If there's something on my lip, I have to bite it. This one caused me some grief awhile back because I had some kind of cold sore or something (never get those) on my lip and I kept biting it without thinking about it and I'd be bleeding really bad like I got into a fight. Not the prettiest sight when you're a security officer. LOL I don't like to step on cracks anywhere. I'm not obsessive about it, but if I happen to be looking at the ground, I'll lengthen or shorten my step to not hit a crack. I give up, though, when I hit an area that has bricks or something with a lot of cracks and just step on them. I hate it, but I figure I have to control it. This one is kind of hard to explain. I do kind of do the counting thing that OCD'ers do. I was standing with a circle of people and I had my hand on the girl's shoulder next to me and I was counting with my fingers on that hand and in my head, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5." I wasn't even aware of it until the girl said something. I will also grind my teeth to the beat of music sometimes. I think I'm better at this one - haven't done it in awhile. And of course, I have used eating compulsively. And I am a compulsive shopper. I used to really bite at my cuticles. I got that one under control, too. I'll see some loose skin on my cuticles and pick that off, but make myself stop before it gets any deeper. I used to bite at the perfectly healthy ones, but I make myself not do that. A lot of this is work-in-progress and I still struggle sometimes. Looking at all this, it's encouraging to me. Because if I can control certain things that were compulsive behavior like biting my cuticles or stepping on lines, maybe I can keep my eating under control. I can hope, right?

When I was researching the band, I only read a few things here and there that made me nervous about getting it. Then I joined this board and starting reading some of the forums Lauren mentioned and it scared me. I had to keep telling myself that I could be one of the ones that it works for...I didn't necessarily have to be one of the negative results. So in my case, I kind of had to give myself a pep talk after reading this board before my surgery. LOL

Just based on my research on this board, it sounds more like you are over-filled. I would call your doc and talk to him/her about it. They would know more about your personal situation and could help you with a resolution.

I can't wait to be overweight!! Keep up the good work!

I saw myself as thin as I want to be 10 years ago at 17. I love those pics of myself. I think I looked great. I didn't have the confidence at that time to go with the looks, sadly. I am much more confident in myself now than I was then, which is really strange to me! But I definitely look forward to being thin. I know I'll probably have some wrinkles because honestly I don't take THAT great of care of my face (yes...I'll pay for this one). But the wrinkles I will take over the fat any day!

I work at night, get home and fall asleep around 7:30am-8am. I have to force myself to stop drinking ANYTHING at about 3am. So anywhere from 4 1/2 to 5 hours prior to bed time, I don't drink. That is the only cut-off point I have been able to find that hasn't made me get up at least once to go to the bathroom. I just make sure to drink more of my liquids early in my day. For instance, I try to get at least 44 of my 64 ounces before midnight so I'm not rushing to get it all in between midnight and 3am.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....now that's true love right there! LMFAO!! hahaha

I guess I'd have to say my eye-opening experience was taking 4 1/2 years to get pregnant and then having a miscarriage. Nobody said to me that it was my weight, but miscarriages do not run in my family on either side. I knew something had to be done before I waited another 4 years for it to happen again. I want to be a cute preggo, too...and I would not have been - I would have looked like I just packed on some extra pounds.

Uh...head-scratcher...neither did I. I was not offended. REALLY?? I didn't must have missed where it was said, "This happened to ME."