nip50

The green zone is also called the sweet spot. It's when you get your fills to the level where you're not experiencing too much hunger, not eating too much, and loosing about 1-2 pounds a week. Most people here on the board call it the sweet spot, but many doctors' offices call it the green zone.

I think the doctors are crazy in thinking we can get by without snacks. The obesity clinic where I get my fills at even recommend a snack. I normally eat breakfast at 6:00 am and then around 9:30 or 10 have a lite snack. Then have lunch around noonish and a late afternoon snack. Dinner is usually 6ish and then I'm fine. I'm not one who has problems with eating before bedtime. The key with this is to have a healthy snack. It might be a lite string cheese or a lite activia yogurt, a handful of dry roasted edamame, or 1/2 serving of 100 cal bag of popcorn. Even with my snacks I'm able to keep my calories between 800-1000 most days.

Momof5 - I saw you on the Bagnato Bunch site. Where you banded by Dr. B? I was banded last October and just love my band. It's been great for me. I'm from Douglas and a mother of 4 boys. I have 3 teenagers still at home. So you feel like you're struggling. We've all been there. Have you found your sweet spot yet, or green zone? You may just need another fill. I've only hand 2 fills so far, but there's many who need 4 or 5 to get there. How much are you eatting and are you keeping track of your calories? Try one of the online sites like fitday.com or the dailyplanet. You might find that you're eating too little or too much. Are you following the lapband guidelines of eatting solid Protein first and then good carbs like vegies and fruits? Try to avoid drinking your calories. I rarely have a Protein Drink. I normally only drink those when I find my calories are running a little low. I also only drink Water. Good luck on your journey.

Sandymel - have you looked in the 60's group? I'm sure there's guite a few of them around. If not, check out the 50's group which is where I belong.

Sleepgirl - How about a buddy from South Georgia? I'm a 50 year old mom with 4 boys, 3 teenagers still at home. I was banded last October and have had great success with my band. I just love it and wouldn't change a thing.

Happyone - I want to give you a few things to think about. - How is your fill level? Are you in the green zone? If not, see about getting another fill. - How much are you eatting? Try keeping track of your calorie intake. I use fitday.com, but there's other sites too. - What are you eatting? Are you following the lapband guidelines like protein first, then good carbs like fruits and vegies? Drinking all your water? - Exercise - now that's a tough one. I live in south Georgia so I know about the heat too. I walk on my treadmill 4-5 times a week for 30 minutes. It may not be much, but it works for me. - Try going back to the basics. Do you have the lapband booklet that they give you when you're first banded? If so, get it out and reread it, maybe it'll help. - Finally, if you're doing everything you're suppose to be doing and still not having much success, mix it up. By that I mean eat a little too much for a day or two and pump up on the exercise. Sometimes we need to shock our bodies. Our bodies get use to eating less than we need and they adjust to that, so give it more and it'll relax a little. Good luck.

mom2max - keep us posted and let us know what you think of Dr. B. I think you'll really like him.

That sounds about like my insurance. If I wait the 18 months and prove that it's medically necessary (like skin rashes and back aches) they will pay for the removal but not the muscle tightening. Now it's just a waiting game.

Bamboobabe - I've had a consultation with Dr. Moye in Albany. I'm looking into a tummy tuck, but am having trouble with my insurance - I want them to pay for it. The doctor is fine with doing it now, but my insurance wants 18 months post op, so it'll probably have to wait until next summer. I work in the school system so I'd have to have mine during summer. I knew I was pushing it for this year, but thought I'd give it a shot. I believe the cost for a tummy tuck is around 10K, I never got an exact figure since I was trying for insurance. I really liked Dr.Moye, maybe you should give his office a call and see just what his prices are.

I'm updating - 2 more pounds down. Hope all is going well with everyone. georgia girl starting weight: 244 current weight: 244 challenge goal weight: 234 pounds to go: 10 Leslie2Lose starting weight: 226 current weight: 225 challenge goal weight: 215 pounds to go: 10 nip50 starting weight: 193 current weight: 189 challenge goal weight: 185 pounds to go: 4 jbrad71629 starting weight: 201 current weight: 201 challenge goal weight: 190 pounds to go: 11

Congratulations - Isn't that a wonderful feeling. I can't remember a time in my life that I wasn't in the plus sizes and now I'm a 14-16, used to be 26-28. At times I still feel strange looking at regular clothes, like maybe someone is saying hey you shouldn't be in this section. It's still hard to believe, but I do love it.

Hey ladies, how are things going for everyone? Is anyone having any success on the challenge so far? Anyway, I'm back in town and I'm pleased to announce that I didn't gain any weight and I did eat pretty much anything I wanted, but really watched the portions. We went out everyday for at least one meal. I needed to catch up on all the good food that I've missed since moving to a small town. I hope you ladies are doing well.

RosieJo - You will just have to decide ahead of time how much you are going to eat. Then ask for a to go box before you start eatting and put all extra food away. If its not on your plate to start with you won't be as tempted to overeat. I'm also on vacation at the moment and even though I have some restriction, it's easy to make bad choices. I'm at my parents and there's stuff to nibble on all the time, like homemade pie. So I went and got some healthy snacks so I can grab those when tempted to eat the bad stuff. Good luck on vacation and I hope you have a wonderful time.

The goal should be to eat most anything you want but in smaller portions. Last night I made chicken stirfry over brown rice. Other nights I've made meatloaf (cooked on a broiler pan so fat drains off), hamburger patties with onions, chicken cesear salad, baked pork chops. I cook for a family of 5 (3 teenage boys) so they have to enjoy it also. Oh, one of my favorites is taco salad (beef or chicken), I just skip the tortilla chips.

I eat Kashi GoLean cereal at least 4 days a week with a little low fat milk. I do find with this. It doesn't hold me quite as long as say eggs, but close enough. If I was to mention this to the doctor, I'm sure he would remind me that it would be considered a liquid, but it works fine for me.

Momof5 - Honestly I'm not doing anything special. I just strictly follow the bandster rules. Protein first, then good carbs and vegies. No drinking with meals, and I only drink Water. As far as exercise, I walk on the treadmill 4-5 times a week for 30 minutes and not much more. I've had 2 fills so far, I have 5 cc's in a 14 cc band and that's been all I need. At times I think I need another fill, but honestly I'm fine where I'm at. I also log in my food at fitday.com (at least a couple days a week) and try to keep it between 800-1000 calories a day and around 60-70g of protein. So, I assume you have 5 children. Boys, girls, pets? Ages? I have 4 boys, 3 teenagers and one a little older. I'm sure they keep you busy. When were you banded and how are you doing so far?

Kat - I'm down in Douglas (Coffee County) was also banded by Dr. B. How are things going for you? Are you pleased with the band?

Down 2# this week - If I can only keep them off next week while on vacation. georgia girl starting weight: 244 current weight: 244 challenge goal weight: 234 pounds to go: 10 Leslie2Lose starting weight: 226 current weight: 225 challenge goal weight: 215 pounds to go: 10 nip50 starting weight: 193 current weight: 191 challenge goal weight: 185 pounds to go: 6 jbrad71629 starting weight: 201 current weight: 201 challenge goal weight: 190 pounds to go: 11 __________________

It sure is hot, but I'm really going to miss it starting Saturday. I'm going to Portland, OR to visit my parents and the weather there is horrible right now and the forecast for next week isn't any better. Lows in the 40's and 50's and highs in the low 60's. I don't have anything to wear. I have plenty of capris and t-shirts, but they won't do for that type of weather. I did go out and buy one pair of long pants, but I don't really want to buy a bunch of clothes that I won't be able to wear again once the weather turns cold here next October or November. I don't even have a jacket to take with me. I am going out to Belk's today, I'm hoping to find something on clearance otherwise I guess I'll wear the same pants the entire week I'm there.

There's no way I could pass up meat and fortunatly I can eat most any of it. I know I eat too much red meat, but it's so good. When it comes to chicken trucks, we have plenty here in Douglas. Pilgrim's Pride has a plant here so numerous times a day they go straight through town. I've taught myself to not look at the chickens. I think one thing that helped me is that when I was young my family fished, hunted, plucked and cleaned chickens, and you name it we did it. After saying that it sounds like I'm a country girl, but really I grew up in a very large city. Good luck on going vegetarian - I sure couldn't do it.

Chips are my biggest weakness - Doritos!!!! A day hardly goes by without having some type of chip in the house. That's what I get with having 3 teenage boys in the house. I will let myself have 2 or 3 and that's it. I find that if they don't leave them on the counter that I can resist alot better. For some reason if I just roll them up and put them in the cabinet I can leave them alone, but when they leave the bag open and out in plain view, I just can't control myself to eat at least one or two. Why is it that something so good can be soo bad?

I've never seen these - do you coordinate these with a treadmill or is it walking in place or ? They sound like something I might be interested in.

Georgia Girl - I eat dinner around 6:00 most nights but I also head to bed a lot earlier than you. I would prefer to be in bed around 9:30 or 10:00 and be up by 6:00am. They say that you shouldn't eat within 3 hours of going to bed so for me that means about 7:00. Now if I ate at 6:00 and stayed up till midnight, I'm sure I would want a snack. I'd probably move my morning snack to an evening snack. The other thing I do when I have the munchies is I get away from the kitchen. My bedrooms are upstairs so if I feel like munching I'll head upstaris for the night. Sometimes this can be as early as 8:30. I just find things to keep me busy up there away from the kitchen.

Right now I'm trying to get insurance approval for a TT. Since I was self-pay for the band there's no way i can afford it and for this reason I'll probably never have boob work done. I just tell people that at least I can roll them up and tuck them in. Now, if I could afford it, I wouldn't have implants, but I sure would like a lift and I'd also take care of the bat wings on my arms.

Jeannie - My best advice would be to mix things up. I've had times where I've gone 3 weeks without a loss and I think what happens is that my body gets used to how much I'm eatting so I shake it up a little. I try to stay around 800-1000 calories a day (I'm older and the metabolism slows way down so I can't eat as much as others), but when my weight loss slows down I'll increase my calories for a couple of days. I also log my calories with fitday, this really helps me stay on track. I also find it very important to watch what type of carbs I eat. I rarely eat bread, no white rice, only wheat Pasta occassionaly, potatoes about once a month. Here's what I ate yesterday. B: 3/4cup Kashi go lean Cereal, 1/2 cup low fat milk. L: 2 ozs deli ham and 1 slice 2% swiss cheese. S: dry roasted endamame in am and 2 cups popcorn (40 calories) mid afternoon. D: small pork chop baked, brown rice (less than 1/4 cup), and green peas (about 2 tblsp). I also don't snack after dinner, I do drink 2-3 quarts of Water a day and I normally will not have any Protein drinks. I don't know if any of this helps and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I just hope everyone's weight loss dreams come true.