SpecialK

Hi Shamrock friends. I love the show Biggest Loser and the next season of the show started last night. It was so sad once again to see how super obese some folks are and to know I was there 2 years ago. I pray that with the extreme exercise they can lose a tremendous amount of weight under a doctor's supervision (which the show has) and that with eating right, for a lifetime, they can keep it off. I don't think the show fairly represents that the people who lost 100 lbs or whatever are left with excess skin and at the Finale show, some of those people who lost 150 or whatever pounds and had a totally flat stomach -- they can't be totally for real given how many experiences we have shared in this forum. Anyway, I will still watch because it is a good reminder to me to keep exercising and to cheer them on to better health. In the early shows of a season, it really is about them transforming their minds. Later on, it gets into some nasty game playing and I don't like that part of the show where one person eliminates another due to them being a threat to win the $250,000 prize. I really wish they would talk more about what the contestants are eating that allows them to lose something like 25-30 lbs in one week for those big guys -- I know even with extreme exercise, that is huge which has to mean they are going to a major calorie intake reduction as well as the major calorie burn thru exercise to get that kind of a loss. They even had several of the women on last night's show lose 20 lbs in a week including some women who were in the 200s lost about 20 lbs in a week. Amazing.

I will bring my updated Before/After scrapbook pictures. I spent some time over the holidays having fun with my crafts and just remembering and documenting my lapband journey from the past year. I basically went from -80 lbs in my first year post op last Christmas to -122 in year 2 (-42 lbs in 2nd year) and that was under some extreme stress and huge work overtime conditions. I have now set myself a goal of -40 to -60 lbs in 2010 so I can say by the end of year 3 I am done and ready to maintain (and hopefully be able to get my plastic surgery to get rid of excess skin)!

It is nice to see all of you OSU lapband program folks jumping in to support each other. I will post the Columbus gathering thread for this Saturday - it will be at the Polaris Mall again, 2-4pm, in the food Court area by Chik-Fil-A and Great Indoors. I plan to bring some of my Before/After scrapbook photos. It has helped me a lot to keep a journal via a scrapbook of this journey because I don't ever want to forget the hard work and the sense of triumph I felt every time I hit a milestone on this journey. I never want to go back to where I was before.

I love my band. Had to get a new winter coat this season and give mine from last winter to my older sister who is now bigger than me...I was always the largest of the family. When I see that coat hanging on its hanger, I can't believe its mine. It is not a size 2 or something crazy, but when you come from where I was, it is amazing what this lapband has helped me achieve. I wouldn't give it back for anything!

Thanks for joining in the accountability Thread. I so am proud of you that you got to goal and now I realize that knowing how committed you were to get to goal, that I will have to face the reality too that I am a food addict too and I have been using food to soothe my stress at work. I finally asked off the project where the guy at my job was just so emotionally abusive it was driving me to eat. Hoping that situation gets better soon here in January. My boss is working on a reassignment but I have to tough it out until then without overeating.

I know you can get those pounds off -- you CAN DO IT!

Okay I did get the Tape Measure out and measured myself for Hips, Waist, Bust, Thighs, Arms and Neck. That was a hard mental thing for me to do but to be honest I was kind of numb about what the numbers mean as clothing size helps me measure it in other terms.

I do find it very very frustrating that I can't tell for sure what clothing size I am in for the inches the tape measure shows. I bought a pair of workout pants yesterday that were a 1X and the difference to the "normal" XL in the same brand was weird - not as much room in the hips and stomach area as I needed but the length of the 1X pants were like 4" longer than the XL. I am getting a pair of scissors out to cut off the excess and then will have to hem them. I found it too cold at the gym in shorts and wanted the longer workout pants. Can't give myself any excuse to not work out and get those exercise minutes in!

I also have jeans ranging from 20 to 22 and normal dress pants that are 18WP so finding pants that fit is a real challenge when you have the surplus pooch stomach skin. My legs below are actually pretty thin (for me).

I am also finding tops or shirts range all over the place -- 1X is different than XL, some L fit, and even one sweater in a Medium fit but it was made big. Isn't that funny how we used to classify clothing as to it was cut small....and now I can tell when something is cut bigger or more generous! Bottom line, I used to be terrible at not trying clothing on in the stores, due to being embarrassed or hoping the biggest size they had would fit, and now I have to do better trying things on because I can't tell what will fit. What my mind tells me I can wear, isn't what fits -- I keep looking at the 3X end of the racks!

I remembered from a challenge I did on the ObesityHelp forum last year that there was some question about what counted as "Exercise" .... hummm. I'll take a chance and post what I will be counting and others please chime in as well based on what your ability physically is and what you want to hold yourself accountable for--that is the whole idea, what you personally need to be accountable for. It can be done at home or at a gym or wherever.

I will count:

Treadmill work - walking/running

Elliptical work

Exercise bicycles

Cycling - where I live this isn't possible in winter

Outdoor walking

Weight training - upper/lower body - free wgt or machines

Exercise DVD

BOSU ball work

Exercise Ball work

Stretchy band muscles work

Snow Shoveling

Push Mowing Grass (no riding mower counted)

Yard Work w/ sweating -- like shoveling, raking, bending

Stair climbing - e.g. 5 flights on my lunch hour will count!

Water Aerobics

Aerobics, Pilates, Yoga or similar classes

Ab crunches or other exercises

Others?

Copy this post and add to the list. I'm sure there are lots of ways to get your exercise in. I was not going to count general housework things or shopping.

2nd Accountability thread link -- to an Weekly Exercise Challenge to run from New Years to St. Patrick's Day:

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f114/2010-shamrocks-new-years-st-patrickss-day-exercise-challenge-107689/#post1387609

Okay, one more accountability step for this new year to get us moving and keep us moving. Who is up for COMMITTING to 2010 MINUTES of Exercise by 3/17/2010?

Let's see how that breaks down:

January has 31 days

February has 28 days

March 17 would be +17 days

Total Days = 76 days

2010 Minutes divided by 76 days = 27 minutes average per day? Can we round it up to a nice 30 MINUTES a day challenge to end at 2010 MINUTES??

There will be days when I am sure I will do lots more than 30 minutes and days when I will be a "slug" and take a day off but I'm committing to hitting this goal by St. Patrick's Day and I do plan to do a jig ("dance") that day if I make it.

If you get some funny exercise related cartoons or things along the way to help us "smile through the sweat" please do post.

Okay, same as with the Weekly Weight Challenge accountability thread, log in your Goal, Current Week # Minutes and Total to Date each week.

Instructions to update this on Fridays are to copy/paste from the last post to add a new update and if you are joining the thread new, copy a line from another person on the list to try to help us keep the numbers in the columns easier to read.

Name Goal# Current Week: Total to Date:

SpecialK.........2010 Minutes..........10.............10

Here is a link to the 2010 Shamrocks Weekly Weight Accountability thread.

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f114/2010-shamrocks-weight-challenge-107686/#post1387593

Okay, as many of us are now entering into completing year 2 of Lapband Life in 2010 for us March 2008 Bandsters, I would like to keep an accountability thread going. For those who are at goal, to monitor if you maintain within a range you want to maintain, and for those of us who are not yet to goal, to set ourselves a goal to achieve in this year to motivate us to keep going.

I know this is a little sensitive posting your actual weight for some but I feel I need this accountability as it became too easy to count my total weight lost and keep claiming my highest amount lost instead of being accountable for the real scale number week by week.

Instructions are copy the line from the prior post, add or update your line, and repost back on this thread so we don't drop anyone off that wants to stay in this accountability loop. If you are new to the list, copy a line from another person to help keep the numbers aligned for readability please.

Name Starting Wt Goal End Wt 2010 Current Weight

SpecialK......232.2...............160......................232.2

Okay, here is my 2weeks of meal plan, plus exercise plan that I wrote out in advance - its not filled out for every calorie at this point but I was trying to be sure I had a good band friendly combination of Protein, vegetables and fruit and then added a few planned carbs in here and there plus some Snacks.

Anybody that can post other meal ideas to help me with variety and advance planning I would appreciate any help I can get.

LapbandTalk made me post this in PDF form but if anyone would like an MS Office Excel spreadsheet where you can make your own and edit on this one, PM me and I can email it.

2010 meal plan form by SpecialK.pdf

I did pretty good yesterday but didn't get to eat exactly my plan -- maybe January 1 is a little aggressive to start a diet because you are still doing special events with family and friends.

I did weigh myself yesterday a.m. and was thrilled to see I had not gained (or if I did I had lost it) any weight from Thanksgiving to New Years! Now that is a good start to a new year.

Happy New Year Shamrocks!!

I have my first 2 weeks of food all planned out here and will post soon. Also I will take the lead getting us a weekly weigh in and accountability thread for 2010 started.

Thanks for all your support and thoughts over the past 2 years. I miss some of our early on friends who contributed so much but I really appreciate those of you who have hung in here for the long term since we knew this was a "Lifetime" commitment to have this band. We would have been foolish I guess, in retrospect for me, to think it would all be a bed of roses, but I would absolutely do it all over again!

Here's to Losing Again in 2010!

Kathy

This is a GREAT thread -- let's keep encouraging each other. I took December 31 2009 photos last night for a year end recap of where I stand and that helped me visually see where I am and capture it so I don't forget it. Tonight I am going to get my tape measure out and finally give in to my fear and measure myself all over and capture those numbers. A year from now, I promise all of you, and most importantly myself, I WILL be thinner.

Here is a great link someone sent me this a.m. in email that is a great way to hit the RESET button on your heart and mind to get ready for the new year. You can do this!

http://www.simpletruths.tv/mybb/

Hi there. I got a 15 lb kettle bell for Christmas and a set of 10 lb dumbbells to help increase my goal weight amount for some exercise in 2010. I have 2lb dumbbells, 5 lb dumbbells and 8 lb dumbbells and I had bought a good book on how to use hand weights for home exercising.

The kettle bell came with a DVD with only 5 or so moves and it looks pretty intense. Anyone out there using a kettle bell and have a good web site reference of exercises starting out easy to building up to medium intensity. Thanks

:thumbup:

How about a New Years to Valentines Day exercise challenge -- 6 weeks about - Posting our number of workout minutes per week and cumulative and a goal we individually set?

I'll have to think about what I will set for myself. Need to make it something I have to stretch to make.

Kathy

Hi Broken Angel --Welcome!

BCBS has covered Lapband surgery for others so if you can be patient I'd give it a try and see how far you can get with insurance approval as paying out of pocket is tough versus only covering your co-pays for office visits and/or the part of the surgery costs that were mine were about 15% co-insurance thru my Aetna coverage.

I have met folks who went to Dr. Curry in Cincinnati for selfpay and were very happy they did. He has an office in Columbus for follow ups and the out of pocket cost of Dr. Curry versus Mt. Carmel/Riverside/OSU is significant - as in $15K versus $22K or somethign in that range.

I couldn't afford self-pay so I had to go with the doctors who were on my insurance plan which happened to be Mt. Carmel at the time and I was very happy with both my surgeon Dr. Price and my follow up surgeon Dr. Miller and everyone says Dr. Choban as well was just terriffic too so I think all of the three doctors they have at Mt Carmel are very good choices.

I will tell you to get prepared that most of the three main practices in the Columbus area do try to talk you into RNY or gastric bypass if you are unsure if Lapband is what you want. Just listen to the facts and decide for yourself. My insurance didn't cover the sleeve or VSG at that time and I didn't feel I wanted something as major as the RNY but I have since met many other patients in my support group who had that surgery and they are very happy.

Keep posting your questions and we'll try to help you sort is all out!

Kathy

P.S. for Marion, that would be pretty convenient for you to come to our next Polaris Mall gathering. Its usually the 2nd Saturday of the month, 2-4pm, food Court near the Chik-Fil-A and you can meet those of us who went to the different practices and ask questions in person if you'd like. Feel free to bring a support person along, friend or spouse, if you'd like the comfort of meeting the group in an open setting.

Thanks Joe for the encouraging words to us all.

I have been making progress on writing out my 2 weeks of planned eating for starting on January 1 with a band friendly meal of pork roast and saurkraut which is for luck in the new year. I think the South likes black eyed peas or some other food traditions for New Year's day meal.

Getting through the holidays one day at a time. I made a big effort to send all the food home with everyone else so that I don't have stuff left to work on. ie. cheat myself!

I got a 15 lb kettle bell and a set of 10 lb dumbell weights to be able to work out more at home. Each came with a DVD on using them so hoping to supplement the cardio type stuff I do at the gym or walking with some weight training too.

Christine, thanks for reminding me about what was causing you the stomach pain. If you get a sleeve, is there a risk that food wouldn't move down it or the fact that it is a tube shape will work different than the lapband restricted donut hole type approach to restriction maybe better.

I read on the ObesityHelp board that there are some folks who had a procedure called Duodenal Switch and I dont' know much about that one. Those who have had the surgery seem to be pretty "militant" about their position that it is the only way to go and they think us lapband people are totally crazy. The fact that they like their procedure better than mine is good for them but it seems they almost put others down for a different surgery choice. I commend you that you hung in here so long with a legitimate complication that I don't think you could have ever expected to see.

Take care,

Kathy

Not sure if you remember but Ihave a problem with having a lot of pain when the food just sits in my stomach. I had an empty band from February until October of this year and had lots of testing done only to find that I have delayed gastric emptying. So...even with an empty band my stomach has lost the ability to move the food through.

You would think this would be a good thing...but it's not, because the food just sitting there causes me pain. I'm fine for an hour, maybe two, then it starts and does not stop until the food passes either on it's own in 4-5 hours or by me making it come back up. So, I do soft foods and Protein drinks. I have decided that I really cannot see this as a long term solution and have finally admitted that the band will need to be removed.

I got a fill in October and another in November to see if it makes a difference. I had started gaining some of the weight back with the band empty...17 pounds. The fill has helped, but has also increased the problems. The worst being aspirating on the stuff that will reflux up at night occaionally which causes a day of fever and body aches and feeling like crap.

So, I am going to stay at my current fill for a while and see if I can get another 20-40 pounds off before making my final decision.

My surgeon has said that I unfortunatly fall into that small percentage of "band intolerent" patients.

Christine

Hi to all. I had a good Christmas and while I ate more sweets than I should, I tried to make sure I went for my Protein first and still found good restriction in place. I have started writing out food plan ideas for the next 2 weeks starting January 1 with my traditional pork and saurkraut which is a great bandfriendly meal plan.

I'll post my plan for 2 weeks here and if anyone can jump in and give me ideas to keep on going, I will take all the help I can get.

I got a 15 lb. kettle bell and 10 lb dumbell weights for Christmas and a DVD for each to give me new exercise at home options. I still have a gym membership and I'm promising myself to go today and get in at least 45 min workout.

How are the rest of you doing over the holidays?

Okay, well I took the big step at work today to ask my boss to remove me from that project over the next couple weeks that has been so stressful. He was very understanding but I cried like a baby because I feel like a failure and on top of it, I know I've been eating things I shouldn't have, so even though I succeeded at work, I did it at the cost of my health getting better by getting more of this weight off. So, keep reminding me later on down the road, this lapband thing and losing weight is about being healthy -- and even though I am better now than I was, I am still obese - doctors who don't know I've lost alot would still cringe at my current BMI. So, I'm just going to give myself the Christmas present of self-forgiveness and a fresh start!

Hi Zeke... we share a bandiversary of March 17th so I'll jump in and give you some pep! First congratulations for reaching out for help. I have also done that recently. I went to see the counselor who was the person who had to sign off on my clearance for surgery. I told her I felt I needed help, had let stress get to me and was finding foods that could make me feel better -- thus I would recommend counseling to help you see what happened that you got off track.

Second, if you want to PM me, I would be willing to correspond offline with you via email.

Third, I made myself a promise to write out 2 weeks of food plans, literally every bite from January 1-14th and to stick to what was on that paper come hell or high water.... Instead of trying to log what I ate, do the reverse and plan in advance by logging it. I think I can be sloppy about little bits of calories here and there and I want to shape up -- mentally.

Fourth -- consider going to see your surgeon for a fill adjustment if you try the 2 weeks of controlled planned eating and are still hungry - maybe the tool can help.

So, congratulations on taking the first step - asking for help!

Kathy

This is my cry for help. I was banded 3/17/08 - I lost 80 lbs and was doing great. Somehow I got off track and I've gained back 25lbs. I don't know where to go, who to turn to and I feel like a complete failure. I had been following this thread for a long time, just enjoying what everyone was sharing, but never contributed and haven't read a lick since March of this year. If there is anyone out there who feels like they have a good pep talk up their sleeve, I could really use it now more than ever...:tongue:

Remind me again what is happening with your band? Has it slipped? I had some acid reflux and they took me down a notch on my fill and that took it away.

Wishing you luck in whatever you do. It would scare me to lose this tool.

The Holiday's are nearing. I am so impressed that you guys are so good about baking and sending it out without doing too much damage to your own diets. Remember what it was like in the kitchen around the holiday's 2 years ago?

My band is still giving me the same issues I have been having since about 15 months ago. I think I'm going to have to have it removed, I just can't let go of it yet. I am going to look into the VSG at the time of removal.

Have a great holiday and keep up the fantastic work!

Christine

Yes, those of us who know we have to hang in here for the long time need to support anyone who asks. I saw a psychologist yesterday about how I have been eating to deal with my job problems and she is going to help me get on track. First thing she told me is to get away from the toxic man I am stuck with at work who has a real anger and control issue. I kept trying to fix the situation over and over in this whole year and she said simply - he is not fixable. Work on yourself and make yourself a priority -- which is what I did as I got cleared for surgery and through my first year. So, yesterday I did get 1/2 hour workout in over lunch on the recumbent bike and that was a positive.