SuzanneG

Another thing to keep in mind that a friend of mine told me. If you think about it, we normally have a certain amount of stuff in our intestines at any given time. When we are on the liquid diet, we clear that out and then when we start mushies again, it gets replaced. I gained 2.5 pounds on mushies, but it came right back off the following week. Keep up the good work everyone!

Sorry to hear about your grand daughter. I am an organ donor, but didn't know you could donate excess skin. If I get to the point of PS, I'll definitely remember it.

My DH did something very similar, but he knows better now. I've seen him standing in the kitchen eating ice cream so as not to upset me. LOL I work in the same office building as my sister and we eat lunch together every day. However, when I was on liquids, I just couldn't do it. I opted to stay at my desk, drink my lunch, and read LBT. It worked out pretty good for me and I went back to having lunch with her as soon as I could have food. Congrats on your band.

Starryeyed, Congratulations! I've been working to get to my mid-way point as well. I'm almost there. I'm like you about the outdoor walking. I started mine Tuesday. Give yourself a pat on the back, you've done a great job!

I find that when I start allowing more carbs, I get so HUNGRY. I try to think of them as hunger pills. LOL

Seems like I remember from my WW days that it takes about 3 days. Don't sweat it too much, sounds like you probably offset the calories with the shakes. The biggest motivation I use to aviod sweets is that they are adictive and make me HUNGRY.

I don't know about a clear one, but there is a brand called Nectar that has the flavors like Crystal light and you mix it with water I think. I saw it at the Vitamin Store. I haven't tasted it, but heard it was good.

The fills don't hurt. I got 4.5cc in my 10cc band the first time too and, like you guys didn't get good restriction. I went back 4 weeks later and got another 1.5, but was told he pulled out 4, not 4.5. So I don't know if I have 5.5 or 6cc right now. I sure hope I don't have a leak. The doc didn't seem concerned. Anyway, I had good restriction for week or so, but am starting to feel hungry again. I guess I'll need schedule round 3.

I ate like there was no tomorrow, until my pre-op diet. I followed that for 2 weeks to the letter. Except Christmas Day, I had permission to cheat a little and I did, but still lost 11 pounds in 2 weeks pre-op. My motivation then was that if I didn't follow the diet, my liver wouldn't shrink and he could end up closing me up and sending me home with no band. I wasn't willing to risk it. Good luck to you!

Makes you wonder how caffeine and cigarettes are legal. Congrats on your effort and best of luck to you!

He has a lawyer, but supposedly they can do that if you have been employed there less than a year. Either way, they're doing him dirty and hopefully he'll get restitution.

My brother tried to take off to have this surgery and his boss told him that he would have to fire him if he took off because he hadn't been there for a year yet. Does FMLA address time on the job? He's a truck driver and a month or so later a pallet fell on his leg and tore ligaments in his knee. He's having surgery for that tomorrow and is on Workman's Comp. Funny thing is, if he had the WLS, he probably wouldn't have been there that day and could have avoided the accident. Now he's still off work, but no band. They even cancelled his health insurance while on workman's comp. He and I both believe there is major prejudice agains WLS and he has fallen victim to it.

LOL - I hear ya!

Heck no! Ditch those babies. I'm having a yard sale in a couple of weeks to ditch mine! Congrats on the weight loss!

Well, my ah-ha moment is not a poignant one, but a practical problem. I hope this isn’t TMI, but my moment was when I had to figure out a new way to wipe my behind because I could no longer reach. :sneaky: I was appalled that I couldn’t normally perform a function that was necessary to everyday life. I immediately thought about some of the folks on Big Medicine who are bedridden and totally dependant on another person to take care of them. I realized then and there that I was heading in their same direction, even though it was far down the road, I was heading straight for it. I decided to get while the getting was good.

Congratulations, that's amazing. What a bonus that you two could do this together. You always have that someone there to root you on and also someone who truly understands what you are going through and you can share your hopes and fears with total acceptance. My DH is so supportive, but try as he may, he can never truly understand. Of course, that's why I come here!

Hi Shannon, I know exactly how you feel, I've had a million mornings exactly like yours, it sucks. <hugs> I started trying to get lap-band in August 07 and met a friend at the seminar. She got banded in October, when I finally go approved. I had to wait until Jan of this year and I was gaining weight at an alarming rate while waiting. It's upsetting, but I decided I'd just buy clothes that were big on me and hope I could wear them for a while before having to get another size. It was awful, but in the end it was worth it. I'm still way behind my Oct friend in weight loss and when we met for lunch the other day, I was really feeling like the chubby friend. She was bigger than me pre-surgery, but a couple sizes smaller than me now. Having said all that, it's worth the wait. Do something special for yourself today. Maybe go shopping and get yourself an outfit that feels great!

Hi everybody, I just wanted to share that I am officially not plus sized. This was a milestone for me and I'm very excited about it. I bought new clothes last night in the Misses section and it felt so strange. But in a good way! I've discovered that no one wants to hear about my weight loss, it makes my overweight brother upset because he's still waiting for his band and even skinny people who I thought cared, don't seem interested, so I just tell my lapband friends. Thanks for listening!

Hi, I can't seem to turn off underline in my signature text. I see the U button is "pushed", but when I click on it, it doesn't toggle it off. Any suggestions?

Congrats!! I just got my first 16's as well. It was so exciting to leave the plus sized dept for the misses. I've seen severl on here that went lower than their goal. You're already at goal, so keep on truckin. I hope to do the same!

Rascal76, I haven't gotten in front of the camera at all, but was thinking of taking a "during" picture when I hit my mid-way mark. I'm almost there!

The ticker is a visual representation of something we are counting toward. Most count how much weight we lost. It has a background image, there are tons to choose from, mine looks like a road and it has a little red car on it. The car moves down the road as my weight changes. The beginning has my starting weight, the car sits at my current weight, and the end is my goal weight. Some folks track excersize, days until a trip, BMI and other stuff that I can't remember right now.

Thanks. That did the trick! It was driving me crazy.

ColoradoChick, I was so addicted to pizza that I actually brought it up in my surgery consult. I asked if I would be able to eat it and he said probably not and I said how about thin crust and he said, trust me, you won't want it. He was right, but not for the reason he said. I can physically eat pizza, well I could before this last fill, not so sure now. The amazing part was that I didn't even THINK about pizza unless I saw a commercial and even then it was more like, "hey, I don't even crave pizza anymore". I would have never thought it possible. Best of luck to you!

Boo Boo Kitty, I never noticed that "before" shot in your pics. You look AMAZING! Congrats.