Shinyhappymommy

Those are some good ideas. We have actually met already one time in a member's home. We had a nutritionist come and talk to us about Protein. We all decided that for people who don't know us well, that having it in a public place (the hospital board room) would be less intimidating for someone to come just from seeing a flier or something. I'm going to bring clothes for a clothing exchange. I have a bunch of them and no good way to get rid of them. I don't want to throw them away, but our thrift store is pretty crappy. I hear they store clothes in the back room for years until they get around to putting them out. We also talked about a recipe exchange. Maybe we should focus on one stage at a time, starting with liquids. Originally we were going to just bring one from the stage we're at, but it wouldn't help those on liquids for me to bring my favorite fish recipe right now. We have two hours scheduled. I'm thinking we start with introductions, they can be lengthy, we can talk in depth about ourselves and how we ended up where we are. It's just that middle portion that I'm not sure about. I'm sure towards the end we'll end up just chatting which is great, but I don't want it to seem just like a big chatting session.

I take the One Source gummis. They taste great and that helps me remember to take them. I tried two different chewables first, Centrum and then children's and I just wasn't taking them.

Hey! We had almost the same amount to lose. I had 143. I'm almost halfway to goal. Isn't it amazing the things we can do with the band as a tool? I love it! Congrats on your big milestone.

I just saw this thread. I love Dr. Mel. I had my surgery by him in February this year. He is a very experienced and skilled surgeon. His experience with the band is more recent, I think he's only been doing Lapband since about February. He has tons of gastric bypass surgeries under his belt, which according to him is much more complicated a surgery. I felt like I was taking a bit of a risk with him since he was newer to the Lapband, but I haven't been disappointed. His follow-up care is great. He even calls me personally from time to time to see how things are going. I would recommend him, absolutely.

My dh is looking into a job prospect for central Illinois. I'm wondering what unit the city of Lincoln belongs to? Anyone have any idea?

Speaking of meds, another great thing for me is that I'm off all meds now except birth control. I was very dependent on Nexium. I needed it for a month or two after surgery still, but now I don't take it at all and don't get any acid reflux.

I work in Primary. I'm actually the president and I have amazing counselors. We have a secretary, but she's totally inactive, so the second counselor fills in. She was the secretary in the last presidency, so she really knows her stuff. Here's some of what our secretary role includes: take roll, including submitting it to the clerk quarterly check if we have any birthdays take minutes during our presidency meetings and write them up afterwards, email them to the presidency take a turn in the sharing time and conducting rotation keep track of who has prayed and given talks helps us photo copy children's talks so we have something to go from to write the program this summer. each month puts up the new theme, gospel standard, scripture of the month, and article of faith on our bulletin board. She also keeps track of which one to do next. subs in nursery when needed. Some other things you could do: Write and mail notes to the kids who are missing My sister's Primary Secretary makes a monthly newsletter for the kids' families. It includes the words for the song they are working on that month, assignments for the kids, etc. Really, you can just look for what stresses the president/counselors out and try to help alleviate that any way you can. When I became RS secretary the Stake people told us (a group with the same calling being trained) that we could make or break our presidencies by how we helped or not. So I've always taken the secretary role very seriously.

I haven't experienced it, but there are numerous threads around here about that very topic. I've actually decreased the amount of burping and farting I do significantly since being banded.

I actually requested it to be done this way. We all know that we're Christian, but putting us under that heading would have just been individual threads within the general Christian forum. I didn't necessarily want it done that way. I liked the idea of a forum for us, where we could start individual threads, like this one and have it all grouped together under one LDS heading. I was pleased that the moderator either knew or researched what LDS means and used the words instead of just the abbreviation. I only referred to it as LDS in my request, so that was his thing.

Thank you so much Alex! Very cool.

Kat, I purposely named the thread like so many of the ones warning people of the dangers ahead so those who are into reading those posts might come across this one. Thanks for adding your success story as well. There are a lot of us out there. For everyone reading, I did want to say that my weight loss has been faster than many of my band friends who are of a similar time frame, so don't necessarily expect the same results. One factor was that I started at a BMI of 46, so as far as I understand weight tends to come off quicker for us bigger folks. Band and fills: Every body is different and your mileage will vary, but I have a 10 cc band and I think I have 7 ccs in it. I have had two fills. I'm still doing fine from my second one two months ago, so I'm not planning on having another one until my weight loss stops for at least three weeks. Another thing I wanted to add to the list in my first post: I am able to eat more than just a couple of bites before getting full. I feel like I'm able to eat a healthy amount of food and my weight is still coming off.

I just submitted a request to the webmaster, via a private message. We'll see if that produces results. I would love to have a whole forum for LDS support. As far as fast Sunday goes, I fasted the last one for the first time in a couple of years (pregnant and nursing) and it was surprisingly easy. I even lost two pounds that day and it stayed off. Blessings do abound. :behindsofa:

You're welcome. I also enjoyed the Campbell's Select Tomato Parmasean Bisque soup. It wasn't low calorie, but I wasn't getting a whole lot of calories so it worked out. It was very yummy. It does have some chunks, so you have to chew just a little.

I took about a cup of frozen peas and dropped them into a cup or so of boiling chicken broth. I boiled that until the peas were tender and then put it through the blender. Also added a dollop of light sour cream to the blender. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Peas also have Protein, so that's a bonus. I got that recipe somewhere on this website. You can also take refried Beans and thin them down with beef bullion until they reach the consistency you're allowed to have. sugar-free Cook-n-serve chocolate pudding was also a godsend during that time.

I look at it! Welcome to the two of you. I hope everything goes well with your band stuff.

I'm ready to share some pictures, but I'm not quite ready to post them on the big thread yet. The left pictures are me right before surgery, taken February 5th or so. Two months and 43 pounds later, here I am on the right. Same outfit, different bra! I'd love to see how the rest of you are doing! Melissa

Here I am from the side:

Here are my official 4 month progress pictures. I took one set in the same clothes and one set in regular clothes so you can actually see my body. Left to right, Before in February 303 pounds. In progress in June at 240 pounds, in same clothes, and then new clothes.

Obviously I cannot forsee the future as to what will happen for you, but for me this has been a life-changing experience. I have a baby boy, he was almost 12 months old when I had my surgery. I did this largely for him and my other children (2 dds), but it did scare me as well. I have had almost no problems. I have no complaints. I'm making good food choices most of the time and my weight is steadily coming off at a pace of about 10 pounds a month right now. I'm nearing my halfway to goal point and I haven't been this happy in years. If I could go back and comfort my pre-banded self, I would say not to worry, it will all work out great. I hope the same holds true for you. Melissa

It would drive me crazy wondering if my surgeon didn't also withdraw what is already in the band after injecting the new stuff to show how much I have. That way I know he hit the port. I'd ask her to do that next time. I can't imagine someone refusing to do that, it's simple and offers reassurance.

I second the notion that it's probably your port. I feel mine hit my ribs sometimes in certain positions. Your port should be under your biggest incision from your surgery.

You really do look a whole lot younger. You look like your younger, thinner sister. :eek:

The chocolate unjury was pretty good. I also used their chicken Soup flavor, but you can't get it very hot. I did enjoy it, though. Now I'm using Body Fortress from Wal-mart. I have both the chocolate and vanilla flavors and they're not too bad. I get tired of them if I have them very often, but when you're on the liquid diet, you get tired of just about everything. There are actually a lot of threads about Protein drinks on here and lots of different suggestions. Try doing a search on Protein Drink, or shake. Good luck!

My husband would likely join you. He's registered here and has posted a couple of times, but not much. He's been a tremendous support and I think he'd have some valuable input. I'll point him to this thread.