Shinyhappymommy

Yay Michael Johns! I loved his performance. That's what I've been waiting for from him. I've always wanted to like him, but found myself bored with him. Last night I had goosebumps. Even from the recap! LOL David Cook is consistently great. I love his ability to take any song and make it into the kind of song that suits him. Billie Jean? Hello? Who woulda thunk it? And was there something different about his hair this week? It didn't look weird. Syesha, I don't know why, but she hasn't won me over yet. Infidelity songs two weeks in a row, (Me and Mr. Jones, Saving all my Love) surely didn't help her case any. Brooke, she delivered another solid performance, but I wasn't blown away. David Archuleta, wrong song choice. He sang it well, but I didn't love it. Contrary to what the judges said, I think Ramiele may be leaving this week. But, hey, I've been wrong before!

I don't feel badly about eating more than I expected to post-band, as long as I'm making good choices. I've been enjoying big plates of salad with tuna or chicken and a wide variety of veggies. I don't have a problem with the size of the portion. It does make me realize I probably do need another fill, and my weight loss has slowed down. I've been at the same weight for like 6 days now, and that's the first time that's happened since going on my pre-op diet. Hang in there and you don't suck. :shades_smile:

My surgeon pretty much put me on low carb from the beginning. Are you supposed to be eating carbs or something? If you're okay to eat regular foods, I don't see why you can't pick which foods to eat, in the way that you feel is healthy. I'd check with my surgeon if you're not sure, but it sounds reasonable to me.

So who will go home next? My order that I think the contestants will go home (unless their performances change my mind), Kristy Lee Cook, Ramiele Malubay, then I have pairs of either of these guys: Amanda Overmeyer and Michael Johns (unless he really steps it up, he doesn't deserve to stay in), Jason Castro and Chikezie, Sayesha, and the final four would be Carly Smithson, David Cook, Brooke White and David Archuleta. I'm sure everyone's order would be different, but for me right now, that's about my opinion of the contestants. I have to add that I really, really enjoy Jason Castro, but I don't think he'll end up going super far in this competition. I would buy his CD or concert ticket in a heartbeat. He's just so fun to watch perform. This week, my top three were David Cook (I'm not sure why I like him as much as I do since I don't like the genre he sings, generally.), Jason Castro, and David Archuleta, although I didn't really feel much of an audience connection with David A., I did think he performed well. As for Brooke this week, she actually started really strong. When she was sitting and then stood, she was fine. As soon as she started moving, things got really awkward. How weird is that to have a great singer who can't move comfortably on stage? She was pretty funny about the whole thing, too, although she could have zipped her lip toward the end of the judges comments. I really like her. Carly Smithson is talented, but somehow I just don't connect with her. It's very telling that the judges have compared her to Kelly Clarkson more than once. I can't believe I just wrote that much about a performance night that I honestly wasn't that opinionated about to begin with! LOL I'm a big nerd.

I just went grocery shopping. I felt so empowered to be buying good, real, healthy food. After being on the pre and post operative diet, it is an amazing change to be able to eat meats (well, fish) and vegetables again. I filled my cart with more than twice as much produce as I usually do. I got squash, (zucchini, yellow, spaghetti and butternut), green, red and yellow onions, bananas, clementines, apples, mushrooms, and a few other things I'm forgetting. I can't wait to make up some veggie omlettes, have some veggies with the fish I bought. (Talapia, for the first time ever, some pouches of flavored tuna and canned salmon.) I'm still doing okay with not eating sweets. I passed the Easter candy with hardly a thought. That, to me, is a miracle. Empowered is the word that kept coming to me as I shopped. Healthiest shopping trip I've made in years, hands down.

Someone posted this link on this board a while ago. I took a look at it and thought if I ever wondered if my pouch was stretched, I'd give it a try. It looks pretty easy.

Sweet Pea 2, I don't know why I ate them, other than somehow I was able to justify to myself that I could eat them slowly and get them to a mushy state in my mouth. I ate them slowly and made them pretty liquidy before swallowing. The only problem I had was the sense of guilt at having strayed from my prescribed diet. I guess that other than a couple small things I have been amazed at my ability to stick to my post-op diet. I have done very well on 99% of what I've eaten. Judge me if you must, but I'm proud of my journey so far. The band has been an amazing miracle in my life.

ronwifey, Where did you get the info that David Archuleta was on the Amazing Race: Family Edition? I watched that season, and there was no Archuleta family racing. I also don't buy into the sensational type reporting that ET-online is using. If David's dad is indeed a tyrant, he won't be able to hide it forever and more evidence will surface. I guess I'll have to believe it then. I'm a big David fan. I'm really enjoying this season. There are only a few singers that I wouldn't be sad if they left. Ramiele and Syesha are the only ones I can think of now. Kristy, or Christy, not sure, anyway, I'm glad she's still in for another week. Let's see if she can redeem herself from murdering that song this week. I like country, but during that performance I was commenting that it was about the worst performance I've seen on Idol! (Except the bad auditions, of course.)

In regards to the band not working for you if you are a sweet junkie pre--band, I have to say for me that hasn't been true. I was very dependent on sweets, cakes and Cookies, chocolate, etc. to make it through every day. I was very committed to the pre and post-op diets and stuck to them very well. I have been banded over a month and the sweets I have eaten have included one brownie and one muffin. The whole month! The band has been a miracle in my life. Yes, I'm still making major changes myself, but the process of the surgery, and healing from it, has created a catalyst for me to change how I was feeding my body. I have had one fill and though I could eat more, I don't feel like I need to. I go about my life without thinking over and over again about what I'll be eating for my next meal or snack. There were times I would do that planning while eating the current meal. The insanity has really calmed down and I am grateful for every day with this tool inside of me. So even if you have a sweet tooth the size of Texas, this band can work for you. Good luck in your journey.

Kudos to your for your creativeness in getting funding for surgery. It has been an amazing month for me since I've been banded and I know I'll be a better mother to my children as I become more physically able. Good luck on your journey.

I'll join in! B-2 soft boiled eggs L-2 chicken nuggets 1/2 chocolate Protein shake, couldn't finish the rest S-4 club crackers with rf cream cheese and sweet n spicy tuna D-1 inch portion of sub sandwich with 3 meats and cheeses. I took the bottom bun off, and only ate the fillings and the top part. (I have yet to have a problem with bread, but I'm trying not to choose to eat it very often.) There was lettuce and tomato on the sandwich. I also ate a clementine, being careful not to swallow too much of the membranes.

I don't like the Isopure powder that I bought. It is strawberries and cream. I have tried it three or four times and not been able to tolerate it well at all. I have liked the chocolate unjury as well as the Body Fortress whey from Wal-mart.

I got this off another thread somewhere on this site. Did you hear the one about the fat girl who lost weight? Turns out she didn't have a pretty face after all! Sounds like some of us fear that coming true. I'm not too worried about my face, but I am worried about excess skin. I don't know how elastic my skin is. Guess we'll see.

So everytime I talk to my surgeon about my diet he tells me that I shouldn't be eating this or that. First it was milk, then noodles, then applesauce (until I explained that it was no sugar added), then potatoes, and he tells me that I need to eventually get "off the sugar." The amount of sugar I'm using is so minimal compared to what I was consuming preband. I use a little brown sugar on my cream of wheat and honey in my herbal tea. Other than that, I am not using high-sugar foods. He doesn't approve of me using any sugar. I don't like Splenda or any other sweeteners. I'd rather have mildly sweetened food than fakely sweetened. Ick. I think, him being a newer lapband surgeon, that he's a little naively optimistic about what his band patients are going to be eating. I know carbs are evil, but right now, I'm doing the best I can to get by. He's given me pitifully little literature on what my diet should be and then when I tell him what I am eating, he always tells me something I'm eating isn't good. I just don't want to talk to him about my diet! I don't want to disappoint him and I'm not going to lie, but I'm also not going to disclose everything either. I just want to tell him that as long as I'm losing weight well, that he shouldn't scold me about my diet. I've lost 30 pounds in a month. I think I'm doing okay.

I've been wondering how fasting goes with the band? Do you who are banded fast? I haven't been fasting for coming up on two years now with being pregnant and nursing. I think I'm getting ready to start again, but now I have the band, so I'm unsure. Hi Heidabear! Had a busy Sunday today. Fighting off cold/sore throat/nastiness that's going around.

Well, I'm from Utah, spent 4 years in St. Louis and loved it. My husband's first job has us out in the-middle-of-nowhere Kansas. It's been nice here, but not where we're going to be staying. I'd like to end up back in St. Louis eventually, but we have at least one other location to go to first. Not sure where yet.

I'm about a month out and down 30 pounds. I was aware that my wedding ring had become looser, but didn't think it was too loose that I needed to stop wearing it. The other morning I woke up only to find that it was no longer on my hand. We took the bed apart, searched high and low and finally dh found it. It was in the baby's carseat, out in the car. I guess when I had put him in the night before the ring had slipped off. I was so relieved. I thought we'd never find it. Anyway, my advice is if you think your rings are getting too loose, don't wait to put them somewhere safe, other than your shrinking fingers.

He has a nutritionist, but she's been pretty useless. It's her information that he gave me. Maybe I should look into seeing one here in my town and working with her, though she undoubtedly has little to no experience with bariatric surgery patients. Small town. One of the problems I ran into is that he'd tell me one thing and then her packet of info would tell me another. Like milk. It's listed on her diet guidelines, but he doesn't want me drinking any milk. I'm not drinking it as a beverage, but I am using it on my hot Cereal and in my Protein shakes. Anyway, I just thought of a good response when he tells me something I am eating shouldn't be in my diet. "If that's not suitable, then give me better lists of what I can and can't eat during this time, because frankly, I'm just trying to survive without breaking any big band rules." So how much does your surgeon talk to you about food?

I had my first fill today. It went much worse than I had imagined it would. The doctor (my surgeon) couldn't get the right angle or something, but he stuck me like 10 times. After the first few sticks, he took a break and gave me some lidocaine injections. It was better after that, but not pain free. I was on the verge of being on the verge of tears. :crying: My regular physician came in part way through the procedure. He's being taught how to do an unfill in case of an emergency. Bless his heart, he could tell I was distressed and he came and held my hand. I was doing labor breathing techniques to get through this. The surgeon kept saying this was a hard one. He'd get the needle in, but couldn't inject the saline. Finally, the saline went in. He withdrew it a couple of times to prove that he was indeed in the port and not just in the tissue. I may very well have been his first fill since he is a new (to the lapband) surgeon. Though I can't imagine he hasn't at least had the chance to do some practice fills somewhere. Anyway, I'm really hoping the next one will go much better. Ugh. I got 3 ccs in my 10cc AP band. On the bright side, I am down 30 pounds as of this morning. Yay!

You guys are so kind. I don't think he was missing my port. The port is actually very obvious, and it seemed from my side of things that he was in the port. I could even feel the sensation of him hitting rubber, if that makes sense. It was just weird that he was in the port but couldn't get the saline to inject. He seemed truly puzzled. I was getting worried that the port had flipped or something, but thankfully it hadn't. Thanks for the cheers about my weight loss. I am continually surprised and amazed as the scale goes down and down. I was so happy today to see that the 30 pound loss was still there. I keep expecting the scale to go back up, like I haven't really lost how much I think I have.

You should definitely check with your surgeon. I was given clearance to lift my 23 pound 11 month old whenever I needed to following surgery. I tried to limit the amount of lifting that I needed to do, but had the peace of mind that I would be okay if I did lift him. I never had any problems with pain in lifting him. I did try to make most of the lifting come from my arms and not my stomach. See what your surgeon says about it. You might be surprised. I was.

After reading the whole Realize Band drama thread, I am left wondering what kind of band I have. I didn't ask the brand name. My surgeon assured me it was one that inflated all the way around instead of only partway. He also said it was a 4 cc band. So with those two criteria, can anyone tell me what kind of band he used? He also uses the LapBand literature and advertisements in his office. I can always ask him when I go for my first fill, but figured some of you well-educated people might be able to tell me.

I found out today that my band is a 10cc AP band. He said small band, and my mind inserted the 4ccs. Small was 10cc compared to 14 cc.

I was banded 2-08-08 and counting my 3 day pre-op diet I'm down 27 pounds. (I think the pre-op diet helped me lose about 5 pounds, I'm not sure.) It slowed down at about 25 pounds down and goes up and down a pound here and there. I'm so grateful for such quick loss. I get my first fill this week, on 3-06-08.

I am doing better. Just by posting this, I kind of recommitted to sticking with the prescribed diet. I personally think 3 weeks is one week too long on the pureed foods. Oh well, what's one more week?