puddin

Hey Carol, is that $5,000 canadian or US dollars?

Teresa, I think I ate your brownie. B: Metagenics shake: 150 calories, 15g protein L: Garlic chicken & green beans almondine: 250 calories, 27g protein D: WW Salisbury Steak & asparagus: 200 calories, 20g protein S: 2 damn chocolate chip cookies: 360 calories, 2g protein Totals: 960 calories, 64g protein

Girl, everyone bumps it up. It's too much excitement to wait for. But it's SO worth it, and you've got a great plan. Did anyone else see Supersize Surgery last night on the WE channel? The whole thing was about the lap band, or getting tummy tucks because of losing so much weight with the lap band. I couldn't believe how good some of these people looked! One woman was having a tummy tuck, lower body lift and boob lift because she's lost 150 pounds with the band. She looked fantastic. Conversley, there was a woman who'd had the band for a year and had only lost 9 pounds, but she ate crap all day and had a bad attitude about it. This is what I love about the band - you have to WORK at it! Believe it or not that was the most appealing part of all to me. Now I can feel some sense of accomplishment with losing weight.

I turned 28 a few days ago. I'm not married (never have been) and have no children, though I really want them. I've been heavy my entire life except for ages 14-16 and, I think because of the weight, never dated because I think I was shy about being fat and felt too inferior to date. I've been dating a wonderful man most recently, who wants to settle down, but I find myself shying away from commitment. I think I'm going through what I should have gone through in high school. I just want to play right now and he's SO fun to just have fun with. I'm so selfish. Anyhow, I'm curious about the TT as well. Will you ruin your TT if you have children after having the surgery? Should I wait to have the TT until after I'm done having kids?

B: Light 'n Fit Yogurt L: Southwestern Salad S: 2 Birthday brownies!!! D: 10 chips w/ salsa, 1 egg

I get dizzy for an entire day when I get a fill. I asked my nurse about it and she says sometimes your body goes into shock when a needle is used. I never thought about the lidocane, though. I wonder if that's what it is. I've never EVER been scared of needles and never had a problem before with dizziness until I started getting fills.

I had heartburn every single day of my adult life. I took Nexium, tums, I still had heartburn... up until the day I got the band. I haven't had heartburn one single day since. Go talk to a band doctor - he or she will tell you whether it will cause a problem or not.

Lisa, my first couple of fills seemed to lose a little bit of liquid but now it's okay. I wonder if it's that first fill syndrome? B: None L: Lean Cuisine turkey dinner - 280 calories, 17g protein S: About 20 tortilla chips & salsa - 200 calories, 1g protein D: Chicken marinara with spaghetti squash - ~330 calories, 40g protein Totals: 810 calories, 58g protein

Nykee, posts like yours always put me on my amino acid soapbox. You sound depressed, and my guess is it's a whole lot more than the way you think you look that's doing it. I have this whole speech about amino acids and methylation and B complex Vitamins and liver function that I'll spare you for the moment. The moral of the story is that the food that we eat has a profound effect on our emotions, allergies, looks, self-esteem, health... everything! And if we eat junk our poor liver works overtime, doesn't have the vitamins to do its job, and has the inability to rid our bodies of the crap that builds up because of what we eat and we can end up depressed and sick. Are you getting your GOOD Proteins in? Are you taking your daily vitamins (including a good B-complex)? Do you drink the Water you need to? Do you get your daily exercise in? I'm sure there are other stressors in your life that is causing this depression besides food. Eating the wrong food will just compound that stress and make things 100 times worse. I know that when life is hard it is 10 times harder to eat right and exercise, but giving yourself the flexibility to eat wrong every once in awhile while still maintaining good nutrition is invaluable at times like that. I promise I'm not just preaching here - I live it! And it has done SO MUCH for me that I want to share it with everyone. So good luck to you with what you need to do to help yourself, but please help yourself.

B: Metagenics shake - 150 calories, 15g protein L: Salisbury steak & asparagus - 200 calories, 20g protein S: 20 almonds - ~130 calories, 5g protein S: 1 pckg South Beach cookies - 100 calories, 1g protein D: Buffet dinner with family

Bad, bad bad day! At least tomorrow's fill day and I can feel in control again. B: 1/2 SF yogurt L: Taco salad D: 7 layer dip w/ chips, 1 leg fried chicken S: 4 chips ahoy cookies

I didn't really drink water pre-band, but since then I do and find that I crave water a LOT more than I did before I started drinking it. Go figure.

Did you get your Tummy tuck when you had your surgery?

Some people say their port site hurts right after surgery. Mine never hurt and it hasn't ever hurt since surgery.

This is off-topic, but it's really bothering me: My mother is going crazy! I grew up in a loving, easy-going home. Now when I visit my parents there's immeasurable stress all around and my mom is always on the verge of tears and I can just FEEL her stress exude from her. She's having major anxiety problems and all of a sudden developing strange phobias like riding in elevators or being put under anesthesia. I feel bad because I still have two brothers living at home: one is 15 and one is 12. The 15-year-old is depressed, I know he is; and the 12-year-old has a serious mommy attachment complex. I don't know what to do to help her. I took the 15-year-old to a naturopath today because he has debilitating migraines every morning that keep him from going to school. This naturopath prescribed a very strict diet and several supplements. So when I took him home and told my parents what the naturopath said my mom freaked out and nearly started crying because when she walked in the door today after work my dad said, "What's for dinner? We don't know what to eat with Travis's special diet." So she's stressed, thinking she's got to think of very strict meals to make every night when she gets home, get her garden ready, follow her Jenny Craig diet, fix her mother's yard, etc... I feel bad about everything she's going through, but she used to handle stress SO much better. This time I offered to come over every night for 3 weeks and make their meals, but that still stressed the woman out because she's so independent and didn't like the idea of someone serving her. She used to be such a rock! She's always been the stable, dependable, honest, hard-working, logical personality in the family; a person I've only seen cry once in my entire life. Now she's ALL out of wack! What can I do to help her???

B: Protein shake L: Loaded salad, 1/4c clam chowder, a honey walnut muffin w/ some honey butter (my team took me out for my birthday) S: Small peice Strawberry shortcake (again, for my birthday at work with the rest of my co-workers) D: Santa Maria chicken salad

Well, it sounds like hormones, from what some of you have experienced. She's almost 50 and her mother went through it at 50 years old. That doesn't make it any easier for her, but at least there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I'll see if I can suggest going to a GYN tactfully and not get my head ripped off. In the meantime I'm going to have a chat with my dad and find out how come he's not helping her out.

B: SF Strawberry Yogurt L: Some shrimp & chicken from Chili's and a few bites of Paradise pie (sister's birthday) D: Rest of shrimp and chicken from lunch

I love this question because I seriously thought about it myself. You see, now I'm able to exercise every day, eat well every day, follow all the rules every day... why hadn't I done that before? If I had I surely would have lost weight. Why all of the sudden do I have will power? Couldn't I have done all this work before being banded? And then I realized - I HAD done that before! But because it took SO LONG to come off and because it was a drain to think of all the food I had to prepare and preparing snacks in between meals, it was nearly impossible to keep up. The band just makes it A LOT easier to maintain that willpower. Buy yourself a lean cuisine and you're set for the afternoon - how easy is that? And the scale keeps moving. For me, that's the MOST motivating thing that keeps me on track (not to mention all the money I spent on the band). So, for me at least, I'd say that the band is silicone willpower. What wasn't there before is there now.

I just got back from Disneyland and a cruise! This cruise was SO much more fun because this time I biked at every port, hiked, danced every dance, and took every opportunity to do something physical! So... here's a comparison of the cruise I took 9 months ago versus the cruise I took 2 days ago: 9 months ago (I'm in the lower left-hand corner): Here I am 2 days ago: And because he looks so good in that hat

B: Yogurt L: Costa Vida Sweet Pork Enchilada D: 5 mini meatballs, some artichoke dip & crouton, 2 chocolate fountain-dipped strawberries, 1 chocolate-dipped rice crispie treat, 1/4 chocolate-dipped banana

That is really strange. Sounds like she's got some issues, herself. Congrats on the HUGE weight loss! Sounds like you've really found what works for you.

I only take off my shoes at someone's house if I live in Canada or if, when I walk in, I see that they don't have shoes on.

OK, well I'm back from my cruise and I have to say that I was TERRIBLE with the food! I had appetizers, main courses and desserts!!! The only time I showed restraint was at the chocolate buffet (though my BF had a freakin huge plate of chocolate and ate it ALL!). I wouldn't doubt it if I gained 10 pounds. I did bike at every port that we went to, so hopefully that was a little saving grace. Back on the bandwagon!!! Here are some cruise pics from that eating frenzy I had... http://www.flickr.com/photos/puddinpie.

Wow! Thanks y'all. We DID have a great time. For anyone out there who hasn't been on a cruise - Go! It's so much fun.