Poodles

Yep, that is what I have heard too. Congrats on the 25 lbs!

Ok everybody... I have an announcement to make: I stepped on the scale. I stepped on the scale and did not go off the deep end today (yet). I am officially at 268. The same number I stayed at for 9 months straight before on a low carb diet. That is 37 lbs down from my first official weigh in and 32 lbs down from surgery day. Now, I am not going to weigh again for at least a month. Maybe I can get under that number by then meeting my goals. Have not met the water goal today (yet) but have met the others. And NO WAY am I getting another fill Regina. I can eat, and I am eating the right things in small portions, and I am losing. If I got another fill, I would be miserable again. Let's see if I can get under 268 without it. And I hope your kids are fine. Teen Boys can be the biggest babies.

Well, I followed this plan again the past few days. I can not eat 8 oz of meat a night, I do good to get in 6, the rest is ok and going down. I don't want to get a fill, because I lived overfilled for so long.

I tried this today and could not eat everything allowed. I was not hungry all day, so I guess it is going to work for me... for now. I like clearly defined instructions. :love: Will let you know how it goes.

Does anyone own this book? I can not find mine, and my local library does not have it. I am just wondering what the portions are for "post-menopausal" women are. I think it is 2 oz in am, 4 oz at lunch, and 8 oz at dinner with 3 cups of veggies a day. But want to be sure...

Ok, I met all my goals today. How is everyone else doing? Regina: How did the fill go?

For all of the Junebies that love ice cream... I have a solution. I am the biggest Icecreamaholic around and I have found a substitute. Get a blender, put ice in it and soy milk. Then add either: instant coffee and splenda sweetened syrup or chai spice tea mix. Both sugar free, both great to eat. I have found that if I have this after dinner, I don't want ice cream. :confused:

Here is my "Thin for good" plan. I measured everything out tonight to see what it looked like, and I don't know if I can eat everything allowed, but here is what I am going to attempt. I don't think it will stretch anything out: Breakfast: 2 oz Protein Snack: 1 oz cheese Lunch: 4 oz protein 1/2 cup cooked veggies Snack: 1 oz cheese and 5 nuts Dinner: 8 oz protein I measured out 8 oz (1 cup) of Manwich meat tonight (hamburger with goo on it) and I ate it. Will let you know how it goes.

Ok, so I bought the book. It sounds like a good plan to stick with, so I am going to try it tomorrow. Here is the plan for the most restricted version of this diet plan: These are Maximum things on this plan: 2 oz Protein in am, 4 oz at lunch, and 8 oz at dinner 3 cups of loosely packed veggies or 1/2 cup cooked veggies a day. You can have 1 oz soft cheese, 2 oz hard cheese, 1 tbs heavy cream, 3 tbs butter, 3 tbs Mayo, 4 tbs, Mustard, 5 nuts, 3 eggs (not considered in protein category). Everyone should take Vitamins, and he recommends: Multivitamin Chromium 200mg x 4 times day Essential Fatty Acids, like Omega 3 and Primrose oil coq10 300 mg a day, spread out Lipoic Acid 100-300 mg day Carnitine 1500 to 3000 mg day And then he goes on to recommend various vitamins for Men and Women depending on health issues. He has a great daily section on dealing with head issues. The book is worth a peek just for that. If you have a library that gives you access to e-books they have it online. Hope this helps someone!

Glad to have you back Lisa, and happy to see you are doing well. :love: Pinkylee- I say lets go for it. We can try the month of February and see how that goes. Our own Valentines challenge! If we are going to set our goals, here is mine: Richard Simmons Blast off every school day (5 times a week) 64 oz of Pure Water a day Low Carb- Thin for good diet plan, and take my vitamins (will post this plan on the thin for good thread) Let's Go! February is OUR month!!!!

Do you think we need to do that water challenge again? Not that I won last time or anything, but it made me more conscience of it and I tried. Just an idea. Hope everyone is doing well. Praying for your fill tomorrow Regina, hope you get what you NEED.

Randi: You can always have a total unfill. I was told that if you ever want your band removed, just get it totally unfilled and see if you change your mind first. Most people will gain after a total unfill, but some don't gain even after removing the band. So, I guess that is up to you. Did you get an unfill? How are you doing, besides being frustrated?

Well, I had the wine and then about an hour later tried to eat. It worked for me. I had red Zinfendal.

Ok, so my insurance payed 100% of a bill last year, which was $600.00. This year they put things to my deductable, 500, and then paid 60% of the other $100.00 which is $60.00. They put nothing else to a copay. The lady at BC said that next time they will pay 60% of the allowable amount. So if they bill $600.00 they will be paid around $360.00 next time, not putting anything to a copay. I have paid a copayment each time I have gone in there, and SCOR says that I am responsible for $150.00 per visit. From my standpoint, I am seeing that I will owe them money this time to add up to the $150.00, but should not have to pay a copay the next time, nor any additional money since they will be paid $360.00. Is this correct? Does anyone else have experience with out of network benefits/TRS/Fills? How are you handled?

Regina: I would go with .2 and see what that looks like. I know it is a pain, but you can always go back for more. (especially since your fills were included for the first year) Living life overfilled is horrible, and you don't want to find that out the hard way.

Uhm... do you think the people 10,000 years from now will think we are weird-o's for wearing a band around our tummy? They will probably think it is like the tribes wearing plates in their lips... some trendy decoration or something. I can see it now. "Yes, in the North American culture it was obviously considered desireable to wear such adornments as a plastic inflateable ring around the top portion of the stomach. Although how one would display this jewelry has not yet been discovered." I read that the band would probably have a life span like breast implants. So I figure once I get skinny and get breast implants, I will just need replacement parts every 10 years or 30,000 miles... Like a car. It is a better alternative to dying in 10 years from co-morbidities.

If I am with my DH I will try something daring, like a salad. Bennigans allows me to order the childs chicken salad, so I always get that there. If I am with other family/friends that don't know I am banded I get Soup. Sometimes soup and salad. Start with the soup and feel it out, then try the salad if all is ok. It is an individual thing, so you won't know until you try. Luckily I have a hubby and son that will take care of anything that won't go down, so I don't waste money!

**hiccup*** Pleashe forgive me if I slufrrrrr my woredsss... drinkin all that wine has me typing drunk. :love: Don't know what that wine did, but I am feeling a whole lot better today. Drank a shake for breakfast, ate some lunch meat and cheese for lunch, and ate a hamburger patty tonight. Yummy Yummy and no pain! I took my capsule vitamins today too. (I have not been taking them for fear of making things worse.) My dog was put on omega-3 vitamins and it has helped her, so I figured I needed to take them too. Since I didn't want to take dog vitamins (even though I am a Poodles) I found that www.swansonvitamins.com has a liquid version with evening primrose oil in it too. Tastes like crap, but I mix that with my liquid b-complex in some shake mix and shoot it with a shake chaser. (Now I really do sound like an alkie.) Have not sent hubby to the wine store yet, but think I may keep some on hand from now on. Wonder what pineapple juice mixed with red wine tastes like??? (yuck) Glad everyone is doing better. Congrats Barbara on the unfill. I know how good that feels! Hope to be in loser-land with you soon. 90 lbs and 50 lbs sure sounds great. I personally can't wait to get into size XL. I hear that is in normo stores. Still dancing with Richard in the morning. I love that frizzy haired dude.

barbara: I would go for an unfill. Thought about one myself the past few days. Then I was reminded about the pineapple juice (thanks Regina) and wine found on this thread and others. The pineapple juice was really good, but did not help much. However; a little red wine and BAM I ate pork tenderloin for dinner with a little cheese on top. YUMMY!!!! To bad though, I am going to be a wine-o now. :love:

Randi- I am with you! If I had known how inconveniencing, embarrassing, and painful the band would be, I would have never gotten it. I spent months overfilled and in pain thinking that was what the band was suppose to do. Here is a link to my thread I started about being overfilled: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/overfilled-advice-poodles-t27228.html?t=27228&highlight=overfilled+advice To top it all off after I got unfilled and was able to eat, I still have to eat low carb and exercise. What a pain. I could have done that w/o the band... but never did. Just goes to show that if you eat right and exercise you can do it. The band just controls the amount you eat AND what you eat (no more bread for me...PB city) sometimes. I told my DH this morning that I was ready to rip this thing out and go to the all you can eat buffet. He just patted me on the leg and told me that the band was doing its job. (He can eat anything he wants, so he does not understand.) For the past 4 days I have been unable to eat, even my normal stuff since unfilling. I am tight and miserable, don't know what is going on. I think this thing helps some, and does not help others, but we got it and must live with it. We just need to figure out how to live with it. My recommendation for you is to get an unfill. Even if you get it totally unfilled for a while and then try again later. You need to feel normal again... I know. Good luck.

Wine before dinner? Well, I have to try that one!

I must do low carb or the band does nothing for me. Sugar goes down easy, so do carbs (mashed potatoes, stuffing, ice cream). Sugar also increases your cravings for sugar, so it just has a cycle to it. South Beach allows too many carbs for my system, so I follow Atkins (which does allow for fruit BTW). If you are female, I recommend the Schwartzbein Principal plan because it is low carb but also has a Vitamin plan. Females will fail on low carb long term (studies show) if they do not have Vitamins. I stayed low carb for 3 years before taking my vitamins. I got back on the no carb wagon the end of December. The band allows me to limit my portions of low carb food, which is great, and I have noticed my waist size shrinking... South Beach frozen dinners are also great when you are in a pinch... so don't just write it off because it is a "diet". You are going to have to change your diet, the band will not do that for you.

Ok, so I did not read the whole thread... don't want to get into the "God" issue, so here is my take on life/stem cells. Cord Blood gives the same information as an embryo, so why don't we just have the babies and save the cord blood? Moral Delimma solved.

Hum... don't know if I should share this... as you will all surely think I am a loon... but... here is the moon phase calendar for 2007. http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.html#y2007 I never believed in this stuff until I started working at a hospital, and they actually staff extra people around the full moon. I also notice I have some "full moon boys" in my classes. They take on a different temperment (like PMS) around "that time". We are actually at the first quarter now, today. I have not noticed anything significant around first quarter. But I have been awfully tight the past few days. Full moon should be around the 2nd. Thats next Friday!!!

Well my unfill has helped me stay low carb. I am feeling better, but still do not want to exercise. Found my Richard Simmons tapes, have a clear spot to move around in.... but... 1) I am too tired. 2) I am too lazy. 3) I have other things to do. 4) yada yada yada... What finally got you moving?