nycm00

Friday, January 23, 2009 aJoneen.........0 evelas5000......0 Desdemona.......0 Fenton..........0 HarleyGirl......0 Hopeinapril.....0 Lynn1215........0 NurseNiki.......0 Nycm00..........+1 Potatie.........0 scrappy_friend..0 SpecialK........0 Sugarbean......-2 Sharona...............0 Tess415.........0 Thin2bme........0 WestCoastMom....0 Wishin4.........0 Up one this week. Oh well. Christine

Burning belly is back....went away for a long weekend and forgot my meds at home. 4 days of no meds and my somach is like an inferno for a couple of hours after I eat anything. I go for my esophogram on Friday and then an appt with my surgeon later the same day. I think I'm going to request an endoscopy no matter what the x-ray shows. I need to know this is not forever. I need to know that I can live with a restricted band without having pain. Christine

Amanda...hoping and praying that all is well with you and your family. Kpod...You can do this. There will be ups and downs. I have recently been looking at my eating patterns and wondering why have I allowed myself to make many of the wrong choices I am making. One day at a time is the only way we can do this. Congrats on opening up about it and now lets see the weight loss! Christine

Harley, As an ultrasound tech I hear more about the trials of menopause than anyone should, sorry to hear you are having a hard time of it. I have had a huge appetite the past week or so...driving me to the edge, but I am hanging in there. DH returns on Tues night and I hope to try to check out a spin class. Anyone ever try one? I'm also ordering one of Fenton's recommended Yoga DVD's. Christine

I only went down one this week, not sure how that 3 got in there. That's my total loss since we started the Friday weigh ins. I like the idea of a seperate thread for the Friday weigh in. Christine

Greek yogur tis very thick, so in the morning you might have trouble with it. I find there are days I am fine with it and others I can only manage a few bites. No trouble with regular yogurt, but my favorite Greek Yogurt is hit or miss in the AM. Christine

NAME ***********START WEIGHT ****CURRENT WEIGHT **GOAL***LBS. Lost aJoneen............212............210............XXX............0 evelas5000.........180............179............140............1 Desdemona..........163............161............125............2 Fenton.............XXX............YYY............220..(4wks)...-8 HarleyGirl.........180............180............140...........-4 Hopeinapril........236............238............XXX...........+2 Lynn1215...........174.5..........175.3..........XXX............0 NurseNiki..........229.8..........227.6..........190.........-2.2 Nycm00.............220............217............XXX...........-3 Potatie............229............224............XXX...........-5 scrappy_friend.....170............172............150...........+1 SpecialK...........274............272............255...........-3 Sugarbean..........200............200............150...........+1 Tess415............294............295............289...........+1 Thin2bme...........191.2..........193.2..........150.........+3.2 WestCoastMom.......155............153.5..........140..........1.5 Down one this week. Not sure how that happened with all the munching I have been doing on all the wrong foods. Anyway, back on track tomorrow. I have started doing stretches with my 8 yr old DS every evening. This week we found out he has a part of one of his vertebrae that never fused. I took him to the doctor because for years he's been having back pain and it's not getting better. So he has "spina bifida occulta". Thank God it's a very mild case, but I was very freaked out to see his spine was "broken" on the x-ray. His flexibility is limited since his spine does not curve normally and doing the stretches might help/can't hurt. So while I'm on the floor I'm throwing in some abdominal work....imagine that. So, feeling blessed to have my three beautiful healthy children (I was very scared for a few days while the spinal surgeon and the ortho guys were consulting), and so glad I am getting healthy and thin. Christine

Hey guys, I too would love to get together. Since I am in Sayville with Chris, Starbucks works for me too, but next week DH returns from his 3 weeks in Hong Kong, so I'll be able to go out without 3 kids in tow more easily. Fatgirl (I feel bad posting that tag line) the 5 days liquid fast is not too bad. I had 2 weeks and then an additional 2 days of clears before surgery. It really does help shrink the liver which helps the surgery go more smoothly. Best of luck to you! Christine

Lynn, sorry you are feeling so yucky. Harley, sounds like you have found your groove. Salmon for breakfast sounds good to me. Fenton, what kind of Yoga videos do you use? Which are your favorites? I'm thinking about trying it again, but hate the process of trying to find a program I like. Christine

Potatie..congrats on doing so well!! As for the reflux I had it when I was too tight. Once I got my unfill I was entirely better. Christine

I was pretty much back to business as usual within 3 days after surgery. My DH left for Hong Kong for 3 weeks when I was 4 days out. It was hard because I had a daughter under 2yrs old at the time and she got sick and went from miss independence to needing a lot of help. So, it really depends on how old your kids are and what their needs are like. I wihs my DH could have been home at least a week, but mainly because my DD got sick. Good luck to you! Christine

How did Amamda slip off the chart? Christine

I've been on a bit of a binge the past two days. It's so weird...eating everything in sight...I will get in control tomorrow. I must get back in control. It's just so weird how I can eat everything right now and not even 2 full weeks ago I was struggling to eat more than a bite of anything at a time without feeling pain for hours. Christine

Hi guys....glad to see you survivied the Holiday and are getting back on track. I have to get my but in gear and get back on the treadmill. I had a back thing going on for a few weeks and could not do it. Amazing how easy it is to get out of the habit of excersizing....even though I really was enjoying it. I will get back on teh treadmill! Chris, whenever you want to get together we can, even if it's with kids to chat for a few minutes. I know the beginning of this process is kind of overwhelming sometimes. I should have given you my number when we met. You can email me if you want at cmasabi@msn.com. Fran, when I hit the 5cc mark with my band I really found I had good restriction. I hope you hit your stride and start back on the losing cycle. Rmember chew, chew, chew. I am now at 4.5cc because of some issues I have had and they want to see if I have a milk allergy or an ulcer before they fill me again. Esophogram and endoscopy schduled later this month. Christine

No change for me this week. I'll take it! Here is a NSV though...bizzarre as it is.... My eldest son is 8, he likes to play bad guys and good guys. He has metal handcuffs that have never been able to close over my wrists. Yesterday we were playing and he said "let's just see if these fit you now that you're a skinny bad guy instead of a big bad guy" and they not only fit, but they fit with wiggle room! So we played on! Christine

It's totally normal to feel no restriction at this point. Some surgeons put some Fluid in the band when it's put in, but most put it in unfilled. I had no restiction until my 2nd fill and it wasn't until my 3rd fill that I really felt my food choices guided by the band. Try to make healthy choices when you can...eventually the band will help you with this. I too don't understand how people can have an empty band and simply be able to change the eating habits that got them to be obese in the first place. I had to get fills and use the band as the tool to help my lose the weight. There are people out there with nearly empty bands doing very, very well, but I am not one of them. I have 4.5cc in my 10cc band. Christine

It's hard before restriction. I did not gain before my first fill, but I was hungry and felt like I did without the band. It took until my 3rd fill to really have restriction. This is the best way for me to describe it.... Before surgery I could eat 3 bagels (NYC bagles...big plump ones) with cream cheese without even thinking about it. After my first fill I could still eat 2 if I let myself. After my second fill I could eat 1. After my 3rd I could eat half of one. Now I can slowly eat about a quarter of one if I take it slow and really chew-chew-chew, and that's OK by me. I too am not dieting. I am eating much smaller portions and chosing healthier foods to put in my body. If I go back to the diet mentality I end up finding band easy foods to binge on. No more dieting for me. You will be fine. Do your best to control you eating until you get restriction to help you out. Hang in there....it gets easier. Christine

Fenton can I admit that I can't wait to see how much weight you have lost when you do venture onto a scale? It's oh so true! Christine

Tess, Lynn and Amanda congrats on getting back to the gym...feels good doesn't it? Fenton, I really like the taste of your patented morning shake. The frozen banana and penut butter will be back in my blender next month. I'm doing this dang dairy free thing right now which I don't think is really the issue, but I have to give it a try. Christine

I can never lose if it's about someone else. It has to be about me. I am the only constant other people are in and out, they come and go, they love you then leave you then love you again. So it can't be about them. I find that making it about me is hard because sometimes I don't feel worthy or lovable enough, so that is my stumbling point. At times I want to throw in the towel, get a total unfill and get rid of the discomfort that I am so often in and just wallow for a while. Wallowing felt good...the kids would go to bed and it was just me and my best buddies the freezer and the pantry. Now I know after the wallow the guilt and emptiness were aweful and I don't miss them at all. So, I do this for myself and I get more done around the house while the kids sleep at night and in the AM I am puffing away on my treadmill that stood waiting for me for about 8 years! No more high blood pressure, no more swollen legs and feet, no more knee pain. I hope in 2009 my doctor and I are able to work the kinks out of my band, so I can enjoy/appreciate the process more. I hope to lose more weight and take more time to enjoy the beautiful life I live. Christine

LOL Fenton..."very, very great...." LOL. I am so glad for you! My stomach is back to "normal" I have gone from being able to eat 3 bites a day to feeling hungry and eating 2 half cup meals a day. Conincidence that DH has left the country and the Holidays are over? Cutting the dairy out of my diet has done little to nothing. Something one of you guys posted about there being some kind of irritation in my upper stomach where the food is kept until the pouch emties is really sounding like that might be it. The looser the band (lessening stress in this case not a fill or unfill problem) the quicker the food empties and the less burning/pain. So, I think I will push for an endoscopy to check things out after the esophogram. I dropped a pound this week...218... NAME *******START WEIGHT *******CURRENT WEIGHT *******GOAL *******LBS. Lost aJoneen............212............212............XXX............0 Fenton.............XXX............XXX............XXX............0 HarleyGirl.........XXX............XXX............XXX............0 Hopeinapril .......236............241............XXX............0 Hungry4help........XXX............XXX............XXX............0 Lynn1215...........174.5..........174.5..........XXX............0 NurseNiki..........229.8..........229.8..........190............0 Nycm00.............220............218............XXX...........-2 Potatie............229............229..................... scrappy_friend.....170............172............150...........+2 SpecialK...........274............274............165............0 Sugarbean..........200............199............150...........-1 Tess415............294............295............289............+1 WestCoastMom.......155............153.5..........140..........1.5 Thin2bme..................191.2 . . . . . . . . XXX . . . . . . . . . 160 . . . . . .

I have an appointment scheduled for next month for an esophogram and another meeting with my surgeon. She has me cutting out the dairy until I see her. It's really hard to do. All the whey Protein products are milk protein based and that's all I have been using when I get too tight. eggs seem to be out...no yogurt or cheese. So on the days I am really tight I don't get much protein at all. I am going to buy some soy milk and make some smoothies from that because today I have only had a cup of Soup so far. It's the stress and it will jump start my weight loss again, but it does not make for a happy Christine. It's so bizarre because on Friday when I saw my surgeon I was about to beg for a small fill. She did not want to do one because she still did not like what I was telling her about my occasional pain and discomfort level. She's really concerned that I may have an ulcer and need a stronger medicine than what I am on now. If the esophogram is negative she will have me go for an endoscopy. The Holidays are almost over and my DH has been home for 3 days (driving me nuts) He leaves for Hong Kong on Friday. He'll be gone for 3 weeks which is good in many ways but bad in others (3 kids on my own, a job, a house) Anyway...stress does not end...I have to learn to deal with it better apparently. I just have to keep on being happy for the loss of appetite for however long it lasts and find some alternative sources of protein for those tight days. Thank you all for your well wishes and support. Christine

I REALLY am having a hard time understanding something....I know, another complaining post from Chirstine....sorry... I am stressed out right now which seems to really tighten my band. If this is how my stomach reacts now, why did it not do this pre-band? If my body's reaction to stress is to cause inflammation in my stomach, thus causing the band to seem tighter, why was I not one of those people who lost weight when stressed rather than the one who gained with stress? I just don't understand. I am really starting to believe maybe the band will not work out for me. It is helping me to lose weight, but I am miserable. There are days I cannot really eat much of anything then there are others where I can eat everything. The days I can't eat much are OK...I look at them as days to lose weight and that's ultimatly a good thing, but I'm not sure that's so great for the rest of my life. Will it change? Will it ever get better? Yesterday morning I had two bites of egg at 8:30 and then was uncomfortable until about 2:00. I then had 2 bites of (very mild...not so tasty, so as not to irritate my tummy) chilli and was uncomfortable again until 7:00 when I had a 1/4 cup serving of rattatuoi. So is this it? Is this how your day goes? I have 4.5cc in my band right now. I had 7cc in at one point and was having no problem for 2 months, then BAM tighter, tighter, tighter until I could not even swallow Water and needed an unfill. I am just frustarted and feel a bit alone in this. I know I should just suck it up and appreciate those days of eating nothing and think of the weight I will lose, but in the past 2 months I have lost 1 pound!! While feeling like poop! OK, complaint finished. Christine

No fill for me today. MD wants to still take it easy on my stomach. She is suggesting no dairy for a month and then an esophogram. She is concerned I may have an ulcer, but will wait on the endoscopy until the result of the esophogram is in. PS I think Fenton would have a hard time finding a scale to use. Many scales don't go over 300 lbs. Most medical offices would not let him use their equiptment. I would just buy one, but that is an issue for Jonathan to decide on. Christine

219 finally crossed over from 220...first downward move on the scale since 11/11. Christine