Wheetsin

Just now saw this... "I hear ya Alexandra, but the cost of that fill leaves my mouth hanging open. :omg: " My insurance covers normal fills so I'm not sure but I think it's like $150 for a non-fluoro fill. However, he charges $800 for a full under fluoro. $800. No joke.

I remember not just thinking, but knowing that I was going to be the super citizen... the model bandster who a year out had still never PBed. I was going to chew, chew, chew... never push myself, etc. Then three days post-op I learned the band has a hell of a lot more say in what happens then we could ever dream of having. I went into this surgery and PBing was the ONE thing I dreaded (next to the IV). It was the one thing that kept me from having my band 4 years ago. I was such a fool! Now -- trust me, because I've been there. When you're on the other side of the hill, PB seems like it will be the most horrible thing you can have happen. But when you're actually stuck, a real stuck, that's going to require a PB to pass -- you'll GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES AND BEG for it to happen, because no matter how miserable it may seem like it's going to be, it STOP THE PAIN... and when you're really, truly, bona fide stuck, stopping the pain is all that matters. Plus there's a misconception. People refer to PB as "puke" or "vomit" -- and actual vomitting is MUCh worse than a PB. Not even in the same ballpark. I always have and still would hate to vomit. A PB...whatever... get it over with and resume my day.

I never could stomach "real foods blended up". Logic says they'd taste the same, but nope. I tried to blend up my Chipotle once and it was not very good at all. One time I had my rotisserie chicken blended. I've had Mexican blended. I got a weird look, but who cares, I get weird looks being fat & just generally weird anyway. I usually go with Soups, and will sometimes have those blended too. During mushies I'd get Uno's clam chowder, and have them blend it so that there were no chunks o' clam I'd have to worry about. I've had chili blended. I usually just told them, "I just had surgery and can only eat soft foods. Can you ask the chef to whiz this up in the blender for me?" Or "I need this blended or you're going to be mopping it off the floor."

Hit Twoterville sometime between July 6 and July 12 (went from 301.08 to 296.06, but I don't weigh everyday so I don't know exactly when I got there). Twoterville rocks! Especially after being SO close to 400 lbs... I'm 10 lbs away from having lost 100 lbs. I have roughly 6 weeks before my 6 month bandiversary. Here's to hoping, and hoping, and hoping I can Celebrate 100 lbs lost by September 1!!!

Umm... haven't, and wouldn't. But understand that's just my personal preference. Another option - don't know if you've considered it - but if you have a dental school anywhere around, they do work at a deeply, deeply discounted rate. Granted, you're being worked on my students, but only ones who are very close to graduating, and only under strict observation of at least one professor/dentist. I know this is an option used by people here who don't have insurance or can't affort their normal dental bills. I don't know anyone personally who has done it, but I've heard the "friend of a friend" accounts, and they've all been positive.

Ask the restaurant to blend your food for you. I've never once had them refuse. Order mushy items. Most restaurants have several "mushy" choices to choose from. Hit buffets. As much as we should try and avoid them, they saved my life during mushies because there's *always* some kind of cottage cheese, Soup, mashed something, creamed something, etc. available.

Another thing to keep in mind - not very many people get enough restriction from the band itself to experience weightloss. Our bands are not really designed to work until they're properly filled. I know one of you is bandless, but the other is not. I don't know what your pre-op psychologist did or didn't indicate, but mine made a lot of effort to make sure I (and everyone else who saw him) understood that maintained loss between surgery date, and the date of proper restriction, was very unlikely. Basically - you can't really expect to lose weight until you're properly filled, so if you do - GREAT! Celebrate it! Something else - this is kind of becoming my mantra - but the scale tells you the weight of your skin and everything inside of it, as well as anything on the outside of it. It does NOT tell you how much fat is on your body, or how much fat you have lost. You can gain 8+ lbs overnight, just because your body decides it wants to hold on to some Water. You can probably lose 3 - 4 lbs just by varying how you stand on the scale. It's so, so, so subjective. Anytime that a decent amount of weight is lost within 1 - 3 weeks, it's VERY normal for your body to hit a "stall"... it's kind of your body's way of saying, "Woah, wait a minute - what the heck? What's going on?" Your body needs time to adjust, to kick into fat burning mode, and to equalize its processes. For me, this happened about 3 - 4 weeks after banding, and lasted nearly 5 weeks during which I lost & gained the same 3 lbs. When I was on Atkins it also happened, about 4 weeks into the program and lasted about 3 weeks. You may be experiencing something similar.

I had restriction from the band itself, so "0" would have to be my answer. I've had 3 fills since then. Also keep in mind Inamed makes different capacity bands, to fills to restriction on "the Inamed band" can vary a lot, especially since some surgeons are more aggressive w/ fills than others.

I guess it depends on how you define a platuea. For me I don't consider myself in a plateau until I hit 4+ weeks of no loss in weight OR inches. If you're losing either, you're not in a plateau. You guys need to be very careful about your rationale during weightloss. Not losing pounds for a week, then thinking that not drinking Water is a solution, is *not* healthy. 2 days of now eight loss isn't a stall, it's "normal". Did you expect to lose weight every day until you hit goal? scale obsession is a bad thing. Weigh once a week. Weigh once a month. Ideally, don't weight at all and go by measurements or FFM. Christa - you've lost nearly 18 lbs in 22 days. Do you REALLY think the cost of your band was a waste?

Oh, I've never tried them but I hear a LOT of people raving about Rockport shoes.

Born (Danish "O" that I can't make here) are VERY comfortable. I've always found Dr. Marten to be comfortable too, but I've worn them for 15+ years so I'm biased. Crocs are comfortable, but ugly as hell. THey make a thong style shoe that isn't too horrible (I still only wear them in the yard though). Clarks of England makes very comfortable shoes and you can get some cute styles.

As of this morning, I'm 1 lb away from having lost 90 lbs. That gives me just over a month to lose 10 lbs if I want to make 100 lbs gone at my 6 month bandiversary. :faint:

Jennifer - have you tried the "Six Star" or "Six Starr" protein powder? Wal-Mart is the only place I've seen it. It's IMO one of the better tasting powders. No aftertaste. Good ratios but I don't remember what they are off-hand. I truly look forward to my protein drinks because they're just plan yummy. Do you like peanut butter? I'll share some of my fav recipes for the powders, but also I was thinking, so you don't have to go buy them and not know what you're getting, I can mix up a few "flavors" and bring little cups of them on Thursday, so you can taste them before you buy them. If you like any of them I can tell you exactly what I put in them. OK, so here are my typical protein powder "recipes". I make them all in a magic bullet, so use that to guide the milk portions. Also I will alternate between 2% milk, and Carb Countdown fat free milk, depending on what I've already eaten... and sometimes I will use them 50/50 just to avoid the extra fat, but get more consistency than water. 2 scoops choclate protein powder. A blob of peanut butter. About 1/3 packet Butterfinger hot cocoa mix. Top off with milk. 2 scoops chocolate protein poweder. Blob of peanut butter. Dash (maybe 1 tsp) sugar free hazlenut flavoring. Top off with milk. 2 scoops vanilla protein powder. 1/5 banana. 2 blobs peanut butter. Top off with milk. 1 scoop chocolate, 1 scoop vanilla. Small handful of cashews. Top off with milk. 2 scoops vanilla. 1 - 2 tsp sugar free Kahlua flavoring. 6ish cubes ice. Top off with milk. 2 scoops vanilla. 8 oz reduced sugar orange juice. 1/4 packet sweetner. About 4 ice cubes. Top off with milk. Or any combination of the above, really. It's just a matter of what I feel I'm in the mood for. Honestly - these "shakes" are good enough to me that I have a hard time imagining them being horrible to anyone. Would you be interested in sampling some?

Ok Diane, you spend WAY too much time on the meal number crunching. Holy cow! You're like the savant of caloric breakdowns. I'd have to quit my job or quit school to have enough time to add up all those values every day. All - I can meet at 5. I can meet before 5. I can meet after. It's all good with me. Yesterday I ate: * 1 bite of SF Jell-O * 3 bites of beef burger (kind of like sloppy joes, but not really - and mine was made with ground turkey b/c I don't eat red meat) * PBed so take away 1 or 2 bites of beef burger When I PB I'm not really hungry for the rest of the day so when I got home from Holli's I made a protein drink with 2%, double powder, and a dollup of peanut butter. Today I'm working on a "no sugar added" organic applesauce for breakfast. Lunch will be pepperoni chips and probably some tuna salad or a protein bar. We're meeting friends at Jose Pepper for dinner, so dinner will be about 1/5 of pollo magnifico, hold the cheese, and just eat the insides out of the tortilla, with no rice and extra beans. I started logging my weight. I've never done that before, I've just always figured "I started here, I'm here now, so I've lost this much..." but I started logging about 2x week ona calendar at work, so I could track when I lost what. That has REALLY been helping me. I'll feel like I've not lost any in FOREVER. Felt that way this morning. Looked at my calendar and I've lost 9 lbs in the last 2 weeks. I *really* need to work on this whole instant gratification thing... People are finally starting to notice a change. The people who know I had the surgery are really starting to compliment my weightloss. The people who don't know I had surgery are asking things like, "Did you just get back from vacation? You look so... you're glowing...you look so healthy..." (I've heard that about 6 times). I need to take some more pictures. I haven't taken any since the day I tried on the clothes from Cate. As most of you can probably guess, I don't really have anything to ask Sabapathy. :bananapartyhat:

I've not heard that. I am a diver, but have not been since banding... however, I do swim, every day when I get the chance. No problems here, and I was never advised against swimming. With the way *most* doctors are installing the band now, there's no way for it to slip "off". Off of what? It's *around* something, that's attached to something else at both ends. There's no way it's slipping *off*.

Attached images won't show up in preview mode. You don't want to have to attach it every time you post either, so use the signature option. 1. Click on "User CP" 2. Click "Edit Signature" 3. Insert the ticker URL in between ikoncode image tags. Meaning like this, only without the asterisks: [img*]http://whatever.url.com/whatever[*/img]

Telly, I've always thought your mouth & complexion reminded me of Tiger Woods. Now having said that, I'm not saying you are "manly" or that you look like a man in anyway!!! Far from it! You're a very beautiful lady. He is just way "prettier" than any man should be!!! (compare the mouth in this pic with the 2nd one in the series of 3 above).

BTW, good timing, I just got a call back from the guy I'd been talking to at Inamed. He was just checking in and wanted to let me know he's still researching. What he did tell me so far is that for shallow dives the band shouldn't be a worry, but for deeper diving he couldn't say for sure. I've heard a lot of different stories from a lot of different people, including before I got banded and asked the surgeon I was looking at (not the one I ended up going to), who told me nothing below 30 ft and no fills over 1cc, per Inamed. So who knows at this point.

I don't have too many interesting stories. A dive friend of mine runs a small salvage dive shop. He got called in once to help with a body recovery dive and asked me if I wanted to come along. I did, but the story that follows isn't interesting so much as disturbing, so I'll keep quiet. Hmm... another disturbing event I witnessed involving a cave diver who got narced at about 140 ft, and separated from his buddy... inflated his BC instead of deflated, and ended up rocketing about 12 feet straight up out of the Water. Needless to say he didn't survive... so ok, another morbid story so I'll not share it either. Hmm, I'm seeing a trend... The salvage shop friend was diving a local lake with his metal detector, just seeing what he could find... I think he was actually looking for someone's watch or something, and ended up finding a 5ct diamond ring, 3ct center stone and 1ct side stones, in a "finders, keepers" state. It appraised over 50k. I was there, but not on the actual dive. Very few times in my life have I heard a grown man shriek like a schoolgirl, but that was one of them. While snorkeling out to a dive site once, in Belize, I was just snorkeling along and next thing I knew I was laying on my back, my face hurt, and I had no idea what had happened. I'd had my underwater camera with me. What had happened was a manatee had swam up right under me and hit me in the face with its tail as it was swimming by, knocking my mask/tube off, and apparently knocking me out for a few seconds too. No one knew, though, what had really happened until I got my film developed. Apparently as I got hit, out of reflex my finger pressed down on the shutter release, because I ended up with a series of pictures... the first one is just the manatee's nose and a little bit of head, then head and shoulders, then shoulders and part of the body, then middle of the back, then butt end and the tail, then a bunch of bubbles and "commotion"... and tail.

Maybe. If you really use your imagination. You know, if you can imagine Don Ho looking a little bit like Jennifer Anniston. But even then, no - not really. Maybe if my face was thin and I had blond hair, and a totally different face...

Inamed is the company that makes the bands that most of us have. I have advanced certification with deep diving and night diving specialties, we usually hang out around 120 ft... not since banding though. Still haven't heard back from Inamed.

What size band do you have? 1cc in a 10cc band isn't going to do much toward curbing your hunger. 1cc in a 4cc band may not even be enough restriction yet. I lost my appetite 2 days pre-op and never really gained it back. I get hungry, but not that often. I find myself eating when I'm not hungry just to try and hit base calorie/protein numbers. I have enough restriction that I know when I've eaten something wrong, but I don't have enough (I think) that the band is controlling my portions. It's hard to describe. I feel full very quickly, but if I *wanted* to keep eating, I could.

I was 8 when Firestarter came out, I lived in Southern California, and people would come up to me at the mall and want my autograph - they thought I was Drew Barrymore. I used to hear that all the time. When I got fat I stopped hearing it as much, but it still happens on occasion. Maybe a few times a year, someone will interrupt what I'm saying to ask me, "Has anyone ever told you that you look like Drew Barrymore?" I personally don't see it, at all. Looking at pics from both of us as kids, I can see it then. I don't see it now, but apparently other people do. :eek:

Isopure or 6 Star, mixed in either 2% milk OR fat free/0 carb milk (depending on my Calcium & fat intake for the day), blended with some combination of Peanut Butter, Butterfinger hot cocoa mix, sugar free Kahlua flavoring, sugar free hazelnut flavoring, sugar free/0 carb hot cider seasoning, or whatever else I have laying around. My favorite combinations include: vanilla Protein powder mixed with peanut butter and a tiny bit of hazelnut -- tastes a lot like toffee to me. Vanilla Protein Powder mixed with cider mix and an extra pinch of cinnamon -- tastes like apple pie with melted vanilla ice cream on it to me. chocolate protein powder with Butterfinger cocoa mix. Vanilla protein poweder with Kahlua syrup -- tastes like a virgin mudslide.

Weightloss definitely impacts your hormone levels. BCP definitely manipulate hormones. The connection between the two could be none, or could be all - only your doc can say for sure. I haven't experienced anything hormonal (that I can tell anyway) with my weightloss, but I'm not on BCP, either. However I was on BCP during my weight gain, and had to stop taking them because I starting getting completely spontaneous superficial thrombophlebitis -- in really weird places.