hopeinapril

Hey Shamrocks! Yep, I'm back. Yep, I got a fill. I now have 7cc in my 9cc band. (by the way Lynn, I saw Dr. Wynn, she sure is nice!) I'm happy and hoping this is my sweet spot. Back to liquids for a few days. I actually have some clothes that are riduculously too big. I was beginning to wonder if that was going to happen. I have several pair of jeans that fall down and would fall off. Yippee!!! Well, I'm off to edit my signature. Wish me luck!

Hi Shamrocks! WCM - I would Celebrate. I can understand how you wouldn't want to share the information as a success with your spouse. I think it is wonderful. I hate that obese catagory! Pat - what wonderful success. My theory is that I can eat what food I want for meals. (within our restrictions) Many times I'll go to a restaurant, eat what I need, then pack the rest away. If it is at lunch time, I sometimes eat the left overs for dinner. I hope to join you in the 240's soon! Sugarbean - how wonderful that you ran! I honestly don't see that happening for me, but who knows? Well today is fill day. I am pretty excited. (Funny how I can be excited about doing liquids!)

Hi everyone! Thanks for the support group information. I could not find my sheet anywhere. I am going to pick one up today as I see Dr. Peters and Sam today. I am really hoping for a fill. I plan to buy their $20 variety pack. I usually do when I get a fill. I think it is a great value. That way I don't have to make sure I have liquids in the house. I still have plenty of Protein powder that I use for the rest of the time, but it is nice not to have to hit the store for the stuff. Everyone enjoying their summer?

Hi Shamrocks! Going for a possible fill tomorrow. I am looking forward to it. When all else fails, I go back to the basics.

Howdy! Amanda - I love it! What a great poem. It says it all. Special K - too true! I went to a Italian restaurant for dinner last night. I figured it would be no problem. I ordered chicken marsala. The chicken came out BREADED! I scraped off the bread and ate some of the chicken. Then I ate the vegtables. Yikes, even when we are doing what we should we get these little bumps in the road! Has anyone else noticed that broccoli is the favored vegtable at restaurants now? Everywhere I have gone recently will give you broccoli instead of potatoes or fries....... Glad I like the stuff!

Hello! I love the lemon razzy. I think it is wonderful. I don't do coffee.... So, does anyone know when the next lapband support group meeting at St. Francis might be? I think it was this week and I missed it. I wasn't sure if it was next week or this week. Anyway, if you know, let me know! Good things with the band for the moment. I am really striving to follow the "rules". I have also been trying to view food merely as fuel. It is not as easy as it sounds! The scale is moving, which is nice. I am hoping that it doesn't move too much that I can't get a fill next week. LOL, who would have ever thought I would worry about losing too much!

Hi everyone! Tess - it is inspiring to read your story. The inspiring part is that you didn't stop, even though you were prepared for the worse. I think if we can catch ourselves before we totally give up, then we will ride out whatever issue we had! Sorry about the MIL - sounds pretty bad. Cool about the couch to 5k. I thought that was a typo at first!

Hi everyone! Rhonda - 100 pounds in a year, that is awesome! I think you are doing just great. It sounds like you are at a good spot with your restriction also. I look forward to the day when you reach 100. Special K - maybe this is the on! I love the Protein drinks with pb. It is the treat I allow myself once I am on liquids again. Yikes on the brats! Sometimes we try and still get a little sidetracked! Still too stinking hot for me to go outside and take a walk. On the good side, I don't feel like eating much either! How is everyone doing?

Hi everyone! BNL - I am glad you post your failures. I try to as well. I think that if we just post the good, that will not be as helpful in the long run. We are here to support each other, right? I see many times that there are lurkers that never post. I think they need to see the good and bad. I believe some of them do not post because of the extraordinary weight loss that many of our wonderful shamrocks have to date! Christine: Congrats on the wonderful start! I stay pretty close to Atkins. I have little self control with carbs, so I restrict them pretty hard. It is one of the things I keep track of. (Along with Protein and liquid intake) Protein - the dieticians that I have seen have given me 60-64 as a MINIMUM! Good stuff - I have been sticking very close to the "rules" for the past 2 weeks. As a result, I have started to lose weight again. I'm thrilled! I am also looking forward to my fill next week. I am hoping that it will put me at my sweet spot. I kind of thing it will. I don't really have any restriction problems, with the exception of eating lean ground beef or very dry chicken. I am not satisified with 4 ounces of food. But, I have to admit that I am thrilled the scale is moving again.

Hi everyone! WCM - hey 7.5 pounds in a month is wonderful! Congrats on the loss. At your current pace, you will be at your goal weight well before the holidays! Niki - welcome to the club! Lynn - OUCH! Hope you mouth feels better soon! Pat - very cool that I have not only a band buddie, but a slow (relatively) loser buddie! I love it. Sometimes, I am a little reluctant to talk about my struggles, but I got through that. I suspect there could be some more slow losers lurking. It is a little intimidating to see how well a lot of folks here have done! I suspect my weight will drop when I get to the "sweet spot". I have a way to go to get to my goal. Fenton may still be chatting on the board when I hit my goal. I am happy though. I went to my family doctor's office yesterday and I had lost 5 pounds since I had been there last. Which was a while! I was happy that I was at a lower weight. The nurse put the weight on 200 and started moving up. How cool that she thought I weighed less than 250! It is funny, but I have not been eating much in the evenings. I have been busy visiting some friends of the family! Now, I just need to keep that up. :biggrin2:

BNL - that is awesome! Great motivation! Pat - me too! I haven't lost a ton, but I think slow & steady wins the race! I have lost a total of 13 pounds since surgery. EW!

Hi everyone! Meg - I had the same problem with the realize site! I couldn't put my food in, so after a while, I just stopped. Sam told me he asks for his sign on, but has not yet received. (FYI Caelyn Sam is the St. Francis nutrionist - If you are going through Christiana you will have either Regina or a man I have not met) Caelyn - I have head that some of the protein drinks come in coffee and some folks really love it. I am not a coffee drinker. Things are going well. Counting the days til my fill! :cool2:

Hi Shamrocks! Well, I did pretty good with the ice cream the other day. I got a small scoop of sugar free stuff. Of course, it has tons of fat, but I felt good that I planned for the treat and didn't go overboard! May I suggest sugar free chocolate to my fellow chocoholics. It has the same taste as regular chocolate and is easy to count in your food diaries. And.....if you have never had it before, it has a self control mechanism. Do NOT eat too much. Look on the bag/box and figure out what a serving is. I'd try one serving to see how your body reacts. I know I can eat 2 servings of sugar free goodies a day. (4 PB cups!) Any more than that and I get the nasty consequences. (loose bowell movements and/or gas with pain) Like I said, it comes with its own safety brake! Well, I love the humidity free weather lately. Nice break for the hot, humid days we have had recently. It makes it easier to get in some exercise. I see some people have had fills recently. Good luck with that! When I get a fill, I always hope that it is the one that gets me to the "sweet spot"!

Hi everyone! Congrats on the 2nd fills Lynn and Meg. I hope they work well for you! Meg - do you have anything you are craving? I just wanted something to CHEW! Any meat that is dry or well done is not a good idea. But, I'd satisfy any cravings you have. The amount of food is pretty small. (like Lynn said) hope everyone else is doing well. I got in some exercise today, always a good thing. It was pretty nice to walk around town and up and down steps without all the humidity!

Hey Shamrocks! Annie - love the new hairdo! It really is cute. Imagine how easy it will be to take care of! dangerous trip for me today. I promised a friend of the family that I would go to a dairy with her today. They make fabulous ice cream. (one of my weakness - the real stuff - not that stuff that is in the freezer at the super market!) The good news is that they sell it by the ounce. I am going to get 2 oz. That is my goal. I'm hoping I can make it last for a while, because I won't be eating any more for a while! How are the rest of the shamrocks doing?

Hi everyone! It is hard to put yourself first! I actually have started to put exercise blocks on my calendars. I'm making appointments to exercise. It is good to get a buddy or two. If you know someone else is going to be there, you are likely to go and exercise! Welcome Julie! Bummer that your insurance makes you wait. But, I had to pay for this myself, so count yourself lucky that your insurance will pay for it. I'm sure time is dragging. It did seem like that to me. Now, when I look back, it went pretty quickly. I did everything in just over 2 months. Take this time to educate yourself about the process. You really can't learn too much. You might also try to do some of the things you will think are personally difficult. As an example, I really thought it would be tough to not drink with meals. To drink 1/2 before or after eating. I started doing that at one meal, then another, until I did it all day. I found out that this was not the tough thing for me. I also gave up soda a few weeks before surgery. I tried to eat 5 small meals. Things like that! Hey Lynn - how is the 2nd fill going? I hope it went well. I am soooooo looking forward to my next fill! Well, I am doing pretty good for now. The only thing I have noticed is that in the afternoon I start to feel weak, then sleepy. Does anyone else have this? My instict is to go gobble some food, but my instinct got me where I am, so I don't listen. I did take a vitamin b tablet in hopes that it would help. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

Kerri: Your post did make me tear up. How precious that card will be for you. How motivating. See, you are down a pound already. You will be back to where you were soon. (I also do not change my tickler every time I gain a few pounds!) Tess - thank you!

Lynn! Congrats on the fill. You are more than 1/2 way there! Way to go.

Howdy! I am so thrilled that the plateau of the last 2 months is gone! I am finally in the 250's! YEAH!!!! The best part is that it was mostly all me and relatively little band. It is motivating me like nothing else has recently. I am afraid to eat the wrong things or too much because I don't want to ever see 260 anything again! In less than 3 pounds, I will be at 30 pounds lost since February. Woohoo! I even will have another fill at the end of the month. I can't wait. I don't really want PBs or slimes, but I have very little restriction. I can eat anything and I do mean anything! Fenton- thanks for the super nsv comment. You sure can make me laugh.

Kerri! I am sorry for your loss. It is such a tough thing to deal with! As for the 3 pounds, well don't feel bad about that. Try, in the coming days, to put youself back on the straight and narrow. (I feel this pretty hard as I had played with the same few pounds for 2 months) It is tough when you are struggling a bit, but the best thing you can do is keep going. You will be back to oneunderland soon!

TXgirl - CONGRATS! I can't wait to join you!

Hi everyone! Long time, no type. It took a while to catch up. I had an NSV the other day. My ex was talking to one of my neighbors and she asked him if I had lost weight. Since he and I had discussed this recently, he told them yes. They did not know about the surgery, just that I had lost weight! It was a nice feeling that someone had noticed. I honestly think it is because I have some clothes that fit. Another bandster is smaller than I and has given me a ton of her clothes. It is great because I am about 2 sizes larger than her, so as we both loose weight, I am getting a new wardrobe. Congrats all on the losses. You motivate me and keep me coming back!

Hi everyone! How are you all doing! Caelyn, the process seems long, but with all the clearances, it will go quickly. I really like the fact that CHRIAS requires so many clearances. It makes it likely the surgery will go smoothly. I have avoided this website for the past week or so. I am struggling. I admit it. I am having a tough time because right now, it seems like it is all me and very little lapband. I have a fill coming up and am hopeful that it is the "one". I have been examining my relationship with food for the past few months now. I am writing everything down that I eat, even the embarassing stuff. I am hoping that it helps me understand why I eat the way I do. I have notice some things and am trying to correct them. It is odd, as old as I am, that I really don't know how to eat. I am coming to the conclusion (it took me a while) that food is really about feeding my body, not necessarily for what I use it for. I'm still playing with the same few pounds and am hopeful for a fill at my appointment at the end of the month. I finally decided to write about my struggles as I suspect not everyone is having an easy time of it. I hope that my honesty helps someone else. If you are having troubles, you are not alone.

HI everyone! Christine - How exciting! I can't wait to join you under 250! I am thrilled for you! Fenton - I believe that folks will "notice" your weight loss once you get clothes that fit! I think people don't always notice when you loose a little weight, they notice the different clothes. Well, sounds like we are doing pretty good. What a great thing for us all!

Lynn - :smile2::thumbup::w00t: YEAH! I am doing such a happy dance for you. You are oneunderland!! What an awesome place to reach. Almost 1/2 way there! How exciting!!!!!!!! I can't wait to join you! :Angel_anim: