Kim_8

Nykee - Congrats! 80 lbs in one year - that's awesome! Happy Bandiversary! That's almost a whole person you lost! How cool?????

Jessie - birks for me, too - I live in them! Socks and birkenstock sandals in the winter - quite a fashion statement! Kathy - Great NSV! I can't wear heels for more than a couple of hours - and at that they're really LOW heels! I'll look forward to that one! With weight, my feet have gotten SOOOOO wide! I hope with weight loss that they aren't spread out so much. When I try to wear normal shoes it looks like Miss Piggy or ugly step sister feet!

Tanya, Congrats on your surgery! I had gas that lasted 3-4 weeks. Horrible pains in my shoulder and collarbone that I thought would never go away -- but they did :-)! Not too long after I had surgery - maybe 2 weeks or so, I was driving home and thinking what the heck have I done? Will I ever feel normal again??? I got really depressed and found tears from nowhere streaming down my face. I didn't understand it... just part of the adjustment phase I guess. Never fear - this too shall pass! I feel fine now a month and a half later. I'm still learning, but no longer have these feelings of wondering if this was the right thing to do! You hang in there! When you can, try pudding cups with splenda - that made me feel more like I was eating normal food. Also, I did potato Soup (pureed) when I was so tired of clear I couldn't stand it. A little salt and pepper and I felt like I was eating something good again! Clear Liquids won't last that long and when you can move to this kind of stuff you'll feel better! Take Care!

Kellie, Ok - just flip over to your before and after pics and take a look. You are my inspiration! You have come so far and look absolutely adorable! Smoking sucks! I quit just before surgery. I then chewed nicotene gum which helped ALOT. I then read that the gum could be an erosion factor - that sucked. Then I stopped and bought a pack of cigarettes. I took 4 days to smoke the first pack. Then I bought another and took 2 days to smoke them. Now I'm on my third pack - UGH. I have a purseful of Patches, but do you think I can bring myself to put one on - NO! I'll work on it with you! I'm in the same boat..... I quit for 2 months and now I'm back at it again. STUPID. I figure cutting down is better than nothing though - baby steps. You're trying to do alot at one time.... maybe pick one goal and start with that and then move to another? I don't know... I'm with you on this one. Hang in there!

I know, I know - me, too! A beer would be wonderful! It's my understanding that you aren't supposed to have carbonated beverages. I've stayed away from beer & diet coke based on this understanding.... Hopefully we'll see some posts that tell us otherwise! I could so use a nice cold beer! I've switched to scotch or wine when I do have a drink... just not quite the same when you go to a bar and play pool or something though! BTW - you're doing GREAT on your weight loss!

Hi Marlo - Glad to hear you went to a seminar - that's a good thing to do... lot's of questions asked and answered. I got answers to questions I didn't even think about asking and was glad other people did. Hope everything works out well for you... keep us posted! Take Care, Kim

HOLY COW! That's crazy! You look awesome!

The big zit on my forehead is going away! And on the bright side, my bangs covered it anyway! We had a firedrill at work today and all had to go outside so I saw people I hadn't seen in a while. THREE people at work stopped by my office after the firedrill and told me I looked good - wanted to know what the heck I'd been doing. Yee haw!

I wouldn't change a thing. I like being banded. I wish fills were a "standard" and you didn't have to try for fit to get the right amount to work for you. Even though my fill isn't quite "there", something about the band being there -- even if not quite so effectively, reminds me to STOP eating so much! Since I'm a chronic overeater, if I can just learn to do on my own what the band is reminding me to do, I'm in business! That is *my goal* for my band. So far no regrets for me! Welcome to the board Paula!

I really do like weight watchers, but haven't been since about 6 months before banding. Might be a good idea to hop back in there one of these days :-). The thing that kept me on track with weight watchers is that I had NO restriction of what I could and couldn't eat - just how much. This for me was a good "lifestyle diet". As long as I counted points faithfully, I lost weight. Then would come my binging and I'd stop counting for a few months or more at a time... UGH. Hopefully the band will keep me from binging and I really did like the support group. Good idea - maybe I will stop back by! Lifetime Member???? wow - that would be cool! didn't even think about that. That would save a ton of $$! First things first though.... I've GOT to get to a gym (or just go walk or do Richard Simmons or something --- anything). That is a lifestyle change that I've had a hard time with for sure!

Cinnaberry - Don't let this discourage you ---- it's not that bad really and it doesn't happen all that often! Some people have NEVER had it happen. It happens most often when you are learning what you can and can't eat. Then again when you know what you can't eat, but do it anyway OR you forget to chew well. Do a search on PB and on slime and you'll see lots of comments. Best of luck in your search. I have no regrets on my decision to be banded!

Hey EmileeKaye, Welcome! GREAT weight loss! And only 1 fill - WOW! Kim

Nope - PB is a productive burp. This means you bring back up in the form of a burp what you put down. Also pretty disgusting :-). Haven't had that yet - thank goodness! Have a great night! Kim

ditto. bought one for pretty much money and it was kind of silly. gave it to my dad and he uses it for his back and likes it for that.

I've explained what happened to me and the counselor at the fill center confirmed that this was a slime and explained the "science" behind it as follows. Something gets stuck and won't go down - body tries to produce mucus to get it to go down - still doesn't go down - body makes more mucus to get it to go down - still doesn't go down - body makes more mucus, and so forth. You're mouth starts filling up with spit. You spit out spit / mucus = "SLIME". Gross, I know. Sorry. :-)

Babs - Glad to hear your fill is working! That's good news! I wish that mine was working as well as that... time I guess will solve that one (only 1cc fill so far and my only restriction is in the morning). I worry about eating too much and causing stretching or slippage. Trying to maintain control and only eat as much as they tell me to (3/4 cup), but there's a reason I'm fat and that's a hard thing to do for me. Still trying though. :-) Anyway - I'm glad you're back on track. You're weight loss is an inspiration! Leatha - I hope your doc listens to you as well! That's got to be frustrating! I saw your posted pictures though and I think you look GREAT!

Diane, WOW! You look absolutely beautiful! I love the pants, too. Great lessons learned listed --- I'm listening to you and using your list to help me! Thank you!

BandedShopGirl, I have the same problems you do. Although I don't worry about them as much. So far, I haven't found a "solid" food that I can eat in the morning since my fill. Although, by dinner, I could eat almost anything it seems. I have a Protein shake for breakfast and that suits me fine. I get in some of my protein - I was never a big breakfast eater anyway and this seems like a step in the right direction, because you are supposed to have something at breakfast to kick start your metabolism. I suspect as Jack said, that after a couple cups of coffee, you could probably do a little more if you wanted to. I find it a little discouraging that I don't have the same "tightness" at dinner time (which is when I, too eat the most). I just keep an awareness of when I seem to feel full and I also keep my portion sizes in mind when it seems like I can eat anything. I sure don't worry about malnutrition at this point. I think we can all "find" foods that will keep us nourished that we can tolerate. It's just trial and error. My band philosophy is that it WILL NOT be with me forever. I think the technology is too new to assume that it will last forever. So in a way, being able to eat at night is probably helping me to try and learn new eating habits. It's a good tool, but is definitely not always an end all solution to overeating. If I eat soft foods, I can eat tons of them. They say to start with the bulky foods - Proteins, then do veggies, and last carbs. I try to just keep this in mind when eating when I'm not all that restricted. Good luck to you and try not to worry. Mornings may just be a time to adjust and you may not be able to do the same things you did before. Hang in there!

I think that the counselor where I go for fills said to try not to drink if this happens. Something about rinsing away the mucus that you need there to make it better. I told her about my episode and she specifically asked if I had stayed away from water. I said yes -- she said good. To me, it seems like water would help wash it down, but she said no. I've read alot of posts where they say water helps --- so hopefully you'll get enough advice to help! I don't know much more than that except for like Alex, I will stay away from the food that caused me the problem. Hope it gets easier for you....

Hey John - Welcome and congrats on the weight loss! That's awesome! It hasn't even been a month yet! How cool is that? Kim

Thistle - ROTFL!!!! I love your post! Great sense of humor and a pretty funny and accurate rendition of the process. I was signing in playing tug of war with my big ole check by 9am. I was outta there by 2pm. They started surgey around 10:30 I would think and I'm thinking it must have been around 12:00 that I woke up. They sat me up in a chair and then had me take laps around the recovery room. Had different visitors give me advice that I can't remember. Then out the door with me with my little lap band pillow. It was pretty speedy! My doctor yesterday said - oh - great, down almost 10 more lbs! I should have told him that was only because I was no longer carrying the $15K around. I expect that he found my 10 lbs. :-)

Thank goodness I weigh every day! Wake up, grab my coffee that DH leaves on the nightstand for me, stumble to the kitchen, up on the scale, over to the laundry room, get a pen out of the drawer and record the daily weight on the calendar, put pen back in drawer... it's now a ritual. It does keep me motivated - even when it goes up... I don't let the stay the same or up a little days get me down. I do however get really excited when it goes down 1/2 lb or a lb. Good way to wake up.

Laura - Willis Coves huh? You're across the street from me. I'm in Quail Valley :-). Howdy neighbor! Kim

70's/80's rock - 40% of the time Fleetwood Mac Steve Miller BOC Skynard The Guess Who Queen The Eagles Pink Floyd AC/DC ELO Journey Foreigner Van Halen oldies - 40% of the time this is my mom's music - but I know all of the songs and all of the words and find myself listening to it more and more the older I get - calms me down and great for cleaning. some of the stuff my kids listen to (but definitely not all) - 20% of the time I couldn't even tell you the band names - used to be Creed, Default, 3 Doors Down, American Rejects, Green Day, etc. but has now moved to harder stuff that I can hardly stand to listen to - bunch of yelling and sounding really mad about something. I don't get it. My husband has been singing in bands since I met him. His current band (with my brother and two other friends) plays around the DFW area on occasion. I like most of the stuff they do - Cheap Trick (Surrender), Tesla (Signs - remake), Sammy Hagar (love this one - Heavy Metal), U2 (Vertigo), etc., etc. It's lots of fun to go see them play - I'm still a groupie after all these years :-).

Quote from Dawg: That was too funny! :-) LOL. You're right - the band type may be a good idea...