HeatherO

I am going to go in for flouro to get it checked out. Although I didn't want to think it could be true, a small slip could be a possibility. If it did slip, I know when it happened . . . it was the last day in the hospital after delivering the baby. They gave me a pain pill, the first I had taken of the kind (maybe darvocet or percocet, I can't remember the name). It made me sick to my stomach and I started vomiting quite a bit. Afterwards my back hurt and I couldn't eat very well at all for the next couple of weeks.

Laura, I am so incredibly sorry.

I eat a lot of soup too. It tastes good and goes down well. We primarily eat a red lentil soup or a yogurt soup with rice/mint/chicken broth inside. I don't eat rice, bread or sweets at all eventhough my family does while fasting. I always have a couple of bites of salad and Protein from the main dish of the evening as well. The morning meal is more difficult in my household because it is typically centered on various bread based items in the form of homemade bread, pastries, etc. with tea. I will often just have soup from the night before or make a couple of eggs. What do you typically do for the morning meal?

I went to Mexico through Dr. Luis Corvala at Hospital Angeles and had an excellent experience. I have also heard great things about Dr. Ortiz. Good luck to you.

Michelle, exercise really works to help me blow off steam. I found that I need it and have to get it in regardless or face ugly consequences, lol.

I have known people to gain with breastfeeding as well. Even though you have extra calories during your day to work with, you are sooo thirsty and definitely a little more hungry, you can consume more than usual. I have lost since breastfeeding began but my band has been too tight and not doing so well making it difficult to eat . . . and my band is empty, so go figure. I feel like I need an unfill, but with no fluid there can't be an unfill. The band seems so fickle sometimes.

I think if you can work it into your diet reasonably and you are continuing to lose at a decent pace, why not??? However, if you start stalling on weight loss, the first place I would go to cut some calories would be the caloric drinks.

Suzie, I'll keep my fingers crossed. Laura, I have a tiny bottle with dry formula inside and a bottle of Water in my diaper bag at all times. It has already saved me from unpleasant circumstances because when Ayla is hungry, she is HUNNNGGRRRYYY. I wonder if she gets that from me, lol. Michelle, your dd is such a cutie and she does indeed look happy. These memories with the horse are sure to last her a lifetime. :0) Haydee, I am going to have to read the Glass House if it is that good. I am always looking for new reading materials. Kat, How many grandchildren are there? Everyone else, I hope you had good weekends.

Hello everyone and happy Friday!!! Terry, I have been watching this program on TV in the wee hours of the morning when the baby is eating called Intervention (maybe on TLC). It goes through the life of a person dealing with addiction and they think they are doing a documentary on addiction. What they are really filming is a family intervention and it goes through codependency and how our efforts to help those in need often go awry and allow them to stay addicted. Not that a tv program will really help, but it gives you a sense of perspective when you see how others must set boundaries and you also can see how they work out in the end. I highly recommend the show. I wanna go to the fair!!! I haven't been for too long. There is a Feast of the Assumption in Little Italy in Cleveland this weekend. I am thinking about walking around with Ayla and taking a look-see. Perhaps I will invite a friend. I wonder if cannoli is band friendly??? Hmm, I wonder if I could forget that I had a colonoscopy . . . I don't think so, lol.

I was told I could come in for a fill as soon as I am ready. However, I haven't been ready yet because I seem to have restriction with an empty band right now.

Drive by posting . . . I am also just reading everyone's posts. TracyInKS, Congrats on the new digs and new lease on life. Kat, I really want to see that corn picture too. Terry and TracyK, You are both in my thoughts. Haydee, I have always wanted to learn salsa. I hope you have an excellent time. Everyone else, hello and have a lovely day. :0)

Sounds good to me . . . and if it works and improves relations, it is such a small cost for a big advantage.

EJMdiva we miss your posts and can't wait to hear some news. Please come back soon :0)

Even after you have been banded for a long time and feel that you are a veteran at living the banded life, it still happens. For me it is a matter if I let a craving go on too long until it goes out of control. These tendencies may never dissapear for most of us. That is why I don't deny myself but allow myself to indulge intelligently. For me, a sugar free fudgesicle can satisfy the start of a craving instead of waiting another day and eating a quart of Ben & Jerry's. How many of us started with the behavior where you start an extreme diet, deny all cravings and then blow the whole thing by not only indulging but super-indulging which more than offsets the extreme diet? Getting away from this behavior really facilitated the majority of my weight loss. I don't diet now, just eat intelligently 95% of the time and I am maintaining a good weight.

Terry, My heart goes out to you and Evan. It was a decision you had to make that very well could help in recovery. It takes a strong woman to have the strength to do that. Michelle, I think just talking it out defuses the feelings tremendously. When I have something that needs discussion, I keep thinking about the conversation and building up stronger feelings (positive or negative) until I have it. Perhaps you need a little one on one time. Hello to everyone else.

A devious imp was sitting on my shoulder all morning long whispering in an intoxicating voice . . . go ahead and eat that cream filled chocolate covered donut or it might go to waste. Afterall it is almost lunch time and no one has touched it. So I ate the donut. . . . and where oh where was that little angel surrounded with crystalic light triumphantly shouting "thou shalt not eat donuts?" Why she came a little too late and donned the gray robe of guilt and self loathing. Why did I eat the donut? Because it was there. I still have a lot to learn about willpower. Phooey on me this morning.

I don't have much abdominal fat but even through the pregnancy, the port never showed. No one knows I am banded and even with pregnancy they couldn't tell. It worked out pretty well for me. Once someone touched my belly right at the port and asked if it was a head or a foot or something. I just said I wasn't sure :0)

I hate to ask these bland questions, but what is CTCD? I tried to look it up online instead of asking but there are a gazilion acronyms, none of which look likely. I had to laugh at one of the most popular which was courage the cowardly dog.

Michelle, I am so sorry you are feeling down and going through a rough patch. Hopefully things will work out soon. I hit someone's vehicle yesterday . . . in my own driveway believe it or not. I have never damaged anyones car before in my life. I had a repairman working on replacing a shed door and he had his huge work van sitting at the end of my driveway. I got too close and scraped his driver side door with the area near the back passenger wheel of my car. His van only has a few scrapes. My car looks like crap with scrapes, denting around the area. I am so upset with myself I don't even want to think about it. On a side note, the baby screamed with laughter last night while we were playing with her. It was the first time :0). I tried so hard to get her to do it again but no such luck. It was unbelievably cute.

Hello everyone . . . just a fast checkin but I'll write more later. I had a good weekend but definitely tooo short. Kat, the baby is absolutely gorgeous :0).

Just a quick question . . . why does it take me many, many months to update my weight ticker when I go up . . . but only a couple of days if it goes down??? Perhaps denial, perhaps inability to live in reality, perhaps the joy of kidding myself . . .

She went from 5 pounds, 7 ounces and the 3% growth percentile to 9 pounds, 8 ounces and the 17% growth percentile. She is growing splendidly for being so tiny :0) Now that she is so much bigger, it floors me that a person can have a baby as big as she is now, and do it naturally. Giving birth to an almost 10 pound baby would scare me, thats for sure.

Thanks :0) She is beautiful, perfect, wondrous . . . of course I am a wee bit biased. What is wonderful as well is that I am already back to goal at 2 months post delivery . . . yeahh band.

My band got way too tight when I was pregnant . . . but it did it sporadically and I needed emergency unfills three times during pregnancy until I was emptied completely For some of us, we really do need to just take the Fluid out. I went from my lowest weight 138 to 188 the day of delivery. Now at two months out I am back down to 140 pounds. I gained quite a bit but it came off easy as pie and I have not had a fill yet. Don't worry so much about gaining a bit during pregnancy. Just think about that healthy baby and that your band is there for you when pregnancy is finished.

Haydee, Being stuck at a weight can be a blessing in disguise. I always got "stuck" but found that if I could work to maintain for a while . . . then a new set point kind of maintains on its own. If you can bust through this set point and develop a new one . . . things get pretty easy. LOL, I didn't notice until you said something. :0) Yesterday I stayed away from the donuts but went to a new place in town after Ayla's doctors appointment. It is called qdoba and they have excellent salads. Later, I had one slice of pizza for dinner. Pizza is bad but one slice is better than three. It was not the best of days, but not the worst either. I am 140 pounds today for the third day in a row. I am starting to think that maybe this weight is going to stick which I am pleased about. This was my ultimate goal weight so I am there. I also can wear all my pre-pregnancy clothes now which makes me a size 8 and medium. If I never lose another pound I can be happy at this weight. I just really, really dont want to gain. I really can't believe I was up to 188 the morning Ayla was born. I feel blessed to be back in the game so quickly at only two months out. Poor Ayla got 4 shots yesterday . . . since when did they start giving tiny babies 4 shots at once??? She got one in each thigh and one in each butt cheek. I felt so bad and it took me a while to console her. Since then she has been on baby tylenol and sleeping a lot more than usual. Happy Thursday everyone.