JanetC

If it takes you an hour to eat a FREAKING PIECE OF CHICKEN!!! ... you just might be a bandster.

:hippie::peace:WELCOME BACK MICHELLE!! :clap2::Banane04::biggrin1: We've missed you! And boy do you have a lot to catch up on! Heh. :mad: Yeah, there's only a few now with no fill... but I think it's probably better for your body the longer you wait. But I'm overeating with 1.2 in my band (4cc), lol, wouldn't want to see me with nothing! Good luck on your first fill!! Let us know how it goes & go gently with food afterwards... expect restriction! Wait in between bites! :mad: (My new mantra.)

Heh. We don't feel at all strongly, lol, do we? :Banane04: It's amazing how upset I get over a silly show! I managed to hang up on 2 people this week during voting, lol. Don't people know not to call from 8-10 pm????? And WHY AREN'T THEY VOTING!!! Bucky should do fine... country's good to their own! :mad: I enjoyed seeing a bit of everyone's background... but they REALLY drug things out. An hour seemed a bit much... and I was ticked they bumped Bones for it! Grrr!! I think I'm with Mikey (now isn't that surprising, lol)... I think they should get music producers to work with the kids, instead of "stars from yester-year".

If "I'm with the band" doesn't mean you play an instrument (lol @ Mikey)... you might be a bandster. If you're trying to come up with a 30 sec speech for how you lost the weight... you might be a bandster.

If you avoid dry chicken like the plague... you might be a bandster. If you glare at people eating bread or rice... you might be a bandster. If you're angry that you can only eat 1C... you might be a baby bandster! (How long until the anger leaves? Heh.) If you pray & beg for restriction but then regret it every morning... you might be a bandster! If you wait until noon to try to eat or drink anything... you might be a bandster.

OMG, those are so true! (I just laughed out loud... and Mikey's on a conference call, lol, oops!)

Oooooo!! (This one's for DonnaB!) If you check with fitday.com to see if you can eat something & still get "restriction" for the day... you might be a successful Bandster!

If just the words Benefiber, Beneprotein, Isopure, or Unjury cause you to gag... you might be a Bandster!

If you understand the words "stoma" & "transferred pain"... you might be a Bandster. I'm loving these! Keep 'em coming!

Also from another thread, lol: The number of PBs does seem to go up with more restriction... but you may just be a lucky person who eats slowly & small enough portions & chews well, etc, etc. My PB's happen under different circumstances: 1. Too large a bite 2. Didn't chew well enough 3. Too many bites too close together 4. Too much food (upper stomach is full, lol) The things that I've found that help: SMALL bites -- baby-size! Pretend you don't have teeth! CHEW to goo (as Vines says. :Banane04:) WAIT between bites!! 30-60 seconds!!!! (This is the one that gets me.) LISTEN to your body! That burp or hiccup might just be your body telling you to stop! And any sort of sternum pain, definitely stop! Spit anything in your mouth out! Don't swallow it... you'll just have to PB it too! Hope you never have to experience one! :mad:

I've tried it both ways... I think the straw helps me, but my nutritionist was SO against it that I'm trying to do without. My surgeon is more laid back. He smiled & said, "Whatever works for you!"

LOL, augh!! Not the fish!!! Ewww, smelly! **ducks** And we did 27 (!!!) minutes on DDR today! Not sure how, lol, but 2 extra minutes! :car: I'm soooo gonna feel it! I'm dreading Easter food, lol. Guess I'll stick to... um... salad? We don't get our 2nd fill until Tuesday, so no help on Sunday! Hope yours does the trick, Tammy! Lisa, complain away! Heh, we'll add your voice to the chorus! :mad: Are you getting your Water in? And at least, um, 60-80 g of Protein (pulling a number out of thin air). My goal is 80g a day, but I'm up at 277. Heh, Tammy, your lunch sounds like something I'd eat! I don't like grilled chicken. :mad: I'm working on it! No naked scuba diving!!!!!! **gasp!!** Mikey's soooo disappointed! (Yeah, I slapped him for you! :Banane04:) So far today's been better for me. We're trying to cram in the words / music for our church's Easter program. AUGH!! My brain is full! But the music makes me dance, so it's all good! If you think about it, throw us some happy thoughts from tonight until Sunday, lol. We're going to be on our feet a LOT... dress rehearsal tonight, performance tomorrow night, then performance on Sunday for 2 services. AUGH!! I NEVER stand that much! We really shouldn't have worked out today, lol, but I needed to make up for yesterday!

If "you're restricted" no longer means you've been grounded by your parents (or spouse, lol)... you might be a Bandster!

OMG!!! I went over 3k calories again yesterday!! Make it stop, oh please, make it stop!! (And that was WITHOUT chocolate!)

If you quit going to Hometown Buffet, Sizzler, Country Buffet, Golden Corral & Cici's because you just can't get your money's worth... you just might be a Bandster!

If you're on first name basis with a surgeon, nurse, nutritionist, psychologist, exercise physiologist & X-ray technician... you just might be a Bandster! (Come on, I can't be the only one with these! LOL)

Yeah, my surgeon laughs when I call it a PB... he calls it a "small vomitous episode". I read someone here call it an upchuck... I like "spit-up", sorta like a baby that spits up when it burps. Not really "vomit" per se... but there's food involved. I track golf-balls, slimes & PBs separately. On my scale, golf-ball isn't that bad. It means I caught it in time, lol. If I slime or PB (PB= actual food, slime = saliva coming up), then I didn't follow my rules, lol. I'm currently at 2 days without any of the 3 bad things, woohooo!!

Or the cigarette & Diet Coke diet -- heard it works wonders! :Banane04: (Actually have a couple of friends that did this, ugh. Their skin looks horrible!)

If you use children's plates, bowls, cups & utensils for every meal... you might be a Bandster!

http://www.tops.org/ TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly) is a weight loss support organization. It's cheaper then Weight Watchers (I think)... and doesn't have a set diet. $24 for a year + monthly dues (depends on your chapter, but about $3 / month) There are chapters all over the place. Search for one... if you live near a large city, you'll have a bunch to choose from! There's online stuff too, so even if you can't get to a meeting you can hang out with cool folks!

If you map out "bathroom exit strategies" before you sit down in a restaurant... you might be a Bandster! If PB no longer means "peanut butter"... you might be a Bandster! If you need a stopwatch to eat dinner... you might be a Bandster! If slime enters your life without turning on Nickelodeon... you might be a Bandster!

There are quite a few different band sizes. Some doctors prefer one size over another, but for larger patients, they sometimes have to use the larger band in order to get it around the stomach. So a lot depends on your size going in. Most doctors are conservative about fills. They'd rather fill a little & have you wait & see how it goes then fill a lot & have you get an unfill. You decide if you want the fill... and if you want an unfill. There are folks that have decided both ways on the board... keep reading & you'll find them. :Banane04: Maybe do a search on "fills" or "unfill". Most of the time the need for an unfill occurs when you're getting close to the "perfect" restriction. At that point, even .1 over is too much, so you might have to get a touch out. But they often will know that before you even leave the doc's office. I had 1.5 put in, then he took out .3 before I left (I couldn't get Water down easily enough for him). It really is individual, though. You have to decide if you're losing between 1-2 pounds a week, if you're having to fight "real" hunger all the time (versus "head" hunger) & if you're willing to pay for the fill. For us, the program we chose has a nutritionist visit every 2 weeks & doctor visits every month, so it's easy to skip a fill if we want to... we can catch it the next month. And the nutritionist helps us determine if we really need a fill. Good luck!

That's so awesome, congrats!!

LOL, sounds like a great plan, loving the pjs! I'm off to church & practice (praise team). Wed are long ones!

Oh, and Donna (and anyone else that wants to), feel free to give up something in support of us! The only hitch... you have to tell us you're doing it! Heh! (Sometimes, I'm just evil!!! Mwahahahahaha!!!)