Florida Pete

I'm going to through my name in up for this challenge too! Name___________StartWeight___CurrentWeight______Goal_________ToGo *****<?xml:namespace prefix = v /><v:shapetype id=_x0000_t75 coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" filled="f" stroked="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe">:cool2:</v:shapetype>************************:tt2:***********:thumbup:********** :wink_smile:*** Brandy.............198............196...........166...........28 Chocolate_Snaps....244............234...........175...........59 Ebonie.............307............307...........200...........107 GratefulHeart......226............223...........135...........88 Lindar172..........246............246...........150...........96 LocomotiveEngineer.311............311...........220...........91 Long2BThin.........216............212...........169...........43 lotzasunshine......270............270...........180...........90 Loveislovely.......216............216...........175...........41 lucyavery..........205............205...........140...........65 Mair...............231............231...........140...........91 Mamanmidwife.......264............264...........200...........64 Under200...........242............199...........155...........44 vzghj3.............202............202...........150...........52 WOWOX7.............173............170...........125...........45 Florida Pete.......413............413...........300...........113

Got you added Veronica! BTW I used to live in Stafford. Hope your not having any snow right now!

That's great! I have some older clothes that I haven't worn in a long time that I might be able to wear with the weightloss but I will have to start buying some clothes for work before to long.

Got you added. What is your goal for the month of January? Also Jewels we need your goal for the month of January also.

This actually is common. You swelling has gone down and thus your hunger will increase. It is the natural cycle of the healing process. I didn't have any hunger for about 2 weeks and then when I did get to mushies I had lots of hunger at first. Since then my hunger has leveled out. I have never been able to eat more then 2 cups of food, which is a normal sized can of Beans or Soup, and get full. Normally I eat about 1 cup of food and have no hunger for 2 to 3 hours. This is how we know that we need a fill. With the proper fill amount you should get your hunger after about 4-5 hours. I controlled this with a very small light snack between meals. This goes back to having 3 square meals a day with a small snack between meals. Please if you think this might be abnormal at all do call your docs office to talk to a nurse to see what they might have to say.

I'll have my wife take some pictures tonight since today is my 1 month anniversary date of surgery. Everyone says they can see the difference in my face so you all get to be the judge tonight! BTW Doxie congrats! It's great to see those changes already!

Ok Rafa I got you added! Welcome to the challenge! ogg it's really hard to lose the weight before your first fill. It's very common that people do not lose or even gain a little before your first fill but the best thing I have found for myself to do is even still after going off the liquids to keep on working at a low carb diet and to step up the exercise each week. I had surgery the same day as you and have lost 29 lbs since surgery. This last week I only lost 4 lbs. I this week have stepped up my exercising and looking for more low carb ideas for the meals. I am on solids now so I know it's going to be new challenges but still it's a process we all have to go through. Don't get discouraged. Remember this is two steps forward and one step back. You have made progress overall and will continue to make progress! Just keep working your program!

Today I am walking for 30 minutes at lunch time, then another 30 minutes after work, and I will finish it off with about another 30 minutes of workout video this evening. I do this 3 days a week and then the other 4 days it's just the walk in the evening and at lunch.

I just arrived home last night after having surgery in Tijuana Mexico performed by Dr. Pedro Kuri at Hospital Angeles. I have to say this was top notch care. Hospital Angeles was very clean and felt more like a hotel then a hospital. Even while there the hospital had staff constantly cleaning. The hospital staff was all very nice, polite, and very tentive to my needs. Most of the staff didn't speak very much english but that was ok because there usually was another staff person around that could translate. Dr. Kuri was exceptional. His bedside maner was very friendly and even joked with us at times. He really did a good job of putting myself and the others there for their surgeries at rest about what we were about to go through. I would recommend anyone considering going to Mexico for surgery to seriously consider Dr. Kuri for their LapBand.

Welcome Christie to the group! Congrats on getting banded! Check out the forums there is lots of hot topics and great support around!

He is a great choice for your surgery. My surgery went very well and I was back to work in no time. I am doing very well with everything and continue to lose weight! Best of luck to you!

Ok Redmom I got your date added. And MattySue I got your info added to the spreadsheet.

Ok Haley, Got you added!

I got you added to the spreadsheet. :thumbup:

Oh for sure. I don't feel hungry but being bored I start thinking of food. It's totally changing those thinking habits.

Hey all! this is a great site to share and connect with others that are going through what we are going through! If anyone wants to add me to their yahoo list I am pentagonpete on there. Just mention LBT when sending me a friends invite.

Congrats on joining the rest of us with this big step in our lives! It is a big journey for each and everyone of us and it is great to have a place like this to share with one another how we're doing and to lend support to others as they may need! Welcome to the crowd!

This really is common before our first fill to not have much weight loss or even no weight loss. The key to pushing to have weight loss is getting out and exercising. Rule of thumb is if you exercise 3 times a week for 15 minutes each time you will "Maintain" your weight. But if you want weight loss you have to exercise longer and more often. For me I walk a minimum 6 days a week plus at least for 30 minutes each day. My weight loss has slowed so I know that I need to add something more to my activities to continue the weight loss. So now I will be adding exercise videos to my program. Don't get discouraged. Keep up making the right food choices and the exercise. The weight will come off as your body continues to adjust to your new life style.

Heya V-Queen. It's actually posted in the other Bandsters 2008 Forum. Here's the link to it! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f284/how-low-can-you-go-09-weightloss-challenge-1-a-84413/ We're getting a good group of people in the challenge and you would be welcomed!

My first fill isn't until Jan 26th but I do feel restriction already. Like you said Erica, I can graze all day if I wanted but I stay away from snacking and at meals I can't eat all that much. I measure my food out to a maximum of 2 cups and usually eat maybe half of that. I really should just measure out a cup of food but I think it's a mental thing right now.

Very good! Got you to gals added to the list as well! We're getting a good group going here! Invite your friends to join the challenge!:thumbup:

Happy New Years all you Holiday Hotties!!! We're all now bandsters and working to drop those pounds! Congrats to everyone with your surgeries! Now let's make 2009 a great year for us all!!!:Yawn:

The December 2008 Bandster I made. Just right click on it and the click copy. Then go to your User CP and edit your signature and paste that in there. Go to Graphical Tickers and Trackers: Weight Loss, Trying To Conceive, Pregnancy... to get the weightloss graph. Once you have created your ticker copy the "BB" code for your signature to be added here. I hope that helps you out. Please feel free to PM me if you need more help.