TheGh0st

Basically it tends to be a combination of whatever is on sale with an eye on the carb/protein ratio. Right now the bars I'm eating are DETOUR-BUZZ caffeinated Carmel Peanut 330cal/26carb/30prot. Not the best ratio but the bars were on sale at GNC for 50% off as the expiration code was coming up in Sep and I bought them the first week of the month so I could get the extra 20% Gold Member discount. They are big enough that one bar usually takes me over an hour to eat in the mornings at work. CATE - I have to ask. Are you sure you don't want to move back to KC and be my personal Chef? I can't pay you or anything but OMG your daily food lists make me DROOL! :hungry: I've already printed a copy of that chicken Dip to make.

Midnight "Snack" - 100 cal packet of instant Grits Breakfast - Protein Bar Lunch - 2 Deviled Eggs - 1 Cheese Ravioli - 1 Bite size Piece of Turkey Breast - 1 sample cup of Feta * last 3 items were samples from the Target Deli Dinner - 5-6 pieces elbow macaroni tossed with basil, parmesan, broccoli & olive oil. - 1 Baked Salmon, Feta & Basil Pinwheel Snacks - 1 Graham Cracker - approx 2 Tbl of those dreaded M&M Mini's

Cynthia - So glad you are back to work and doing well. I'm looking forward to seeing you and the rest of the gang at the next meeting.

503-250 - This was started as a thread mainly for people girls or guys banded by Dr. Hoehn in Kansas City, but it's nice to "meet" you. By the way LOVE your the Bear quote. :pound: Oh - And I'm married as well but there's no harm in some fun banter is there.

:whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo: :wow2: :wow2::wow2::wow2::wow2::wow2::wow2::wow2: :cheer2: :cheer2::cheer2::cheer2::cheer2::cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:

On Struggles & Group Meetings: There are two women at one of the groups I go to that are both over 4 years out from surgery having started near or over 300 pounds each and have both been "at goal" for some time. And yet, they still talk about the struggles they go through with their own food additions. It can be depressing to think they're still struggling after coming so far, BUT More than anything it helps me realize that I don't have to solve all my mind problems before I reach my goals.

I've been in the current decade for just 4-weeks, but have only managed to log a net 2-1/2 pound loss in that time. At this rate it will be 4 months till I break through to the next one. And here I thought the previous 10 pounds taking 3-months was bad! :hurt It probably is best, at least for some of us (like me) not to dwell too much on where we are going as it can be too depressing at how slow it seems to be taking to get there. Instead we just need to hang in there and keep reminding ourselves that we're still lighter now than we were a month (or three ) ago and keep pluggin along. Back to topic.... My food for the day Breakfast - Protein Bar with Peanut Butter on Top lunch - 10 pieces of Turkey Pepperoni dinner - 1 scrambled egg with diced onion, bell pepper, fresh tomato & tablespoon of Ketchup on top. Fluids - 20 once Protein Drink, 16 ounce Water, 8 ounce skim milk. Snacks - None (YET!) So far I've resisted the urge those blasted M&M's in the bathroom. Though at this point I think the fear of heartburn is working better than will power. Exercise - None YET but I'm determined to get on the treadmill for at least 10-15 min after seeing how well everyone else is doing.

Cate - Thankyou for your response. I have dieted to lower numbers before but not from as high as I'd gotten this time. Still a little part of me won't feel as if I've had any "real" success until I'm lower than I was the last time I seriously dieted down to the 170's 10 years ago. I realize many of you have started from even higher levels and are still working to get lower than where I started. BUT you need to know it is YOU GUYS that are my inspiration. I look up to all of you and what you are accomplishing and only wish I could be as strong. I am more than confident that one day soon all of us will weigh between 130-160. And even though I seem much closer to that goal at 187 I can bet we will all get there in about the same time. In fact I will be shocked if one of you don't get there before me.

Robyn - I completely agree with you about the motivation thing. I've told my DH for years I need that cheerleader personality encouraging me forward not a drill-sargent of a coach kicking me in the butt. I think that is why I react so badly to the scale. When its down I feel like it's cheering me on to better things. When its up I feel that kick in the Butt, that just makes me want to give in. For me and I am NOT trying to say anything about you. I think it stems from my low self esteem. Instead of seeing the slow moving (or backwards moving) scale as a challenge to overcome I see it as my "true self" coming back and I start thinking "what's the point? You're just going to fail again like you always have so you might as well go eat an ice-cream cone and be done with this torture." It is a hard struggle not to give into that negativism. But I'm determined to make this band be the blankity blank "tool" that gets me past this issue.

THURSDAY Breakfast – Skipped lunch – Protein Bar dinner – Approx ½ Cup of Spinach Egg & Feta cheese Bake Late Night Snack – 2 Cups of Protein pudding (Some chocolate & Key Lime):faint: Fluids – Can’t remember (at least 2 cups skim milk and (2) ½ liter water) Exercise – NONE (Excuse – Rushed getting ready for group) Night Snack – 2 Cups of Protein Pudding (Some Chocolate & Key Lime) * was feeling down about group for no real good feeling. Probably more TOM hormones than anything.:pout: UPSIDE: pre-band the cheat would have been much more unhealthy food options & even worse I might have purged it afterwards. (Sure didn’t tell Sabobathy about that former habit.) FRIDAY Breakfast – Skipped Lunch – 2/3rds Frozen Cheese omelet w/2 servings of Mexican Velveeta Dinner – 3 Fried Mozzarella Sticks & 1 Bite of Potato Cake from Wendy’s Snacks – ½ piece of Chocolate Fudge, 1 sugar Cookie, 1 Handful of my Son’s M&M’s used as bribery for Potty Training. Water – Can’t remember Exercise – NONE (Excuse: upset about group and what I ate the night before.) * Had most of these snacks with Son at Great Wolf Lodge – was feeling down about cheating the night before with the pudding. (Great way to get over it! Cheat some more.) :violin: SATURDAY Breakfast – 2/3rds Frozen Cheese Omelet w/2 servings of Mexican Velveeta Lunch – Protein Bar Dinner – Shrimp Pasta: - 15-20 VERY small shells – Well Cooked (about the size of frozen peas) - 4 Cajun spiced shrimp cut into pea size pieces - 1/8 cup milk - 2 Tablespoons Cottage Cheese - 2 Tablespoons Feta Cheese - 1 Fresh Cherry Tomato (diced) - 1 Teaspoon Potato Flakes (for thickening) Snack – 1another handful of those blasted M&M’s. :ban:I really need to buy some more gummy bears for his potty training. (I don’t like them) Fluids – (3) ½ liter bottles of water and 1 cup milk Exercise – None except some hard work at the office. I worked up a good sweat trying to clean up warehouse in prep for some remodeling. * Well seems I’m getting over my pity party (I mean hormone imbalance) Sunday Breakfast – Protein Bar with some Peanut Butter on Top. * Definitely feeling better. Going down to get on treadmill after I type this. It didn’t hurt that I was down another ½ pound this morning. Also looking back writing these last few days food I feel that I was being a little hard on myself. The “cheats” weren’t good but they could have been worse and if anything I’m not eating enough foods (that is the right foods) Maybe if I focused on eating more of the healthy foods instead of trying to starve myself I wouldn’t give in to those “cheats” as much.

Cynthia - I am so HAPPY for you!!!:dance: Good job getting back on the treadmill so soon. Just don't push your self too hard while you are on the mend. :crutch: I second the motion that now you are back among the banded you are just going to burn through those pounds! :flame:

Here I thought I was the only one with this problem. (Well except perhaps my 2 year old son) Mine is normal consistency but a lovely Shamrock Green. I finally figured out mine was due to the cheap store brand sugar free chocolate pudding I buy sometimes. Doesn't happen with the Jello Brand just the store brand. Will last for days after I eat it. What am I doing with Chocolate Pudding? I like to mix my Protein powder with the sugar free pudding mix for a tasty protein mix. Then stir in some chunky Peanut Butter and freeze it until consistency of soft serve ice cream. YUMMY! Will also substitute much of the milk in the recipe with Cottage cheese that I have run through a blender until it's the consistency of sour cream (to boost the overall protein and lower the carbs). Sounds odd but tastes nice and creamy once mixed with the pudding. Makes it taste like I used whole milk. OK this probably wasn't the best board to be discussing food on.

UHGGHHH!!!!!!!!! One more thing I keep hitting the idiotic tab key by mistake and this website keeps taking that to mean I want to post my message before I'm even done typing. Sorry for all the duplicate posts. I need some empty calories, I mean sleep.

Hey all. Got to vent for just a minute. Sorry for being off topic on this one. I just got done doing some STUPID set of tests on a website called "ProveIt.com" for a local head hunter. I've been belly aching about changing jobs for months but not done to much about it. But I tell you the test program they used was the worst. It was trying to test my Microsoft Office Skills but it didn't know much about the program itself. It would ask me to do something and I would try to do it the way I always do using various short-cut keys like CTRL-C for copy then it would pop-up with the message "Do you want to go to the next question or try again?" And I'm sitting there screaming at the computer "try again?" but because I didn't physically drag my mouse to edit-copy or right-click copy it thought I had made a mistake. UHGHH. It did this on so many things it was driving me nuts. I'm sure I'm going to look like I don't know what I'm doing on Microsoft when the truth is I use to teach classes on it for a Community College in Nebraska. :angry Done ranting. Good thing the Ice Cream is out of my house. Guess since I can't go bury myself in a bowl of ice cream I'll try dragging my sorry @(* back on the treadmill for that 15 minutes I mentioned a couple hours ago. Night all!

Hey all. Got to vent for just a minute. Sorry for being off topic on this one. I just got done doing some STUPID set of tests on a website called "ProveIt.com" for a local head hunter. I've been belly aching about changing jobs for months but not done to much about it. But I tell you the test program they used was the worst. It was trying to test my Microsoft Office Skills but it didn't know much about the program itself. It would ask me to do something and I would try to do it the way I always do using various short-cut keys like CTRL-C for copy then it would pop-up with the message do you want to go to the next question or

Banded - I don't normally measure - and probably won't in the future. I usually list it in comparitive sizes. A normal description for me would be like I ate some chicken breast Monday that was about the size of one large marshmallow with aprox. 1-1/2 tablespoons of basmanti rice for dinner. I suppose I should it might help get the scale moving better for me If I did keep better track of the specific cal/carb/protein each day. But I hate the idea of turning this into to too strict a diet. Whenever I have done that in the past I start obsessing (like the calories on the treadmill) and by the end of the process I'm doing some very unhealthy things to keep the scale moving like skipping meals or purging. Maybe with the band I wouldn't go that far, but I'm afraid to risk it. I also think Cate was channeling me in her previous post. Maybe its a seasonal thing or we are all hitting our plateaus at the same time. I can remember a few months after the surgery I had this rush of new found energy and would chase my 2 year old around the house every day for long periods of time as a fun form of excersize for me but for the last several months I'm back to my same old lump turning on Noggin, sitting near him, then playing solitaire on my cell phone wondering how soon I can put him to bed. (I hate myself when I think too much about that) And I have been finding more and more "excuses" or "opportunities" to eat foods I either shouldn't be eating or at least shouldn't eat to the extend I have been if I seriously want to lose. Its no wonder I'm not losing when I eat an entire gallon of icecream over the course of a weekend like 2 weekends ago. Who cares if I could have ate the whole gallon in one sitting pre-surgery that is still WAY too many calories. OK enough rambling.

Here, There I don't care. Just let me know. I'll put mine here for today. Breakfast: Protein Bar (320 Cal) Lunch: Taco Bell Hard Taco (light lettuce/extra cheese) (200) Snacks: 3 tortilla chips and one tablespoon Taco Bell Refried Beans (stopped myself from eating the rest for today at least) (50?) 4 slices of Turkey Pepperoni (20) 1 teaspoon Mashpotatos of son's plate (25?) (had to make sure they weren't hot didn't I:guess) 4 Breath Mints (20) Dinner: *haven't actually ate this yet but its chilling now 6 oz Chocolate/Peanut Butter protein pudding (300) Water: 3 - 16oz Water bottles at work nothing since home (tisk tisk I know) Total Cals: 935 EXERCISE: 22min (-201 cal) so far... I've been getting on and off for small "power" workouts ranging from 2-7 min at a time tonight. with incline at near max and speed as fast as I can go without jogging. I don't normally keep track of the calories but I started in on the treadmill yesterday and started getting a bit anal about the idea of what foods my workouts nullified. So I looked up and jotted down the calories for what I ate at work today. So far I burned enough on the treadmill to negate the taco. Another 15 minutes and I could probably work off the "snacks"

Here, There I don't care. Just let me know. I'll put mine here for today. Breakfast: Protein Bar Lunch: Taco Bell Hard Taco (light lettuce/extra cheese) Snacks: 3 tortilla chips and one tablespoon Taco Bell Refried Beans (stopped myself from eating the rest for today at least)

Baby steps for me here - You two motivated me to get started but I only managed 15 min on the treadmill for 150 cal. My son kept trying to get on with me. Planning on getting back on in 30-45min after he goes to bed. I'm hoping to go another 20-30 min. Assuming the treadmill noise doesn't keep waking him up.

Hey all, just a reminder. The Bandsters Group is meeting at 7pm this Thursday at the Library on Antioch & Shawnee Mission Parkway. They are having a taste test of their favorite protein drinks this month. There are usually aound 15-20 people each month. Sea - If you want to meet up before hand and walk in together let me know. We could meet outside the Library in the courtyard or nearby. Otherwise I look forward to seeing you there. Update - My fill seems to be working. It is still real tight and I'm having acid reflux nearly every night which I haven't had since I was pregnant with Brian 3 years ago. However, the scale finally started moving again "Yippee".

OK Here's my two cents as well. I agree to varying levels with practically everything said so far. Even on both sides of the will power debate. After all if I had such wonderful will power why would I need a band. And dear lord I do get tired of that term "TOOL" Anyone notice it has only 4 letters? But deep down I know that its true both that it is just a tool and that it will take some will power on my part. The best thing about the band and it's "Tool" nature for me has been that in addition to the smaller meals it keeps me to it also helps keep me from moving to far up the scale if at all when I do lose that ever elusive will-power. It has turned my life from a 1 step forward 2 steps back to a 2 steps forward 1 step back. I can focus on losing weight when my will power is at its strongest and not stress about gaining it all back when my will power is at its weakest. This really has freed me from a lot of the guilt eating that usually followed after my first "cheat" when I was pre-banded. I started at 254 and was banded Sep 2006. I'm down to 188 as of yesterday. I still give in to the occasional craving for pumpkin pie, cheesecake, chocolate ice cream, AND YES FROSTING with a spoon or on saltines (there's just something about that sweet/salty combo I like) Oh and many other cravings. BUT like I said the even though the band does allow me to eat these I still find that I'm not eating as much as before and I'm MUCH BETTER able to pick myself up and start over with out beating myself up so much that I grab another sweet out of depression for giving in to the first. I'm sure I could lose faster if I didn't give in to these cravings or if I excersized more but there we go again if it were that easy then why did I bother to get banded? I take each day one at a time and hope that as time goes by I will make more mentally and physically healthy choices when it comes to food. Until then I just make sure the doc keeps me good and tight.

Cynthia - You are in my prayers girl. If there is anything I can do to help let me know. Are you going to have to spend the night. Who is watching your son? .... --- You guys are probably right but I hate to call Billie as I really don't want an unfill. I'm hoping the problems with the nightly acit reflux are due to my recent bad eating choices and the restriction is strange. I managed to eat nearly an entire frozen omelet this morning over approx 30-45 minute time frame but just 10 min before I ate the omelet I felt like I could have PB'd over 1-2 tablespoons worth of milk. It really annoys me that I'm so restricted with liquids but can still seem to get nearly 1 cup of food down at a sitting. On a more positive not my scale finally hit a new "low" showing 188 for the first time. That's 1 pound lost in 3+ weeks but it is still 1 pound.

Congrats!!! You can do it just 3 more pounds. I've cheated too. but wish it was only by getting on a scale. Instead of the Chocolate Ice Cream, Cheese Dip & Chips & Frozen Orage Juice I ate with a spoon like some kind of sorbet. Thankfully after a weekend of no self control I'm still fluxuating around 90-93 mark but I really need to get my but in gear and start making that scale move. You would think it would be easy right now as I'm so tight after this last fill that I can't eat much solids and even though I haven't PB'd what I do get down has been coming up in the middle of the night as acid reflux. - Diane

Do you know if the article is online by chance?

Glad you liked HSSH meeting I'm looking forward to trying it next month. I already go to the Bandsters one each month. Its the same night as Hoehn's this month. Just at 7pm instead of 6pm. I Usually try to hit both groups making me rush out of the first and show up late to the second. But I've been thinking of giving Hoehn's a skip for just this month. Partly because at last month (which I missed:cry) they had people bring their favorite protein bars to cut up and taste test. It went over so well this month they are planning on people bringing their favorite protein drinks to try. One fun/silly thing they do most months is to have everyone give how much weight they've lost at the beginning then at the end they announce how much combined weight the room has lost. - Diane