*slim*

You are doing so well. 49 pounds is nothing to sneeze at. I know it is disappointing to only lose 1.75 pounds, but just think how much you would have gained without the band. I think the sweet things are the devil.:thumbup: I love them. I have been trying not to have them in the house. Instead, I have been hurting myself with cheddar jalepeno cheetos.:w00t: In truth, I am not sure a fill will help with those things since they are so easy to get down. I know that we are all going to have times when the weight loss slows or stops. We have to learn patience (I know, easier said than done). We are in this for the long haul.

I guess it is going to be another quiet weekend on here. I guess I need to get a life.:thumbdown:

That is awesome about your exercise! I want to buy a bike for home. My DH thinks it would be a clothes hanger. I would really hope not. I want something that I can do while watching tv or something like that. I have to have something to take my mind off of the fact that I am exercising. I know that is bad. I would really like to become one of those people that are addicted to it, but in order for that to happen, I have to do it more regularly than I am. I have had Laughing Cow cheese. I had to stop buying it because I liked it too much. I would eat the entire wheel. Of course, that was pre-band, but I believe I probably could still eat quite a bit of that. I will have to buy some. I bought string cheese today and ate that with a slice of ham wrapped around it. That was a nice snack, and it held me for a a while. I am not used to that.

As long as you chewed the pizza to a liquid, you should be fine!:thumbdown:

I am glad that you are doing better. I have heard many people say that they have to have some type of sauce on chicken and take extremely small bites to get it down. I ate a chicken breast tenderloin last night. I had a little BBQ sauce on the side and I REALLY took my time (something that I hadn't been doing). I have been eating a LOT of baked fish. I am going to start growing gills pretty soon. lol I haven't had filet mignon in a while. That might have to be my DH's birthday dinner this week. Thanks for the idea!

ummm....yeah! I wanted to. I really hated one of the OBs that did rounds. w00t!:thumbdown:

You aren't dense. There are a lot of people that wait hoping that it will get better. You know now not to do it. That is all that matters. I am glad that you are feeling better.

Well, I ate a real meal last night. I had a chicken breast tenderloin and spinach. I couldn't believe that I ate almost 6oz. of food! I think I may be one of those people that are tight in the morning. I struggled with breakfast, but did fine at dinner. I do like to eat the lunch meat with cheese. Sometimes I will do ham with lf cream cheese. That is really good too. I was doing that just because I liked it, not because I was having difficutly eating. Oh well, it is all on a learning curve. We will get it eventually.

You know, I wonder if it is a combination of both being too used to not having to chew/eat slow and restriction. I have been like you. I haven't had to chew well since banding. I think I got complacent about it. Now I think I have a good fill level, and I am having to relearn how to eat the bandster way. I was doing it religiously right after surgery, but when nothing happened forgetting once, I think my mind just said forget it. I guess we will have to take it slow. Good luck to you!

LJM-I feel your pain. I didn't actually make it to day 15. I had my son at exactly 28 weeks after being in the hospital for 14 days. I was lucky enough to only have neighbors the night before my son was born. Although, my neighbor was in seriously hard labor. It seemed that every time she had a contraction, it made my stomach cringe. I hope the little LJM holds out to Friday so you can curse that doctor that has the awful attitude.

Maybe I'm wrong, and I just assumed it was numbing medicine since it didn't hurt.

That may just be a Dr. Ponce thing. I noticed that Brooke didn't do it at my last fill, and it did hurt a little.

My first fill was very uneventful. You go into the room. They have you lay down on a table and apply some type of numbing medicine. They press on your stomach to get a feel of where your port is located. They also viewed the port using the x-ray machine (they only did that during my first fill) to get a view of the port placement to examine for flips or twists. Then they place the needle in the port (it is attatched to a long tube connected to the syringe of saline). They have you stand up in front of the x-ray with the needle sticking out of your port. You then drink a cup of strawberry flavored(yeah right) barium. While you are drinking, they start installing saline. They watch the flow of the barium. Next they have you drink a cup of water. They have you test for your comfort level. They also watch the flow of that water. Once they are satisfied with your fill level, they remove the needle and send you on your way. I haven't had a single painful adjustment(except the last one). They go pretty quickly once you are in the room. During your first three adjustments, Dr. Ponce is there doing the fill along with following up with any questions or concerns you have. I hope my information is at least a little helpful.

Your doctor has the right idea. Right now, just concentrate on letting your body heal. The weight loss will come. You all are doing great walking and keeping up with your fluid intake. I found that the walking was the only thing that helped with the gas. Also, I did find that the rapid release Tylenol liquid did seem to help my pain better than the narcotic. It also helped to keep me from getting that sick constipation. Keep up the good work you guys!

Congrats on your surgery!

Sex life??? It would ruin our marriage (not that it would take much:wink:)!

I did the fill diet until Thursday. I don't think I am too tight, but I definitely feel the difference now. I wondered what kind of date they were going to give you for your fill. I made my appointment in December. It was 4 weeks from the day I called to my actual appointment. She said that it was because of the holidays and everyone trying to get back on track. I am glad that you were able to get an appointment with Brooke. She does seem to give good fill levels.

SNT- I am so glad that you are feeling better. I know that had to be miserable. We do have to be our on advocates when it comes to our health. PJTP-Another NSV! My doctor's office called to give me the results of my labs. With no metformin since the week I started my pre-op diet, my A1C score was 5.2! She just verified that I no longer classify as pre-diabetic! woohoo!

I am in TN. I am going to stop at the store tonight and get some chicken. One of the chain stores has it on sale, so I will stock my freezer. Thanks for the tips. Oh, and I am just hoping to get below 200 at this point. It has been slow going.

Another question, how late in the morning is it before you start to loosen up? I am wondering about that since it was early morning when I tried to eat the pear today. I wasn't even thinking about possibly being too tight to try it.

That is great. I guess I need to take a look at what I might eat. Before this week, I could really eat pretty much anything so it wasn't a problem. Now, I am having to relearn my eating skills. I will admit to thinking about eating something like chili. I guess I will stick to maybe tuna salad or chicken salad. That would keep it from being too dry, but still have some solid protein in it. I will admit to being scared of chicken breast right now. I know I need to eat try it. I won't know how I am going to respond to it until I try it. When you eat your grilled chicken breast, do you put anything on it help you get it down?

When you say dry meals, what are you talking about? I am wondering if that is something that I may need to be doing. Are you talking about you have been eating soups or something instead of solids? I know that since my fill, I did the clear liquids, then full, then mushies. I went back to regular food yesterday. I ate almost half of a huge pear yesterday until I started getting that soft stop signal. I had a protein drink and maybe a third of a can of spinach for dinner. I know that wasn't the best dinner, but I just wasn't hungry.

I don't know about wonderful. I am glad to have the restriction, but since I haven't really had it before, I haven't had to really follow the bandster rules for eating slow and chewing really well. Now I HAVE to. I tried to eat a pear this morning with the skin on. I got to the second bite and started feeling that bubbling "it's not going down" feeling. I had to get up and walk around. I threw the rest of the pear away. Once you get that feeling, you just want it gone. You don't even care for eating. I am able to eat solid protein (well, baked fish anyway). I haven't tried like chicken. I am trying to take it really slow. I won't be eating eating fruit with skin again any time soon. I think I will stick to apple sauce or something similar.

I had a sleep walking episode with ambien. Not pretty. Not only is it just hair, its just YOUR hair. If you like it, then it is beautiful.:tt2:

I think that they offer support group meetings at Memorial Hospital on Wednesday afternoons in the weight management area. When I went there for my psych eval, they mentioned that we were welcome at those. I don't know exactly when GBI has their support group meetings. I know it is only once a month.