LindaV

Hey Drews - Thanks for starting the new month's thread!

Hello Everyone, It's been a while since I posted here but I usually check in daily. The holidays are always sooooo crazy around here. I have finally started seeing the scale move again. I've been at or within 2 pounds of 229 for what seems like weeks! Today I hit 226. My 15 year wedding anniversary is Jan 12 and on the day I got married I was 220. I would love to be at or below that by my anniversary in 2007. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's cellebration! I'll be watching the Boise State Broncos in the Fiesta Bowl along with the rest of southern Idaho.

Oh Drews - How exciting for you guys! I'll definately keep you in my prayers.

Missy - I love your ticker. Sometimes I feel like I need a snail on mine.

Drews - You look great! I have finally made some progress on my "I have a dream" goal. It was my TOM last week and I swear I gained 5 pounds exercising at least an hour daily and only eating about 1300 calories a day. That 5 has finally come off along with a couple more so I now have 9 more to go.

Me too! What brought you to Cambodia?

Alicia - You look great! Thanks for posting pictures!

I'll tell you about my goal, but first, I have to tell you all what I did today.........suspense building..........I WENT SKIING!!!!!!!!!! Yes, you read that correctly--SKIING!!! Wanting to ski was the whole reasaon I started looking into WLS and found out about the band. Wanting to ski again was a major factor in my decision to have surgery. And today I did it. I knew that at 230 I would probably be the fattest person on the hill. I was terrified that I would be the fattest person and not be able to ski any more. It was clear on my first run down the bunny hill that I can still so it. I had such a great time with my 10 yo son on the slopes today. I'm really proud of myself! Oh... and I came up with my goal of 170 because it was between my original goal of 180 and my dietician's goal of 160.

Ok I'm officially joining the "I have a dream" Challenge. I have put this off because I really wanted to be 220 by Christmas but I don't really think that's reasonable so I will make that my challenge goal. The challenge ends on Jan. 15th, right???

Ok it's officially Thanksgiving. My 20 pound goal was 233. This morning I weighed 233.8 so I missed it by .8 pounds. I'll take that considering a week and a half ago I was up to 245. My personal Christmas goal has been 220 for a while now. I know 13.8 pounds in 4 weeks is optimistic but I'm going to try.

Hey Drews, I also love pumpkin pie! In fact, I love it so much that I make pumpkin pudding (pie minus the crust) weekly. I usually substitute egg beaters for the egg and do about 1/4 cup of sugar and substitute splenda for the rest. I don't notice much of a difference in the taste or texture. It is one of my favorite Snacks to have during the day.

Alicia & Marci - Thanks for the encouragement! I got a much needed fill last week and all of my vacation weight has come off. I am 4 pounds from my Turkey Take-Off goal of 233. Hopefull I can get another 2 of that off by Thursday. I have switched from deep Water aerobics to swimming laps. I have done something to my shoulder that aerobics really irritates but swimming (back stroke and front crawl) don't. I am amazed at how much stamina I now have in the water. This morning I swam for 50 minutes. When I first started this journey, I would be gasping for breath after 1 lap. I hope everyone enjoy's their Thanksgiving!

Hey Everyone, It sounds like you all are doing well. I too am greatful for this thread. It's great to share successes, challenges, and even failures with everyone here who understands what I'm going through. So......here's what's going on with me: I am just over 6 months out from surgery (like most of you) and I find myself really struggling. The six month point is where I usually throw in the towel on diets and I got the band so I wouldn't be able to do that. But I am finding that it is no longer easy to make good choices and exercise; it takes a lot of will power to make those choices now. It's scary to me that I can put weight on very quickly and easily even with the band. I gained about 8 pounds last week on vacation and, although I wasn't making the healthiest of choices, I wasn't making the worst ones either. I guess 8 pounds in a mere 7 days has been a real wake-up call for me. Frankly, it scares the hell out of me! Right now, even though I am struggling to make good choices, I really am committed to completing this journey and am very proud of how well I've done so far. I am just scared to death that I will wake up one day and be "done" with eating healthy/dieting like I always have before. That of course has always been followed by quickly gaining my weight back. I figured the band would give me time to work through those feelings and maintain most of my weight loss util I was ready to be committed again. After last week's quick gain I am afraid I don't have that option any longer. I hate to think I am using my band as a crutch but I guess that's exactly what I am doing with this kind of thinking. My ultimate goal is to develop a healthy relationship with food so that it does not control me, how I look, or how much I weigh. I guess I still have a lot of work to do on the emotional end. Damn!!!!!! I have never been very good at the emotional stuff. Thanks for "listening." Any insight would be appreciated.

Wow, I finally found you guys! I just got back from a week of vacation in So. Cal. and I don't have time to catch up on posts right now but I will in the next couple of days. I just wanted to let you all know that I am still out here.

Hey Janey, I love the Carl's Jr. chicken club. I have them do it with no mayo and make it a lettuce wrap. The iceberg lettuce adds plenty of moisture so I find it goes down easily. It is about 200-225 calories and very filling. I actually have it w/o the bacon as well as the sauce then it's about 170 calories. I know In and Out will do lettuce wraps too.

WOOHOO Alicia!!!!

Alicia - Glad to be of some help. Here are some other suggestions: If you are having trouble getting lean meats down, I have found that making casseroles with ground meats (lean) add enough moisture for me to get them down. Casseroles that call for creamed Soups are especially easy for me to eat. I just substitute the non-fat Soup. ('ve done that for years and notice no difference in flavor.) I add lite velveeta cheese to things like spaghetti (Barilla Plus) with meat sauce which helps up the Protein. I also add cottage cheese to some saucier dishes.

Hey Alicia, On days when I don't exercise I try to get in 75g of Protein. On light exercise days (usually walking), I up that to 80g. And on the days I do Water aerobics or other serious exercise I make sure I get at least 90g of protein. I also try to get in 1300-1600 calories per day and as many carbs as I do protein. I started out after surgery only doing 70g and when I saw my nutritionist, her tests indicated that I had started to lose muscle. She actually would like me to get in 120g of protein but understands that my intake is limited so we are trying for 90g. I will see her at the end of this month to see if I have started gaining muscle. I log all my food and exercise on Sparkpeople.com. It is completely free and easy to use. I have found that without keeping track, my protein levels tend to drop. I try to get the majority of my protein from animal as opposed to vegetable protein to insure I get the 5 essential amino acids that I need to build muscle (only found in combination in animal protein). Some of my favorite protein foods are: Frigo lite string cheese (60 cal and 9g of protein) Kashi Go-Lean Cereal (10g of protein and 140 cal. per cup w/o milk) Wilcox lf Cottage Cheese (9g of protein/half cup) Optimum Nutrition (ON) whey Protein shakes (when I'm desperate) mixed w/8 oz of nf milk (32g of protein) I also will add a scoop of this to ff/sf instant chocolate pudding and it tastes great. Any lean meat. Barilla Plus Pasta (10g of protein per serving) Great Value (Walmart brand) lite yogurt (8g of protein) Hummus (1/4 cup has 5g of protein) on whole wheat pita bread or soy crackers Sliced parmesan cheese on green apples (1oz has 9g) I am eagerly looking forward to other's responses to see how I can spice up my diet! I hope this helps!

Hello Everyone, It is a beautiful Sunday morning here in Idaho! Guess what? My weight left to lose (70 lbs) is finally less than my weight lost (75 lbs). It's soooooo nice to see to see those numbers finally reversed! I finally hit the 240 mark this morning. This means that for the Thanksgiving challenge I only have 7 more pounds to go. I somehow managed to lose the 4 pounds I gained on vacation plus 3 more this week. This was definately a good week to be a bandster! Take care you guys and keep fighting the good fight! My current mantra to live by is "Forget regret, or life is yours to miss." And I don't plan on missing any of it!

Hi Everyone, I'm back from San Francisco and just catching up on everything. It sounds like a lot has been going on. Paladin - I wil be praying for your FIL. Tell 3Loves "Hi" for me! Alicia - From what I have been reading, it seems really normal for the weight loss to slow down quite a bit once you get around and under 200 lbs. Don't be too discouraged! I'm sure you look and feel great! It will probably be slow going now so try to concentrate more on how much better your quality of life is now or on the NSV's. I can't wait to join you in being "just overweight."

Hi All, My band doesn't seem to be too fickle about the foods I eat; just the manner in which I eat them. Until now that is! I am a few days PMSing now and lets see...I've PB'd about 4-5 times in the last three days. I can't eat things I normally can and I was just tummy growling starving so decided to have a banana and I can barely choke 1/2 of it down. I need to feed my PMS darn-it! I want food! WAAAAAAHHHHH!

Myra - I sent you a PM about your question. I would be way too embarassed to post the answer here! Drews - I'm sorry your port is leaking but glad you can get it fixed. You have done an amazing job considering your leaky port! Lapbandit - Enjoy the Indiana fall! Even though I know you would rather be home.

Ousooner - 100 pounds! Congratulations!!!!! Kim - When I read your post I checked and guess what? I am no longer morbidly obese! Just plain old obese along with the rest of the nation! Woohoo! Drews - How did you fill go?

Helo Everyone! I'm finally getting around to checking in for the Challenge. It's been one of those weeks where the weight literally dissappears overnight. In fact, -3 pounds between 11 pm and 7 am one night. Actually, it didn't dissappear, I flushed it. On that particular night I got up to pee every hour on the hour. I was tired but oh-so-happy when I stepped on the scale the next morning! Anyway, I am -10 pounds for the challenge with -10 more to go! :biggrin1:

Thanks, Drews! I feel pretty awesome too!