riley4183

I am a crazy woman at the gym now - I crank the treadmill all the way up to 15 incline - as high as it will go - and set the speed at 4 mph and I can burn 400 calories in 30 minutes that way, including warm-up - whew! Feel the burn :bored:. Plus when I go out hiking now, I pop right up those hills and don't even get out of breathe! I have to add weights tho - am going and doing my usual cardio at 5 am tomorrow, then going back at 1 pm for weight training. PAMMIE that sounds almost as much fun for a Friday as your exciting life, LOL! The gym is my ping-pong table :-)

Maria hunny, I hate to tell ya but - it gets better by 6 weeks :-) Slowly! It stings like a bear for a long time, and that's normal. As long as that area does not become red and hot to the touch, you are good to go . . . but NO LIFTING yet!!

Oh! Tina seeing you post reminds me . . have you tried the tomato basil pizza burgers fro Morningstar yet? YUMMOOOOO I swear it tastes like you are eating a piece of pizza!! And for some reason, one plain patty of almost anything Morningstar makes fills me up!

Exercise Tina, it's the only way . . . . . sorry girlfriend :-(

Hey girls, I have to tell ya - do what Robin says and log all of your food AND YOUR FEELINGS when you eat when you are not hungry - viola! Down 2.2 lbs in 1 week of logging. Combine that with exercise and increased water intake, YA you can lose weight!! Even with only 16 lbs to go, WOOT!

cafe mocha vodka valium latte I keep telling Starbucks they'd have much better evening business if they would just get these. . . . .

Hiya Tina!! Glad to hear how much you're liking your new job :-) Protein shots are not a bad idea, don't know where else you are going to get meatless protein at D-land! Maybe a veggie burger in one of the sit-down restaurants, but $$$$! Are you bringing a little ice chest for the hotel? I pack around almonds and string cheese . . . also Atkins bars, but they are really high calorie so they need to be a meal replacement not just a supplement. Kaiser uses all the same kind of lap-bands (maybe different sizes if they need them, but I don't think any of us have a 14 - I think we all have 10's): Here is what we have: Lap Band AP Standard Max fill volume: 10cc They have the phone # and everything for the docs at Richmond. It's pretty cool . . . like Med-Alert, has a # they can call & a website for more info in an emergency. Going to take my pill & get ready for bed . . . had to be at a homeless benefit breakfast in Petaluma at 6 this morning, then worked until 4:30 then went for a 5-mile walk - so I'm pooped. Hope I sleep good! CONGRATS MARIA!!!!!!! :thumbup:

"Normal" is whatever is normal for your doc. Allergen (Lap-Band brand) recommend 4-6 weeks for first fill. Dr. Baggs is the most agressive of the Richmond docs; almost all of his patients get a fill at 6 weeks (unless they don't need one - he relies on Robin for this determination). Basically, All I had to do was say that I could eat over a cup at a time, and she'd OK me for a fill - but then I was losing steady, too. Now I just email Dr. B and he sets me up - they trust me to know when I need one, and they know that I do not EVER want to be too tight! Stories I have gotten on here scare me. RE: different threads - Heather tried that, did not work. The support and comradarie here are the best anywhere on this site and I'd not want to give that up! But here is a suggestion: if you create a yahoo group, you can all email each other all the time & read what each other is saying, just like on here. Pat & I are on a yahoo group for the Sonoma County WLS support group

They only day that I did NOT take them was surgery day. Every day since then.

Reggie, hunny - we miss you too! Damn that Dr. F - how dare he make you feel even worse! I would email Dr. Park & tell her what happened. Books - I do the head hunger ones: The Beck Diet Solution - the book AND the workbook. It's cognitive therapy for emotional eaters The End of Overeating, David Kessler - this was our textbook in the Overcoming Emotional Eating class, and Robin talks about the studies in it. If you only buy one book, my psych says this should be it. Most helpful to me: A little logbook called "DietMinder Personal Food & Fitness Journal" by MemoryMinder Journals, I got mine on learance at GNC they also have them at Barnes & Nobles or you can get them online just Google it. Not only does it have places for you to log everything food-and exercise-related, it has goal setting and extra columns for you to log your emotional stuff. My extra columns are labled "Hunger 0-5" - with 0 being full and 5 being the most starving I can be. My last column is labeled "Emo?" and there I record what my emotions were when I ate, esp. with my snacking - and I find I'm usually bored, restless, or feeling entitled - not the reasons that I thought I was snacking. I am back down to my ticker weight again after logging like this for 1 week. It takes about 30 minutes a day, but I'm worth it :-):w00t:

And yes to the "after" pic! I am doing one in a couple weeks with my Santa Rosa group up here . . . . problem is that we all lose at different rates, so some don't want the "final" pic yet - so we call 'em "anniversary pics" and they show our journey together :-)

OK gang, prayers for our Maria for strength & peace! You will be SO HAPPY to have your band, so very soon! The waiting is SO hard but the last few days go by too fast - and then you're on the other side! nYay :-)

Annalynn, we missed you! The times when you are most busy and have the most stress in your life are the same times that you most need support - please remember that! We ALL have to learn these new ways of dealing with our stress without stuffing it with food, and it's HARD!! Couple more support meetings coming up tho; hope you can make one! Can you tell I'm a support group junkie? :biggrin:

Good morning everyone! Maria there is no need for liquids - esp. clears - before surgery. YOU NEED YOUR NUTRIENTS!! You will have days and days after surgery where you will not be able to get any protein, so don't prolong that by doing clears now. THAT SAID - I did liquids (not clears, but fulls - proteins but not carbs) for 2 days before because I was freaked about my liver being too big! So I understand . . but it really isn't necessary and I could have saved myself the trouble. If I had to do it again though, I would probably to the same thing. Kaiser SF puts their heavier patients on liquid before surgery, some for as long as 2 weeks. Tamra, what a good idea! It doesn't sound crazy at all - I need visual reminders, too. And about all the diets that we tried before and failed at - and we DID fail, ultimately, or we would not be here - forget it! We were all professional dieters, and we have to unlearn everything that we thought we knew about losing weight. Seriously! That was the most important thing that I learned at orientation - to forget everything that I thought I knew about dieting. The 1200 DOES WORK! You may have to tweak it for your personal dislikes or problem foods, but really, try to stick with it as best you can. I think us post-band girls will agree that we don't lose as well when we go below 1200 calories a day - many of us lost faster on the 1200 that we do now! Not as easy as now, but it was faster for me. Of course I had a lot more to lose then, so I guess it's all relative Donna the shark is my main eHarmony photo now! I also put up a disclaimer that my sense of humor is rather twisted, and some would call it downright warped. What do you think? Too much? I "loosened my standards" (said I would accept matches who smoked & were trying to quit, and also a broader "range' geographically) and got a new bunch of matches now. Unfortunately, some of the guys that I THOUGHT i was communicating with, were not even subscribers! So unless they sign up and pay for the service - a 3 month minimum at like $40 a month - they do not even get to read my questions. What a crock! They use that to try and get people who have taken the profile and "free trial" to join the club! They aslo sent me a match whose membership had expired at the end of September - said so right in his profile. Can you believe that?? Grrr! This better be worth it :tt2: OK going to go walk now that the temp is above 40. My AWS day off, need to clean but exercise is more attractive :biggrin:

Those little brats! I love them :biggrin:

Tina that is one of the books that we got material out of for my head hunger class! Yes, stop and press pause - dealy and sitract - I want to get bracelets made up that say, D.I.E.T. - in the WWJD tradition, but DIET stands for "Do I eat that/this"? Donna! great pics, thank you so much!!

I think I am going to max out at 5.5cc's - I am going in again in 1 month for another .25cc and that should be the last of it. I have been going back and forth between 172ish and 176ish, when I get over 176 I have restriction again - band won't let me gain too much - but when I get down to 172 I have zero restriction and I'm running on willpower - and it's HARD. I am 174 again today and felt my band this morning but not since then. Still . . . . I am logging why I am eating and how hungry I am, and I'm not eating because I'm hungry - I'm eating because I want to or I have some insane primal urge to - all head hunger. ITS HARD

Where is everbody . . . . .

Oh eggs and pesto - have you ever fried the egg in pesto sauce?? OMG!!! I could eat that for all 3 meals!! Here's another super high-protein breakfast recipe, the bacon bits are soy not meat and it's 112 calories, 18 g protein, 2 fat and <4 carbs. I actually like it better cold for lunch: Makes 6 servings Ingredients 2 cups chopped spinach (I use frozen, nuke it then squeeze it dry) 1 1/2 cups eggbeaters 1 1/2 cups lowfat cottage cheese 3/4 cup reduced fat cheddar 1 1/2 tablespoons bacos bits DirectionsShred cheese. Mix everything together and pour into sprayed baking dish. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes Read more: Cheesy Lowfat Meat-Free Frittata Recipe - Calorie Count

Tina, what the heck? Robin wants you to eat flesh?!?! Totally unbelievable! Are you not getting enough protein? Girlfriend! Yikes! What are you going to do?? I added fish back - went pescatarian, I guess, tho with my shellfish allergy it seems a waste to even say that. But I'm eating fish once a day, although I prefer it to come from a can(!) Fish is a good band food, does not gets stuck fills you up fast and stays in the pouch a long time. But I know you, and it will ruin you to eat flesh! Arggg!! What is going on with Robin telling you that?

Forgive my long post. Disclaimer: the following is what I have found works for me, and for most of my band groupies. Your experience may vary! :-) I did not believe in a sweet spot either - until I got there at 5 cc's (4 fills). It is very common to not feel restriction - although you do have some, as Jachut points out - until after 3 or 4 fills. We are all different. But for me, "the sweet spot" is not at all what I expected. I expected to actually be content to eat 1/4 cups portions, to laugh and say "no thanks, I'm just stuffed!" at offers of cakes and chocolates, while the sun shone, upbeat music played, and birds sang in the background. In my dreams, it was going to be so easy! But in reality - not so much!! The good part - at my sweet spot, I actually feel less "restriction," i.e. I do not get "stuck" anymore because the band is now tight enough for the food to sit above it rather than to get lodged partway through. I get full very quickly if I eat the right foods, and stay that way for hours - as long as I don't get "bored," I honestly don't even think about food until about 4 hours after a meal. As long as a quit eating IMMEDIATELY when my pouch becomes full - including, somethimes, not swallowing the bite that's in my mouth -I have no issues with PBing or anything. So I feel it less, but I also think about food less, and I am rarely physically hungry. Even though I am very close to goal now, I still manage to lose without going hungry. That's the good part. The "bad" part for me - and I stress, this is for me - is that my new "full" does not satisfy me emotionally. I realize - after getting a lot of help for my head hunger issues - that I have always sought that lower-belly "full" as comfort, and I don't get that any more. I got depressed when this happened! I still crave that "full" - a feeling that many obese folks have, and normally-weighted people do not. I can "cheat" by eating foods in the wrong order - for example, salad with dressing first - it goes through the band - and then fill my upper pouch with Protein, but that is defeating the whole purpose of the band. So my issues are caused not by my band, but by my head. It's something I'll work on for a long long time! I totally agree with Erin Marie's answer - it's hard work, and it's forever. For me the sweet spot ebbs and wanes, albeit slowly - like Jachut said, it changes as I lose. I have a great surgeon who keeps me at the right place with lots of little fills, but it's a balancing act. I have never been "too full" and never needed an unfill, and I never want to be there. I also burn about 800 calories a day in exercise, so while I'm eating more than many of my banded friends, I'm still burning off more than I take in so I'm still losing. Reliance on the band to make you lose weight is of course not an option, but you should not feel like nothing has changed, either. The band is only one part of one "leg" of this program. The legs are nutrition, exercise, and support. You can't achieve the balance that you need to be successful if you don't have all 3 legs. The band aids you in the nutrition area because it decreases how much volume you take in - but you are still responsible for getting the right nutrition within that volume, so the band is only a part of it. The exercise leg includes cardio and strength, and is necessary for the mental part of this journey as well. And the support part is necessary because this can be very frustrating, very hard, and we can want to give up! We need accountability, support, a push, a kick, and a shoulder to cry on. We need to Celebrate one another's successes. I am a support group junkie - I belong to 4 of them(!) - and it's the third key to my success. I encourage you to keep coming on here, and to seek out face-to-face support in your area - it can make all the difference. I love my band and truly feel that it is the best thing that I have ever done for myself. It is exactly what I needed to help me do the rest of the things that I needed to do to lose. And the band won't let me gain the weight back, as long as I keep up with the accountability and support - and that's the easy part. Best of luck!

hahahaha . . . too busy hiding under a bridge!!!! You girls SLAY me . . . but I think poor Pami almost had a heart attack!! Next time you will be RUTB (rolling under that bridge) and I will be LMAO!!! LOL Good pics Heather - what a pretty walk!!! Donna, where's my shark pic? And that nasty pirate, LOL!!!

Why of course! Monique, you SO crack me up girl! I like my little card too, even though I've never used it . . . we got the packets of info - including the temp. card and the form to send in for the "hard" card - at our first group fill, either from Robin or Liz . . . . anyways, if you didn't get the card and you want one, go to Lapband.com - LAP-BAND it is both a "let them order smaller portions" card, and an emergency ID card with a tie-in to an online emergency info system at lapbandcentral.com/er - specifically, it has emergency unfill instructions. Donna! I can't wait for you to post those pics from yesterday, you too Heather!! They are dropping like flies off my eHarmony list - need new pics of me having fun!! Or being eaten by a shark, I dunno . . . need to find a mand who can tolerate my sense of humor, NOT an easy task!

Hi Lee! Bridge, uh yeah . . .SOME of our girls - I'm not pointing fingers, you know who you are! - hid under the bridge supports, where it's all dark and creepy, and when the rest of us came around under the bridge they jumped out and scared us to pieces!!! Pre-op diet & low-carb - yes. It is important to get used to the serving sizes in the 1200 pre-op diet, so you really need to stick to it as well you can with regard to proteins and vegies. But Robin won't be upset if you cut out the starchy carbs, and you will be less hungry. I have wheat sensitivity so I never did the breads, and I KNOW that "1/2 of a small baked potato" for me would quickly turn into 2 baked potatoes with 5 tbs of butter and salt, so I stayed away from them too - a trigger food for me for sure. At first I tried to replace the carb servings with protein servings, but it was just too much food! So I pretty much followed the plan, replacing milk with soy and just not doing the carbs (I still ate fruit in the AMs) and I lost FAST - 43 lbs (over the holidays!) in 2.5 months. The problem with just doing Atkins is that it doesn't limit you portion sizes or snacking, which you HAVE TO get used to doing before surgery - so you can modify the 1200 to cut out "cheap" carbs and your trigger foods, but stick to the portion sizes - that's important.

Congrats Pat!!!!!