riley4183

OMG Nicole, you skinny thang!!!! And Aud's hair is so LONG!! She is starting to look more and more like you - BEAUTIFUL, that is!!!!! great, great pics - thanks for posting!

Very well said Heather! I agree 1000% :-)

Howdy-ho all! Happy friday eve :-) Pat - the need to come back all of the time for fills is, to my (somewhat feeble) mind, one of the BEST reasons to get a band vs. RNY. The surgery itself is the easy part: the work comes after. When you have to go for a fill every 4-6 weeks - like you do with Dr. Baggs - you have a whole nuther level of accountability that RNYers don't get close to. I was banded at the end of February. I have been back 6 more times (5 of them for fills and nutrition counseling!) since then, and am going again in another 5 weeks. I AM ACCOUNTABLE. I have to spend an hour with Robin, and we are going to be reviewing my food logs - super! I guess I'd better do them then, huh! And of course we will be reviewing my weight - gee I guess I'd better work on that too then, huh? It is a built-in "I can't fail with all of this support" system, and you know me - it is about support support support!!! Besides, you always lose weight after a fill - so you have that to look forward to - and it allows your doc to totally customize your WLS for you!! I mean come on, I am getting .25 cc fills now, and he gives me one every time I ask. Yeah it is a 1-hour drive down there, but so what? It is SO SO SO worth it! Come with me to my next fill appointment and you can watch - it is NOTHING - and I love having this port because it means that I won't gain the weight back! No RNYer can say that :-) Michelle, Sherry, Susan and I were all in the head hunger class that just ended last night, and will be bringing the curriculum to the Tuesday night group, so you will get it for sure! Bonnie is doing another session that starts in January, and a bunch of us are signing up for that one as well. I think it is going to be on Tuesday nights for 1.5 hours. I need the class to last like 16 weeks instead of 4 weeks, so I am just going to keep taking it! You will LOVE Bonnie too :-) K I am @ work so I'd better go look like it! TTFN

I was 285 at orientation and Dr. Baggs gave me a surgery goal of 255 - but I was already below that when I saw him :-) Jes can you post the directions to the dock for Saturday again for Lee? And hey while you are at it, how about from the north bay for me & Pat? GOODNESS I can't wait to see you all! I need my fix!!! NICOLE!!! I miss you sooooo bad girl - Auds too!!! Just got my next fill appt. for the same day Jes had hers booked, but hers got moved up so I;m alone :-( I probably got her Robin-slot, LOL . . I can't wait to have Robin to myself for an hour, we have so much to cover! I am learning all kinds of stuff in my head hunger class that Robin has been alluding to for the last year! Cool, cool stuff. Gotta go check my ebay and my eHarmony :-)

Oh I love gay bars, totally safe to go dancing there! I have lots of gay friends too. Meeting one of them after work today, but at a brewpub - where he knows to keep me on task with my eating! A dear friend for 20 years and he lives a couple of hours away so I jump at the chance to see him when he's down here :-) I have been going to the gym almost every day, I get there by 5 am and do 20 minutes of HARD "cardio" range treadmill (like, at the highest incline it will do - the uphill butt-buster theory!) after warm-up, get my peak HR up at about 170. Then I do 20 minutes of random bike while I read a book (I have to put it down to get through the highest hills) where my HR stays in the "fat-burning" range of 110 to 130. Then I do a little weight lifting but I need to do a lot more! I got a coupon for a free 90-minute personal trainer session so I need to do that before the end of the month when it expires. Get my hair cut and dyed and my upper lip waxed this afternoon, I am so excited!! it's the little things ain't it? Happy Monday everyone!

Pat where are you kiddo? We have to coordinate with these ladies for Saturday . . . . I can't WAIT to have you meet them all! :-)

Hellooooo . . .Jes? Donna? Maria? Are any of you really on here? It's so quiet it's SPOOKY, and Halloweeny's over!!

Sore! OMG I can hardly walk now . . .I overdid it ladies! I walked a nice easy 6.2 miles yesterday, then like an IDiot, I ran the majority of my 5K race this morning!! Ow, ow, ow. I have not run at ALL since Tahoe 2 months ago, and of course I got caught up running at the beginning of the race, before I knew it the 1-mile marker had gone by and I was feeling fine, so I alternated between jogging and speed-walking and finished in 40:15! My goal was to finish in 45:00 so I rocked that run but OWOWOWOW!! Jes says hot bath and tequila will relax me :w00t: my poor muscles deserve it! BUT . . . . not today. Watching the NASCAR race instead :wink2: Christine, thanks for posting I missed you! Can't WAIT to see the tummy and the ultrasound! This is so exciting :-)

Candra, Ash Spanx girls! I need some sort of garment that's a thong in the back and a compression garment all the way across the lower front, to hold in the lovely pannus! Do you think they make something like that?? Maybe rubber would do it, LOL JEEZ I am getting sicker with every passing year :-) WHERE IS OUR NICOLE, has anyone heard from her lately? We started orientation together one year ago this week . . . . And Christine . . .where are you, hot mama? I want to hear how our little band baby is doing!! Our local Race to End Hunger run is tomorrow, to benefit the Redwood Empire Food Bank. I am just going to run/walk the 5K - my silly knee is troubling me again. I managed to get 7 miles in today though, good thing since I never got to the gym this morning and won't tomorrow either! Going to go read . . no going out tonight cause I need to get rest b4 the race tomorrow! See yous all in a bit :-)

Babysista! I know that exact same wagon. Sometimes I'm driving it, and sometimes I'm lying under its wheels. We all have bad days - jump girl, we'll catch you and pull you up onto the buckboard!:w00t:

Oaklander - Goal weight per "the book" = BMI < 25 - so for 5' 4', 59 yr old female your goal with a loss of 100% of your excess weight would be 145 - that is a BMI of 24.9 and considered your highest healthy weight. Again - that's "by the book" and your real healthy weight might be 15-20 lbs on either side of that. I hope that helps! I don't think I will hit my goal weight until I get some excess skin cut off, if I ever can afford that - it adds probably 6-7 lbs.

Ha! Candra, you and Jes help me write it & we can call it "Bandahol"

GOODness girls, stop with the alcohol! I had a bad expericne dontcha know, I am off the stuff! Too Teeny for drinkies now :-) But LOVING wearing size 10s!!!!! It's so worth it. Surgeons and gas . . . . gosh. Here is my "IMHO" rundown on what each excels at. I think Baggs and Fisher do the best squeezing gas out. Fisher is toughest on initial weight loss - Baggs second toughest - but Fisher I hear is best on making scars pretty except he makes an extra incisoion so there is one more TINY scar. Baggs good on all accounts, very positive and informative, leaves very small scars, and most agressive out of them all with fills, first one at 6 weeks and the next 4 or 5 with 4-6 weeks between each - he does smaller fills more often. Dr. Parks the very nicest, kindest, most reassuring person on earth but not so great on squeezing gas out and seems like she has more bruising (I have a lot of friends who have had her, not just you guys!), and she believes in less fills, waiting longer until 1st fill, and bigger amounts in every fill! Dr. Im I don't know much about, Pam is the only one I know who had him but he's a sweetie!

My first 2 days I ate only: SF popsicles, SF jello, water, G2 (diet gatorade), black decaf coffee (trying to feel "normal" on day 2!) and broth YUM on the broth! As soon as I could have full liquids (stage 2) I was all about walking to starbucks for decaf soy slender lattes (good on protein), and I was walking to shopping again by then so I would buy hot & sour soup at the chinese restaurant and blend it with unsweetened soy milk, or chili at safeway and blend it with broth (oops, was not supposed to be having beans yet!). I actually opened only 1 can of cream of chicken and 1 container of that trader joe's red pepper soup (yummy but full of carbs). You eat SO little that 1 can could last you all week if you didn't get so sick of it. Honestly! When I started needed more substance I made homeade split pea with pureed ham in it, added soy milk to thin it. I had SO many cans of soup I didn't ever open! I gave most of them away when I quit eating meat again. -A BP cuff if you have high blood pressure - a digital thermometer - to make sure no infection - liquid or chewable tylenol, cause that lortab gets REAL old REAL fast - hot water bottle for the gas, and Gas-X strips -paper bowls! you need them to eat the SF popsicles cause you can't eat the whole thing at first :thumbup:

Jes! Hi sweets :-) Caff raises blood pressure and increases appetite. I think it was your doc (Park) that said it does not really increase risk of ulcer- which is what I had heard from Liz & Robin - cause liquids go right thru? But Dr. Baggs has been very clear that I should not be drinking it, so I try to at LEAST go with the half-caff. Sometimes I have to do it for the headache remedy tho . . . . so I feel ya!!

This eHarmony thing is wearing me OUT! Seriously! 9 matches that I am currently "communicating" with; 11 more new ones that look too interesting to close out yet but I don't have TIME or ENERGY to communicate with; and 48 already closed out - half by me and half by them. Holy SMOKES! I have only been a member now for 9 days!!!!!! They match me with like 5 new guys every night . . . . this is crazy! BUT it has really helped for me to realize that there are a LOT of like-minded, single, Christian guys out there and I do NOT ever need to settle for anyone just because he's available. Cool beans dude and dudettes . . . . Donna I miss you woman, where are you??

Tamra! What a totally perfect day! Congrats girl, you are right back on it! Attagirl :-)

p-butter, oh no not rihght after surgery!! I can barely eat it now! 2 cans of soup would have done me - seriously. Get a magic bullet blender; you can eat anything that the family is having (once on Stage 3) by just poppin' it in the ol' blender. I ate GOOD in stage 3 . . . . used it all the time in stage 2 also, turned anything into soup with some broth or soy milk :-) YO - drinkies and calories = my area of expertise, yo Jes jump in anytime here! All "shots" (hard alcohol, assuming it is unsweetened - does not include the likes of Malibu rum, etc) has exactly the same amount of calories and ZERO carbs. If you are in an establishment that knows you, bring diet cranberry (ocean spray) juice and drink that with plain old vodka. Otherwise stay away from any kind of fruit juices. Vodka (or plain rum) works with crystal lite too - and we ALL pack THAT around - and in diet jello shots. Michalob ultra is like 70 cals and 2.3 carbs, it is a beautiful thing for BEFORE surgery; after you have to pour it into a glass from 3 feet height and let it flatten before you can drink it! I can actually drink one out of the bottle now, but too hard to stick to 1 so I don't. I am especially partial to vodka diet tonic, no fruit. But that was when I drank vodka . . . . I'm over than now. But I lost so much weight that I cant drink like i used to! 2 is my limit and I have a hard time with that, so I sip red wine now - i NEVER chug that. It has calories AND carbs but I am drinking 2 not 5 or 6, so it all works out and saves me from stupid and regretable behavior(!) I had to not drink at all to lose 43 lbs. before surgery - probably one of the main reasons that I lost it so easilt, LOL!!

Pat Pat Pat! You need to hang with us bandsters more :-) Why have a part of you removed if the band will do it for you? God put it there for a reason . . . . for our friends who were 200 lbs overweight, I agree that RNY was their best bet. Or if they have diabetes . . . but for BMIs of 42 or less, the Band is the way to go - I firmly believe that. It was the perfect solution for me. THAT SAID - we will support you no matter what you do! I would have considered the sleeve if they had offfered it while I was going through.

Good morning all! Back down to 172 & change this morning, YAY! Did not need that 9 lb. gain. I am really, really sensitive to drinking enough water and avoiding carbs - all goes well when I do that! And exercise of course :-) Tina I am sure that you are fine, or Dr. Im would have ordered the tests. Jes when is your next fill in Richmond again? date and time? I think it's a wednesday - 16th maybe? I am going to try & schedule my next fill for the same time so we can see each other & maybe walk again :-) I need my girls!! Still have not caught up on my reading . . . . between this site and eHarmony, I hardly have time for work!!!

Hey everyone, just checking in - long, LONG day, plus had my emotional eating class tonight, just got home have a headache bad and way tired. Have not read to catch up yet but I will! I'm doing good, the class is really helping with my head hunger. I wish you all had the same kind of support I do! Pat came to meeting last night it was great :-) Going to bed!!:thumbup:

Tina yay you are back! And losing like crazy!! I keep losing, gaining it back, band tightens up and I lose it again, then get careless and gain it back, band tightens up . . . . good band. I need to be more with the program, that's all. I'm not physically hungry between meals; I just eat because I want to. The sweet spot is actually really difficult, because it does nothing for head hunger!!! I need to make sure I am down 8-10 from my last fill before I go for another, but that's not until the 2nd half of December. Tight enough for right now , , , ,

Welcome Ash!! I would try to stay at BMI 40 unless you have 2 comorbidities, like diabetes and apnea. I have a very expensive Kaiser plan, so I probably pay the least . . . . My appointments are $10 when I see Dr. Baggs (before and after), nothing if I see the NP or dietician or other non-doc. Surgery was $10.

Hi ladies, hi John! Just checking in :-) Pat I sent you a PM Liz and Nicolie, orientation tomorrow??? WOO-WEE!!! It is on NOW! I had no carbs today, well whatever is in spaghetti squash but that's about it. I stayed under 20 grams for sure. Got to bust through this carb craving thingy again! OH I do SO bad when I am not on plan, makes sense but it's SO hard to be good all the time!!! Time change is messin' me up - going to go to bed early so I can get up early & go to the gym . . . I have heavy-duty contentiousd public hearing items at the Board of Supes tomorrow, will need exercise to deal with the stress that brings. Wish me luck! Tina where are you?? G'night all

Maria did you get the link I posted for you? Page 499 I think - WOW people, we are chatty little Cathies! Pat yes - 6:30 at the Shay address. I can't wait to see you!! It is happening again, the sugar/carb water bloat!! 180 lbs. this morning, that is a pound MORE than at my last fill 6 weeks ago! And 9 lbs. more than 5 days ago. WHAT is up with THAT?? MAYbe it was the cookies and candy and mashed potatoes with gobs of butter - I'm just sayin'!! Band got tighter too - good band :-)