EmeraldCoastPhotog

Hey All, I am glad to see you are still around and losing. Great job with all the successes. I know when I got my head straight I started to get my losing straight as well. Finally I am at my sweet spot and eating is under good control. I am due for another follow up appointment next Thursday. Everyone hang in there and I hope to see all of you at the finish line. Fran

Thanks for starting this thread. I was just sitting here thinking it has been one year today. I am down 51 pounds. I have another 50 or so to go but know that in the next year I can get the rest of the weight off. I had to have a small unfill right before Halloween because I was spitting up too much and think I inflamed my stomach. Now I can eat anything again, so I am going back for a slight refill next week. I look forward to hearing how everyone else is doing. Happy Holidays to all!

Anyone interested in sharing their NSVs? I for one would find encouragement and be excited to hear about everyones NSVs. I know these have been posted in other threads but if we have them all in one place it will be easier to find them at those moments when we need a bit of encouragement to stay on track. I will start... Today, I was meeting a client and wanted to look better than my normal casual self. On a whim, I took a blouse out of the closet that I last wore in January 2002. It fit! It was even on the loose side! I couldn't believe it!!! Yipee!

Hi Angie, I haven't checked the thread in quite sometime, but I see that your post is fairly recent. I am glad there are other December 2008 bandsters are still active. Your weight loss is great! Right on track according to everything I have been told. Keep up the good work. Like you I also had about a 4 month period when I wasn't losing any weight, but when I started walking then running my weight loss started up again. I am down 51 pounds as of this morning. Yipee! I hope to lose about 15 more before one year anniversary, December 10th. Though I have been noticing my decreasing weight for sometime now, my body is finally showing the loss, I have a bit more to lose than you and people are noticing who didn't know that I had surgery. I hope others will login and leave some encouraging results since their surgeries. Best wishes. Fran

Wow-- it has been great reading NSVs from everyone. I haven't been really busy lately. Here are some of my NSVs. 1) My husband did my monthly measurements last night and I was SO happy. Overall since surgery I have lost 32.75 inches. Of course I measure in a bunch of different places so that sounds like a lot more than it is, but when I did the math calculations --- I have lost 11% of my inches since my surgery. 2) My doctors official weight loss since December 10th is 30 pounds, my scale says it is higher (36 pounds) but who is counting? 3) It seems like everyday I am able to find clothes that were too tight and now are loose. The clothing discard pile is growing! 4) I was looking for something in the garage and came across a box of clothes that had been put up for a yard sale and forgotten about. Mostly jeans. I now have about 8 pairs of jeans I can wear. 5) My favorite jacket that I wasn't able to wear for years now fits again. 6) People are noticing. 7) I never noticed that people weren't terribly nice to me but it seems like people are more polite to me now. (So sad how fat people are treated in this country!) 8) It seems like many more men are opening doors for me. Thats all I can think of right now, but these are significant to me. And they sure feel good!

I was a bit fearful about my first fill. After reading about lots of posts about doctors poking around and causing pain during fills. I was prepared for lots of pain. The PA did the fill. A quick lidocane shot then he pressed on my port to find the target. A second later I felt a quick poke. I didn't watch but he quickly finished. Painless! Thank you! I found out I have an APS 10.0 low profile, which now has a 4.5 fill level. Sounds like a lot to me after one fill. I feel a bit tighter, but I am thinking it definitely is going to take a few more fills to get me "sweet". -Fran

I was banded two months ago Tuesday on December 10th. The day of surgery I was 293. This morning the scale registered 263! WOOOOHOOO! 30 pounds down! Sorry to brag! Yea for me! You can do it, too. I follow the rules closely. I follow the rules outlined for me by my surgeon and follow the bandster rules most of the time. Though, I will admit to cheating occationally. Eating too much on one or two occations, but I quickly learned. I make sure I walk at least 10,000 steps a day. Additionally, I stay as busy as active as possible. I also started lifting weights two weeks ago. Best of luck during your surgery and for speedy weight recovery and weight loss. -Fran

Hi DebbieGail, Welcome! I was just heading to bed, I am up way to late, but I saw your post. I just wanted to say hello and welcome! To answer your question, no, you weren't chatting you were posting. But chat is also available, and the people there are very helpful and friendly. The chat button link is at the top of the home page. I was banded December 10th last year, so we are almost band twins. Close enough! There are a bunch of people who were banded in December 2008 who share messages in the December 2008 forum. We would love to have you join us. -Fran

Way cool! Thanks for sharing. Do you happen to have one after it has been clasped?

Hey Lompoc, How did your fill go? -Fran

Ditto to the two cup food processor suggestion. I have one, purchased from Lowe's several years ago at the time I remember thinking it would be a handy thing to have and they were on sale for less than $10.00. I also have a Cuisinart Food Processor and a Vita-Mixer. The Vita-Mixer was a hand me down from my Mother who bought it about 20 years ago. She wasn't using it too much, and thought I would like it so she offered it to me. It makes awesome Protein shakes. Still works great after 20 years of use. Though I love my Cuisinart and use it frequently, I think we use the small food processor most frequently of all because it is quick and easy to use and clean. It makes great mushy food. My husband bought a magic bullet to make Protein shakes at work. He hasn't metioned it is too loud but I get the impression it doesn't get used as often as the shaker cup he bought at GNC. Good luck! -Fran

I think post surgery I have more backdoor gas, but my doesn't have much of an odor either. Definitely more burping than prior to surgery. My seven year old son thinks it is quite funny though. I have let him know that calling someone out for passing gas isn't polite, but he always has a creative way of doing it. Last night when he heard the wind, he said "OK, who busted the Grumpy". My husband and I cracked up. -Fran

Yea for you! I will say a little prayer for you. I don't know if you have a hand held massager but if you have that throw it in your bag. Will help when you are laying in the bed trying to get past the gas. Word of wisdom --- Relax. I know it is tough, but being stressed is not going make the experience more enjoyable. As a matter of fact, it might make it more painful. Oh, and I am sure you heard this before... but WALK WALK WALK! As soon as they let you get out of bed.. walk like your life depends on it. That will make recovery so much smoother and get the gas out. Good luck -Fran

Hey BethM and Rafa, I am glad your fills went well. Beth -- I am glad to hear you finally got to eat like a champ before the fill. I do remember you saying you were feeling like Gandhi a few weeks back. Looking at your weight loss, it looks like you have done really well. -Fran

Erica, Glad to hear it. Are you feeling any restriction yet? -Fran

Hi Erica, I hope your fill goes smoothly! Let us know. -Fran

Someone recently pointed me to myfitnesspal.com It is very similar to fitday.com but it seems to me, to be easier. Congrats on getting this far without tracking your calories. I am impressed! -Fran

I would suggest buying some probiotic yougurt, like activia. It will help replace the good bacteria that you will lose when you are taking the heavy duty antibiotics during surgery. I found something called "good belly" at my grocery store. Within a day of starting the "good belly" all the gurgglies in my stomach and intestines stopped. Best of luck during surgery. -Fran

Wow, looking at your numbers, you have done fantastic since your surgery. I would like to join you in your March Madness Challenge. I think by March 31st, I can lose 25 pounds. It might be a bit ambitious but I think it is doable if I stay the course.

Oh my goodness! I feel sorry for your situation. I hope you get that cleared up soon. One time when I was eating chicken I forgot to eat really chew it up and swallowed. I had the immediate thought that maybe it was going to get stuck. Thankfully it didn't but I was already thinking of what I would do. I think if anything ever gets stuck, I will get on our inversion table (one of those things you hang upside down from your feet on), and hopefully that will bring it up! Don't know if you have access to one of those tables, but I wonder if that might not help get stuff unstuck. Has anyone else ever tried that to get something unstuck?

Hey Everyone! I just found this thread. Back on the 1st of January, I set a target of 15 pounds by Valentine's Day. I have lost 5 pounds so 10 pounds to go! Thanks for all the inspiration I found reading this thread. -Fran

We have had a Tanita scale for over five years and are very happy with it. I do love the percentage feature as the previous poster noted. Since it is an older Tanita I don't know if it has all the bells and whistles the new ones might have. I haven't checked to see if they have one now that keeps track of changes in your weight but that might be a nice feature if they have it available. BTW- we bought ours through Performance Bike. If you are going to buy a Tanita make sure to check out their prices online Performancebike.com (I think), as they have sales periodically, but I don't know how their prices compare to other places. DH and I weigh ourselves on our Wii Fit. It is a nice feature and it keeps track of my numbers. I have set a short goal that keeps me on track and the Wii tells me how I am progressing toward that goal. -Fran

I would love to meet everyone, but that is Superbowl Weekend, and I might be out of town. Certainly, if the group makes plans to get together on January 31st and if I am in town I will be there. Since some people are coming from PCB and others from Pensacola and North of Pensacola I great compromise would be Crestview . I will be glad to drive to wherever to meet everyone. -Fran

I was banded December 10th. Normally I am very regular and was dreading it when I figured out mine was supposed to arrive on the day my surgery was scheduled. It never came. Finally it came 5 days late. When it came, it was very heavy for several extra days. This month it was right on time. Good luck with your "friend". -Fran

It has been my experience from reading that there are many variations of coverage based on what your employer has paid for. I have Anthem BCBS HSA through Kroger. My plan covers Bariatric Surgery. The best way to find out what your plan covers may be to call the number on the back of your card, they will point you in the right direction. Good Luck in your journey. -Fran