Band_Groupie

25# wow! Yeah, my dietician didn't seem to be linked very well to the surgeon either. She didn't seem to know they gave out a packet of basic diet info. at the seminar. Glad you're feeling better...that was rough! -BG

"Psyche eval"...LOL...Yeah I'm sure if I did end up calling for help, some poor lady would have been in therapy for life! "Rubber Band of Death" LOL...and how!! I think I need contortionist training. My shoulder is killing me...off to PT :-)

Whoot! Sounds like possibilities are there! Glad you liked him...I know he liked you! -BG

Great advice! And well said!

Love pork tenderloin...nummy!

Whoot! "wear these forever"...I'm thinking NO! ...and they say you can't go back to High School

We went to Kohl’s (department store) tonight for a sale and I decided to pick up a few of the things on my “Surgery List”. I got some slide in slippers for the hospital (because I won’t be able to bend over to put slippers on) and one of those nifty Magic Bullets for pre-chewing my food for me, and then I decided to pick up a few sports bras. Someone here suggested buying sports bras for several reasons; they’re great in the hospital when you don’t want an underwire bothering you or your incisions, and they’re good when you’re losing weight as they’ll last longer than a regular bra (yeah NOT where I need to lose, so that’s exactly what will happen). Sports Bra…SOUNDS like a good idea, right? Let me start by saying I’ve never owned a sports bra. Now I’ve had tanks with built in bras, but I’ve never needed a sports bra. OK, DH helps me look (nice guy, huh, flipping through the bra section with all the women). So we found two in my current size and one in the next band size down (I’m thinking I might need this once I lose a few inches). So I go to the dressing room to try them on, yelling over my shoulder “Honey, I’ll just be a minute!” (we were done shopping after this). My size fits fine…boy these aren’t too hard to get on, but they aren’t easy to get off (and remember I’m in Physical Therapy for my shoulder, partly). That should have been a clue. I happily try on the next size down…it’s tight…too tight to even want to take home “because you might fit into it soon”…yeah, THAT kind of tight…like now I can hardly breath tight. So I start frantically trying to peel it off…It tightly rolls up until it’s a tight twisted band at armpit level now…OK, now what to do…I try reaching across and grabbing one side at a time…nothing budges…my arms are too fat to pull it up around. I try the old cross both arms and trying pulling on both sides at once...nothing…except now my shoulder is killing me and the ‘rubber band bra' is now a tiny bit higher…just enough to keep my arms above my head now. OK, I KID YOU NOT PEOPLE…I SPENT ANOTHER 10 MIN. TRYING TO GET THE D#*M SPORTS BRA OFF!! I was seriously considering giving up and calling for help, hoping someone else was in the dressing room (pretty sure it was empty). Picture me yelling for help and the sight I’d be when the door opened to my dressing room…fat lady, naked from the waist up, twisted rubber band across the top of her chest and forcing her to hold her arms above her head. Yeah, that picture made me give it one last shot…I’m pretty sure I dislocated my shoulder (my PT is sooo going to kill me tomorrow) but with a cry of pain I got the D@*M thing off. DH “What the heck happened to you? I thought you died in there!” Me “I did...let’s go.”

Matt Lauer/Jean Chatzky discuss the costs of raising 14 children. 1.5 million for just the basics and that doesn't include college or the huge costs for any of them that are/will be disabled. They say that even after she gets her Masters degree her salary of 60K max. won't even cover childcare while she's at work. My 2 cents...IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD A CHILD, DON'T HAVE ONE! It's part of the equation when the rest of us decide on kids, it should be for you! Here's the link: msnbc.com Video Player

I check your website all the time for recipes to copy. I like ones you've tested. Thanks for all the taste testing/work on this, I sure appreciate it! -BG Lena's recipe site...HERE

WHOAH! 42# in 6 weeks with no fill! You're the poster child for Lap Band! Great work! -BG

'Flying Monkeys'...ooooh, I'm still scared of them...don't worry Daco, we'll get Toto to bite them! ...and those soldiers...I still remember how I felt as a kid when they'd start into that marching song....SCARY...Yoee..O..YO...O!

Well as far as I know, as of today I’m now done with all the “other doctors” pre-op stuff. It’s been a ‘long and winding road’ and it’s not quite over yet…I’m still on this yellow brick road to Oz and apparently I’m playing all the parts (that’s OK, I always loved dress-up)! Remember that Shoe Fairy I put up a wanted sign for HERE? Well she answered and brought me some ruby slippers when I crushed the Wicked BMI/Comorbidity Witch my first weigh in (even if I did pee my pants HERE doing it). I got my award of courage for making it through that claustrophobic 45 min. closed MRI for my heart HERE…so I’m the not-so-Cowardly Lion! I just got clearance at my visit with the Cardiologist this afternoon, and my heart MRI from last week and my EKG today were fine. So contrary to my teenagers thoughts sometimes…I do have a heart…I’m the Tin woMan! I found out this fall from the brain MRI for my migraines that I do have a brain…it’s “unremarkable” as the docs report said, but it’s a brain…so I’m the Scarecrow! If I can make it past the Wicked Witch of Insurance Paperwork with two more monthly visits at my PCP then they’ll send it all in for approval to the Wizard…let’s just hope he’s “Wise and Wonderful”. There’s no place like Bandlandia...

We went out to a nice restaurant with some neighbors this weekend. I’ve been looking forward to this as I’m starting to feel like a shut-in. Well, except for the million or so doctors appointments I’ve been to, between me and the rest of the family, the past few months. As a stay-at-home Mom, with no kids at home during the day anymore, you get a little starved for adult interaction in the wintertime. Top that off with the fact that I am still sorting papers and making new files (my LEAST favorite job…guess that’s why I still have huge piles to go through) and I REALLY was looking forward to going out. As usual (and all you still-fat peeps…OK anyone who was ever fat will be able to relate), I poured myself into my best black jeans (I was proud I didn’t have to lay flat to zip them up this time) and was greeted by the lovely ‘muffin top’ which is now the opposite of what my waist once was. So into the closet I went after camouflage. After about 20 ‘costume changes’ I finally picked a two layer long, flowing ditty that didn’t make me cringe…it cover the muffin, but my arms felt like they were in sausage casing…sigh. It was getting late, so on to getting beautified. I quickly plugged in my giant curling iron and started my makeup. DD gave me one of those huge barreled curling irons and I swear it can get so hot that your hair is smoking. Uh-Oh, DH is calling me, better hurry! I fly through my hair with the curling iron turned all the way up so it will curl more quickly…then it happened…d@*n! I can’t ever use that thing without burning myself! It’s the same with the glue gun (and as an ex-art teacher I use that a lot too). OWW, OWWWWW! D@*N that hurts! I unplug the stupid iron and run downstairs. We get to the restaurant a few minutes late and after hugs/kisses all around (did I imagine some strange stares *quickly check my tops for wardrobe malfunctions*), and ordering drinks I excuse myself to the ladies room. As I’m washing my hands I check the mirror…HOLY C#*P! There on my long pasty-white neck are two red hickeys!!...and I left home so fast I forgot my purse and makeup!!! D*@M that curling iron. OK, I’m not 16, surely no one else will think…but d*@n they sure look just like a hickey! I returned to the table with my cheeks bright red and slowly work it into the conversation that I burned my neck with the curling iron…Did I just hear sniggers??!

You should probably post this in the post-op forum for more responses, and more people in your same place. I'd say even from other diets I've been on that you should be losing faster than this with all the exercise you're doing. It has to be the calories you're taking in. Do you have enough restriction that you can only eat about a cup-cup and a half each meal? Have you tracked calories in vs. exercise out...it's easy to calculate weight loss when you have this defecit and your weight. Good luck.

Out of clothes?!! ...What's a girl to do? SHOP TILL YA DROP!!! Hey...did I miss it? How was the date? -BG

Well as far as I know, as of today I’m now done with all the “other doctors” pre-op stuff. It’s been a ‘long and winding road’ and it’s not quite over yet…I’m still on this yellow brick road to Oz and apparently I’m playing all the parts (that’s OK, I always loved dress-up)! Remember that Shoe Fairy I put up a wanted sign for HERE? Well she answered and brought me some ruby slippers when I crushed the Wicked BMI/Comorbidity Witch my first weigh in (even if I did pee my pants HERE doing it). I got my award of courage for making it through that claustrophobic 45 min. closed MRI for my heart HERE…so I’m the not-so-Cowardly Lion! I just got clearance at my visit with the Cardiologist this afternoon, and my heart MRI from last week and my EKG today were fine. So contrary to my teenagers thoughts sometimes…I do have a heart…I’m the Tin woMan! I found out this fall from the brain MRI for my migraines that I do have a brain…it’s “unremarkable” as the docs report said, but it’s a brain…so I’m the Scarecrow! If I can make it past the Wicked Witch of Insurance Paperwork with two more monthly visits at my PCP then they’ll send it all in for approval to the Wizard…let’s just hope he’s “Wise and Wonderful”. There’s no place like Bandlandia...

Yeah the tighter the jeans, the bigger the muffin top...it's like one of those stress balls...you squeeze one place and it pops out somewhere else! Hey, It could be worse, we could look like this guy...

OK, I'm watching the Today Show right now and Ann Curry is doing a follow up to the portion of her interview with the mom where the mom said she was not on welfare or using any help from the government and that she has been supporting the original six with help from her family and church. Liar...Ann's follow up; they found out that she has been getting almost $500 in food stamps per month and three of the original 6 children are receiving additional federal assistance for disabilities.

SaraEmily- Port incision pain: It sounds like it's different for everyone, but I've heard it gets better after a few weeks, but for some it's a month or more before it completely goes away. Remember that's where the band goes in as well so it's not just the incision/port, but also the abdominal wall that needs to heal there. Great job w/30 min.! -BG

At one of the three seminars I attended at the beginning of this process, a nutritionist gave out information on a study that was done on successful weight-loss patients. I thought it was interesting to hear that one of the indicators for being successful is getting enough sleep at night, but she didn’t really explain why. This paragraph is about my sleep, you can skip this and go to the next one to hear about you. I’ve always had a lot of trouble sleeping; takes me a minimum of ½ hour to fall asleep, I have to use a sound machine because I’m such a light sleeper and I wake up during the night several times. Add to that, that I’ve had frequent migraines that usually wake me up in the wee hours of the morning, and I wasn’t getting enough sleep. After having a crippling migraine for three days one week I finally sought help and am now on a medication that has been a miracle for me…and one of the side effects is that you have deeper sleep. I’ve had a few episodes where I’ve woken in the night with the beginnings of a migraine, but then I’ve fallen back to sleep. That NEVER would have happened before. It doesn’t help me to fall asleep, and I wake up groggy, but I’m getting more hours of sleep, which is good. OK, here’s why it’s good. The Today Show featured a story today where Glamour Magazine looked at all the studies that showed a correlation between lack of sleep and weight gain. People who don’t get enough sleep on average eat 200 calories more per day. Glamour got women to change their sleep to at least 7.5 hours per night…and whataya know…they lost weight (they had more energy during the day to do more). When you don’t get enough sleep the body is under stress and craves carbs and fats as an energy source. When you get enough sleep (called sleep hygiene) the leptin (hormone that regulates how hungry you are) in the brain is kept in balance. Leptin goes down with sleep deprivation, which increases your appetite. If you Google ‘sleep deprivation and obesity’ you’ll find an avalanche of recent studies on this issue. The obesity epidemic has gone up at the same rate that average amount of sleep has gone down. So get your zzzz’s!!! Here’s the Today Show segment: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29098028#29098028

Lena- now there's some accountability! USA- LOL, take advantage of those post-op pain pills to get into new sleep habits (I know, easier said than done!).

Lena LOL you're not fooling anyone...I've seen how much you're losing (I'm sure you're at least down to a 'cupcake top')!

Dear Abby, I used to read your article as a teen, but you've dissapointed me with this one...this is just so, so wrong. -BG at LBT P.S. I feel a little better now that I figured out that it was actually your daughter who wrote this answer. Tell her she needs to be a better listener...Mini-Me told you she'd preferred not to tell; she did not say she felt ashamed or guilty; and have you seen the size of appetizers lately (OK, maybe this one would help), but if you look for the real question it's there...If I don't want to share everything, what do I SAY that will put others at ease? DEAR ABBY Advice Feb. 5, 2009 DEAR ABBY: I am an obese woman who had the lap band procedure done three months ago. I am now able to eat only three or four ounces of food at a time, and I am starting to show some major weight loss. What do I say to people with whom I go out to eat when they think I am being finicky or snobbish for not eating my entire meal? I have gotten some pretty weird stares, and one of my co-workers believes I have an eating disorder. Abby, I would prefer not to come out and say that I have had weight-loss surgery, but I don't want people worried about me either. Any suggestions? -- MINI-ME IN TEXAS DEAR MINI-YOU: So many people in this country have serious weight problems, I see no reason why you shouldn't be frank about what you decided to do about yours. It's not shameful, and it should not be a guilty secret. People who know you well will find out eventually. However, if you are determined not to reveal that you had the surgery, when you eat out in restaurants, order only an appetizer. That way less food will remain on your plate.

I already have a very weak stomach and vomit easily. After reading up on the fact that vomiting can cause a new band to loosen (new stiches can come loose), or a band to slip, I've already talked to my PCP about getting a perscription for Phenergan to keep on hand. I'm pre-band.

If you do a search there have been lots of posts comparing the two. I did my research and ended up picking the LB, but I know the end results for both as far as weight loss are almost identical. The new Realize C is supposed to make them more equal, but I didn't have access to the new one and only a few surgeons have it right now since it's in the trial stage.