elysenoland

YAY! I've been really good about going to the gym, too. 5 days a week for an hour a day. Can't really tell if my clothes are fitting better...I've lived in yoga pants for so long! Can't wait to get the boxes of clothes out of the attic from when I was skinny! Congrats, it seems that 6-7 cc may be the mark for both of us!

Sunny-- As I'm sure you've read on here, a lot of us have only lost weight the first couple months on sheer willpower alone. If you're getting things stuck, then you have some restriction. I still feel like I'm eating too much, even though the scale continues to drop. Here's what my Dr. and Nutritionist told me. Don't eat more than a cup. If you are hungry in two hours, eat a half cup of something, then eat your regular cup at the next meal. Don't stay hungry and eat more. And, most importantly, try to recognize if it's head hunger. I'd suggest keeping a food journal. Even though you may feel like you are eating a bunch, when you look at what you eat (write down EVERYTHING), you may realize you aren't really. Good luck!

You're gaining muscle and losing fat! Muscle weighs more than fat. Have you taken your measurements? It's a great NSV.

Aww, Ginny. I know what you're going thru. My hubby works till midnight and I, too, had gotten into the habit of staying up (often till about 1 or 2), then have to get up with kids at 630. Although I wasn't eating too much bad stuff, I was eating more, I think because I was tired, so I ate to spike my blood sugar and stay awake. It was AWFUL breaking that habit of staying up late. I'd go to bed at 10 and just lay there. I still have issues with having a "bad day" here or there, where I eat something stupid, like white pasta--and I can see a difference on the scale for the next couple of days. It's very difficult for me to give up the white stuff--but I keep trying. So, don't beat yourself up, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get on with it. Everyone has a bad day here and there and you shouldn't chastise yourself. Just move on. I know you can do it!

Well, I think I may have hit the sweet spot. Fill a week ago, and have lost 7 pounds since, can only eat about 3/4 cup, 3 times a day, and have to force myself to do breakfast. Woo hooo!!

See, my doctor is not in network with my insurance company, which is why it surprised me that they were willing to write all of that off.

Got my insurance info today from the surgery. They billed the insurance 16000. Insurance says I'm responsible for $570. All insurance paid was $855, they wrote off the other 14000+. So I called the Drs office, to make sure they weren't going after me for it, and they said no, they had already adjusted my account. How can they do surgeries for 1400 bucks??

So I went in for my second fill today, didn't have much restriction this week. I had 3.5 ccs put in a 10 cc band three weeks ago, he put another 3.5 cc in today. I had to do barium swallow 5 times until he was happy with the restriction amount on the fluoroscope. Definitely feel tighter.

It is a high intensity bike class....where you spend a whole heckuva lot of time standing up and peddling. The time you do spend sitting down leaves your rear end so sore you won't sito comfortably for a week. In a word....torture.

Yay Ginny girl! I'm so happy for you! Nine pounds in a month is nothing to sneeze at....that's over 2 a week, which is the upper threshold of how much we should be losing. Plus since you had some in at surgery, you'll hit your sweet spot sooner I bet!

GINNY!!!! Let us know how your fill went!

Let me just tell you that I have to force myself to go every day, and if I don't go as soon as I drop the kids at school, I will make every excuse all day long not to go. So, I'm no saint here. And it really helps that I am a stay at home mom. No rushing to get the gym in and then get showered and go to work. I've been that route and I know how difficult it is to fit in gym time when you're working full time. Something is better than nothing!

LOL!! I took a spinning class a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't walk for DAYS!! You are SO right about it being torture.

Ok, so who is doing what for exercise? I'm struggling with what I should be doing. I do cardio 4 to 5 times a week-elliptical for 25 minutes. I also do strength training three times a week, but wonder if there is any reason until I burn off some more fat? I actually have quite a bit of muscle according to my dr. (lean body mass is 125 lbs)--and don't want to build any more. Anyone??

Hey Wannab, I feel your pain. I'm sorry you are feeling so frustrated. I think a lot of the initial month or two is dealing with head hunger. Somedays I feel like I'm over it, and that if I'm busy and going to the gym and getting on with my day, I'll look up at 7 pm and realize I haven't eaten since 10 am. Other days, especially when I'm bored, I feel hungry all the time. I've only had one fill, and don't feel a lot of restriction, can still eat more than I feel I should be able to, and let the guilt of eating too much guide me, instead of the band. Anyway, I'm assuming you are down in the dumps, which always makes eating and feeling hungry a lot worse, which causes the downward spiral of eating. I don't really have any words of advice for you...just wish you luck. I think if you can keep your head up, and convince yourself the band WILL work, maybe you can conquer the hungries. Elyse

When you go in for your fill, they'll probably have you drink some barium and watch on the fluoroscope to see if it's passing ok, and if the band is restricting....they'll know then. Do you get the golf ball in your chest while you're eating? If so, that's a precursor to vomiting and it means you didn't chew well enough or took too large of a bite. Since it's only happening every so often, it's probably no biggie. My Dr. says if you slip your band you are gonna know it, cause the pain is bad. Maybe you are eating a certain thing that doesn't sit well with it? Is there a certain food that makes you vomit (bread?) For me, chicken doesn't go down very well. Good luck! Let us know....

My doctor said anything around the size of a pencil eraser is fine, anything else needs to be broken down to that size. Now, if you have controlled release pills you need to do something else, cause you can't break them up--it ruins the release. I take chewable vitamins...and it took me three different kinds before I could find one that didn't taste totally nasty. I use the centrum chewable in orange, and the viactiv chocolate calcium chews.

Ginny, I know you are feeling poorly. BUT LISTEN UP! You are doing fantastic! I look around here, and feel the same way....damn, I've only lost 16 lbs in 6 weeks. ONLY??!? Excuse me? That's pretty good! Any other diet and we would be doing cartwheels for having lost that much. So, don't compare yourself to others. You are doing great. Keep it up! Elyse

33 lbs in a month and a half is fantastic!

How often does everyone weigh in? Do you notice, if you do it daily, it can vary 3 to 4 lbs up and down--or is my scale just a piece of crap?

Had none in at surgery, first fill one week ago at 3.5 cc. Worked great....for a week. I'm still full on a lot less food, but definitely not where I feel I need to be. We all knew going in, that it took a while to hit the 'sweet spot', but I'm confident in six months we'll all be WAY down!

Just read a fantastic book and wanted to share it with all of you. It's called 'Skinny Bitch', and despite the title, isn't just for us girls. It really makes you take a long hard look at the nasty stuff we put into our bodies....aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, etc. I'm not ready to do the whole vegan lifestyle, so I'd recommend skipping the chapters about meat, but it's an excellent read, and I'll tell you what, sure helped me with my Pepsi and white bread cravings! Elyse

I'm curious if anyone elses doctor told them not to gulp liquids. They showed me xrays of a gal who had gulped water and it blew up her esophagus. I'm horrible about doing this, after I work out. So, everyone, be careful!

So far, this fill business sure works. Had my first fill on Tuesday, 3.5 cc. Liquid diet for two days--no biggie, no appetite anyway. Ate a bit of lobster last night, not much. Protein shake for breakfast today, lunch was some cottage cheese and a teeny bit of fish. Test time--dad took me to dinner, at a Mexican restaurant, boy was I worried. Could only eat about half of one enchilada and have been full ever since (six hours ago). YAY!

Try drinking something warm before you eat (hot tea or broth), it seems to loosen up my band.