Zannie

If you like iced latte/coffee drinks (Frappachinos etc), try this one! My kids (5 & 8) and husband ask for their own when I make mine, which is a pretty good endorsement. 1 scoop Protein powder, vanilla or chocolate flavor (I like nectar Sweets, personally) 1 tsp instant coffee granules 1 cup to 1-1/2 cups cold skim milk or Water (milk adds more protein, but water works, too) 1 tbsp flavored liquid or powdered coffee creamer, sugar free Ziz it all together in a blender, magic bullet, or with a shaker bottle. Drink it as is or served over ice. For a decadent treat, top with SF whipped cream ~ heaven! Delicious!! Really, there is nothing horrific or torturous about THIS protein shake. If you like coffee drinks, you will LOVE this! Getting in all the protein you need is hard enough, why make it taste awful, too?!? Drink up & enjoy!

I’m just over a year post-op, have lost just over 100 pounds and am stalled out… Mentally and on the scale. I’m trying to get back to basics and the 1st step there is Protein. I do remember the early days of protein-protein-protein, and not with much fondness! While I did eventually come up with a “latte-like” recipe I’ve used with all sorts of vanilla & chocolate powders, I am just sick of the cream-base. The only non-milky Protein powder I can find locally is the nectar line. I’m big on juice & kool-aid, so I was excited to test them out. In fact, I tired all the flavors last year, and didn’t like any of them on its own merits. I did buy a tub of Crystal Sky but it has a strong whey aftertaste to me thus in the pantry it remains. After that purchase I started getting sample packs of Nectar, so I didn’t have much with which to experiment. Only if I mixed them with juice were they actually palatable, but that is NOT what I was looking for newly post-op! But I’m so bored with creamy protein that I’m ready to play around with my Crystal Sky & all of the Nectar flavors again… What specific mix-in (Crystal Light, kool-aid, etc) flavor combinations did y’all successfully use to transform the different Nectar powders into tasty drinks?

Hey, Bonnie! Congrats on the arm lift! :frown: (Is that the appropriate reaction to plastic surgery? Well, you know what I mean. ) I'm so interested in your progress with having your arms done! My shirt size can't go down further because while the shape has, the circumference of my arms hasn't changed all that much since my banding. I'd have my arms done in a flash if I could afford it! Care to expand on your procedure? How much $; how much PAIN & for how long; what are your scars like currently; do you have before pics...? Everything you're willing to share, I'm eager to know! Tell all! Suzanne

Today is my 3-year anniversary. :wub: I started at 320 & am at 240 now, which is up (far more than I care to admit) from my low of 205. I’ve totally stopped exercising, a huge factor in my initial weight problem & not something solved by inserting the Band. I knew that going in, however! My eating itself is only so-so. When I eat real foods, I’m still using the band correctly & it works exactly as it should to control my hunger. I’m all about Protein 1st, then veggies (love salad), and then carbs. :lunch: Yea me! :wink2: But I’ve slipped back into the skipping meals habit & have also found that Protein shakes aren’t the only kind that goes down easily if I need to eat & am out unprepared! :sneaky: Argh. I knew that going in, too. Anyhow! I’m very thankful I’ve got my Band. I’ve had no problems with it and no follow-up surgeries related to the LAP-BAND®. Everything about me is saggy, wrinkly & hangs something awful; something else I expected going in, so I’m not complaining. I’d love to have my arms done (forget bats, I’ve got pterodactyl wings), remove the “abdominal appendage” (as I call the apron of excess), and put “the girls” back in their proper location, but there’s no money for plastics so that’s the end of that. My life is so much fuller now, thanks to the LAP-BAND®. I’m active with my kiddies & feel better at 35 than I did at 30, heck…maybe even 25. :frown: But I have to say that I do “feel” this weight I’ve gained back more than I “felt it” the 1st time I saw 240 on the upswing. :frown: And I don’t like it. :mad: I need to get back on track, particularly with the exercising – which always was & will likely always be my big stumbling block. Having had the success I did initially, I know I can do it again if I would just get on the frickin’ treadmill! I’m so glad to have achieved what I did with this tool & remain grateful for my Band! LBT was a vital part of my post-op experience & I regret letting Life's issues get between my support network & Me. Perhaps it’s time to not only get back on the treadmill, but back online with y’all, too, eh? :biggrin: It’s wonderful to hear from some familiar Bandsters & touch base with how y’all are doing at 3-years out. :frown: Can’t wait for more updates! And Happy Bandiversary! Suzanne

Are there any other VA band-newbies like me? Anybody in Williamsburg, or Hampton Roads? How’s everybody doing? I'm new to the Virginia forum & just wanted to introduce myself... :wave: I was banded on Feb 15th at Sentara Careplex in Hampton, VA by Dr. Terracina from Weight Loss Surgery Center of Hampton Roads. In the 1st 3 weeks, I lost a pound a day on average. I’ll weigh-in again on my 1-month Bandiversary before the local LapBand Support Group. Aside from some occasional port pain & a real lack of energy, I feel great! I wish I was loosing faster like so many other Bandsters seem to be doing, but A POUND A DAY sure has a nice ring to it! :eek: I'm still on the mushies diet & I’ve tried eggs, tuna salad, chicken salad, pintos-n-cheese (both Taco Bell & homemade), and mashed potatoes. (Last night I had just a little ice cream at a birthday party.) While on 2 weeks of liquids, I stuck to Protein shakes, the broth of creamed Soups, and sugar-free pudding for the most part. I'm actually nervous to start solids like salmon...:nervous My 1st fill is supposed to be March 29th, but at this point I can’t imagine a fill at all! I eat 1/4-1/2 cup of food at a sitting & am totally contented – not overly full and not still hungry, but actually satisfied. It’s frickin’ amazing! If I still feel like this come the 29th, they’ll postpone my 1st fill. I eat when I’m hungry & stop when I’m satiated. Wahooo!! I've got a heck of a long way to go, but I'm really starting to think this might work… :clap2:

Sounds great! I miss spaghetti!! Heck -- I miss PASTA! Which leads to my question... What, in general, is your experience with Pasta? I'm only able to eat a few elbow noodles before getting the "just not worth it" feeling. I'm intrigued by this idea of pasta as a pie crust though! And this sounds like something the whole family could eat (or bring for pot-luck) without it screaming LAPBAND!

My worst fears within marriage have come true…adultery. I'll be banded 6-months next week and have lost 71 of 190 pounds so far. Almost exactly 4-months after my surgery in Feb 2007, when I was down 50 pounds from my highest/surgery weight of 320 & really starting to desire again, my husband of 9-½ years began cheating with a woman who’d recently begun flirting with him at work. (Details, if you want to read them because, apparently, I need to write them: I know the dates are correct & how it started because he allowed me to read the initial e-mails when I asked. She’s our age, recently separated herself, knew he was married with kids (2 & 4) & was still coming on strong via e-mail… He replied no thanks I could never do anything that would jeopardize my marriage or family when she offered sex, but she did not drop it at all. Now, I’m in no way making excuses for the inexcusable, but I have thought he’s been depressed for quite a long while before this & I’m sure he must have been flattered by the unsolicited, persistent attention. 14 days after the 1st e-mail they kissed; by 16 days of it, he’d become unfaithful for the 1st time in his life -- a “strictly sex” cheater, not using protection. And, well…there’s nothing you can do to erase from your marriage sex with someone other than your spouse. She worked in a different department & was fired for unrelated (& unknown to me) reasons about a week after the sex started. I guess he thought it would end with that, but couldn’t stop thinking about her. She stayed in touch with him & he convinced himself that it must be love if he felt that desperate about loosing this homewrecker, uh, I mean woman. The adultery became “an affair” worthy of the word obsession. He started cashing parts of his paycheck so there’d be no paper trail, bought a “for her” pre-paid cell phone, began “having really busy days” at work to explain not being at his desk & coming home late, taking extended lunches to see her, going to her before work, leaving home to run errands that were convenient excuses to see her, skipping out on family plans, completely detaching from me and from our kids, stopped paying the bills, mowing the lawn or doing anything at all for the house… I guess these are the usual things, but to me they were terrifying & I was very suspicious!About a month into it, after a discussion about plans for my birthday deteriorated into him saying he wasn’t sure he wanted to be married anymore, I called him on my suspicions. He denied adultery, but was late from work by over an hour the next night & I would not be put off any longer.) After I forced him to admit to the infidelity which went from mid-June right through July, he told me he wasn’t sure what to do – who he wanted to be with more. Trying to keep what I believed was/is his untreated depression in mind, and loving him more than I can ever say, I asked (okay, begged might not be too strong a word) him to choose us. We’ve invested over half of our lives in this relationship (started dating in high school 16 years ago & until now were each other’s only sexual partners); surely it isn’t over after a month & a half of sex with someone else! He said he didn’t want to leave, but didn’t know if he could stay. And by the end of the night he agreed to at least see a marriage counselor once. He saw the counselor alone & then we saw her together. The meeting seemed completely ineffective – nothing new said by either of us, and no tools to help us make it to the other side of this with our marriage in tact. But she did say he’s clinically depressed & he agreed to address that with additional, individual therapy. Later that night, he said that he was still very confused, but he wanted to stay with me & try working things out with marriage counseling. So at least I’ve got something to hold on to, but… Here’s the thing… more than that my husband is/was screwing someone else (which I have plenty of issue with! :yell::censored::yell:), I have always feared that he withdrew from our sex life (which has been lacking of late & non-existent since my Banding 6 months ago) because I became too fat to be found attractive anymore. That his love for me would prove subjective & conditional even after all we’ve been to & meant for each other. (In fact, my 1st post at LBT was about that very thing.) Now, not only do I have that fear staring me in the face, but am forced to add to it that he’s been f*cking with great abandon a very thin woman who shares not one of my physical features! It’s all so new & so very raw… I don’t know how to go on, but I don’t want to give up on 16 years of being in love with my best friend, the father of my children, the only man I have ever loved!!! Despite this sickening, hurtful thing he's done to me, he really has always been a wonderful person and I can't give up hope yet that he still is... I know the divorce rate for WLS patients is said to be something like 80%… I just never imagined that I’d be part of that statistic! Are there a lot of people in my situation – a faithful husband who starts to cheat only after huge changes have been made to improve the life, health, and appearance of his wife? Or is it that the WLS patient decides that a new life means new everything, spouse included?!? How can this be happening…? I’m so hurt and angry…and feel abandoned by the very person who vowed to love me forever, even if he has decided to try marriage counseling!!! And what do I do now to reconcile my own, pre-existing now reinforced insecurities about my appearance with the new realties of a marriage facing infidelity? I know this is a long & bumpy path I’ve chosen to take by giving him a 2nd chance, what I can’t figure out is what to do next!?! Zannie 320-BMI 58.5/249 @ nearly 6-months/130-BMI 24

It's fitness challenge time, again... Any objections to the old standby? Choose-Your-Own-Challenge: Pick a target level for how often & how long you plan to workout, come to motivate & be motivated, and post your progress here -- whether you're victorious or not-quite-so-successful!! Feb’07 Bandsters: June '08 Exercise Challenge Beginner ~ 20 minutes a day Moderate ~ 30 minutes a day Intermediate ~ 45 minutes a day Advanced ~ 60 minutes a day Vigorous ~ 60+ minutes a day Level 1 ~ 3 days a week Level 2 ~ 4 days a week Level 3 ~ 5 days a week Level 4 ~ 6 days a week Level 5 ~ 7 days a week

What a fun day today was! My 5-year-old has been scared stiff of water for as long as I can recall, with no "event" that triggered his reaction. Not good for a kid who spends a great deal of his time at Grammy & Papa's house -- with an in-ground pool! But, but, but! We've been house-sitting for my parents for several days now & TODAY he finally went into the water without having a total melt-down! (Well, there WAS one, but later on while everyone else was still in the water, he walked right down the steps & across the pool to get the boat that had floated out of his reach. And just never went back to his perch on the 2nd step!) It was friggin' amazing! :ohmy: AND -- here's the relevant part -- he was eventually comfortable enough that I could swim laps (right in the shallow end with him) while he played (he's tall enough to stand well above the water)! So I got in my workout & my son actually had a fantastic time in the pool!!! Apart from my having to parade around all "saggy baggy" in a swimsuit, this has the makings of a great summer!!!! :crying: Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: June '08 Challenge ~ Moderate Level 1 10 of 15 workouts (30 min, 3 days a week)

Hey y'all! I know this is quite a bump, but has anyone been to Busch Gardens since being banded? I'll be heading to B.G. Europe in Williamsburg, VA soon & have not ridden a roller coaster in 7 years! My last ride was on Apollo’s Chariot...the part of the seat the buckles you in was quite a struggle to secure, but finally clicked -- once. (in contrast, it clicked several times in securing my husband.) I spent the ride in a panic that I wasn’t truly buckled in! And that was the end of my coaster enthusiast days... But (113 # lighter) it is time to venture back to the "BIG KID" rides again! Griffin & Apollo’s Chariot await & yet I can’t shake the notion that I’m not gonna fit!!!! :smile::redface:

I've been at a standstill for so long... And the scale is finally moving again! I've suddenly lost 4 pounds! WAHOO! I'm down 113 pounds now -- hot diggity! :smile: I know the physical activity is what's making the difference, because I've been eating crap! :redface: I'm not at home this week, so my posts are bound to be sporadic at best. Keep up the good work, SJ! And I can't wait to get a look at the new you, Andrea! Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: June '08 Challenge ~ Moderate Level 1 9 of 15 workouts (30 min, 3 days a week)

SJ, I hope your son is doing well after his surgery... And that the same can be said for you! :smile2: What's this about a cruise?!? And can you pack me in among your suitcases? Oh, wait -- they're charging per bag nowadays, so I guess THAT is out! But at least the fear of needing a seat belt extender is a thing of the past! :sad: I know you can hit that 5# goal prior to your sailing...and what a terrific reward for doing so! :crying: I've been pretty unmotivated myself...but enough is enough already! I want these changes & it's up to me to make them! I think the problem is that I'm feeling so great, physically. Leaps & bounds better than I've felt in many a year. So the drive to start feeling better is gone...even though I've still got a long way to go before my health is not at risk due to my weight. And the notion that -one day- I might "squat & recover" without fear of my knees going out from under me in the process is almost too scary to consider! But, oh, what a day that'd be -- if I can just get myself there! And that damn treadmill is the ticket, so... Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: June '08 Challenge ~ Moderate Level 1 5 of 15 workouts (30 min, 3 days a week)

Skinnyjeans? Tracy even? Am I alone here? Serves me right if so!! I have NOT been consistent with sticking to a fitness regimen for the last several months. I know, however, that consistency is KEY for me. So -- even if I'm all by my lil' lonesome -- I still intend to post here for that sense of accountability! Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: June '08 Challenge ~ Moderate Level 1 4 of 15 workouts (30 min, 3 days a week)

I agree, Christal! If I know I'm going to be eating in a pinch or at "talking" meal, I try to stick to stuff that I know will go down well -- soup, yogurt, eggs, fish, or mayo-based chicken/tuna salad. I've just started back to college & took an all-day (8-5)Saturday course for the summer semester. That necessitates 3 meals in class! Breakfast: Protein shake; lunch: yogurt and a cheese stick; Snack: homemade trail mix of cashews, dried papaya, dry oat Cereal, and M-n-Ms (I have an issue with raisins getting stuck). I also sip on bottled Water all day long.

First off -- I'm not a doctor, so don't take what I say as medical advice, just as my own opinion! With that said... I can't say if you're too tight or not, but you should NOT be regularly sliming and PBing with your meals -- that is a sign of a problem. Eating too much, not chewing enough, eating the wrong types of foods, AND being too restricted can all cause those symptoms. More significant problems can also cause the same reactions. Now, of those, which do I suspect is the problem...? Maybe a combination of a couple! If you've been taking more than an hour to eat your meals & are only have trouble when you are limited to a 1/2 hour, I'd say you're not eating right... Being banded isn't supposed to change the length of the MEAL, just the amount of FOOD! If I were to sit down for dinner and allow 1 to 1-1/2 hours to eat, I'm sure I could eat the portions you've been having, too. And personally, I can only eat 3 or 4 bites of pizza (it's the crust that gets me) before I start to feel full. That sounds harsh to my own ears, but that's not how I mean it... I would hate for you to have problems with your band because your head & stomach are not in the same place yet! It takes a while to adjust to life with the Band -- and we all go through ups & downs as we make that adjustment! But you've been banded for quite some time & I'd have thought you'd be in a more "Banded" mindset about your meals by now, even if your restriction wasn't at the sweet spot yet. The guideline I received went something like this: 2-3oz of "whole foods" Protein as the biggest portion on your plate & eaten first, followed by a smaller portion of veggies eaten 2nd, and then an even smaller serving of starchy carbs eaten last. So maybe what you need is to take a realistic look at what you're doing at meals (I hate journaling, but that's a place to start) & compare that to the materials you received from your doc when you were banded. Consult the staff at your surgery center (mine has a nutritionist as well as the surgeons) for advice!! And in all seriousness, too much PBing can cause a slip of your band and meals that are too big can cause pouch dilation over time -- that is not just scare tactics! Good luck!

I'm off to a good start with June, so far! At least I've met my goal for THIS week. :incazzato: We'll have to see how the month progresses! How's it coming, skinnyjeans? Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: June '08 Challenge ~ Moderate Level 1 3 of 15 workouts (30 min, 3 days a week)

Okay, it’s past time to start June's Exercise Challenge. I’ll take the lead. This month will be a Choose-Your-Own-Challenge…just follow the link for details! Come be accountable for your own fitness progress and help motivate the rest of us, too!

That's fantastic! :frown: :thumbup:

So I have a whopping 4 more workouts to add, that brings my total to 10 for the month of May. Pitiful, eh? I'm up for June, too, Becca! (That's my daughter's name -- she'll turn 3 this month.) I've got to get back to a regular workout regimen... My weight-loss is completely at a standstill & I KNOW that lack of exercise is the root problem!

A big old leaf of romaine or the fancy baby varieties would take forever to chew for me, too. Quite by accident I discovered that taco salads, made with shredded iceberg lettuce, were actually one of the easiest things to eat after my band. Taking my lead from that experience, I now throughly chop-chop-chop up all my dark-leaf salads, too, before taking even a single bite. Maybe that'll be a helpful hint to other salad-loving Bandsters!

For me, it's more that I can eat anything I want now. Before - on diets or off them - I would "just say NO" to may favorite foods, making the healthy choice. But then I'd spend days just craving it! And now, when I want something, I eat it. The only difference is that NOW, I can really, truly be satisfied with 3 or 4 bites of something. Bites, not FORKFULS, mind you. I could (used to, in fact) eat with toddler flatware. pizza, for example -- I eat a small salad & then drool over my 3 bites of ooey, gooey goodness & am totally satisfied the way 1/2 a pie never could've made me -- because now I don't feel greasy afterward! It's friggin' amazing! And that, my friend, is the TOOL at work. But it IS just a tool. I could still probably eat an entire cheesecake. And i love cheesecake -- my wedding cake was a 3-layer cheesecake. No amount of tightening would keep cheesecake OUT and still let other foods (chicken/fish) down. That's just a fact. And chocolate malts...yuuum-o! But I'm sure you get my point. It is far better to add a scoop of malt powder to a chocolate Protein shake than it is to drink down the real thing whenever the mood strikes! The LapBand provides the "portion control" part of "moderation & exercise" -- you still control the WHAT, WHEN & HOW OFTEN elements. And the JUST DO IT attitude regarding exercise needs to come from YOU, too. (That's been my big struggle with weight-loss all along & is no different now. Except now I don't weigh 320# & don't have THAT as a excuse NOT to work-out.) Anyhow -- salad. I do the same thing. I order a salad or fish when eating out. I chop the heck out of my salad when it arrives, but then I can eat quite a lot of it. Usually 1/2 a "meal" salad at most places. Sometimes I can finish the entire thing. I've never tried the one you mentioned, but it shouldn't be a problem if that's your thing! :crying: My fave is the grilled chk.tenderloin salad at Cracker Barrel -- they have the worlds best ranch! I limit the # of croûtons I'll eat by removing them from my plate & then chop away. Oh, my is that a good salad! I can only eat 1/2 of that one now. Salmon is a safe choice for me too - it usually isn't coated in tons of butter and it is moist, flaky & tender thus goes down well by nature without having to concentrate on chewing 40 times for every bite. (Hard to do when socializing at the table!) I can usually eat 2-3 oz of salmon & have a few bites of mashed potatoes, too.:drool: Good stuff! :biggrin2: It's good to ask questions, but don't fret -- you'll still be able to EAT & you'll have the help I know I needed when it comes to limiting the portion size of all those foods you love! Get ready! My LapBand is the best thing I've done for myself in a very very long time! :thumbup: You're next! Good luck!

Okay... 2 more, that makes it 6 this month for me. Oh, and my son graduated from preschool today. :rolleyes2: I'm fairly sure sobbing burns major calories because I sure feel exhausted when I'm finished!:target:

Congrats on the Band date, Jennifer! And on getting right to what you needed to do to improve your health. :confused_smile: Being Banded was the best thing I've done for ME is a very long time... I live in Williamsburg, am a stay-at-home mom of 2, & I'm 15 months out from my surgery -- down about 110 of my apx 200 excess pounds. Remember, the Lap Band is only a tool & not a magic pill. You have to work WITH it, not against it. The new way of eating is an adjustment, and any exercise at all is a real life style change for me, but I have NO regrets at all. My world is opening up again in ways I hadn't even realized were closed. In fact, I have just started back to college for those last few courses between me & my Bachelors. For the summer semester, my class meets at Meadowbrook High up in Richmond. Anyhow, I noticed your post & just wanted to welcome you to LapBandTalk. I wish you much success! Good luck with your Band!

2 more, bringing me up to 4 for May.