Zannie

Probably a silly question, but how do we join? By the way I love your before and after pics, you look awesome!! To “join” a challenge...just stop by the new thread & say HI – and then post updates as the month progresses for support, motivation, & encouragement. That’s all there is to it! Hope to see y’all over there, too! Here’s the link to our June Challenge thread. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/feb-bandsters-june-challenge-35869-new/<O:p <O:p</O:p Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: June Challenge ~ Level 1 1 of 15 workouts (30 minutes a day for 15 days)<!-- / message -->

This is my month. Even if just at the 1st level! No, really...when I actually DO it, the 45 min mark is easy to hit, it's just remembering to DO it in the 1st place that gets me. Argh. Somebody, whip me into shape, please! Officailly, I'm gonna pledge 15 days, but I know I need to do more. I know I do. So hopefully I'll pass the Level 1 goal & adjust my Level! Who's with me?!? :cheer2: Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: June Challenge ~ Level 1 :first: 0 of 15 workouts (30 minutes a day for 15 days)

June... June? How can that be right? :confused: My gosh, it is almost JUNE!! BabyGrl, I'm in & up for anything. What were you thinking, Ms. 5K-in-July? I need to get my butt in gear!!!!! Fill #3 is tomorrow & I'm hoping with some real restriction that I'll feel more motivated! But I appreciate the accountability of a challenge! Just think of how bad off I'd be without them... No, on 2nd thought, don't think about it at all. Suzanne

Just started last week...:omg: Other than during my 2 pregnancies, I've never had this issue before! I thought it might have to do with not getting enough water, but now I'm thinking that it's a lack of fiber because I'm avoiding all grains with this whole low-carb sh..tuff! Gerber makes a sweet baby food (in glass jars or plastic tubs) that is a mix of prunes & applesauce. I've taken to stealing some from my DD's stash! :kiss But things have gotten to the point where I might invest in some of that clear Benefiber & mix it in with my daily protein shake. :phanvan Sounds delicious... :Banane41:

I guess this question ought to be posed back on the full Feb thread... see if we can spur everyone on to another challenge? :guess I have not looked at the April Bandits challenge thread, so I can't comment, but I'm up for anything. Okay - so clearly I'm not UP for it , but I am willing to go along with whatever the majority rules! :biggrin1: If you've got a plan in mind, BabyGrl, lead the way & I shall follow!

You go, Babygrl! :cheer2: I am so impressed by your conviction to exercise! :wow2: Tell me again, when's the 5K run? You really should be proud of yourself!! :clap2:

Oh, I've totally neglected the Water this weekend! My routine is all off... Will I ever get my a$$ in gear??? And I've had some many "one treat one kill me" moments in the name of "a holiday" eating...ugh! I had my 1st "stuck" moment, with slime - thank you, over a pesky tater-tot. I had them after this 2nd fill already - guess I just mis-chewed this time. The pain, the pain! But I did not PB, so that is good. Whine, whine, whine, moan, whine. On a positive note, the blahs seems to be passing a bit... And I am scheduled for a 3rd fill (what will probably be just a top off off the 2nd one to tweak it, or so I'm told) this Thursday. Anyhow, just wanted to check in with y'all after the holiday weekend! :usa2: Hope y'all had a good one! Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: May Challenge ~ 20 & 20 WATER: 10 of 20 days drinking 64oz EXERCISE: 12 of 20 workouts (30 min)

Beth -- so good to hear from you! I'm glad that your leak was caught so early on... Whew! Do you know what size band you have now? I recall all the confusion when this topic came up with your original one! :biggrin1: How long will you be in TX? I presume you've got to treat this like the original surgery never happened, expecting the same recovery time & food restrictions etc...am I wrong? Just think -- this time you know exactly what's in store! I wish you a speedy return to full health and load of luck with your new band! Keep us updated...though I guess you get to be a Feb & a May bandster now! Suzanne

I had my 2nd fill a week ago Thursday. I'm up from 4cc to 6.2cc in a 10ccVG band. But it feels as if I've had an unfill! I swear I can eat more now than before my 1st fill! This is crazy! I'm watching the "whats" but the "how much" is more than 1/2 cup of food... I've lost 2 or 3 pounds in the week since the fill according to my home scale (unreliable however), but I am hungry between meals (growling now) & eating more than band-portions at meals. AND I'm craving all sorts of stuff during the day, too! :hungry: Not that I'm giving in to those cravings for the most part, but that's only my willpower stopping me from heading out to buy food! I don't know what's going on here!! :help: Would the rest of you call in for another fill so soon (keeping in mind that slow-n-steady reportedly has better long-term success than fill-fill-fill), or keep on keepin' on until June 21st (my next scheduled fill)? It's Friday now & my clinic only does fills on Thursdays, so it'd be 2 weeks between my 2nd & 3rd fills. What do y'all think? Suzanne

:wow2: I am so proud of you both, TravelGirl & BabyGrl!! I'll miss the Water mark by a few days, presuming I don't falter as the month draws to a close. I was very consistant in the begining (Feb/Mar) with the exercise, but I've never gotten into the swing of things with all this frigin' water! Which is odd, because I USED TO chug on water all the time. It's this sip-sip-sip business that's killin' me! If I really get to count each 30mins as a seperate entry on our challenge ticker, BabyGrl , then I just might hit that target this month! I've still got 7 days left to do 11 workout. But as I recall from last month that didn't count! Are you trying to tell me the rules have changed?!? :biggrin1: Keep up the hard work, Ladies!:cheer2: Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: May Challenge ~ 20 & 20 WATER: 10 of 20 days drinking 64oz EXERCISE: 9 of 20 workouts (30 min)

Tracy, I have the same problem with shirts! UGH!! It's so frustrating to put on clothes that ought to fit, if only it wasn't for my ARMS!! :omg: I've literally cut the arms off, hemmed the armholes under, and worn "matching" shirts as sleeveless button-ups with a t-shirt underneath. And while I've "only" lost 40 lbs so far, my arms are definitely changing (for the worse) already. My arms sage from pit to elbow! (My inner thighs are rippled now, too, BTW.) I've got a feeling I'll be one of those 3/4 sleeve shoppers by the Fall. I might actually fit into "regular" plus-sized clothes by then, so thank goodness they're in fashion now! I'd be very interested in PS without the huge scar to get rid of the terodactyl wings that are surely in my near future... If anybody finds some good info on that new style of surgery, please post the link!!

My mom has gold ring with a heart-shaped yellow topaz with seed pearls set around it which my dad gave to her in the '69-'70 time-frame. She hasn't worn it since I was a little girl. And I have always loved it! Since those are ~quite coincidentally~ the birthstones of my kids, I have secret plans to ask for it once the ring will fit my finger again. Shhh! :kiss Who knows if she'd pass it along to me "now" or "in the end" but it never hurts to ask! Actually, both my mom & daughter were born in June... Pearls are now the substitute for Alexandrite, just as Citrine has come to replace the yellow Topaz for November babies. Oh, how my mom has always wanted a chunk of natural alexandrite!!

Travelgirl -- Hope you are feeling better today...:sick Babygrl1234 -- What's the word on your fill? And too funny about the scale intervention! :heh: I pop on mine every morning just to see which direction it is headed! But I put no faith in its numbers since both my kids "hop" on it, too. I try to get down to my clinic's scale every Wed or Thurs, but that doesn't happen each week. I learned my lesson after adjusting my ticker to reflect a home weigh-in only to discover the very next week that the numbers at home & the numbers at the clinic didn't match. Mentally, I gained 2 pounds in about 45 minutes! :omg: Argh! So now I only update the ticker after a clinic weigh-in & I monitor the scale at home only to make sure I've not GAINED or plateaued.:nervous Keep up the good work, girls! :clap2: Are we meeting up again in June? (Did I just say JUNE?? How can it be nearly summer already?) Suzanne :kiss2: Feb'07 Bandsters: May Challenge ~ 20 & 20 WATER: 8 of 20 days drinking 64oz EXERCISE: 7 of 20 workouts (30 min)

Babygrl -- I did it! :clap2: I participated in a 1-mile Fun Run/Walk yesterday with my kids, DH & Mom! So what if we were dead last across the finish line?!? I already KNOW it takes me half an hour to walk a mile at my fastest pace!!!! My goal was to finish the "girls" race before the "boys" race began, and that we did!!! It wasn't a "K" anything, but it was a group event -- and I did it!! :what: I owe you my thanks, I wouldn't have considered participating if you hadn't mentioned the 5?8?K you are training for... So thank you, thank you!

I'd wager you've become complacent about chewing because your restriction isn't what it once was. I know I have!!! The word adjustment is perfect for what we get to do with fills -- adjust the band, and adjust your bad habits! And the plateau really makes me think you could use a fill, frankly. How's your weight loss now...? If you're not loosing 1-2 lb. a week, and can eat more than 1/2 cup of food at a sitting, then it's adjustment time at my clinic. (Listen to me talk as if I actually know something! This from a girl who didn't loose a single ounce between May 5th and May 17th. ) Suzanne

My engagement ring was my grandmother’s (and my brother inherited her band to give his bride/harvest its stones). They’re a gorgeous platinum set from Tiffany’s, and my part is a 1.3K round diamond with baguettes on either side. But...it no longer fits! Wahhaahh! :think I’ve gained about 100 lb. since our wedding, so the diamond ring & my plain platinum band sit in the safe deposit box. I have 3 replacements to my original set, all fakes. During my 1st pregnancy everything swelled, and I really hated not being able to wear my wedding ring, so DH presented me with a 3-stone “Absolute” ring from HSN & a gold Claddagh ring guard. My fingers shrunk after the baby, but not enough to wear the real stuff again, so DH bought me a white gold band from QVC, set with Diamonique. With my 2nd pregnancy, the swelling was even worse, so DH turned to HSN again for a channel set round Absolute band -- my favorite of the fakes. The HSN channel set is too loose now, but the QVC ring is still too small. I can’t wait to wear the genuine set again though! I don’t regularly wear any other jewelry anymore -- not even a watch! And I used to have a huge (mostly costume) earring collection! I do have a fondness for heart pendants which DH has catered to a bit over the years, but I just stopped wearing jewelry at some point. For special occasions I like to wear my kids’ birthstones (pearl & citrine), my own (peridot), a locket given to me by my mother, or one of the heart pendants. And I am looking for an amethyst piece to represent my Lap-Band, since I was banded in Feb & that’s the birthstone of the month. But I’m not sure which direction I want to go for that (circle pendant, journey pendant, band ring, or something more artsy with a polished amethyst rather than a faceted stone). Anybody else get a bobble to commemorate this “milestone” in our lives? Suzanne

Okay, so maybe not cured cured, but my single co-morbidity is gone! :clap2: For the 1st time in my life, I had high cholesterol at my check-up in November. I’d made that appointment in the 1st place after a scare while camping – my heart began to race uncontrollably & to a frightening degree as I was walking uphill to our campsite while pushing our 2 kids in their stroller. It was the test results & the camping, in combination, that brought this surgery to the forefront of priorities. At the check-up, everything came back fine except my cholesterol, which was astronomically high. Allow me to make a chart: GOALS Total: 100-199 / Triglycerides: < 149 / HDL: 40-59 / LDL: < 99 Me-Nov’06 ……... 268 / ……………… 249 / … fine @ 48 / ….….. 170 Me-May’07 …….. 178 / ……….…...… 137 / ………... 40 / …....... 111 I’m cured! I’m cured! I’m cured!! It’s time to leave for my 2nd fill and I’ve really been feeling discouraged because my diet since Saturday has been just horrible. I’m sure I’ve lost nothing over this week, and I have so far to go… But I’m revved up now…because my co-morbidity is CURED!! :dance: Remind me of my enthusiasm when I haven’t eaten solid foods for 96 hours and am about to pull out my hair! I’m 3-months post-op as of Tuesday & I was hoping to hit 40# by this week, I shall soon see if I made my goal. Okay, so thanks for letting me gush! :humble: Suzanne :high5:

Okay, so maybe not cured cured, but my single co-morbidity is gone! :clap2: For the 1st time in my life, I had high cholesterol at my check-up in November. I’d made that appointment in the 1st place after a scare while camping – my heart began to race uncontrollably & to a frightening degree as I was walking uphill to our campsite while pushing our 2 kids in their stroller. It was the results & the camping, in combination, that brought this surgery to the forefront of priorities. At the check-up, everything came back fine except my cholesterol, which was astronomically high. Allow me to make a chart: GOALS Total: 100-199 / Triglycerides: < 149 / HDL: 40-59 / LDL: < 99<O:p</O:p Me-Nov’06 ……... 268 / ……………… 249 / … fine @ 48 / ….….. 170 Me-May’07 …….. 178 / ……….…...… 137 / ………... 40 / …....... 111 I’m cured! I’m cured! I’m cured!! It’s time to leave for my 2nd fill and I’ve really been feeling discouraged because my diet since Saturday has been just horrible. I’m sure I’ve lost nothing over this week, and I have so far to go… But I’m revved up now…because my co-morbidity is CURED!! :dance: Okay, so thanks for letting me gush! :humble: I’m 3-months post-op as of Tuesday & I was hoping to hit 40# by this week, I shall soon see if I made my goal. Remind me of my enthusiasm when I haven’t eaten solid foods for 96 hours and am about to pull out my hair! Suzanne :high5:

Call your doc if the surgical sights look angry red (infection, not tape-allergy) -- you don't want to mess with that!!! I felt great the day of my surgery, but the next 2 days after I felt like I'd gotten the worse ever case of the flu. The 2 incisions at the port area hurt something awful whenever I'd bend or stretch or twist or cough or laugh; I didn't really notice the other 3 except that they itched due to tape-allergy. I wouldn't call it burning though... The 1st couple of days I didn't feel hunger at all, and then once it hit I was hungry for 2 days straight before it subsided again. I had wicked gas, and very soft stools, but not full-on diarrhea. Gee, that all seems so long ago & I'm only three months out as of this week. I will have my 2nd fill today (much needed as just last night I ate a full-sized, pre-Band meal). Hang in there -- the 1st 2 weeks were the worst! It's been downhill from that point on... You can do it!!!!

Where do you live, Travelgirl? Awh, crap - banded in Kansas. I guess that means you're not available to scrub my house from top to bottom over here in Virginia then, eh? Poop. :biggrin1: I was really pulling for Molly Maids as a Mother's Day present (even though I'm a stay-at-home-mom!!!!), but no such luck!

Rebecca -- I'm glad your visit to the doc was productive! Good luck with the Celexa. Hopefully you'll be feeling like your old self soon. I, too, saw my PCP on Tuesday (3-months post-op visit to recheck cholesterol, my only co-morbidity). He ordered a bunch of blood tests to rule out other causes for my blahs. And said it's natural for my(our) body to try to fight the weight-loss any way it can...to think of this as the detox stage while the body resists starvation, and have patience with myself & the process. Over & over again, he told me how proud he was of my efforts -- which was really nice to hear, ya know? He also said to remember that this isn't going to happen over night (not that I thought it would) and suggested focusing on a goal a few months from now to relieve some of the pressure to loose, loose, loose. We're planning a week at the Outer Banks this summer (my 2nd vacation in 5 years), so I've thrown myself into that as a distraction. And while I haven't cleaned , I did make a delicious dinner the other night (pineapple-teriyaki meatballs with Piña Colada sauce ~ over rice for DH). :hungry: I'm feeling a bit more enthusiastic than I have been, so we'll see if I can keep the momentum going! Suzanne

Ha! :heh: A bun...yummm! If you're gonna go, that's the way to GO! :hungry: Last night I was cleaning out the freezer before an overdue big grocery shop and I thought I'd just bake up the last of a the tater tots (for my kids) & popcorn shrimp (I love fried shrimp) to reheat today & tomorrow. I portioned out the shrimp for my dinner, wasn't the least bit full, so I went back for more... I ended up eating all the shrimp & all the tater tots!!! I haven't had potatoes at all while not on mushies! And that's was a bigger serving of food than I would have eaten pre-Band!! ARGH! What the hell was I thinking?? Oh yeah, I remember. I was thinking, "Well, this is my last solid food for 4 days, so..." :phanvan Plus, my DH brought me a 7-11 Crystal Light Slurpee on his way home (my "normal people" treat that's not straying from the plan, but makes me feel like I've cheated) -- and I ate all of that, too. On top of that, I didn't hit the Water mark or exercise yesterday. Ugh. And today's my 2nd fill!!!!! A) how awful to have eaten all this bad food 1st on the weekend & then again last night just before weighing-in, and looks like this fill is coming in the nick of time! Suzanne Feb'07 Bandsters: May Challenge ~ 20 & 20 WATER: 7 of 20 days drinking 64oz EXERCISE: 6 of 20 workouts (30 min)

What's a "protein pak"...? Enlighten me!

I'm not alarmed yet, but YES, mine is falling out now more than it was a few weeks ago. I put a hair trap down on the shower floor this weekend... :phanvan Lucky for me, I have tons of hair (even if it is baby fine) and stylists are always saying "we'll thin this out a bit" when I get my hair cut! Biotin (a vitamin) is what everyone at my clinic uses to help with hair-loss. I didn't take anything extra than what a multi-vitamin offers...but it was recommended. Hindsight!!!

Hey y'all! :wave: How's everybody doing? Good to have you back, BabyGrl! I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day weekend. Mine was fun ~ and active, too. Plus ... I got in all my Water for the last 3, yes, THREE days! Now, nobody faint on me!:faint: Two out of three ain't bad, right? Because my diet has been just awful! We were at the festivities for Jamestown's 400th Anniversary on Saturday (read: junk food vendors & no diet/band-friendly food in sight!), Mother's Day brunch was delicious & low-carb but fattening, and then I was even treated to a special Mother's Day dinner (coconut shrimp & cheesecake), too! Yum-O! I'm going to regret the weekend of "cheating foods" come Thursday, but I'm happy to say that while I ate poorly I did NOT overeat!! I'm taking that as a point in my favor! :biggrin1: That's right -- I go for my official weigh-in and Fill #2 on Thursday! :clap2: ____________________ Suzanne :high5: Feb'07 Bandsters: May Challenge~20 & 20 WATER: 5 of 20 days drinking 64oz EXERCISE: 6 of 20 workouts (30 min)