Pinkylee

It's a windy day here in Texas and in many places across the U.S. I'm afraid I won't have a hair left on my head if I don't wear a hat. WHEN IS THE HAIR LOSS GOING TO END? ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!

I would have asked my family to help me remain anonymous. I would have postponed my second fill. I was averaging one - two pound loss a week and wanted to see the scale move quicker. I'm just now getting over frequent PB's and the fill was mid August. I'm hungry as a bear, but I'm waiting for the next fill until after Thanksgiving and maybe even Christmas. Carol I am sorry for your loss. I'm sure your Mom would love to see your accomplishments. How can we know, but what she does?

Cassandra I'm down 45 and I've lost from 20 - 22 to a 16. Believe me, it's worth working towards. Good luck.

Avilla, I'm no expert, but try using the "edit" button at the top of your screen and highlight and cut out the blank spaces. If that doesn't work, PM a moderator. Socalgal Maybe I'm living in dreamland, but I'm hoping to get to goal, go on a maintenance diet, and go for a gradual unfill. Once at goal weight perhaps our bands won't be very restrictive and we will be able to enjoy more unsoluable fiber. I hope I'm always a little restricted, but it would be nice to eat popcorn or more than a few bites of corn. I know some people eat these things, but I'm too scared. This afternoon I was too hungry and that was my last apple.

I can't remember who, but one of the moderators lost their band over too much brocolli several years back. We were cautioned against fibrous veggies, esp brocolli and asparagus. Is it possible to "get things down" and still have a problem?

Melissa You've made a good point. Sometimes weather change can play a role in how hungry, etc. we are It also could be all the food hype surrounding Tgiving. Holiday stress can work on anyone. I have a food question. Are apple peals a no-no. I love apples (the granny smith are too pulpy for me),especially golden delicious. I usually eat part of the skins and feel guilty. Veggie question too. Many seem to be able to eat the new oriental cabbage, ramen noodle salad. Should we be eating anything so fibrous. I know brocolli is off limits. How can we know a potential threat?

Barbara465 and 12, So looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Barbara465, man I feel your pain. I wish I could give you some restriction. Sometimes I think my restriction is more irritation. You are so good about chewing. I'm not so careful and I drink real coffee in the morning and sometimes at night too. Lately I'm wide open at night. Gotta get back to being prepared with the hard Proteins. Have you tried toasted whole grain sandwiches. (they weigh 3 - 5 ounces) They take forever to eat and last me quite a while. In fact, I've thought maybe I should switch to eating a small sandwich for dinner. You defintely don't sound as if you're eating too much. Bottom line is, I'm amazed I'm not dropping weight each week with as little as I'm consuming. I don't always weigh my food, but when I do I allow 7 - 8 ounces. I seem to be able to leave a morsel or two on my plate with that much. 4 - 6 ounces looks like not enough to me most days. Too depressing. Vent vent vent. It clears the air.

I have a poor memory. Do very well for a while, and then have a few days where my brain takes a vacation. It's a learning process. I was just like you. Never allowed myself to be really hungry. My love affair with food has ended. I look elsewhere for those little "lifts" my snacking used to bring. Food doesn't do it for me any more Read read read this forum. Good luck

Discouragement can be our best and worst enemy. Whatever you do, don't allow it to gain a foothold. It has great value in getting you off status quo if you act quickly in a positive way. I'm posting right now because my emotions were pulling my chain. I don't mind playing cat and mouse as long as I'm the cat. Just for the record, after a really great week I overdid it on my usual Sunday treat of nachos. From now on I am allowing myself no more than 7 chips at a sitting I'm enjoying my new exercise routine. A run walk with the dogs. Now I take them one at a time once around the block and then by myself once. I count 30 steps jogging (slow) and 30 walking. My heart rate is staying up and I'm hoping the new stress on my joints won't be so bad if I walk part way. Have a good week!

Poodles Glad to hear from you again. I'm wondering the same thing. (get another fill). If I weren't so gosh darn tight at times, I would. I've tried to go back to 3 small meals a day and no snacks. I can manage it until about 7:00 pm and then I'm snacking :faint: A healthy planned snack would have to be better than this. I like to go to bed very empty. It may be 2:30 a.m. before I feel hunger again. THANKSGIVING What are you guys doing? Barbara465 we know you plan on being "good" at the dinner table and decorating for Christmas. Would you share a picture or two of your accomplishments? In past holidays so many of my calories were consumed standing up--not at the dinner table. My main goal is to eat only while seated at the table. My secondary goal is to convince someone to take a walk with me. We'll be in our old hometown and I relish a walk down memory lane.

Carol I think when we are really tight it is sometimes indication of swelling, thus your weight gain. Barbara12 said it best "the weight has to go. I'm simply not eating enough not to lose". Claim the lowest number on the scale. Tell yourself that the bigger numbers that come back are temporary water weight because they are. Your nsv's may need to come from having a healthy day or a looser waistband.

Keri We're with you 100%.

Regina Take care of yourself. Glad to hear from you, but so sorry you are ill. Thanks for sharing about the pineapple juice. Maybe allergies are our culprit to fickle bands? You new fill gals keep us posted and take care. Socalgal, hang tough. Lucy, I can't tell you the number of times I've said no to a favorite treat for fear of a PB. Lately though, it's been more "why bother" or "I don't have time". Barbara465 and Barbara12 are you better or do you have the gulfcoast crude too? PS I usually weigh in my underwear, but this am I had to take everything off in order to see 199.5. DH told me he even takes off his glasses

Julie You've lost almost 3 bowling balls. Imagine carrying 3 bowling balls everywhere you go. You were and now you aren't. That's why you did it. Going slower means less loose skin for some folks. Slather on the cream each night and feel good about the current new you. This process is like a pregnancy. It seems to go by slowly, but then suddenly it's all over and nothing but a memory. If it takes two years of total commitment to diet and exercise, you will be that much stronger in maintenance. Tell yourself alcohol will be back on your list some day. I'd say a daily glass of wine has a lot better chance of being healthy for you than a daily candy bar. Lucy, I checked with my PA regarding jeans. I sometimes feel a stitch in my side. She laughed and said it was gas. Our stomachs aren't at our waists, although there are parts of my body that seem to want to head there! I kinda wondered if my loose tummy flab tucked into my jeans might be tugging on my port of something. She said no way. Wear the jeans.

I complained to a friend about my latest plateau and she sent me the following. By Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS When you're trying to lose weight, the question isn't whether or not you'll hit a plateau, it's when. Plateaus are like bad weather on a long hike: it's inevitable that you'll run into it, but knowing that in advance won't make it one bit less frustrating or annoying when it happens. Cheer up! Since plateaus are as common as rain, we have a pretty good idea what to do about them. At least one of the following techniques should help you break through a plateau and start losing again. 1. Be a Calorie Detective When clients tell me they've stopped losing weight, the first thing I ask is this: how many calories a day are you eating? Calories have a way of creeping up while we're not paying attention. Be brutally honest with yourself: food diary for a while is a great way to monitor this. And yes, sodas and alcoholic beverages count! A good calorie goal for dieters is your target weight times 10. 2. Change It Up When you're not making gains in an exercise program you change your routine. Same holds true with your eating plan. Low-carbers could go higher carb for a few days, high-carbers might switch to a plan like shake things up. 3. Try a Temporary Ban Food sensitivities can cause weight gain and bloat, and the frustrating thing is that most of us don't always know which foods are the culprits. So play the odds. Highest on the list of "usual suspects" are grains (wheat in particular), dairy and sugar. Temporarily ban all three and see what happens. 4. Take Your Workout Up a Notch Forget the "fat burning zone." High intensity intervals -- 30 to 60 seconds -- are the wave of the future. If you're accustomed to level three on your cardio machine, ramp it up to level 6 for a minute then slow down, catch your breath and repeat. Ever see a sprinter with love handles? Protein Studies show that higher protein diets make it easier to lose fat. Protein boosts the metabolism (in one study as much as 100 percent for 24 hours), and increases satiety, making it more likely that you won't overeat. A higher protein diet could be just what you need to break that plateau. 7. Try a Detox Unsupervised fasting is a really bad idea, but the idea of giving your system a rest makes sense. Try a "smart fast" of nothing but fruits and vegetables for a couple of days. The added Fiber is always helpful, and the massive amount of nutrients and phytochemicals is like "spring cleaning" for your sleep or medication. Take a look at what else is going on in your life that might need attention. Sometimes when you clean up the problems in one area of your life, problems in other areas just naturally take care of themselves. Anyone else out there struggling with a plateau? Some of these ideas might not be best for bandsters (i.e., instense workouts for newer bandsters), but it did give me cause to change my exercise time to evenings and decrease soy consumption.

I have to say Onderland does feel great even though it's already run and hid behind 200.0 this am. Go figure, exercise, water and 800 calories yesterday. Hope a new low buddy returns by tomorrow (my 5 month bandiversary)! Barbara465 perhaps the walking on top of the fill and liquids was too much for you. Maybe you should splurge on a massage or pedicure. You might have a touch of the bug that's going around. Take care. I'm still chuckling over some of these posts. NSV. Walking DVD just wouldn't work this am, so I began "jogging" around doing light housework. My darling dogs seeing me in my tennis shoes badly wanted a walk but they spend way too much time sniffing rather than walking. Finally I couldn't resist their pleas so we agreed to walk fast and stop seldom. We started out with a quick walk, and when they did stop to sniff, I jogged in place. What a wonderful workout. It's a beautiful day and I found another way to multitask with a chore (exercise) that's not much fun. Leila, how's post op treating you? Thanks for soup recipe.

I'm a toenail into ONEDERLAND! Total lost thus far: 244.5 - 199.5 = 45 pounds

Barbara, Thank you so much for the info. Thank you for giving the time it took to share. I didn't know that the port moved that much either. Good fact to know. I worry about wearing jeans. I love to, but even though they aren't tight, the waistband can bind depending on how I'm sitting, etc. Anyone else worry about waistbands? I usually unbotton mine and hope to heck I remember to button up when I get out of the car, or stand after a nice restaurant meal. It's official, I'm at Onederland. 199.5. By a toenail. We all know how fickle the scale is. I'm trying really hard to stay with 3 small meals. Aside from a bite or two while cooking dinner and a V8 this am, I've been successful. I'm going to try not to weigh for 3 or 4 days and stick with the program as best I can. I caved in and exercised this am. Hopefully I'll get in some kind of exercise tonight. I don't recall being hungrier today than yesterday. Is there such a thing as eating 3 small meals and not having a hungry, growling tummy?

Who'll win the house?, the senate? Can we really trust either party? Regardless of how the election turns out, we still have a responsibility to let our elected officials know our opinion. I heard it said on ABC today that the true victors may be the independents. Those rare Democrats and Republicans who continue to listen to constituents and vote using their brain--and ignore the pressure placed on them by their respective parties. I personally am against the war. I will be bombarding my elected officials with information that supports early withdrawal of troups. I'm not against the US using force to propagate peace. However wouldn't it have been better to use intelligence and special ops to help Iraq towards a democratic nation? The emporer has no clothes. It's a no brainer. The war is in no one's best interest.

Barbara465 Aren't you relieved over those 5 pounds? Thanks for sharing. I've definitely "morphed" the original instructions to suit myself. Do we have to drink liquids only in a.m.? I've dropped my protein shake and eat a hi protein cereal instead. It was a move to conserve calories.

I drank V8 when I was really hungry and leaned on the fact that so many of you were enduring lots of liquids and pain with new fills. If our new fill gals could, then I could do without the between meal snacks. (I hate liquid days) I also ate l/2 toasted sandwich and they take me forever to eat and keep me really full. The bread is very thin and I toast it twice. Hopefully it's going down - seems to, but I am very careful with this.

Barbara12 Have you posted those 4 pounds yet? Congrats on your loss.

Socalgal I forgot you were totally unfilled. How's that going? Congrats on your resolve. I love your golden California hills. When's the next hike? All you other new fill gals, I'm pulling for you. Evening exercise was ok, but I think I'll go for an am walk and hopefully a pm eliptical. Evenings are too unpredictable. I almost missed the workout and it was defintely a short one when I finally got around to it.

Carol, I'm trying the night time routine. My theory is that the increased activity in am could be increasing my appetite. Have you noticed this? I have eaten less today, but I still haven't jumped on the machine. I'm headed for my tennies right now.

Christa How about there be no "challenge"--just a post on Monday of how well we did for the week? I could use it. Tough day today without my regular exercise. Hope to get to it tonight or it'll be another depressing day tomorrow.