Pinkylee

Lucy-- You are one determined lady! Way to go! I'm dreading the 3 days plus one week of liquids and mushies after my next fill! Can't imagine 5 weeks.

Praise God for allowing me to have insurance that allowed this surgery! I haven't been at 214 (today's weight) in over 14 years! God has been my source of strength. My enabler to follow the Lapband guildelines. He must need me around a little while longer. My health was slipping badly before the surgery. One more praise. Praise God for our new church in our new home town. Even our adult children enjoy attending church with us.

Teresita: I'm thankful for your positive spirit. "See" you around--next week.

PNut-- I'm slippin' bad!! Going for a fill on Tuesday and I guess I'm enjoying food a bit too much b4 the dreaded round of liquids and mushies. I'm gonna avoid the scale the next few days. That's one way to handle phantom pounds. (not easy tho--I'm a weigh-in junkie)

Lucy-- Thanks for the reminder. I lost 8 pounds the first week post op. I've lost 7 pounds since my last fill 6 weeks ago. Most of my friends and family are pleased, but I can tell are somewhat disappointed that I've slowed down. I'm learning how to ignore disappointed or pitying looks. It's hard to accept that this process will take at least a year and probably longer, but it took 25 years to accumulate all these extra pounds. I'll wait.

Thanks to you all for praying. Spoke with Mom last night and she admitted she needs help with her addiction. Said she has had it on and off for many years. Your prayers are being answered. Thank you! Mom is so precious--I can't bear to see her lose her health over something like this. We have had numerous blessings lately. I am praising God for many things and especially for my new lap band friends on this sight. I'd like to begin a "tradition". Could we begin giving praise to God for something lap band related that happened during the week on Sundays on this thread? -- or Saturday for you Sabbath Keepers? Remembering we are to give thanks to God for all things--praise Him for your difficulties too. Rejoicing in all things--but very grateful for a blessed week!

:update: For the week of 8/3 - 8/9 we have the following results for the H20 Challenge: Leila 7 (still a perfect score) Pinkylee 7 Barbara4 1 Barbara12 1 Chaka Lady 5 PAB 3 (welcome!--hope it went well) Poodles 1 Cindy 1 If I missed your 8/3 week, please let me know and I'll update. I'm late posting. Busy time of year for me! If I missed you totally, please excuse me and send a pm and I will update. This has been a tough week for me H20 wise. I'm longing for my tea when I'm drinking my water. Please clear your blue smiley's and we'll start again for week of 8/17 - 8/23.

C: 215.5 Down 3 (didn't post last week--out of town) P'Nut: I've been watching 216 come and go for 3 weeks. The dreaded 220 came up again for one day after a minivacation, pizza (crispy crust), carmel apple, fudge and fries. Ok--I feel better after that confession. I'm going for a fill next Tues. I can eat anything if I eat it slow enough! Scarey!

Welcome all new Texans! If you haven't been banded yet, you'll find lots of support here! Just remember, every surgeon has a different approach on post op care. Follow your own surgeons advice as closely as you can regarding when to add solid foods after surgery. Another pit is to try a get your surgery scars to heal quickly. The scar tissue developing around your port scar helps keep the port in place. One "game plan" is enough to keep up with! The band is a permanent diet aid--not a magic wand. You have to work at losing weight. The first few weeks are for healing. Everyone wants to lose a lot and fast, but we each react differently and lose at our own pace. Be patient, work the system and you will succeed. The decision you made takes courage, but you'll be happier for it! Good luck and God Bless.

Water Challenge ends tonight for this week. I'll try to post results tomorrow a.m. The blue smiley's are still keeping me honest! I'm proud ta' be a Junebie! (That's Texan for "I sure like you guys and appreciate the info and support I get from reading your posts!)

Christa--Congrats on finding a new niche. RandiL--Antibiotics will slow any weight loss--talk to your pharmacist. There may be another med choice that would help you start losing again. How long will you be on them? Christa's plan is my same plan. I count calories and if I'm below 900--I eat some fruit--or whatever! I don't have any sweets in the house. They would make getting cals easier--but I know I'd cave in to them even if I didn't need calories. I am weak! Ok--I'm finally going for that second fill. Scheduled for Tues. a.m. The only time I get a stop signal is if I eat too fast or don't chew properly. I'm enjoying this, but the weight loss is probably due to increased activity--which has caused some new aches and pains in my 55 year old joints.

I strip down every morning after I first wake up and weigh. Unfortunately, the scale sometimes sets the tone for the day. Who am I kidding--it always sets the tone for the day. I also like to strip down and weigh after my husband leaves for work. Sometimes the scale actually goes down! I'm afraid to weigh later in the day for fear fluids and food have added a few pounds. It's my very own version of "Weigh Down". It's so nice to weigh less than my 6' tall husband after years of weighing more than him, I love comparing notes over the scale!

My Mother is my greatest supporter. Her active life inspired me to surgery. At 78 she is addicted to chocolate, seriously. She is now having chest pains and has had several cardio tests and they find nothing. Once again she will undergo these same tests. PLEASE PRAY THEY FIND OUT WHAT IS WRONG. PLEASE PRAY THAT MOM RECOGNIZE HER DEPENDENCY ON CHOCOLATE AND TURN AWAY FROM HER TERRIBLE HABIT. She has gained at least 20 pounds this year since losing control over candy. It's really sad to watch. Our last stop shopping is always to buy a candybar or a whole bag--much like an alcoholic chooses a pint or a fifth.

Poodles: I'm beginning to believe there is no "normal" for fills. What I expected from this was instant and total success--no hunger, no questions on what or how to eat--it would be easy. LOL Maybe you're meant to be tight in the a.m. If I remember your first fill, it was that way then, wasn't it? I get tight when tense situations come up. Sometimes I'm not aware I'm tense over something, until I feel that "ratcheting up" sensation. If it weren't for those painful episodes, I would have gone for another fill by now. I've been saying I want to take this slow for my wrinkles sake, but I saw my cousin (looks great) who is 5 months out and down 45 pounds and all I could think of was, hope my total loss is more than 45# in 3 more months. LOL. That would be 2# a week--more than my 1.5# a wk goal. Who are we kidding--this is tough work! Lots of patience required.

Chako Lady (Janelle) posted 6 smiley's for last week. If I missed anyone else, I'm sorry. Been in a rush since a minivacation with my sisters this week. We took their kids to Six Flags and I wore a bathing suit, rode kiddie rides (and fit in them nicely) and I did gain l.5 pounds on pure junk food (I was down 3 on Monday so I still had a small loss for the week)! It's amazing what I can eat if I eat it slow enough! I'm back at it today and enjoying "catching up" with the Junebies and a bit hungry, but thankfully back in control--one day at a time.

Quite honestly, I never liked drinking water, but the water challenge has made it easier. Congrats to everyone who is "making it" one day at a time and especially to those who are trying. Special thoughts for those of you struggling with fills and other ailments. You inspire me to grab a water and not another artificially sweetened something. Water has to be better than splenda or sweetnlow for our bodies! Have a great weekend!

I love learning new tricks and this one is priceless! Taming the dreaded PB and gas to boot! :hail: Thanks!

:update: H20 CHALLENGE: We have 3 posting a perfect week: CindyCam, Leila Raven and Pinkylee :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: Barbara came close with 6 Cathy posted 3 Poodles posted 1 (didn't keep up with posting--but is drinking more water) Congratulations on another week! Our main challenge seems to be fills. We had some real positive results last week by increasing our water intake. If you have any comments for this week--please share them. I'd like to continue posting on the water challenge for at least 4 more weeks (and longer as long as we have interest) Doesn't it take 6 weeks to develop a new habit? Thanks for posting and good luck this week. Want to join? PM me for the info.

Sorry--prior post was a reply to a PM. Excuse me!

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I had extreme pain in the middle of the night. It seemed to be in my upper stomach. The next day I didn't feel any restriction (or at least I didn't think much). You hear about pouch stretching all the time. I have since felt restricition, but it seems to be mild to moderate. If I get excited (or ride in the car with my husband (alias Mario Adretti), I feel like my band is tightening up like a nut on a bolt. I still need to learn the difference between head, heart and physical hunger. I'm staying away from fills for now. As long as I continue to lose at least one pound a week, I'll be content. My goal had been for the first fill to last 2 months. I think I'm about 3 weeks out now. The procedure was painless for me, but ohhhhhh those darned liquds and mushies for 3 days!!!! Don't want to do that too often. Sandra

Is it easy to stretch your pouch? Can you eat a proper amount of food and then get gas enough to stretch your pouch? (Had really bad pain and lots of gas after a small meal of Mexican food--pain started about 6 hours after eating) Can drinking liquids too soon after a full 6 ounce meal stretch your pouch? Can the pouch go back to normal after stretching it if you don't overfill it again? I'm worried I stretched my pouch. The pain I had after the Mexican food meal was pretty bad. My appetite has increased quite a bit since then

I love my Leslie Sansone Walk Fit tape. It's 45 minutes--so I do some chores for the first 20 minutes or so. My 24 year old son thinks high stepping while I unload the dishwasher is hilarious. I get bored exercising by myself--so I sometimes call a friend who doesn't care if I'm breathing heavy or have her on "speaker".:banana

Thanks for warning. I do have some strange and new pains now. Guess I'll find out my next fill.

What are your favorite convenience foods (frozen dinners, canned, etc.) I discovered Dinty Moore Beef Stew has only 240 cals per half can. l/3 can seems to be plenty. Nice and soft. I also like frozen meatballs--but they are about 100 cals each. Some of the vegetarian frozen burgers are a good choice. Cans of refried beans and a package of corn tortillas is another staple I like to have on hand. Anyone find something good out there?