OH Juli

Well they were started by a minister....I'm not surprised. But yeah gay folk getting what they want! I met my girlfriend on line, outinamerica.com if there are gays looking, it's the place to go. Anti queer homophopes!

Welcome Gina. Nice to have you here. Tranam, it's hard not to compare ourselves I know. But it is an individual jouney. Don't be so hard on yourself. And KUDOS to you for quitting smoking! That's a huge accomplishment! Lisa, Jamcambra and Carol, sounds like you all are looking to exercise more. That's wonderful! Remember what they say, who ever they are, "no one ever finishes a workout and thinks it's a waste of time." Happy June!

Hello Marchies! We were on page 2?! That is so not allowed! Mary good to know you are feeling better. May was quite a month! I met my 10 pound loss goal for the month so I've postponed my first fill appoinment to July 9th! I know I'm somewhat the loner on this board, doing this with out fills...but it's working for me...I'll run, not walk, to the doctor's office when my weight loss slows down. When I doubt the band is giving me restriction all I need to do is eat lunchmeat too quickly and Bada Bing Bada Boom I PB or get awefully near to it. Read slime. EwW! As for personal challenges they are mostly in my head, like stop comparing my losses to other people's and stop trying to hurry the process along. I'm looking to hire a personal trainer but I'm waiting to see what kind of money I can put toward that. Still paying freaking co-pays from the surgery. I'm grateful for insurance, but still it's money out of the ol' budget. Know what I mean? It's raining here now, I hope it clears up by tomorrow so DD and I can go to the pool! HAPPY WEEKEND!

Lor Are you supposed to be on mushies right now? When are you allowed solids? Know that the first 6 weeks after banding are pretty miserable and white knuckling it seems to be the way through it for most. I'm grateful for my nutty doc who had me eating real food pretty quickly. However during my mushy stage I blended all sorts of wacked stuff. Regardless, the up side is that this is only temporary and soon you'll have some help from the band. It's nice to have it superimposed over unhealthy behaviors. Sometimes we need that boost from the band to give us pause long enough to get our hands around the mental stuff. Rambling..........

That reminds me of a comedian who was talking about, "getting some...when is it going to happen? who will I be with? where will I be? What will I wear?" She of course was talking about sleep. :biggrin1:

Denise three for three is fantastic! You're a real gym rat now! To answer what a person does for exercise this is my routine. Monday through Friday I do cardio 30 minutes three times a week. The other two days a week I do 60 minutes of cardio. Most of the time it's on a eliptical trainer, sometimes I do the recumbant bike or the treadmill. The same for weight training. Three days a week I do about 30 minutes and two days a week I do a full hour to an hour and a half of strength training. (We have a rocking fitness center where I work, very close to the my office so I go everyday.) On the weekends I go for a bike ride or to the pool on one day and I do nothing on the other day. I have some muscles getting stronger under all this fat! How about the rest of yous guys???

pcjumshoe- I thought that was very well put. Especially, "I say, embrace it and live through it... and "through" doesn't mean until it is over, it means pick it up and carry it around with you until you don't care that it is there and suddenly, it isn't because it means nothing to you." That's a lot of how I see things. Good, good, good.

Kity I'm one of those poor souls who works at a school 12 months a year. I don't get the summer to myself, but I am looking forward to the change of pace with the students (and more importantly my staff) gone!

Mary These are my favorites! I love to give a good butt kicking! Don't be that mom who cleans her childrens' plates by eating their leftovers. (Was that icy enough?) Are you tracking your food? Do you know that grazing is the number one way to defeat your band? Sugar isn't going to kill you, there is room for it with the band, but you need to know just how much you're putting in your mouth. Track your food. You're hungry because you're grazing and not filling your pouch...or because you're not drinking enough. Are you exercising? Aside form the pedometer what else are you doing? What about drinking? Can you do some self-reinforcement, where you won't allow yourself to eat unless you drink so much Water? You need to work with the tool that's inside your body. I mean your brain! Sure we don't want to have to think about this ,"ALL OF THE TIME" but it is way too soon to go on auto pilot and you are making some poor choices. So put the band rules back on the front burner and start working it. Butt kicking over. Much love,

Oh Dear! How frustrating! There is a 7 pound difference between mine and my surgeon's scale. I wish I could stay off of my scale. I just can't! But a general downward slide is what we're all looking for, right?

TammyJ Are you going set us up for June? MaRcHiEs IN JuNe? How about challenges? Thanks,

Meltini I like your 80/20 rule. I too also don't deny myself. But I do try to keep the calories at a certain point. I've eaten a bit of pizza, had some wine, a cookie here or there...it feels normal. Instead of feeling like I must eat the entire pizza or 6 Cookies...it's rather nice to enjoy a piece of something and beat myself up over eating too much of it. Thanks for the props too. I'm liking this process.

Lor- One other thing. I was put on mushies before I left the hospital. I was put on regular food 2 weeks out from surgery. I've been eating regular food since then. Not the same amounts as before, and I really didn't start with raw stuff right away, but I've been eating table food since pretty early on. Dr. said it was okay. The first two weeks were about setting the band and not allowing the stomach to digest/work at moving the food through but after that it was on. Now really, I do eat differently in that I keep the Protein up and the carbs and fat down as much as possible. So is the issue what you were eating or the amount of what you were eating? :confused: OH Juli

Stevee We're waiting for you! Come on over to the banded side. Do you know if your insurance requires 6 months of doctor supervised dieting? If so, you should start that now. I just saw my family doc once a month and told her lies about exercising and eating differently. I was scared to lose weight. I did however, start exercising and dieting after my 6 mos. were up so the surgery would go better. Sounds crazy but it's what I did. What's the new job anyway? Edd- we know you work at a bank. What do the rest of us do? I'm a cafeteria manager at a residential Deaf school. Juli

That had to be horrible. Ouch, ouch, ouch

Lor- I know what you mean about the emotional part of why we eat how we eat. It's a tangled knot to be true. I started seeing a therapist 14 months before I got banded. (It took the process that long to get through insurance) and I continue to see her about once a month. I swear they put the band around my brain when they put one around my stomach because my thinking about food has totally changed. But I'm new and I'm scared it will go back to how it was. But then I don't worry about the future like that. But then I'm freaking out about the damage I've done to my body by being so heavy for so long. and then I get obsessive about what weight I might be at when specific dates come along....and it just never ever stops. Well it does sometimes. My point is, there are people who are going around things with food psychologically just as you are. Holler and we'll listen with out judging. OH Juli

I'm not that far into the journey and I don't have a fill so I don't know how that changes things, but I know there's a difference in how I approach food now to how I did before. But it started in January before I was actually banded, when I started tracking the food I was eating. I had seen the nutritionist and gave her the real deal about what I ate. Easily I was consuming between 3500-4000 calories a day. She also measured my metabolism which was super healthy, I burn about 2600 daily just breathing. It was clear to me how at those numbers I was gaining. So I paused and wrote down what I was eating in fitday.com I started reducing the calories a bit every couple of weeks and to my delight I lost 23 pounds before surgery. It got my head in the right place. You need to know what's going in your body to work with the band. You need to take control instead of giving it over to the band. The band is just a piece of plastic that will only work if you work with it. I'm not saying I'm know all there is to know about being banded. I'm just saying you've got all the power in the world to make this work, you just need to choose to use it. Good Lucky. OH Juli

TMP just makes me howl! How funny! You go with that iPod and a 5am workout. You are doing great! Thanks for the kind words. Juli

TCTX- Ahhhhhhhhh, you been being bad! If you didn't tell us we'd never have known. We can't see your yellow/orange stained cheeto fingers! There's always tomorrow. Bad days happen. J

Lucy and Edd Thanks for your sympathy. My sweetie is fine, we are worried however for her mother and grandmother. They will be fine, I'm sure but there's going to be much greif to sort through before that happens. Thanks again. Juli

That's a tough one. I too do what you do, I only see where I need to go, not where I have been. It's hard. We are hardwired to look for negatives not positives about ourselves. But the good thing is we can override that programing. So, when looking in the mirror, for every negative thing you see compliment yourself on something you like looking at. Lots of positive self talk will help you through this. At least that's what I'm doing. Good Lucky. OH Juli

jmcambra Yesterday was only one day in a lifetime of days. Yes, we all have out of control moments. They happen. It is what we do to regain control that matters. Don't let yesterday's chip determine your entire future. So dust yourself off, toss any chips in the house away and get back to eating like you know you should. (And put all those chips in your fitday tracker so you know what a really bad day can look like.) You'll be okay. HTH, OH Juli

Hi my people. My weekend ended a bit short due to a death in the GF's family, her uncle. But we still managed to have a good time for the bit of time we were together. We did bike and work out and grilled some amazing food. We were able to laugh and shop and find some bras! I got back to town a bit earlier than planned. Yesterday I spent the day at the pool with my DD. We both got too much sun, but it was fun! I don't know about the rest of you and where you live, but Memorial Day is the offical opening of the pool season in Ohio. And about Memorial Day, thanks to everyone who has served or is serving our country. I am grateful. OH Juli

I second the tea theory. I make a pot of tea. 32 ounces. I pretty much say no food until the tea is gone. You can do the same with Water or other beverages. Or you know the V8 commercials. Knock yourself in the head and say, "I'm bored, I'm eating because I'm bored, and that will keep me from my goal." Then stop eating. You'll feel like a Kook talking to yourself, but it might get you to stop. Good Lucky. OH Juli

Carol I find it interesting that you are ending that love affair. I to am a foodie to nth degree. I really struggled with how to recogcile my love with this new life. I have to say I've become the consumate food snob. My standards are different and my values have changed. I don't look for the flakiest croissant dough. I look for the best use of carbohydrates. Instead of eating regular oatmeal or instant I go out of my way to get steel cut oats. I've also moved in the direction of really understanding the nuances of nutrition and what it does for the body. I see this as a way to keep my love and have it benefit me at the same time. Also all those years of baking, you can know that when that dry piece of birthday cake with waxy icing passes beneath your nose, it's not worth eating. (See food snob talking!) Oh, I'm getting way into teas and slowly starting to learn about wines... :hungry: OH Juli