Diva Girl

Hi Everyone.... It seems that a medic alert bracelet for banding is a good idea. Have you all gotten one? What does it say?

Hi August Band-ettes..... Sounds like everyone's kind of going through the same thing. Feeling hungry, waiting for the first fill, feeling guilty. One of the things that helps me with the guilts is to post all my "food" on Fitday.com. I find that I'm not eating as much as I think. I've been pretty much keeping at 1,000 cals p/day. A far cry from the 2,800 I was eating pre-band. Well, I had an exciting day today. My first day on mushies (although I did have some for dinner last night - confession is good for the soul), and I had scrambled egg beaters with feta cheese. OH ... it was like the best thing I ever ate. Here's a question...how can you have mushie chicken? I need protein and I am not that hot on cottage cheese. What have you mushie eaters been doing?

My doctor recommended that if that happened to me to sleep on a 30 degree angle. He says it helps with band swelling at night. It's worth a try.

Gee....I hope I'm not the only one showing up at the restaurant Sat night. Allison....it's not easy but if you bring your Soup with you (I'll even bring some of mine, if you'd like), they'll heat it up for you in the kitchen. I'll be on mushies and I may bring some of my own or have some of their stuff. I'd love to meet you all! P.S. Allison....what do you mean, you have a tangoe thing. That sounds rather fabulous.

Hi Asheville folks! Welcome back Allison and congrats on your good experience in Mexico. Woo Hoo. The latest I heard is Outback Steakhouse on Tunnel Road at 6:30 on Saturday evening 9/16. Be there or be square. Are we bringing DH's, SO's and other assorted hanger's on? Or will it just be us girls?

Hi gang... Sorry I've been MIA....just busy, I guess. But I love the support here and it's wonderful to be with a group that's going through exactly the same thngs I am, at the same time I'm going through them. First of all, Chrissy...don't beat yourself up. Try try try to be patient....easier said than done, right? I will tell you that I was really stalled on weight loss until I upped my cals from 800 to at least 1000 p/day. It really got me going. That, along with the cardio exercise, seems to make all the difference. I didn't lose for almost 10 days after surgery. Very frustrating. We all need to think back to a year ago today and remember that we were probably gaining a pound a week, not losing it. A pound or two loss a week is acceptable, right? I don't think we should expect more. So you have nine weeks of no "real" food? You're a saint! And I thought 4 weeks of liquids and 2 of mushies was tough. I sure hope I can go to real food after that. Sheeesh. For breakfast I'm still doing the shake thing. Here's what I put in mine: vanilla carnation instant breakfast (in a container) for the carb conscious 1 scoop benefiber 1 scoop vanilla Protein powder 1/2 frozen banana a handful of frozen strawberries It's incredibly thick and smooth. I can only drink about 1/2 of it in the morning and have the second half before lunch. I find that five small meals a day works best for me. Keep those mushy meal ideas coming. I start on Wednesday and am SO looking forward to a scrambled egg. I've been eating a lot of pureed bean Soup (thank heavens for liquid Beano), so the refried Beans with guac thing isn't that thrilling to me. Ooooooo.....I just thought of the ultimate mushy - Hummus! I LOVE hummus and it's high in protein. Today I put some tofu in my soup to up the protein. I'm getting way over the 65 grams that the doc wanted me to have. Ok...gotta go. Off to a dinner party where I'll be sipping mine. *sigh*

Hi all..... I'll give my weight as of yesterday which was: 230. S 257, C230, G 150 Neato.

Wow! You look absolutely great. Inspiring. Congrats. Lyn

Good luck, Crystal. You'll do great.

Faybie....owwwwww. I'm so sorry you're having to go through this. Is it still stuck? YOu may want to call doc and get advice. I take two meds, too but they're so small that I can take them and they get through - so far. No fill yet though. Thanks for the kudos. (blushing). I didn't tell you to brag but it sure feels nice to get the encouragement. A whole week passed and no weight loss but I guess I should be happy that I didn't gain (my usual pattern). It's nice to know we're not alone in our journey. Some of us will lose faster than others and it's easy to get impatient. I mean...we're probably eating about half of what we used to....shouldn't the weight just be flying off? Shouldn't we be melting? *sigh* Slow and steady wins the race.

Thanks, Tricia....I needed to hear that.

Oh Libra...be careful. You don't want that brand new band to slip. I'm so glad you feel fine now. You'll probably be able to have pizza a little later. I am so jealous of those of you with less conservative doctors than mine. He's such a stickler...two weeks of liquids b4 surgery, 4 weeks of liquids after surgery and 2 weeks of mushies. Ugh. I feel absolutely no restriction right now, either....so I'm going through the Soup pretty fast. I try so hard to eat slowly but it's not a natural thing for me (understatement of the century). I've been trying to keep my cals at about 1,000. Anyone else keeping track of their cals on Fitday or some other way? What do you guys think you're consuming cal-wise? BTW, I read some of those hateful posts on the other threads & I kept thinking to myself - "where's a thread killer when you need one?". So glad it's over and done with and really glad we have a haven of sanity right here with the ABC Club. :clap2: I had a NSV last night. I went to a fancy sit down dinner at a country club down the hill. When everyone sat down to dinner, I got in my car, came up the hill to my house, heated up soup, ate it, got back into my car and drove back to the club in time for their dessert. No one was the wiser. Pretty good, huh? I was really sweating that, and it turned out to be nothing. On top of that, I went to a huge bar b que today and stuck with my soup. Carried it around in a mug and other than drooling on a few people's hamburgers, I was fine. I can't say I didn't lust for their food, 'cause I did. I just lived through it and came out unscathed. Pretty nice feeling. Later!

Hi Everyone... I just read over some of the posts on the other threads from the last couple of days. All I thought was..."where's a thread killer when you need one"? Anyway, I'm glad the smoke seems to be clearing. We're all still left with the hard work it takes to make our bands work for us. Speaking of which, Heather, thanks for taking on the task of running our club. Dawg...I hope you don't desert us. We really like you and your posts. Stitchy....two pounds up? I HATE THAT. Especially when you didn't do anything to cause it. It can all come down to a salty cup of broth or some simple thing like that. If you were reading all the same posts I was in the rants and raves section, you probably started retaining Water immediately. Edit: Just read your bagel chips and cheese spread post...Hmmmmmm. As Telly said: "Choices...choices...choices." As for me, I had a good weekend. I made it through the big dinner party by leaving and running up the hill to my home and heating up some awesome bean Soup DH made for me. I then returned to the party and no one was the wiser. As for the Bar B Que today....I went and took Stitchy's advice and put my soup in a mug and again.....no one noticed I wasn't eating. I just moved from table to table with my mug, sipping away. It wasn't easy avoiding all that fabulous food, though. I miss it. Waaannnnnh. Hang in the GFG-ers. We shall prevail. Lyn

Hi Chrissy...here's the link I used for ticker instructions. The main thing is to remember to cut and paste within the commands....in other words...don't include them. Good luck! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=16218&highlight=how+to+do+weight+ticker

Hi guys....I start mushies in ten days (but who's counting?) and my mouth is already watering for these recipes. Thanks for sharing. It really helps us out. I'm sure I'll be adding some of my own soon enough.

Hi Everyone.... Thanks for starting this thread. We're all having that same little plateau thing going. I guess when you lose 20 pounds quickly, it's just natural for your body to have to "catch up", so to speak. I feel better, knowing that it's happening to everyone. I've been stuck at the same place for a week, too. Hang in there everyone. Concentrate on your looser clothing or non scale victories or anything other than the scale. It's hard, I KNOW. Boy, do I know. It'll come off. It always does. If we work the band like everyone else here on the site, we'll break those plateaus eventually. We have to "band together"! Pun intended. All that being said, I'm still going for five pounds this month, with a goal weight of 227 by September 30. Hugs all around to all the ABC crew.

Good Grief...(note to self...ignore intruders....) Thanks, Stitchy...good advice. I appreciate it. You're right...just sitting there and watching everyone eat would be uncomfortable for all of us, I think. I've come up with something, though! Listen to this...it's a big anniversary party and my gift to the couple will be pictures of the occasion in an album. So...during dinner....I will be running around and snapping everyone. Good idea? Have a great weekend everyone. Lyn

Great tat, Telly. You look super svelte. Welcome to all the joiners and I look forward to getting to know you. LaMadame...Your story is heart wrenching and you should be proud of all the positive steps you've taken for yourself. I agree with everyone. Four lbs since November isn't a lot but I feel your panic. So this is the place to re-apply yourself, set your goals and get it done. Congrats on making the step. Stitchy...thanks for the suggestion of putting the shake in a mug at the bar b que. I'll do it. That way...who has to know? I'm a bit more concerned about the formal sit down fancy do we're going to tomorrow night. La de dah, at the country club. I'm seriously thinking of excusing myself from the sit down dinner portion and running up to the house and heating up some Soup and then coming back later. Do you think that would be incredibly rude? Later, gators. Lyn

Count me in for Saturday night.

Allison....I had my band done by Dr. Bradshaw (another Dr. B, I guess) I'll be at the next Asheville support meeting for sure and I'll be thinking of you! Good luck! Lyn

Vegas....the same thing happened to me! I was at the gym and a lady said..."Keep that up and you'll lose the weight". I'm sure (I should say "I hope") she was trying to be supportive...but I mean really...it feels so judgmental, doesn't it?

P'nut and fellow GFG Club member....I'm in Asheville - actually Waynesville, 30 minutes west of Asheville. I'd love to get together for a group meet. How great would that be?!? I was in Asheville all day today for a long overdue day off (shopped til I dropped).....what a great town. You will love the mountains of Western North Carolina. Keep me informed as to what you guys decide and DH and I will be there.

Hi all..... Welcome 503. Your demented sense of humor will so fit in here. P'nut...your link was so fantastic. Thanks for sharing that. Congrats to all of you who are fitting into the small clothes. It really gives those of us in the beginning stages of this (just banded 8/16) some real encouragement. I was in Chico's today and felt like a giant load...couldn't wait to get out of there. But I'll really enjoy going in there in about a year, I figure. No suggestions on my weekend challenges? I'm on liquids and have to go to two very big, very public parties. Do I duck out of the party when the sit down dinner occurs and run to my own house and heat up some Soup and then duck back in for the rest of the party? At the Bar-b-que I will just have to heat up the soup, I guess. Any great coping suggestions (other than not going...)? I'm all ears. Well, unfortunately there's a belly and **s in there too...not to mention a thigh or two. What's a colon blow and where do I get one? I want to feel hollow too. Lyn

Hi Everyone... Sorry I've been MIA. Company this week and throughout the weekend. I'm still on liquids and need some encouragement - we've got a BIG party Saturday night (50th wedding anniversary) and a BIG Bar-B-Que Sunday. Heeeeellllpppp! Weigh-in is late but here it is: Started at: 257 Current: 232 25 down, 2 this week. Goal: 150 ttfn, lyn

Donna....I always use low sodium broth. With the low amount of liquid cals we're taking in, all that sodium really makes you retainer water. Sometimes you just gotta use a high sodium food but I try to avoid it. I just feel better if I do.