isaviolinist

Ah! I am so happy for you!!! I am living vicariously through you for the moment :sneaky: although I'm working toward joining you pretty soon!!! Congrats - go get a massage or a facial or buy a new dress or something to celebrate!

This always happens to me! I'm starting to be able to give the last bite to my fiance or just leave it, but I do also hate that last bite!

Well good luck with that! Different strokes for different folks. Not sure what the mileage comment meant, but I lost 6 pounds this past week (which included my weight watchers ice cream bars!). I lost about 80 pounds initially with my band within the first 5 months (with NO ice cream or anything that was sweet) and then gained 50 back because I went crazy with the food that I was denying myself. Pretty excited to be on a new, balanced track (I've lost over 35 of those 50 pounds in the past 8 weeks with a balanced and healthy diet and lots of exercise, and food logs). That's what works for me!

Haha no problem. I'm very numbers oriented as well - I like to see progress in the form of numbers, so spreadsheet challenges always work best for me. Good luck with your goal - its great to be ambitious!! Also congrats on your surgery! how are you feeling?

Hi everyone!! Hope you're all doing great. And I hope no one got caught in the crazy storms/tornados ripping through the US this week. In Michigan we had a tornado watch, but it was mostly just crazy wind and some rain. Hope everyone is okay. Anyways, just wanted to let you all know that I started a Thanksgiving challenge: Turkey Day Challenge I love challenges - they motivate me! So if they are motivating to anyone else, feel free to add your name! I'm going to visit my family for Thanksgiving (some of whom I haven't seen since August, and many of whom I've not seen for ages) and I'm hoping to meet my goal by the time I get home. I also made a spreadsheet for the New Years Challenge: New Years Challenge!! So feel free to add your name to that!! Seeing other peoples' progress is motivating too (there is a row at the bottom of the spreadsheet that keeps track of how much everyone has lost together...I love tracking that!), so I'm hoping a lot of people join!

I have flappy arms (but I new I would because they have always been bat wings...now the amount of fat in the wings is just reducing slightly so instead of fat wings its turning into skin wings). My fiance and I do circuit training so I just try to work out my arms as best I can. I've just come to the conclusion that unless I get PS, my arms are gonna have the wings.

For me, that kind of extreme thinking (ie Ill NEVER eat ice cream again because its not a band approved food) has gotten me into trouble (both pre-band and post-band). This is a lifestyle change, not a crash diet. So if I want to have some low fat ice cream or gelato or whatever, if I have calories left to spend, I'm not depriving myself. And I almost never go over my calorie goal (I went over one day by 20 calories in the past 2.5 months). For me, this isn't a diet, its a whole new life. The great thing is, whereas before I would eat an entire tub of Ben and Jerrys, now I can have one Weight Watchers ice cream bar, and be okay with that.

Hi guys - just in case anyone was interested, I started a Thanksgiving challenge. Here is a link to the spreadheet: Turkey Day Challenge!! I also created a spreadsheet for the New Year Challenge. Its similar in date to the Christmas Challenge if you want to join that one: New Year Challenge!! With these spreadsheets, if someone deletes them (which is so jerky, so I hope they dont) it won't be a big deal as youre just entering your start weight, goal weight, and your actual current weight (as opposed Week 1:-3.2, Week 2:-2.4) etc.. So if it gets erased, you just need to remember (or estimate) your start weight, re-enter your goal weight, and enter your current weight (as opposed to trying to remember the number of pounds you lost every week for a bunch of weeks). The spreadsheet does the rest of the calculating! I love challenges so much so join in!

Yay, sweet! I love challenges! I also made a spreadsheet for the New Year's challenge - the link is in my signature. Feel free to join as well!

Hi folks! I'm joining this challenge! I love challenges - keeps me so motivated. I'm hoping to be at 199 by Jan 1st! I also just started a Thanksgiving Challenge if anyone wants to join (like I said, I love challenges): https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Am5-D5xrt3dKdDJMUVVabzBnMG1qY3JBeWxScGItM0E&hl=en&authkey=CMjw7tUJ A few posts back, someone was asking about a spreadsheet for this challenge. I figured since I had just made one for the Turkey Day Challenge, I would make one for the New Year Challenge. I'll update my info on it, and if anyone else would like to, here is the link: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Am5-D5xrt3dKdC1DaDJEY3IwaXpFUC1aSzhkdkRScmc&hl=en&authkey=CMr0g1w Good luck to us all!

Not sure if you mean recently after surgery or just at all, but I eat ice cream. For awhile I was eating a lot, and fell off the wagon. Now I eat a Weight Watchers ice cream if I have the calories to spare (usually I try to save some calories for it). If I want regular ice cream, I go to whole foods and get a small gelato. Gelato has far fewer calories and fat than ice cream, and if I get a 2 oz portion, I know I can't go overboard. Shameless plug: I started a Thanksgiving challenge if you want to join it: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Am5-D5xrt3dKdDJMUVVabzBnMG1qY3JBeWxScGItM0E&hl=en&authkey=CMjw7tUJ Challenges keep me motivated and accountable, so I'm trying to join one for each holiday. Join up!

Also, I'm thinking with my spreadsheet, if some jerk comes in a deletes everything (like they did with the Christmas Challenge) you won't need to remember how many pounds you lost each individual week to sign yourself back up. You just have to remember your starting weight (or estimate), and enter your current weight and the sheet will do the rest for you.

Hey I actually think I figured out how to format my spreadsheet. If its cool, can we use that one? I think its easier to enter current weight (and have the spreadsheet calculate pounds lost) rather than how many pounds per each individual week were lost (that's hard for me to track). Here is the link to the one I made: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Am5-D5xrt3dKdDJMUVVabzBnMG1qY3JBeWxScGItM0E&hl=en&authkey=CMjw7tUJ Let me know what you think!

Hey I made a spreadsheet!!! Wahoo!! Here is the link: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Am5-D5xrt3dKdDJMUVVabzBnMG1qY3JBeWxScGItM0E&hl=en&authkey=CMjw7tUJ Encourage everyone to join the Turkey Day Challenge 2010!! Edit: its not formatted correctly so the colums add up right!! if anyone knows how to do that it would be awesome - the basic spreadsheet is there, it just needs the right formulas. So close lol!

Oooh if you know how to format it, that would be so awesome! Im not sure where the Halloween one is, but here the google spreadsheet link: Online spreadsheets from Google That would be so awesome if you wanted to start a spreadsheet for a Turkey Day Challenge!

Wowza - you're going for 2 weeks of hunting 2 weeks after surgery? I think 2 weeks after surgery I went to work but it was a concert (2 days of rehearsal and one performance - I'm a violinist), I was sitting most of the time, and my fiance drove me to and from everything. I can't even imagine hiking and hunting (not that I'd be hunting at any time in my life, surgery or no surgery, anyways) 2 weeks out from surgery. I think at 2 weeks my doctor was still recommending just walking on the treadmill and no strenuous activity or heavy lifting. If it were me, taking into consideration the physical strain and the food issues, I would cancel/postpone this trip, for your own health.

Hey you're story is almost like mine. I was banded a little over a year ago - June 2009. I lost 80 pounds and then gained back 50ish. :-( However, in the past 7 weeks or so (7.5ish weeks I guess) I've managed to dump 36 of those pounds. I'm feeling much better now that I'm back on track. The hardest step was starting - going back to the gym, logging back into the food log, getting back on LBT (that was REALLY hard). But it can be done! Feel free to message me or friend me on here - we can lean on each other for support!

If you don't mind me asking, what are you revising to and does your insurance company cover it? If they don't, what do you think the cost will be?

I lost 20 pounds or so on my pre-op diet, and then 4 week after surgery I had lost about 14 more pounds. So 34 altogether with preop.

Can I ask how much weight in total you have to lose? Sometimes, if you started out with a very small amount to lose (like 50 pounds or something) it comes off a little slower. That said, how many calories a day are you eating and are you tracking your food? Also, do you exercise? I find that even when I'm not exercising but I'm still tracking my calories (which I keep between 800-900 a day) I lose weight, albeit slowly. When I'm not exercising I probably burn around 2000-2100 a day so that would give me around 1100 calorie deficit. However when I stop tracking calories it is VERY easy for me to put things in my mouth and just ignore or 'forget' about what I ate. That's when the ice creams and sweets start uncontrollably pushing themselves back into my regular diet. I am a big proponent of tracking food. If your calories in are fewer than your calories out, you will lose weight. If you aren't exercising, start today! It will greatly speed up your weightloss. This forum is a great resource, so just stick around :laugh:

Well, at the very current moment, I'm motivated when I think about wedding dress shopping. I cant WAIT to go to the salons and be able to FIT INTO THE GOWNS! I used to get so depressed thinking about dress shopping, but now I'm getting so excited! Also, as far as eating well, I love playing with recipes and being creative with food. So I guess I'm motivated by that - trying out new and exciting and healthy AND tasty recipes!

I don't eat poultry, red meat or pork so we have a lot of seafood and tofu. I like to make vegetarian chili loaded with tofu (I usually can eat a cup). Yesterday I made Sole stuffed with cheesy broccoli-quinoa. The sole fillets were between 2.5-2.75 ounces, and I stuffed each with about .5 cup of the quinoa mixture (if you haven't ever eaten quinoa, try it. its a great, healthy alternative to rice and its packed with Protein and nutrients. Heres a good article Quinoa: A Healthful Alternative to Rice - Ingredient swap - Revolution Health ). I was able to eat about 8/10 of the filet and quinoa (it was probably a little over 3/4s of a cup that I ate if you wanted to measure it that way). When I'm not in the mood for seafood, I love to make homemade edamame burgers. I just posted the recipe on my blog if you want to try to make them. Each burger is 1/3 of a cup and I'm generally able to eat one burger and then I'm done. I love that the band has given me the opportunity to look at what I cook with, and experiment with alternative ingredients. I love to cook, and its a hobby of mine to try and reduce calories, substitute healthier ingredients (like quinoa instead of rice...or skim cheese instead of full fat cheese) and I've even been experimenting with baking! I made a pumpkin pie cupcake with under 100 calories per cupcake and it tastes like the real thing. Have fun!

Oh my gosh!! Just want to say you look so amazing! What an inspiration! Congrats to you!!

I was wondering if anyone else gets a distended abdomen/upper belly area (like right underneath the boobs) after eating? I've begun noticing recently that my upper abdomen swells after I finish eating (it looks a little like I'm pregnant). I'm worried that this is going to stay there even after I've lost weight. Anyone else have this issue? Am I being paranoid?

Hey does anyone have experience with insurance covering revision surgeries? I don't have any plans in the near future to have a revision but if my band slips I'd probably want to revise instead of having the band replaced (if it required a surgery....if they could just take out Fluid and the band would go back, then I'd do that). In another scenario, at some point after I get to goal, I may want to revise, as I don't want to have a plastic device in me for the rest of my life (it just makes me nervous). Do insurances usually cover that or is it almost always out of pocket? Thanks!