isaviolinist

Laylas - the premier protein shakes are in cartons, not cans. Hope that helps!

Thanks so much everyone!!! Im thinking of rewarding myself with a massage maybe I totally feel you. When I gained 50 pounds back, I was hovering over the 200 mark (I think I got down to 205.8). I think I sabotaged myself because I just felt that I would never weigh below 200. I was so scared and almost did it again this time (I played with the same 3-4 pounds around 202-206 for like the entire month of December pretty much). Just stick with it, and I'm sure you'll see it any day now! Can't wait til it happens for you! Gator - thanks so much for your kind words!! I'm a strong believer in group support, which is why I keep coming back here and also blogging. I think we can do this with the help and support of each other (and we're supporting ourselves when we support each other). I'm so glad you came back here. When I got off track I stopped coming here and stopped blogging and food logging. Logging back in was really hard, but it was what I needed to do. I'm glad you're back. Resolve to start right now getting back on track. Its so hard and it sucks but you can do it! And everyone struggles. After I picked myself back up, I was 50 pounds up, and it really was devastating. But I started doing what was necessary to get the weight back off. And now I've started seeing a therapist for eating disorders. I do great with my exercise and eating during the day, but at night, the binger comes out and its hard to stop her. So for me, it seemed like an appropriate step that could help me make this a change for life. Treat yourself well and do whatever you feel is right for you and you will be successful!! If you ever want to talk, just shoot me a message on here!

I did terribly the first week of Christmas Break (we were in Hawaii and it was an eating extravaganza) but then the second week I got a TERRIBLE stomach flu and when I returned I had lost a pound from before we left. So considering I was assuming I had gained 15 pounds, I feel pretty good about that! And then today, I FINALLY hit ONEDERLAND!! Last year this time, I was on my way to regaining 50 pounds. This year I'm grateful to be on the right track and not stopping anytime soon!

I havent had a slip (although I'm always paranoid that I will, or I do and I just don't know it), but I just wanted to wish you luck with your new band! Just follow your post op instructions to the letter and hopefully all will be fine! All the best with this next phase!

This is happening again to me today. I press View New Content and I get a message that says "Sorry, no new content to display". Unfortuntely, I think the switch over to the new LBT has driven away a lot of the old timers. I'm not one to complain about website changes, but it is just too bad because there were a lot of people on here with great things to say who had had their bands for a long time (thus being in a different position to offer insight than those who have only had it a short while) and I don't see many of them around anymore. Oh well....I'm not sure if concerns are really being taken in to consideration but its probably a bit late now for a switch back or something like that. I think those who have left, have left for good. Alex, if you can please let me know how to access the new content, it would be much appreciated.

Thank you!! Im feeling on top of the world today!!

Ah congrats!!! And congrats on your maintenance!! Enjoy those size 4 (or 6... thats a fabulous size too) jeans girl! Can't wait to buy a size 6! Inspirational!

Congrats on your success with your band and your upcoming PS!! That is so awesome! Is insurance covering it? I hope my little apron will continue to get littler but I'm pretty sure I'll also need a TT at the end. But not getting ahead of myself. I just reached onederland today so I'm just enjoying the moment!!

Hey hiddn - yea body fat percentage is really the most accurate measure of health. BMI is pretty worthless, other than for getting approval from insurance companies for WLS and scale weight doesn't tell you enough pieces of the puzzle. I like this picture to illustrate why BMI isn't a good indicator of health: http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/weight-loss/bmi3.htm . Two people of the exact same weight and height will have the same BMI - lets say they both have a BMI that puts them in the Overweight category. If one does no physical activity and eats tons of processed junk food, and one is a body builder with no fat to be found on his body, are they both in the same physical health since their BMI is the same? I'm 5'2, and currently have about 140 pounds of lean mass on me (anything that isn't fat). Thats a much higher amount of lean mass than most women my age/height have (most women my age and height have between 110-115 pounds of lean mass). That number will go down as I continue to lose weight and exercise (the less you weigh, the less muscle your body needs to keep itself up and running). Ultimately, If I end up at around 130 pounds of lean mass and weigh 150 pounds, I will have around 15% body fat (that would put me above the healthy range, into the 'athletic' range...right now I'm just aiming for healthy/fit range which is about 22% body fat for women). At 150 pounds, despite that extremely small percentage of body fat, I will still be in the 'overweight' category of the BMI chart. Anyhow, I'm very passionate about body fat percentage vs scale weight (although I still compulsively weight myself... but at least I know more logically why the scale says what it does...even if it goes up and I'm doing all the right things, I freak out less because I have a better understanding how my body works now and I know that if I am consuming less than I am burning, I haven't much to worry about). And I think BMI should be discussed WAY less than it is. We (fiance and I) get our body fat % measured every week at our fitness center via skin fold caliper tests. There are many ways to do it (However, I'm not a fan of the DIY body fat % measures - I've tried to do it myself and compare it to my actual body fat % and it never comes out even close) - the least feasible way is the underwater test. I don't even know who would do that or how you would get access to someone who does that. If you're associated with a university or know someone who is associated with the health sciences dept at a university, they may be able to help you. There is BIA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectrical_impedance_analysis), which you could probably have done at a health practitioners office. Our scale (its a Tanita) is supposed to perform BIAs, but we lost the components that you need to have to make it work (actually my fiance got the scale before he met me, and lost the components before I ever saw the scale so I blame him ). I may buy another Tanita at some point, just because I'm curious to see if it is accurate. And lastly, you can have skin caliper measurements taken, which is what we do at our fitness center every month and a half. You have to have the same person do it (someone who is qualified and trained to do it) and they have to be very accurate with their measurement sites. Some fitness center with a comprehensive program (not just personal training, but look for nutrition, weight loss counseling, body composition assessments, etc.) will do this. And I'm sure many doctors offices will do it too. Probably your best bet is to call your surgeon and/or nutritionist and see if they can tell you their recommendation! At our body compositions, we also have measurements taken - which is another great indicator of loss. Even if the scale isn't moving (or moving as fast as youd like), you may be gaining muscle and losing fat and inches. I've lost over 30 inches all around since September. Sorry for that long post - Im just REALLY passionate about this and want everyone to know about it!

I've lost about 30% of my excess pounds on the scale (I try to focus on my body fat % more than scale weight though). I have about 18% more that I'd like to lose on the scale and about 10% more body fat that I need to lose.

Often times when you lose weight, you also lose fat in and around your stomach. Thus your restriction level needs to be readjusted as the fat "melts" away. The band isn't getting loser, you're just losing fat causing the the opening from pouch to the lower stomach to be wider. Also, a small amount of Fluid can "evaporate" over time. If its all the fluid, thats a problem, but its not unusual for a small amount to exit, especially after 2.5 years. And Im sure you've heard this, but even if the band somehow actually stopped working (totally possible, especially if there is a complication), you are of course in charge of your own food choices (Im not preaching, as I, as well as most others, struggle from time to time or for periods of time with food choices). Just friendly reminder

I don't love the low carb SF shakes but every now and again I drink an Slim Fast Optima Shake when I run out of protein shakes. As an above poster mentioned, I also recommend the Premier Protein shakes (ready to drrink) from Costco. Really delicious and you couldn't ask for much more as far as the nutrition facts (low cal, low carb/sugar, low fat, really high protein). Muscle Milk isn't as great on the calorie-protein ratio but I still like them (although I stopped drinking them when I found Premier).

Okay here are my stats: Name, real or screen: isaviolinist Age: 28 Weight on January 3rd: I'm not sure, I was still on vacation, so I'll update my weight on Monday. My current weight is 201.6 Goal Weight for January 31st: 193.6 Exercise Goal for January: Keep up the intensity (1.25-2 hours a day/6 days a week with one day of rest or low intensity exercise) Dietary Goal for January: Eat mindfully instead of compulsively Personal Goal for January: Eat mindfully instead of compulsively Date Banded: June 18, 2009 Total Weight Loss Since Banding: 81.5 pounds Looking forward to joining this challenge!

I paid a 300.00 or so program fee (I think thats what it was). Seems pretty standard. Although, Im still not entirely sure what I got for it (not that I regret it, I love my surgeon and his office, but I had to pay for all of the copays for my preop tests and some of the tests weren't covered by my insurance).

I'm writing this from the waiting room of my eating disorder therapist's office lol. And I'm looking forward to discussing all of my holiday food issues with her - compulsive overeating really took over for me during these holidays. Everything we had been talking about in therapy just went out the window for me. I've found that beating myself up, telling myself that this is the start of yet another failure with a diet, etc is a SURE path to self sabotage. My therapist has said that this is the time that we really need to be good to ourselves. So I'm trying to give myself credit for a small loss over the holidays (I was also afraid to get on the scale, but life cut me a break w a small loss). So give yourself a break and just get back on track today!

I'm in!! I love challenges!! I was hoping to hit onederland by Jan 1 and missed it by just 1.8 pounds (but ill still be happy to get there in Jan). I'm out so ill post my stats when I get back - just wanted to bookmark the challenge!

Good for you! I'm a faithful food logger too. I use fitday.com. I also hate writing it by hand and haven't done that since I was 10 or 11 years old. That bar code scan app sounds awesome! Do you have an iPhone? I don't think I can do that on a blackberry (I'm waiting for iPhone to come to Verizon). I think there is an app to take a picture of a bar code for bb, but I think its for comparing prices. Anyhow, that sounds awesome!

Oooh congrats!!! I hope to be joining you in Onederland very soon What a great feeling that must be!!

Hi ck - congrats on your surgery! How are you feeling?? I had dissolvable stitches and they were inside of my incision so they were never removed - they just dissolved. The incision was also kind of glued together. And my first fill was about 6-7 weeks post op. Good luck and take it easy!

I'm jumping in too. I recommitted back in sept and have lost almost 55 pounds since then but lately my eating has taken over and I feel that I'm no longer driving this bus. I started going to therapy for binge eating disorder and I'm going to really focus on making the most of my therapy sessions. I've been playing with the same 3-4 pounds for the last 2 weeks, and with the amount of exercise I'm doing, that shouldn't be happening. I'm just a few pounds from onederland. I don't know if it will happen by new years but if it happens in the beginning of January, that will be great too. I'm exercising so much, I don't want to waste it with crappy food choices. So count me in! Also, alien - where are you going for vaca? Were meeting my fiance's mom in Hawaii tomorrow! I'm so excited to see her and also to get out of this horrible weather. And were also returning Jan 5th!

Yay! Im so glad The edamame burgers are so delicious (my fiance, who would eat red meat 3 meals a day, said he prefers them to regular burgers) and the lasagna was also so delish! If you scroll through old posts, you'll be able to see more recipes (I usually put in the title something like "Recipe:..." or "Edamame Burger Recipe!"...something like that). Let me know what you make and how it turns out!!

Crecia1975 - I'm so glad that tracking your calories has helped you! That's awesome! I really do swear by my food logs. When I'm not logging my food, its because I don't want to think about what I'm eating at all.

I'm so sorry to hear that you haven't been feeling great but YOWSAH! Congrats on onederland!! Hope to be joining you there soon.

I also have the cookbook Eating Well After weightloss Surgery and I love it. I'm kind of a passionate cook and I post a lot of recipes on my blog too (I'm posting from my phone so I can't paste the link but its in my signature). I take many recipes that are not designed for WLS patients and alter them. A few tips for cutting out calories in recipes (baking recipes are a little different and you just have to experiment to see what works): use 1/4 of the amount or less of oil a recipe calls for. Its amazing how little oil you really need to cook. Substitute things like eggs (use egg beaters or whites), sugar (use splenda or agave nectar). If you need flour, use a little less and use soy flour for extra protein. If a recipe calls for red meat, why not try to make it with fish or tofu? There are many little tricks but take a recipe and see what you can omit/substitute without cutting out flavor. Be creative!