Lisa99

Welcome to the other side And congrats on reaching your jean size goal!!!! PLEASE don't stop adding muscle, unless of course you're starting to look like Arnold S. Every pound of muscle burns 50 calories/day, but a pound of fat is inert and doesn't burn calories. Also muscle is smaller in mass than fat, so if you're adding muscle that's why the scale shows no weight loss but clothes fit looser!!

Of course you may join! I feel so incredibly liberated this morning...no scales in sight!! ...and thank heavens for a fill! I got my first one yesterday. The fleuro picture shows the restriction opening to be about the size of a drinking straw (I have the 4cc band so it looks like the first fill will be effective). Seeing that picture really helped me understand why it is so important to chew chew chew!

I like the taste of lite Mayo better than the full fat version.

Had my first fill today. It's been five weeks since surgery. Fill center said rest of today liquids, tomorrow soft foods, Saturday back to regular foods.

I ventured over to two other discussion boards, but they were just too big and overwhelming. Very glad this one is back.

left, halfway between belly button and bottom of bra line.

Halloween candy + no fill + TOM = DISASTER!! :faint: First fill is on Thursday...WOOOHOOO!!! :clap2: And a small confession, I've gained three pounds in the last two weeks but I just can't bring myself to change that blasted ticker.

You can get a ticker from Tickerfactory.com.

Luzianne here as well. I think it's better than Liptons for iced tea. And if you want to add some interest to it on occasion, sugar free flavored syrups are great in iced tea.

I work from home, so I'm ALL ALONE with the great big dish of candy sitting on my foyer table. But I did it to myself first for buying candy that I like and second by opening those blasted bags and putting the candy into the cute little halloween dish!! I've already warned DH that tomorrow morning the leftovers go to work with him or go into the trash.

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter, I know how distressing it can be for a parent to watch potential derail. We had a similar situation with our son. Wonderful grades, +1300 on his SAT then in his senior year decided he wanted to be a musician. Thankfully he finished high school but just barely. We tried the "you must do as we say route", he said no thanks and left home. He's now 24 and is a struggling musician, but he manages a music shop and teaches guitar. He found his way and is happy and centered. We still worry since he doesn't make much money and never will, but money isn't important to him, doing what he loves is what is important. I know sharing my story won't lessen the pain of what you're feeling right now, but I hope that it gives a little glimpse into a family who has been there before. Take care, Lisa

DH saw his band surgeon yesterday. The tentative conclusion is that the fill center hit a nerve when they were injecting the numbing shot. The surgeon had never had someone with these symptoms in his practice so he did quite a bit of research and this is the only thing he can come up with. If the pain isn't gone within a month, DH is to go in for a follow-up.

Hiccups are my signal that I've had just enough to eat, not overeaten. I hiccup once or twice and know to stop.

I saute my vegetables in a little fat free chicken stock. Once the vegetables are tender continue to cook until the stock is evaporated. Alternatively if the stock evaporates off before the vegetables are tender, just add a little more stock.

Not sure you're going to find anyone here who can help since this forum is for those who either have or are considering Lap Band.

Maybe this will motivate more drinking! I too used to have a problem with drinking enough until I was told by a trainer that the body is not able to flush fat out of the body without adequate Fluid intake. This is the way he described it (for those who are doctors and nurses I know this isn't exactly right, but hopefully I don't butcher this too badly): As the body burns fat, the fat that is released from the fat cells goes back into the blood stream. The blood is filtered by certain organs and the waste from the filtering is excreted by the kidneys in the form of urine. If you don't drink enough Water, the kidneys can't flush the fat from the body. Bottom line - you may be burning fat but if you don't drink enough water your body can't get rid of it!

My husband travels 100% for his job as a management consultant. He was banded March 2006 and so far has lost a little over 80#s. He tends to order whatever he wants, but just doesn't eat much of it and he stays away from all of the goodies that the clients tend to have in the conference rooms during meetings.

I don't drink beer or soda. Doc said not to, so I'm not even going to try it. I was a diet Mt. Dew fiend pre-surgery so don't want to try it, find out it's ok and then get back on that caffeine addiction.

My doc said that my meals shouldn't take more than 30 minutes. If longer than that the pouch starts emptying.

I've always been smaller in my mind than what my weight really is...I think it's because I have yo yoed so much with my weight. 130 or less for a year or two then back to almost 200, over and over and over. I know 70# is really not much compared to the road ahead for some, but I have gained so much from this wonderful site, that when a topic really speaks to me I like to jump right in there....in fact, this site is quickly becoming an addiction!! :paranoid I'm constantly quoting to DH the latest brilliance you guys are writing (he's banded too and used to be a BAAAAAD Bandster until I found this site and got him back on the straight and narrow) :cool:

I asked my doctor about this at my two-week follow-up since DH and I got to the movie at least once a week. He said no problem one I was to solids stage. His reasoning was that if you chew it to mush all that is really left is the husk of the kernel. So his advice was go slow, chew well and enjoy in small portions...pretty much the bandster mantra :cool:

My scales that measure body fat do the same thing...BUT they're wildly off first thing in the morning (about 10% high), but if I measure my body fat in the evening it is almost the same as when I did the underwater bodyfat measurement (within 1%) I was told by a trainer that the swings had to do with hydration issues.

Very normal if you aren't getting enough Protein. If you're not doing it now, you might try getting whey Protein powder and adding a couple of shakes to your day. Any Whey and unjury are both really good.

DH finally has an appoint with his band surgeon on Monday. The pain has expanded and now covers about the size of a grapefruit around his port and the skin numbness has expanded with it. There still doesn't seem to be any infection though, so it will be interesting to see what might be causing it. I'll provide info on what they find, if anything.

$15k in Dallas TX. Included pre-op, surgery, follow-up and one year of fills.