juno610

5jacks - I am so proud of you! Great job!!!

So I got my second fill this morning. 0.5 more cc's. I've been on liquids all day today and I've remained quite satisfied. I get to go right back to solids tomorrow. I really really need to make an effort to do lean meat and produce. Those breads and grains have been sneaking back in -- I must stop them! DH and I talked about breaking out the crock pot so we can simmer meat all day. Should be nice and moist for me! What kinds of things are you guys eating? I would love it if you would share some typical days. I feel like I need some culinary inspiration! Maria

I have a Soehnle digital scale similar to this one: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Soehnle-63671-Chicago-Silver-Balance/dp/B000FL3H3G/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4/102-2743526-2985736?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1173996441&sr=8-4]Amazon.com: Soehnle 63671 Chicago Silver Body Balance Scale: Health & Personal Care[/ame] I've had it for almost 5 years and it is truly awesome. It looks pretty darn good too.

I get fill #2 tomorrow. All stocked up on liquids. I hope I get some solid restriction with this one. Wish me luck! Oh yeah... NSV today! I walked up the stairs to my profs office on the third floor at school today.... withOUT huffing and puffing! I used to have to stop at the top landing and catch my breath. I wasn't even able to talk right away before. Today I walked right up and even met a friend at the top and had no trouble talking. Whee! It's the little things that really make a difference.

Hi everyone! Checking in here... I went to my doc's support group last night. It was really great to sit in a room full of people who all know what sliming is! LOL! Most of the people had been banded in the last 18 months, so we had some people well into their journey and some just starting out. The topic last night was Body Image. There was a lot of talk about weighing less but still seeing yourself as your biggest, etc, etc. We strayed in topic a bit... talked about portion sizes, slips, all kinds of stuff. My only complaint was that it was too short. I'm hoping to convince some people to go out for coffee afterwards next month. As for me, I have scheduled a second fill this coming Thursday. After listening to everyone at the meeting, I really feel that is what I need. I'm still eating way too much most of the time, and the fact that I can still gulp waters means I'm pretty open. So, we'll see what Dr. Deol says. By the way, I started putting Palmers Cocoa Butter cream on my scars and they are healing up really nicely. My two biggest ones were getting kinda rough because they had been scabby, and one week of this cream has made a huge difference. I swear it's fading my stretch marks a bit too, so I'm experimenting with some other areas too. But if your scars are bothering you, try it! I came across it looking for tummy creams for my preggo sister. Time for me to get my arse on the treadmill. I like being home alone so I can crank the tv while I walk. I'm watching Hollywoodland, and I'm aiming to walk for about 45 - 60 minutes today and Sunday so I can get the movie back to Blockbuster when it's due. How's that for motivation! Oh, and I tried the Transfirmer finally yesterday. I did the Super Charged Sculpting tape -- I'm really feeling it today. It was challenging and will give me something to work towards. I'm pretty happy with that purchase. Everyone have a great day! Maria

Thanks Jeanette! I'm walking on the treadmill 3x a week (just started this last week). I put it at an incline for most of my workout. This week I'm adding in 2 days of weights. I'm really hoping this jump starts things.

Pam, you know what's weird? I feel like I'm still eating too much most of the time! But when I write it down, I can see how drastically less it is than what I used to get by on. It certainly is frustrating.

I always though six small meals made more sense, but my nutritionist even balked at me eating string cheese in the middle of the morning! She said I need to get to a point where I'm only hungry 3 times a day. Well, I don't know if that's ever going to happen when I have six hours between Breakfast and lunch and I'm on my feet all morning! I guess I just need to hang in there. I'm working on getting more veggies in lately. Hopefully that will help a bit. Thanks! Maria

Andrea, are you seriously feeling satisfied on that? Do you have a fill yet? OMG, that makes me look like a hog still! Gang, This is what I ate today -- everyone tell me if it looks alright: Breakfast: granola bar Snack: 1 pc string cheese Lunch: 1 chicken fajita with a bit of cheese and guac. 1/2 cup orange segments Dinner: 8 small beef ravioli with tomato sauce I've also already had about 80 oz of water today too. On paper (or screen, haha) it doesn't look too bad, but I'm starting to get frustrated because I haven't lost anything since my fill two weeks ago. I need a pep talk!! Maria

It's been a long time, but it's your typical fad piece of equipment. Having said that, anything that gets you moving is great. If you concentrate on your form, I bet you could get a pretty good back workout on that thing with the pulling motion! If I had one, I'd totally do it while I watch tv at night!

Okay, so I finally mustered up some exercise mojo :myscared: Yesterday I walked 25 minutes on my treadmill. Today I'm planning on doing some light weights. I have the TransFIRMer system, so I'm going to try the sculpting tape. Maria

That sounds like a HealthRider. My parents had one forever ago! Your forearms will get a workout holding on to that thing! :myscared:

Wow -- awesome post about fills! I'm going to make sure I follow those hydration guidelines next time I go.

It was me! They were from cookinglight.com. You can probably find it if you search for posts by me through my profile.

Count me in! Since I have been a total lazy slob, my goal is to walk 3x a week and do weights 2x a week. No excuses!!! Maria

My turn to check in... I got my first fill last Thursday. It went well -- it was so easy. I was on liquids all day that day. That weekend, though, wow... I could eat ANYTHING. I even ate two pieces of pizza (thin crust, at least) Sunday night! Come Monday morning things changed very quickly. My fill kicked in like mad. I could only manage 3 bites of cottage cheese and 4 peach slices and I was full! Wow! It's been going on like that today too. I hope it keeps up. I even notice I have to be careful how big of sips of water I take. Now, if I can only get going with the exercise, I should be in good shape (pun intended haha)! I'm a little bummed out this week though. I'm so so bloated from PMS. I can't wait to go back on the pill next cycle. It's just sucks to have tight jeans when everything has been so good the past month. I know it's transient though... I'll probably pee out 5lbs at the end of this week! Maria

I need an exercise challenge big time! Let's do it! A separate thread would be nice -- it would be easier to follow. Either way is good for me though. Maria

Mmmmm... lentils.... :hungry: How do you prepare them? The only thing I've ever done is pop open a can of lentil soup and mix it with rice.

Me too! I'll be wide open for lunch and then super duper tight for dinner. It's wierd. This morning I drank a 16oz hot chocolate and felt stuffed to the gills!

NSVs for me... A mere 28lbs gone and I'm already in smaller pants! I can also get my socks and shoes on now without huffing and puffing. Gotta love that!

I tried them, but found the chewable tablets to be better. This could be just because the chewables have more simethicone. Two chewables did the job for me most of the time.

I definitely feel full a little faster. I can still take pretty big sips/gulps of liquid though. I need to be better about that because I know I'm swallowing air when I do it (I always burp afterward). Today I had fish and some macaroni & cheese for lunch -- all that went down ok. I would say I ate about 1 cup of food. The restriction is still much less than it was immediately after surgery. Honestly, I think I could use a little more fill, but I'm going to see what I can do with this for a while. Maria

RESULTS TIME!!! Well, band family, I have to admit I'm a little disappointed in myself... for not measuring right after surgery!!! I kept forgetting about it, and I didn't end up writing down starting measurements until almost two weeks after surgery, when I had already lost 25 lbs! Anyway, between 1/31 and today (2/22), I have lost 1lb and 5 1/2 inches! Whee! Not bad for three weeks pre-fill, eh? The biggest change was 2 1/2 inches off my boobs. I knew my bras were fitting better! Tomorrow I start weight training again, so hopefully my next month's results will be super impressive! Maria

I had a similar thing happen. I've been wearing my hair down covering my ears for a while... thinking I was hiding my fat cheeks. It recently grew out enough that I can tuck it behind my ears. Now all I hear at work is how they like my new haircut. One guy (such a sweetie) tells me every day how he can see the weightloss in my neck! He's too much It's a nice ego-booster though, isn't it? As for the fill... I got 1cc in a 4cc band. Maria

I had my first fill today. Whoopee! It was so easy. I got a little numbing shot, so I didn't feel a thing. The wierd part was when my surgeon was pushing on the spot to find the port. I could kinda feel it moving around in there! I even got to see my little barium swallow on the screen. Dr. D showed it to me once we were done. She pointed out the band, the pouch, etc. Neat! So today I'm on liquids and my tummy is making some big time noise! I got 1cc, and I definitely feel it. Tomorrow I get to go back to regular food -- should be interesting! Maria