faybie

Hugs... I know that in itself must be stressful. Please keep coming back. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help you find a Dr., we can all call our dr's offices and see if they have any suggestions for referrals if you want....

1. go up to the blue navigation bar and click on "Quick Links" it should be to the left of "Log out". 2. Select "Edit Signature" under "User Control Panel". 3. Now you will see the "Preview" of your current ticker. Scroll down and under the preview pane is the "Edit Signature" box. Add what information you would like to be present either above or below your ticker in the box. 4. Be sure and save before leaving the page. Good luck, let me know if you have another question.

yay!!!!!!!

Wow you have had such wonderful success! If you had stomach problems during stressful situations before banding, it is perfectly logical to think that is the cause now. If I were you, I would think of a slight unfill due to the fact that you are having trouble with liquids. I found a couple of sites that have dr. names and numbers.. If you have called these then disregard, but I was hoping I could help by providing some links. http://www.wishcenter.org/new/referral_al.asp http://www.al.com/healthfit/mobileregister/index.ssf?/specialreport/mobileregister/healthwise/04_307gastric.html http://www.docshop.com/bariatric_weight_loss_surgeons/no/alabama/mma.html http://www.locateadoc.com/directory.cfm/46/AL/Birmingham Good luck and take care of yourself first so that you are healthy to take care of the ones you love.

I think that would be an excellent side benefit. And, just to clarify something that I added earlier to a post, because words do not always convey feelings accurately, when I said: I meant the blatent advertising not the person. If I had meant the person, I would have written "you have no place here", which is not what I wrote, however it seems that a few people may have read it that way.

It's funny how words sometimes are missing feeling, emotion and inflection and can sometimes not convey what the writer was intending to convey. Please forgive me if I was a bit forward in asking for your statistics. I truly did not mean that you should provide anything you don't want to provide. I was more in the mindset of possibly helping you recognize some NSV's that you may have over looked. scale Victories are not the only important victory here...... You could be feeling healthier. I know my blood pressure dropped significantly just in losing a few pounds. You could be 2 sizes smaller and have built muscle like ddiedre stated, which weighs more than fat. You could have more energy, confidence, I could go on and on. Try making a list of NSV's that you have had so far, maybe that will give you a more positive perspective of where you are right now. Take care,

Every single thing you stated is exactly how I am feeling right now. I tried a bagel for breakfast the other day because my head hunger really wanted it. Chewing and chewing and chewing the bagel turned each bite into a huge ball of mush in my mouth. I kept spitting out the bites because the texture was beginning to make me gag. Needless to say, there will have to be a cow jumping over the moon before I do that to myself again. Some of my desires are gone and some aren't. I haven't had any bad experiences with pasta yet, well if you don't count being hungry 1.5 hours later. Every now and then, I forget I am banded (how? I have no idea, maybe my mind is starving too) and accidentally take a huge bite that I don't chew very well. It ends up hurting all the way down. Each time I do this, I have to take about 10 mins before I can resume eating. Everything I eat, if it isn't perfect I am mentally beating myself up over it. Like your "cheater" mentality you were describing. Sometimes I can't sleep laying there thinking about what I shouldn't have eaten for the day. Laying there mentally picturing it turn to fat on my body. Typing it on here does seem to help me sometimes. I almost feel more obsessed with food than I was before banding. I am just crossing my fingers that all of this is just me mentally adjusting to my new lifestyle and maybe a little bit of unconscience rebellion. meh... I don't know, but I know exactly what you are saying....

Karik, Link me a quote where I allegedy trashed "your Dr." Dr. Spiegel please. Advertising is not allowed on this forum and size8beauty has obviously been advertising Dr. Spiegel. This forum is for people to support one another going through the same experiences. Karik, You are not obligated to appreciate my point of view nor are you obligated to think that my experiences and support are helpful to you. You had a great experience with your Dr. "I get that" however that does not in anyway shape or form mean that my experience with the Dr.'s that I researched and interviewed is less worthy than yours. "I get" that you don't appreciate that I am not supporting your Dr. however just because you don't appreciate it, doesn't mean that someone else would.

I am working straight on will power too, a cup is 8oz so two cups would be 16oz of food. We are only suppose to eat 4 to 6 oz at a time, fill or no fill. I stop at one cup (8oz) regardless. I have noticed that 8oz of fish or chicken is filling and last a LOT longer than 8oz of pasta (which I have eaten). I have gotten in the habit of eating small servings of fresh fruit, drinking low sodium V-8 juice or eating .5 to 1 oz of unsalted peanuts between meals.

Ha Ha funny size8beauty all 6 of your posts on this board are promoting Dr. Speigel, how great he is, his phone number and website and nothing else..... Take your advertising elsewhere, it has no place here.

Of course you are going to get better care if you work in the office, frankly I am not surprised at all that you have only good things say. If I call any Doctor.....my PCP, my GYN or my Oncologist and speak to the office staff or a nurse, it is their professional responsibility to communicate to the Dr., why wouldn't you expect the same from your LB surgeon? Also, 4000 surgeries completed means nothing to me, I would rather know how the Dr., his office staff, his nurses and his surgery center handle complications and problems, to me that is the "nitty gritty truth" that I would need with my life on the line to make a decision which Dr. is "right" for me.

Well, I am very new as well but I hope that I can provide some words of encouragement. Several things are going to have a determining factor... What are your statistics? Have you been overweight your entire life including adolescence? What is a typical day of meals like for you? Have you entered your food into fit day including any drinks, shakes and coffees to see how many calories you are intaking? Based on your input to www.fitday.com enter your excercising as well and see if you are burning more calories than you are eating. I have noticed a pattern....... for people who were also overweight as adolescents, they start losing slower than individuals who have become overweight in the last 10 years. Try reading some posts by both muffinbirdie and AussieChick. They both took quite a while before they started losing weight. I think I even read somewhere that AussieChick had lost "zero" pounds in her first 3 months.

My seminar had 8 people interested in the surgery and my husband (who is also overweight). No one shared "their" story or the reason they were there unless they wanted to do so. The Dr. didn't talk about what "we" wanted as individuals until we were one on one in the exam room. The seminar was about the Dr., his experience, where he got all of his certifications, what boards he belonged to, what the boards did, how he got started, studies and research he had done, why he liked what he does, his staff, the surgery center, and all about 3 different bariatric surgeries. My Dr. performs all 3 and wanted to make sure we knew the statistics, risks, expected results, how we were expected to "help" our chosen procedure, how we could sabatoge each procedure and then the actual surgery procedures for all three surgeries that he performs including pictures of each. He did not spend more time on any one particular surgery. My Dr. also has a "guest" speaker at each of his seminars. It is always a previous patient of his. She/he acts as the welcome committee and helped everyone who was feeling nervous or had any questions feel at ease. We felt her port in her stomach out of curiosity. She was so bubbly and friendly and having her there made the whole experience very pleasant. Also, I was self pay so I didn't have any red tape or have to jump through any hoops. I did have to get a release letter from my oncologist, which was like waiting for hell to freeze over.... LOL, so a teeny bit like insurance riga ma row.

That's great that you went to the Dr. like people suggested. I am glad that you are back home and feeling ok. Wow....the size of a football...that is just huge. Booda, Welcome to the August Bansters, I am glad you found us!

Sorry to continue to be the bearer of bad news. You should read this story, her Dr. was Speigel. In some ways I feel like Spivak's surgery center would have taken better care of her. I could not leave the surgery center until I reached 1500 eight times on the breathy thingy they give you. Bless her heart, I am just glad she has a persistent mother and is on the way to recovery now. http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?p=303120#post303120 I swear, I haven't seen anyone complain about Spivak's surgery abilities or the after care, however I have seen a complaint or two about their billing. However, billing issues don't risk a person's life.

I am just glad you are ok!

Wow. Mothers are great! I am so glad that she had the strength to get you the care you needed now matter what the bariatric office was saying, I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for my mother looking out for me during chemo. I am so glad that you are feeling better now. 3 bottles of tylenol, wow! you poor thing...... I would think that with your complications you would not have been able to breathe into that little aparatis (I have no idea what it was called) they give you to keep you from getting pneumonia. I had to get it to 1500 before I could leave the surgery center and it took a while actually. It would seem that that is used as a checks and balances. Did they make you use one of those before you left? Do you mind telling us who you chose as your surgeon?

I am scared to death of this too. That is why I only eat 6oz at a time, sometimes if I have made an unhealthy meal choice with only 6oz I am starving within 2 hours. 6oz of Protein will keep me full for about 4 hours right now. The sad thing is.... is that my head hunger isn't wanting protein. I think I must have hit some carb addiction withdrawal point, because I was fine making good food choices up until about 4 days ago. Even to the point where I ate perfectly on my birthday. I haven't had anything with "real" sugar in it for a month and a half. I don't really crave sugar... I crave carbs. Right now if I get hungry between meals I am eating unsalted peanuts... about a .5oz or a low sodium V8 or something and it seems to do fine. It's just when meal time comes around, I am not making the choices that I should be. I did only have protein and vegetables for dinner tonight so admitting it out loud has somewhat helped me regain control.

Ha. Ha. I read somewhere that in home evasion situations women were 80% accurate in injuring the assailant where men were only 25% successful. I read that it was because women pick up the gun and start shooting at sound and movement, where men actually try to aim in the dark. LMAO, that really cracked me up. And yes for 10 minutes of my 1440 minutes for today, you have successfully gotten my mind off of food. he he.

What's compacting? ......ah. I did a search, I understand now. well, only thing is other than normal everyday walking, shopping, taking care of the baby and stuff, I am not really excercising yet, although I am MUCH more active than I was 2 months ago sitting in front of the TV eating bowls and bowls of Pasta.

He. He. That's not a pic of me..... Its a character from one of my favorite video games, the Final Fantasy series. I found it in the avatar choices here on LBT and was like "oh cool". I could have picked a Pokemon' or anime in honor of my 12 yr. old or elmo for my 2 yr. old but I thought it was pretty cool that they had Final Fantasy Characters. When I show a significant amount of weight lost, I'll add a real pic of myself. LOL. No, I'm not over my obesession yet. I am not hungry right now, I just feel really out of control, even though I am not eating more than 6oz. at a time. I am craving carbs and I can't stop.

I have another very fast low-salt vegetable side item that I can make in under 5 minutes and tastes great. I add it to any dish I cook that needs a vegetable if I need one. Zesty cooked spinach: Ingredients: Bag of Pre-washed spinach leaves 1/3 can of ro-tel tomatoes italian style teaspoon of minced garlic (optional) 1. Empty the bag of spinach into a microwave safe bowl and cook on high for one minute. 2. In a large skillet, quickly spray the bottom of the pan with PAM cooking spray or Olive oil spray using medium heat. 3. Toss the cooked spinach, ro-tel tomatos and minced garlic into the skillet. 4. Sautee until all ingredients have been well mixed and warmed up. Ready to serve.

I used to never, ever eat seafood. I am a cancer survivor and everytime I would visit my Oncologist he would ask me if I was eating fish yet. I finally gave in and began eating light flavored fish within the last 6 months. About 2 months ago, I made my very first baked fish ever! It was the best and easiest thing I have ever cooked. I make it weekly now. Takes 5 mins to prepare and 25-30 mins in the oven. I buy 5 Tilapia filets from the fresh fish counter in my grocery store 2 or 3 days before I am going to cook the fish. I don't freeze it. Prepare the Tilapia: 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 2. Melt your favorite low-fat margarine in the microwave OR use Pam cooking spray OR Olive Oil cooking spray. 3. Lightly brush on the melted margarine or lightly spray each filet, both sides and place into your favorite baking dish. I use a large glass caserole pan. 4. Season each side of the fish with multiple salt-free seasonings. I use varieties of Mrs. Dash, Magic Salt free seasoning by Chef Paul (http://shop.chefpaul.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=76, I find mine at the grocery store), fresh ground pepper and morton's light salt. 5. Bake fish for 25 minutes at 400 degrees. (You will know its done if it is light and flaky) I usually serve with a bundle of "blanched" asparagus. Blanched means to briefly cook in boiling Water. This exact meal at a famous local seafood restaurant costs me $20 for just my serving. It is cooked in oils, served with unneccesary sauces and is very fattening. To feed my entire family of 4 with this meal costs around $13 and is the easiest meal I cook.

Hijack - Aussie Chick, Now that you are goal or under goal, what would a typical day of eating be like for you? Did your 19 months of being banded teach/train you to "eat to live" instead of "live to eat"? I tried to glance to see if you had anything like that in your journal, however, journal seems to still be deactivated.

Congratulations!!!!!