badmadmama

Meee too! I have spent the last couple years taking care of everyone else, and lost track of ME. My husband, who is 7 years younger than I am, developed brain cancer a few years ago with a million life-threatening complications. We have two teenage daughters, adopted from Russia, and the older one freaked out and started huge behavioral problems when my husband got sick. The younger one has had six major surgeries, and five body casts, because of having polio as a baby. My dad developed a rare autoimmune disease and died while he was taking care of my mother, who had Alzheimer's disease. I ended up having to go back to work full time a year ago (my husband will never work again), and it was a shock how much younger and fitter everyone else was. Everything is more or less on an even keel right now (no hospitals or police), so it is finally my time to take care of myself again. Yesterday I got a manicure and a pedicure, and today I took a nice long nap.... and ate that last cupcake. No more cupcakes in this house, they are like heroin to me!!!!!

The veggie broths taste so much better than chicken broth - they aren't so greasy-tasting. I like Swansons. When you get past clears, I put a can of potato soup and a can of cheese soup in the blender with milk. It was pretty good!

I'd like to know about the salad, too. I've had salmon and baked potato and rice and beans (with a little ground turkey) in it so far. Baker's Square has the best cobb salad that you have ever had in your life, and I eat in a LOT of restaurants. I also like the chopped salad at Corner Bakery. I have been eating a soup made from pureed zuchinni, a little milk and a little dijon honey mustard, and I would love to try some grilled zuchinni......

My surgery was a week ago Thursday, and my port area still hurts. Actually, it's right below my port area, so sitting up and lying down hurt - feels like I did a kazillion sit-ups. I froze on the liquid diet, and I am still cold all the time. It's so weird, because I am so used to being fat and sweaty. I had outpatient surgery - just bring a pillow, so you can recline in the car on the way home. I went through withdrawal yesterday - kept trying to log on the site, and couldn't get there!!!

Full liquids were okay for me, but I hated clears - it's so hard to go from full to clears! I basically ate nothing but sugar-free popsicles, with broth at mealtimes. At least I felt like I got to chew!!! Congratulations to everyone on your upcoming surgeries. Just think of the food deprivation as temporary - you can do ANYTHING for a few days. My daughter had a party yesterday, with THE WORLD'S MOST DELICIOUS CUPCAKES. I was okay with it, until I went to clean up, and three of the girls had left half of their cupcakes on the table, the good part with the frosting! I finally decided that I was eating those leftover cupcakes for lunch, and boy were they good. And then I had a couple of cheese puffs. But today, I am over it! I am having some veggie soup for breakfast. So anyway, once you have the band, you can have some regular food. The starvation is temporary, and this time, the weight will stay off!

By the way, about the Sprite. I was a Diet Pepsi ADDICT. It was the first thing that I had in the morning, and I bet I drank an entire 2-liter bottle in a day. So I'm not having ANY, and the weird thing is, I'm not having the sugar cravings that I used to have, and I am doing okay without the caffeine. They told me that the carbonation can stretch out the stomach, so the lap band is useless - taking that risk is not worth it to me. (It did just occur to me that beer and champagne are also carbonated, but oh well.) I've told myself that sweets in moderation (like that single cupcake) are okay once in a while, but eating forbidden food or drinks is cheating, and I don't want to get back on that bandwagon - been there before!

I got the band a week ago Thursday. When I first saw the surgeon in June, I stopped eating between meals and lost ten pounds. (I was really worried, because I was on vacation, and was afraid that I would gain weight, and my surgeon at the time (Dr. Santiago Horgan, in Chicago) won't do the surgery if you gain weight after the consultation. ) Then, Dr. Horgan left the hospital, and my new surgeon, Dr. Myers put me on two weeks of liquids before the surgery. I am just NOW eating mushy food, so I haven't had real food in almost a month! I'm down to 211 from an all-time high of 243. I am starting to feel a lot better, but my port still hurts. I've been having Soup or pureed veggies (and I wonder why I am having gas!) for Breakfast and lunch, and I had a tiny baked potato and a little baby piece of salmon mashed together for dinner. I thought I was still hungry, and put another little tater in the microwave - by the time that it was done, I realized that I wasn't THAT hungry, and I wanted to save room for one of the gorgeous cupcakes that my daughter brought home. It was about the best thing that I ever tasted. ( And I only ate ONE - I didn't go and try to peel the frosting off a second one, or eat two or three, and keep looking at them. So I am happy.) But it was weird - I suddenly had this huge gurgling sound, and felt everything go through the band. I was really glad that I was home, because it was LOUD!:paranoid:paranoid:rolleyes My poor husband, who is home all day, is bearing the brunt of my crabbiness, because by the time I get home from work, I am STARVING for that little tiny meal, and have obsessed all DAY about what I was going to eat when I got home. My first fill is supposed to be September 21. I have a hiatal hernia that Dr. Myers had to fit the band around, and there is a greater risk of slippage, so I am paranoid about eating too much too soon. So anyway, I guess that there is no point to this story, but here I am. Can someone please post the link to the counter, and the other stuff to pretty up the page?

That is the best idea ever! They have senior fitness classes - why not classes for heavy, out of shape people? No jumping, just imagine! I especially like the idea of the sports teams. It would be so nice to be able to try sports, without having to do it alongside people who have been jocks their whole lives. Just to play for FUN. I've never tried a single sport as an adult, because they are all such maniacs about it. At one point, I lost 25% of my body weight, and went to the gym every single day, no matter what. If I got home at 3AM, I got up at 6 and worked out. Then, ONE DAY, I decided that I didn't feel like it... and I never went back again!!!! (I never felt those endorphins kick in, either!!!!)

Mine is on the left side, above my waist. What I want to know, is it just under the skin, or is it way under that huge roll of fat? They are going to need a foot-long needle if it is!!!!

One of my girlfriends (who I think is in pretty good shape) went to a trainer and explained that she was 50 years old, didn't want to be a Barbie doll, etc.. She THOUGHT that he understood. He worked her so hard that she couldn't sit down on the toilet the next day without screaming. She never went back....

United Health Care approved me so quickly, I was shocked. My BMI was not that high (5'10", 243 pounds) but I have intermittent high blood pressure, high cholestrol, GERD, use a machine for sleep apnea, am on two different antidepressants and am undergoing disc decompression for a deteriorated disc in my spine. I also got a stress fracture in my foot last year when I started a walking program. I never really felt unhealthy, but when you added up everything that I was being treated for....

I got my band yesterday (Thursday) from Dr. Myers in Chicago. I was on the liquid fast for two weeks prior, and my body is not really happy about going back to clears, but I can go back to regular liquids on Monday. I had bad shoulder pain last night, but it's gone now, but my stomach is very bloated, and my incisions are sore. Walking is okay, sitting is not so okay. The doctor gave me liquid vicodin, and it makes me a lot more comfortable. Doing a LOT of sleeping! I lost 18 pounds on the pre-op diet, and have about 60 to go. My insurance approved it right away, because I have GERD, sleep apnea, high cholestrol, a bad disc in my back, and actually got a stress fracture in my foot when I started a walking program. I've been able to lose weight in the past, but always gained it back, so this will be interesting.... Eileen