honk

Pesto and alfredo are going to be high in cal/fat. I would recommend getting Laughing Cow reduced fat cheese (there are several flavors); they have only 35 calories a piece. I only used one for about 12 oz of chicken. The upside is that since it is cheese you can microwave the chicken so you have something warm to eat. You could also add a small amount of Tomatoe/Sweet Red Pepper soup to shredded chicken; which again can be heated.

I would look at food choices and quantities. I try to live by the 90/10 rule; eat what you should 90% of the time and then have some wiggle room 10%. Since so much of the battler is mental I would avoid foods that are a slippery slope. Pre Band I would buy low fat crackers or chips and think I was making good choices. The reality was I needed to stop buying them period. My personal guilty pleasure are samples at Costco! I walk through see what they are giving out and choose 2-3 things that I could never keep in my house. I have one bite (sometimes throughing half away) and I feel like I've had a wonderful treat. Also do you have an exercise program? In my opinion if you are making good food choices and consistently exercising you will loose weight faster. If you only make good food choices but don't exercise your loss will slow down.

On Pudding mix I would say 1-2 tablespoons.

Hi. Here are some suggestions http://www.highproteinfoods.net/search.aspx Or from Google search: Protein grams Pork ounce, Protein grams chicken ounce, protein grams salmon ounce . Google implies the word AND when you put a space between words. Here’s another example Google search Pork protein grams (Ounce OR oz) This will find results for grams of protein in pork documented by the word ounce or OZ. You must use the Parentheses, Google reads this as Pork AND Protein AND Grams AND Ounces OR Oz.

Hi. I will also post this over in the insurance section. I am currently on COBRA; but it will be running out in a few months. I called my insurance to see what my policy will cost after COBRA. Turns out that due to LAPBand they will not cover me at all and that I need to turn to my states high risk insurnace pool. They will not cover me because of the lap band surgery. I have to be 3 years out. For a 1700 deductable the insurnance will be $526 a month for 80/20 policy. FYI. So hears to hoping that I get a full time direct job with benefits before my COBRA runs out!

It sounds to me like you have a long distance relationship. I think that is your big problem right there. Is he concerned that once you loose weight other men will be interested; and since he is not around to fend them off someone will "steal" you away? Sounds like you feel this relationship is leading to marriage. If that is really true than you can't live hours apart. Don't let the loosing weight thing cover the really big problem of living far apart.

SpoiltMom, I have blue cross blue shield. They said I was uninsurable and that they would send me a rejection letter so that I could provide it to the state insurance group so I could seek coverage there. I DO NOT want to start a political debate; but insurance companies only have to insure children who have preexisting conditions. Insurance companies will not have to insure adults until like 2014.

1) I second using FF/SF pudding mixes in protein shakes + using a blender ( I have a personal blender from Hampton Beach $15 at Walmart/Kmart) 2) If you make the shakes with milk freeze some of it into Milk Cubes (huge affect on the consistency, more like a frappe NE ice cream based milk shake) 3) Using a stick blender to mince the fruit and fluff up Greek Chobani yogurt during mushie stage (early on you may need to add a teaspoon of milk to make it runnier). 4) Pacific Brand Roasted Sweet Red Pepper & Tomato soup (package in a box sometimes sold in the "Organic Section" of the grocery store). My cheapest Grocery sells it at $2.50 for 16 oz box. I did see it yesterday at Cosco for $10.69 for 6/32 oz boxes; which is a huge savings. 5) Adding Mrs Dash flavorings to Sweet Red Pepper soup prior to heating. Mrs Dash is salt free and they have lots of flavors. 6) Low Cal Pudding Cups in the Refrigerated section have less fat then those that are in the Pudding section. 7) Walmart sells bagged frozen Wild Salmon the portions are sealed in individual 4 oz servings. Many other stores the "servings" are twice as large. Since I live alone that would mean having to have the same dinner two nights in a row. 8) Microwave sweet potato and then cut them length ways down the middle. I get two servings that way; save the other for another day. 9) Using low fat laughing cow cheese to mix into shredded chicken instead of Mayo. Which means you can heat it up making it feel more like a real meal. 10) Use Romain lettuce leaves to make sandwiches. Put the chicken/tuna on the spine and roll the edges over. 11) When making egg beaters; toward the end add in 1/8 cut fat free chive cottage cheese. Add a lot of flavor for few calories but added protein.

I had to get a letter from my hemotologist that I was healthy enough for surgery. I had a mini stroke last year and have been treating the bloodclot ever since. They wanted to know what kind blood thinner treatment he recommended pre and post op.

Someone off topic but there was a medical study recently that discussed the chances of stroke based on the pain killers that people used. NSAIDs including ibuprofin had the highest correlation. I had been on a perscription NSAID and had a stroke at 39 and I very much believe they were connected.

"Fluid taken out of my band so I could train. During that time I was hungry all the time and ate pretty much whatever I wanted." I don't want to sound mean spirited but it sounds to me like you shut off your tool (took the saline out), and ate what ever you wanted. The question is was what you wanted unhealthy fattening foods/ and how much of it? I am a big proponent of the 90/10 theory of eating. Eat what you know is the the right way and good for you food 90% of the time and treats (not always dessert) 10%. When I was preband I was going to meet friends at Chili's for lunch. I normally ordered the bite size burgers with fries. Turns out that meal has 1,000 cal and 100 g of fat! What! No wonder even though I was doing more than 7 hours of cardio a week I was a slow looser. I have a friend who lost over 50 on WW and who bikes like a fiend. They were noticing some weight gain because they had reintroduced dessert. Guess what they had to cut back on. Again, I don't want to sound harsh because we all have our food issues. I don't keep carbs like bread, Cereal, crackers in my house because I don't have good control. I wonder if you journaled your food and if necessary went back to weighing all your food you would notice counter productive behavior.

Yes making sure you're getting enough protein is very important. "there is still excess fat in the skin that keeps it from retracting" The previous statement however just seems silly to me. I wonder what a dermatoligist would have to say about that. "They will usually give you a free consult when you join, or pay a reasonable fee per session." Not in New England they're not; my last gym was charging $100 an hour. Ahh no thanks.

I would run not walk away from a surgeon who had a 4,500 program fee. Yes some includes fills but that's just outrageous!

When you can move to full liquids (tomato) soup try adding Mrs Dash (no salt) chicken flavor seasoning. When you heat it up the spices reconstitute and it tastes great! My favorite soup was Pacific Brand Organic Tomato/Sweet Red Pepper Soup.

Well my nurse stuck the needle in and then swished it around trying to find the port. They then remove some part and then stuck in a second needle that actually had the saline. So I don't know what is worse; multiple sticks of the needle (which to be truthful I did'nt feel) or feeling them swipe the needle back and forth. Hours later I had tendernes to the touch of the area where they hand twisted the needle here and there. Again, I did'nt really have any pain during the fill more of thought that twirling the needle around was not great for my insides. I guess though they are only twirling through fat so probably not that bad.

Since I had almost reached my out of pocket expenses for my insurnace my out of pocket for the surgery was about $150 (total billed by hospital $20,000). I will say though that since I am on Cobra I called my insurance to see what it would cost me to get private insurnace whenn Cobra runs out. They will not cover me becuase of the lap band surgery. I have to be 3 years out. So I will have to go through my states default insurnace pool. For a 1700 deductable the insurnance will be $526 a month for 80/20 policy. FYI

I need to start cleaning out my closet. Maybe this weekend. I have been holding off buying new stuff becuase I'm a "consultant" and I currently work from home. If I get an onsite gig I will have to buy stuff that fits.

Low blood sugar runs in my family. Preband I had events similar to yours (though more serious light headedness, feeling like you might faint.) I have to say that I have not really had an episode since I was banded. I just had my first fill so after 3 hours or so I start to get hungry (my doctor says at the sweet spot you should be able to go 5 hours without eating). If I exercise in the late afternoon I may need to have a snack; as the time between lunch and dinner could be 7 plus hours (which is really a long time).

This is kind of funny because after I swim (1 hour) I am starving! My mother who also swims actually feels less like eating. Shrug. So I always plan to eat afterwards. Not sure if others will disagree (only have had one fill so no restriction) but before I eat I have a drink of water. I then eat my meal. Since I don't have restriction I usually feel like I could eat more (my doctor says 3 oz protein, 1/4 veggie, 1/4 startch). You might want to have a go to snack that after you've eaten and then waited 10 minutes that you can have if you are still ravenously hungry. Here are some thoughts grilled chicken, cheese stick, veggie, fruit. I live alone so I have the option of just not buying foods that I should'nt be eating. A greek yogurt with fruit would also only be about 160 calories which would be better than the cookies. Also how about sugar free pops?

Somewhat off topic; but when I went in for a fill I told the nurse that I thought I was'nt not eating enough calories. She was very adament that it was all about measuring protein and not counting calories.

The statistics I read say that only 5% of people who loose large amounts of weight keep if off permanently. Regarding Drew Cary it will really be an issue of seeing in 1-2 years whether he keeps the weight off. When I turned 30 I started a major diet/exercise program and lost probably 150 pounds. I had two women ask me as I walked down the hall (worked in an office building) if I had stomach stapling (this was circa 2000). I think Jennifer Hudson lost weight via WW; perhaps I am naive to take her word for that. I also don't know if Kelly Osborne would have had a surgery that ended up being a bad choice for her mother (She is relatively young and I think living through her mothers' problems would make her leary.) I had a former manager (VP) level who was very vocal about having WLS (though I don't know which one she had, personally would not have asked her). In our first group meeting she announced it to us. I found that kind of odd becuase we would never have known and personally did'nt really see why we needed to know. Keep in mind that I work in HR and HIPPA is a huge issue for us. Not to lump everyone together but there are certainly celebrities who maintain their weight via drugs (like cocaine). Ever notice how some people once they are no longer on the TV or in the movies start gaining a lot of weight even though they are relatively young? Makes me wonder if they just can't afford their drug of choice.

Before my first fill I got stuck twice with baby carrots. Clearly did not chew them enough. VERY painful.

I don't understand why anyone would need to wipe out their savings to send their kid to a camp that is taping a TV show. Should'nt the tuition be covered by the TV company? So my kid provides the show and I pay for the priviledge? I don't think so. Also the idea of removing a child from their home to send them to some kind of boot camp sounds like abuse to me. If this program is healthy and such a good idea why aren't the parents willing to live the same life style so the kids can stay at home?

My surgeon required a 10% body weight loss. My surgery was postponed for other reasons and I ened up loosing over 15%. No one likes to hear it (I certainly did'nt) but my surgeon said the more you lose before the surgery the sooner you will get to goal after.

It's hard to know what can trigger shingles. Anyone who has ever had chicken pox can get shingles. My sister got them a few years ago (late thirties) out of no where. They are very painful I know.