LeighaMason

Sometimes a good reality check is in order. Sometimes I have to give myself a pep talk too. You can do it! BTW, how is your restriction level? Would it help to get a fill? Usually when I am "cheating" at my measurements it means I am hungry and need a fill. Good luck.

I think of it more as a holiday deviation. The great thing about the band is you can start back today. Didn't do well yesterday? Oh well, I will today and that is good enough for me.

Neyad, Its so good to hear from you! I'm glad your doing well. Just let those others pass you, you will be doing the passing soon enough, just keep walking.

SN: Ha Ha! My sister says "big honking thing" too.

I eat a Greek yogurt 30 min before I run, it gives me enough carbs for energy plus protein and only has 140 calories. Good luck.

Not have real food again? Really? I eat better food than 90% of the people I know. Tonight I am having a steak on the grill with a baked potato with butter, cheese and sour cream. Yes, I admit, its only a 2 oz steak but I am going to savor it by taking small bites and chewing well, and my potato is just a new potato and is small but its still good. Tell your friend that food doesn't have to be overwhelming in portions to be good.

ETA: When you only eat 2 oz of steak at a time you can afford to buy the best ones in town!

Beautiful!

I hate to say it but he's right! I gained weight before my first fill but after I could eat normal food and started getting fills, I started losing 2 pounds a week. Be patient (not my strong suit, either) and practice your good eating habits, measure, cut up food into small pieces, eat slow and chew, chew, chew. Good luck.

He is probably saying you need 40 BMI for your insurance company to pay, I was self pay at 35 BMI. By the way there are BMI calculators on the internet, just enter your height and weight and it will tell you what your BMI is and then enter random weights until it says 40 and that is how much you need to weigh to qualify.

I like your phrase "my mouth was still hungry". Very good description.

I'm glad to hear your insurance finally paid. Your doing great!

I do not want my band so tight that I cant eat meat. I want to eat real quality food in the right quantities. But I haven't been able to eat anything made with white flour in a while. I don't like to eat soups because they seem to go through the band quickly and leave me hungry.

You have to click on the check box that is in their picture, I think its on the top left side? And then the picture will be darker and you click the accept box

I buy Greek yogurt at Sam's Club, Chobani brand, 14g protein 140 calories, much more protein than the regular brands.

I see a lot of questions about what people eat, so I thought I would post my usual menu selections.

Breakfast is usually 1 of 3 things.

1) 1 egg and 1 piece of bacon

2) EAS low carb Protein Shake

3) Jachut's Green Smoothie (1 cup water, 1 cup fresh spinach, 1/2 banana, 1/2 apple, 1 scoop Unjury unflavored protein powder pureed in blender)

Snack, If I am hungry I have either

1) 1 Cheese stick string cheese

2) Laughing cow light cheese wedge with 6 crackers

3) Greek yogurt

4) EAS shake

Lunch

1) A piece of fish (4 Oz by weight)

2) Leftover meat from the night before, (2 Oz if beef)

3) If I am busy at work, Starkist Lunch to go or a can of sardines with 6 crackers.

I add a veggie to one of the meats above either leftovers from the night before or canned that I can heat up easily at work.

Afternoon Snack I choose 1 from the snack list above

Dinner (usually cooked on the grill)

1) Beef 2 Oz

2) Chicken 4 Oz

3) Fish 4 Oz

4) Pork 2 Oz

I measure my meat by weight and my veggies by measure cup. We cut up fresh veggies and put them on the grill too. I make sweet potato's in the microwave and eat 1/2 of it with butter. I usually have 1/2 cup veggies and 1/2 cup carb.

I try and keep my breakfast, lunch and dinner at 250 calories and snacks under 150 each, this gives a grand total of 1050 per day max. Plus anytime I am trying to see if a snack is appropriate, I use the rule of thumb of 1g protein per 10 calories. I hope this helps someone, I will be happy to answer questions. :w00t:

I hate that for you, I hope the cancer can be treated the least invasive way possible. On a lighter note, I did notice that your BMI has entered the normal range! Congratulations. I hope that last 20 just melts away for you.

I have noticed a new way that I look at calories. I equate them to money. Before the band, I had a vague idea about needing to eat around 2000 calories a day to maintain my weight but I never really counted them, it was like a checkbook with an unlimited supply of money.

Now when I get up in the morning I think about how I have 1200 calories in my "account". If I eat (spend) more than that my account gets overdrawn. I can make a deposit by exercising, if I choose to. Or I can just "live within my means" and choose my food wisely. Obviously the band helps tremendously in this with portion control, but I often look at something and decide it just isn't worth the "cost".

Just like if I were shopping, I would never buy something without seeing how much it cost, now I would never eat something without seeing how much it "cost" in calories.

So here is my food budget, 250-300 for each of my three meals, and 150-200 for my snacks. If I want to spend more, I have to work harder (exercise) and make more.

So keeping a journal of my food is similar to keeping a checkbook journal for me, and equally effective.

Don't give up! Your just getting to the good part. I gained weight between the surgery and first fill. I promise that once you start getting restriction it will be easier. Plus your Dr office will help you with the insurance co. they are just being silly. I am going for my 4th fill Monday, today is my 5 month anniversary. I felt exactly like you do now, $10K for a failed diet but that is not what it was, my stall was temporary. You can do it, I promise.

I am already banded and on my way. (10/20/09) But if you are interested I will be happy to be your buddy.

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I respect the way you are going about doing this, I do have one suggestion, if you don't mind. Since you are going to go on a diet anyway, why don't you have it be Dr supervised and that way if you decide to have WLS in the future,you will have your Dr supervised diet out of the way and your insurance will cover it. If you decide not to have the surgery you wont have lost anything.

I recommend use the 65% of heart rate rule for exercise, if you are exercising at 65% of your heart rate this is considered the fat burn type of exercising. Not cardio (cardio is 80%) so walk on the treadmill for an hour at a time (it takes 30 min for it to kick in then you get results the last 30 min. Plus make sure you are getting at least 1000 calories net. So if you are burning 180 calories walking on the treadmill for an hour you need to eat 1180 calories for the day. And my all time favorite advice, log everything you eat and all your exercise on a tracking spot, like daily plate on the internet or lose it on iphone.

I use EAS carb advantEDGE shakes 110 cal 17g protein, and Unjury Chicken Soup flavor protein powder 90 cal. 21 g of protein.

I am so glad you are going to the gym! Have you ever read what those restaurants put in their food? Your body is way too cool to be subjected to that crap! Way to go with the MP3

My MIL (great lady she is) says that when we start feeling like this we should give ourself a day or so and have a pity party, then its back to positive. During your pity party you can lay around, b*tch about stuff, cry about how unfair everything is and then 24 hours later, its over back to positive statements and positive actions! This really works for me. Good luck, and ignore the scale, they are sent from the devil.

Good for you! Attitude is everything with this.