1unknownperson

Good luck Dk. You will do okay. It doesn't matter if you finish first or last as long as you finish. Cocoa! <hugs> it has been a while. I sent messages to you and Leigha a few weeks ago but everything disappeared and never went through. It was during that time when the site was down for a couple days. How are you? I don't get on here much and its all different so I can't figure out ho to find everyone again. Email me JensGems1217@gmail.com

YES! I just completed my 2nd 5k today. It was more difficult as there was more uphill stretches and the first mile had me running in a downpour and it was 52 degrees out. So I was cold, wet and running uphill, but I made it! Bring on the next one March 12th 2011...

Good Luck Maggie that sounds like fun. I've always hated walking or running for sport and only did it for necessity before but since losing weight have discovered I actually love it now that my body doesn't reverberate with every step I take. I'm hoping to work up to a full Marathon within a year and would really be interested in doing a triathalon someday. Maybe summer of 2012 I'd be ready??? I don't know what is a reasonable amount of time to prepare for these things. What's a warrior dash? Sounds like fun!

Yay me. Last Saturday I ran my first 5k and completed it. Yay. I wasn't speedy gonzalez but I ran the whole thing and finished. I think my time was 49 minutes or close to it. I actually was so excited at the finish line, and since this was my very first race, I didn't know I was supposed to turn in my bib tear off thingy to stop the clock and I spent a good 5 minutees jumping for joy and visiting with my friends, family and colleagues who showed up to support me. According to my cardio trainer app on my Droid, I was clocking about 15 min 40 seconds a mile. Which beats my former best time of 18 minutes plus... 15 years ago!

Hey all. I was banded on December 5th of 09 and am currently down 67 pounds. It's been a struggle and I've had to be unfilled slightly a couple times but otherwise things have been good. Its not magic and I have had to put a lot of concious effort into making this work for me. The biggest boost was once I started working out at the gym on a regular basis in June 2010. I still plateau for weeks at a time but then usually following a plateau I will lose steadily for a few weeks. Swimming and cycling seem to be the two best things and in Jan 2011 I began running. Funny thing, I hadn't lost any weight since early December and still haven't according to the scales, but everyone at work has been commenting that I'm getting thinner or losing more weight since I started running. Haha.... I think its a change in my posture. My running coach was really helpful in teaching me better posture so I can breath more efficiently and I feel like I am standing straighter and taller. I started out on 21jan11 being able to slowly run/walk/walk/walk/run for barely a quarter of a mile but I am now up to 5 miles! That's less than a month. I've always hated running until now. Tonight I go to my first meet with the local running club. Tuesday nights is interval training so maybe I can pick up some speed. Oh, I run barefoot and my knee and everything feels great. I had reconstructive knee surgery the same month I was banded and thought Id have problems all my life. I guess learning to run and being able to go the distance has been my biggest and proudest NSV! Good luck to everyone and feel free to email me anytime. I'm always happy to receive of offer support. JensGems1217@gmail.com Jennifer

Woo hoo L12 on the half marathon. I just got a coach and started training for a 5k so I can work my way up the marathon ladder. I haven't ran enough to have any experiences with band tightness and it hasn't happened from working out either and I'm at the gym 5 days a week for 2-3 hours at a time.that's not to say I've never expeerience being too toght though. I've had to get slight unfills 3 times in the last year... I tend to wait too long until I'm severly dehydrated and they end up putting me on an iv drip and putting in 2 1/2 bags of fluid before sending me home. When I am tooo tight, even sips of water won't go down. Not even my own saliva will!

I wear a girdle panty to hold everything still otherwise I'd have way to much movement happening while running. I started wearing them about 3 weeks post op and I'm now 13 months out. The other benefit is, they make me look like I lost about 15 pounds more than I really have. They also minimize muffin top since they go up under my boobs.

Cheri I'm a grandmother of 2.5 wonderful little boys (number 3 is due May 22nd) and I have always hated running, but since losing all but my last 20-30 pounds towards my goal weight I have become a runner. The key for me was finding a great Coach! He taught me proper posture and form, taught me how to run light and not stomping like a mad cow haha, and he taught me how to listen to my own body. I went from barely being able to run/walk/run/walk for a quarter mile to going over 4 miles. All in three weeks. And because I live almost 100 miles from him (yes, he is worth the drive, which by the way was always the other thing I hated... driving...), I only see him on the weekends for training. Before he started working with me, I felt like I was dying after about 10-20 SECONDS of running. It took me 5 minutes to recover from every 30 seconds of running (and slow running at that!). Now I can keep going and going and going. Its my legs that get tired and cause me to quit long before I am out of breath to terribly bad. Coach calls it a conversational pace which is okay while I am still just learning everything and building endurance. He said eventually I'll be ready to pick up the pace and will breath a little harder but it won't be the "side aching, chest exploding I think I'm gonna die kind of out of breath" like I'm used to. I started training on January 21st 2011 so it didn't take long to see the difference and All it took was a great coach! Oh and a side note is that I had reconstructive knee surgery 13 months ago AND I am running barefoot! Barefoot running has taught me to run lighter and will help prevent injuries to my knees since I'm not running so hard and jolting my bones and body. Congratulations to anyone who takes up running and keeps with it! I discovered a new passion and I have some pretty lofty goals! RUN ON!

Oh and my new favorite dessert when everyone else is enjoying ice cream??? A 4 oz scoop of low fat cottage cheese with a tablespoon of Pineapple Sundae topping on top... I was hatin on Cottage Cheese until I made this one night. Now I actually enjoy eating cottage cheese.... I bought plastic disposable souffle cups at smart n final in 2 oz, 4 oz and 5 oz sizes with lids and I pre package all my snacks and lunch foods for the full week on Sunday, and everything is very easy to grab and go with for work... Everyone at work is trying to copy me because they thought it was a cool idea for portion control but they don't understand why they are still feeling hungry and I'm having trouble finishing what I have.... But I still don't want to tell them about the surgery. Oh and because I'm cheap... I wash and re-use the cups and lids several times. In fact, I'm still using the same weeks worth of rotation after a month... So that $20.00 investment for packs of 125ct will last me a year! IF I ever get literate enough to figure out how to post pictures here, I'll show you what I'm talking about!

Hey Everybody! Good Morning and Happy Easter! Man, it took me three days to read all the posts since the last time I was here... Haha.... Work keeps me busy and when I get home, the last thing I want to do is turn on my computer... Glad to see everyone is doing well/persevering through losses and plateaus.. Loved Lizzys post about Plateaus from Jillian... Makes sense to me! Bob, Sorry about the stuck... Aren't you glad you can really "relate" now... I was getting used to that be a daily way of life and then my Dr. Said "Oh Hell NO!" Haha... After my last .5 Fill I was only keeping about 30% or less of my food down so when I saw the Dr. After 2 weeks he insisted to remove .25 no matter how much I begged him not too... Come on, I was HAPPY! I had lost 5 pounds in that two weeks! But he said this is not about being bulimic this is about proper eating habits... Boo... Its not like I was Spitting it all back up on purpose.... Well, it will be two weeks on Tuesday and I've actually lost 3 pounds as of this morning and thats with my TOM starting yesterday, so I might be down another pound or two... I go back on Tuesday.. Oh and let me add that when I went in for the dreaded unfill, I wore a cute dress with boots, (Was on my way to work afterwards), and all the nurses were whistling and commenting on how great I looked... I was wondering if they do that to everyone who loses a few pounds here and there just to make them feel good becasue man, I felt like a million bucks, so if thats a plan to make you feel good about your decision, it worked..... Sorry for not posting individually to everyone but I forgot whose done what by now... Betsy, Praying for you and Mark that they can help him somehow... Illuminnlady, Congratulations to your daughter (Hope I got the right person... Haha... I told you I forgot whose done what), hope she is successful.... Cocoa Good job on controlling the blood sugar... Leigha Hope your Allergies pass quickly so you can enjoy the beauty of the warm weather, Juliansmom Congrats on hitting the goal for the Easter Challenge... According to my weigh in, I have fallen short however, yesterday my TOM started so I may weigh in next weekend for a more accurate count...