Betsyjane

Welcome to Bandster Hell. Until you get one or more fills so you have restriction, you are actually living as if you have no band! Don't kick yourself. Most of us have been there. It's totally normal. Take this time to study study study the bandster lifestyle and practice it when you can. You lived with weight a long time. Bandster Hell lasts only a short time.

I've been buying long and short sleeve Super T-shirts from Lands End. They are nicely made, and you can dress up the long sleeve ones. So far, I've gone through 4 sizes of them, and still going down. At $12 each, I just keep replenishing the wardrobe until I hit goal weight and am reqdy to do some serious shopping.

Oh, and I got the little skirt to go over it. I think it helps a bunch!

Try landsend.com They do suits for different figure problems. I don't remember which one I bought, but it had shirring to one side and a built in bra...in a dark cobalt blue. Good luck! We are a definite figure challenge!

Congrats! Need any help moving? We missed you.

Dear "baby": Welcome to the club. You are now in what's know as BANDSTER HELL. You want to act like a bandster, but without restriction, you are about the same as you were before surgery! We've been there! It's just awful. Here are my suggestions: 1. Don't beat yourself up. IF you could have done it without restriction, you wouldn't have needed the band. 2. Everytime you stay on your diet, you are being a superhuman. Everytime you cheat, you are being human. 3. This is the time to pretend to be a bandster and practice using small plates, saying thin things, doing bandster behaviors. Kind of a fake it til you make it thing for practice. Read a lot on this site and take time to educate yourself. 4. Remember that bandster hell is sooo much sharter than all the years you were in weight gain hell. You have started the journey and you are close to getting to really be a bandster. 5. See if they will do your fill 3 weeks after surgery instead..... 6. Congratulate yourself every day for sticking with the post op diet. Did you even know you were capable of such an extraordinary feat? 7. It's a good time to start to figure out the role that food played in your life. For me, food kept me drugged enough to watch TV at night. I don't do that anymore, and I don't think about food at night as a consequence. I used food when I was bored, so I've gotten some new hobbies...like exercise. 8. Mostly, just know that it's short term and that if you have to sleep through it to get through it, do whatever you need to.....

Anybody want to join me? I want to go find out about the Lifestyle Lift? I'm tired of my jowls and neck...... If not, I'll report back....

You knoe, those half hour Tony Horton tapes really are helpful. This morning, the dogs decided to get up at 5, and I can't get back to sleep after they get up...so I usually vege out and watch TV for half an hour while I try to wake up. This morning it was Star Trek....and the woman who gave Spock an illness that gave him uncontrolled emotions. I know. My life is exciting. Anyway, I put Tony Horton in the portable DVD with the sound off, continued to watch Star Trek, and did a half hour stretching workout. Great way to start the day, and I didn't miss watching the Enterprise go backwards in time.

Now seems to be the time to start. A new Tai Chi class just stared last week. Since it starts from scratch, we can all build up our skills together. See everyone tonight. I may look scary. I'll be coming directly from the gym.

I'm with you, Jo Anne. I'm 8 months out, and for every day that I stay the same or lose weight now, it's a day that I would have gained weight before. I stopped telling people about it,though, unless I had the time and inclination to educate them. I think mostly people are just uneducated about morbid obesity and the lap band. There's so much on TV about "diet and exercise" or you're just lazy. We know better.

Yeah, I don't know anyone who has had hair loss that hasn't grown back....

Lana, how was Tai Chi? Jade Palace it is!

I WAY don't agree about the ice cream! Ice Cream goes through the bandeasily, as does chocolate! I'm enough of a sugar addict that I mostly still have to avoid those things or I'll overdo. For me, the band just makes me like normal people. I can pick at my food and eat little, and I can choose not to eat some things and stick with it. Or I can splurge on ice cream and then head to the gym to work it off. You know...all those things skinny girls do! On the grazing, I found that that was the weird part. Food was what I went to when I was bored...when I watched TV...when I worked on the computer. I actually found that without the doping of food, I haven't been able to sit and watch TV as much! There are so many subtle changes. It's quite a journey.

Great! I'll bring one. There's one for stretching, one for thighs, one for buns, one for arms...but each one is a full body workout. I'll bring thighs...I think it's pretty representative.... I vote for Far East buffet, but I can se swayed to Jade Palace. We need to have show and tell with your new iPhone! Monday is fine for the cookbook.

By the way, I am so impressed with the Tony Horton Half Hour workout DVDs. Days when I can't get to the gym, I can actually pop one of thos ein and it keeps my interest and gives me a good workout. It's not workout to music, so I can put it in the ortable DVD and work out while watching TV...rather than veging out to watch a show. If any of you want to borrow one and see what they are like, let me know. Can I get the cookbook back, Barbara? I want to try a few more recipes. I know I know. You have your own in=house cook, bu tI am but a poor peon who must fend for herself. Sniff.

I called and left a message for Albert. The guy didn't come to pick up his dog until almost 9PM....airport delays due to the weather..... He looked exhausted! Are we doing Jade Palace Monday? Oddly, I haven't done a Chinese restaurant since I was banded. Thai...and buffet that gave me Thai selections... but not Chinese. Cool.

Everybody is different. If you're really restricted, you might end up leaning a bit more toward sipping than guzzling, but I know some confirmed guzzler bandsters too. Here's the thing: I have a friend who can eat bigger meals and guzzle water best right after exercise, so she does. For me, I have the most restriction in the mornings AND right after exercise, so if I guzzled then, I might stretch my pouch....but the thing is, I just don't want to guzzle when I am really restricted. Once you get to know your finicky band friend, you two will come to an understanding that works for both of you.

You will probably learn how to cheat. The difference for me with the band is that I can then say I will get back on track, and I actually can! It broke that pattern for me of failing at weight loss. I am human and not perfect, and I can still follow through. I'm even losing all that self blame stuff. I feel like a normla thin person who can say "I think I'll lose some wieght" and actually follow through and do it. It's an interesting journey, much of which, fo rme, has been about my habits and self=expectations. Wish I'd done it decades ago.....

The guy that invented lap bands did a seminar a year ago, and he said the most important thing is the drinking rule. He said there is absolutely no reason to get a lap band if you wash the food down, and essentially negate the whole thing. He recommends...OK to drink up until the meal...in fact go ahead and drink your drink right up until the food comes. Then no liquids for 1/5 hours. Then start drinking your water until the next meal.

Monday's good for me. I want to go to Tai Chi...and here I sit waiting for a dog owner who was supposed to be here at 5.... I'm gonna try, but if not, I'll start next week. Lana-if you're still around, will you tell Albert I'll definitely be there next week?

I'm a binger and a grazer. The worst of the worst. The honest truth is that with my band, when I screw up royally, I stop losing, BUT I don't gain! That's a first for me. And when I get back on track, I lose! Over time, food is losing it's hold on me. I couldn't ask for anything better..... It's not magic, but it's just what I need.

Anybody going to the start of Tai Chi tonight at 7 at May Community?

I'm certainly not an MD, and my experience is so tiny, so this is a long shot, but have they checked you for Lupus? I guess if you have Lupus SLE, you can also develop Lupus Nephritis....and having Lupus would certainly make you reeeaaaalllly tired.

I shed hair in the Spring, but this Spring at about 5 months after surgery, I dropped twice the hair. Then no more, a nd it's growing back. It turned out not to be a big deal. Not that I'm equating us with horses, but I once rescued a horse who was starving to death, and she had stopped growing hair and hooves, I guess in an effort to conserve what nutrition she could find. Somehow seems slightly similar. (PS: She recovered beautifully.)

Well, I guess if there,s good news, it's that they didn't think it was an emergency for you to see someone! I wonder what potasium levels and kidneys have in common. Did they give you any info about it?