Zana

Wow Angela T that is awesome. What a huge difference. I keep noticing little changes but nothing really major. That is super. As for the fill thing I feel so lucky as I have not had this happen. After a fill do you guys go back to liquids? Cause when I get a fill I have to go back to 3 days liquid then 3 days mushies or soft foods and then slowly back to food trying things like in the begining just doing it more quickly than right after surgery. Maybe that would help. Also if I get sick which luckily I have not yet had happen. I have to go back to liquids for 3 days and do the same little cycle. Maybe that would help as I said I have followed that and not gotten sick ever. Thanks for the ticker tip I will go and try it. It is supposed to be put directly in the si box. That must be what I am doing wrong?

I had my surgery on November 15, 2006 and I have not lost any weight since the first of December. I got a fill on thursday of last week and I have lost 8 pounds since then and I am so excited! Ok I have another question now that I am loosing weight I want to make one of those tickers but it keeps giving me a message that says invalid file when I try. Does anyone have any ideas as to what I can do to make a ticker work? I tried when I first joined but could not get it to work then either so if someone can help that would be great! Thank you!

We are in the same spot. I am down 26 pounds to date. I was running 10-20 miles a week but I hurt my knee really bad so I am going to go back to it when I loose about 20 pounds. I think it will be easier on me. You know I too get frustrated but then I look at the big picture and I am down and you are 25 pounds in a little less than 10 weeks which means our average is right at 3 pounds per week and that is awesome. If a person were to keep up a weight loss like that for a year they would vanish. So we are right where we should be. I know if I spend too much time around the scale I get bummed but then I am like hey I lost nothing yesterday and today I am down 3 pounds. Or whatever. So my official weight loss which has slowed way down after my first fill is 10 pounds. I was loosing nothing for a while and then I got my first fill and I lost 8 like nothing and the last 2 were harder. As for hte work-outs. When I was running I stopped loosing. I ate more (starving all the time) and Muscle weighs more than fat! SO you are doing great! Call me sometime!

Yep and about that water thing. I drink 96+ oz of water every day. My weight goes up during the day but my scale never shows like a difference because of that water nor the difference from when I weigh before I pee or after. Which of course I do and am baffled that there is no change. Today I even tried wearing a heavy sweater then took it off and there was no change. So I am thinking my scale is off. It only goes up in the morning when I get dressed and then it never changes. Next day I will start the day at the whatever loss I have if any weight. Did that make sense? But furthermore it changes with a clothing weight. Like I put my clothes on and go from 214 to 216 or 17 and it never changes for the water intake or output. Also Tom I agree with that whole last paragraph. I am moving my scale out tonight, no tomorrow morning. I need to choose a day to do a weight check and tomorrow will be a great place to start. If someone can tell me how to get a ticker. I will update that on thursdays. Anyone else want to commit to that? We could do it as a group if you guys would like. Oh yes the ticker thing. I tried and it repeatedly tells me invalid file? Dunno!

Oh don't think that and I am no doc but from what I have read here it is really hard to stretch that out. DOn't beat yourself up about the sweet tea because you learned from it that you can not drink that and that the empty calories are not doing you any good. So enjoy your crystal light knowing you have learned a valuable lesson and move forward. At first I lost only in the first 3 weeks maybe two then I hit a roadblock and I lost nothing til this last fill. So I was banded then I lost 16 pounds and since I have lost 8. So a total of 24. It has not been a breeze to do it either. I am having to work at it to keep it going. You will do it and maybe you will need more than 1 fill. I wish you luck!

Yep Tom you are so right. It is frustrating in the moment getting on the scale and seeing nothing but then when you look at the whole picture and you see I have lost 24 pounds it seems a lot better. I think perception is key and I also think the scale can be a big downer for us and make us feel like a failure when we are not failing. I am seriously thinking about putting mine away and having my hubby bring it out once a week for me to use. Then I will not feel so rotten one days when it goes up from the number it was before. Those little one pound flutuations can be caused by something other than what my head tells me. The scale is cruel if you visit it daily!

No just the Protein and I can have and drink the liquid Protein drinks daily. I just can not use the powdered ones. So I am getting my protein and I have had good luck with all of the meats thus far. No problems at all. I guess the point to following the surgeons advice is that if his band failed or I had a complication as a result it would be my fault and not his. It is his rule as he has it on his follow-up instructions.

No I am never going to be allowed to use them. It is a rule from my surgeon!

I think it has to do with the powder settling in the area that food goes through and causing problems. I am not sure? I am only allowed to have liquid protein drinks unless they are hot like a cocoa one but those only have 15 grams and that is not enough. I get protein from food but I drink one shake a day for vitamins and I just asked cause I saw so many here do the liquid protein. I remember from when I used to drink them on my own the powders left powder in the bottom and I have paid attention and the liquids do not do that. So who knows? I guess what it comes down to is if I follow his instructions he backs up his work and if I don't I can not blame him. LOL Who knows he is a great doc but anyway I just wondered if any other docs had said anything like this or if everyone else except me can have powder proteins maybe I will start a thread and ask this ?

Another question. I keep reading about people doing dry proteins like the powders and my doc will not allow them. He said they have a tendency to clog the area that food goes through and cause problems I wonder why the difference from one doc to another. I called them this am to confirm and they said that was in fact true. No powder proteins at all unless they are hot powder drinks like cocoa or something like that.

I have two things I want to metion... I heard a couple of people ask about fills and why some fills work and some dont and something I never heard mentioned was this... My doctor is Felix Speigal and he uses a surgi center which like 6 surgeons use and the staff works with all of the doctors (just said that so you guys would know it is an educated person doing the fills and not someone who has no clue what they are talking about) anyway When she gave me my fill which is my first fill she said that a lot of times the band will absorb the first fill for sure and sometimes even the second cause they are somewhat dry. Then the second or third fill will take and hold. That may answer the question about why a first or second fill works for a week or two and then seems to do no good. But she also said some people do not have that happen sometimes first fills work. Second I had not lost any weight like a few weeks out of surgery and I had my first fill on thursday (which the doc had put in about 1/2 a cc (is that right?) so I had some liquid in to start and he may have done more but some of it may have been absorbed) and I have dropped almost 9 pounds since then and I am very resricted not to the point that I am sick but I am taking it very slow. I am eating 2oz at a time and I am stuffed after that. So I think that makes a difference too. Oh yes I was banded on November 15 2006 and I have lost 24.6 pounds to date. So I am pretty happy with that. I have a ? also for those of you who eat 5 or 6 meals a day how do you get your water down for that day? I mean I eat 3 times a day and I am pushing water all day to get it all in. Due to the 2 hr break from liquids after the meal. So how do you eat more than 3 meals and work around that?

Thanks a lot. I am so happy. I have not had a fill until then so I think that maybe that is why I stopped loosing? Thanks for the support I appreciate it.

Just wanted to stop in and say hello. My surgery is wednesday of this week. 11/15/06. I have about 100 pounds to loose and I am not nervous about the surgery just about actually loosing weight or not loosing weight is really what scares me. I know that I have to loose this weight to live again and so that is what is so scarry that this is the last option and it is so close. I am excited too! I can not wait! Actually I can not wait to get it over with and to be able to get back to normal activities. Well nice ot meet you guys!