Miss_BiBi

Awww, Polly!! Glad we are each others' rocks!!!! A big thank you to you!! Mmmmmm!! Tuna & cottage cheese! What a brilliant idea!! I know what you mean about wolfing down anything because we've let ourselves get too hungry. :smile2: What I don't understand, for example, the other night we weren't really hungry for supper per se, so I brought out a box of rosemary & olive oil Triscuits, salmon cream cheese and a few cans of smoked oysters. I figured the whole wheat crackers and the protein from the cream cheese and oysters would fill me up quickly....wrong-o!! I wiped out the majority of the crackers and a can of the oysters pretty much by myself. WT??? I'm good all day but when evening comes? It's like I'm not banded at all! :wink2:

Well, a week and a 1/2 later they still haven't called me back. And have gained 3 1/2 lbs. too !!! :laugh: I've been so busy at work that the time has just flown so I haven't had the chance to follow up. I've emailed before, copying both SWLC & nurse here and they won't approve the fill till they speak with me first. Well, they can't speak to me if they don't call me back!!! :wink2: This morning, I'm shook things up a bit - had a 1/4 c. real oatmeal cooked in a 1/2 skim milk, a scoop of Protein powder and a 1/2 c. fruit cocktail (packed in water), instead of my usual Protein Powder shake w/berries. For lunch I am planning on a fried egg & cheese sandwich on flax bread (that usually tides me over) and for supper, a Lean Cuisine & broccoli (as I don't have to cook for the family) Will see how this works. I know I could use a titch more of a fill so I will email both SWLC & the nurse today. cjf, my fill nurse noticed that my inscision was still quite pink and asked if it bothered me - I told her it was a bit itchy at times but other than that, I noticed it was pink too. She said keep an eye on it and if it gets redder or warm, to let her know. TTYL!

So, as good as my whole wheat Pasta casserole is, I've decided that after 3 days of having it for lunch, it just isn't the greatest choice to sustain my hunger until suppertime. AND, I realized that with my fruit & yogurt the past couple of mornings, I've been forgetting to add my whey protein!!! That explains why it wasn't holding me over till lunch. So it's been kind of a disappointing week for me thus far......:w00t: Put a call in to SWLC to have a titch more of a fill. They aren't very quick to answer back, I must say! BB

Welcome back!! Wow, cj, at least you have that warning pain in your shoulder! I don't get any warning, but when I feel that need to sorta burp, then I know I've gone too far....:tt2: Congrats on your weight loss thus far!! We should all give ourselves a big pat on the back. I made myself a whole wheat rotini & ground beef casserole tonite - should last me the whole week!! How does one make a casserole for 1 person LOL!!! My husband's helping our cottage neighbours build their cottage so he's gone all week. I haven't had whole wheat Pasta since being banded so I'll see if I can tolerate it. TTYL! :smile:

Polly, I only have the 1 scoop. I did try the whey Protein with the plain, no fat yogurt and it was awesome! Much more filling than the shake. I think I may have discovered my new fav breakfast! I include the berries but done muck them up with the immersion blender - maybe that's why it's more filling. Oh and the 2 tsp. of Splenda or I find it too tangy. Remember that the Meditrim was nutritionally complete - hence the high calories @ 3 x's/day. Gak!! That sure is a distant memory, those shakes 3 times/day..... I managed to manage the Kaiser but I think it's all about those highly refined carbs, isn't it? I'm not sure if I need another fill or not - this morning at Breakfast (with company), you know how you get talking and not really pay attention to how fast you're eating? At a point, I guess I hit the wall, and realized that uh-oh!! Better excuse myself and go and pretend to wash my hands in the bathroom. That was with sausage rounds, scrambled eggs and whole grain toast. That happened to me too, Pasta one night (but only when we're dining with others!) My husband will say when it's only he & I, remember not to eat too fast but he can't really say that around a table full of people LOL!!! But he knows that when I excuse myself, that I'm having trouble. So because of that, I'm not sure if I've plateau-ed or if I need a titch more of a fill. We'll see!

Mine was Dr. Dr. Cobourn. Super nice guy.

Hi Polly, I ordered last Sunday, Oct 3 and got is this Tuesday the 12th., so even with Thanksgiving in there, a week is a pretty reasonable turnaround time. I have one of those KitchenAid immersion blenders - awesome tool and I mix up a scoop of the whey Protein, a c. of frozen berries (strawberries, raspberries?) and 2 tsp. of Splenda in 8 oz. of no-fat or 1% milk. It turns it into a great thick breakfast shake. I don't think you will be disappointed! I am 3 months. post-op today and in 8 days, I GAINED a lb. - no after work happy hour OR jalapeno chips since the weekend so I'm a bit bummed about that. Tried a ham & cheese on a Kaiser bun last night for supper and that was a disappointment too. Was worried about the bun getting stuck. For breakfast this morning I'm going to try the whey protein with no fat, plain yogurt & strawberries. Will let you know how that is. Have a great weekend!

Thanks for that info, so done.....I thought I was losing my mind being able to eat those chips! Had no idea they'd be considered slider foods. Back to work today and back to my usual very conservative portion of Beans w/tuna, small slice of flax bread w/butter and some of left-over green bean casserole from Thanksgiving. Didn't have room for (and because I forgot) yogurt. It's now past the dinner hr. and I don't really feel like anything. Had tea with sweetener and some mineral Water. Guess I'm just trying to avoid more Thanksgiving leftovers LOL!! Polly, I too, had a popcorn episode the other week. Thought I'd practice portion control and bought those 100 calorie packs of smart popcorn (the white cheddar ones?) Wiped out the whole box.....I'm not gonna lie. So I vow to stay away from the slider foods! Thanks again for your input, so done, and Polly, just got another order of whey Protein isolate from NutraBio.com. All the fun you can have for $30 and no customs! TTYL!

Hi Polly! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! Had ours Saturday - had a bit of everything (but no pie, either) Except, I can not keep a bag of jalapeno chips in the house. I ate the whole bag, myself. What's up with that? I couldn't believe it! Thought I'd test myself but I failed miserably. But couldn't stop myself! Like I wasn't even banded. So, no more. I was very conservative with everything else, but was like I was possessed with the jalepenos! I love those kettle chips. But I won't buy them again. I promise. I low-carb-ed for many years and was quite successful, but like everyone else I guess, got tired of the same-ol'-same-ol' so I gradually snuck in the carbs and, well, that's why I'm here today. I'll 99% of the time eat whole wheat carbs and very little sweets or starches and am mineful of problem foods but the potato chips? No sure I'm at my sweet spot yet. (Obviously not!) Is it possible to be unsure? Do you ever over-do it? I'm waiting for that magic 'a-ha' moment I keep hearing about, but not if I can still eat so many chips. :puke: Nice pic BTW & congratulations on your progress! I'm wondering how cjf's doing too! Let me know what Protein shake you try. ~BB~

Oh, ahahaha!! I get it now! Guess I should look at those too cuz the scale isn't..... well, as least I'm not gaining. Guess I'd better look at is as glass 1/2 full! I scale I have, I bought yeeeeears ago (as a matter of fact, I just ran to look at it - it's a 'Health-o-Meter' and there's a tiny sticker on the back that say 2002...runs on a lithium (?) battery and haven't had to change it, ever. Wouldn't know how either! It's big & heavy, made of glass and has a LCD read-out. I like it much better than the traditional ones as, it tells you that it is what it is. No room for interpreting - if you're 200, you're 200. Paid about $70 I think? I really like it. The whey Protein isolate I get is from the States - a company called nutribio.com. Someone on these boards recommended them, nothing but favourable reviews, and even with the exchange & shipping it's still very reasonable @ around $32 for 2 lbs. of it. The isolate is more expensive than the whey protein blends you see, say, at Walmart, but you're getting a higher quality protein when you get whey protein isolate. The nearest GNS to me is in North Bay and theirs is so much more expensive. I've had the strawberry and it is delicious! Just today, I order another 2 lbs., this time the banana one. I'll let you know how that one is. But I highly recommend nutribio.com! Maybe there's a difference between new baby potatoes, which I had trouble with and older, starchier ones, but we'll see what happens at Thanksgiving with mashed & gravy! Wow for you! Almost 40 lbs. down! That's fabulous!!! :smile2:

Congratulations Polly!! Good for you!! Er....what are nsv's? I've been trying to figure out what that means! I'm in the same size uniform pants only they aren't stretched out as much (I think!) I'm still not at my sweet spot yet (damn it!) And I've only gone down a 1/2 lb. in like 2 wks. :thumbup: I've noticed the hair loss too. I don't worry too much about it as I have a ton of hair but when I brush it out or take a hair clip out, there is lots! I still have about 10 Meditrim left but I have a scoop of Whey Protein Isolate in a cup of skim milk and a cup of frozen berries (blueberries, strawberries, whatever's on sale!) and 2 tsp. of Splenda in the morning. I always remember the 'protein first' rule. My list of 'can't have'-s is ever expanding! Tried to have some very thinly sliced chorizo sausage today and nope! Too dry. Up it came. Pork chops, no matter how well done they are, even in a sauce or gravy, are difficult too. Rye bread? Nope. Made a bean Soup and put some left-over boiled potatoes in it - not a good idea. Can't do boiled potatoes very well either. :thumbup: With those kind of limitations, you'd think the scale would move! I am thrilled for you! Keep me in the loop on your progress!!

Hi Polly! Glad you feel you're at your sweet spot! Got my 2nd. fill on Friday - 4.9 cc's altogether....got stuck a couple of times too! I sorta/kinda guage my fill success on how a week day goes....whether I'm hungry as soon as I get home from work and how much I eat for supper and after. Had some tuna & Beans so far today, and of course my fruit & whey Protein shake for Breakfast. I'm not hungry for dinner yet....(5:30 PM) so I'm having a wee Scotch for happy hour. Has the scale started to move again for you??? Hope so!

Good term, Polly - "....don't need the discouragement right now..." Glad to hear you're where you want to be cuz that where I want to be - is where you are. Haven't heard from the nurse yet so I guess she hasn't got her needles. What the.....?? Just wondering to myself, that if she is the nurse for the area, why would she let herself run out of needles....oh well.... Dug through closets & storage today and found a whole whack of stuff I'd forgotten I had! Almost like Easter Egg hunting LOLOL!! Except, I can't find the 1 pair of black jeans I was looking for. Hopefully I didn't send them to Value Village by mistake!! I looked everywhere, twice!! :thumbup:

Broke 200 lbs. (by a 1/2 lb.) at 8 wks. post op. My own statistics (via fitday.com) show I haven't been under 200 lbs. since March 2008! Waiting on my nurse to get her needles in, for my 2nd. fill. Hope that will be early next week. Have a great weekend, all! Bibi :thumbup:

LOL cjf - I've found the clothes I put away many lbs. less ago, but am too chicken to try them on yet! I hear ya' about not wanting to buy anything right now...there's a lot of stuff put away that was barely worn before I out-grew them! Luckily I wear a uniform to work and live in yoga clothes and pj's the rest of the time! Keep in touch!

Sorry to hear about your loss, Pollywogg - and in 7 weeks, oh my.....:alien: I am on my feet, lifting and carrying and walking all day long in my job so exercising after work just doesn't appeal to me LOL! I do have an elliptical set up in my computer room/office at home so anytime I feel like listening to videos on YouTube, I hop on it - for usually 5-8 minutes. By then, the pain of my torn meniscus and acl takes over so I have to stop. Tomorrow I will be 8 wks. post-op (already!) and will weigh myself tomorrow morning so I will have a go at it tonight! Hopefully I will have broken the 200 lb. mark.....doubtful though....:wub: Take care and keep in touch.

How are things going, pollywogg & cjf? I am at a virtual standstill!! Next (2nd.) fill will be scheduled for early next week as nurse is waiting on needles and referral from SWLC.

Good to hear! I've gotten 'stuck' a couple of times, a couple of days in a row. Can't do bagels, kolbassa, jalapeno poppers, and have now discovered not even cole slaw, well chewed. It's been a slow go since my 1st. fill 2 wks. ago....lost 1 lb. since. I'm debating if I'll give myself a bit more time before my next fill....things are so erratic for me! Some days, I am content, others I can graze all evening and not feel full....still trying to read myself. :blushing:

Yes, I have, So Done....just have to go there more regularly. Thanks again for the tip!

I am quickly compiling a list of foods I get stuck easily on: 1) bagels - plain or toasted, not good 2) ham kolbassa - no matter how much I chew, not good 3) anything cold out of the fridge - had a fish fry over the weekend and had a small piece of left-over fish to nibble on....am just now still wretching over it. Have to admit....LAP-BAND®® sure keeps you honest! Gotta go.........:thumbup:

Yes. 'So Done With it all', thanks for the info! We newbies can be skeptics! Good luck, Polly...I'll hang in and see what SWLC says too. Keep in touch, All!!!

Yes, Polly, they only prescribed a 1/2 cc - for $75!! And feel I need more. She said wait a couple of weeks and call SWLC if I'm not happy and they will prescribe more. So you feel that a 1/2 cc was a joke? ~Sigh.....~ Glad you 2 girls are where you want to be fill-wise! Keep me posted!

Hi CJF! I bet you we go to the same RN for our fills. She pulled out about 4 but only added a 1/2.....am wondering, what was the point as I don't feel any different. Even had a 100 calorie packet of Smart food white cheddar popcorn last night before bed! (Thank God for those portion controlled Lean Cuisine & 100 calorie Snacks, huh!) Did you have to pay again even though it was such a short time in between fills? Congrats on your weight moving again. I am looking forward to that too. She told me to wait about 2 weeks then contact SWLC again. She has some good advice. I told her my downfall was the grazing on weekends at the cottage.....she says that and the wine of course, will always be a problem and try to avoid it. Even though it's like hummus & Triscuits, it's excess calories you don't really consider. Yes, it's all about the behaviour modification.