shues138

I'm just really observant with my calorie intake. I try to keep it ~1000 calories a day. I used to obsess about it, but now I'm like "hey, if I go over, it's not like the 3000 calories a day I used to eat" In regards to me trying to cut down on sugars, I find that if I eat a lot of sugar, by 3pm I'm sluggish, once again, I don't make an effort to be sugar free, etc but I'm going to choose splenda over sugar, or a sugar free/ff vanilla latte over just a fat free latte. I say do whatever works for you and as long as your MD is fine with it then have fun! LOL

The burping thing is normal, I just did it lol. My family that doesn't know I have the band think it's normal since my grandmother ALWAYS burped for no reason!

Best wishes and a speedy recovery!

Glad to hear you are doing okay, I wish I did my surgery out patient, I was 1 night in the hospital and it was the WORSE! The lady next to me had a bad time with the anesthesia and was up all night throwing up. Also I was not happy with sharing a bathroom. This is your time to heal, relax, and let someone else take care of you (I know it's tough!) Welcome to the life of a bandster!

Can't even begin to tell you! It was like ex-boyfriend palooza crazy! Anyway, Valentine's Day came and went with nothing from my dbf. Granted we are doing something Saturday night, but it still would've been nice to have gotten something yesterday. On a good note, my torani syrups came in to add to my chobani! I ordered them right from the website (torani.com). And got three sugar free flavors: Chocolate chip cookie dough, White chocolate and coconut. I also have vanilla and hazelnut at home that I bought at Christmas Tree Shops. Weighed myself in this morning for the Valentine's Day Challenge, down 4.6 lbs, still have a way to go to reach my goal. March 1st I'm officially starting my c25k challenge. I found an app that has the timer and will tell you when to walk/job/not die, etc... I'm excited to start. I even made a playlist on my mp3 player to get me pumped up. I also saw on the forums talk about fitbit, I'm so getting one of those for my 50 lb loss goal. Screw the rings, the fitbit looks so much more fun! Have a good day, thanks for reading and commenting, it means so much to me

Aw thanks so much I appreciate it, I'm glad I can help people out. My band journey is not the norm, but I'm hoping that this is my year. Screw that, I know this is my year! Good luck with your surgery, keep me posted!

I want one!!!! I was going to wait until I lose 50 lbs for a reward to get one, but I think I'm going to order one tomorrow!

Wow what a difference you look fabulous I love that dress! Sounds like you had a great Valentine day!

Oh and to answer your question about bad habits. I still to this day think food is going to solve the problem, I'm actually working on that, had kind of a stressful day after work yesterday, and went to the gym and worked it out there instead of putting food in my mouth!

I've flown plenty of times since being banded. The first time I had to go through a TSA checkpoint I was freaking out, but guess what? It's fine! I know with my band, there is some metal where the port is, but it's not enough that it would detect it, and if they do, be honest "I had a lap band implanted" I'm sure you wouldn't be the first or the last. I haven't been through a full body scan, yet. The airport I usually fly out of has one, but we fly out so early in the morning that I think they just want us to get out of their face lol. What's great about flying now, no more seat belt extenders for me! I remember the last flight I took, about two weeks before my surgery, I was soooo ashamed to ask for one that I kind of sneaked to make it look like my seat belt was fastened when the flight attendent came by (I remember I had a big hoodie on), when she walked away, I just didn't keep it on. I don't suggest doing this though I was young and dumb. Have safe and fun travels!

Hey everyone just checking in, down 4.6 lbs to 294.6

I'm starting couch to 5k March 1st! I see that apple has an app for it, does anyone know if the android market does as well?

Glad to hear everything is fine, I had the same thing happen to me last month. It was definetly a scary thought. Now they have me going in every month for a fill, and the dr is monitoring very closesly what goes in and out. It takes a little longer to get a fill, but I'd rather they monitor this close that have a real complication!

Want to wish everyone a great valentine's day, if you don't have a valentine, I'll be yours, I have love to give to everyone! I wasn't going to write today, because I didn't really have anything to write about. Then the caffeine hit me and I had a total NSV!!!! So, in case you didn't know I'm going to Key West in oh let me check my calender....39 days. Usually, all I can think about for a vacation is what I'm going to eat, what the food is like, etc. Not so much this time!!! First I decided in March I'm going to try the couch to 5k program (if anyone wants to be my buddy for this let me know!). I'm also going to start working on weight training for my upper body since my dad and I will be going out deep sea fishing while in Key West. Gotta get jacked to reel in the big one (I hope I do!!!). So then instead of thinking of food, I was thinking about "how am I going to work out on vacation" well my parents must have read my mind because my mom sent me an e-mail asking if they wanted to pack my bike in their RV (they are driving from New York state to Key West in their RV, I'm flying). UM, YEAH ABSOLUTELY! The RV resort where we are staying is at Mile Marker 15 on the Keys, so I'm thinking that in the am, I can ride my bike to at least Mile Marker 10 and back, maybe more, who knows. Can you even ride a bicycle on US 1? If anyone knows let me know thank you. So I have to consider this a NSV when I'm usually thinking about "oh what restaurants are we going to go to" or "what am I going to cook while we're on vacation" I'm more concerned about how I'm going to work out. So proud of my self ::hugs:: Have a great day!

You don't even know! This cat loves to eat. I don't give him any table food, my boyfriend does and that cat begs like a dog with him! He's a spoiled rotten cat! But I love him!

For every ten pounds I lose I'm going to buy a stackable expression ring. So when I get to 50 lbs I'll buy 5. When I get to my goal weight I'm buying an ipad lol.

Good luck! I'm starting all over as well, we can do this!!!!!

I am a struggling grazer as well. I find that if I stay away from food I'll be okay. I have no snack foods at home except for soy nuts which I'll have every once and a while. I now think things through before I eat without having to. Do I REALLY need to eat that? Why am I eating this? What am I feeling? Stressed? Mad? Sad? I usually eat when I'm stressed, and trust me I've slipped, but I just have to learn to not have crap food at home. Also drink tons of water, it helps.

Yes! You are going to get intoxicated a lot more faster than the "normal" person. I was told by my md it is because we eat a lot less calories than a non-bandster. He said "it's okay to drink just do it at home the first time" I was sooo scared. Now I'm okay, I do get drunk a lot faster. I have found if I pace myself I'll be okay. I have a drink, then one pint of ice water, another drink (the same as the first one....or not lol ) and another pint of ice water etc. I always end the night with water just to clear my pouch out from anything that could be acidic (ie margaritas). Hope that helps

GOOD JOB!!!!

This weekend wasn't so bad food-wise. On Friday all I had was the omlette from breakfast, some coffee for lunch and some General Tso's Shrimp for dinner. Saturday the dbf and I just pretty much vegged out at home. I made a taco pie for dinner, he wanted chips and salsa with it, so I got those and I have to say I was proud of myself I only had three chips with salsa on it (the salsa was so good, I ended up taking a spoon and eating it, screw the chip!) So today is Monday back to the grind, going to the gym elliptical 30 minutes. Had my chobani this AM, cannot wait to start doctoring up plain chobani next week! Have a good Monday keep on smiling

I love Fridays I hate Fridays too. Why? Because this is the day that I don't keep track of my calorie and protein intake. Why do I do this? Doctor's orders, she doesn't want me to obsess, and also not to eat the same thing every day (which I do), so that it confuses my body (I kind of imagine my body going "hey what the heck? Eggs? Veggies? Omlette? Where's my chobani??????") trust me I feel the same way, I'm having chobani withdrawls. I hate Fridays..... I'm so tempted to figure out how many calories the egg white omlette is, but I can't. It's only ONE day a week. Four days a month. DARNIT! The MD and I are going to have to talk about this.... On another note, I realized I cannot keep any snack food in the house. Last night on my way home from work, I just got really stressed thinking about the future and how I have no control of it and I hate it (yes if you haven't figured it out by now I'm kind of a control freak). I was on my phone with the dbf while I was getting ready for the gym and I said "I cannot wait for this vacation because I need a week to really figure out what I want in life" so then of course he thinks it's about him (which to be honest, it is) and thinks he can read my mind and knows what I need to figure out (but darn he was right). And of course I got stressed out. So I went to the gym. 40 minutes on the elliptical, with cramps, thought I would feel better. Nope still stressed out. Go home, have dinner (portobellos mushroom pizza, peas, and a little bit of hot antipasto) still stressed. And of course when I'm stressed where do I go? THE KITCHEN!!!! and sitting right there is a bag of trail mix. I usually only have an 1/8 cup of serving before bedtime. And here I am sitting on the couch hand to mouth with trail mix. Then I realized wth this isn't going to solve the problem, and I throw the 6.99 bag of trail mix out. Along with any other snack food (which there wasn't a lot to begin with). Until I get my emotions in check, no snack food in the house. Tonight, I'm going to dbf house for Chinese. I'll probably have shrimp chop suey. This weekend will be spent cleaning the house (how the heck does one cat shed so much?), laundry, then dbf comes over and I'm trying a new recipe-taco pie, which I just realized I didn't get the ingredients yet at the grocery store DARN! Sunday I am just vegging out to catch up on my DVR. 43 days until Key West....sigh Have a good weekend! XOXO, Andrea

@runningscared my gall bladder was embedded in my liver too so weird how that happens glad I'm not the only one!

@germainef it felt like I had a really bad stomach ache but it was all on my right side actually I thought I had the stomach bug but after four pepto bismols and a night of agony I knew it was something else....also I couldn't get comfortable no matter what position I was in. If you're not sure go to the md its so much better to be safe than sorry

I was banded January 2007 in August 2011 I was in the er for a major gall bladder attack and my gall bladder was removed September 2011. My gall bladder was the size of a fist an hour outpatient surgery turned into 4 hours and I was admitted overnight. Also they had to put a drain in because there was so much bile. DO NOT HESITATE TO GET YOUR GALL BLADDER REMOVED! I had symptoms for years and had no clue I thought it was heartburn. Anyway in January I came in for a fill. The ms took the Fluid out of the band and it was brownish Orange color she scheduled me for an endoscopy the next week for possible band erosion thankfully everything was fine. She said that there was so much bile leaking from my gall bladder during my surgery that the fluid seeped into the band. Everything is fine now thank goodness. In regards to how you will react after surgery, you won't have an appetite for a few days you'll be tired just take it easy. Then your body is going to adjust ie: bowel movements 4 times at least a day. It was so bad I got a hemmerhoid if this is tmi I'm sorry I'm just keeping it honest. The constant bm was about a week. Then after that I ate like a horse and gained 30 lbs! But I'm back on track and lost 20 of that so far. So that's my gall bladder story and I have to say mine was the worst. If you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them.