shues138

Good job on the weight loss!!!! In regards to your approval for you panni procedure call your insurance company because they will tell you when the authorizations expire., it all depends. Also, in regards to a tt the med school that my hospital works with has a resident cosmetic program which costs considerably less than a regular tt. Granted its residents that do the actual surgery but the plastic surgeon is there too, and there have never been any horror stories lol. Good luck with everything and keep on blogging!

When I'm on liquids after a fill I do enjoy a non fat sugar free vanilla latte from Starbucks lol I did ok yesterday all I had was that omlette some coffee and the Chinese today back on schedule enjoying a chobani now lol

Keep up the good work! It's great to have a good support system. I remember when I was in my liquid phase my mom would liquify dinner for me. Granted, I could do it myself, but I think she liked to help out. We're going on vacation in March and she asked me "do you want anything special, I know how careful you are." since we're staying in her RV. I told her no, just a TON of bottled water. Keep up the good work

I just had to put my two cents in because my perception has changed so much over time. I was banded at 26 years old. At the time, I didn't want to be the "fat girl" in the group. I also didn't want to be 26 years old and on blood pressure medication (which I was) I lost a good amount of weight, and due to stress and my job, and just being a bad bandster, gained a lot of the weight back. Now at 31 (soon to be 32), it's more than just not being the "fat girl" originally I didn't want to be the fat bride (I'm not even engaged yet lol), so that's what started the new re-motivation between me and my doctor. But recently, it has been other things. I'm 31 and not a mother yet. At this point I might not be a mother until 40, which is going to make things hard enough. On top of that being overweight, it's going to be impossible. My friend that I grew up with is having a hard time getting pregnant, when she went to her ob/gyn he basically said "you got to lose some weight first". I think at 26 I thought this band was going to do the work for me. At 31 I realize it's only a tool. I have to watch what I put in my mouth (the band can't do that). I have to get my butt to gym, the band can't run on the treadmill for me. Now that I "get" it, I get it basically. And to sacrifice food, well I see food as something to keep me going not an event. Sure I screw up, I did on superbowl sunday and I was so hard on myself. My lapband dr even said not to stress out about what I eat, just eat. But I still write everything down. We made a deal on Fridays I can't keep track of what I eat, and to eat something different (for example, instead of my usual crack, I mean chobani for Breakfast I'm having a veggie egg white omlette this morning). I think once a person gets to maintenence mode, I think there can be a balance between being a good bandster and eating normally. I just don't think I can be that person because food is always going to be there for me. I can't even have junk in the house because I'll probably eat it. It's going to be tough but I finally do get it.

I work with insurance companies (all of them) and Tricare is the worse!!!!! Good luck! Just keep fighting with them!

Once again thanks so much I knew you guys would have the answers I also found a blog online that the woman made all these concoctions that taste like red velvet cake, birthday cake, key lime pie, etc so I may try those as well. Have a good weekend!

How much cocoa and sweetener would you add? That could help with my chocolate cravings lol

Thanks so much for the input, I'm def going to try some of these out, esp chopped liver! LOL.

Good job! Keep it up!!!!

BACK WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE, WE DIDN'T HAVE APPS FOR OUR CELL PHONES!!!! LOL I'm in a funny (ha ha funny mood today) which made me think about technology has helped me as a bandster, and I have to thank my dirty little secret... fat secret that is Not only is it a FREE app for your phone, but it also is online as well, and it links your accounts. Where my office is, I have no cell reception. But, being the sometimes good bandster that I am, the food that I'm eating is already recorded on my app, but for example if I don't eat something, I can go on my computer, log into my account on fatsecret.com and update the food for that day, then when I do have cell phone service and check the app it's updated. Sooo freaking cool! I swear this is not an advertisement they are def not paying me to promote the app. Let's see I weighed myself this morning, gained 4 lbs, but down 2 lbs since Monday so I'm blaming Aunt Flo for the 4lb weight gain she is such a pain! Went to the gym last night for only a half hour, but I have to say that usually when it is my TOM I don't want to go to the gym at all. Today I'll go for 35 minutes, Thursday 40 minutes and Friday 45 minutes. Also just received my Keurig brewer for my office in the mail yesterday, I'll bring it in Friday (I take the train to work and the train is least crowded on Friday). I usually need that ONE cup of coffee around 3pm to get through the rest of the day. I already brought in my mug, a teaspoon, and non dairy creamer. Tomorrow I'll bring in some K-cups. As a bandster I thought it would be good, because after every fill, I'm on liquids for one full day, so I can bring in some cup of soups and use the Keurig to heat up the water for it! I realized last night that changing jobs has helped me be a good bandster. My old job required me to have such a sporadic schedule that sometimes I would only have a few minutes (literally 5) to eat lunch. The job I have now I'm so independent, that at 9am, I stop whatever I'm doing have my breakfast and at 2pm stop everything again and have my lunch. Sometimes a life change will change your health too. Now I'm not recommending everyone leave their jobs for something else. I did it for the independence, the stable hours (M-F 8-4:30) and the flexibility for time off. And I love every minute of it! Well enough blabbing for today. To people that read this, I'm going to start asking you questions for input....when you work out and start to do weight training, how do you find what's best for you? Do you hire a trainer? Go online? Or just wing it?

Don't be so hard on yourself, I was the same way on Monday, but I love the OP where it's just one day and then back to normal, that's how I treated it, and I'm back on my usual diet and excercise routine! Vegas for Superbowl???? LUCKY!

Checking in today @ 299 up 4 lbs from last week....thanks Aunt Flo lol

This weekend was a disaster food wise. But, today is a new day, and I'm just going to get back on the wagon and deal with it. I made the HUGE mistake of weighing myself on Monday and I gained six pounds. Then I realized it's my TOM this week, and I usually gain about 5 pounds from that. But still I'm just annoyed because the old me is still there in my head where I just want to eat everything over and over. I want to be able to enjoy times like these (ie Superbowl Sunday) with my friends, but I think at this point, for this year, any event that involves food I'm just going to have to stay away from until I beat this love I have with food. Anyway, I'm back at work, back to eating healthy again and back to the gym, I'm not giving up!!!!

I'm on the same boat as you as well. I take it one day at a time. Yes, I get frustrated if I eat too much, but my doctor and I have decided that this year we are "going back to basics" and so far so good overall. Don't stress it (I should tell myself that) and take it one day at a time, and try to get some excercise in as well, even a few minutes because it helps!

I work in the healtcare industry in regards to events like this. Every healthcare facility is different, but in our case (a larger facility) there are many different options. It depends on how high your deductable is as well. If you have for example a $10,000 deductable and cannot bring in the money then the surgery may be rescheduled. If you can't bring in the money due to financial hardship there are funds available to help with the deductable. If you have detailed questions PM me, I'll do my best to help

I think my wake up call was when I told someone recently I had WLS and they looked at me like "yeah, ok, sure" I realized that it's not going to do the work for me, it's a tool to help but I have to work with it too. Good luck with the weight loss so far, can't wait to reach my goals, I know this will be my year! And there is always a seat for you in my wagon! LOL

Totally screwed up eating wise this weekend felt zero restriction. My TOM is this week so I always gain. I get so mad at myself because I have to do this and I'm not giving up this time!!! Sorry about the rant no one understands except for this community ::hugs:: Tomorrow is a new day.....

TOM = Time Of Month aka Aunt Flo

I think you're right, I don't know why I weighed myself, I think it was to teach myself a lesson that I can't slack off no matter what. I really am attributing the weight gain (most of it) to the TOM, darnit! Thank you for your support as well

GOOD JOB KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!!!

I would definetly buy yourself a small gift. For me, I found these rings that I fell in love with, they're called stackable expressions, and I'm going to get 5 of them when I lose 50 pounds.

For me, I was recommended to keep a journal and just kind of write down how I'm feeling that day and corelate it with my hormones and what not. My ob/gyn thinks I may have PMDD (which is like super PMS lol) so she put me on Seasonique where I only get three periods a year and it seems to help. I see her in May so we're going to sit down and see if it's something more, or just PMDD. But I totally know how you feel and sometimes it's wonderful and sometimes it sucks! PS congrats on the TT and augmentation! I bet you look fabulous!

I put so much thought into ideas to give you because I always have questions for other lap banders....one of them was how to deal with co-workers who want to put food in your mouth practically? I work with three other women, one is a very thin woman who works out at least 5 days a week and eats very healthy. The other two are old school Italian woman who are like "eat!!!" the other day at a meeting they said to me "are you going to be the food police too?" I really wanted to say "no, I just want to live a long life and be healthy" I don't know it's hard to deal with people like that. I had another idea too and forgot it....obviously from rambling from the prior idea!

I'm five years post op and the worse scars are from my gall bladder surgery in September 2010, but the worse lap band scar is where the port is, and the surgeon puts the port where that the scar looks like a scar from having your appendix removed. All and all the scars from the lap band surgery are barely noticable, my belly button scar from the gall bladder surgery on the other hand....smh

Good luck it is such a blessing for you to do this at a young age with the support of your family and also having someone there who knows how to help with this tool! Keep us updated!!!!