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CARTAGENA, I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND WHERE YOU ARE COMING FROM AND KACEE I TOTALLY AGREE WITH WHAT YOU ARE SAYING. I TOO ENJOY ALCOHOL BUT DON,T DRINK EVERY DAY. NOR DO I DRINK SPIRITS I LIKE LAGER I HAVE GONE WITHOUT ALCOHOL FOR OVER A YEAR ON A PREVIOUS DIET AND WASN,T BOTHERED BUT I HAVE AN ADDICTIVE PERSONALITY AND WHEN I DO SOMETHING I DO IT ALL OR NOTHING. WHICH WAS GREAT WHEN I WAS SERIOUSLY DIETING BUT HELL WHEN I STOPPED...LOL I TOO WOULD LOVE TO GET A NICE BUZZ OFF JUST A COUPLE OF DRINKS HENCE KEEPING THE CALORIES LOW AND STILL FEELING NORMAL BUT THOUGH SOME PEOPLE SAY THIS IS TRUE WITH THE BAND MY PROBLEM IS I NEVER STOP AT A COUPLE OF DRINKS!!! I WOULD HOWERVER LISTEN TO KACEE IF I WERE YOU AS DRINKING SUCH HIGH PER CENT ALCOHOL AND SO MUCH IS GONNA CATCH UP WITH YOU I KNOW MY AUNT DIED AN ALCOHOLIC AND I WOULDN,T WISH IT ON ANYONE. SO I HOPE THAT MAYBE WE WILL GET A BUZZ OFF A SMALL AMOUNT OF ALCOHOL CO,S IT,S GOTTA BE BETTER ALL ROUND TO HAVE EVERYTHING IN MODERATION RIGHT? TAKE CARE:)

I think you may be off on what calories you will be maintaining once at desired weight, unless you are going to be VERY active. 3000 is quite a few calories, much more than necessary. That makes the 400 useless calories from alcohol a larger part of your daily intake. You are fortunate to be able to have this surgery in SA, because not too many dr's here would do it until you have a psych eval where the psychologist would have a field day figuring this out..

Agreed. We don't tell alcoholics to just have three small drinks a day and we don;t tell a drug addict to have three small hits a day, but we tell overweight people to just have three small meals a day. We tell other addicts to abstain, becasue we know if they have even one drink or drug, they be back on it full force, but you can't just give up food! It's unrealistic that without some help we can do it alone. It is also the reason that we need to be vigilant after reaching goal, becasue the food demon will always be a monkey on our back. My analogy was more about how people that can control one thing in their life, just don;t understand why other people can't control the same aspect. Much of the food problem and the other issues I mentioned are pyschologically based. And personally, I do think the people unable to control finances or continually pick the wrong mate have a weakness. Exactly the same way they see our weight issue as a weakness. With how hard I'm working at this weight battle, even with the band, I don't feel like I'm cheating at all, but understand that others might. I don;t really care as long as I end up thinner. If the other people hired a professional accountant to handle their finances and got control would I say they "cheated"? NO! If the girl got rid of the bad boys by getting a shrink to help figure out why would i say she cheated? No, we would pat them on the back for getting their life in control! We'll just have to start educating people as much as possible!

Hi! I'm enjoying reading where everyone is so I will check in too -- I had surgery on 5/20 so I'm about 7.5 weeks out. The worst part about this for me has been no caffeine. I'm really looking forward to being cleared for step 4 which includes caffeine allowed at my appointment in about a week. I'm also really missing wine but I think I need to stay away from alcohol for as long as possible. I'm 50 lbs down overall (355 to 305ish -- I lost a LOT during the 3 week liver-shrink) and about 25 of that is post-surgery. I'm definitely noticing that it's easier to move around and my clothes are looking different on me, which has been great. In terms of taste, shredded cheese tastes a little weird to me, milk is disgusting, and butter tastes a little... off. I'm really interested to know if I'll dump/if I can ever have sugar again, but I'm not going to mess with trying something until I hit the step 4 diet. I'm REALLY stressed out about the hair loss that people say starts at around 4 months. But the only way out is through..... and it'll be worth it. I'm just worried I'll have bald spots!!!!! 😧

I'm going through a very unmotivated phase right now. I just want to eat food I want and not lean proteins and leafy greens. And I'm paying for it, ugh. I'm up over 4 lbs from my low I'm hoping some of that is from alcohol. I had quite a few beers the other night, that was followed by a late night fast food run. (I was with colleagues, not my idea, but I participated ). I don't know right now, I really don't feel like getting back on the chicken breast train. Doing at least moderate IF is usually pretty easy. I'm rarely hungry before noon. But the whole good choice thing, meh ... So I'm thinking of doing a little experiment. What if I eat what I want for the most part. But I have no alcohol, and make sure I get in my fluids. What will happen to my weight? My cals should still be well under 1000. I'd like to know where I can find that line between losing, maintaining and gaining. I'm not sure why I am suddenly so unmotivated. Is it just "diet" fatigue? Is it typical as people get near goal? Is it because of all the positive feedback I've gotten recently on how I look? Is it because my plastics I had wanted this fall is now postponed until who knows when because of my work schedule?

Totally hear ya on the iron sleeve. Lol, I was eating salad within 4 weeks PO. Salad and loads of it. SMH. Anyway... here is what Friday looked like for me (disclaimer: it was vacation and we went to a really cool 3 house tour cocktail party that lasted for 3 hours) Friday am: no breakfast. Drank about 16 oz water to rehydrate from shenanigans from Thursday night. Friday lunch: 3-4 bites fried chicken, 1/2 cup slaw, 1/2 cup collard greens at a museum cafe. Friday 4:30-5:30pm. 1 large glass Chardonnay. Friday 5:45-8pm: spiked apple cider,gimlet, 1 dark and stormy (each house had a 1 cocktail/person limit) and some cheese, crackers, hard cured deli meats, 1/2 ginger snap, 1/3 chocolate brownie spread out between the different venues. Skipped the veggie platter as I judged it would take up too much room that could be used to hold alcohol. 🤣🤣 Friday night 8:30-10pm: 2 more glasses Chardonnay in our Airbnb, then bed. Zero nausea. Zero dumping. Zero hangover. Kind of scary, TBH, but I made sure that I ate small on the food bc there was no way I wanted to curb the beverages. Most days I didn’t even try to eat bf 11am though and my sleeve is still as “tight” as ever in the morning.

For me, no IF nor did I eat very wisely yesterday. Oh well, I had a good few days proceeding it. Starting a week that is going to be all wineing and dining, including breakfast meetings. So no IF, more cals, non-ideal eating, and alcohol for this week ahead. We'll see what the scale has to say about it when I return

Jessica, your Dr. sounds like some of the extremely controlling rigid food Nazi's who took over OA around these parts. I do believe we use carbs to take the edge off our emotions; I certainly use carbs to medicate my ADHD. I used them so much I gained 80 extra lbs just so I could sit still and stay in one place. LOL. However, many carbs are low glycemic and fruits and veggies contain flavenoids and micronutrients that are very good for us, and even white potatoes have potassium (if not much else). Unlike alcoholics and drug addicts, we can't just eliminate food from our lives, not even carbs. Frankly, I can eat turkey, one mouthful after the other, until I'm "stuffed." And its not a carb. We do have to be vigilant because we are never "cured" of this disease. But with the help of the band, I can stay on top of it. Knowing my trigger foods I can stay away from them most of the time. And when my food is threatening to get out of control and the weight is coming back I go to the tool that helped me lose weight, which was several days of almost no carb eating followed by a few days of maintenance low carb eating. And guess what! Exercise takes the edge off our emotions and helps us deal with them. So is that something we shouldn't do in order to fully feel our emotions? Going to church and participating in activities and participating in a community are all supposed to help us stay positive and fight depression and live longer. So should we stop doing that in order to fully feel our feelings? Psychotropic(?) drugs have enabled many people to live much more meaningful lives rather than staying stuck in manic or depressive or paranoid or aggressive or obsessive thinking and feeling. So should we take everyone off those drugs so they can fully feel their feelings? Balderdash! (Great word isn't it?) Oprah has had every food, lifestyle, and feel your feelings guru on her show and emotes frequently in front of national audiences. She can pay people to manage her food and train her body. Guess what? She still has an eating disorder that keeps her fat. Let me tell you, most of those food nazi's in OA could have used a little more chocolate in their lives. Maybe they wouldn't have been so nasty. Nasty nazi's. LOL. Some of the most judgemental, controlling, paranoid people I've ever met. They weighed and measured and counted everything, carbs, calories, fat grams. They decided they were allergic to this and to that food and that everyone else must be too. And if you weren't doing things exactly like them then you weren't "sober." You had to have a food sponsor to whom you reported your food, preferably twice a day, and they frequently had spiritual sponsors and program (12 step) sponsors to help them work the steps. Balderdash! Anyway, your Dr. sounds like he's fallen amongst these theives of common sense and proponants of fuzzy logic. So, that's my rant for the day. LOL. Felt good. Cheri

I dont usually reply to posts but you sound so blue and some how you touched my heart. being in New Zealand my comments seems of so little help as I feel so far away but here goes. We carry so much emotional baggage with our weight and it makes the whole food addicition thing much harder for us to accept. We should equate it more to alcoholism but much worse because we HAVE to eat to stay alive. I have been struggling with a rice pudding which I made as I had left over milk....why I did this I have not idea...but I have just taken it out and fed it to the chickens. It is so depressing and I try to remember what my alcoholic daughter says to me 'mother if I have one drink I will die' and i suppose if we hadnt had the LB and went on putting on weight we would die too. So what I am trying to say is that at least we have the tools to be able to lose but it is a struggle. In NZ we have to have regular check-ins with a psycologist to aid us with the baggage that we carry and it is a help, sometimes.

Thanks for the congrats guys. I'll probably be going up and down for the next week before the new weight settles in. Thats what usually happens. Jessica, as a Christian who went to Christian schools and sent my kids there and as one who teaches in a Christian school, I gotta say your SIL is nuts. She'd rather do the most unChristian thing I've heard of than get the child the help he needs from a public school? He's probably ADHD with a learning disability and now the hormones are kicking in. And she's too busy and tired trying to raise and homeschool the rest of them to give him the extra help and attention he needs. So she'd rather get rid of him than send him where he can get the help he needs and admit that she's failing him. What misplaced pride. The most generous interpretation I have is that she's having pregnancy psychosis. What a message she's sending to the other children. Screw up, don't measure up to our "Christian" standards and we will get rid of you. Where is her DH in all this? Why isn't he getting her the help she needs? Including psychiatric. I would have the boy thoroughly evaluated before fostering or adopting him. He may be very damaged already from his first home life as well as the second. He may need special placement in a therapeutic setting, particularly if he has bonding issues and PTSD as well as academic and behavioral issues. Reactive Attachment Disorder can make adopting an absolute nightmare. Some of these children are too damaged to be placed in a regular family. If that is the case with your nephew, then we may be judging your sister too harshly. Sometimes these children are actually a danger to their parents and siblings. But like most sociopaths they can present really well to outsiders who don't see them on a daily basis. They can be very charming but never actually bond and feel no remorse over doing wrong or hurting others, only over getting caught. They can be highly manipulative and you end up feeling crazy and not knowing why. I think what you are offering is tremendous and I truly hope it works out. Make sure you have state funding and medical care for this child and payment for any therapy and extra tutoring he might need. I would initially go foster care with him because once adopted you might not have access to funding to provide for his needs. My brother and his wife had to give a young child back to the province because the local social services refused to diagnose the child as having rad and provide them with the support services they needed. They had the child privately evaluated and found out she not only had RAD and PTSD, she was ADHD and had Fetal Alcohol Sysndrome. It killed them to do it but they did not have the training or the access to funds to provide the child with the care she needed and this was the only way they could force the province and social services to provide for her. The two or three years they went through all that were some of the worst times of their life and they felt like total failures. Cheri

Good Evening Gang I was way to busy at work to ck in today - will be that way all week... It was very hectic - just catching up on email - my desk and my gf Diane's - didn't really get much accomplished just pushing paper from one pile to another.. Then I have this $20 charge on Valentine's day on my debit card - I didn't go anywhere that day - so I called bank - as well 1/2 hr later transfered to 3 pple - I was very frustrated - now I have to go to the bank and get a new debit card - they say it was swiped at 6;40 p.m in Rancho Mirage - I have card and I wasn't in Rancho Mirage at 6:40 p..m. Monday had gym got home around 6:20 - So just a icky day.. Didn't want to go to gym - but did... Rhabdomyolysis is the rapid breakdown (lysis) of skeletal muscle (rhabdomyo) due to damage to muscle tissue. The muscle damage may be caused by physical (e.g. crush injury), chemical, or biological factors. The destruction of the muscle leads to the release of the breakdown products of damaged muscle cells into the bloodstream; some of these, such as myoglobin (a protein), are harmful to the kidney and may lead to acute kidney failure. The severity of the symptoms (which may include muscle pains, vomiting and confusion) depends on the extent of the muscle damage, and whether kidney failure develops. Treatment is with intravenous fluids, and dialysis or hemofiltration if necessary.[1][2] Non-physical causes Non-physical causes reported to cause rhabdomyolysis include:[1][2] Drugs of abuse, including: alcohol, amphetamine, cocaine, heroin, ketamine, LSD Linda - Yep being a step parent is really hard - Hugs Hugs Hugs.. Lori - Hope the baby hurries up and comes, those last few weeks are always tough Charlene - I thought fillers only lasted about a yr - we will see ;0) Well gang - I'm pooped - Ttyl

Thanks for the recipes, Apples. I will do the asparagus for sure and will do the roast if I don't find a good prime rib. This will help a lot. I will have to use everyday dishes as that's all I really have except for possibly my mom's set of the blue and white Currier and Ives dishes everyone had in her day. We are really boring when it comes to beverages, DH & I have diet coke or water. We don't drink much alcohol, or tea or coffee just because we don't like it not because we have any issue with it. What should i have to drink??? Is instant coffee a bad thing? I do have a really old coffee maker my kids complain about when they visit (tends to get a lot of grounds in the coffee somehow). Wine? what kind??

Hey Gang! I just got back from the endocrinologist. I was pleasantly surprised to find I do not have low D. In fact, he told me I had excellent numbers especially my cholesterol. My good cholesterol is 103. He is the second doctor in two weeks to tell me I am going to live a long time. He said he had never seen anyone lose 80lbs on a lap band like I did. He just doesn't know all of you. I have gained, but he said it was probably the Savella(FM drug) and Lexapro. Now, I am going to talk to the shrink about getting off of it or cut it down. Apples, I know you care very much about me succeeding on this journey. I appreciate all the comments. I just want y'all to know where I am coming from. I do believe I have an addiction to sweets. I inherited it from my dad who was and alcoholic. The more I battle it daily the more I forgive my dad for his disease. The more I forgive the stronger I become. This is definitely "One day at a time". Your poor FIL. I take it he is coming back to MN. Who is going to care for him while he recovers? Yes, you BIL is the current saint. I hope all the sisters appreciate his sacrifice. I know you do. Melissa, I know your DH is being a butt. Men always feel less than whole when they can't give their families all their needs. Try real hard to reassure him that you understand. I am praying for you a full time position. What is a carb monster Soup? Where are the recipes? Linda, I am going to see if I can watch that show online. I am sorry I missed it. I have been watching Dr. Oz. He has so many health tips. Eva, I have seven cherry tomatoes on one plant. Now I just go out twice a day to check on my garden. I had forgotten how much I loved having a garden. This is my first time to have an above ground garden. I put some Miracle Grow soil in it so I should have a good crop. LauraK, I know what you mean.....a vacation sounds so good especially after a hard winter Sndy......well, your doctor knows best. My friend just did not want to be put to sleep three times. She is a nurse so all that stuff scares her. I'm ignorant......so I just trust God has put me in good hands and He will wake me up.

Okay so I confronted my husband last night needless to say we talked slashed argued. I used the examples everyone gave me like bringing booze home to an alcoholic. He said he has put up with my dieting since we were dating so for over 10 years and I guess he is over it. I said if you bring the candy home put it in another place than in his desk where I can get it. I explained sugar and carbs are my drugs of choice. He asked why was I trying to kill myself ? I could not give him an answer except I said I can't control alot of things in my life right now except what I put in my mouth. Which is so stupid cause what I eat make me feel worse. I don't smoke I have a drink sometimes but eating is my drug like so many of us. When I was getting my tattoos the pain hurt but made me felt better like I deserved it. So when I could not use my birthday money to get more work done on my tattoo I was upset and ate. I want to be one of those people who use exercise instead of food to make myself feel better, but even though I live close to work my husband does not like the idea of me walking to work. I am so tired of being told what to do by him. He really is not horrible person I know it sounds like he is but you have to meet him to know how much he gives of himself to his family and friends. I told he yesterday to lay off about my job I like it, I know we have to pay cobra but stop stress over it we can't change it; however in the mean time I have contacted someone I used to work with at my old job who left that company and went somewhere else. I gave him my resume and he said to expect a call in a couple of days because he really liked my work ethic when we worked together and he thought them letting me go was a bad thing they did to me. Okay so I c my shrink on Tuesday can't wait. Right now as I am typing this I want more than anything to be back to the way I was exercising, taking care of myself. I have the tools I need but my dam head gets in the way okay the carb monster. I bring good stuff to eat for lunch at work I eat that but still have room for a snack. Vending machine crap. Does this mean I need a fill or is that just head stuff getting in the way. I only ask cause I am supposed to go c my LB Dr on Monday and don't know if I should push my appt back talk to the shrink get my head back in order give myself a chance to use my tools before spending the $100 I really don't have. Even though he might give me a fill. Opinions about the LB Dr anyone? I hope this answer alot of questions everyone had. I Love you all and you are all such wonderful friends. Maybe the next big adventure could be you all come to Ga and we can meet. I would so Love that.

Morning...interesting conversation. Let's just home none of us discover we only have 24 hours left....if I do, then I don't want to know. We need to resume this conversation for Las Vegas. Laura, I found a "duffle on wheels" type suitcase at the Samsonite outlet store in Phoenix. I love it. It isn't particularly lightweight, but I can sure pack a lot of stuff in it and it has a lot of handles so I can grab it many different ways. I took it to Costa Rica and DH and I use it when we need to check a bag and we just need one extra bag that we share. Cheri....getting plastered is fun at the moment, but the after affects aren't really worth it to me. Ug! But I guess you really need to do it at least once to know what it's all about. I have an automatic shut off valve, I drink too much, I throw up. It's sort of like PBing with alcohol. LOL. Off to work again this morning. I know I'm wishing my life away, but geez, I'm not going to miss the weekly grind of getting up, going to work, not having enough time to do what I want to do. Okay, talk to you all later. Eva

Meredith, I was going to OA for a while then all my job crap got in the way i was looking to going back cause it help to be around people who had eating issues. I would say I am a compulsive eater as well. I forgot who it was but someone on this board was talking to me about it. You can go online and get information about meetings and they will send you information as well. I think it is hard for people like our group because our addiction is food and we need food to live unlike people who are in NA or AA who can just put themselves in an enviroment that does not contain the Drugs or Alcohol. I know in OA that is a book and a workbook basically it is the same 12 steps like AA. I did find it informative and like I said once I get settle into my new job I going to get myself back together with a plan of attack to get myself under control and losing again. I have a couple of more days of orientation and then I start working in my dept most likely Thurs so then I will know more of what is expected of me.

Becky you are doing good on the food only suggestion make your unjury with 100% skim milk (more protein) and add it to your Soups instead of water - that's what I did to boost the Protein.. - I don't think I was eating much for the first few day... Hows the other issue - the tmi issue has that gotten any better :redface: Hi Serenity I'm here for you but warning some tough band love coming your way (Love is the operative word) I am with your doctor - if your band is too tight to let you eat regular food then you are abusing it and with that abuse you could be injuring yourself. Also and not to be mean here but what are you accomplishing keeping your band so tight - you are eating around it anyway. The only person you are kidding is yourself - as I keep saying this battle with our obesity is mental - You just gotta get your mind in the game and quit playing games with yourself. I know all about those games - I have been there done that and even convinced myself I wasn't playing head games with myself:lol: That I didn't mind being fat - that I was happy the way I was - I enjoyed my food - couch and tv. Well that frickin couch food and tv were killing me - fatter and fatter - tired all the time - etc - you know the drill. You have started the journey to get healthy by being banded - but that little devil on your shoulder is telling you that your band isn't working - so just eat around it - it's ok you still are eating smaller portions its' ok eat that baked potato loaded with butter and sour cream - cuz that's all you are eating... Wrong !!!! Do you know how much food I have thrown away - You know those new cute snake packs of Cookies - ya 1 bag 100 calories but when you keep going back for one more bag - those 100 calories adds up.. So in the trash - If I can't control it - it goes in the trash - that's is empowering - throwing the crap away - You are a food addict - the addiction is worst than drugs or alcohol as we have to eat food to live - we can't totally abstain .. You have the prayer - now put it into effect in your life. To nite make a grocery list with healthy food choices (no sider foods) clean out the pantry of all the junk foods. Plan healthy meals for the week bf lunch dinner and 2 healthy Snacks - get a little note book or go online and keep a food diary (dailyplate.com) Call the doc's office tomorrow - get a slight unfill so that you can eat hard proteins - Do you do any exercise - if so what - starting tomorrow at least get in a 30 minute walk (you can break it down to 3 10 minute walks if need be) minimum 5 days of the week. If you can go to the gym even better - walk on the treadmill and then we will have you hitting the weight machines. You will weight yourself in the morning and then you will put the scale away til next Monday morning You will eat healthy for the next week - you will log your calories (keep them between 900-1200) you will exercise just for this week you will make this commitment to yourself You will drink your water or crystal lite (64 oz a day) for the next week. Next Monday if you have followed the plan - you will get your 1st 7 day chip for living a healthy lifestyle.. OK so now what to do when that old devil food is calling you. Don't buy the junk = have only healthy low calorie foods to eat (sf healthy choice fudgecicles - sf puddings - air popcorn) Look for a distraction - get on the computer come to LBT - it's open 24/7 - p.m. or email me - I will usually respond that day or the next (depending on the time 3 a.m i will be asleep and getting back to you when i am awake:lol:) If I am gone for a weekend - you have the other ladies here who will help you. -"you all can say - Oh Janet would say to do this or that" Or Oh we know Janet is going to kick our butts if we eat that candy bar and go over out calorie budget We are a team - We are accountable to ourselves 1st and the team secondly. We are all fat chicks battling the little devil on our shoulders telling us it's just to hard to do this - (Yes I still consider myself a fat chick - cuz in my head I will be forever - I Know that I can NEVER NEVER go back to being a couch potato and a foodie or it will come all back on even with the band) Ok other distractions - go clean the bath room - clean out your drawers - your closet - go wash your face and give yourself a facial. If you want to talk privately you can always p.m. or email me by going to my profile - but there really isn't anything you can say that the others here haven't already experienced (we all have done things that are embarrassing - closet eating bingeing etc) Give me one week - you can do that - small goals is what we are after and all those small goals add up to BIG ACCOMPLISHMENTS :biggrin: BTW - I will be gone next weekend Friday - Sunday - I have been asked to participate on a lap-band patient advisory panel and I don't have a laptop nor do I have Internet on my cell phone - I don't text - my age is showing :tongue:- I am not one who has to be connected 24/7 -OMW my 13 yr GD carries her cell phone to the bathroom with her - my GS who's 17 is on the computer - house phone talking and texting on his cell.. Information overload for me :tt2: You can do this = just one week at a time ok - I am here for you - and yes some days it will be hard - but you are worth the work - you can do this - you have a brain and soul you have more control than you give yourself credit for.. You can and will do this... I have faith in you.. Hugs Janet

E60 - Welcome !!! Being pouch full and statisfied are 2 different things - If you have read any of my post - I talk about this all the time !!! I will eat my dinner and will be physically full - but still want to eat - mentally I am not full - this is head hunger and it does manifest it's self in to you thinking you are really physically hungry - but you really aren't cuz if you eat any more you will bp. Your doc is asking if you are pouch full - and yes slider foods (yogurt, ice cream, thin oatmeal, soft veggies anything super soft - for me popcorn is a slider and so are Cookies & chips and cake) are foods that you can eat 24/7 and tons of without restriction as they slide right thru the band.. There is a reason for the band rules - Protein 1st - then veggies and if any room starches - the reason is that you will be pouch full after about 4 oz of meat - you then may get to eat 1/4 c of veggies... Yep Bonnie - tracking forces you to be honest :biggrin: and ya I bet you fell down those stairs on purpose (just kidding - really hope you are OK) A while back I was sitting at the computer with my legs crossed got up to go to bed - well my foot had fallen asleep - and I fell hard on it and hear this snap crackle pop - thankfully I didn't break anything - but I did sprain it... Holly - Thanks !!! You are doing good on your calories & exercise - Keep it up -:rose: and sweetheart - cornbread is bread :smile: and as stated above I think your doctor wants to know if you are pouch full - not satisfied - hell thats why we were fat in the first place - we ate to darn much food - and just like a drug addict or an alcoholic - the amount of food we ate to feel satisfied keep getting to be more and more... Remember the day when you ate 1 candy bar and were fine - I remember I would make a box of rice a roni and I would eat on it all weekend - but prior to banding - that box was gone in one setting :smile: . As to the weakness are you getting your Vitamins ??? that's very important along with your water - I would discuss it with your doctor again - cuz you shouldn't be feeling weak.. Becky - Sounds like good restriction to me - cuz I will get stuck on pudding too if I eat too fast... Yes life seems to revolve around food - all the holidays the birthdays etc and you will also notice how much pple eat and how fast they eat and the whole eating out thing - it's so hard to make good choices - but with proper restriction it's ok to eat that enchilada cuz you won't be able to eat it all- you will box up the left overs and have a few meal out of what use to be 1 meal.. Missing being able to pig out - yep - I hear ya girl on that one - I still miss it and most likely always will - but it's in our heads as you said and as each day passes it does get a little easier as with each pound that is lost you feel so much better and that feeling is better than the taste of the food (well most of the time :biggrin:) Well, gang - I have been to the gym twice today - 4 miles this morning and weights tonite - am charging my Ipod as I type so that it will be ready for tomorrow (NO EXCUSES) so that I can do another 4 miles after work tomorrow - I gotta get these 3 lbs off and fast... I am making soup for dinner - oxtail - cabbage zucchini carrots mini corn on the cob and oxtail's- will be eating soup for lunch the rest of the week and getting in ALL if not Extra exercise - dessert tonite will be strawberries & black berries with some lite whip cream... No more candy or Oreo cookies or real ice cream... Til tomorrow - Sweet Dreams !!! :tongue2:

A happy and healthy New Year to all! As someone said, we get to do a do-over. Keep sending in all those good results; I plan to join you! Jewel, you must be excited about your surgery. The healing is minimal and soon you will be on your way. I wish there was surgery for the head.... My sister, who weighs 100, but has an eating disorder, does not eat any sugar. Period. Hasn't for years. I just don't seem to be able to entirely eliminate any one thing. Why can't I look at potato chips (for example) as an alcoholic looks at liquor? To know that I just cannot eat that. Can't..won't....well, maybe just a little.... Isn't it funny how someone can be so strong in some areas and the one thing that we DO have total control over (what we put in our mouths) is my weakness. I have a change of attitude coming. I think with more exercise and better meal choices, I will feel better physically and ...emotionally. Is there anyone that is starting over again, like me? judy--hugs to all

Lori, keeping fingers crossed for your DD...sorry she's not feeling well, but geeze she's got that baby in there and it's got to be pushing on stuff everywhere. I wish her the best. Linda, I have a step son too and I do understand. DH does most of the stuff for him, but I still have to watch what I say on some stuff. Step son will turn 18 in May and then it doesn't matter because most of the problem was with his mother. She would keep Robbie away from DH and I wouldn't allow that. Robbie's Mom is bi-polar and is on and off her meds so you never know what's going on. The poor kid has some issues too but for now it's not drug or alcohol abuse. He's seen the negative sides of that and doesn't want any part of it. Yipee for that. Had a dentist appointment this morning...regular cleaning. Not my favorite thing, but necessary. We watched a cute movie in Spanish class called Valentin. I really enjoyed it, but needed the sub titles. Working at my job a little. They're finally send me stuff to do. Not much else exciting. Hope everyone is good! Eva

Hello all, I thank you all for your kind and warm welcome. I am feeling better since i got on the WW plan and have started dropping a little of the weight before my surgery. Dont seem as depressed today. My doctor's office called today to say they have all of my information together and are ready to meet with me one on one to set up the surgery and talk to the surgeon. YAY! Im so excited. The appt is set for Jan 3rd!!! Jewel, thank you for your sharing your experience with me about being on meds ect. I have been on meds for my bipolar since i was 18 years old and am also a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. I have quite a bit of a "story" and im sure you guys will hear bits and peices over time as i share it. But this is the last thing i have to "quit". I have stopped smoking after 20 years of chain smoking, i have stopped drugs, and i have stopped alcohol. The last hurdle i have to jump is my food addiction. Which is actually just plain ole addiction for me. I have substituted food for drugs and alcohol and cigarettes. So, now its time for me to conquer my addiction to food. Some people are telling me the lap band is the "easy way" but i havent heard that. I have heard it is still quite a job to lose the weight. I am ready for this change and am ready to do whatever it takes to conquer this. I had a rude awakening when my sister in an email said that she thought my 65 father would outlive me...it kinda hit me hard. Anyway, i just wanted to share the good news about my appt date that is set for Jan 3rd, like i said, Laters Tina

Great--rents are parents. I think morbidity rates as well as recidivism are higher for bypass. I think a lot of Drs. are against all WLS because they confuse the statistics for by-pass with the band. Unfortunately, no one has come up with something that works well on the addiction center in our brain, although they're getting close. When they can combine a drug with the appropriate surgery I think we'll be a long way towards effectively managing this disease which is no respecter of persons and is a life-long condition. Even then we'll have to deal with our issues because we won't have the food to medicate them anymore. If you've ever lived with a dry drunk (an alcoholic who isn't drinking but isn't working a program or dealing with their issues)you know exactly what I mean. We're on a Greek food kick. My husband brought home a huge Gyros the other day. There was so much leftover meat I just made a huge gyros, spinach, and feta omelette (of which I could only eat a very small amount). My husband loved it. Maybe there'll be some leftover for me for tomorrow. Check that. He just told me he ate the whole thing. Oh Well.

Caught up again. Whew! Such prolific writers. Feel like my cold is letting up. It never got bad. Just felt weighed down and draggy and medicine made me loggy. Maltitol and other sugar alcohols can cause gas. Wish more high Protein low carb products used splenda. Hadn't had an Atkins shake for a few days. Had one this afternoon and had terrible gas a few hours later. Sometimes it hits me, sometimes it doesn't. TMI LOL. Watching It's Complicated. Love Merrill Streep. Gonna get to it now. Cheri

I know most of you probably know this, but I'm going to put it out there in case you forgot. I have not had hardly any reflux since my hiatal hernia was fixed when they put in the band, but when I feel it coming back at all, I go back to what worked before my surgery. I also had an ulcer as a child. When you're stomach and stoma have been irritated and the band is tight, try following the reflux rules as well as the band rules. Sleep with your upper body elevated. Avoid coffee, tea (most teas have acid), fruit juice, pop, flavored drinks of any kind. Almost all of them have acid in them. Avoid things with acid and roughage. Fruit, raw veggies and whole grains irritate (think of sandpaper) and get stuck. Avoid carbs that swell. No bread or cereal (and maybe not rice or pasta). Period. Avoid prolonged bending over and vigorous exercise. Chocolate is one of the worst things you can have. So is anything made from tomatos or oranges. Chocolate relaxes the muscle between the esophagus and stomach and allows food to creep up--especially acid and tomatos, of course, are highly acidic as is orange juice. No alcohol! Period! This is not a good time to be eating peanuts, or any nuts or seeds. Avoid oil and grease and butter and margarine. They float to the top and creep up, carrying acid with them. Check your blood pressure meds. Many of them cause reflux. They cause acid to creep up your esophagus and even your pharynx (vocal cords). Coughing and laryngitis can result. Cut down anti-inflammatories like aspirin and ibuprofen and Celebrex and Naproxyn as much as you can until you are healed. They are major causes of stomach irritation. Too much water also forces acid to creep up. Don't fill your pouch all the way up with food. Milk products coat the stomach but too much, especially combined with acid, is not good. (Think curdled milk.) Prevacid or some other product that stops your body from creating too much acid might be necessary. It works a lot better in the long run than trying to control acid once you've got it. Just saying, guys. I think there'd be a lot less emergency unfills (except for really violent, long-lasting stomach viruses and bacteria), if our disease didn't keep us pushing the envelope with our food choices and quantities. Sip on protein drinks and yoghurt till your body heals. You won't die from doing without these other things. Add them back to your diet very, very slowly. When I first feel reflux, I treat it like an early warning system. It usually means my food choices have been poor and I've been eating and drinking too much and too fast. Just sayin' Cheri

And Phyll....Yes, you can make a shake out of Merlot. Just make sure to not ruin it with too much ice. You would hate to screw up the alcohol content!