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Thanks - The Look is just icing on the cake - what I love is feeling so much better having so much more energy... BeverlyDiane - It's not a dream it's possible... But I gotta tell you my original goal was 80 lbs (100 lbs seemed impossible in the beginning) - but once I got to 70 loss I realized I could push for 90 - then I just let the rest happened. Our weight loss is going to be diff for each of us - due to physical limitation - metabolism etc - So I just don't want any of you to get discouraged if it's not coming off as fast as you think it should - if you do your part and have proper restriction it will come off - maybe not as fast as others but remember the turtle won the race !!!! Prayers will be said for a safe surgery & speedy recovery on the 28th.. Pat Welcome !!! We are happy to have you - the 50 thread is one of the 1st threads I started with in the beginning of my journey - I found that I could relate and they were the most helpful - they are the ones who told me "the band is only a tool and not the magic cure all to our issues with food" They are the ones who prepared me for surgery answered my questions - Long - Of course GF I don't want you to hurt yourself more and then can't do anything - this is why I say we all should start out slowly and work our way up each week - for us who NEVER exercised prior to being banded - we gotta be careful not to injure ourselves . Again the turtle won the race and the little train did get up the hill :thumbup:. Charlene - Your doc says no caffeine?? I am sorry !!! I am lucky I can still have my coffee (1 or 2 cups max in the morning) & ice tea. You maybe like me - once I start eating it just fuels the desire to eat more.. Don't ask me why - but it's my addiction I guess - just like an alcoholic one drink is too much and 10 not enough - I am that way with food - I eat I am full but I still want to continue to eat and if I am busy doing stuff I don't even think about food .. Elaine - we have a food thread - go above to forums and look for the food thread - I too am a cook (I got fat from eating my own cooking I prefer home cooked foods to fast foods or restaurants ) It will give you ideas for diff protein drinks Pre-op will be determined by your doc - could be 2 shakes 1 meal (high protein low fat no carbs) or could be all protein shakes soups. Post op diet the same - some have clear liquids for a whole week or more some start out on full liquids which includes cream type soups. Pre op - I make my own chicken broth (it tasted better than canned) and the same went for the creamed soups most of the time - I just used my imagination - but changed my cooking from high fat to low fat - counted calories and protein grms - weighed & measured everything. I would make a pot of beans (pinto or navy) and puree the beans and add back to broth and I had cream of bean soup - which was more satisfying that the canned stuff MaryD - Welcome!!! Yes you are giving yourself the best present you can. Gotta whats your bmi - I thought that 40 bmi with out co-mobities was usually approved.. I really can't help on the appealing to the insurance issue cuz my bmi was 42 with high blood pressure and sleep apena - so I was approved right away (but again 42 was morbidity obese) Have you ck'd out the insurance thread - I think you will find help there on appealing to your insurance Good luck..

Evening ladies! so many pages, so little time! I just did a quick scan thru but I'm exhausted and need sleep. NICOLE - I thank you!!! If you didn't call me back I would have never went in to get weighed! Had a great time at dinner with you, Mike & Audrey - she is adorable and you & Mike are just so funny & fun! Thanks!! Tina - why don't I have your number? Wow, I had no idea that your job is so heartwrenching & stressful, why aren't you an alcoholic yet LOL I want to see you in some smaller pants next month!!!!!!!!! DONNA - YOU DID A FANTASTIC JOB TODAY - WISH I HAD MY CAMERA WITH ME TO GET A SHOT OF YOU IN THAT SWEAT SUIT. INGENIOUS IDEA - GREAT MOTIVATER!!!!!! LOVE YOU! Welcome Dana!! Good luck on getting approval - tell your Dr. he has your height wrong and you're an inch shorter LOL Heather - missed you today - everybody was asking for you - Rosy too even though she NEVER gets on to talk to us! I was really looking forward to seein the real thing - 50lbs lost - AMAZING! Riley Jane, you are missed as always - Reggie, where are you? Missed you today and I wore my tall tall steve maddens - I had to take them off for the girls today - they had no idea i was so short LOL Having fun in fresno Jes hahaha. Ok, so thanks for waiting for me :tongue2: we can now move forward together - NO, no CM appt yet. I emailed Dr. fisher who is out till monday but I checked my appts and a new one showed up - it's for the 31st with some nurse and I have No idea what it is for - I didn't make it! So, maybe it has to do with my surgery. All I know is it wasn't there two days ago! Missed you today! Pammie - you're on a roll, finally - good for you! Love that you went swimming in a PUBLIC PLACE! You go girl! Sorry to be so absentee lately but, as most of you know I'm helping my friend move and get situated. by the time I get home it's damn near midnight - like tonight - and Im sore & tired. VickieJ - Great to meet you! I hope i look half as good as you when Im at my goal - you look marvelous, damn near in your 20's again! - it must be a great feeling - thanks for all the good info. lunch was fabulous ladies! I always enjoy hanging out. Still rootin for a Saturday that Riley can make it! Riley, you crack me up! Reggie - missed you today - did I already say that? I know there was so many things I wanted to comment & post on while I was reading thru the pages but I have forgotten ! so goodnight and I'll try to talk to you all tomorrow - don't have to move a thing tomorrow - whoo hooo!

Hi all Jes and Tam - Thanks for the early B'day wishes. I am taking tomorrow off to celebrate. Chrissy - you are doing so amazing. WoW - keep up the great work. I'm happy for you. Ali - you'll be there in no time. I got chicken noodle soup and strained it for the broth because I couldn't stand the regular chicken broth. The only bad thing is that it has a lot of sodium. During the full liquid stage when you can have creamed soups, I pureed Progresso's black bean soup flavored with bacon - it had more protein than the regular creamed soups and seemed to hold me better. Laurel - everyone's weight loss is different. I think you are doing great - just think about it in relation to how fast you lost weight before surgery - it is likely that losing that much in a month would never have happened. As long as it is going down you are doing fine. John - you are so funny - prison labor!! You are doing so well - I envy your 5lbs a week! Lee - you are also amazing and so positive. I will definately try to make the next Kaiser Richmond meeting. Jes - I think your spring renewal sounds great - I am glad it seems to have kicked the restriction back in. Donna - Happy 24 - wow! Congrats. Hope Tahoe is fun. CoCo - sorry you were not well, but I am also now going to try a 3 week challenge for my Dr. Park appt. This weekend my eating was a little better but not great - I need to go all the way back to being totally by the book - measuring and no snacking. Mo - glad you had a good active week. Riley - you left the meeting early and I didn't get to give you a hug. Why don't we get together next weekend for a walk? Candra - where are you? Are you OK? Don't stay away. Regarding fills, I went to the So. Co. Weight loss support group saturday and they have the local bariatric surgeon, Dr. Woodbury, who does a lot of WLS answer questions at the end of the meeting. I asked him about why there seems to be different philosophies about fills - fewer larger ones vs. many more frequent smaller one. He said there are some different schools of thought. He said he was trained by Dr. Obrien who is the founder of lap band surgery in Australia. He said that in order for your brain to receive the message from your stomach that you are full, you stomach walls needs to expand/stretch and it is that process that sends the signal to your brain. By gradually increasing the restriction, he said that your new pouch expands a little and sends that signal. He said if you overfill, then people tend to adopt maladjustive behaviors (eating softer foods, drinking liquids that don't expand the stomach walls and send that signal). He believes also that the overfilling can lead to the complications like the stretched esophagus, slipped band or the band eroding. He also said there is a school of thought that does the fills by doing a barium swallow and looking at the size of the opening that the liquid goes through. He doesn't subscribe to that because he doesn't think that is a better way and that learning to eat to fill the pouch to the right amount is very important to sending that full signal to the brain and he also says that doing that many xrays has negative effects as well. For those of you stuck on a plateau, there was another member there who is now a triathlete and he spoke about the importance of varying what you eat, the amount you eat and the type and intensity of your workout to move your plateau. He said your body adjusts to the lower calories and to the same exercise routine and what was once 'hard' becomes 'easy' for it. He suggested varying the food and the exercise. I think it is worth a try. Finally, I finished reading Coleen Cook's book the Successful Strategies of Weight Loss Surgery patients. It has a section on getting back on track. So here are some tid bits that struck a cord with me: Fearing Success -- "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." Maryanne Williamson -- " my entire life I have blamed everything on my weight. And if weight-loss surgery were to succeed, what would I blame my shortcomings on?" from a patient on the show Chicago Hope - Successful Failure -- "Obesity is a disease much like alcoholism; there is no 'cure.' Rather, there are habits one can develop to treat the disease through the remainder of life. I recognize now more than ever that I am not normal; my body is different than that of a thin person. It metalbolizes food differently; it requires constant monitoring of the calories in/calories out balance to maintain a healthy weight. While I had won the battle, the war was still going on and whenever I turned my back on it, I would be struck with another pound or two...Each success habit is important in its own right, but it is the constant adherence to ALL of them that fosters life-long change. One thing I know for sure is that weight-loss surgery patients are some of the strongest, most resilient, committed, never-say-never people I have ever met. We are well acquainted with failure. We know what it takes to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and do whatever it takes to meet out goals. But as experienced as we are with winning and losing, admitting and taking responsibility for our failures is never easy, but we must learn to becomes successful failures." "...I believe you undoubtedly have your own food obsession stories, hang ups and tempatations...May I encourage you to recognize your mistakes, take responsibility for them, own them, learn from them and do watever it takes to become a 'successful failure.'"Colleen Cook -- "For winning is no more than this: to rise each time you fall." from The Race by anonymous Love to all my surgery sisters and brother! Have a good Monday.

Candra - My migraine sister! I've had em since I was 15 and they went haywire 2 years ago - I actually was out of work for a month - maybe had 5 days out of the month without a migraine. Badlands! Tried everything - headache clinic / neuro surgeon put me on Topamax - bad drug - makes you really feel weird - hands and feet go numb but they tell you that is normal - NOT. Since I've gotten through the Big M they are better but not gone. My sister's went away after the Big M. Maxalt worked great for me for years - but not with the big hormone thing with menopause. Now that I'm through it the Maxalt is working again. My biggest triggers are lack of sleep (can you tell I'm a night owl) and stress, some foods, but mostly the other 2. Now that I'm eating right I think it helps. But like you say, sometimes they just come on for no apparent reason. Sooo I really understand and feel for you. Nothin' worse (except when you get the vomitting with them too.) Oh and Candra, I have you beat - my engagement was 7 years and 1 kid! Since I had already tied the knot 2 times before I wasn't too anxious to do it again. Then when I was ready he wasn't, then he was and I wasn't and so on. We also got pregnant in there by accident and decided to have our oldest son but held on the marriage thing since we weren't sure. Finally tied the knot in 1991! So its been a total of 25 years now! Riley - I agree we are worth waiting for - the North Bay Gals! Seriously, it would be great to met up with the group. I'm game for a walk, but not sure how long I can go because of my foot. (I'm scared of the power girls: Riley and Jes!). Is the Tuesday night group at the same house each week? Beatriz - congratulations! and Maria congratulations on a new, sooner date - it will be fine. Annalynn - we are going to do this together! Good job on the alcohol - lots of sugar! I'm waiting to get weighed at my PCP's next week before I update my ticker, but my home scale last week showed I was only 3 from surgery goal. (I know it is more but it is really making me push - I really want my case manager appt in Nov.) Tamara - don't give up - we are here for you. Jess - My work has been nuts - more layoffs today. I've worked every night this week until 9:30. Its hard. I know when I'm banded I'll need to not do that so I can eat - I was starving tonight - I only ate a little extra but it was hard. What do you do? Night ladies - have a good Thursday.

That's what I'm afraid of! I finally went smaller b/c DH kept handing me EVERYTHING to hold on to b/c I had room in my purse! Now I got a kid too! Yikes! Bring on the therma care back wraps! He needs one of those wallets with a chain. He just clips it to his belt loop and if it falls outta his pocket, it's still attached! :w00t: See, that's exactly what I'm afraid of! My other purse held everything I needed, and it had to all go in a certain way or it wouldn't fit. Sunglasses and keys got tossed on top b/c they wouldn't fit at all. Now, no luck, gotta go bigger! :frown: And cherry chapstick fits in a pocket. That's kind of what I thought you might say. On dailyplate, even with NO activity, they still have my calorie load pretty high. Tip 'em well and they don't give a rat's ass why you're there! LOL! Good point!! Goodness gracious, what the hell is that thing???!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~ PJTP: New bag will get a test tomorrow as I've got some errands to run, then I'm running away from home for a couple of hours. :w00t: DH doesn't know it yet but that's my plan! Question for ya! I've been having a little bottle of Starbucks Lite Mocha Frapp in the evenings. I'm trying to figure out which spirits to add to it to spike it up a little! The only ones I can think of would be rum or vodka but I'm not sure either of those would be a good idea. I also thought about some Bailey's and thought might have some possibilities, either the original or the new mint, is it? What do you all think? Other than HS where I'd drink anything and a lot of it as long as it was free, I have no real experience with spirits of the alcohol world. Educate me please! Okay, off to bed. I'm exhausted! 'Night!

Maria - they had a big scolding last night at the meeting about alcohol...its a major no no...yet my friend who had the RNY does still drink once in a while....I dunnooooo....

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 actually love doing laundry because I love my new washer and dryer but I am horrible at folding it - my clothes are soo wrinkled. Lulu - my mom had a Bichon and one time when the whole family met back in colorado for Christmas - the dog was attacked by a coyote - sadly we found her hanging on to life - but too much damage was done for the emergency vets to save her. All right I'm going to share a drunk secret with all of you to help avoid or at least severely reduce the symptoms of a hangover. Medically speaking you get hungover due to 2 major things - dehydration and the depletion of B vitamins (effect of alcohol on your system) Go out and by a B-complex vitamin supplement (look for one with the highest percentages of a wide variety of the b vitmains) Take one supplement when you start drinking if you can - but most importantly - take one before you go to bed and drink at least a 16.9 oz bottle of water - better if you drink 32 oz. If you are someone very prone to headaches - take ibuprofen as well (400-600mgs) - but many times rehydration and replacing the b vitamins will stop the headache.

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

Dessert and alcohol 😂

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

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:

Everythinganna: besides drinking alcohol every night and the scrambled egg, we are so similar. No judgement here! I have my post-op visit Wednesday, I’m waiting to see what the doctor tells me about exercise before I begin.

JBFlorida...Thanks for responding. My friend and I have almost a "family" connection. Her daughter is our God Child. My relationship with this certain friend is somewhat a complicated one. I am not angry with her. I guess I am more disappointed than anything. After all the support from me through her finding that she had uncontrollable diabetes for the last 12 years, encouraging her to take care of her self (she eats and drinks alcohol and IMHO is out of control) I just wish once she could have found it in herself to make one little gesture of support. I do realize that she must not have that within herself. All you guys are so sweet with your support of me. Just what I needed. Things will just remain the same in my relationship with my friend. I love her too much to blow her off.....I will just accept that she does not have the capability of support at this time.

Good Morning Ladies, I've been reading your posts this morning and am so glad that everybody got the same feeling from Dr. Fisher. I thought I was trippin! I have my appt with him on June 3rd but since he seems so anit-band I'm wondering if he's the right Doctor for me... So this 1200 Calorie diet isn't as easy as I initially thought!! I did great till 4:00 yesteday evening - routinely I sit on my bed with a bag of almonds and snack away while watching The Doctors. Not yesterday and hopefully not today. I now fully understand the term "head hunger" I wasn't physically hungry but I absolutely could not watch my show and not snack so I had to go wash my car & keep busy. I missed the doctors. I had a slight headache still from the diet coke withdrawl so I took more excedrine after dinner and laid down - then it hit me! Excedrine has caffeine in it - grr!! This is where all the anxiety kicked in - can I really do this for the rest of my life - "forever" is such a long time - and "never" is even longer - never have pasta again, never have diet coke again, never have peanut butter again... So I woke up this morning happy that I made through yesterday but worried about today. I got on this site and read everybody's logs, saw all your progress and I WILL do this. THANK GOD FOR THIS SITE AND ALL YOU GIRLS THAT HAVE GONE BEFORE ME - LOL. I come from a long line of drug addicts & alcoholics and did my very best not to become an addict - I don't drink, smoke or do any kind of drugs but turned out to be an addict anyway-food addict! So I will approach this like atticts do: Take this one day at a time and keep it as simple as possible - forever will come on its own! Have a great fill, Christine!

Yes- which is why I stopped beating myself up about not following mine exactly and revising it to fit my needs. How do these surgeons come up with the post op plans? Mine says I can drink alcohol 4 weeks post op; other people have to wait 6-12 months? Some are requiring 80 g of protein beginning immediately after surgery and others are 15 g for the first week? Some people are supposed to start with multivitamins day 1 post op and others wait 1-2 weeks to integrate them? Are these surgeries so radically different that the post op diets need to differ this much? I’m listening to my body and pushing to get max protein but I’m not going to beat myself up if I don’t get in 80 g of protein. Sorry.

Dubchild--and it's hard to explain, right? Obviously we choose to have the surgery and took all the steps to follow through with altering our insides in hopes of a road that leads to better health, but there IS a loss. I feel almost crippled. I always knew food had power of me, that I didn't eat right or couldn't eat the right portions of the right foods, but I never looked at is as a true addition, like drugs or alcohol, but holy smokes, it is! I had a lot of visits with the NUT and a diabetic nutritionist over the years, and I had the prerequisite psychological visits, but I almost think I need a 12-step program now to get over this loss! At least I know how to share this feeling with others who are contemplating bariatric surgery. I think all should be prepared for a period of mourning and an understanding of what that mourning period will feel like. I would have still gone through the surgery, but maybe be better prepared for this psychological drain.

I'm gonna print this out & show it to her!! SMART LADY. I truly hope she gets a grip on it before it gets way out of hand!! And ur right, her body has compensated - she can eat ANYTHING - even sweets & alcohol - no dumping symptoms. I'll find an RNY support group for her. And, Tina, you better get use to that male attention, girl - i don't see it going away any time soon - It must suck to be beautiful

Kristen - I would absolutely give you the recipe - but I'll have to check with Lulu - she might be my new business partner and all. Think I could make a deal with her though - I hear she likes mojitos (or any alcohol for that matter)

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.

Oh good! Looks like it worked! :ohmy: Yea me!!! Sounds like a great weekend! I can't answer your question b/c I do it myself. And usually right before a WI either at home or at the docs. I just don't get it either. I'm still working on myself so when/if I figure it out, I'll let you know! Hang in there! I'm finding that to be a true statement for myself as well. Tho when REALLY upset (angry/mad), I have noticed I will head to the fridge. When I was younger, it was alcohol, so I think it all stems from the addictive personality that I have. Thank GOD I have always been able to "catch" it before I've become completely addicted. (Except for the food, of course. Didn't "catch" that one very well!) But I have noticed lately that I really "like" to reward myself with food! Need to find another way to reward myself! 'Night everyone!

WTF? I missed this... why does Ebony think you have an eating disorder? More labor to make them. I'm surprised Animal Control hasn't been brought in. I was bitten by a dog like that once. AC was called and the people got out of it but then a month later he bit one of their kids and AC made them put him down. He only bit 7 people before something happened, not 20! Yes, I got my pants back. I had a bunch of bags on the bench in the changing room and the Talbot's bag fell under the bench. When I was consolidating all my bags, I forgot about it under there so I walked out without it. I only figured it out when I was showing Mini-Mac my purchases and it wasn't there! I just kept calling the store until someone found it. I knew it was in there somewhere. :eek: It's because they rock and are open. With coasters, you are strapped in. I'm always convinced they are going to rock too far and tip me out. I had the same experience when I made some protein bars. I used PB2 and they were still 100 calories per ball -- a ball the size of a walnut! Can you imagine if I'd used real peanut butter like the recipe called for? OMG! Do you realize how much ALCOHOL is in a martini?! Apparently not... Okay, a cosmo has 4 parts of vodka and 2 parts triple sec or Cointreau. A chocolate martini is 6 parts vodka and 1 part chocolate liqueur. Since 1.5 oz. of hard liquor is equal to 1 5 oz. glass of wine, each one was probably equal to 2-3 glasses of wine.

heartfire---when I had the problem of throwing everything up, and I do mean everything, there was a point it was darker, but that was only a short time, and then it went to being exactly what I had drank and nothing else. My surgeon told me, if I was bleeding and it was going into my pouch or stomach and sitting, when I threw it up it would look like coffee grounds. He also said if I ended up with a tear in my esophagus it would be a RED blood as it would be fresh. In my case (I had a twisted intestine, and NOTHING was passing) nothing stayed in long enough for it to be old---be it blood or water. I drank, it went down hit the blockage like a trampoline and up it come! My DH had a really serious, life threatening GI bleed. He had heart surgery - his mitral valve failed. Then the local Dr.'s office mis managed his coumadin (blood thinner) therapy, and misread a chart from a 7.1 to a 1.1, and upped his dosage again. Or it could have been the other way I don't remember. Anyway the antibiotics he was on made him sick, and when he vomitted the first time, there was only a small red speck or 2-but noticable. Within minutes he threw up again and it was all BRIGHT RED. We head to the hospital, and you could see his abdomen swelling. They kept after him "are you sure it was blood?" he told them to give him something cuz he was fixing to show them. She handed him the little kidney shaped spit dish, and he grabbed the wash basin--and filled it with blood! Ended up he had what is called a double Mallory Weiss esophageal tear. They are very common in lesser severity among alcoholics and anorexics, because vomitting weakens the esophagus, and they vomit frequently! His Dr. called us in and told us he would likely expire (HATE that word) in the next 10 minutes, because he had so much coumadin in his system that they simply could not find a way to staunch the flow of blood. Ended up he and a surgeon tried an experimental approach with some balloons, and saved his life! Even with all the blood they gave him, every time it cycled through his liver, the liver and all the coumadin in his system, pulled the clotting agent from the new blood as well. He ended up in ICU for a week, and is now in several medical write ups!!! No bleeding of the GI tract should be ignored, but especially if there are extenuating circumstances, and her band is definitely one! She could be dealing with an erosion as opposed to a slip....they happen. That post scared me for her too. Wish we knew what happen!