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Wt this morning 227.4 - Scale is moving REAL slow. Yes, today marks 1 month away from my band surgery. Its exactly 31 days until banded date. Yay. I have to say also, I MADE IT TO THE GYM last night. Thats right, I got off my ASS and exercised. I did 20 min on the elliptical machine, and then 10 min on the treadmill. I know its only 30 minutes, but I felt good and I will continue doing a minimum of 30 min. of exercise EVERYDAY until banding date. I'm getting my body in shape for surgery.

Yepper, 30 more days until Band Date!!!! I went to the gym AGAIN last night. I did another 20 minutes on the Elliptical - Then 10 min on treadmill. I almost talked myself out of going to the gym. My DH was trying to talk me out of going, telling me to stay home with him. He even said, its fun being fat. LOL. He is 6'1 and weighs 180lbs, perfect size, no fat. But he didn't want me to leave him last night, so was trying everything to get me to stay home. I told him I was only doing 30 minutes and would be back. The big baby. I did make it to the gym and it took me about 10 minutes to really get into the exercising, I kept watching the time and thinking (I can't believe its only been 3 min etc. ) I didn't think I was going to be able to do it, I just didn't have it in me last night. But I forced myself to do it, and I'm happy I did. Today is a party at work and lots of goodies. I plan on enjoying myself and not feeling guilty with whatever I eat. I was offered some homemade cinnamon rolls this morning, but I declined since I know I will be eating more than I should for lunch. I am not going to over do it, but I am sure I will eat more than I should. I will exercise again tonight. Well, off to get a little work done before my party.....30 more days until my band date - YAY!

I dunno, I can show you pics from me being born compared to my siblings, and despite being 2lbs smaller than my brother, I looked like a 'fat' baby compared to normal baby fat.. then from 1,2,3,4,5,6-etc.. I was always a large kid.. Fat & tall. Both my siblings ended up fat & tall eventually (like after the 10 year old phase I guess you guys are talking about), but they were both bean poles growing up. I was never a bean pole, I was 5 years old and my mom had to hand-make dresses for me because she couldn't find anything to fit me, by about 8 years old I was wearing old womens clothing because they did not make plus-childrens clothing.(I have plenty of fun pics of my spandex shorts, with long old women shirts with sequins all over and shoulder pads) Then in 4th grade I found men's pants and shirts that fit. When I was in 8th grade my mom found plus size 'trendy' clothes that would fit me via the internet. I have a painting my nanny did of me in 1st grade, and I was wearing this hideous zebra print shirt, made for women. With my 2 front teeth missing and all that fun stuff.

Jacqui, I agree with you. Unless they (government) are looking at it as just a monitoring process to see what happens with these kids. I do know in my own family, when you look at pictures of my mom and sister as babies, they were already fat. Now my mom is one of 8 and only her other sister (6 boys!) had/have weight problems. My sister is younger than I am and we both ate the same foods. She was born a normal, healthy weight (we were both within ounces of each other) but by the time she was a year, she was a fat baby. Me, on the other hand, had NO weight issues (other than my own perception of being the smallest fattie in a family of fatties, when I was anything BUT fat) until I hit my 20's. Then I started gaining. My mom and sister both had bypass 5 and 8 years ago. Both had tried everything to lose weight. Nothing worked for them. They couldn't even LOSE weight! They both have done great with their surgeries. My sister has had 3 more kids since her surgery. I was able to lose weight but couldn't keep it off. DD was adopted and I have no clue about her birthfather, but her birthmother's family is all normal sized with a few minor weight issues (say 10-20 over weight, kinda thing). Even at 2 she loves sports and being active so I'm hoping just by teaching her well, how to eat and how to be active (and getting healthy myself) that even if she does end up with some extra weight, she'll be able to control it and not have serious issues. We'll see. Anyway, just a picture of my family. Kind of both sides of the coin that Jacqui was talking about. Sorry it's so long. I talk too much! LOL!

Great ideas! Love the 3 10 min. walk idea and photos of food eaten in a day! Thanks for posting. linkoop

I only have a drink now and then and thats usually when i go out with friends..I had surgery 8/10/2005 and i think i MAYBE has 4 drinks between now and thenKristen

This is my story of having my Lap-Band surgery with Dr. Ortiz in Tijuana, Mexico. He can be found at Celebrate and enjoy myself with a wonderful BBQ dinner with the family. Oh, how I love those fried pickles! At least they won't be completely gone from my life in the future, though they may be the meal, and not just the appetizer. Since I was a So.Cal local, I decided to meet the clinic shuttle at the San Diego International Airport. Considering the long term parking fee was $9 per day, I was pleased to find the lot was literally next door to Terminal Two baggage claim. After a five minute walk, I was waiting for the shuttle driver. At the San Diego Airport, there are escalators with descending arrivees. I waited at the bottom, looking in the same direction that the arriving passengers would be looking. With that vantage point, I easily saw a Hispanic gentlemen holding a passenger's name up, and wearing an OCC i.d. tag. I approached him to let him know I was here. The driver, Francisco, informed me we had a third person to wait for, but her flight wouldn't be here for another 40 minutes or so. Oh well... back to sitting I go. Fast forward, and all three patients were accounted for. We walked out into the short term parking lot, boarded a large late model van, and made our way out of the lot and towards the border. Because today was Sunday, there was no clinic to go to, so we headed straight for the Lucerna Hotel. Crossing into Mexico was easy. However, glancing across the border at the traffic headed back to the U.S., we knew we had a fun wait ahead of us when we returned. The driver estimated we'd have a 2-3 hour wait coming back-- unless you decided to return in the middle of the night. It was ALWAYS this long. *sigh* Before we arrived, I asked what time we'd be picked up from the hotel. The driver said 8:00am. If you brought a companion with you, you wouldn't need to check out. Less than 10 minutes inside Tijuana, I knew we were getting close to the hotel. I knew we were close, because Francisco began to point out the Domino's and pizza Hut nearby (did he KNOW why we were even here?). And at last, the Hotel Lucerna appeared. On the outside, it looked like any standard older hotel. Six storeys tall, and each room seemed to have a balcony. Our luggage was taken out of the van and brought alongside the front desk for us to check in. When it was my turn, I identified myself, and was presented the documents to sign-- payment for the room was taken care of. Since I saw the sign as I entered, I asked for the internet code so I could access the free wireless internet. They wrote it down on my key envelope. The bellman offered to take my luggage up, but it was no big deal, so I took it up with me to the fifth floor. I found my room, and used the electronic keycard. Inside, I found a king-size bed, marble bathroom countertop, two 600ml bottles of complimentary Water, and complimentary soaps, shampoo, and hair dryer. Ironing board and Iron in the closet. No ice bucket. Hair dryer didn't work. Placard advertising order pizza on the room table. I hid that. I've stayed in worse rooms, but have definitely stayed in better. Personally I wouldn't give it any better than three starts The television has free channels, and some premium movie channels. No Pay Per View, but ports on the front indicate you could bring a portable DVD player or game system to hook up. I brought my laptop, so I could always use that to watch movies. Ahh, the laptop! Time to log in and let the wife know I made it ok (the kids prevented her from joining me). The wireless router name is unsecured and easy to connect to. However, as soon as you try to go to a website, the Lucerna security page pops up and asks you for your code. And after numerous attempts, it STILL wouldn't work. I headed downstairs, and realized that my front desk clerk had bad writing. The Access code is "lucernaXXX", with XXX being the room number you're in. The password is a five digit code they'll give you. Once I set down my free bag of ice (still no bucket) and entered it in all correctly, it worked. Slow and spotty, but it worked, and better to use Skype at $.02 per minute than my cellphone at $1.10 per minute. I set a trashcan as an ice bucket and iced down my final diet shake. Final shake, but not yet... time to go across the street to the local convenience store for a couple small bags of chips and a diet soda. THE last carbonated soda. Ahhhh... delicious. I looked out the window at the traffic circle of not so late cars and taxis circling endlessly, and the obligatory siren in the distance. This seems to ALWAYS be a siren somewhere within earshot. If you like sirens, Tijuana is for you. I never left the room again that day. Enjoyed my final shake and water, and nodded off at 10:30pm. THE SURGERY DAY (9/4/06) The surgery day came roughly, with me being awoken numerous times during the night by sirens, my dreams, and a bed that was decidedly not like home. But 7:00am was here, and time for me to kick it into gear for an 8:00am pick-up. I had just enough water left in my complimentary water bottle to brush my teeth with. Packed it all up, and headed downstairs. I emerged from the elevator to find the two people I met at the airport, plus some new arrivals. Right on time, Mrs. Ortiz (The Doc's mom), a small, spry, short-white haired lady with more energy than the room, and took us in two separate trips. I was in trip #1. With my luggage, I got into her late model Volvo S80 along with others, and we headed to the clinic. About a 5 minute trip. We parked in the underneath parking at the nice looking clinic building and took the elevator up. The elevator doors opened into the clinic reception area. We identified ourselves, and Mrs. Ortiz left to pick up the rest of the patients. We went to the receptionist's desk and signed the legal paperwork that basically releases them for just about anything. I signed. I was also asked whether I had brought my original paperwork that I faxed back. No, I said, I didn't. No problem-- they had a copy. (and I thought "then why ask me for one"?) I sat down and picked out a magazine to read. If you're a guy and REALLY into yachts, you'll be very happy with your reading choices. Other than that, good luck. Luckily, the movie Batman was playing on a TV in the corner of the waiting room. I didn't have to wait long. Shortly thereafter, I was called back for them to draw blood. They stuck a port in the side of my left wrist, and drew what blood they needed. They then taped the port in place-- this would be the port they would use for the duration of my stay. Back to the waiting room I go. I was then called to the receptionist desk to get my photo digitally snapped-- for what, I had no idea. Sat back down. Got called up again to see the cardiologist. He asked me a few questions about my health, then had me blow in a device for as hard and as long as I could. I expected some sort of resistance as I blew, but I was wrong. I ran out of air mighty quick, but the cardiologist keep encouraging me to keep on blowing... keep on blowing... I did until the machine beeped. Phew! Then I got up and into a back room where he started to place his sticker collection all over my body. Well, that's what it seemed like. Actually, he was placing sensors on key parts for an EKG. Once hooked up, it took about 30 seconds for a full reading. Between the lung thingy, and the EKG, I passed. No one came back to me in a panic over my blood test, so I could only assume that went well, too. ...and then I was called again to meet with the nutritionist, Dr. Miranda. She struck me as much younger than I had expected, and spoke better English than I expected. Don't ask me.why I thought she'd be older and less fluent. She had me weigh-in and measure my height. Then she handed me a nutrition guide, and I followed along with a Powerpoint. I was encouraged to write notes. She said I had done well on my diet, and based on that and no other medical problems, my surgery should take nine minutes. NINE? Are you kidding? No.. once I was under anesthesia, it should only take nine minutes, unless they ran into a hiatal hernia, in which case they'd repair it and it would take longer. Wow. I asked a few other questions, and we were done.... ...and BACK to the waiting room. I found the page in "GENERIC YACHING JOURNAL #836" that I had left off from... and then I was called in. This time, I was told to bring my luggage with me. Everyone else in the waiting room wished we luck, and I passed through the doors to the back. I was led to my room where I'd be for the next day. I was told to strip to my birthday suit, and to put on the gown open at the back, and a most flattering set of paper undies that do nothing for support. I did this, left the room to use the bathroom, and returned to my room. I was invited to use the phone in the room of I'd like to make any calls, including anywhere in the U.S. for free, AND they could call me using the clinic's toll-free line. That was a VERY nice, and I proceeded to do so. Earlier, I was also shown two computer terminals for internet access while I was there. My nurse, Josefa, came in and asked me to lie down on the bed. She set up an i.v. and I was also handed a cup with two pills... one to relax, and the other an anti nausea. I was told to place them under my tongue so they'd dissolve then I could swallow them if and when I chose. No water, though. I laid back down and the anesthesiologist came in. I made the obligatory joke about putting me to sleep for the right time, and he joked back that that was easy-- WAKING me would be the tricky part! No problems with anesthetics in the past, so he left. Dr. Ortiz came in and we chatted comfortably about the surgery, how men do well with weight loss under the band, etc etc. He left. Some time later they called me in, and I walked into the surgery room. Climbed onto the bed, and they strapped both my arms on extending planks reminiscent of a crucifixion. I asked why I needed to be strapped, but I don't recall getting a reply. After asking which one of them was going to scratch my itchy nose, a strap was loosened and I scratched. Back the arm went, and back on went the straps. That's the last I remember... ....I then woke up, back in my hospital bed in my room, with a mask blowing oxygen in my face, and I was told to wake up and breathe. I did... slowly. I was told it was done, and the lumps and soreness on my abdomen confirmed it. I wasn't in any great deal of pain, but I would have the occasional pain in my chest for about 5 seconds before it dies down. I was told that was residual air. Ok. My hospital room had DirectTV (they all did), but my remote wouldn't control the volume or power, so the staff became my volume control. Later I found out that my surgery took eleven minutes, since there was a small hiatal hernia that a couple stitches remedies. After I was in my room about 1-2 hours, I decided to try walking. I ended up walking three laps around the floor, but near the end of the third lap, I started to feel light headed. Off to bed again, and I felt better. I noticed on my way back into my room, they had an ID card letting the world know I had a lap band-- the back had a VG sticker on it. So, I got a Vanguard belt. A couple hours later, I decided to take some laps, but I ended up sitting at one of the community terminals to pound out a quick status report to the forum. My wife called and they transferred it there. But after 10 minutes of sitting, I started to feel light headed. Or was it nausea? I wasn't sure, and knew I didn't want to find out. I made a beeline to my room to lie down, and felt better. Phew! During that evening, I had some ice chips, a Capri Sun juice, an Otter Pop, and some chicken broth. I tolerated it all well. On an earlier venture to the bathroom, I lifted my gown and found my incisions looking much neater that I thought they would, all nicely glued in place. It almost looked like I had gotten into a nasty tangle with an alley cat. THE DAY AFTER The next morning, I had some more juice and chicken broth, and they told me to go ahead and change into my street clothes. Guess that was my subtle hint that I was being deported to the hotel. They offered me the chance to shower, but I decided I could do that just as easily at the hotel, so I packed up. While I was in the waiting room, another patient asked me if I was having my procedure today. They were surprised to hear I had already had it done yesterday! Another was surprised I was wearing jeans comfortably. Both comments made me feel good; that I had tolerated the whole affair well. So, I'm now in my room, pounding this little recap for all of you and waiting for tomorrow's 7:00am shuttle back to San Diego. I'm going to have a nice shower, go downstairs for some chicken broth and juice, and maybe walk. And there's a basket of fruit in my room, unlike the first room, I had. Who said Mexicans don't have a sense of humor? I hope this isn't just the end of the story. I hope this is the beginning of a brand new life where I can enjoy 99% of all life has to offer. And for that other 1%? When you have that delicious Diet Pepsi, think of me, would ya?

Thanks Heather, I think I know all of this, but I stumble when it comes to social eating. I never realized how much food I am offered at work until I started all of this. I calculated it one day and think the if I ate "right" every where else, I'd still gain 10 pounds a year from eating everything offered. Yeah, a year from now, this will be an amusing story to tell other Bandsters. I'll do some Zen meditation and see if the future me will give me a pat on the head and tell me to quiet down. :biggrin2:

That is GREAT...it is crazy when you think of what we carry and are losing. Im down 50lbs but I often think of that as 10 - 5 lb bags of potatoes. Try going to the store and picking all that up in your arms at once. It blows my mind. I can't imagine how it feel to lose 100, 125, 150 and more like many here have been successful doing....However, I do look forward to that day. Thanks for sharing that great story!

Well mine was 20 from pre op diet to now... I guess it is not too bad.. I have had a hard time the couple weeks too.. and funny.. mine is a 3 pound gain and lose as well. I am going to really try hard to get another 10 off for the next visit... But I feel no restriction from this little fill.. Ugh.. thanks for the response.. I just feel kind of down about not loseing more..

Weight Loss Surgery was such an out of the blue decision for me -- I'm not even sure exactly how it came about. We live in the boonies, I don't watch TV, and I didn't know any one else with a LapBand (or any other WLS). I am kind of a health food type and had never been an overnight patient in the hospital before. I guess I heard that a cousin's doctor had recommended this for him and so I started digging into the research. Almost right away I realized I was the perfect candidate. I think what this means is that I was READY. I had spent two decades dieting and working every weight loss angle under the sun, yet I always put the weight back on again plus a little more. Each year I was a little heavier, and since I'm in my fifties it was really starting to add up. I ate well, just too much. Now I eat well, just in much smaller portions and at appropriate intervals. What a difference this makes over time. Here I am today 75 pounds down from when I started 17 months ago. I honestly can't believe it. Next month at a year and a half I hope to be able to report 80. It's been a long winter and I have not been exercising as much as I'd like. I know from experience that for me the exercise is really the magic ingredient. I hate the gym and as soon as this sleet and snow clears off I can't wait to resume outdoor walking again. Last year I bought a bike and I look forward to that. I have arthritis and being able to do these things is a real gift. So much easier without carrying around all that extra weight! The scale is the scale and sometimes it doesn't budge. I tend to lose some and then hover a long while around a particular number for a while. This can be frustrating but I've learned that it is okay, that the scale will eventually move. Meanwhile, its all about the pants, the pants. I have gone from 18 jeans down to size 10 in the same brand. Right now I have a pair of size 10 jeans in another brand that I picked up on sale and they are way too tight. But I'm going to get into those jeans over time -- and I also have a couple of pair of linen pants in my closet. I try them all on from time to time and that helps keep me motivated. It's all about the pants, the pants..... Determining a goal weight is hard -- I guess I will know when I get there (and I know I'm not there yet). I'm fairly tall and don't want to be "skinny" -- I like my curves. For now I am thinking 155 might be a good weight for me and I am thrilled to be just 22 pounds away from that goal as of this morning. Oh my goodness, I am so happy!

I had my gastric sleeve July 10. The hardest part was dealing with the shoulder gas. To anyone having the surgery soon Please walk!! It's so important. I came home July 11th and I feel a bit more comfy in bed but I do continue to walk around my house. I even started my menstrual which has been months since I had my period. Has anyone else started there period after surgery? I drink my isopure protien drink and also drink like 32 oz of water which I need to drink more. But one thing I notice is I have cravings for regular solid food. Yesterday my family was over and the cooked and I wanted the food so bad. I know it's in my head but does anyone else feel this way ? I do drink half a cup of chicken broth

I was banded on 12/28/09. Went in for first fill on 2/8/10 and they couldn't get it. Did an Ultrasound and wahlaaaa! My port has flipped *ugh* So now we are waiting for BCBS approval so they can go BACK IN and do a 'port revision'. Joy joy!

Hi- I would like to ask if anyone did not lose a large amount of weight during the 14 presurgery liquid diet. I onky have 4 more days before my surgery and only down 4 pounds after 11 days on the liquid phase. I am concerned that my liver won't be smaller in size in order for my doctor to install the band. I spoke with his nurse about only taking 4 pounds off and she told me that typically people lose on average 10-15 pounds on the presurgery diet. Should I be concerned or is this a sign that I will have trouble losing weight after having the band due to being older (53yrs) and slow metabolism?

I am hoping for an October surgery. I was reading some post surgery paperwork from my surgeon just now and it says tips for life with a bad to cut food into the size of a pencil eraser and chew 10-20 times! Is this true? I understand small bites and chewing a lot, but that seems VERY small. Like non existent!

I tracked carefully for a period of time, and recongized I was letting small things in. 2 Quest bars in a day, when one would surely suffice. Crackers with meat and cheese.... and probably more crackers than was reasonable. Having half sandwiches for lunch, snacking on a nuts and other calorie and carb dense food. It's not like I was binging or anything... just was eating more than I needed if i wanted to keep losing. My ambition was to lose150#, so I felt a certain sense of urgency needed to make my goal. The last meeting I had with my excellent nutritionalist before she moved.... she told me I was sliding into maintenance unintentionally. She advised completely eliminating Protein bars since i was struggling with controlling the frequency and quantity. The other thing we talked about is I had to face my own... ambivilence. Here is what i mean - I had lost enough that I was no longer super obese, health much improved, people were wowed by my appearance etc. But I think I was still a size 14-16 or something like that. I was proud of what i accomplished, but i also recognized I looked a bit matronly and I still felt kind of safe, emotionally, with the fat. i had to ask myself what i really wanted. i think that self reckoning was more important than ditching the quest bars.... So, once my food was back on track, the losses returned to pretty good. Then, some folks on here started talking about High intensity interval training. I had become aware that i would do hours on the elliptical, did weight machines and the gym etc but I wasn;t really making leaps and bounds fitness progress. so, i tried my first spinning class. I found out why everyone put a towel under their bikes! i have long thick hair and by halfway through the class, my hair was soaked and dripping sweat on the floor. I learned more about HIIT and abandoned my old "low to med intensity" workouts in favor of the high intensity intervals, and shorter duration. That was like lighting a fire to the metabolism and I went back to losing 10-12 pounds a month again!!!! Of course, I was still very diligent about the low carbs and really managing my food because the food intake is really critical. I have always said I had to do hand to hand combat with the last 40 or so pounds and it is the truth... but i made it to my goal of losing 150# in 14 months, even with that lull in progress while I got straightened out. So, i think you do really need to decide what it is you want and what you are willing to do to get it. Not everyone just slides into goal doing the same old thing - we are all different. Many of us found ourselves off course... even a little can slow down progress. There are also plenty of people who are quite okay with losing say 100-120 when they need to lose 150 and i think that is perfectly valid too. For me, it was a lifelong dream to be normal size and I felt like that was my big chance so it was worth the push to make it happen. That is a very personal decision. I do think it starts with self awareness and diligently tracking for a period of time makes you much more aware. BTW, I am a rare one that does not normally track, I have learned to eat more intuitively, but that is a subject for another day. I think tracking is an outstanding tool - whether you do it all the time or more as a spot check.

I had to have my colon removed due to pre-cancerous cells - without getting to graphic i go to the bathroom 8-10 times a day. I have forgotten what normal is. I take Miralax with hardly any water to help my situation. Pls get some help. You dont want to damage "that area" believe me. Oh! My surgery date is 12/30! I am jumping for joy!!

Surgery was on 7/7, so I just hit the 4 week mark. HW - 341 SW - 263.8 CW 238.4 Today was also the milestone of hitting 100 pounds lost. As far as my condition goes, the past 7-10 days have found me doing worse than I was previously. I've begun to have periodic dizzy spells that most commonly happen when I stand up, but also when I exert myself. As such, my exercise has not really been happening between the ongoing heat in the past week or so and this dizziness. Was worried I would see lower weight loss this week as a result, but am pleasantly surprised that I came up just shy of 5lbs. The other issue is constipation. Right now, I'm having bowel movements every 3-4 days. What's worse is that when I have them, it's causing hemorrhoids that leave me in excruciating pain for the entire day afterwards. My doctor prescribed some Colace, but near as I can tell, it isn't helping. I've also had nothing but terrible sleep the last couple of weeks, though this can partially be blamed on the fact that the two new CPAP masks that my provider will let me use are just terrible. They don't cover the mask that I prefer. It sucks. I'm also STILL on just full liquids because that's what my doctor wants me on for as long as possible in order to maximize weight loss and avoid the slow down. This has been pretty damn awful, but I'm getting through it. Doctor wants me to do it for 8 weeks. I'm telling him at my follow-up with his next Monday that I'm done and ready to move on. He's getting 5 weeks from me. Otherwise, I'm doing well. All but 1 incision is fully healed and that one is getting close. Just looking forward to being able to start transitioning into other food phases and start the slow path back to the new normal.

I had a band for over 10 years. Only partially effective. Nothing for 2 years and then the sleeve 2 months ago. So much better than the band. Down 37 lbs. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Each year I start off New Years Eve with a list of goals that I hope to achieve with in the year. Some of them are met, some are not, some get "partially" met. This year will be different. I have been banded for 7 months. I have 40 pounds to reach my goal. I had truely wanted to be there by the time I hit my one year bandiversary however I am learning with each month that this is not a race or a contest. The goal should be my health. I have lost an average of 10 pounds a month untill December then I found myself upset on the 28th when I realized I had only lost about 4 pounds this month. Most years in the past I would have gained like crazy. How in the world can I be upset? So I am off of most of my bloodpressure medications. I feel better than I have in years, I have lost about four pant sizes, I can breath again. Life is good. So what if i dont reach my goal by May 28th? Will life end? Realistically if I continue to do well, I am healthier all the time and working towards my goals is THAT urgent to get there by a certain day? I believe it is good to have a goal to shoot for but it seems when we put so much pressure on ourselves that failure becomes overwhelming. I am so blessed to have this band. I am 200% better off than I was last year and cant wait to see what the future holds. Watch out 2010, here I come....God bless each of you lap band family. Here we come new year.:biggrin:

You caught me just after I've finished having a tantrum! My husband. Good lord, he is SUCH an accountant. It drives me insane. I account for every single bleeding cent I spend, right down to a newspaper. It all gets computed, entered on the spreadsheet, he's forecast 10 years ahead exactly how much money we'll have etc. I dont buy a coffee without him knowing about it. He's a control freak. Its good because without him I'd be broke. I'm terrible, I dont plan, I just spend when I feel like it and he's reigned me right in and I'm a lot more responsible now. But we need to move house, we need a bigger house and we need to live in a more convenient area. We've needed to do this for about five years now. But he overanalysies it, he does it all on Excel, he works out every possible permutation and the end picture of taking on a huge mortgage (Melbourne is a very very expenisve city) looks too scary when you see it all broken down to the nth degree. He works out that if we stay in this house we'll have say $300,000 more in 10 years time. He works out whether it would be better to rent, keep both cars, sell one car and use public transport blah blah blah. He works out the cost over our entire lifetime of paying for private education for our kids and then considers it in that light. We never flipping well do anything because he's worked out exactly how much its going to cost extrapolated over 20 years. He knows that if I go and buy an ice cream today for $3.00 it will actually end up costing us $145 over the next five years. It is insane. We've just again had another HUGE fight over housing because I insist that its got every much to do with needs, wants and our kids education (not good options for secondary school in this area), he thinks its all about dollars. I think if we can afford it week to week and its what we need, I dont care to know that we'll pay an extra $400,000 in interest over the next 20 years, to me that's the cost of moving to a bigger house in a better area. And he totally neglectst the fact that while we live in this house, we have no mortgage as we own it outright, we spend our money on lifestyle factors - nice cars, holidays, etc. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH

Am I reading this right, you were banded last Sunday and upset about only being down 10 lbs. I was banded the 9th, and finally last night dropped to being down 4 lbs. What's wrong with me? :frown: I have no restriction and have felt since I woke up from surgery I could eat anything.

I had my surgery on Friday morning and was released Saturday afternoon. Saturday was a miserable day - I could not tolerate anything. I took tiny sips of everything I tried - tea, water, warm water, cold tea, ice chips, etc. I have been lurking on forums so I know to take tiny sips and slow - slow slow but it isn't working for me. I finally managed to get half a cherry popsicle down and in a half hour - up it came. I am trying to stay hydrated but what is going on? I am walking - trying to do every single thing correctly. I am on 10 mg of Reglan ever six hours and one Prevacid daily. For pain, I was given hydrocodone/apap (generic for Lortab) 10 - 20 mils by mouth every 6 hours. The pain medicine makes me gag it tastes so nasty and I have quit taking it today. I haven't thrown up yet but still cannot seem to get hardly more than a teaspoon of water or tea down in ten minutes. Today even the popsicles are nasty. And - on top of it all - I have so much spit in my mouth I am carrying a pan around. What is going on?:smile:

I eat like Jacqui, which is how we are advised to here in Australia. I eat good healthy foods (which includes rice and Pasta - I can't eat bread) in smaller portions. I also don't count calories/protein. I eat Snacks like almonds, yougurt or fruit cups if I need to, which might be every other day. And I still eat chocolate whenever I feel like it. I've exercised 3-5 times (like a gym session of treadmill, bike and eliptical, a spin class, or a 5km run around my the block near my house and I am also currently doing a boot camp session twice a week) a week for 30-60 minutes since about 2 months after my surgery. I'm now running 5-10km fun runs when they are organised in my city and am fitter and stronger than I have ever been in my life. I've lost about 85lbs in just over 10 months and have about another 20 to go to my dream weight. But I've already exceeded my Surgeon's goal weight. That said, I had a partial unfill a couple of months ago due to a bad stomach bug where I couldn't keep a thing down, and I have yet to get back to my sweet spot. I'm going for a fill tomorrow and I will be back to my pre-bug fill level, so hopefully that will move my loss along a little.

I got into a pair of sz 10 pants that have been hanging in my closet for 2 yrs and I maybe wore them 3 times before I out grew them last time that may seem small but I'm only 5' so I would like to eventually be in a 4-6. I am weighing less now than I have weighed in years. I have lost 30 since I began the vsg journey and 21 since surgery which was 7 weeks ago today. This morning I was 173 goal is about 135. Sent from my iPhone using VST