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Wow, great question! And a great answer! As someone who is within 10 lbs of goal, this is fascinating. I'm still going for the goal, but it makes one wonder.....

The whole recipe has 53 grams of carbs- less than 60 due to actual carb being rounded up in the individual meatball....25 carbs in the package from spinach 10 from the artichokes... 25 of the grams are from fiber.

I'm 1 week out and have only lost 10 lbs but I think my body is holding onto water and I have hashimoto's hypothyroidism. Water tastes disgusting. It causes pain when other liquids don't. I've been doing 1/4 juice and the rest water or crystal light or non-caffeinated iced tea. It's 105 degrees in La so I need so much liquid and I was doing great at first but have fallen behind.

my name is Kristy and i just started my process! :cursing: i am overly excited and day-dreamy. lol. i went to meet the surgeon today and he was telling me the important stuff to do after the surgery and just said a few things about it. it was SOO quick. crazy. it took 2 hours to get into the patient room, but once he came in...psshh.. 10 or so mins and we were done. i got the info and i need to make dietitian appt. very excited. the room was crazy, one wall was window and ...they have you in a chair facing it. i was like..whoa. better not fall forward lol. my mom went with me and as you can see, she's thin. she lost 150. :cryin: she had gastric bypass. in the pic, she is pointing to Angel's Stadium. perrrddyyy craaazyy. the doctor was impressed with how much i had with me lol. i had my letter, my years of records with primary doc. and my weight loss attempts. my mom joked and said that i want it done tomorrow and the doctor said .."you got cash?..haha" ......PFFT. lol. i told him 20 cents on me. he said to add a few zeros. hahah! HA. hahah. crazy. then he said with a smile, "i see you have a list of questions for me....." haha. i was too embarrassed to ask most of them HAHA. he covered the rest, so i only had a few. lol. cool stuff. i can't wait. :sad:

I have been dealing with back problems for almost 10 years -- in fact this injury is what caused my weight gain. My surgeon had me stop my celebrex prior to surgery and post surgery I have been okay with it although I can restart if I want to. I have visited with my back doc and he says I can have my epidural steriod injections whenever I need them - no problem. So far I have been able to stave them off with yoga which I practice a couple of times a week -- works wonders. Seems that one of the benefits of the weight loss is that hopefully we will eventually be able to get off these meds :biggrin: Share your concerns with your doc -- dealing with chronic pain problems is really tough and it is scary to think about not being able to take meds if you need them. Good Luck!

Hi everyone, This is the first time I've EVER written a blog entry. So, here it goes. Please read and comment if you are influenced, encouraged, disgusted (i wouldhope not), or just bored. I am 20 years old. i was first banded in August of 2008 on the 19th. I was 19 so you all know that this was a life altering change for me. When i first did this, I was influenced to do it by my mom. She always says how she wants to see me in a little miny skirt and nice outfits before she leaves this earth. She never said that I didn't dress well now though. I know i do. I try at least. However, this thing has been quite a journey. I'm currently 6 months post-op and I haven't lost the weight I'd expected to loose since i got this band. I know it was due to my poor food choices and my lack of excercising. Therefore, there was no one to blame but myself. So, I feel that its time to do this write. I payed too much money for this to go to waste. I could have had a beautiful car. Instead, Im going to have a beautiful body. I grew up on soul food..you know, fried and fatty was the key to those meals lol. Now, I'm really conscience about baked foods. I never really consume fried food like that. I've been a big chip person and sweet drinks. That has been my problem up to now. During the first week of banding, i lost 16 pounds total. I don't remember what I weighed, since I last went to the doctor. I started out at 345 and thank God I'm not there anymore! Yesterday, I cried on my sweetheart's shoulder..They have this new movie coming out about a plus sized girl who grew up unloved. Surprisingly, she looks like me and she has my name! I thought, whoah! Did they really make this movie come out? I felt a bit embarrassed when they showed the preview before we seen the movie we went to go see called "Madea Goes to Jail." Everyone laughed at this girl. Deep down inside I felt as if they were laughing at me. I came home and told my friend that I'm tired of trying to be strong and block all of the thing that people say about me. I literally said that I didn't want to go through this anymore-being fat. I don't want to be on this earth. I thought that would be the best solution. I felt that God was trying to tell me soemthing because of this movie but instead I got angry with God thinking he was trying to pay me back for all the sins I've commited. I'm not a devil or soemthing but you know everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. However, that was not the case. He told me that he knew that I was very emotional and very timid when it comes down to public abuse about my weight. The thing about it was...I never really got ridiculed directly but indirectly from the public. My worst critics were myself and my family. He is someone I thought I could never tell the "Real" story to about me and how I feel about my weight. I make jokes about my weight as a sign of securing the premises because I wanted to do that before anyone else would. anywho, he told me that I was beautiful and that the only persont that could help me was God. I feel as if I'm ADDICTED to food! I thought I couldn't stop eating stuff. i would throw up and eat. Wake up in the moring and feel the impulse TOO eat. Why? I don't know so don't ask lol. Now, it makes a lot of since. This is my body. I want a result. I HAVE TO PUT MORE EFFORT..That's it. That's all to it. I know it is easier said than done. So, I'm going to stop saying it and DO IT. The race is not given to the swift, but to he that endureth to the end. I thank God for understanding. I'm ready to do this. I'm hitting the gym in the morning. No more consuming a lot of food, more than my band can hold, and throwing up. If I throw up, its gonna be because my band made me do it...not me...So, I started saying in December there's going to be an 09 Precious that won't be eating the way she did AFTER being banded in 08. I'm doing this strictly for me. I want to wear hot clothes. I want to be a healthy nurse one day. I want to dance without getting tired. I want to be free from this emotional distress brought about by my weight. Everyone keeps saying Precious, you have to get that weight off. They don't understand that I try so hard to do that though. I try and try. I thought I did. I kept saying what do youthink I got this band for? WEll, that's just it. Why did I get this band? to keep eating the way I did? No. With the support of few and the ridicule of many, I'm going to make this work for me. For my future. For that money spent lol. Time to show this world what PRECIOUS..is really about. Piece and love to you bandsters! I'm praying for the best. IF you are a Christian person, pray for my success. SEe you soon when I'm the top headlines with the before and after pictures worthy of great progress. Like the rapper Nelly says, "I'm on a mission and its sort of like a mystery and I ain't stoppin til I go down in history." So, true. Let's do it. NOW. I'm doing it. NOW God bless!

I used the Happy Weight Calculator and it says my goal weight is 129, about 5 pounds less thant he goal I set for myself. My labband doc didn't set a goal weight, but my back surgeon did. I have three herniated disks in my back and he said I would need to lose 100 pounds before I tried to get pregnant. Before surgery I was 247, now I'm 206. Getting there.....I too set mini goals of 10 pounds. I am at my sweet spot, I can eat a few bites of most things and then I'm done. As long as it follows the high protein guidelines. If it's not high protein and a slider my "inner fat chick" comes out and I eat too much and still never feel full. I'm with you xavier, single digit sizes, here we come.

Hello, How is your wls journey going? I'm similar to you in that I'm 5 11.5 tall and around 265 pounds. My surgery date is Jan 10, 2024 and scheduled for the SADI. However, I may go with the sleeve because I don't want to lose too much weight. Goal is to stay around 190 pounds.

fairy, do you mind if I pry and ask how much weight you've gained so far? you're about 14 weeks ahead of me. I am only 10 weeks and up 6 lbs!! AAARGH!! This is frustrating for 3 reasons: 1. I truly am hungry when I am eating...NOT snacking to enjoy pregnancy. 2. My doc is super strict and only wants a 10-15 lbs gain!! How do I tell her I'm 1/3 of the way there?! 3. Exhaustion is still lingering, making it that much harder to exercise...it's getting a bit better, but nothing really helps.

You can do anything that is comfortable except pick up any weight (or push) above 25 lbs. I think 10 pounds should be the max. After 3 days I insured myself pushing something and my tummy was on fire for 24 hours. Bad idea. As far a bending over I purchased a picker upper. Those long arm things with a grip at the end. It saved me because bending over for the first few weeks was difficult. Your incisions are not sealed for about 3 weeks and when you bend over it puts pressure on those. Your doctor gives you the all clear for exercise depending on your situation and it's usually at 4 weeks.

Even a jump rope at home is bette than nothing. I work out alone, but I jam out while working out. I feel great afterwards. Slowly adding exercise in your daily routine even for 10-20 minutes will have you feeling better.

I made the 10% by the time I went to my consult with the surgeon, but not before ending the Options classes and I was still referred to the surgeon. Some others I know were still given surgery even though they did not meet the 10%. I agree, for most surgeons, they probably want to make sure you are trying, and that you can be compliant.

This is exactly how I felt like 3 or 4 days ago - I even posted about it -- http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/39749-nervous-and-worried-i-wont-be-able-to-commit/page__p__352984#entry352984 Then a lot of people made me realize 3 things: 1. - Everyone who has done this was scared. There are no exceptions. We are at a precipice, at my current life path - I'll be dead in 10 years either through co-morbidities, or self-inflicted from the pain. Yeah - I've thought of taking the easy way out - -I figure even if I die doing this - at least I'll be done with the pain one way or another and then I'm not so afraid. 2. That there is a lot of support in this group and people will reach out to help you through this- you are not alone - not at all. We are all here for you. 3. Post-surgery - it won't be as much psychological as you think - for one foods you used to love may now make you super sick- at least that's what I've heard, -- and you won't be able to eat more than a few ounces at a time anyhow so even if you did cheat - you'll still lose. Yes we all need to learn to improve our habits.. that's maybe our whole purpose in this life. Once you see the weight dropping off you'll also receive increased Serotinin which will increase your motivation to keep doing it, plus if you exercise along with it- which you definitely should - then you'll also get endorphines - Seratonin plus endorphins are two of the biggest best drugs out there- in fact Serotonin I believe is released when you eat sweets - so you'll get the same effect from your new lifestyle - by doing good things. Gist: Everyone's scared, There's lots of Support here, You won't be as hungry/craving of sweets as you think you will be.

hello folks! my husband and i will be traveling to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia soon to meet the baby girl we are adopting. my doctor and i are considering unfilling my band for the trip for a couple of reasons...1.) the high possibility of getting sick and throwing up, which could cause a slip. 2.) medical professionals there have no idea what to do with the band, so if i were to having problems, i'd be out of luck with getting help. has anyone else done this while traveling? does the hunger come of fast? i have 6 cc in a 10 cc band and have lost just over 80 lbs. i'm scared of gaining weight, but near as scared as what could happen in Ethiopia with my band if i got sick. any advice is greatly appreciated!

Hello Lacunn711: Very Happy to answer any & all questions you may have. I believe they scheduled the surgery date within 2 weeks of the insurance approval. Surgery done at the Life Center. My experience was very positive---their team is very positive, professional & efficient. My surgery was at 11:00 AM, I spent one night & was out the next morning about 10 - 11:00 AM the next morning. Had the liquid pain medication which I used for a few days at home but the surgery wasn't as painful as I anticipated - I had a C-section with my last child & the pain with this surgery is not as bad. It's amazing how fast our bodies can heal IMO. Protein Drink - My favorite is Isopure ZERO CARB Creamy vanilla - Note I mix only 6 oz of Water to one scoopful instead of the recommended 8 oz. of water - tastes much better IMO. Also like Syntrax nectar strawberry KIWI - same deal I mix 6 oz water to one scoopful. If I mix the 8 oz water I find it tastes nasty diluted. I have a Protein Drink every morning along with Vitamins which I get from CELEBRATEVITAMINS.COM - the nutritionist will advise you what chewables you will need to take & when you can change to tablets. You will be happy when you can change from the chewables - they are rather chalky. Weight to lose: Dr. Curry targeted me to lose 60 lbs; don't think he wanted me to have higher hopes than that; however I wanted & have achieved a 90 lb loss effortlessly. I'm now eating more frequently/higher calories to maintain current weight so I don't lose more - I never would have imagined this. Recommend that you use myfitnesspal.com to track your daily diet - you need to verify your protein/carb intake each day. Work: I work at home so I had luxury of adjusting to surgery rather easily. I was driving 5 days after surgery. I recommend taking at least one week off from work - with the healing & liquid diet, getting familiar with the whole process takes some time. Dr. Curry doesn't do drains. FYI I had really bad bruising on my abdomen after the surgery but I do bruise easily. If you have more questions, let them fly b/c we all have been in the same boat & learn a lot from this board.

Hi everyone! I was banded on 9/2/10. I have had 1 fill of 1cc with 2 cc added during surgery and had been doing great. For the last few weeks though, I have been getting a pain by my upper right abdomen and about every three or four days the pain gets so bad I have to vomit (sorry, gross). This happens about an hour after I eat and it has been different types of foods (not band friendly--bread, rice, peanuts). Is this what stuck is? I don't feel it right away like I have read others that take a few bites and feel it. I eat and I feel fine and then it hits me...and it hits me hard. I am in pain for about an hour or more. The pain travels to my back. I am going to call the doctor tomorrow. But since the pain goes away and I feel fine, I have waited. I have tried to read other posts about getting stuck, but none seem to describe what I am feeling or the onset of how I feel. I have tried papaya enzymes, the chicken dance, grabbing my ankles, but none have worked. Any advise/suggestions will be appreciated.

Ok here I am gave all the paperwork to my PCP yesterday afternoon. The office manager is submitting my referrals to Tricare on Monday! She is going to send them urgent so I should know something in 72 hours or less. I have to have these referrals approved or I can't go to my appointment at the surgeon's office on 3/10/08. On the 10th I'm supposed to do the nut job eval, blood work, meet with the dietitian, and meet with my surgeon. I have to be there at 7:15 am and they said that I would be there all day. Now I have a question for all you experienced bandsters out there. I have to track everything that I put in my mouth for 1 week before the 3/10/08 appt. Should I eat the way I have been eating (namely like every meal is my last) or should I try to eat like a normal person? As soon as I leave the appointment I plan on starting my diet to lose 10 to 15 pounds before surgery. So what do you think? Any advice would be appreciated.

[3/11/10] Vanishing Vixen. Vanishing… An interesting choice of adjectives for my new serial blogger moniker… as pointed out to me yesterday. I was asked if I would be “disappearing” my personality as well as my weight. *straightface* And was told (by someone that has known me for almost 20yrs) that I seem to be letting this journey get the best of me already…as if I plan to “vanish” into nothingness, or become a shrinking violet (AS IF!)*because* I’m so used to being a Big, Bold, Bodacious (sometimes brash, and VERY bossy *lol*) woman. Maybe the adjectives (all but the “big”) that alot folk -self included- seem to think of me as… will indeed vanish when the weight starts coming off. *really ruminating & marinating on the implications* I mean, how much of my personality has been tied to my size? And has it been that way to mask insecurity, or just an extra measure of attention whorism? I have a hard time believing either of the two, really. While I do like to be complimented when I go the extra mile to be fully fabulous (most of the time – yesterday, I looked like “Who slew Auntie Rue?” ‘s GRANDMOTHER *ugh*) , or my face beat like I’m a MAC Make-up artist, or I’m rocking some of my hottest GGX Jewels…what woman wouldn’t want to be appreciated for her appearance? In fact, its also been pointed out that I have a hard time taking a compliment, and by NO means wish to be the center of attention when in a crowd or otherwise (unless we are talking about with my man, in the boudoir *smirk* ) Go figure. But… $h!t, I am who the hell I am. I AM cute. I AM sexy. I AM fabulous…I just haven’t been feeling it as much lately. *shrug* It’s really made me think about this mental/emotional space I’m in. Does my larger-than-life, feisty personality seem to be shrinking (or vanishing, so to speak) much like I want my body to do? It’s been said that I seem to have been extremely hard on myself lately (more particularly, the last 6-9 mnths) in terms of my confidence, etc. Why is that? The fat ugly truth is a number of varied & sundry things. Alot not even having anything to do with my weight/size, so much as it has to do with other areas of my life. Some of which are totally unrelated, but are stressors none-the-less. I’m a wife (to man that works nights), still a relatively new “MeMe” (as she calls me) to a rambunxious lil 22mnt old squirt, I have a fairly stressful 9-5 career, on top of a jewelry biz that requires a lot of my time if I’m ever to make a go of it (why? Because *I* personally make everything myself. I’m not pushing other ppl’s wares, here). And a lot of times I feel ill-equipped to handle any of it – let alone all of it at once. *wooosahhhhh* So yeah, all of the combined stress (add to it this suck-@$$ economy) has a way of knockin a sistah off her game – in more ways than one. So what on the surface may seem like one thing, is a culmination of others. And of course…I know. Things could ALWAYS be worse, so I AM grateful for my many blessings. There have just been a few “ah ha!” moments over the past year in particular, that made me realize that I am sooooo far from where I want (or planned) to be in my life at 35. Weight/health included. It be’s that way sometime. *shrug, again* IDK… Is it even really that serious? *lol* I’m hormonal this week. That may account for some of the bloggarhea today. Sometimes I just can’t get out of my own head. But that doesn’t make me crazy…it makes me human. And blogging it…helps me *relax.relate.release* it all. I’m not scared of what people will think of me for showing who I truly am. Good, bad, ugly, indifferent, confident, insecure, wealthy, poor, encouraged, defeated. It is what it is…and I am who I am. And what I’ve realized more than anything in my 5 or so years of bloggerdom, is that the folks who generally “seem” to have their $h!t together…don’t. *lol* and sometimes are even more screwed up inside/in their life than me, or than they may ever let on to the world. The playing field is even, if you ask me. But nobody did [ask]… Oh well! I’m keeping on…keeping on…

Actually, this is a great question. My husband asked me the same thing last might and I had no idea what to tell him. My follow-up visit is 19 days post op, as he is on vacation and I was hoping I wasn't going to have to wait until then to find out!!!!:laugh

I'm scheduled 12/10/14 ????????

Hey there, I'm 4 months out and I , too, have the bad habit of putting way too much on my plate,most of the time. My pics are not that great,as they're taken with my phone but..oh well. Most of the times I really don't eat more than 2.5 ounces of food, if that! But there are times when I can definitely eat more! Depends on what I eat too. Little info on me: weight before surgery 290 pounds. I am 5"10 . I'm 4 months out and I now weight around 220 pounds. This was the first and only time I tried eating fries. Since then I can't tolerate breads, pastas,rices,pataoes ..they fill me up right away and make me feel bloatey These are mainly my lunches over the last 4-6 weeks or so, that is everything I could find in my phone and tablet. Hope this helps . Sent from my iPad using VST

Finally got my approval from insurance. After finishing all my supervised diet visits and pre-op stuff in October, surgeon finally submitted me last Thursday 11/13/14 and I just heard it was approved today 11/18/14. Seemed like forever, especially considering my surgery date was set for 12/01/14-I was starting to freak out it'd go to medical review and push my date back. *Sigh* what a relief. It's actually happening now!!

Pictures and nutritional facts at: food, especially when the desire to eat pumpkin pie is strong within you. It’s not my usual, start-from-scratch recipe. There are a lot of cans and packages being opened, but by golly, it sure tastes good. Makes 10 servings. Ingredients 1 can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix) 1 container sugar-free cool whip 2 packages of sugar-free cheesecake pudding mix (1 oz each) 1.5 c of skim milk 2 scoops Syntrax Vanilla Bean torte Protein powder (or other vanilla protein that you like) 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice Method Combine all ingredients and whip together with a hand-held mixer, or in the bowl of your Kitchenaid mixer until smooth and creamy. Let it chill for a few hours and enjoy.

I got rid of stuff as I shrunk out of them. It took quite a few pounds to drop a size in the larger sizes, there are lots of threads where people talk about this so its not just me. Those sizes are more forgiving and literally can take 40+ lbs sometimes to drop one size. Once you're Into straight sizes it's more like 10lbs per size or even less depending on how/where you lose. I had some sizes I literally just about skipped over and had stuff I never wore--never was a 10! Skipped straight from 12 to 8. I kept one pair of my largest size jeans for the pix below and my favorite largest size top. Now I am wishing I'd thought ahead and kept a top I could style into a dress, the one I chose fits like a baggy dress but the style just doesn't work as a dress LOL. Passed everything else on to Goodwill and haven't regretted it! I am over 2.5 years out.

Hi, I lost right at 10 lbs my first week too but now this morning - first day of week 2 I've only lost a half a pound so I assume the loss will be slowing down now. @stephanie2393 - my date is 7/7 too! Lara