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hi everybody:-) Im up for that challenge althoough Im afraid 19 excercise sessions is bit to much:-) although if walking and shopping (I mean walking from one store to another) counts then I might actually do it:-) I had a rough week, we went out with my friend and she got so drunk (she does that a lot lately Im afraid shes an alcoholic) and she tried to seduce the guy I was flirting with and it worked both ways(seducing-not in some soft way she was like all over him trying to kiss him and her hands everywhere) .I was so mad because in a long time it was a guy I liked and he liked me!! there was no point of talking to her because she was so drunk that she wouldnt get what I was saying from her ears to her brain. In the end they decided they want more drinks, I didnt join them cause I had to go to work next day and also didnt want to deal with shitfaced friend (excuse my French:-)so the next day I found out that she took him home and slept with him!!!yep she spreads her legs while saying hi to a guy.I know I sound bitter, but I guess I am. I always told her not to sleep with random guys like hours after she meets them-cause of her safety and health (nope she doesnt use any protection except for a pill) but she didnt listen and I thought ok she knows what I think and shes an adult, but now her behaviour is actually affecting me! Shes 32 she should have a brain and know how to use it! I told her that I was upset with her, but all she said is that she was drunk and doesnt remember anything. Now what Im mad about is basically that she spoiled my chance to get to know that guy better and find out if we could see each other more often. I really liked him and he liked me, but I guess since his alcohol level was going up he went from hating Stepanka (first he was disghusred with her)to ok maybe I could sleep with her, hey its for free and he is a man. Sorry for bothering you with this but I had to went it out.thanx for reading:-)

The story of the mom in the park reminds me of one of my mom's lifelong friends. They have known each other since the were like 10. When I was researching surgeons, I discovered that this friend lived next door to my surgeon of choice and that she hated him. My mom cautioned me that he was a jerk. I met with him and he was so super nice. I asked my mom why her friend hated him so much, so mom did some digging and found out that the friend had been approached by him and he had suggested that maybe she would like to consider wls to help with her weight problem. She was very offended. She doesn't consider herself fat. Granted she is easily 150lbs overweight and about 4'11". I guess my point is, some people don't see themselves accurately, they don't realize how overweight they are, or how out of control their life is, or how harmful their lifestyle is. All we can do is make ourselves healthy and support others on that same journey.

Susan, Wow, what a saga you went through with your band. I'm so, so glad you're ok and that your slip resolved itself with an unfill. I think it's a HUGE accomplishment that you didn't gain any weight back while unfilled. I can't even imagine. I know I'd gain 10 lbs/week without my band. I'm so proud of you. Of course you're welcome in the challenge (or any version of it you set for yourself). We're so glad you're checking in with us this month. And, wahoo! It's almost our bandiversaries! Kat, I think you're stronger and more self-confident now that you're "normal" sized and that's part of why you said no to doing Atkins with your friend. What do you think? You know what you're doing is working and that it's the right thing for your body. I'm so happy for you I could just jump up and down! And, you're exercising and, as you said, getting smaller, so that means the lbs are going to come off when they want to, but they WILL come off. You rock. Boo said: "There is NO contest going on here! Please don't anyone feel that there is pressure to be in an elite group of marathon runners. We are all improving our lives on several levels. The exercise endows us with vitality, strength, and an upbeat attitude...." I am SO ON BOARD with that. Please, please, everyone feel that way. This group means so much to me. Without it, I would not have gone to the gym the last 3 days of February just to do the best I could, even though I couldn't technically meet the challenge that month. There are so many days where I don't want to go out -- whether it's for a walk or a run or whatever -- and I GO because of this group. I think of checking in on this thread and it really gives me something motivationally that I wouldn't otherwise have. It doesn't always get me to push myself to the "max" I've ever done -- it gets me through the door to do SOMETHING, which is the most important thing of all. Heck, one day I might even try another NIA class, just to see what Betty does, or I might chop wood like Kat. It shouldn't be everyone's goal to be a marathon runner --heaven knows it's not my goal-- (or a runner at all). It should be our goal to do something, more days than not. That's all. It's part of our new lives and I'm so glad you're all here with me making that part of my new life work. Betty - I'm all moved in, thanks for asking. I've got little things to do -- one piece of furniture to buy and drapes to hem, but nothing drastic. I've already had houseguests and it all went well, so I'm officially moved in. I'm so sorry you're cancelling your trip to France, but Alan's health is, of course, the priority. Maybe you can reschedule for September, which is my favorite time in Paris. Did I ever tell you I lived there for nearly 4 years? If you need recommendations for anything, please let me know. Somehow I think we've already had this discussion and that you're a Paris veteran too. I think I'm going over in May, myself, if I'm all healed from my PS (which is March 28th, since you asked). Lastly, YES, I will be in NYC the first week of June. I so hope you make it to the city while you're in NJ for Alan's reunion. I would love, love, love to meet you in person (before I come see you sometime next fall, of course). As for me generally , I'm with the rest of you -- my weight is STUCK STUCK STUCK at the same thing it has been for nearly 3 weeks. I guess we're at the hard part now. I'd been having a hard time with food, which was partly coming off of vacation and partly due to the place in my cycle (I have about 3-4 consecutive ravenous days in the month that I just have to suffer through to be "just right" the rest of the month and they fell last week). I've kept my exercise up, including running 4 miles today (in 45 min!), so when in times gone by I would have gained, I'm holding tight. Plus, the crazy head hunger is hopefully past me and I'm feeling good, so maybe the scale will reward me soon. I hope so because I'm dreaming of Onederland....I made a special (out of the way) trip to Trader Joe's today to get some really good groceries to help in my Quest. I'd been relying on deli food and other medium-quality items for too long, but now I'm stocked with fresh veggies, soy and fish. Onederland, here I come!

Hi all! I have finally decided to move forward with the surgery and will hopefully be "banded" before Thanksgiving. While I am only 23, I have struggled with weight issues since the age of 10. Looking back now, I wish I could have been happy with myself when I was active and a size 12... but you don't know what you've got til it's gone, right? I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) when I was 18 and was placed on a plethora of medication to help regulate insulin levels and the possibility of diabetes. Then college happened along with inactivity and sport injuries and I quickly ballooned from weighing 160 to 230 in just over a year. Also, most of my dad's side of the family is not just overweight, but morbidly obese - so I know that there is a family history as well. I've failed at all other attempts to lose the weight, including but not limited to: prescription diet pills, exercise, over the counter diet pills, Weight Watchers, nutritionists and sometimes a combination of some or all the above. I consider the moment the light bulb went off that I had a serious problem was when an acquintance started to tell a joke, but first turned to me and said "Now don't get offended." I gave him a confused look and then he proceeded to start out his joke with "So there was this really fat girl...". That's a tough thing to hear when you're only 21. Sorry this is becoming a novel, but I wanted to introduce myself to all the other "banders". I look forward to getting to know everyone through the next few months!

I just took my kiddos to see Despicable Me 2 also, it was good, I got my kids a popcorn and a bottles water to share. I ate before we went and took my to go bottle of water with me. I was fine during the movie, the popcorn smelled good but I didn't give in. I am also 19 days post op.

Dave, Thank you for your great questions. I did the math. I originally lost 60% of the my expected weight...I am now at 38%. I started to slip when I went back to college to complete my degree....poor eating habits, stress, lack of sleep, while working full time. It took me just over a year to complete my degree---then I realized what was happening. I still feel great, but I kick myself for letting this happen. The health benefits are still there....my diabetes has not caught me yet, but it is breathing down my neck.....this in itself I enough to get me moving. I just found out my insurance will not cover bariatric services of any kind so for now I will skip this years visit. I did speak with the nurse over the phone and we chatted for awhile. Back to basics she suggested. I also went to the support group meeting not much help there. So I am reaching out to you here in hopes that I will get some support and make some connections to keep me on my path. As for motivation, I was bound and determined to be successful, I still dream of reaching my goal weight, or close to it if possible. I have set small goals for myself, like getting another 10 pounds off before Feb. I need to stay away from the junk, exercise more, and regulate my intake of Protein and carbs. This sounds so easy.....I wish it was.

I'm on day 8 of my clear liquid phase and so far it's gotten easier since my parents brought me home the broth from chicken soup from our favorite local diner...however, I'm still frustrated with diet drink choices...I'm usually an avid water drinker but I need some variety..has anyone had any issues with Bai5 drinks? They have 1 gram of sugar and 10 carbs and only 5 calories..my NUT said I can have anything diet drink as long as it's clear...what are your thoughts on that if you've had Bai5 drinks?

Good news. Just left my dr apt. And he is very proud. Asked me..When was the last time u lost 19 lbs in 3 weeks?! He made me feel awesome and my exercise I'm doing is Fine. Just stressing for no reason I'm very excited now

Hi I had vsg April 21st and am down 38 pounds total (from beginning of process not since surgery date). The past two days have been really hard because I have been eating continuously. The first day I thought it was just a weird day but today it has happened again to the point my stomach feels upset but no dumping yet. I bought a bunch of new foods and felt the need to try ALL of them in the past 2 days. I am overeating and I know it!! All of the things I purchased are high in protein but I am eating way past the point of being full and then having to drink fluids to get it down. Great way to start stretching the sleeve at only 8 weeks out I know. Just wondering if anyone else is going though this around the 8 week mark. Thinking it is because of the past 10 weeks of restriction I want to go crazy now but I need to get this in check fast. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

You should be in the stage that your surgeon prescribed. All plans are different and you want to make sure you to follow the plan that was given to you. However, 10 days sounds pretty long for Clear liquids. Maybe give them a call and make sure you can't move to full liquids. Good luck to you.

I was banded 12/17/09, GB removed 5/27/10. I was expecting my GB recovery to be like my band recovery, but it was a breeze! The only problem was the first night when I went to bed after the GB surgery, the gas pain hit my right shoulder so hard I couldn't breathe! I needed help to get up to walk around, then I took some pain meds, then slept on the couch rather than in bed. I didn't need any of the assistance after my GB surgery like I did my band surgery, except for that one incident of gas pain. Good luck! Oh, be sure to ask your GB surgeon about the chances of developing pancreatitis after the surgery. I got it 3 weeks later due to some of the gall stones being in my common bile duct, was admitted to the hospital for 4 days, then had them removed using ERCP (a scope through my mouth & stomach into my common bile duct to remove the stones/sludge). I'd much rather have band surgery & GB surgery again than having pancreatitis! That sucked big hairy monkey balls!!

Oooooh, I hadn't thought about that. Maybe try to just eat what you can in 10 minutes. I'm super-fast eater - - I know, I know...not good post-op, but some habits are hard to break and I don't have any trouble eating fast...but mentally I know I need to slow down. So even if it's only half a cheese stick (or half of whatever snack you bring) at least it would put something in there to get you out of that long zone of empty.

I was so excited about my second fill this morning. I really felt ready for it. I had no restriction at all from my first fill and I've been struggling. I wanted that 2nd fill. I needed that 2nd fill. So, my surgeon put in an additional 1cc (found my port easily, no pain), sat me up and handed me a bottle of Water. The first three sips felt fine, but by the fourth sip I felt something that I hadn't experienced before. I was STUCK....on water! In a matter of seconds, I got a terrible pain in my upper chest, I broke out in a sweat, my eyes watered, I began producing saliva at an alarming rate.....and you guessed it.....I leaned over and threw up into the trash can! He laid me back down, stuck me again and pulled out .6cc. Immediately, I felt better. He sat me back up and told me to wait for a couple of minutes, but not to drink any more water. Then he went next door to fill his next patient. For about 10 minutes I felt pretty good, but then I started getting that tight feeling in my chest again (along with all the other lovely symptoms listed above.) Just as my surgeon opened the door saying "How are you doing?", I yacked up all the saliva that had been collecting in my pouch. He made a U-turn, said "I'll get a needle." and walked right back out the door. At this point, he completely unfilled me and let me rest on the table for a few minutes (with that giganto-needle sticking out of my belly.) Then he slowly put back 3.6cc. I whined "That's less than I came in with!", but he said that since my esophogus was spasming and my stomach was probably swollen, he didn't want to risk putting back the entire 4cc. Well, that was not how I thought today would turn out.....luckily, I'm not the least bit hungry and won't be trying anything more than liquids for a day or two. He said I can come in for another try in 3 weeks. Sigh.

So I was really looking fwd to starting puree food today. I'm 10 days out and sick of shakes. Anyway... I sat down with my little 1/4 cup of ricotta cheese with a little spaghetti sauce and ate it over the 20 min time frame as instructed. I'm still hungry. I didn't even feel hungry after my Protein shakes! But I was drinking 8 oz of those over 1 hour. But I'm scared I didn't feel any restriction..maybe because I was eating so slowly? is this normal?

I was very happy when most of my old favorite foods didn't taste as good or upset Frankensleeve. It really helped me stay on track. Even after 3 years, my old favorite hamburgers don't taste as good as I remember them pre-op. So now, everytime I have a "favorite food" memory and am tempted to try them again, I remind myself that a) they just don't taste as good as I remember and the amount of calories I'm eating ain't worth the lack of flavor! :-) Get my FREE eBook - The Top 10 WLS Fears and How to Kick Their Butt! Empowering Weight Loss Surgery newbies and veterans with confidence and knowledge to lose weight and keep it off for life

So thank you, Pat, for your honest words. I don't know why I beat myself up about this. I know you're right. I've got something in my genes that makes us fat. My mom died of a cancer that was very hard to detect because she was significantly overweight. She's been gone 19 years now, she died when I was 12. Her mom has had breast cancer, but survived. My dad's mom has diabetes. All of my (literally, all of them) aunts and uncles on my dads side are obese. They get new knees like normal people get new cars. My dad is the smallest at maybe 5'5", 225 lbs. I did the band because I didn't want to leave my own girls without a mom. I did something 'once and for all.' Now I come to find out that I made a mistake, or what seems like a mistake, and I just don't want to be doing this again in 5 years. What's funny is that my husband has been saying the exact same thing...."It's not your fault, there's nothing you can do about your genes, we can figure out how to pay for it, we want you to be healthy..." but for some reason, it's totally different coming from a person that has been in my shoes. He understands my pain, but he's never lived it, so it's just not quite the same. I also know I'm being unreasonable about this because we've had all sorts of tragedies in our lives over the last year. This just adds to it, and makes me feel like I'll never again get to a happy point in my life. I hate living like this, truly. This is why I'm going back to counseling.

broth, sf popsicles, sf jello, water.. also as far as I know ibuprofen is no longer to be taken after surgery or 10 days before- they have liquid form adult strenght tylenol at the drug store- also a heating pad is nice after for the port pain and the gas

Yes! I agree that it's rude. Especially if you're normally a very well spoken/written individual, and you just make a mistake because you're rushing. A few of my friends are always rushing and when they send emails there is ALWAYS a mistake. I can bet on it. But, I'd never say anything to them. 1) They are adults and not children, and 2) I know them to be very intelligent people. I have edited some of their emails before when they've asked me to, but NEVER if they don't ask for advice. That said, I do correct my daughter and her friends. She's 10 years old and needs the correction because she doesn't KNOW.

GOOD LUCK! I'll be thinking about ya tomorrow, I go on Jan 16th. I've sure learned something on this 10-day LowCarb liquid diet, seems like the weight is melting off of me. I'm barely taking any medicine for diabetes because my bloodsugar is almost normal, haven't seen that for years. Jan 16th will be banded by Dr. Cook at Frye Medical in North Carolina

If all else fails... Hit the salon for a weave. Add volume AND length! ~Leticia **HW: 259**PreOp: 216**SURG: 3/21/13 **Discharged @: 221**8 days post op: Down 19 lbs**

The connection between both stress and lack of sleep and weight regain is well documented and the subject of a number of studies. There have been successful treatments from a psychological perspective but that is well beyond any help I can offer. But I love your determination and having completed your degree has hopefully reduced the stress you are under. If you are not doing so already I strongly recommend maintaining a food log. I use and highly recommend My Fitness Pal but Spark People is recommended by many folks on the forum as well. In my experience, the key to weight loss and subsequently to weight maintenance is managing your weight. And the key to managing your weight is maintaining a food log. And the key to maintaining a food log is understanding what I call "The Law of Averages". You've set a goal of losing 10 pounds by Feb. So your goal is to lose a little over a pound a week. Configure the settings in your app to lose a pound a week. The app will calculate a daily calorie goal that you'll need to achieve in order to meet your weight loss goal. It is unrealistic to expect to meet a calorie goal every single day for the rest of your life. More importantly, it's not necessary. That calorie goal is an AVERAGE. So on those occasions when you go over your goal, you simply adjust your goal down by 100-200 calories for the next day or two and you're right back on track with your average. It's all about control, not denial. So you try your calorie goal for a week and then check your weight. If you lost a pound, great! If didn't lose anything or even gained a little, adjust your calorie goal down - don't get crazy, 100-200 calories should be enough. Follow that for a week and then check your weight. Repeat until you find the number that works best for you. It's simple, it's easy and it works like a charm. Your log helps make you accountable - to you. It also works amazingly well in helping you understand the relationship between what you eat and the effect it has on your weight. It teaches to manage your weight instead of your weight managing you. When you see the changes in your weight in response to those minor calorie adjustments, your confidence soars. You log allows you to react quickly to changes and that makes all the difference in the world. Good luck and please keep us posted on your progress. There are tons of very knowledgeable folks on the forum that are more than willing to help you along the way. You're gonna love the new you!!

I had my band removed in November, and had RNY surgery February 10. I don't think I'll ever look back. I lost a TON of weight with the band, but because of all the horrible side effects, was effectively bulimic. I puked more than I ate for four years. When the gird and reflux got so bad that I never slept more than a few winks here, I eventually returned to my old binge eating habits. Only worse - because only a milkshake would stay down. I am THRILLED with my slower RNY results, becuase I have not ONCE been sick!

OK, I'm in another country so I cant advise you about where to find stuff but I've had to be a bit creative with low impact exercise because I have a bad ankle. I've been having a look around at www.collagevideo.com, they have a wealth of exercise DVD's and can provide some guidance. You can even view a clip of any DVD you're considering purchasing. You can get cycling DVD's to use with an indoor bike both here and at www.spinervals.com. too. So you can do a spin type program at home if you hire or buy a spinning bike. I'd recommend this, interval training such as spinning (which is basically an aerobics program on a bike) will give you better and faster results than just hopping on and peddling away, trying to remember to keep the pace up. I've also been using a rebounder, there's rebounder specific workouts you can get or for lower impact I've been adapting Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds series, it ups the intensity but lowers the impact. I've also been swimming which is fantastic all over exercise, if you have a local pool and my pool runs a deep Water running class which is mega-fun! But of course you'd have to brave the cold for that, I have trouble doing that in a Melbourne winter and it never gets cold enough to snow here, doesnt go below about 9 or 10 degrees celcius as we have a really temperate climate. Perhaps you could look at hiring or buying an elliptical machine too - and yes, you can get stuff for that too - www.cardiocoach.com!

I'm VERY pre-op (just had my first consultation). Still waiting to hear from lapbandsolutions about insurance and what they might need from me. In the past 10 days or so, I've gone NUTS with eating. I made and ate a VAT of chicken and dumplings. I've eaten a dozen Reese's eggs, at least, and lots of other crap - but I keep thinking of those dumplings. Good lord, it was a lot of food! :biggrin: I'm sure it is "last supper-ing" but it's frustrating the hell out of me.

Thank you Victoriana, I have been Obese all my life.. Like A LOT of other is the world. But, I recently got married to a wonderful and most beautiful woman. I feel its time for me to take full control of my life. So I will have time to left to spend with her.. instead of 10 to 15 years i want it to be 60 or 70 more... So I feel am Would be making the right choice to have the surgery, wheather is RNY(open or lap) or LapBand.