January Surgery Bandsters Group

[ericaharrod 28]

Ladybandit, I am glad your irritation went away. Reaching the sweet spot helps, I hope you are there!

Nicki, It stinks when the scale doesn't reflect our work. Hang in there, I am sure you will have a loss next week.

Kymie, I am glad they are supportive at work. The one person was supportive so far.

So the other night, I decided a new goal for me. I want to reach a 100 lb weight loss by my birthday which is October 12. So that is 38lbs in 3 months. I know that is an extreme goal, but what if I can do it? I really haven't been the perfect bander and I have lots of room for improvement. I am really going to try to exercise 5 days a week and focus on getting my protien first and then veges and fruit. Do you all think I am completely crazy?

[chrissylu 153]

Erica...I will tag onto that goal with you. 30 more to 100 for me. I'm going to miss my Savannah goal of 80 lbs by her birthday next week. I don't think I'll even hit 75lbs. I've got to get back on the "bandwagon" for exercise. I've been trying to walk every day but its not the same as being at the gym. Since the gym is on hold right now, I guess I need to search out other ways to exercise. I don't have a DVD player, and so far, I haven't found anything I like on netflix. any ideas?

[MeredithMcFee 98]

Hi Gals, I'm back as promised. Had some company the past week so just threw an eye in here and a quick post.

Nicole1: I like the idea of behavior changes as a goal, with or without losing weight because in the end, if we continue to change our old habits, we'll eventually lose the weight! I've been slacking off with journaling, tracking, Water, and exercising. Not even my FitBit got me motivated! No excuses but I can name many but that would be an old behavior now wouldn't it? :-) I got back to working out, bought all new Vitamins {I stopped with them too} got the Fitbit on, and getting my mojo up and running. Did Leslie Sansone's 5 mile burning fat DVD yesterday. One would think walking is a piece of cake but I have to say, she can kick your butt and feel a great workout afterwards.

Kymie: thanks for the website re: calculating our weight loss. I'm at 21.28% so far. I never like numbers before when it came to weight but I do now!!!

Erica: Glad to hear you had a great vacay and you didn't let your lapband get in the way. Although you enjoyed what you ate, it was a treat, and not a treatment as my mother would say, and you worked out on the beach and burned it off. 2lb gain is not bad and now you even lost it. I lived a block from the beach before moving and every weekend, I would walk barefoot in the sand before the world got up. It was a great workout as well as being blessed to be at the Jersey Shore.

I also agree with the other's here re: betrayal at work. Shame on them but glad to hear you rose above it! They'll all be enying you as you continue on your journey to become the Lapband model! :-)

JDI: Talk about work outs, the Firm really is an awesome workout! I haven't seen the newest version of the DVD's but have the old 'cassettes' and they surely pack a punch when it comes to the hips, thighs and butt! You go girl!

Chrissy: What a dilemma you have, what with your skirts getting too big! Don't you just love it? Of course, it's an added expense but well worth it in the end. During the summer months I've always worn the mid thigh broomstick skirts since I would never wear shorts and couldn't find cropped pants that would fit properly. I've noticed now, the waistbands are stretched out somewhat and actually hiding my 'thinness'. I mentioned here earlier in the week that I bought hiking shorts and just love them and feel no one is looking at me saying or thinking 'who does she think she is wearing clothes like that'? Too late in the season to find cropped pants but that's ok. I'm sure I have some in storage for next summer. {size 10}.

Chrissy, hope the humidity has broken where you are and in Kentucky and all across the country. We had a few storms and our humidity finally broke. It's 70 deg here this morning at the Jersey Shore and it's gorgeous. Slept with the windows open last night which I love to do so I can hear the birds chirping early in the a.m.

Ladybandito: Glad to hear the irritation is gone. I think we can all relate to that at one time or another. Your doctor sounds like he/she is very conservative with their philosophy on WLS. My Dr is and I'm ok with that. Are you losing in inches? I don't get crazy about the numbers on the scale. Since doing the surgery, if I've gone up 2lbs at anyone time, I'm am over joyed. Prior to surgery, I could go up a good 5lbs at any given time, and continue! I mainly go by my clothes and how the fit as well as the scale.< /p>

Speaking of which, I am at a plateau for the past month and now stepping up my game and bought a Yoga DVD to get me inspired. I use to do yoga back in the day. It seems to be the rage around here so I thought it would be good to do on my non cardio days.

I had another NSV yesterday which will stay with me for a loooonnnnggg time. My 16 yr old step daughter is visiting from SC. We've had our differences over the years like lots of step moms/daughters. She use to always say things to me or about me re: my big butt!. She came home at Easter time and was surprised my 'big butt' wasn't so big. Yesterday, I happened to be in the bedroom with a tank top and undies getting ready to change and she came in. She said, :omg, your butt"!!! I I looked in the mirror and thought it grew over night when she said, "it looks awesome"!!! LOL Ok, flabby but much smaller and awesome! I'll take it!!! LOL

[chrissylu 153]

Hi Meredith...welcome back! What a great NSV!!! In the midst of my complaining the other day, I totally forgot to mention an NSV I had. Well...I guess its partially a scale victory..but I call it an NSV because the scale really hasn't moved much. However, how my clothes fit has. I went to Goodwill looking for some slacks because my 18/18Ws are really loose. I bought two pairs of slacks that are a 16!!!! I can't wait to wear them to work. They are washed and hanging...just ready to be shown off! LOL. And...I did NOT step on the scale today. That's something else I'm working on. Have a great day everyone!

[MeredithMcFee 98]

Chrissy, congrats on the NSV, and yes, going down a size is definitely an NSV. Don't beat yourself up over the scale not moving. There is no way any of us could lose that amount of weight, you being the most, and 2 days before my surgery, in such a short amount of time. { 6 mths this week for you & I}

I think we're all doing great, learning to live with our new found friend, the lapband. We've all had ups & downs in our lives but as long as we're learning to control our {eating} emotions, it's a NSV all the way.

I agree with Nicole, to change our goals to being more aware of our bad habits and turning them into positive ones. The scale will follow.

Now, my goal today is to get my arse up in the gym. I bought Jillian Michael's Yoga Meltdown DVD to get me inspired. Haven't looked at it yet, but just looking at her picture of the cover of the DVD scares the hell out of me! LOL

[JustDoIt130 369]

Hey everyone!! Still stuck over here, I think. I did not weigh this morning as I had a TON of salt yesterday and know I'm going to be retaining H2O, so didn't want to depress myself, LOL. Got up this morning and did 45 minutes of The Firm- whew!! That is hard core, for sure! So that's done .

Meredith- that is such an awesome NSV!! Especially from a 16 year old- they're harsh critics, LOL. Good for you!!!

Chrissy- that is awesome for you, size 16!!! That is awesome.

Erica- I think that is an awesome goal. 38 lbs in 3 months is a stretch goal but doable! Good for you, and it will definitely be great motivation.

I still had my giant bowl of ice cream last night. We'll see what the scale says. I know I'm DIR (doing it right) for the most part, so I just have to still keep on doing things right and working out and eating well. I know it will come off, that is what I love so much about my band, it's the motivation I have to keep on going. Before with a plateau it was like, "Great, this isn't working, I might as well throw in the towel and screw it anyways." Now it's like, well, I know it will work eventually if I just keep on going!

Everyone have a great day!!

Nicki

[chrissylu 153]

Nicki....if you are logging your ice cream honestly and you are still losing....I wouldn't fret over it so much. Especially if its only once a week and if you are counter-acting with exercise. I truly believe that denying ourselves the things we TRULY want...well...I think that undermines our will to do well the rest of the time. What gets us into trouble is not denying ourselves of the things we only THINK we want.

I too need to do better about logging my food. I think I've gotten lax on it because I'm drinking Protein shakes and eating Starkist pre-made tuna salad most of the time. LOL. I also MUST amp up my exercise. I've not been able to really get motivated to do more than walk each day. I've got to find something on netflix or some other online source to really get me going. Its dropping so slowlysince this last fill and I know its mostly because I'm not at the gym. If anyone has any suggestions...PLEASE send them my way.

Meredith...yes! 6 months for us this week. Mine is exactly six months on Wednesday...the day, date, everything. LOL. On one hand, I can't believe so much has dropped in just 6 months. On the other hand, it seems like it was forever ago! Thank God for this wonderful tool!

Have a blessed day everyone!

[MeredithMcFee 98]

Nicki: The Firm DVD's are tough so I commend you on doing them. And like Chrissy said, we shouldn't deny ourselves of anything. Moderation and Portion Control is what it's about. I am not a major ice cream person myself but this summer for some reason, I am enjoying a large soft vanilla ice cream cake cone once a week from a summer ice cream shop near the ocean. Don't know the calories so can't track them but I do put it in my journal for the day. I'm sure it's a good 300 calories. I should just enter a generic one in and go from there to keep me honest. I also agree with you Nicki that this band keeps us positive even when we have a negative going on in our lives. Even if we fall off the bandwagon, mentally, for me anyway, I don't get all upset over it. Yesterday I had some potato chips because we had them in the house. I'm more of a cheez doodle person myself so not sure if it was a test but I only had a small bowl full instead of taking the whole bag outside with me while reading like I've donw before WLS. That's a good thing. Water weight is just that. It'll always be an up & down with that. Again, as long as we're seeing it in our clothes, etc. a pound or two isn't going to be a big deal. It's all about inches as well.

Chrissy, I recall you saying you do not have a DVD player. Walking, Jumping Jacks, ok, just saying. For my biceps and arms, my arms are too weak to do pushups, so I do them against the kitchen counter {wall, anything shoulder length} in between commercials at night. I also do the tricep workout on an ottoman as well to firm up the upper torso. One of these days, I'll be able to do a military pushup and if I can't, that's ok too. :-) Walking in the heat we're having is just no fun.

So, I did 20 min of the JM Yoga Meltdown. Oy! I couldn't finish the last 10 min but got a good workout in just the same. Amazing how it builds cardio as well as strength. I had my 'WonderWoman' sportline watch which has pulse, calorie, pedometer readings and my pulse got up to 148+. Looking forward to alternating this DVD with my Leslie Sansone DVDs. I'm back on track and in the saddle!

[JustDoIt130 369]

And mine is 6 months on Thursday. Almost 70 lbs in 6 months!!

I have been thinking a LOT about my ice cream gorge- I'll tell you what, just knowing I could have some on Sunday made me NOT have some other things that might derail me the rest of the week, so I think I'll see where it takes me. I am still losing weight, so we'll see- unless this plateau (and I don't even know if it's a true plateau, WID is Wednesday) lasts a couple weeks, then we'll shake it up.

Chrissy- if you have netflix (I don't have on demand)- I just looked and they have the Firm dvd's- they also have one of my favorite instructors, Karen Voight- I LOVE her stuff, just added some dvd's of hers to my queue!

I have an idea, everyone, tell me what you think- for our goals, let's have a weight goal, a fitness goal, a food/eating goal and a habit goal- all or any of them that we want to do. Of course we want to lose weight, but as someone (sorry, can't remember right now!!!) said we have to make permanent behavioral changes! So our Savannah goal was for July 26- now who has the next date? Then let's commit to the goals we want to- weight, fitness, food and behavioral- whatever we think we need for that particular time.

What do all y'all think? So what should our next goal date be? Anyone with a birthday or special event closer than Erica

s October goal? I know I'll need something in the interim!!!

Nicki

[kymie9899 37]

Just got another fill. 0.7 fill so I'm at 9.4 in a 14 band. Drinking Water and doesn't slow at all, I hope this works! I've just been able to eat too much lately and hey I might as well use the band for its intended purpose.

Sent from my iPad using LapBandTalk

[kymie9899 37]

Oh and for those of you that keep getting unsubscribed from threads, I figured out the pattern. Every time I reply to a thread from the app on my iPad I get unsubscribed. So I have to go back and re-subscribe after every posting. Guess what I'm doing after I hit send on this.....lol.

Sent from my iPad using LapBandTalk

[nicole1 92]

Hello everyone!!

JDI-who is the person on the Firm video? or can you give us the title and year I was looking online to try it. Also I think the ice cream is totally deserved! You are so diligent in your 5+ days a week exercise you can have that ice cream. I would suggest maybe having it twice a week at half the amount each time, so you can enjoy it more often!

Meredith-it sounds like we have all had a slump this month and we are all working our way out of it. Good luck getting your Mojo back!! Oh and congrats on the step-daughter compliment, those are hard to come by. My 22-yr-old stepdaughter never understood why I was wasting the family money on surgery when I should just stop stuffing my face. Oh and 148+ pulse with yoga!! I didn’t know that was possible!!

Erica-I just can't believe how much you have lost in 6 months!! that is great!! I would be careful about unrealistic goals, we are all starting to slow down in our weightloss as we were told, so I would worry that 38lbs in 3 months would be too much to expect from yourself, maybe 28lbs??

Chrissy-Congrats on Onelander!! I have 8lbs more to go to get there! You are right when you talk about how much we have all lost already, it is amazing!! I do not think I have ever lost this much on any one diet before!!

Ladyb-I am so glad to hear you have resolved your irritation. I was worried about you!! I always worry about something going wrong with the band for one of us. I like your behavior goals!!!

So a few updates for me. As for telling people at work, I went the route of just telling everyone right off the bat. At first I felt weird about it, but then I got so much encouragement and support it amazed me! I never go that kind of support on any diet! Before no one would warn me not to go into the staff room due to excessive sweets, now they warn me and offer to get me something healthy, because they know how important it is to me. As for those of you who have not told people I totally understand and it makes sense in certain work environments. And for those who had the cat let out of the bag, I am sorry it happened that way, but I am proud of you for rising above it and not letting it lead to a bingathon!! think about it, before if someone knew you were on diet and blew it in front of them, we would all probably have drown our sorrows in chocolate!!

So I told you before I wanted to get down to the next size by the 1st day of work in August and was going to buy an outfit to look forward to...well I have always loved Eddie Bauer, especially their wrinkle resistant stuff!! And they had plus sizes, but the plus sizes were not very stretchy and if you gained a few lbs, they stopped fitting all together! So now that I can shop there, yah!! I had bought a size 16 capri there last month, then they started feeling baggy at the end of the day, so they guarantee their clothes, so I took them back and explained about them getting baggy and they exchange them for a size 14 and they fit!!! Now it is their baggy style and they are not baggy on me, but they are not snug and look pretty cute!! So I am going to get my goal outfit there. I am going to try on their slacks (which fit different then the capris) and get a size smaller than I am now. I will be all ready for the 1st day of school!!

As for my behavior goals:

1. workout 4 days a week this week- GOAL MET!!! Now up to 5 days this week!!!

2. log food 6 out of 7 days-ALMOST MET!! I did log every day, but not always all day, around dinner I would forget to enter, probably because I was going over?!

3. I have checked in with January Bandsters everyday and replied most days, Thank you for all of the motivation!!

Oh and I really like Curves, it is exactly what I need!! I had my 2^nd session there and I used my heart rate monitor and I was able to average 145! That was awesome!! If you have time to check one out near you, you can get a 2 wk free trial!! It can’t hurt and at least you get a few free workouts and something new to shake things up!!

JDI- I totally agree with you on different kinds of goals. I will think on that and post different goals!! Good idea!!!

[JustDoIt130 369]

Nicole- The Firm videos are led by various "master instructors." The one that I remember right off the bat is Allie del Rio. I will look at the titles tonight and try to post them tomorrow. Congrats on the size 14! I have a bunch of Eddie Bauer stuff I can't wait to fit into again- then get too small for and have to buy more Eddie Bauer stuff, LOL.

Kymie- that's how I'm feeling too, let's get this bad boy tightened up and me back losing weight, LOL.

I was up a lb this morning, back to 217.5. Oh well, it will come off. Sunday was high salt and my ice cream. Yesterday was eating out at Moes- half a kid burrito and a bunch of nachos. Not the best choices but usually it would have been ALL of it!!! So it's logged and accounted for. Tonight is zumba, so always a great workout. It's not that I'm not motivated still, I am. I think my band has loosened up a little, not feeling the "stuck" feeling I was having. I know I don't want to have that feeling all the time, but want it occasionally to remind me not to eat too fast, too much, etc. I have a fill next Tuesday. I hate that I don't know how much is in my band, hopefully the NP will tell me, the surgeon didn't the last 2 times I had fills!!!

Nicki

[MeredithMcFee 98]

I decided to incorporate my work outs with the pool and it felt soooo good. I actually put on a one piece bathing suit {probably a good 10 yrs old and just to wear in the backyard} socks, sneakers, fitbit and sportswatch {what a sight that was} and did a fast 2 miles of Leslie Sansone's fatburning DVD. No way could I do all 5 miles today in this heat and no a/c in my gym room. I was drenched afterwards and just took off the accessories and dove into the pool!

[nicole1 92]

what is everyone using for their max calories per day? My fitness pal has me at 1310 per day. I have no idea where it go that, but I seem to be going over it on a daily basis before dinner sometimes.