SMMC LB support group chicas

[Rockin' Robyn 15]

Hi Girls-

Just walked in the door back from St. Louis...and the land of no restriction :faint: .....SO ....I've read through all the posts and I'm confused...are we getting together tonight or not??? To be 100% honest, I would rather NOT if Cate can't come...solely for the fact that I wanted to see her before she left, and I'm going to be leaving my son's baseball game an hour early to be able to make it So.....if she can't make it, can we all just plan on going out after next support group, can't we (even though I would love another excuse to just get together) Cynthia...that means you too girl!! Somebody call me on my cell...I have to leave for the game in 10 mins...it starts at 6:15. Holly, would you mind calling Cate/Angela if you get this message and then call my cell pretty please with kisses??:kiss2:

I'll post more later tonight. Missed you all...talk at ya later

[Wheetsin 714]

Sorry, left work around 3 and didn't have time to check back in after leaving. It's 8:45 anyway so I assume we're off.

[Banded in KS 0]

Sorry we didn't get together tonight girls, but it was probably for the best. It was raining something wicked here most of the evening.

Cate, I hope you had a grand time with your friends this evening. I wanted to wish you luck on your journey. I am sure you will check in often to let us know how you are doing. See ya when you come back to KC!

Everyone else...I am going out of town on the 27th and will miss the support group meeting with Sabapathy. So take good notes for me.

Robyn, I am so glad you are back. Tell us all about your lovely family reunion. (wink)

[Wheetsin 714]

Robyn - how are you feeling? Healing well? Everything looking good?

Holli - I wanted to ask you, the clothes you offered up a few weeks ago -- what sizes do you have? I'm borderline 24/26 (24 if I buy it ouside of LB, and a mix of 24/26 at LB). Do you have that big of a size?

On another note, scale read 296.6 (don't remember what) this morning. The lowest I got to on Atkins, that I have recorded anyway, is 294. Once I'm below that mark, it will be the lowest I've been in like... 8 or 9 years... DANG that's sad.

[Cynthia J. 0]

Hi guys! Got word from insurance they wouldn't cover and we couldn't appeal. Well we will show them. Billie called someone and got a name and phone # to call. She said she is going to keep after them. Billie said if they have a peer review Dr H. could talk to them. Hopefully we will hear something soon. Although I can't take any time off until after 8/21/06 because of vacations and another girl is off for plastic surgery until then. Angela I will take any recipes you have to offer. I am going to try and keep myself losing with or without the band. Robyn I'm glad your back I missed you and hope you are feeling better. I had a unfill on Monday I was feeling uncomfortable thought it would help but it hasn't helped much yet. Angela hope your business trip goes ok. I have been talking to my son and mines therapist lately and he is helping me mentally.

Cate all the best to you and keep in touch. You are so cute and sweet I can't wait to see more pictures with less of you.

Well I better go check if my next patient is ready for his cath. I'll check in tonight.

[Wheetsin 714]

I've never known an insurance company (I work for one) to say you can't appeal. That's weird! I hope you can figure something else out!

[Wheetsin 714]

Here are some recipes I use often (and one that I just made for the first time, but adore)

Here's a chicken dish I made for dinner last night for the first time, it came out REALLY good! We'll be having this again! (I have a business dinner at MnS, or I'd make it again tonight... seriously). If you want to alter fat/sugar, just use fat free or change the amounts. It's really "to taste" anyway. I went full blown because - since it's really just a marinade, you aren't eating that much of it anyway.

"Ken's Steak House" Italian dressing (they make the BEST dressings). You will need a little more than half a bottle.

About 3 tbs orange blossom honey

juice from 1 small lime

Strain the dressing to get 1 cup without the pieces. Discard the pieces and put the liquids into a bowl. Add lime juice & honey, stir well until honey is dissolved. Use this as a chicken marinade. I made it up Monday night, put it & chicken into a large ziploc, and marinated the chicken overnight. Then just cook in a pan with a small amount of cooking spray or lube of your choice until the chicken is browned & cooked. You can drizzle some of the extra marinade over the chicken while it cooks - it will carmelize very nicely and be scrumptous.

For DH I made loaded mashed potatoes -- red russet mashed potatoes with sour cream, bacon, white cheddar and green onions added in at the end. For me it was sauteed zucchini.

Here's another favorite chicken recipe. I just kind of made this up, so the amounts are always subject to change.

Mix together: about a half cup or cup of soy sauce (I use low sodium) and an equal amount of orange juice (I use low sugar). A squeeze of honey. A few teaspoons of sesame oil. A few spoons of brown sugar. A few spoons of Thai peanut sauce. Mix together. Start browning the chicken and while you do, baste with additional peanut sauce. Right before the chicken is done, pour the sauce over it and continune to cook. The honey/OJ/brown sugar will start to carmelize eventually, and the sauce will thicken. I take my chicken and scrape off most of the sauce, then put DHs chicken over brown rice and top off with the remaining sauce and a pinch of curry.

Great way to do fish (based in my belief that Mayonnaise is the BEST flavor enhancer for fish!): pick any whitefish of your choice. I generally do cod or pollock. Get enough fillets to fill a 9x13 - about 8 - 10 (they can overlap). Place fillets in pan. Mix about 1/2 C mayo, 1/3 C of parmesan, 1 tbl chopped onions, 2 minced garlic cloves, tsp paprika. Smear on fish, cover and bake until almost done... I think I usually bake at 350 for about an hour. Then uncover and bake anouther 5 minutes to make sure the topping is done. Mmmmmm.

I hate salmon but make this for DH & company: 8 salmon filets, 1/2 C peanut oil, 4 tbl soy sauce, 4 tbl balsamic, 3 tsp brown sugar, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1.5 tsp ground ginger, 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, 1 tso sesame oil, 1.2 tsp Kosher salt. Put salmon filets in a baking dish. In a bowl combine peanut oil, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, pepper flakes, sesame oil & salt. Whisk together & pour over fish. Cover & let marinate 4 hours or overnight. Grill until cooked.

One of my favorites, I was introduced to it on one of my trips to FL (Tampa is a common destination for my business travel). Lechon -- Cuban pork roast. I just stock up on the bottled marinade on a trip if I'm running low, but here's the homemade version: 4 cloves garlic, chopped. 2 tsp salt. 1 tsp dried oregano. 1/3 C OJ. 1/3 C dry sherry. 3 tbl lemon juice. 3 tbl lime juice. 2 tbl olive oil. 4 lbs pork shoulder, trimmed well. Mix or food process garlic, salt, oregano, juices, sherry, olive oil. Use as marinade for the pork, marinade at least 12 hours, preferrably 24. Preheat oven to 325. Put meat & marinade in a roasting pan and roast for 2.5 hours, basting frequently. (Since I can buy the marinade in a bottle, I just add it and a pork roast to the crock pot and let it crock while I'm at work).

[Banded in KS 0]

Robyn - how are you feeling? Healing well? Everything looking good?

Holli - I wanted to ask you, the clothes you offered up a few weeks ago -- what sizes do you have? I'm borderline 24/26 (24 if I buy it ouside of LB, and a mix of 24/26 at LB). Do you have that big of a size?

On another note, scale read 296.6 (don't remember what) this morning. The lowest I got to on Atkins, that I have recorded anyway, is 294. Once I'm below that mark, it will be the lowest I've been in like... 8 or 9 years... DANG that's sad.

Angela, My old clothes range from size 28 down to 18/20. I am not sure what is left in the boxes, but I think it might be worth looking through. Robyn, do you remember what was left after you went through the boxes? :nervous I think they still fill two BIG boxes. Do you want to set a date to get together?

BTW, you are doing awesome!!! It's not sad that you are hitting your lowest weight in a lot of years... IT IS REASON TO CELEBRATE! That is what we all hope for with our bands--Way to go A!!! :clap2:

Thanks for the recipes. I am going to try the pizza this weekend... can't wait. :hungry:

[Banded in KS 0]

Does anyone else have trouble eating white fish? I can eat salmon no problem, but for some reason white fish hurts. Just wondering...

[Rockin' Robyn 15]

Nope....just chicken hurts for me....that's why I'm SALIVATING over A's recipes :hungry: . I had my post-op appointment today. He is so funny....I of course have seen WAY too much of him, (and I have learned by now to take something to do when my appts are in the middle of the pm, so I took my new MP3 player I got for my b-day)...anyway the first thing he says when he sees me with my head propped against the wall and my earphones on is....."Well, you look grumpy today!" I just laughed! I probably did because I have had these horrible headaches, which I'm attributing to coming off of the narcotics that I have been taking every 4 hours for 5 weeks:phanvan . I told him I was just tired, which I am...accompanied by these dumb headaches.

I'm really feeling like it is time to move on now..yay!! I'm praying this is all behind me and hope to finally start focusing on healing, living healthy, and not focusing so much on all the complications. BALANCE...is what I long for now;) .

On a sad note..I had gained 16 pounds, yes I said 16 pounds from my pre-op all time low. Kinda sucks, but now that I have had a swift kick in the butt...I'm ready to kick some major a-- and not only get it back off, but also the other 9 pounds I had to lose to make it to my one year goal....it's gonna be tight, but I think I can do it if I go back to being good for the next 3 weeks.

Hubby wants to get on computer...I'll post again in a little while:biggrin1:

[Wheetsin 714]

Just saying hi. MISSED my 5am flight out like a dumbass, so I had to scramble around to find another flight. Had to rearrange everything b/c the only flight I could find brought me into MDW instead of ORN, so had to find a new car service too. The only flight I could find in was on Southwest, which I hate, so I went from a first class seat (woohoo, work spares no travel expense) on AA to Southwest's cattle call. Finally got here, checked in, soaked in the hot tub for about an hour, swam for about an hour, and now I'm just so nice and relaxed after a terribly hectic morning. Ahhhhhh...

Robyn - have you tried a really moist dark meat chicken? I'm wondering if it's just white meat that hurts you, or any chicken. How about other poultries?

I can do whitefish without any problems. So far I can do all seafood, but shrimp takes a while to get chewed up.

Either scrambled eggs hurt me, or I just can't eat in the morning. Don't know yet since I'm not a big Breakfast person.

[Rockin' Robyn 15]

Hi Guys-

I'm at work today, and the day is going reaaally slow, so I thought I would check in to pass the time. My one incision site is really killing me today...people I don't even know keep stopping me in the hall asking if I'm okay, I guess because I keep wincing, especially when I am pushing something heavy or lifting a baby:rolleyes: . Just gotta get through until 6:30 when I can go home and take some pain meds :cry

Angela-sounds like your day started off pretty crappy, but sounds like things are going better. Are you in tampa again? I don't know all the abbreviations for the airport. Yep I can do all and any kinds of fish, including shrimp. We are going to visit my dad for a week next Tues, so I can't wait to go down to Houston and have some good seafood. I haven't really tried brown chicken meat, mostly because I never liked it before....I always hated seeing the veins and tendons and crap that are on a chicken drum...grosses me out...I know its stupid!

Holli-I don't really remember what all kinds of clothes were left...I know I took a lot of 18/20 jeans in hopes I would be into them this winter...didn't take much of anything over size 22ish that I remember. There was a TON left though.

Cynthia-I have been thinking of you a lot today. Call me sometime maybe tonight?? I plan on pretty much going home and crashing, but I would still love to talk to ya soon. Hope you are doing well and keeping your chin up.

On the bright side of things....I low carbed it and REALLY watched it yesterday. I've lost 5 pounds of the 16 I had gained. I got a fill yesterday, but so far...not much of anything different. Since I go on vacation next week, I pray that I am feeling some restriction again by then.

Anways....hope everyone is doing well today. I'll check back in later!

Robyn

[Rockin' Robyn 15]

I just remembered...I was thinking it would be kind of fun (for anyone who was interested in going with me) to go out and Celebrate..in a non-food fashion...my ONE YEAR BANDIVERSARY! (Or maybe just to Celebrate being alive at this point:p ...boy, that was dramatic!)

I was thinking maybe something along the lines of a day or part of a day at Mario Tricocci where we could all get facials together, drink wine etc...etc. That is something I never would have thought of doing before, but now I think it would be kind of fun as a girl's day out. Maybe on a Saturday or something. What do you all think? I just want to have fun now and start living life to the fullest (without binging on my favorite foods of course).

Just a thought....

[Wheetsin 714]

Holli - I just got your VM and don't want to call back this late. I didn't realize my phone was dead until several calls I was supposed to get never came... went to call those people, and - dead phone. I'm going to be at work/travelling back home tomorrow, but will get in touch at some point.

This week I'm in Aurora, IL. (ORN = Chicago O'Hare, MDW = Chicago Midway). I'm on a virtual team. Most of the people on the team are physically located in Aurora, including my boss. But the co-worker who I most freuquently share projects with, and the particular responsibilities that I own for my team, are based in Tampa. So most of the time I'm there, with maybe 3 - 5 trips to Aurora a year.

Robyn - I'll do anything except a pedicure. I can't stand someone else touching my feet so I have to do my own. Any other beauty thing - I'm in... I need all the help I can get!

When we all get to goal, we'll have to submit eachother and be on a special multi-person episode of What Not to Wear... a special "WLS" episode, where they do several people at the same time. Free $5000 wardrobe? Heck yeah!

This isn't a celebration thing, but something else we could do, just to get together away from food -- don't think this is too dorky, but I've been wanting to go to one of the places like "The Kiln" where you buy a piece of pottery, like a plate or vase, then glaze/decorate it any way you want, and they fire it for you. Is that something you guys would be interested in doing any time?

If we wanted to do a dinner, we could go somewhere where you really don't get that much food, like Melting Pot. It's a little pricey for what it is (I think like $120 for 2) BUT you can get half off coupons through 96.5, and the meal for two would be more than enough for three or four of us... so it would end up being like $15 each. It takes so long for the food to do its thing that most of your time is spent talking and the emphasis is on the company, not the meal. When we go with friends, we count on a 3 hour meal.

Too bad you guys don't live closer. We just petitioned our developer (he still owns the rights to set neighborhood compliance codes) for permission to install a pool. He'll probably deny it (he's an @ss) ,but if not -- POOL PARTY AT MY PLACE!

I got stuck today on Soup. I got a container of the Campbell's Soup to go since I'm in a suite and have a microwave, and about 3 sips in... ouchie! Gurgle. Gurgle. Burp. Gurgle. Burp. About 10 mins later and I'm all better. Who gets stuck on a chunk free soup, but can eat calamari and chicken for dinner?

Me!

Now - enough babbling.

[Wheetsin 714]

A little update. Ugh. This travelling thing might become a bit of an issue with my band. Like I posted earlier, I got a stick on Soup yesterday. Not major, but I felt it. I was fine at an Italian dinner (chicken) yesterday night. This morning I had no problems with three spoons of cottage cheese, but took a bite of a crispy granola bar and had a minor stick. At a working lunch today I had to excuse myself from my meeting to go PB the only bite of food I'd taken -- a small piece of grilled chicken that I'd lubed up with some FF dressing.

That was around 12:45. Around 1 our car service showed up and we left for the airport. About 1:10 I started feeling wonky again... and about 10 minutes later I had to excuse myself to the co-worker I was sharing a car with, and ask the driver to pull over (on the busy interstate) because I felt like I might get sick. Walked out onto the grassy shoulder, hunched over... false alarm, a couple of wretches and it went away without having to come back up... but I'm sure everyone got a kick out of seeing the fat girl hopping out of a limo and "puking" on the shoulder of I-65 while the driver in a red turban got a wad of paper towels ready.

On the flight home I got an apple juice, only intending to take a few sips. First sip took about 12 minutes to gurgle through, so I gave up on that. Gurgling a thin liquid is unheard of for me. Right after my last fill I gurgled on Protein drinks, but they're thick, they're not watered down apple juice.< /p>

I had a really hard time eating during my last trip, too, and actually PBed twice within 3 days of getting home... which considering I'd only PBed one or two other times at that point... was pretty significant.

Ooh, and something else just dawned on me. Tomorrow should be TOM. That could be a piece of the equation too. Do you guys notice being tighter with TOM?