September Bandsters

[TheGh0st 9]

Karey - on PS - FIGHT for the PAIN PUMP. From what I've read on other threads and experienced myself it really seems to help ease the recovery. If he won't do it don't try to ease off the pain pill too soon. They prescribe them for a reason so use them.

New Years Challenge / Resolution - OK All if I'm going to join in on this I'm going to have to cave and be honest with myself as well as the rest of you. When I had my TT I weight 173 shortly after the TT I managed to hit 163 on the scale but as of this morning with no clothes on I weighed in at 180 even. I realize there may still be some swelling at this point but there is NO WAY that all 17 pounds of that is swelling. I've been desperate for a fill for over a month but can no longer use that as an excuse to eat like a horse.

On a positive note I was able to swap fill appts with another gal her locally so I could get in this week instead of having to wait another 2 weeks. Unfortunately my husband veto'd (sp?) the YMCA as it was a bit pricey for our current budget. So I'm going to check out another gym near my work and see if they might have a better rate. Until then I'm going to go back to the old tried and true Protein, Protein, Protein. And see if I can't knock these pounds back down.

I really want to be down to the 150's by March as well.

[kareyquilts 1]

Yea, you're going to be glad to get that fill! I hope you can find a gym that works for you. Sure has made a difference for me. I will be using a pain pump, it's standard procedure for my doc. Boy do I have a lot to do before the surgery. UGH! Oh, and I bet you are retaining some Water, so keep flushing and drinking.

[kareyquilts 1]

Reporting in for this week. Call all September bandsters to do the same! I down 1 hard-faught-for-pound!

19 to Go!:clap2:

Mimin: How's the infection? Are you back to work yet? Are you beating the smoking dragon?

Ghost: What you been up to?

Today, I had a reallly hard work out and I felt good, because I can tolerate it better and I'm seeing some real progress. Able to lift heavier weights and do more step ups. Not bad for a Grandma! :nervous I just hope that the PS doesn't put me too far back in my work outs. You guys have any experience with this?

[TheGh0st 9]

Congratulations Karey, every pounds counts.

I'm still too afraid to get on the scale to give an update. Nor have I joined a gym. I have tons of excuses but the end result is I just need to get the lead out and get it done.

My current plan is to use the dozen or so free passes my DH has to his gym. Its nearly 40 minutes out of my way round trip, but if it works it will only cost $10-15 per month to add me on to his membership vs. the $48/mo for the YMCA that is close to our sons preschool.

I know it sounds like I ought to just pay the extra to go to the Y but it's just as far out of the way as my DH's if I want to go anytime other than first thing in the morning, and it isn't open 24/7 like his. So like I said I'm going to try his gym for a while then join one of them.

food wise I'm doing somewhat better, but I did cave and eat a Snickers Icecream Bar yesterday. Tisk Tisk.

On a more positive note I think I may have finally broke through some invisible mental barrier that has been holding me back for months. I really feel ready to get back to work on myself for the first time in nearly a year.

I am so thankfull that the band has been here to keep me from gaining all the weight back that I lost the first year. It is great to know that I'm moving forward from a 92 pounds down 17 pounds up position rather than 92 down and 109+ pounds up.

[TheGh0st 9]

Karey - I am glad to hear your doc uses the pain pump. Ironically I was just talking to my mother this morning about how I felt the pain pump had helped my experience be so much better than some that I've heard.

[TamifromAL 1]

Hi September bandsters! I don't check in here at LBT very often, but it's always good to see my old band buds when I do. I'm looking into plastics, so I've mainly been over at the plastics forum, reading and reading! I saw several of you over there...Ghost, Karey, Mim...and thought I'd check in here, too.

I'm planning on pretty extensive surgery, a lower body lift, breast lift/augmentation, port replacement, a little Lipo on the saddlebags, and medial thigh lift, all at once. :eek: I'm waiting on a call back from the scheduling person right now, but hope to schedule the surgery for 2/15.

I know that's a lot of work in one surgery, but my surgeon seems to think that I'm in such good physical condition that I should be fine with all that at once. But, if the surgery runs too long (over 5 hours), then he'll postpone the thigh lift.

I've been doing really well with the weight loss and exercise over the past several weeks. I've been working out for about 2 hours six days a week since Thanksgiving. I lost about ten pounds (some of which was a gain from Sept-Oct), and have been at about 152 for 2-3 weeks now, but lost a size in jeans during that time. My favorite jeans are Lucky, size 28/6, which I can barely believe. I don't wear a 6 in everything yet, but dang, I like saying I can wear a 6!

Hope everyone is doing well. I'll try to do better about keeping in touch while we all go through our transformations!

Tami

[kareyquilts 1]

Ghost: I think you lost some of your momentum when you had your surgery and you needed the time to regroup. Glad your excited to get back in the saddle. Using your husband's gym sounds like a good idea. Who knows maybe at some point you guys could go together and make it like a date? Does it offer babysitting? I also think that like you said, sometimes, it's a mental barrier. We are happy where we are, comfortable. We look better, we feel better, people tell us to be satisfied and so we become satisfied. Then something clicks and we can see other possibilities. Like Tami losing 10 pounds after months of staying the same. Our bodies like equlibrium too and they fight us. We are to be very tricky to defeat our bodies! You're going to do great. You will love exercising, after you get over the initial shock of it, that is!

Today, I did 30 minutes on the elliptical, 30 minutes rowing and a hour pilates session. I will try and do the treadmill this evening. The scale showed 2 more pounds off, so maybe my body is finally ready to lose again!

Mimin: Are you out there? We miss you? How are you doing?

[MimIN 19]

I'm here! I am up 2lbs:( I am eating well but I'm really not exercising much yet. I walk, that's about it. I renewed my bodybugg subscription and started using it again, I'm keeping my calories down but I am not yet meeting my calories burned goal. Friday will be 6 weeks since surgery and by all rights I should be able to start working out again...HOWEVER I just had my butt repaired today (sounds so strange!) and I'm afraid to rip stitches... so we will see!

Congrats Karey on the loss! WOOHOO!

Ghost: I do think surgery throws a wrench in our routines. It's so easy to go back to old habits when you have an excuse. I feel like a cow, my clothes are finally starting to fit again but I had some idealistic fantasy that I'd be atleast a size down by now, instead I'm 20lbs heavier.

Tami: You are a brave brave woman! I was such a baby after my two separate surgeries, heck I'm still being a baby lol! I want a medial thigh lift really bad, my surgeon said it would take care of the remainder looseness and cellulite in my thighs but at this point in the game I'm just not ready to go back under the knife. Maybe in another 6 months to a year, we'll see.

[TamifromAL 1]

Oh, you guys are scaring me with the talk about ps throwing you back into old habits. I'm not all that scared about the surgery itself, but I'm scared to death of losing my momentum with exercise. But, realistically, it takes time to heal and you just have to ease back into it gently.

Mim...that's exactly why I want to get it all done at once. One surgery = one recovery period, and less chance of deciding to just skip whatever hasn't been done. Plus, I figure that I won't even know which body part hurts since I'll be in agony all over! Oh joy.

Ghost, glad to hear you're ready to get back in gear. And, I agree 100%: "It is great to know that I'm moving forward from a 92 pounds down 17 pounds up position rather than 92 down and 109+ pounds up." That was *always* my pattern in the past. This is the first time in my life that I've maintained for this long!

Tami

[TheGh0st 9]

I'm here! I am up 2lbs:( I am eating well but I'm really not exercising much yet. I walk, that's about it. I renewed my bodybugg subscription and started using it again, I'm keeping my calories down but I am not yet meeting my calories burned goal. Friday will be 6 weeks since surgery and by all rights I should be able to start working out again...HOWEVER I just had my butt repaired today (sounds so strange!) and I'm afraid to rip stitches... so we will see!...

Ghost: I do think surgery throws a wrench in our routines. It's so easy to go back to old habits when you have an excuse. I feel like a cow, my clothes are finally starting to fit again but I had some idealistic fantasy that I'd be atleast a size down by now, instead I'm 20lbs heavier....

Mimin I could kiss you!:kiss2:

I have felt so ashamed over my 17+ pound weight gain. I know there is swelling and I know I haven't been eating or exercising as well but it I still felt like I was the only one going through this. I looked at all the other PS sites and everyone looked so much better and none of them really talked about any post surgery weight gain. And at the same time I also kept feeling like how dare I whine about my poor predicament, when there are so many others out there on Lapbandtalk that would kill to have made it this far.

But somehow I really do feel a change coming on. I saw some korny movie over the weekend with a couple of those silly catch phrases "Faith precedes the miracle" & "Believe and you will see" I normally hate those silly feel good sayings but something about these really hit me. It made me realize that part of my problem is that through the last 2+ years I haven't really believed or had faith that I would reach my goals. and that lack of confidence was directly related to my current backsliding.

When I was in Jenny Craig some years ago they had me listening to some motivational tapes where you were suppose to repeat phrases like "I love me" & "I am beautiful just as I am." Dear me, I just couldn't say them without laying the sarcasm on so thick it was ridiculous. But now that I am so close to my goals I'm starting to think that those positive attitude techniques might actually help.....

.... I was going to post that I was going to look for those tapes later but decided no time like the present and I actually found them. Now to put some batteries in my toddler's tape cassette player so I can actually listen to them. I think I'll listen to them in the car on my morning commute. Who knows maybe they will help this time.

[kareyquilts 1]

I really really appreciate your honesty here! I'm so glad that this thread is still going. Mimin, how could you exercise? You haven't even healed yet and it sounds like your still having complications, for goodness sake! You're there mentally with the renewed subscription to body bugg. Of course you can't meet your calorie expenditure yet. It's okay. You're on the path and you have the lapband to help be a tool. Did you get a fill yet? You're going to be fine, it's like Diane said. You must believe in yourself. Now, I'm thinking that there are ways to up your calorie expenditure without exercise, but ONLY if you feel like it. Otherwise, give yourself a little more of a break. Simply moving a little more will burn calories. What I have been doing is 30 minutes of cardio in the morning, 30 minutes in the evening. Plus some other stuff that you aren't up to. But maybe instead of cardio, just move when you can. A slow walk around the apartment, a slow 2.4 mile per hour walk on the treadmill, etc. You don't have to be up to snuff, just move a little more. That is the biggest thing that I learned with my BB. Every movement counts, it doesn't have to be aerobic at this point and it sounds like it shouldn't be. Now, in a few months you may have to remind me of what I am telling you. I'm 53 and I know I'm not going to spring back into my old routine for a while!

Ghost, I was just listening to a tape today that was talking about turnig off the negative tapes in our head, like "I can't do it, I'm always going to be fat, I'll put this back on, I always do, etc, etc, etc!" Our minds (subconcious) can't tell the difference between fact and fiction. It just takes in the messages, so every time we have a negative thought like that, we need to put a positive spin to it. Like: "No, I use to be fat, but now I'm not. And then add the Jenny Craig bit, "I'm beautifull, thin, in control, etc!" I truly believe that this is true and that we are own worst enemy. We limit ourselves. I know because for years I have done the same thing. It's not just the urge to eat sweets, etc. that we have to fight, but our own negative thinking. Let's help each other. This is a worthy battle. It's easy for me to see that you guys are beautiful, worthwhile, got-it-going-for- you-human-beings. Let's support one another in this cause. It's the last step in our "recovery" if you will.

Tami: I wish I could have all my procedures done at once, but I couldn't find a doctor in town that would do it. They all said it would be too much for me. They did tell me that there were centers that I could go to that would have 4 or 5 surgeons working on me at once and if I wanted to go that route they would refer me. They also said to count on a week stay if I did that. I don't know maybe I should have gone that route, but I'm very scared about what I am doing. I'll see how it goes and if I handle it well, then I'll get my arms and backside done in 6 months. I hope you'll keep in touch and let us be part of your journey.

[MimIN 19]

Ghost: You are not alone baby! I'm right here with you. I am very ashamed of the gain and that I can't seem to get back on track. I need to find the motivation from somewhere but I am just so tired all the time - more excuses! I got a fill on Saturday and that is helping but now getting my head back to where it needs to be. 1.5 years ago being where I am today seemed impossible to obtain and now I'm even more critical of myself than Iwas when I was heavy. Those tapes sound cool, think they come on CD? (I don't have a toddler's cassette player! )

Tami: You have been a machine since the beginning, I know you'll be chomping at the bit to get back into the gym and I bet up and running well before expected. You continue to be an inspiration. Size 6! WOW!

Karey: I missed your questions! I am back at work, don't tell anyone but I am glad to be back.The infection appears to be gone so FINALLY my surgeon closed my butt wounds that had split open week 2. With the incision being so low it ran the risk of poor circulation and pulling apart - and with my continued luck that is exactly what happened to me. I am still a non-smoker but continue to be a bitch, lol. My poor boyfriend has been a trooper through all of this and has been my punching bag, I couldn't have done any of this without him.

[TamifromAL 1]

I got a fill on Saturday and that is helping but now getting my head back to where it needs to be.

....I'm even more critical of myself than Iwas when I was heavy. Those

Tami: You have been a machine since the beginning, I know you'll be chomping at the bit to get back into the gym and I bet up and running well before expected. You continue to be an inspiration. Size 6! WOW!

With the incision being so low it ran the risk of poor circulation and pulling apart - and with my continued luck that is exactly what happened to me.

Mim, I hope that fill does it for you. Be gentle with yourself. Recovery takes time (remind me of that in 8 weeks or so, when I'm chomping at the bit!)

Isn't it funny how we get more picky as we get smaller? I guess when you "let yourself go", you just don't "see" yourself, and now that we're thinner, we don't just slide by the mirror with blinders on!

I'm no machine, just consistent. I have a quote on my OH profile from Aristotle, which says, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit." That helps me keep in mind that it's not about being "good" all the time (just most of the time). And, we're *all* going to go through periods of challenge, whether recovery from surgery or injury, or other life changes/struggles. We have to recognize that those things are a *temporary* Detour, and try to stay focused on positive life-long habits!

Thanks for mentioning that about the incision. I was wondering why it might have separated. When I had my first ps, the surgeon left me with a scar in the lower back that's a bit too high. It shows if my top pulls up, so I usually either tuck in my top, or wear something long enough to cover it. My new plastic surgeon noted the height, and said he might be able to pull it down just an inch or so, and then said, "But, I can understand why the other surgeon made the higher incision...there are some good reasons for putting it there." So, now I don't feel so bad about my visible lower back scar. Maybe I'll get it tatooed in a year or so, LOL!

Tami

[MimIN 19]

Tami: Funny that is exactly what I was going to do if my incision was high. I love Kat from Miami/LA Ink and totally was going to go to her to giv me a kick ass tattoo, lol.

Well I am down 3lbs, I wish it were more but I'll take it! I am still fighting these stupid incisions as they want to open back up so I am still not exercising like I should:(

[kareyquilts 1]

Mimin: 3 pounds down! Yeah!

I'm down 3 pounds too. Just saw the plastic surgeon today and I'm very excited. He said that I would be down 2 pant sizes when we're all through. I think this is going to be all right. Anyway, working out hard with my trainer, doing cardio and pilates and just trying to keep it together.