Lucky # Sevens- July 07 Bandsters

[chimboree26 24]

DINI!!! Hey there! How are you girl??? Long time no talk! Wish I could join you in NY. I'll check my schedule and see what the deal is. That's around Thanksgiving, so I'm not sure...I'll let you know.

[Car 0]

hi everyone!

who is making this list?? the thanksgiving list ??could you add me to your list, sorry i've not been around i've been so busy in work and i've been doing even more night so i can have lots of money for NEW YORK.

i'm hoping to be down 8-9 lbs by the time of Thanksgiving which is 2 days before leave so i'm at 1'm at 152 and i'd like to get to 144 by thanksgiving!

how is everyone doing? i must admit i miss you all very very much but i can hardly keep my eyes opened when i get home at 2 or 2.30 am!

oh before i forget is anyone going to be around new york between 24th-29th nov, love to hear from you if you are!

i'm down to 152 which i'm chuffed at but i'm finding that were as before i could loose maybe 2-3 lbs a week not i'm struggling to loose 2 and i am still not eating a lot at all, i'm sure if i'm honest with myself its cos i'm eating all the wrong thing i'm eating what ever i can not what ever is right for me.

so how's everyone been?

lots of love to you all xxxx

I get scared when I down a huge plate of salad. I'm not trying to be cheeky here. Shouldn't the lapband prevent mass consumption of everything except liquids? I'm working under the understanding that until I get full before I eat this huge quantity, that I need to go tighter.

Am I off track?

Ah, I think you also asked me about Italy. We've been there twice. Once we flew into Naples directly and last year via Narbonne Plage (the house) to Barcelona (train) and Rome (plane). It took less time to fly from Denver to Naples. My husband is the Italyphile, while I'm the Francophile. I do love Rome and Pompeii though.

Car

[Car 0]

Dini - I, too, am eating not the right things...I eat a lot of what I CAN eat and not what I SHOULD eat....man, I can go through Cookies and cheetos easy...it's the chicken or any other meat that I have issues with!

Brandy - make sure while you're in St. Thomas to take an excursion to St. John and go to Trunk Bay - it's absolutely beautiful and there's an "underwater tour" that you snorkel through...there are large stones under the Water that you can read with information about everything that you're seeing...the sand is white and just like powder! LOVE IT! We head out on 11/11 to Grand Caymen, Honduras, Belize, and Cozumel...it's a family affair. I have to say I prefer the Eastern Caribbean, but I LOVE Grand Caymen!

Thanksgiving Challenge - well, it's gonna suck for me...seems that AFTER I finished my period/flowers/Aunt Flow I GAINED 4 lbs.! That sets me back a few for the challenge...I'm going to aim for 225 for when I get back (the day after Thanksgiving) and we'll see what happens. I have to admit, however, that I've been using my pedometer (finally got it out of the box) and my Treadclimber...oh, and there's some wood chopping that's been done. So, I'm working out more - but just this week so none of that, "Oh, Marcy...you're gaining muscle." That's not what's happening....I'm eating the wrong things and working on eating the right things. Dear Lord, get Halloween over with already!!!!

Hi Marcy,

Ya, I found that great bread and cakes don't hang up at all. The richer the better. And ice cream....can't get within 100 miles of it, even the reduced calorie. Slides right down. Then there is chocolate.< /p>

[lindaa 1]

Yeah, Char. That is a problem. Lots of bad things still go down just fine, but some of the good stuff, like meat and some veggies, well that's when I get into trouble no matter how slowly I eat them or how well I chew. That may be why I've lost so quickly. I basically don't eat much at all. The band helps me control portion size, but I still need will power to walk away from all the temptations. The band doesn't help with that.

[marcyinak 0]

OK, I was able to pass by the cupcakes (which are still on the counter this morning). Maybe I'll be able to make it the rest of the day! By then the family would have them all eaten! My DH was sick last night so I didn't "get any" so I just took a shower instead....yeah, don't hear that from a woman too often, eh? I know, a little TMI, but I'm in a good mood....

[Frustrated 1]

I hate when my e-mail notify goes screwy and I don't know there are new posts here. :eek: Please bear with me while I make some lengthy posts to catch up on what's been said.

Indio - on the will power rant; I know I have plenty of will power. It's usually kicked up a notch if someone makes a comment like "Oh you can't do that..." I've been quite successful with weight loss in my 40+ years. However, I've been even more successful with weight gain. I don't know what it is about this food addiction as opposed to other addictions. I gave up smoking cold turkey and it was (relatively) easy. But food...? Just can't keep at it for any length of time. I have a long list of reasons why I'm overweight, but no real excuses at all. Even when my health started to become an issue I just couldn't shake the extra weight.

But I don't believe it is just a lack of will power at certain times. There have been times when I've become addicted to eating right and exercising like mad and nothing changed. Then I discovered I had insulin resistance and PCOS and those issues were working against me in the battle against the bulge. It just made things so much harder. EVERYTHING had sugar in it. It wasn't just the added sugars that were bad for me, it was the natural sugars in fruits also that my body couldn't deal with. Things like soy milk, fruit juice, cereals, yoghurt.... all "healthy" choices I thought I was making were working against me. So any will power I had just wasn't enough. I needed something to seriously restrict any and all intake of food. And that's where my band comes in.

Then add into the equation the change in metabolism as we get older.......

No, I don't see any of these as excuses. They're reasons. But at times I know I will use them as an excuse to be lazy or to allow myself to eat things I know I shouldn't. I've said it before, I'm a big fat liar. And if I can find a way to lie about eating something I shouldn't, you better believe that I will. :cry

I need my band and I need this thread to keep me in check.

[Frustrated 1]

I would get up at 2 am and scarf down a bag of oreos, then wake up at 7 am and the only memory I would have of it would be chocolate on my fingers. So ashamed of it that I would blame the kids for eating the Cookies to my DH. Then feel guilty about the entire situation all day, just to go to bed and do the exact same thing again.

I'm also ashamed to say that I did this kind of thing too. :embarassed: My past behaviour still bothers me so much that I haven't yet been able to confess these sins to my hubby and son. Perhaps some time in the future I will, at least I hope so. I don't like to carry this guilt around with me, but I'm not yet ready to come clean with it. I don't know why. My hubby won't think any less of me. He's very supportive and never "tut tut"s when I've done something wrong. I just..... can't.

But I used to cover my tracks. I'd head out the following day and buy a replacement pack of cookies and sometimes even extra so I could gorge myself again. I'd bake more cake or pie because I'd eaten more than I should have, and then have to eat part of that also to account for the shares my hubby and/or son had eaten.

If I was going to lunch or dinner with family or friends, I'd eat before going, just so I wouldn't overeat at dinner. Then if I wanted to, I'd treat myself again when I got home because I ate sparingly with my dinner guests.

I ate as I cooked, then I ate my meal, then I'd have an extra helping and any leftovers on my son's plate.

I didn't know how bad I actually was until I got this band and it physically restricted me from this kind of cheating. I've had to learn to cook smaller portions simply because it's impossible for me to eat all the leftovers. The reality of how bad I was bothers me a lot. I'm too ashamed to admit all this to my family, but somehow sharing it with all of you is different. You can relate to it and understand it, even if you're just as clueless as I am as to WHY my brain thinks this way. :straight

[Frustrated 1]

I cannot wait until I get my band and know I can no longer do that to myself. It really is a disease. Thank God I decided to get this going before it was too far off the mark to deal with. I just know how important food is to me now. Does that go away after you get banded? Do you not look forward to special meals for fear of not being able to enjoy?

Welcome to BandLand Hebber. :wave:

I just know how important food is to me now. Does that go away after you get banded?

Well after 4 months it hasn't completely disappeared for me. I still have days (especially a week before my period) where all I do is think about food and what I'll eat at my next meal. For me the band has really restricted my appetite though. But it's taken until my second fill about 3 weeks ago to get there. We all want instant gratification. Our bands are designed to do that, but it's not going to happen from the day you have your surgery. You have to have a few tweaks to find your sweet spot.

At the moment I think I have good restriction. I have 2.5ccs in my 4cc band. Yesterday afternoon was the first time in a while where I've felt my appetite has been more than it should be. My period is due next week, so this type of feeling doesn't surprise me. But I do feel like I'm craving more than I should and the only way to curb that is to drink more Water and get out of the house and away from the fridge.

Before the band I used to feel like that almost every day. It was really depressing being a prisoner to food like that. What do I miss most? I was just thinking about this the other week when my hubby and son were chowing down with sub sandwiches. I missed pigging out. Just being able to stuff my face full of a hamburger or sandwich and have the juice drip down my chin. I'd never be able to do that now without seriously hurting myself. But I only missed it for a little while and then I got over it.

I think you have to feel what it's like to PB or slime. It's just not an effective enough deterent if someone just tells you. You have to experience it. If you don't know how bad it feels, it won't stop you from eating. And believe me, it's awful! As bad as it is though, I'm glad it's there. It stops me from eating when nothing else would have.

I think initially I dreaded special occasion dinners because I had it in my mind I would never be able to enjoy food as I always have. I'm getting used to that though. It's getting easier to say "No thanks, I've had enough to eat." and mean it. My mind still tells me I want more, but my body just can't take it.

This will be my first holiday season with diet restrictions. In my mind the hardest thing to come to terms with was cooking a big feast. I really enjoy cooking. But Phyl came up with a fantastic idea of cooking a meal for a charity organisation that I can donate it to. This gives me my grand feast preparation fix while not worrying about all the food going to waste. It will go to a worthy cause and I'll just make a small sampling for me and my family here.

I think I'm finally coming to terms with that fact that this is going to be successful for me. With all other diet methods I had in the back of my mind "I wonder how long this will last before it fails." This isn't going to fail for me. Unless I make a bonehead decision to remove the band. :rolleyes I don't see that happening though.

[Frustrated 1]

Lindaa and Chim - Happy Birthday to the both of you. Hope you have a fun and exciting day.

:happybday2::happybday2:

[phyllser 3]

Good for you, Ruby!! Sounds like you are making great strides in battling the "head" thing. You've expressed so many things that we've all dealt with, including the "confessions"! We're going to overcome all this stuff!!

[Dini 0]

A big shout out to the 2 birthday girls

i dont think i'm going to be on later

Chim and Lindaa hope you guys have a wonderful day xxx

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

:happybday2::happybday2::happybday2::happybday2:

[lindaa 1]

Awwww. you guys are great! Thanks for the birhtday wishes, Ruby and Dini!

[Car 0]

There are cupcakes in the house!!!! HELP ME! I know there's frosting too....left over, in the fridge....

It's almost 10pm so it would be even MORE stupid for me to succum...

Hold on, sister....you can do it...yeah, that's what I'll do...I'll DO IT...

Better go get my husband!

Dogs work much better for the task. They are available day or night and they lick your fingers as an added bonus (yes, I know that husbands can do that, but do they?).

Car

[Kathybad 0]

Hi Everyone,

I've been busy this last week at work. Had my 2nd fill a week ago, and still very very restricted. I've had some difficulty eating enough food without PB'ing. I'm hoping it will loosen up a bit on its own over a bit of time.

I find this a very strange "diet" experience compared to other times. Now I'm not at all concerned about "cheating" because I don't have enough space to put any bad food in. Now food has become functional. I still enjoy eating, but I'm more concerned about nutrition than "yummy treats". Probably a very good thing.

Happy Birthday to the Birthday girls!! Take care all.

[cazulay 0]

:happybday::happybday::happybday:

Linda and Chim, enjoy your special day!