March Bandsters: MASTER THREAD

[ajoneen 0]

Last night at dinner my daughter-in-law set the table and gave me a luncheon size plate instead of the dinner plates she gave everyone else. When I raised an eyebrow she said "your little bit of food looks so sad on a big plate". She's right. It does make a difference with the mind. I saw a full plate and didn't feel left out.

Just though I would pass that along.

[Desdemona 48]

My support group gives a cocktail fork to members as soon as they get their banding date. I thought that was a nice thing for them to do. I keep it in my office desk drawer. I bought a set of sterling silver ones (ebay) that I use at home and I use a fine china luncheon plate for dinner. I decided that rather than consuming a lot of food with my mouth --- I'd "consume" lovely dinning presentation with my EYES.

[wishin4 0]

Wow! This thread has really slowed down since Fenton took a powder. I hope we don't all go our own ways now. I also use a small salad plate when I eat and I bought a small fork, spoon and knife at a craft fair. They are decorated with beads and are so pretty. I feel special when I use them. They also remind me to eat slowly and not too big a bite. Sometimes I still get in trouble though, like when I get too hungry between meals. Hope everyone is doing well today.

[lynnt1215 1]

things have slowed down here, but life goes on. Hopefully when Fenton returns from PAris he will tell us all about his travels and his first fill

Slow weight loss these past few months.. but still losing. go for fill Friday..

Very stressful at home now, daughter having terrible Migraines and nothing helps to relieve them..:tt2:

So lack of sleep and not eating right is paying it's toll on me.

[westcoastmom 3]

Lynnt - I am sorry for the stress. Is this new for your daughter? I have had Migraines as long as I can remember - even through childhood. Has she been able to figure out what is bringing any of them on? I did figure out that I had several different triggers. I have ones triggered by hormones, the sun, getting too hungry, and lack of sleep.

I was able to reduce the frequency of the hormonal migraines by taking a birth control pill that kept my progesterone level. Right now I take Yasmin because it does not let your hormone levels fluctuate normally. I also take the pill continuously - the withdrawal would bring on migranes.

I also have sleep issues and once I started getting that in better control - I stopped waking with migraines. I have to take medication to help get to sleep and stay asleep - I am a bit too type A and have restless legs.

I have also started taking topamax - which is for Migraine prevention. It seems to have really helped.

I hope she can figure out what is going on. It is really a hard thing to deal with.

[SpecialK 22]

I can tell you where all of us Ohio bandsters have been hiding... we have no electric power since Sunday Sept 14 and many of us aren't projected to get it back on now until Sunday Sept 21... so I had to wait to get to work and have internet access at work. Or we could sneak out to a Starbucks or somewhere that has wireless internet if we had a laptop with wireless -- which I don't -- so we're just disconnected and it does feel weird.

Who would have guessed Hurricane Ike's backlash would take the power out in Ohio for 350,000 people!! We're all cleaning out our refrigerators and freezers and have to toss a lot of our food which is sad for so many who cannot afford it. So far I'm hanging in but I threw out all veggies, fruit and dairy products so far this a.m. after more than 36 hours without power because the inside of my refrigerator didn't feel very cold at all. The freezer thankfully is still pretty solid frozen but I doubt I can hold out until Sunday. Will start cooking and giving away food if I have to. That's a real overeaters' challenge to throw away perfectly good food.

[lynnt1215 1]

Migraines - thanks again for the thoughts. She is on medication and usually can calm the Migraine within 24 hours, but this time it has been 5days. She has had all types of tests done and was on a variety of meds to help prevent them, IE-topomax, effexor..and has injectables when one hits. No real trigger asociation..

WOW, no power in Columbus, I guess I'll give my brother a call in Cincinnati and see how they are doing. I would not have thought IKE would have effected that far..

[MSBoss08 0]

Great idea Ajoneen! I went to lunch with a friend and she ordered a salad that came in a huge bowl. I ordered a small fruit cup. They brought the fruit cup out in a small 4oz. plastic bowl. She asked for a second bowl to share her salad. Once the second bowl arrived, she gave it to me to place my fruit cup inside.

Edited September 16, 2008 by MSBoss08

[Tess415 1]

I like using a regular dinner plate, space things out and put my small salad or veggies on there to make it look big and full! :drool:I will try out the luncheon plate when I am eating a smaller portion of something though.

We got rain up by Toledo from Ike, but not like it sounds for the Columbus area. Last 2 days have been beautiful though.

I go to the doctor's tomorrow... :rolleyes2:I hope to have good news from the scale, I am really struggling to get under 300... I have been wanting to be there by now, I have been doing what I'm supposed to, but I want is to be done with that goal so I can work on a new one!!! Like being half way to goal!!!!

[Fenton 3]

I've just read all the responses I've missed until the last page, and I have to say this: OMG! You guys are so GAY! Except for you gay and lesbian bandsters, who are, of course, SUPER-GAY!

I felt like I was being waked! I'm not dead, and I was only gone for a while!

I am, of course, kidding. It's always nice to be missed.

And it's nice to be back.

Which I am, I think.

I've had a bad couple of months; I've decided not to weigh myself out of sheer fear, but I'll break down and do it on Saturday. I just had my first fill, and now I have to figure out how to extract something good and useful out of all my monkeyshines and shenanigans.

I'm going to break down some "thoughts" into a couple of posts, I think.

Edited September 16, 2008 by Fenton

[Fenton 3]

There are no real excuses for my particular trajectory, but there are, I think, a few things that went into it.

Mostly it was stress-related. I finally broke up with a girl who I loved, and who loved me, and that was weirdly painful. But I dealt with it pretty well for a good while, until I learned that she had moved on and was seeing someone new, and it was serious, and that this person was offering her all the things that I had not.

And it's a complex thing, but my weight was a big factor in me not giving her as much as I could. And I should specify that my weight was not a big factor for her as it was for me. And since my weight is in my own control, it's obvious that it was something I engineered to fail. I felt badly about letting her down, and felt sorry for myself for destroying something so good.

So learning that she'd moved on was extremely painful; I feel like at some level, I had wanted to lose weight so I could "get back with her", as the kids say. Which is, of course, absurd, since my weight hadn't been an issue for her in the first place.

But my weight had been an issue for me, which makes it weirder that one of my immediate responses was rebound sex with an ex-girlfriend. Which was fun, but ultimately didn't erase the final Whisps of pain.

WIth that, I plunged headlong into my good old bad eating habits. Ate badly badly badly. Lost all of the uh, "mojo", are we calling it now? that had powered me down 96 pounds, and am sure I've put on a good bit. Just how much I don't really want to know, at least until Saturday or Sunday, when I weigh in.

Edited September 16, 2008 by Fenton

[Fenton 3]

But one thing did stick: I'd got into the habit of walking, and am much more energetic than I was.

I've just got back from Paris, where I spent two weeks working on renovating a tiny apartment I've bought over there (a place to write, where I can work on my books away from the distractions of NYC, and where I can start cornering the market on food and travel writing in Europe). The trip was a bit of a disaster - I'd planned to stay in my apartment, even though I knew that the place wouldn't be quite ready, but when I got there it was WAY behind schedule, and I ended up having to stay in a damn hotel for two weeks - FAR more expensive than I'd wanted.

So it was stressful, and I ate badly. I mean, I ate some fantastic things, but I ate a lot of crap (which the French can provide just as readily as we can). But I walked a lot, at least three miles most days, often up hill - and, I suppose, down hill too, but still! I walked a lot and it was pretty good.

And traveling down a good 90 pounds felt much better - I'm still hefty enough that I use frequent flyer miles to upgrade to Business Class, but at my high weight, even those Business Class seats felt cramped. Not any more!

And I remembered - again - just how shitty it feels to eat crap for long periods of time. To feel nauseatingly full, to feel your system sluggish and overfueled.

So, long story short, I'm ready to return to the fold.

[Fenton 3]

So here I am!

It's nice to see you all again. I'm sorry to have missed out on your trials and your triumphs lo these few weeks; the story about the brother in law's illness and the friend's pizza accusation was particularly upsetting, but I'm glad that sorted itself out.

Thank you guys for missing me, and I owe a couple of yaz emails - I couldn't reply until I was ready to re-embrace the mindset.

And I have. Today I had my first fill.

It was fascinating. Painless. As he injected me, Dr. Fielding said, "You'll feel a little pinch, like drawing blood.", so I snorted and said, "I'm a physician." and he said, "Yeah, I was sure you wouldn't believe me."

There was barely a prick - he injected through the scar tissue. He gave me 3cc in my 14 cc APL band to start off with, saying that if I'd managed to lose as well as I had, I had to have some restriction, so it'd be best to go slowly. WHen he injected, it was a fascinating feeling - a sharp scratching in my left armpit and shoulder tip, because, I figure, the band is up against my diaphragm, which shares a bit of its nerve supply with the shoulder area. I thought - think - it's strange that a mere 3 cc can make such a difference!

Well, we shall see.

I'm a bit worried about not being able to gulp down Water - on a hot day, one of life's great pleasures is gulping down cold Water. And I'm worried that with restriction I'll end up with more kidney stones, so I have to be extra vigilant about keeping up my water intake, but there you go. You've all been there.

And I now have to learn how to eat with a band. I't sbeen a luxury, being able to eat whatever I wanted, just less of it, but that will have to change. No more delicious chicken salad with mini crusty rolls for lunch. So easy, so convenient, so inexpensive...

And I have to watch my Protein again.

So, eek! I'm here! I'm banded! I'm back!

xoJ

[lynnt1215 1]

Welcome bacak Fenton, and you were truly missed by us all.

Sounds like you have a few weeks of ups and downs. But now back to the regimin.

3cc in a 14 cc band is not a bad first fill, I had 4cc for my first fill and am only at 5.5 cc right now..due for another fil, #4, this Friday.

An apartment in Paris, sounds like such a luxury, but then a perfect lace to write and contemplate.

We have all had our ups and downs and seem to bounce back..So we are all here for you and ready to hear all about your travels and how you are adjusting to the fill..

[chica 2]

YAY, Fenton! I'm glad you're back and as you know, we all missed you a lot. I look forward to more of your pithy posts! :thumbup: