I'm here to help...

[Charlene K 1]

Well, I figured out the signature edit. You do all the management from my profile.......click edit profile on the upper right then click edit signature on the left. It is easy after you find out where all the crap is......I finally clicked "Help" under my name and got the info. Most of you have probably figured all that stuff out, but I am kinda dense.....takes me a while.

Linda, glad to see you didn't gain any over the holiday...WTG!

Melissa, I feel your hunger.......still battling it at least until the 9th.

[ifyourstomachoffendsyou 1]

Back to work today. Forgot how long I'm there. 10 hours. Gonna cut back I think. Just too much. Just don't know how I'll fit in all the kids in manageable groups. Gotta go to choir now. Big concert the 5th. Also got Kohl's bucks to spend. Hope to go tomorrow night.

Good thing God holds my future in his hands. I sure don't know how long I can keep teaching. Don't know how I can afford to retire.

Cheri

[llkb4me 1]

Lori and Charlene,

I learned something new in Kohl's this weekend. The head cashier said they "always except expired Kohl's cash just not early ones" So don't throw away those bucks if you can't use them before they expire. Ask at your store if that is their policy also.

[llkb4me 1]

Kelly,

Way to go on your walking. You are doing great. Just love your spunk.

LauraK

[Meredith2424 0]

Girls! I totally feel ya on the hunger thing!!!! Oh man! With my band having a "partial slip" the pouch above it is made larger, so I can eat. It slipped because it was SOOO tight that I was throwing up all of the time. I could hardly drink my Protein shakes. I now feel like I have no self control and I am super depressed about it. I find out on the 11th what the plan is. Hoping for surgery to fix it. A few weeks ago I would have never wanted to go through surgery again, but let me tell you, now, i want it! Why have the band if it isn't working? Right? I'm just super upset. I know I keep complaining, but I cannot help it. Really, I know I need to bite the bullet and help myself. At least I was able to go back to aerobics today. Not the usual step aerobics plus another hour of reg floor aerobics, but just the latter.

I think that I'm going to find an overeaters annonymous meeting to go to. It is really an obsessive problem for me. Perhaps I will call again to the Dr's office to see if they can get me in any earlier than the 11th. I am not very patient and fear that I will gain. I need help in a big way. How can I have lost 100+ lbs and then eat and start to put it back on like its not a big deal? So very frustrated with myself. I'm sure I had about 1,500 calories today, which is a TON. What can I do to get my brain back on track?

Also, I am so thankful that I have my support group meeting on Wednesday. The theme this week is dealing with holiday eating and stress eating. What about plain 'ol eating? Because lately that seems to be my problem. I'm upset. Can you tell?

Ok, sorry to bother all of you with my pity party. I really needed to vent and ask for your help and support.

Thanks, and love you all!

Meredith

[LittleOleMeinFL 1]

Girls! I totally feel ya on the hunger thing!!!! Oh man! With my band having a "partial slip" the pouch above it is made larger, so I can eat. It slipped because it was SOOO tight that I was throwing up all of the time. I could hardly drink my Protein shakes. I now feel like I have no self control and I am super depressed about it. I find out on the 11th what the plan is. Hoping for surgery to fix it. A few weeks ago I would have never wanted to go through surgery again, but let me tell you, now, i want it! Why have the band if it isn't working? Right? I'm just super upset. I know I keep complaining, but I cannot help it. Really, I know I need to bite the bullet and help myself. At least I was able to go back to aerobics today. Not the usual step aerobics plus another hour of reg floor aerobics, but just the latter.

I think that I'm going to find an overeaters annonymous meeting to go to. It is really an obsessive problem for me. Perhaps I will call again to the Dr's office to see if they can get me in any earlier than the 11th. I am not very patient and fear that I will gain. I need help in a big way. How can I have lost 100+ lbs and then eat and start to put it back on like its not a big deal? So very frustrated with myself. I'm sure I had about 1,500 calories today, which is a TON. What can I do to get my brain back on track?

Also, I am so thankful that I have my support group meeting on Wednesday. The theme this week is dealing with holiday eating and stress eating. What about plain 'ol eating? Because lately that seems to be my problem. I'm upset. Can you tell?

Ok, sorry to bother all of you with my pity party. I really needed to vent and ask for your help and support.

Thanks, and love you all!

Meredith

Oh Meredith, I am so sorry to hear you have a partial slip. That does NOT sound fun. My concern is have they unfilled you? Many times if you are unfilled, the placement will sort of correct itself. How did they diagnose you, with barium swallow, endoscopy or CT? Not to scare you, but I would strongly recommend that it be unfilled and wait a while instead of rushing to surgery. Maybe not the answer you wanted to hear. A while back I was having severe GERD (reflux) and constant PBs and feared I had slipped- had sudden change in symptoms. The unfill, taking a PPI like Prilosec twice a day, using ulcer medicine like Carafate to coat my esophagus, a bland "ulcer" diet (no caffeine, no acid, etc) for 3 weeks. All this completely healed what was causing my problem. You can have an inflammatory reaction in the stomach where the band is tight. It will keep pulling away if the cause of the inflammation is not treated. So being too tight and vomiting was causing this for you. Just an idea. I would hate to see you go through surgery if it is fixable by a non invasive means. Phyllis had something similar and it healed on its own.

Hang in there. PM me anytime. I am soooooo uber proud of how well you have done! I saw your reunion pics on FB and you look amazing! WTG!!!

Thinking of you. peasout.... Laura

[LittleOleMeinFL 1]

Hey guys~

I can't sleep tonight and thought it would be a great time to figure out the new LBT layout. NOT. ughhhh. I noticed a sudden decrease in postings! I have checked the WATCH TOPIC tab at the top of the page- where should I be able to find my forums??? I have been saving a link to the page every time on my desktop now for fear I will never find you guys again!

I talked to my mom and dad tonight. Nels sang Happy Birthday to Gramps. : ) Although going to a radiation oncologist on your birthday is not way up there on most people's wish lists. Dad has a bunch of fears. I think his biggest one is fear of pain. You guys keep him on your prayer lists. Just was hoping for a much happier Christmas for them. They were supposed to come down to FL for Christmas. DH has Christmas eve and day off but has to work the rest of the week, so can't travel really. I was really hoping they would come down here for the weather and to see Nelson enjoying the holiday. It has me so sad and frustrated that there is nothing I can do. I said "I wish I could be there with you tomorrow." and he replies, "yeah, that would have been really nice." OMG. dagger to the heart.

food has been ok. I haven't weighed since I got back from NC but I don't think I gained at all over TG. But my allergies were really bad up there and when I am on antihistamines and decongestants, I stay really tight. I couldn't eat if I wanted to! Now I feel like I have a cold and can't taste much. DH cooked the last two nights, I just haven't been in the mood. I was happy with a can of soup- as bad as that sounds. He wanted real food. Both nights he made healthy arabic food. One was,Fasulia, a green bean and stew meat in a tomato/onion sauce with spices. You usually eat it with rice but I didn't have rice. The other was a modified Lamb Ratatouille. He always adds extra Tomato sauce/water/other sauce so I can eat it. : ) I have a great DH who doesn't mind cooking after a long day at work. (as long as I clean up).LOL

ok.. time to go TRY again to count sheep. Have a great day everyone! peasout... Laura

[Meredith2424 0]

Laura~ Ok, well here is the deal. In June I was having an acid reflux problem when my band was too tight. I had an upper GI/swallow. The Dr. unfilled me a lot and it corrected itself. We have gradually filled it back up because I was doing so much better. SO, last time we filled it to 6 cc's which is a lot for me and the most I've ever had in my band because I gained back all that I had lost from when it was so tight. Well, I was having the same problem with the reflux and throw up. It was not PB, it was like real throw up. I went in to the Dr and he prescribed another Upper GI/swallow. Well, he looked at those pics and saw that the band is not in the right place at all. He took out 3 cc's and now I have NO restriction what-so-ever. The stomach has crept up above the band and he says that I have a few options. A.) Leave the band as is and see how I can do by just monitoring the amount of calories I ingest (clearly this is not working). B.) Do surgery to remove the band (this is NOT an option in my world) because leaving the band where it is could damage the stomach and cause problems. OR C.) Have surgery to correct the placement of the band and start over. This right now seems like it is the best option since this problem has technically been going on since June and is not really that new. Right? I don't know? I'm just frustrated and I LOVE my band (when it works properly) and do not want it to go anywhere except for where it belongs. I know I will end up right where I was before. FAT (er, fatter). It seems like this is my only realistic choice. Now, having that info, what do you think about all of this? All I know is that somthing has to be done, and if I'm going to have a band in there, it may as well work properly! Ugh.

Sorry to complain guys. This is just really frustrating and I've been pretty upset about all of this for awhile. What do I do? What would all of you do if you were in my shoes? I thank all of you in advance for your input. I know some of you may have read this before via e-mail while LBT was offline, so sorry for the repost if you saw it.

It's late here. Almost 2am. I need to make Andrews lunch, stop worrying for the night and go to bed.

Night, Meredith

[txrckcrwlr 0]

So I just wanted to drop in and see how everyone was doing. Having a time getting to sleep tonight. I guess I am thinking too much about my fill. I have to be at DR office at 245. They told me no food after 1045 and no liquid after 1245. I am getting excited about it, but nervous also. i know it is time as i am eating more than I think I should be at this point.. Although deb and i went to lunch today and split a meal. That is the first time we have done that.. I felt great about the amount of food I ate today.

Had a rough day at PT. Shoulder was a little sore today. Used it way too much this weekend. Oh well thats the way it goes. We all have normal lives to lead no matter what else is going on in our lives. It's getting better just slow.

On another note, I signed up today for the Susan G. Komen 3 day. The walk here in Dallas is Nov. 4-6 2011. So I have a little more than 11 months to get ready for it. One of my goals is to get down to 250 before the walk. That is about 5-6lbs a month between now and then. I know I can do it. The walk is 60 miles over three days. Most of the ppl that I know who have walked in the past say they walk 300 miles or more during training.. That alone should help me out. i would love to be at goal by the time I walk but not going to hold my breath.

Well I am going to try to hit the hay. Hope everyone has a wonderful night and I will chat soon...

Hugs

Chris

[Apples2 19]

Good Morning to All....hope you got some sleep, TX (and Julie)

TX...now, that's determination....signing up a year b/4 the event. You can easily do that 5-6lbs/month. And, as I stated last week, once that fill is done, you will wonder what you worried about. Wouldn't it be nice to be at ultimate restriction with one fill????? Be prepared...might take a couple. Some ppl here have had many and some of us only a couple. Hope the PT is helping the shoulder.

Hey All....we are in the middle of a full-blown winter storm here. It started raining yesterday morning....and, of course, I was on the road heading to a doctor appt. When I came out an hour later, it was just crap to drive on. Took me close to 2 hours to get home. School closings this morning. The mom in me kicks in and begin to worry by my DS's driving on ice and snow. Not supposed to let up until evening.

I hope Janet is having a wonderful time with family.

I can't remember what was on the thread yesterday so will not be "talking" to each of you. All I know is that I was pretty excited to hear that Laura's dad had enough "gumption" to fly the family back to FL. Tell Nels that I think that was the best part of the entire trip also.

I have most of my house decorated and 2 of my trees up and decorated. One to go. Would have been done but DH was not available to haul it up from the basement. Was thinking of posting photos but a person cannot even go in to look at them without getting knocked out of LBT. I'm not a quiter but I sure am disgusted with some of the changes.....or should I say gliches. Makes me not even bother checking.

Well, been up since 4:30, made the coffee, did some reading and caught up with my girls (and TX) and now it is time to start my day. It will be oatmeal for Breakfast and then I am going to experiment with a Protein Bar recipe. I "surfed" last night looking at different recipes and wrote a few things down from some of them. I think I am going to make my own oat flour and start from there. I really like that the bar I usually eat has Fiber in it so I will make sure to add some of that also. I am just getting tired of my favorite bar I purchase and they are now close to $8/5 bars.

You all have a great day. Hope your weather is better than ours. Cannot wait to get in that vehicle and head south. DH's dad left yesterday right at the start of the storm and drove his motorhome out of it when he got out into SD. One month of winter and we are heading out.

[Charlene K 1]

Just checking in. Last night was one of my worst FM nights. After aching for most of the night I finally went to seep at 3am. Flexeril finally relaxed my body. So, this morning I am not only aching.....I am sleepy. I thought I was over these bad flare ups......NOT! I am gonna get dressed and continue to decorate today. I know if I keep moving I will be better off than sitting and getting stiff. Sorry about the whining I had to vent.

Meredith, journaling is the only thing that keeps me in check when hunger strikes.

Tx WTG on the sign up. A plan and a goal will keep you focused.

Laura, Nels is such a sweet boy singing to his Grandpa.

Apples, Stay off the roads. If you make a good Protein bar......I want the recipe. The bars I buy are expensive too.

Okay peeps, gotta call the electric company. I had the electrician out yesterday. The blinking of my lights is on the Electric company side. They are being jerks about fixing the problem. Thank goodness we had a surge protector put on our breaker box.

[Apples2 19]

Arlene...sorry you had a tough night...damn the FM

[Great2BThin 5]

Good morning! Sounds like our snowstorm has moved east and north, sorry Apples, but I didn't want it anymore! LOL It's bright and sunny today but cold. They had on the news last night that many of the suburbs around here have used 75% of their snow removal budgets for the winter and it's only November. So guess my road isn't getting plowed. LOL The main streets are okay but my subdivision I need my 4 wheel drive just to get out of.

Meredith, I think I'd go with the surgery option then too if they already tried the unfill one. Was it the reflux and throwing up that caused it to slip in the first place or was that what caused the reflux etc? Sortta like what came first the chicken or the egg? I too gained some weight back and even though it's not a lot it still frustrates the heck out of me.

TX, good luck on your fill today. Hope it goes smoothly and you find your restriction with few fills. Mine usually never hurt.

Arlene, bummer about the pain issues. HOpe today is a better day.

Linda, what do you mean what did you do wrong? Girl, you've done nothing wrong! Miss ya around here! I'm so afraid these new awful boards are keeping everyone away and we'll lose touch.

Laura, do you think your parents will come for Christmas? I know mine won't leave FL, my Grandma is so hurt that my mom won't go to Denver this year for Christmas. I bet Nelson will be so much fun this year! What's the big gotta have item for kids this year?

Apples, hope all is okay and your dr appt was just a check up or something.

[kellyodoran 12]

Well,

First...good morning everyone.

Second....I stepped on the scale this morning, and to my suprise I'm down 3 whole pounds! :lost3lbs: I get sooooo excited and as always the first thing I think about is changing my ticker! It's funny how that one little thing can make my day!

Charlene sorry about your fm, my girlfriend has it and I know it is really a tough thing to have.

I woke up this morning at 5:00 a.m. to hear all the wind machines going because it is freezing out, and it is right at orange picking time.....not good for the farmers!

Hi to Apples, Phyllster, and Pease, and everyone else!:waytogo:

[txrckcrwlr 0]

Morning ladies,

Well I think I am ready for today. I had b-fast. I want to tell you about that. if you have not tried them the Jimmy Dean D-Lights turkey sausage bowls are great. They are scrambled egg whites,potatoes,turkey sausage and reduced fat cheese. 230 cal 23g Protein 7g fat 19g carbs,

Apples,

Yes I am very excited about the walk. It will do so much for me. It is a goal to work for plus all the training leading up to it will help me get the weight off faster and easier or at least cant hurt.

I will check in after fill and let you know how it went.

Chris