January 27

[ms.kelley-rn 0]

Thanks Linda,

Since then my dad has been doing very well. He's getting in the habit of eating healthier and doing some kind of activity daily. Now that he's back on his feet, I can concentrate on my own eating habits. Considering the circumstances, I think I did very well with my eating. I didn't get anything from the vending machine and I kept up with my workouts. I now have a trainer that I see twice a week in addition to my regular workouts. Hopefully by October (my birthday) I'll be below 200. That's the goal anyway. How is everyone else doing?

[ljv52 2]

Hi MsKelley, Glad to hear your dad is doing better. I'm doing great. Had my second fill today and it went so well -- my first fill was horrible -- surgeon couldn't find my port, I got about 15 pricks and then he sent me down to fluro where it went a little easier, but it was painful and had a problem for a few days after the fill with ab pain, similar to after the surgery. So, I was a little nervous about getting a fill today. But today was nothing -- one stick, hit the port, did the 2 ccs and it was nothing, no pain! Yeah! I was so relieved it went so quickly and painlessly. My doc is thrilled with my progress. Oh, today is my b-day and my son bought be a Wii and Wii fit. I'm so excited. Plus, he's here visiting and will hook it all up for us so we can start using it right away. I'm so happy! What a great son! I'm so lucky. It's so beautiful here today - low 70s, just gorgeous sunshine -- hope you all have a great day as well. Linda

[ljv52 2]

Is everyone doing okay? Pen? Ms. Kelly? Carolina Mom? Anybody? I feel like the Twilight Zone episode where everyone is gone from the world except me. Hope everyone is doing okay, let's not let our thread die out, we need each other. Linda

[Carolina Mom 0]

Sorry, I have four kids and everyone is doing some type of sport. This taxi service is about to run out. My sport is learning to eat before the games or pack safe foods. I am stuck with my weight loss. Any suggestions? I miss hearing from everyone, lets keep going here. I am at 40 pounds now with NO Fill. Imagine That!!!

[ljv52 2]

Hi Carolina Mom, 40 pounds is great, but why no fill? My suggestion is to get a fill. Is there some medical reason why you haven't had one? Other than that, you might step up your exercise or switch it around a bit -- if you've been doing the same thing over and over try something new. Also, if you aren't logging your foods, try to do that and try varying your calories -- one day 900, the next 1300, etc. etc. That seems to help people get off a plateau. But you're already doing great -- with 4 kids you probably don't have time to even eat! Glad to hear from you. Linda

[ms.kelley-rn 0]

Hi Carolina Mom,

You're doing great! But I'm with Linda, why no fill? It may be time for one now that you've reached a standstill. Other than that, like Linda said, switch up your exercise routine. The body tends to adjust to the same thing so you have to do a little "muscle confusion" to throw it off track. I go for my 3rd fill on Wednesday and I'm hoping I won't need another one for awhile. I feel like I'm really close to my "sweet spot". Still lovin' my band!!

[ljv52 2]

Hi everyone. Ms. Kelly, you've done great -- so good to hear from you again. Carolina Mom, keep up posted on what's happening. Pen, where are you? I hope you'll come back and let us know how you're doing. Linda

[Embrace 11]

Hi Linda and all New Year Hotties,

I didn't realize how long I've been away from the boards until I logged on. I will do better. Been slammed at work and trying to graduate so I fell behind on food logs, exercising, rule-following, you name it. It shows too. I'm still stuck at 20 lbs. down.

I got really discouraged when I realized that I was going to hit my mini-goals (down another 10 by graduation). Ordinarily, I would have eaten my way through that but I've had two more fills since then and I'm FINALLY getting the restriction that I expected from the beginning. Seriously, my band holds 9mm and I'm at 6 and I can still hold about 1.25-1.5 cups of food per meal. Some food is getting stuck now (rarely happened before) so I think 1-2 more fills should do the trick. I hope, hope, hope it triggers some fat loss.

The increasing restriction tells me that I'm headed the right direction. I'm trying to practice patience and self-acceptance. That's tough for me but I didn't get this way in five months so I shouldn't expect it to just melt off.

I scrolled posts today and it seems like several Hotties are doing well and some are struggling. Just like real life, I guess. :tt2:

I've got my eye on a Wii and that new EA Active exercise software at costco. Don't know if I'd be a good home exerciser now since I never was before. I just know that I've got to incorporate some exercise into my daily routine. Anyone else using a Wii? :thumbup: :party:

Linda, it's thunderstorm season (a whole two weeks) right now. There's been a downpour the last two days and today it hailed the size of pencil erasers for several minutes. It really piled up on cars, the grass, and sidewalks. The Water came down so hard our street flooded. Just another day in the high desert!

[ljv52 2]

Hi, so glad to hear from you Pen and know you're still doing well. Hey, you've lost 20 pounds -- without the band you probably would have stayed the same or even gained weight during the last 6 months, so you are still doign FABULOUS! It sounds like the past several months has been very busy for you -- understand why you can't be checking in more often. Congratulations on graduation -- that's a BIG deal -- so happy for you. But after that's over, then you'll have time to focus more on your eating and exercise. I just had fill 3 -- I only got .5 cc's for a total of 5.5 in a 10 cc band. I don't feel much restriction either, but my surgeon says he wants to go very slow with fills as he doesn't want me to be too tight (me either). Ideally, I think that we should never PB or get the golf ball feeling -- because that is not good to be too tight. Unfortunately what I've learned from the people I stay in touch with on the mentoring page is that you still have to exercise a lot of will power, even when you are at your sweet spot. It kinda sucks, but at the same time, I don't feel the same as I did pre-band. I don't get as hungry and I don't seem to crave the wrong foods -- I stay perfectly satisfied by eating my Protein and my veggies and some fruit. Seriously, I do. I used to crave food all the time and think about meals and what I was going to eat and then I'd get hungry and go cook all afternoon -- my favs were pastas and anything with cheese and sour cream. LOL. I really feel like they cut something out of my brain as well. What I had also forgotten (but again you have to constantly re-learn things in life) is that you must make time for exercise. I have been doing a lot of exercise and hope that when I get to goal I'll be able to lessen the amount because I don't see this old lady keeping this up forever. I just went on Youtube to check out Zumba. Wow, what a riot. I can't even imagine trying to do that!! It's wild and crazy (but looked like fun and the music was great). Hope everyone had a lovely Memorial Day and has a successful June. Please stay in touch. Carolina, hope you're doing well, know you're busy, but would love to hear from you. MsKelly hope all is well with your family. Take care everyone. Linda

[ljv52 2]

Hi everyone, How are you all doing? Would love to hear from some of you, hope all is well. Think of you often. Linda

[Embrace 11]

Hi everyone,

Sorry about going silent for so long. Grad school is winding down and I've been making a push to finish. Husband also had back surgery and I've been caregiving. I hope life will soon get back to normal (whatever that means!). I'm still stuck at the 20 lb. plateau. I've been walking three miles every morning too. My 5th fill finally got me close to the restriction that most of you must be feeling so I'm hoping that my next trip to the doctor produces some weight loss. Surprisingly, I'm not too discouraged. Keeping my commitment to walking really helps my outlook. I'd just like to see some downward movement on the scale and some looser clothes and things would be pretty darn good.

Linda, I hope that you're doing well. How's the weight loss? Any mental battles? I sure appreciate you reaching out. I think I'll be back here regularly now. :biggrin:

[ljv52 2]

Pen, I was so glad to hear from you! Congrats on your weight loss -- you're doing great -- just remember, everyone loses at a different rate and sounds like you have your hands full with school and your hubby's recovery! I'm doing very well but I work very hard at it -- I log all my food on Daily Plate, work out at least 2 hours every day and watch my fat/calories. My goal is to get the weight off and start maintaining asap. I'm the type that if I don't attack and be super strict every day I won't do it at all, so it's good that I can work that hard and keep myself so motivated. My first mini goal was to be 160 by the time I left for vacation next week -- I will be close to it if I don't make it. We are meeting my sister in Vegas (who has no idea I had surgery and no idea I've even been trying to lose weight). It's her 50th b-day celebration and I'm surprising her, so that really motivated me as well. Would love to hear from some of the others -- Carolina Mom, Ms. Kelly -- hope you're all doing fine. I've had a lot of little fills last 2 months -- I'm at a total of 5.75 right now in a 10 cc band and I've never had a problem with PBing. I've had a couple of instances where I've gotten that golf ball feeling, but it went away after 10 mins. or so (walking seems to help that go away as well as chewing some Papaya enzyme tablets). My problem is that with all the exercise I do, I do feel quite hungry between meals and I feel I can still eat more than they say I should at meals. I think however, when I slow down on the exercise I'll feel the restriction more. I think I'm very close to my sweet spot -- but I'll keep getting small cc's -- last time just .250 cc cause I never want to be too tight. Would love to hear what kind of restriction everyone else has. I'll be gone til Aug. 20 but will check in then. Hope everyone is having a lovely summer. We're enjoying our cool temps. Linda

[ms.kelley-rn 0]

Hi everyone,

Just dropped by to see how everyone's doing? I know it's been a very long time since we've all chatted. Well I'm almost in onederland--5 lbs. to go!!:w00t: I've been quite busy as I'm sure everyone else has. My dad is doing wonderful...no pain or problems since the heart attack. I went to Chicago this summer and had so much fun. My friend took me to Forever 21 and before trying on anything, I already had it set in my mind that I couldn't fit into anything in that store. But suprisingly,I'm so thrilled to say that I can fit into medium and large tops!!! Before it was 1-2X and now MEDIUMS! I guess bootcamp is paying off! How is everyone else doing? Has anyone reached a major goal?

[ljv52 2]

Hi everyone, thought I'd check in here as we approach our 1 year bandversary. I've worked hard and I have had great results. I'll posst pics here. Hope you're all doing fine. If some of you are struggling and I can help, please let me know. I belong to a mentor thread (Indio Girl) that has really helped me to stay on track and I highly recommend accountability of both coming to Lap Band Talk and keeping a food/exercise diary to help us. Just had a fill -- my sixth - I'm now at 6.25 ccs in 10cc band. My last fill before this one was first part of Sept. so I was at my sweet spot for quite some time -- it's all good. I had my left hip replaced on 12-8 -- so I was unable to exercise for a few weeks, but back at it -- my surgery went very well -- much easier since I lost weight and was in good shape. I exercise every day -- at least 30 mins. each day - usually more. My weight loss has really slowed down. My goal is 132 -- that will put me at "normal" BMI but since Sept. I've only lost 10 lbs. and I had to really work hard for those 10! If I can be of help to anyone out there, please please let me know. Pen, how are you doing? Ms. Kelly hope all is well with you too. Hope to hear from some of you. First couple of pics is me in hawaii in January, 09. We returned on 1-11-09 just 2 days before I started pre-surgical liquid diet. Pic of me in Vegas was in August and last pic was in Dec. here at home about 10 days after hip surgery. Hope you all have a successful and happy 2010!! Love, Linda

[Carolina Mom 0]

Hey, I need some help I have fell off the wagon so to speak. My weight loss has stopped and with the weather so cold I am able to exercise due to that and just being lazy.