jhawkchick75

I had a huge feast the day before, but I planned on eating light on my last night. They got me in for surgery a day early so that wasn't my intention to eat that much. I have heard people say they go light the night before, but many have enjoyed some yummie Mexican food the night before. I was in San Diego the night before so I had seafood!

The eating and drinking thing was definitely the hardest for me but i'm adjusting much better than I thought I would. Like others said, it can push the food through quicker, but also if you eat then drink then that drink is sitting in your pouch on top of that food and they say you can stretch your pouch that way. If you are really having a hard time - like at something spicy, really thirsty, etc...then one trick i've heard is to suck on an ice cube. I'll do that or just put a tiny tiny bit of water in my mouth and let it sit there for a bit. Both those seem to help me. I drink right up until I eat and then wait 45-60 minutes after. If you are drinking lots of water throughout the day that also helps so you aren't as thirsty when you eat. Good luck!

I am at 3.1 and I eat almost exactly like you are describing on a "normal day". I am never tighter than that, but I do have my days where I feel like I can eat too much - but even then it's not even close to where I used to be. On most days I don't have that tightness at breakfast like folks talk about, but I don't stress about it I don't need to be too tight. I haven't been losing, but i'm also running now which might be building muscle. I'd really like to see my weight start dropping again, but i'm not gonna get another fill for quite a while. At my last one they didn't want to give me one so i'm not sure they would give me another.

Were you banded at OCC? 1/4 of a cup sounds wayyyyy too small of an amount to me. Some say a cup at a time and others say just 1/3 of what you used to eat. My fill doctor says I should be able to eat about the equivalent of one Weight Watchers or Lean Cuisine meal. So i'd double check your information that sounds way too small!

Congrats Maggie!!! Keep up the great work!!!!!

Oh yeah! It's funny when my staff walks in my office they start waving their hand in front of their face complaining it is too hot. I think it feels great but I have to turn the heater off when we have a meeting so they aren't sweating to death.

Congrats that is fantastic! And what a great feeling when you can go shopping in your closet huh! I had that happen a while back and it was GREAT! I have a cardiologist appt in a week or so and I am excited to see how my stats have changed. Haven't been there since before I was banded so i'm excited to see my progress. Gonna have them to a full round of bloodwork too. Lots of great NSV's as well as SV's!!!!!! Keep up the great work!!!!!!!!!

You know for me I do not rely on BMI. According to mine I should be between 119 and 123 which means I would need to lose at least 25 to 35 more lbs which I just can't see happening. I am now at my weight I was in HS, so what I am doing is continuing to follow the plan and upping my workouts and whatever weight I get to and I feel comfortable i'm sticking with. I think I want to lose 15 more, but if I don't hit that i'm not gonna be too upset. Who knows, maybe when I get there I will feel like I can loose more, but we will cross that bridge when I get to it. My "goal" on my ticker is the smallest i've been in my adult life so that is what I picked as my first goal. After that i'm just gonna work at it and see where I end up. That is just my two cents. Good luck!

Yes, I was a dancer growing up and I played softball and basketball until 8th grade. I was never huge, but I was always bigger than the other dancers and it really was hard. I had terrible eating habits but the exercise kept me at an OK weight. I now weigh about what I did when I played in jr high and high school. I quit the dance company my soph year of college and after that my weight went through a roller coaster of ups and downs. I would work out in spurts and lose weight but always plateaued and it caused me to give up and gain it all back. And of course each time you gain it back it is always more than you had lost before. Such a nasty cycle! Sorry that was major rambling but in a nutshell I used to exercise a lot but was never thin. Haven't been in an intense workout program on a regular basis since about 13 years ago so it's tough to get back in, but i'm glad i've been doing this. It is amazing, today I was upset about something and normally I would have eaten an ignorant amount of food. Instead, today I took it out on the treadmill. Felt great! Don't push yourself and wear yourself out! Take it slow you have all the time in the world. Get on the treadmill or get outside and start slow and work your way up. You can do it!!!!!!

I have a cardiology appt in a couple weeks and i'm gonna ask her to do bloodwork again. I've always bruised really easy, but now my bruises are not going away for like 3 weeks so i'm guessing i've got an iron issue but we shall see. Hope your itching stops! I feel you on the space heater - everyone thinks my office feels like the 5th ring of hell it's so hot but to me it feels great. I was always very cold blooded before but now as I lose I am freezing all the time! My boss makes fun of me telling me if I wasn't all skinny it wouldn't be an issue, but I had to assure him that is not true!

I live like a mile from the Raytown Y! Usually I will walk to the park at 87th and James A Reed by Ohara HS and then run at that park. Small world! Shy, when i'm running outside I have my ipod and I usually check the time before I take off and then when I am done to see how long I was out. You know I used to get worried about what people thought and then I started thinking about it and when i'm at the park running there are some folks there that are pretty big and are working hard and honestly I think to myself, good for them! So proud of them for working hard at it. I never would think anything negative and hope that others wouldn't too and if they do then it is their issue they need to deal with! I've gotten people that have yelled stupid crap out of their car and what not as I run, but I just ignore them. If they are that immature and stupid then I could care less what they think anyway - i'm gonna get hot and they will still be the moron yelling stuff out of a car!

I tell ya for anyone that is wanting to start running the couch to 5k is great! It just seems much more doable and breaks it down so you feel like you can accomplish it. Running to me seemed so far out of reach until a friend of mine did this program and she is around 220 I believe right now. Really motivated me to try it out and it works! If anyone decides to do it definitely let me know how it goes! For those of you that are walking a lot i'm sure you can do it!

I was supposed to have surgery on Friday but they got me in on Thursday. I was back at work on that next Wednesday and did OK, but I had a little more pain than most folks from what I can tell. I also have a desk job, but I stay incredibly busy and don't get up from my desk much unless going to meetings, so if I had the opportunity to get up and walk more at work it probably wouldn't have been so bad. But in my situation I could have used a couple more days. But mind you my first day back was a 16 hour day thanks to an all night meeting so I wish I could have eased into it. Maybe done a 1/2 day my first day back. Everyone is different, but when you do go back make excuses to get up and take a lot of mini walks. Good luck!

I started running about a month and a half ago. I was able to move pretty quick I think because I had been doing pretty intense cardio for a while before that. Had been doing Zumba quite a bit which helped me prepare. Also, I did the first couple of weeks of the "couch to 5 k" program. For anyone interested in running it is a fantastic program that really works you up to it and gets you running a 5k in about 2 months. I didn't follow it to a T b/c I was feeling good from the Zumba, but did it for a while. Here is the program if you want to check it out: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml The run i'm doing is on my bday which is kinda cool. I'll make sure my friends take pics of me crossing the finish line! =D>

Too funny! If you are ever over near Raytown and see a short blonde chick with a really red face that is me!

SOOO true! It was right about this time last year that I made the decision to do this. I would get so winded I couldn't even play with my niece in the backyard and it broke my heart her wanting me to play and I couldn't. Now i'm running and also heading to Zumba tonight. Crazy to think before I would have said if I was gonna run someone better be chasing me with a knife! Now i'm ready to see how far I can take it. Never in a million years - if I can do it ANYONE can! Thanks you all for the support!

Sadly I can't ever get my password to work, so I just make a new one each time I update it.

I also do a lot of packaged meals which is OK, but just make sure you are upping your water intake. Lots of sodium there! Another trick is I buy the bags of chicken breasts and shrimp from Target or Wal Mart that are re-sealable. That way I can just take out however many I need then marinate them in something. I also do the small cans of veggies they are the perfect size. I am not much of a cook, but many people I know will cut a recipe in half so they are not wasting. Just a couple of ideas on my end.

Have to brag a little bit. I'm training for a 5k in September and last night I was able to run for 4 miles straight! Woo Hoo! I want to get the time down a bit, but it is a little decieving. My first .25 was walking to warm up, so I did do 4 miles quicker than the display shows. My goal is to do it in 45 minutes which I think I can totally do by Sept. For any of you that want to try to run i've come up with two tricks. One, making the ultimate ipod mix to keep me motivated and two, putting a towel over the display so I don't keep watching it which makes time go by soooo much slower. I prefer running outside but it's been too blasted hot! Anyhoo, I had to take a picture of my milestone! It has stalled my weight loss a bit, but I think it is just me gaining muscle so i'm OK with that. I also need to up my calories I don't think i'm getting enough.

Sounds like you had a great fill! And I understand the feeling about feeling so good about what you are eating. I was out w/ friends the other night and could have gotten some bad stuff but got fish instead and it felt really good! My issues lie when i'm eating alone and there isn't anyone watching to see what i'm ordering. That is when I tend to be bad! I hope your restriction keeps up! And don't worry - I didn't work out for the first few months but once some of the weight started coming off my motivation to work out increased as well. You will get there!

Oh how exciting! Little girls are the BEST! Congrats!

Agreed don't let it get to you! It took me several fills to get any restriction. My first two fills it was 24 hours of mushies then on to softer foods, then after that it was just take it easy softer foods for the rest of the day and then I could eat whatever. Use this time to start practicing "the rules". As I said in another thread this is the time to do it b/c once you have restriction there is no time to practice and it's PB city! Stick with it - your restriction will come I promise!

Welcome to the group! You will find a lot of great information here! I pretty much ditto what everyone has said here. Stick with it and before you know it you will be back on solids. I was amazed at how fast 21 days went by. Although for me it was the last two days that were the worst but that was probably head hunger b/c I knew food was around the bend. Good luck!

Congrats on your bandiversary you have done great! I definitely understand not being able to take compliments I am still terrible with them and do not know how to respond. A constant struggle and also as I lose more I find myself finding my flaws more. You have done a great job and I would love to see pictures! They are always so motivating!

I didn't have any restriction until my 3rd and even that wasn't like everyone else described. Now with my 5th I finally have that restriction i've always heard about, but still have those days where i'm suddenly wide open and could eat anything. Don't get discouraged - it takes time but when you don't have the restriction that is a nice time to work on those habits. Once you do have restriction there is no time to work on them - if you don't have it down by then it is PB city! Not fun! Good luck!