Smiley

Yep, it has to do with your port area and that incision. Your band is located behind your sternum in the area between your breasts.

Rewarding yourself is good, just not necessarily with food. Set a mini goal for yourself such as when I get to XYZ weight I am going to get a pedi/mani, get a massage, get a sitter and go to a movie in the middle of the day, or whatever it is. You had mentioned plastic surgery before, make that your end goal that once you reach your final weightloss goal that you will start consulting with plastic surgeons, even if you can't afford the actual surgery at the moment. This should at least give you something else to work towards and will definitely be a reward for all of your hard work. I am a rebel as well. You tell me I can't do something I will do everything in my power to prove you wrong, even if it kills me. Can you turn your husbands theory that you don't need plastic surgery into a motivator - without it hurting your marriage? For me, the money I have spent and am spending on the band and the plastic surgery has helped me with self-control in that I don't want to do anything to make these expenditures a waste of good money. Don't know if this has made much sense, but I know you can do it, or should I turn that around so as to tick you off and make you determined to prove me wrong?

My plastic surgeon suggested ScarGuard. I bought it at his office so I'm not sure if it is available at a pharmacy or not. He said it is better than vitamin E oil, but having already bought 2 bottles of vitamin E at the time of his suggestion I use the oil on my TT scar and the ScarGuard on my arms as they are much more visible than my tummy.

If the President of the United States can be all over tv talking about his cigarette smoking and having a beer with a police officer and the guy he tried to arrest (or whatever happened), then you have no worries about posting an exercise video on youtube that was done in taste and basically anonymously. She is just jealous of you and the positive changes you have made in your life. Keep up the good work and know that that more she gets ticked the better job you are doing at making those positive changes. When handed a lemon, make lemonade - sugar free of course.

Add me to the list! aberg1991@yahoo.com I am 11 weeks out and loving the results as well as eagerly anticpating round 2 - someday.

Something I do with lettuce is to cut it up pretty small so that I don't have to worry about the chewing so much as I find that it is one of those foods that is kind of hard to determine when it is chewed up enough. Although, I am a person who likes a little lettuce with her salad dressing so maybe that is why it works for me. Long live Hidden Valley Ranch!

I did scrambled eggs or omlets on days I ate at home. During the week I typically ate breakfast at work which consisted of a peanut butter sandwich with once slice of bread and a banana or a peanut butter roll-up on the low carb tortillas with a banana. I also had 16 ounces of milk on my way to work every morning so that I would not have to take calcium supplements and to get 16 grams of protein. Between the milk and the peanut butter I had half of my protein for the day ingested with breakfast alone. Now that I am tighter the pb sandwich is a thing of the past, but if I am careful I can still to the pb roll-up. I also have to be careful with the banana as it doesn't get stuck, but it can plug things up for a while.

Don't forget about milk - it has protein in it which helps with hunger, as do the protein waters.

Whew - I was just concerned that maybe you were ingesting liquids because you couldn't get a decent amount of solids down which could mean you were too tight or you were trying to hurry the process along with liquids only. I did get the same warning from my fill doctor that Shelby mentioned. Even though the soups are full of solids they still have liquid associated with them which can push things thru faster than they should be going for a bandster. Just something to keep in mind.

Wow - You Go Girl!!! I am impressed with the shoes, I think I sprained an ankle just looking at the shoes. Keep us updated!

I had no plans of getting one this year either, but it is amazing the things I will do for my nephews!

Can I ask why pretty much everything you are consuming is in a liquid phase. Also, are you getting in at least 60 grams of protein a day?

Thanks guys! I may check out the specialty shops as they might be a little more reasonable now that summer stuff is starting to go on sale. I could also start going to another Y that has an indoor swimming pool and doing laps a couple of times a week which would help me justify putting more money into a suit because I would be getting more use out of it. I still haven't tried on the 15 suits in the bag on my couch yet as I was busy reading all afternoon and trying to stay warm. Besides, who would want to wear a swimsuit when it is so cool in July that I take a blanket out on the deck with me?

I took my first two D3 pills today and they are relatively small and the proper shape to go thru the band without any problem. I bought them at Wal-Mart last night and got 200 pills for $6.

Yes it was! Par for the course I got cold while sitting out on my deck this evening so I drug a blanket out there that my grandma made for me - it was so cozy!

So, you all probably don't want to know that it was only supposed to be about 79 here in MO today. Missed the weather at 10 so I'm not sure where the temp actually ended up at, but it was really nice here. My friend in IN was only expecting it to get to 67 there today. I would of had to go buy some jeans and long sleeves if it had been that cool here. Stormy - Show your husband some of your pole moves and he might figure out a way to have it installed in the bedroom. =D>

After losing 80 pounds, a TT and an Arm Lift you would think swimsuit shopping would be a rewarding activity - NOT! My under arm boobs (as someone mentioned in another post) are gone, but the skin that used to cover them is still hanging around. I tried on 24 swimsuits today and it was kind of depressing as the suits looked good from the bottom of the boobs down, but under the arms it was bad. I also had problems finding suits that fit my double D chest and my size 10/12 bottom. I did find a good fit with tankini's as long as each piece was a different size, but the under arm stuff and boob fallout issue was the worst in these. No wonder the girls with big boobs wear bikini's on t.v., but I'm not on t.v. nor am I going to subject other innocent members of society to that kind of trauma. In the end I bought $300 worth of swimsuits to bring home and try on in the peace and quiet of my own home. Don't worry, I will be taking all but one of them back - I just couldn't stand to hear screaming/crying children and their frustrated parents any longer. Would have been nice if both parents and children had been home taking an afternoon nap as it was between 2 and 3 which is prime nap time. Bottom line is I have to purchase at least one as I have my nephews in a couple weeks and their wish is to go swimming at the Y with the two pools. By my choice their wish is my command but I won't allow them in the water by themselves which means I have to come up with a suit. I have also decided that when I have my next plastic surgery follow-up on Aug. 5th that we will be having a discussion about the thigh lift and breast reduction/lift. I sure do hope this will address the under arm flab and be covered by insurance - least the breast part.

Cheerios and oatmeal - at least that is what the boxes say.

My doctor did a CBC because I scared myself really bad one morning by trying to pass out twice so within 30 minutes of calling they had me in the office. I had felt this way many times before but they were very minor and easy to recover from. This time however was worse in that everything was gray and my head was pounding, even after laying on my bed for 5-10 minutes and I was too nausous to eat. He thinks I am anemic because I may have lost too much blood during my TT and Arm Lift. I am not sure if the D and B12 deficiencies can be attributed to this or not. If you are taking a multi-vitamin each day that has 400u of Vitamin D in it you should be okay. However, it wouldn't hurt to have blood work done once a year since we are not able to eat as much food.

Definitely tell her talk to her doctor and see if he/she will write a letter explaining why the lap band is needed and the best option for her. Then she should file an appeal with her insurance company. Obviously they are not totally again weight loss surgery, now she just has to push and push until the correct door opens for her.

I am deficient in Vitamin D, Vitamin B12 and I'm anemic. As for the Vitamin D, I have taken one 50,000u pill every Thursday for the past 8 weeks. I just took my last one two days ago. I am now supposed to start taking an over-the count tables of Vitamin D3 2000mg, one tablet daily for at least the next two and a half weeks so that will be one of my purchases today. Then I will go back for more blood work. According to my conversation with my doctor as well as the paperwork they gave me people with a Vitamin D deficiency often feel tired or achy. The achiness is often in the large muscle groups. He told me that most people feel better after their 3rd 50,000u pill, but it took me at least 7 before I started feeling better. Although, I don't know how much of my inability to feel better could also be attributed to the B12 deficiency and the anemia. I could see how a Vitamin D deficiency could attribute to obesity because you feel like absolute crap and don't want to do a thing - or at least I didn't. My supervisor was also low in Vitamin D this past fall and her goal every day was to go back home and go to bed because she was so tired. I am now a believer in daily multi-vitamins and eat my 3 gummies religiously - doesn't hurt that they taste like candy.

The band is finicky! A few weeks ago I had eggs for breakfast on Mon. & Tues. without a problem. Tried them on Wed. and that was all she wrote. I lost a couple of them when my fridge stopped working last week and I was glad to get rid of them. Could care less if I ever try them again, except that they were east protein.

Wow! You look great! Where can I get a tan like that?

Congratulations - I think you will be there by the end of July, if not by the end of next week!

Scrambled eggs can be absolutely evil! I am betting your band was not super thrilled with the egg. Stick with Sabrina's advice and do liquids and then mushies for awhile.