Smiley

How exciting! Maybe I need to schedule a visit to Vancouver and meet with Lululemon myself. Congrats!

A lot of restaurants will let you order off the children's menu even before you show them your card. IHOP is one of these. There is only one restaurant here in KC that would not let me use it, but that was okay because I don't mind ordering a larger portion there and then having leftovers for 2 or 3 more meals - it is KC BBQ after all. I may try and use it at another one of their locations if I remember and just see what happens. My card has a picture of a stomach and band and some words, but that is it. If you ever eat a a Bennigan's, they have a salad on the children's menu.

This size 10 is cheering you all on! =D> Come on down and join me!

Wish I had replied sooner as I am sorry to hear about your mother's response. My original respose was going to be that you need to phrase it in terms of you are going to be more disciplined, eat less and exercise more because the band makes sure of the first two items and the third will be up to you, but something you will be more apt to do after putting the money into this tool. As was previously suggested, you might allow your mom some cool down time and then reapproach with this method. I would also be armed with this web-site and any other information you can find about the OCC, Dr. Ortiz and the surgery so that she can spend time researching it herself.

I do the gummie children's vitamins. Directions say to take 2, but I have compared the amounts with a regular vitamin and I take 4. Word to the wise, do not leave a brand new bottle in the trunk of your car over the weekend because they melt and are worse than crayons in that they won't come out of the bottle in a great big gummie glob.

That is exciting - a whole new wardrobe style has just become available to you.

Try the adult or children's gummies.

Been in the sticks for awhile with no internet access canning some great tomatoes from my mom and dad's garden - chili season here I come! Anyway, I think you have to order it from someone. I haven't looked, but I bet if you use a search engine you can find their web-site and they will probably have an option to find a distributor in your area. Or, if you have the time (I do not right now, but May 2011 is coming and I might after that) you might consider being a distributor to get yours at a discounted rate. My understanding is that you can get 3 months shipped to you at a time but they still just bill you monthly. I am wondering if someone became a distributor if we could all order from them since it sounds different than Avon and such where you have to physically go back and deliver the stuff. I was wondering if the children's stuff would be as beneficial as the adults as well because if I remember correctly the children's is a lot less than the adults. I didn't get a chance to ask my PCP about it because we spent so much time addressing my earache and checking out my PS scars. Yes, children typically get ear aches, but so do I as this is my second one this year - guess I am just a little childish.

I have this size as well. I was told that most people find their sweet spot between 6 and 8 cc's. I on the other hand was one of those indiviuals that was somewhere in the 9's before I found mine.

Not to be crude, rude and obnoxious, but what if you don't get the band?

I deleted my tummy with a TT. Afte 36 years of being overweight I had no hope of getting a flat tummy by myself, nor did I have the patience to wait and see.

It may very well be scar tissue. I had pain near my port last fall to the point that I couldn't even breath normally without it hurting so bad. After having everything with my gallbladder checked out my doctor decided it was scar tissue and about a week later the pain was gone and had not returned. It is definitely one of if not the worse pain I have ever exerienced.

I didn't have any kind of an unfill when I had my TT and Arm Lift at the end of April. My plastic surgeon (as well as the other two I had a consult with) would not have done a TT, leg lift and arm lift all at the same time - I asked. He said that I needed at least one of those three areas left untouched so that I would be able to better move myself from one position to another, which made sense. My arms and tummy were both sore, so I had to rely more on legs to get me from a seated to a standing position. Based on previous experience, there is no way I would have all 4 of these done at the same time. I lost too much blood from my combined TT and Arm Lift to the point that I have been anemic the pst few months as well as low in vitamins D and B12. My D and B12 are normal now, but my iron is still kind of low. I have been exhausted because of this and I do not want to ever do this to myself again, be it intentionally or unintentionally.

Whew! I wasn't sure what "IT" was or if I even wanted know. I'm just kidding - CONGRATULATIONS on your accomplishment!

Thanks! I may have to give the gummies a try. I already do gummy vitamins and consider them my treat each day. Haven't missed a day of taking them since I started and I could never have said that if I was taking regular vitamin pills. This would be like eating candy all day long - who says you have to give up treats when you are banded.

I know you didn't ask me, but I'll chime in anyway. I was off for 3 weeks, but could have gone back after 2 as I navigated very well shopping for 3 or 4 hours each day of that last week I was off. It was probably about 6 weeks before I started moving at my normal pace, but I wouldn't say I was fully recovered. I still get pretty sore and tight if I sit down for more than an hour, especially if I am leaning forward while doing it. I tried to swim the other day and discovered that kicking my feel created a major pull in the groin/front of the leg region so I probably won't be doing that again anytime soon. It has been three and a half months for me and I am just now starting to get some of my feeling back, which has created a little bit of discomfort as I must still be a little sore because I am feeling some pain that I have never felt before, especially where he did the lipo. I call it pain, but it is more like being sore and stiff. When I saw him last week I brought up round 2 which will be the boobs and inner thighs. He asked what time frame I was thinking because if I was looking at having it done in the next couple of months he would not do it. He said I needed to give my body more time to recover from the arm and tummy surgery. I assured him it would be at least a year from now at the minimum. The good news is my Vitamin D and B12 levels are back in the normal range so I am on the mend from my difficiencies. Still got some work to do on the iron level, but it is getting there. Also, I am glad I did not have mine done in the middle of summer. I finally got to stop wearing my binder the 3rd week of June and I thought I was going to die before I got to take it off because it made me so hot.

I did. My arms were awful, but they were awful even before I lost the weight. I had and arm lift and tummy tuck on 4/30/09. My inner thighs are bad as well, especially when I'm sitting on the couch in shorts and my nephew starts kneading them - boy did he get in trouble. Hope to get those done in the next couple of years. Prior to this week I had lost 82.5 pounds and in about another week when my life returns to normal I will be back to having lost 82.5 pounds and have pretty much decided I am done losing as I don't want to go down another clothing size.

I asked my fill doctor about getting a little bit of an unfill when I reach my goal and he said no. He said that I know what is needed to lose, maintain and gain weight and to just keep an eye on make weight and make eating adjustments as necessary. If you can maintain without unbearable hunger at your current fill level, I say stay there and see how things go.

Has anyone heard of the supplement called Juice Plus? Someone told me about it today and they said it is your day's requirements of fruits and vegetables in 4 pills. You take 2 fruit pills in the morning and 2 vegetable pills in the evening. She said she was anemic a couple of years ago and this was recommended to her and she feels it helped her overcome the anemia and has helped her feel much better ever since. Evidently they have a gummy version for children (that's me) as well as a powder version that can added to cereal, but my guess is that it could also be added to soup, pudding, etc. The doctor's office she goes to highly recommends it.

I drink after a snack, I just be careful to not take large drinks and if something hurts, I suspend my drinking. For a little humor, my 6 and 8 year old nephews had it reinforced this week that I really don't drink when I eat because they had to ask me to get them something to drink about half way thru dinner each evening. On Saturday we stopped to get gas and I got a drink for myself and beef jerky for them b/c they already had a drink in the car. They were telling me how good the beef jerky was so I asked if I could have a little bite. The youngest one offered me his, but the oldest one told me I couldn't eat a bite b/c I was drinking and I wasn't supposed to eat and drink at the same time. I assured him that I would be okay to take a tiny bite of beef jerky even though I also had a drink. Can't get away with anything when he is watching.

I wish I had a better answer for you, but basically the deal is that the band has a mind of its own and has no intention of being predictable.

At the risk of duplicating other posts - Wow! I am glad you were able to get some help locally and hopefully this will be just what you need to get everything back in proper working order.

Congratulations! Nashville - hmmm, before long you will probably be dancing on stage and singing country songs. Let us know when your first album comes out, we all want a signed copy. Will probably need to get a couple of copies for my nephews as well. They have been with me all week and sing along word for word with every song on the country station.

Where are you being banded at? That will depend on whether or not you can eat the night before surgery.

Unfortunately you are going thru the very unfun part of being banded. The good news is that this time will pass and you will eventually progress to the point of eating normal foods again and seeing great progress. Just do the absolute best you can during this time and definitely make sure you are staying hydrated. I know I didn't get in all the required protein while I was on liquids, but once I was able to eat real food the rules about protein were adhered to.