jena

I WANT CHOCOLATE! :cray: :ireful3: :ireful2: :lb20: ( (

Actually, he's a naughty boy! Cedar, I have low fat chocolate milk almost every morning to make the 6 pills I take go down and not stick on my throat. Jena

I make my own bread and I don't have a problem eating it, but I always toast it. I make cracked wheat bread and it has cracked wheat (duh), white whole wheat flour, molasses and resistant starch. It's fantastic, and very healthy, full of fiber. I have 1 piece every morning with a touch of butter along with some type of protein. It's very filling. If you can eat tortillas, you can have a fantastic thin crust pizza without worry. Here's how... 1 whole wheat or high fiber tortilla (small) 1 tablespoon pizza sauce (I use the kroger brand. It's low in sugar, fat and calories) low fat cheese Whatever toppings you like. Onions, green pepper, mushrooms etc. Canadian bacon (very low fat) cooked crumbled hamburger (boil meat and pour off hot water and grease) If you want to treat yourself and have pepperoni, cook the pepperoni on paper towles in the microwave and cook until they are crispy chips. Almost all of the fat will be cooked out and absorbed by the towles. Put the pepperoni directly on the sauce and cover with the other toppings or it will be very dry. Spray a baking dish with Pam and build your pizza on it. Bake in a hot oven, 375 degrees about 15-20 minutes. Make sure you keep track of the calories or you can really overload it with stuff. Other good toppings... use low cal bbq sauce instead of pizza sauce, top with grilled chicken strips, onions and low fat cheddar cheese. Instead of sauce, blend low fat ricotta cheese, roasted garlic, a little salt and pepper if you like. Spread a thin layer of this over the tortilla and top with chopped onion, mushrooms, spinach and low fat mozzarella cheese. Voila! White pizza. Hope this helps!! Jena

My mouth is watering just from reading your post. THANK YOU VERY LITTLE! Thank goodness I don't have any chocolate in the house. Our office manager keeps a jar of Hershey's nuggets on her desk and they shout out to me every time I walk by. "Hey Jena! One of us won't hurt." I finally had to have a conversation with them and tell them to shut the F up. Jena

17 days left? You can lose those 8 pounds and more! Did Dr. Miranda give you a diet to follow? Just stick with that and you won't have any problems. One thing I would suggest you add is fiber. I love this stuff http://www.fiberchoice.com/ They taste like big sweet tarts. The weight management one is my least favorite, go figure. Anyway, it gives you 2 g of fiber per tablet. Some days I take 2 and some days 4 depending on how much fiber I get from my food. You should be getting 25-30g per DAY! If you eat enough fiber, you won't pee as much because some of the water is going to your colon. The Special K Protein Water is fantastic. It has 5g of protein and 5g of fiber. The bottles are expensive unless you find them on sale, but they also make packets you can put in a 16 oz. bottle of plain water. Good luck! You can do it for sure. Jena

Good grief! How do you deal with it? If I worked in my sisters shop, I would be chowing down on the scraps of wedding cake and lemon curd. I told my sister that they all probably have diabetes just from the sugar in the air!

Just tell the truth. Say it feels like someone tightened a belt around your stomach and all you've been able to hold down is broth. The site of food makes it worse. Jena

I'm gong to Costco with my best friend Bill. I'm going to shave my golden retriever, clip her nails and put Advantage on all of my children. The fleas are terrible this year!! I'm going to bake a loaf of my now favorite bread, Cracked whole wheat with molasses. Not only does it have a lot of cracked wheat and wheat flour, I also substitute resistant starch for some of the flour. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistant_starch scroll down to the part on Weight Management. I toast it and haven't had a problem eating it. jena

OMG!! What a doll you are! You are just adorable.

That is so funny! I love that cover. Y'all look smashing! I talked about the very topic with my therapist yesterday. I'm a little concerned because I've lost 40 pounds and I still have a lot to lose. I don't want to answer someone and them think "OMG she's lost 40 pounds! I wonder how much she weighs 'cause she needs to lose a whole lot more!" I don't mind telling them AFTER I've lost it all, but now, I'm ready to stop offering up the information. My therapist suggested that I come up with a standard answer, something like "I've lost a good amount, but I've still got more to go. I've lost 2 sizes!!" She said that most people wouldn't push it any farther. She said if they do, just flat out say, "None of your business." I can't wait until someone asks me! I want to try out my new boundary. Jena

Hey watch it! Paula Deen is from my home town! My sister owns an upscale wedding cake bakery and she does the cakes for everyone in Paula's family. As a matter of fact, the issue spotlighting her oldest son's birthday had photos of the cake that came from my sisters shop. How would y'all like to have a sister with a fancy bakery? I am so glad Savannah is 4 hours away from Atlanta! Jena

lisal that is fantastic advice! I'm going to do that this weekend. Jena

Cathy, You don't have to defend yourself. Several of us here are working really hard to change the way we eat and the way we think about food. The only opinions that count are those of Dr. Ortiz and he has made his opinion perfectly clear. In the end, I think we all know what to do to make the band successful. All the hate is coming from those who want the band, want the weight loss but don't want to do what it takes to make it successful. It's a literal example of wanting their cake and eating it too. "Reasons to follow these guidelines. I have studied thousands of patients and found common things to those who succeed and those who fail. Those that follow these statements tend to lose around 30% of their excess weight during the first two months. They also reach their weightloss goal earlier (sometimes less than a year) and with less fills and no complications." - Dr. Ortiz It's a choice. The choice to "do the right thing" is harder than the choice not to. It is a huge struggle, I know because I struggle with it every day. I was banded on May 8 and I've lost 40 pounds since the end of March. I'm not doing anything to screw that up, no matter what anyone here thinks. Jena

You two get a room!

You know, Dr. Miranda cautioned me NOT to have ice cream and milk shakes because they are so high in calories and fat. She said I could have sugar free of fat free fudgesicles, which I have enjoyed. All 45 sugar free, fat free calories. She told me that having ice cream and milk shakes are two of the items that are considered "eating around the band." God didn't make any of us perfect. However with God's help and the band, I'm going to beat this weight loss thing. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have faith in that.

I LOVE those flavored shaved ice we used to get when we were kids! I'm going to look for one this weekend! Jena

I adore you Cathy! > And your Dr.'s recommendation is almost identical to Dr. Ortiz and Dr. Miranda. Jena

I am bothered when the same people time and time again complain about not losing because the band isn't tight enough and they are able to "eat just like they did before being banded." Before anyone takes personal offense, I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in particular, it's just a trend I see. I am bothered by people who come here and list all of the things they have eaten and how "bad" they have been. Then they ask what they should do. You KNOW what to do! BTW, I believe that NO ONE is bad because they ate something and also no food is bad in moderation. I am also bothered when people who struggle, yes STRUGGLE, to keep to the guidelines of our Doctor and happen to, for the most part, be successful are slammed when they say they are sticking with the rules. There is very little support here for people who post and say that although following the guidelines, they are really struggling. There was a post from Mom12 yesterday asking for ideas of things to keep in the fridge ready to eat. I was the ONLY person who responded! Yet when someone posts and lists all of the things they have stuffed themselves with, there are pages and pages of "that's okay, you'll do fine tomorrow" posts. Like someone suggested, I've quit reading those threads but it really doesn't leave much to read. The posts with pictures are great and inspiring, the posts looking for kudos for not following the guidelines are not. Dr. O told me before my surgery that the people who have been successful (they follow their patients and keep metrics) are the people who tested their band by seeing how little they can eat and not get hungry. The people who test their band by eating as much as they can to see what kind of restriction they have are doomed to fail if they don't change their attitude. He also said the guidelines they give every patient have been created from years of experience and that the patients who follow them have a much higher rate of weight loss. Someone asked Cedar if he had ever failed at anything. What a thoughtless question. Of course Cedar has failed at things! He's overweight, as I am. However Cedar, Cathy, myself and a few others here made up our minds before being banded that we are changing our lives and the band is just one aspect of it. All we are asking for is some support for doing the right thing, when it seems the only way to get support is by doing the wrong thing. You want to ignore your Dr's guidelines? You want to test the band by eating the same way you did before the band? You wonder why you're not losing as much weight as other people? Do you really have to ask. We took what Dr. Ortiz and Dr. Miranda told us seriously. Don't fault us for that. Jena

Hi Cathy, They do stitch the band to the stomach. I have no idea how long it took for mine, I don't remember anything but the nurse putting a thing in a vein in my room. I pretty much don't remember anything except being given a popsicle and a juice and waking up in the night and walking down to the bathroom. Everyone else said the gas pain was bad and they were doing lots of walking. I just slept a lot. I do remember Dr. O saying it takes about 30-45 minutes. I suspect it doesn't take as long because Dr. O has done...what?...4,000 surgeries so he has lots and lots of experience. Jena

It all depends on what your employer has selected for the coverage. If your employer requested it, it will be in your policy. If not, the coverage won't be there. BCBS does offer the coverage, but if your employer doesn't add it to the basic policy, no way will they cover it. Get your policy and look in the "exclusions" section. If it's not in your coverage it will say that bariatric surgery is not covered. HTH, Jena

Glad to hear you're doing okay Cathy! Every day gets better and better. > Jena

Hey girl! My favorites... hard boiled eggs, I usually do a dozen at a time. I use them whole, chop one for a salad, make a little egg salad or oeufs mayonaise (hard boiled eggs, sliced in quarters with a touch of homemade mayo on each one) They are very handy to keep around. I try to use them up in a week. grilled boneless skinless chicken breast. When I grill I always make extra. I slice them into strips, keep a bag in the fridge and the rest in the freezer. I used them for salads, sandwiches and I also make fajitas with them. grilled beef sliced in strips, usually flat iron steak or skirt steak. I use it the same as the chicken. One other thing I like to keep on hand is cooked ground beef. The way I cook it is to boil it! I just cover it with water and crumble it up as it cooks. When it's done, almost all of the fat will be floating on top of the water and you can just pour it all down the drain! I keep some in the fridge and put the rest in freezer bags. It's as easy to cook 6 pounds of hamburger as it is one. I use the ground beef to make chili or spaghetti or whatever. Another thing I like to make is a "tortilla pizza." I buy the whole grain/high fiber small tortilla's and I put one on a baking sheet (sprayed with Pam) and I add a couple of spoon fulls of pizza sauce, a little cheese, onions, mushrooms or whatever veggies I have around, some of that cooked hamburger and/or Canadian bacon (low in fat!!) and bake it in a hot oven for about 15-20 minutes until the tortilla is crispy. It really makes a quick, healthy meal that low in fat and hey, you're eating pizza!! Hugs, Jena

I would like to add to the list to plan your meals in advance!! I've found since I've started doing this that there is little room for spontaneous eating.

That is so funny!! I hate to waste a good teeth brushing!

Thanks for the info! That is a good thing to know. Tomatoes grown in Ga. and FL. have been given the green light so it's a sigh of relief here. I think they are on the verge of finding the source. I once had a consulting contract with the CDC here in Atlanta. I was doing process improvement for the epidemiologists. It was only 2 or 3 weeks, but it was the most fascinating and fun job ever. Everyone there had been in remote areas of the world tracking outbreaks of whatever disease and finding the source. Everyday we went to a different ethnic restaurant! That's the first time I ever ate chicken feet! :lb12: