Jann

YAY for you! Take this valuable lead time you have to orient yourself to what you're getting into and what to expect. Your headspace will be 60% of your journey! Welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jann

<dry look> I just can't wait for more on oysters and organ meat! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA I love ya! You crack me up, girly! Of course, having said that, hubby pointed out that scallops are good for 40 grams of protein! Stinky lil buggers that they are! Hugs! Jann

Four to six grams protein per day? I'd be concerned with that advice if I were. you. For example: http://www.indoorclimbing.com/Protein_Requirement.html lays out the given formula for calculating your protein need. If you don't trust this one then google protein requirements . Jann

Yup, it's all the rage http://www.skinnybitch.net/ I live for the day that I get called "That skinny bitch!" instead of the usual "What a bitch!" Some people just don't understand the value of directness. What can I say? Some people might be offended by the tone of this book. I found it absolutely hilarious and truthful! Jann

No core for three months, hun. You have to heal. Lapband, although laproscopic, still qualifies as major surgery. Walk yourself silly, that's what I did. You can exercise your arms and your legs but leave your torso to heal! Jann

I am so gagging right now -- unequivocal EW -- organ meat and oysters. Kill me now!

I actually have no idea why I had that reaction now that I think of it. I would have expected sliming with the gooey bread-line stuff blocking the stoma but not wretching. That really is a good question. And yes, there was pancake syrup on it. And still oysters -- EW! Jann

YAY!!! When it's fun you want to keep it up! Good for you! You will be absolutely amazed at how fast your body remembers. In no time you will become more elegant. I promise! We're only clutzy when we start. Who makes Shimmy? Closest I get to that is the Wii Fii Super Hula Hoop exercise of which I am the Queen! hehe -- I sure wish I had FIT TV that would be nice. It sounds like you get a selection from it. I get Discovery Health Canadian which plays some American content but not exercise vids. I've been following the Diet Doctor series. She goes through each of the popular diets with a person who tries them and breaks down the pros and cons. At the end of each episode the person reports back their progress. I can't wait to see if she does the Skinny Bitch diet -- that one cracks me up! Jann

Jazz, you never cease to impress me. You are just so organized and focused! I love that! Yup, God does love our well intentioned hubbys and so do we! Jann

OMG, I'm not an oyster fan so I can only imagine! God bless them for trying though, eh?! I think today will be a liquids day. It was unbelievably violent and lasted over an hour but I don't think there's any long term damage. I would think that it would have to be repetitive (weekly, daily) for it to have any lasting negative effect. Who would think something as simple as a pancake could provoke that reaction?! I've had two PB's since banding in June but I've never vomited like that. I do slime, especially since the last fill, but that's my fault for not chewing enough and eating too fast. (bad habit!!) I think I'll just be a good girl today and give my poor stomach a break. Jann

Hi all, Last night my sweet husband really wanted to do something nice for me. I was working like crazy and I hadn't eaten since some left over Asian Pork for lunch. I had planned on finishing off the Pumpkin Soup but I was busy and didn't get to it nor did I really think about it. He called down to my office in the basement and asked me to come upstairs. When I got to the top of the stairs he told me to close my eyes he had a surprise for me. I could smell that he had been cooking but I didn't know what. He walked me through the kitchen to the island and told me to open my eyes. There on a plate was the largest pancake I've ever seen in my life in the shape of a heart. God bless his little cotton socks, that was a sweet thing to do! He was just glowing that he had made it for me. (HE NEVER COOKS) I thanked him profusely, gave him a huge hug and a kiss and promptly took three (for a bandster) large bites. I told him I had to get back to work to finish the case I was working on, (in court this morning) and I would take it with me and eat it in the office. (I knew I wouldn't be eating any more of it) No sooner did I get to the office when I started to wretch. I mean violent, angry wretching like I have never known. I spent the next hour with my head in my garbage can because I didn't want to hurt his feelings and fed the pancake to the dog. (The dog was getting the pancake from the moment I left the kitchen) Now, before you say it, I know I shouldn't have eaten any of the pancake nor did I particularly want to but I just couldn't hurt Hubby's feelings. He really meant well. Usually I can eat toast so he assumed that I could eat pancake. I also knew the moment I saw it that there was a potential problem with eating it although I assumed it would be sliming. I do slime a fair bit since my last fill but it only lasts like a minute. (Clearly I am eating too fast and not chewing enough. I'm working on that) Anyway, long story short, I couldn't hurt his feelings and I paid the price for it. I would guess from time to time these things will happen as a hazard of banding. Jann

Diets don't work, that's a scientific fact. They are a temporary measure as long as you are doing them. They can't be sustained for the most part. Lifestyle change is the only thing that works. Eat healthy and exercise. I don't think you are at all dramatic, Kim. I felt the same way about the band and OCC when I found out that it was economically doable. I've spent literally YEARS up and down and agonizing about my weight. I finally just made the decision I was "NOT GONNA BE THE FAT GIRL IN THE ROOM" anymore! (I actually did use those words with my hubby when I talked to him about it) I don't regret not one single moment of my banding experience. Having said that it's a very personal decision to go forward or not and only you, Teyann, knows if you made the right one. Good luck whatever you do and know you are always welcome here. Jann

Thank you so much for that hilarious post! It's good to see that we're not alone out there. I worked to the wee hours this morning and just got up for morning coffee. I just wanted you to know you put a big smile on my face that will carry through the day. Thanks for that! Jann Keep up the amazing work! I'm going to go do Wii fit now -- it is quite a bit less painful than the one you're working on!

Good luck with your fill! Jann

Damn, I'm working tonight and I missed it! I have to go see if it's on at another time before it's too late. Thanks for the head's up. Jann

I hear that -- yet another year of PROTEST VOTING -- what can you do, eh?! Jann

Wings run on average 90 cals per wing, hun! I nearly died when I found that out. Jann

Hi Jules! Just thought I'd chime in as you are local. I presume you are going to Dr. Descroteaux for your fills at the Lougheed? Not to worry, he won't overfill you. He gives small fills despite what you ask for. He has a preset guideline and that's what he works against. I'm grateful he does it that way but I'm sure others wouldn't be. You are in good hands with Dr. D! Just be prepared, he's usually running 45 minutes to an hour, 15 late. Take a good book! Jann

You can totally do this Tara! I find scale addiction is self sabotaging but it's different for everyone. It's not difficult to see two or three pounds on the scale today that weren't there yesterday but you didn't cheat! ARRRRGGGGH! Be conscious of what you eat, how you eat, how fast you eat, follow bandster guidelines and when your body tells you it's ready it will show you the loss in inches or pounds, whichever. Adapting to bandster life is tough enough without beating yourself senseless because you can't update your ticker in my humble opinion. Mine hasn't moved since I last weighed in (I forget when) but I'm down another size, feel great, move great and people are noticing in a very big way. I'm not in a race. It took me years to put it on and it takes whatever time it takes to get it all back off. I'm at peace with that. Thanks on the smoking thingy -- I stopped smoking one day and just never picked it back up. I thought for sure I was gonna lose my mind but I don't actually miss it and that's after 25 years as a hardcore smoker! I employed the same strategies of bandster life to not smoking, -- no cigs around me, no ashtrays, no temptation. Hubby smokes and I just spray him with OUST! Take care, Jann

Look at you go! Nice work girly! I'd keep the scale and just jump on it from time to time though. I haven't been on mine in a week and a half and I'm in no rush. Jann

Thanks very much, Jazz! It's all part of the combined learning experience. The more resources we share, the better chance of success! Take care, Jann

Thanks for that. Yeah, at ten and change a pack or $92.00 a carton it adds up fast! Jann

Why The Scale Lies by Renee Cloe, ACE Certified Personal Trainer We've been told over an over again that daily weighing is unnecessary, yet many of us can't resist peeking at that number every morning. If you just can't bring yourself to toss the scale in the trash, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the factors that influence it's readings. From water retention to glycogen storage and changes in lean body mass, daily weight fluctuations are normal. They are not indicators of your success or failure. Once you understand how these mechanisms work, you can free yourself from the daily battle with the bathroom scale. Water makes up about 60% of total body mass. Normal fluctuations in the body's water content can send scale-watchers into a tailspin if they don't understand what's happening. Two factors influencing water retention are water consumption and salt intake. Strange as it sounds, the less water you drink, the more of it your body retains. If you are even slightly dehydrated your body will hang onto it's water supplies with a vengeance, possibly causing the number on the scale to inch upward. The solution is to drink plenty of water. Excess salt (sodium) can also play a big role in water retention. A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium. Generally, we should only eat between 1,000 and 3,000 mg of sodium a day, so it's easy to go overboard. Sodium is a sneaky substance. You would expect it to be most highly concentrated in salty chips, nuts, and crackers. However, a food doesn't have to taste salty to be loaded with sodium. A half cup of instant pudding actually contains nearly four times as much sodium as an ounce of salted nuts, 460 mg in the pudding versus 123 mg in the nuts. The more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content. That's why, when it comes to eating, it's wise to stick mainly to the basics: fruits, vegetables, lean meat, beans, and whole grains. Be sure to read the labels on canned foods, boxed mixes, and frozen dinners. Women may also retain several pounds of water prior to menstruation. This is very common and the weight will likely disappear as quickly as it arrives. Pre-menstrual water-weight gain can be minimized by drinking plenty of water, maintaining an exercise program, and keeping high-sodium processed foods to a minimum. Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen. Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it's packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it's stored. Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small imperceptible increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with it's associated water. It's normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss, although they can make for some unnecessarily dramatic weigh-ins if you're prone to obsessing over the number on the scale. Otherwise rational people also tend to forget about the actual weight of the food they eat. For this reason, it's wise to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you've had anything to eat or drink. Swallowing a bunch of food before you step on the scale is no different than putting a bunch of rocks in your pocket. The 5 pounds that you gain right after a huge dinner is not fat. It's the actual weight of everything you've had to eat and drink. The added weight of the meal will be gone several hours later when you've finished digesting it. Exercise physiologists tell us that in order to store one pound of fat, you need to eat 3,500 calories more than your body is able to burn. In other words, to actually store the above dinner as 5 pounds of fat, it would have to contain a whopping 17,500 calories. This is not likely, in fact it's not humanly possible. So when the scale goes up 3 or 4 pounds overnight, rest easy, it's likely to be water, glycogen, and the weight of your dinner. Keep in mind that the 3,500 calorie rule works in reverse also. In order to lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in. Generally, it's only possible to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. When you follow a very low calorie diet that causes your weight to drop 10 pounds in 7 days, it's physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you're really losing is water, glycogen, and muscle. This brings us to the scale's sneakiest attribute. It doesn't just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and all. When you lose "weight," that doesn't necessarily mean that you've lost fat. In fact, the scale has no way of telling you what you've lost (or gained). Losing muscle is nothing to celebrate. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns, even when you're just sitting around. That's one reason why a fit, active person is able to eat considerably more food than the dieter who is unwittingly destroying muscle tissue. Robin Landis, author of "Body Fueling," compares fat and muscles to feathers and gold. One pound of fat is like a big fluffy, lumpy bunch of feathers, and one pound of muscle is small and valuable like a piece of gold. Obviously, you want to lose the dumpy, bulky feathers and keep the sleek beautiful gold. The problem with the scale is that it doesn't differentiate between the two. It can't tell you how much of your total body weight is lean tissue and how much is fat. There are several other measuring techniques that can accomplish this, although they vary in convenience, accuracy, and cost. Skin-fold calipers pinch and measure fat folds at various locations on the body, hydrostatic (or underwater) weighing involves exhaling all of the air from your lungs before being lowered into a tank of water, and bioelectrical impedance measures the degree to which your body fat impedes a mild electrical current. If the thought of being pinched, dunked, or gently zapped just doesn't appeal to you, don't worry. The best measurement tool of all turns out to be your very own eyes. How do you look? How do you feel? How do your clothes fit? Are your rings looser? Do your muscles feel firmer? These are the true measurements of success. If you are exercising and eating right, don't be discouraged by a small gain on the scale. Fluctuations are perfectly normal. Expect them to happen and take them in stride. It's a matter of mind over scale. Jann

http://www.livingafterwls.com/Recipes.html Jann

Thanks Kitty. I still suffer from stiffness around cameras unfortunately. I can barely keep my eyes open nevermind smile too! hehe Jann