Phoenix

That's what I was thinking! At $10 each, there's no real "bad karma" loss for you having an ace up your sleeve. I so hear you about putting the weight back on. That's why I got banded in the first place

WOW!!! 33 pounds in month What an inspiration. Congratulations!

Congratulations! =D>

Great article and congratulations on signing up for a 5K!

First reaction: Last supper. It's the last time a maple pancake sausage evilstrocity will make it down again. If that's your poison, pick it well. Last time for everything, right? Second reaction: every Bell curve has two ends. 70% is in the middle and will succeed. They're the 10% "don't go there" end and you were lucky (or unlucky) enough to observe them. Whatever they do, do the opposite and you'll be the size 24 to size 4 in a year. Sorry you were subjected to such negativity. Karma says you have to learn from it and pick the positive. You go girl!

Does he like to shop? Does he need his teeth whitened? Is he still an adolescent wannabe who wishes he were on an eternal spring break?

It isn't possible for mere skin cells and adipocytes to keep up. You'll pull in weeks after you've lost the 5/10/15 pounds. If you lost an ounce a month, for a zillion months, your skin would have time to shrink. If we plan it right, exercize it right, behave right, we'll lose 8 pounds a month. And plateau. Dammit. But our bodies will continue to pull in just because it can't keep up. That's why the Plastics won't take you until you've been at a constant weight for a few months. They'll pull skin, they'll tighten muscles...but your body has to stop doing exactly the same thing or the surgery will look botched...like you're Courtney Love or something. It's why we can gain 4 pounds when Aunt Flo visits, lose it a week later and keep on going. We have some "play" in our bodies. We don't have 12 pounds of play. Plateaus are your body's way of saying "TIME!!!" "I need to shrink. Just chill for a bit." Then you're on your way again. With stretch marks. Dammit.

With me, it's a burp bubble. Just like an infant. After three weeks of liquids, the gas bubbles in my stomach (the lower one) bubble up thru the stoma more slowly. It sits there, not big enough to burp up, not small enough to ignore....like a trap door to my upper stomach. Yeah, it's low grade nausea. Hope you figure out yours soon!

You're normal. All of us newbie's worry whether what we're experiencing is normal ;-) The incisions hurt more the 3rd week as the nerves started to knit themselves back together. They were numb before that. Then the swelling started to recede in earnest. Contgratulations on your first week!

Thanks for making me feel sort of normal. *damn*

THREE dress sizes??? WOW! Congratulations!

On liquids, I would drink a bit, it would gurgle down (you could hear it) and then the stomach gases would bubble back up in a series of belches that Frat boys would admire. Now that I'm on solids, the concept is the same, except that the gases in the "bottom stomach" take a lot longer to work their way up. Yesterday it actually hurt. Is this a permanent thing that I'll just have to get used to? Thanks!

Wow. Even without restriction, three weeks of liquids have done their job. You're done after a few bites. Still full three hours later. Cool! I just want it to STAY like this.

It's a cool 107 here in Phoenix today. I just go to the YMCA. It's air conditioned -- it's just hard to make myself go. Swimming actually does sound kind of nice. No worries about people seeing you in a swim suit. What you think about you is simply a lot more important than what a stranger thinks about you. You're there to burn off a few hundred calories, same as them.

Muscle Milk light ready to drink (found at Costco) 20 g protein, 160 calories, good fats, vitamin filled. Powder form, I also like Muscle Milk in Vanilla and Chocolate.

Oh! Well that make sense. If you're bloated on the outside, you must be bloated on the inside, too, right? Bloat on the inside = restricted stomach. Dunno about all of you, but Aunt Flo brings 2 tor 4 pounds of water with her when she comes to visit me.

Dr. Siegal’s® Cookie Diet™ Make no mistake, you’re not going to be eating Pepperidge Farm Milanos, or Oreos, or Mrs. Fields’ White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies on this diet. No, you’re going to be eating the concoctions of Dr. Siegal, a physician who specializes in hypothyroidism and obesity, and who also likes to sell weight loss books and snacks. However, his proprietary hunger-controlling cookies are a diet-deceiving indulgence; they look like bricks of fiber-coated oats sweetened with prunes. Although they may make you less hungry, the doctor also advises combining them with a restricted calorie diet, which, as we all know, is the main way you’re going to lose weight. I also like how he has trademarked the term “Let’s face it: hunger wrecks diets™.” Uh, so do cookies. Poor research here. I disagree. The Cookie diet is no different than Medifast. Same protein type and same dietary make up, only solid...one "lean and green" meal at the end of the day. If you don't have a soy protein intolerance, there's nothing in the world wrong with this one, excepting the expense. Cabbage Soup Diet Mmmm … cabbage. Good on St. Patrick’s day, not so good every day. Unless you’re trying to lose up to ten pounds in a single week, then maybe cabbage doesn’t sound so bad anymore. But being light headed, weak, and suffering from decreased concentration, as some diet participants have reported, does. Not to mention the inordinate amount of flatulence you are bound to have on a cabbage laden diet. Slim, but stinky. Done it. Took Bean-o for the expected gas. I didn't feel sick at all, nor light headed. It's great to get into a specific outfit in a week, but otherwise the weight comes right back. I find it obnoxious that the writer makes fun of fruits and veggies here, but promotes them while putting down Slim Fast diet. Make up your mind. The Atkins Diet Don’t get me wrong: the Atkins diet can help you lose weight. I’ve tried it, and I lost weight. But man, I felt like crap. And after a week, all I could think about was eating an orange. An orange! Of all the harmless food items out there. Of course, cutting out refined sugars and nutrition-less carbs is a good thing, but not all carbs are bad for you, and the good ones fuel muscles, fill you up, and are pretty damn tasty. Not to mention that the Atkins diet isn’t a healthful lifestyle change; it’s a limiting diet that requires you to eat a lot of not so healthy foods. And chances are you won’t be able to avoid eating carbohydrates for your entire life, nor would many people want to. Works great for some, horribly for me. I was nursing. It made me shaky, light headed and I dried up without permission, even with the additions. Stopping the diet didn't restart milk production, it was permanent. That sucked. The weight didn't come off, either, that sucked even more.

You don't get one dog to replace another, you get another pet to give the extra love to! I have a 10 yo pound puppy and a 3 yo rescue cat. Can't imagine life without them. Ginger (the cat) came to us starved for love, starved for food and nearly feral. After she realized that the dog wasn't going to eat her ;-) she also came to realize that she wasn't going to run out of food or out of love. A new puppy doesn't replace your sweet doggie, the new puppy just gets to help you direct a little love. Sorry your doggy crossed the rainbow bridge. I just wish we could keep them forever.

The best and easiest solution is to pick up the phone and call the OCC. The phone call is free. In my case, they answered a similar question simply, honestly and didn't try to sell me anything. They just honored my quest for information. You'll get Rene or Melissa or Jorge most of the time. They were great.

There's a big difference! Even your hands are smaller Keep up the good work. Vasectomies are the BEST form of birth control! But if he's not ready and the IUD didn't do it for you, maybe a nuva ring would??

If I lived in SoCal, I'd go there without a 2nd thought. Even from Phoenix, it takes some doing. It's reasonable to expect that people go back to the OCC once or twice and find another fill source. My first fill is scheduled at the OCC for the 29th. 2nd Fill, I'll be headed up to a Dr. in Flagstaff rather than TJ.

Don't pull it off! Your skin will heal and replace itself. As it does that, the glue will just come loose. Where it is just hanging loose (like a band-aid that has fallen away), it's okay to remove it.

CONGRATULATIONS!

I'm glad you asked that! I'm 3 weeks out, the port is something I can feel easily, separate from the incision. I think the port "lump" is permanent and we'll get used to it.

I could knock back a full can of broth, warmed up in a coffee mug in no time flat. I can still drink 12 oz of water no problem. Food wise, about 4 - 6 oz, depending on consistency. 6 oz Yoplait yogurt is about the max. Today, I've found that the 3 oz chicken breast has a LOT more staying power. Makes me happy!