Linnipoo

Ok, newbie question: What's an NSV?

Dear Kristi, So I was reading your Six-month bandiversary post and it's true that you are really REALLY inspiring! I know you must get asked this all the time, so forgive me if it's here and I just didn't see it, but... Can we have your battle plan? Pretty please? What do you do for food, supplements, workouts, the whole kit-n-caboodle! I would LOVE to follow in your footsteps! I made it a post instead of a message because I think it's information that all us newbies would dearly like to have. Thanks so much and sorry to bug you! Linnipoo

That's right! Total breeze

Ok, so here are some things that are just really really good for you, but a little spendy and a lot icky tasting. I don't make much as a college student, but I figure I'm already in debt for the procedure, I might as well make the payments worth it. I decided that I'M worth it. And the powders last well over a month, maybe even two, so it's a good long term food investment. Here's what I have been using: Juvo 100% Raw Whole Food Super Food Juvo Natural Raw Meal Whole Food *** 1 Scoop or less of each in light chocolate soy milk. It tastes gross, so I add chocolate Ovaltine. I do what a gotta do This stuff is FULL of nutrients, probiotics, enzymes, and other health-nut stuff. It just straight up gives your cells what they need with minimal waste. It makes me feel like I just naturally have energy, as opposed to a stimulant feeling where I'm just waiting for the crash. I don't even drink coffee anymore. I discovered it while cramming day and night for a truly brutal set of finals. It's like my secret weapon now. If you pick just one, go for the 1st one. It's more of a meal replacement. Lifetime Life's Basics Liquid Multiple Whole Food Concentrate A liquid multi with some other health nut stuff in it. Everybody needs a multivitamin. This one is liquid and easily absorbed. And gross. Take it like a shot and chase it with some juice or something. Don't mix it, because then you'll just have a whole big cup of gross to choke down. Genesis Liquid Protein Dietary Supplement 15 grams of protein per ounce. Also gross. I take it the same way I take the multi, but not every day because there is only so much gross a human should have to endure. This stuff will shut up a hunger pang in no time flat. This parade of ICK is how I start my day. But it does the job. Makes broth seem like a luscious indulgence. I don't get very hungry since I started this regimen and I can tell my body appreciates it. My incisions are healing super fast, my hair looks great, my skin and eyes are clearer than they've been in a decade (if I were a dog, this is where I would say that my coat is really shiny) AND I'm losing weight the way I normally lose my keys. I got most of the above at LuckyVitamin.com. The protein stuff I found on sale at my local hippie store. And now I know why it was on sale!

Darlin if you're still sporting open incisions, you should avoid heat. It causes inflammation and can encourage bacteria. While you still have open wounds, you're better off with an ice pack wrapped in a clean cloth. You'll heal faster if the area is clean, dry, and cool. You can also dab the areas with antibiotic ointment. When you're all healed up, you can use this cheap and awesome heat pack trick: Get a clean cotton tube sock and fill it about 1/2 full with dry brown rice (the extra coating holds heat better.) Tie a knot in the end of the sock to keep the rice in. Then put the rice sock into a big ziplock bag. Close the bag only halfway and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes. The rice soaks up moisture from the air and releases it into your tissues when heated. You always want moist heat, because dry heat will desiccate your tissues like my brother's Thanksgiving turkey. Loves! Lindsay

Thanks to everyone for their support! I don't know if this will help, but for those who are stuck, I have a few things to just kind of put out there. In a former life, I was insanely fit and nutritionally WAY overeducated. Then I was one of those lucky girls who gains 90lbs during a divorce (medicating with cheeseburgers, sushi, and full bodied beers) When I got over it, I found that I'm just not obsessive enough anymore to be the uber-fit creature I was before. And anyway, that person had no life. Nuts to that. And if I'm physically able to eat sushi and cheeseburgers, I'm gonna find a way to do it. I had the lap band installed out of shear self-preservation! Annnnyway, back to the point, If you know deep down that you're just making self destructive food choices, I recommend a book called "Normal Eating for Normal Weight" by Sheryl Canter. It isn't specifically about lap band eating. It's more about de-demonizing your hunger and rediscovering the self-regulatory voices built in to every organism, including us. I'm just reading it now, and the first chapter alone made me want to cry with recognition of all the crap women go through to develop eating disorders before they even get to puberty, crap that I remember all too well. Anyway, it may strike a chord for you, too, and be a balm to frayed nerves. If you have truly been living La Vida Lap Band and are stuck, you could be undernourishing. After a period of initial weight loss, sometimes the body will go into reserve mode, thinking that your Lap Band is more like a Cambodian refugee camp than a friendly tool. This isn't just a lap band phenomenon, I ran into it a lot in my days of working out 3 hours a day 6 days a week on a protein shake and three ounces of tuna. There are a couple of ways to shake this mode loose: You can take a day or two to eat *a few* of the naughtier things, preferably high in protein and/or fiber, like extra yogurt or a 4pc chicken McNuggets (don't scowl, they're 190 cals, lots of protein, easily chewed to pouch friendlyness, and totally deliver on super naughty num nums. But get them fresh, with no sauce.) Don't go nuts, don't hurt yourself. Just be about 20% naughtier. Then go back to your routine with no guilty feelings. I swear it hits some kind of magical reset button. Option two is to add some things to your daily regimen that are just really really good for you, but a little spendy and a lot icky tasting. I don't make much as a college student, but I figure I'm already in debt for the procedure, I might as well make the payments worth it. I decided that I'M worth it. And the powders last well over a month, maybe even two, so it's a good long term food investment. Here's what I have been using: Juvo 100% Raw Whole Food Super Food Juvo Natural Raw Meal Whole Food *** 1 Scoop or less of each in light chocolate soy milk. It tastes gross, so I add chocolate Ovaltine. I do what a gotta do This stuff is FULL of nutrients, probiotics, enzymes, and other health-nut stuff. It just straight up gives your cells what they need with minimal waste. It makes me feel like I just naturally have energy, as opposed to a stimulant feeling where I'm just waiting for the crash. I don't even drink coffee anymore. I discovered it while cramming day and night for a truly brutal set of finals. It's like my secret weapon now. If you pick just one, go for the 1st one. It's more of a meal replacement. Lifetime Life's Basics Liquid Multiple Whole Food Concentrate A liquid multi with some other health nut stuff in it. Everybody needs a multivitamin. This one is liquid and easily absorbed. And gross. Take it like a shot and chase it with some juice or something. Don't mix it, because then you'll just have a whole big cup of gross to choke down. Genesis Liquid Protein Dietary Supplement 15 grams of protein per ounce. Also gross. I take it the same way I take the multi, but not every day because there is only so much gross a human should have to endure. This stuff will shut up a hunger pang in no time flat. This parade of ICK is how I start my day. But it does the job. Makes broth seem like a luscious indulgence. Lunch is one of those Dannon liquid yogurt things, and usually another, normal thickness 100 cal yogurt, because it hangs out in my tummy longer and makes me feel satisfied, but I know there's no chance of it getting stuck. Dinner is broth followed by some herbal tea. I don't get very hungry since I started this regimen and I can tell my body appreciates it. My incisions are healing super fast, my hair looks great, my skin and eyes are clearer than they've been in a decade (if I were a dog, this is where I would say that my coat is really shiny) AND I'm losing weight the way I normally lose my keys. I got most of the above at LuckyVitamin.com. The protein stuff I found on sale at my local hippie store. And now I know why it was on sale! Hope that it helps someone and that I'm not just rambling on!!

Holy Sh#t!!!!!! Sorry for the expletive and the abuse of the exclamation point but, HOLY SH#T!!! 20lbs! I'm down 20 freakin lbs! Ten since being banded 9 days ago! I weigh 20lbs less than I did this time last month. Wow. I am WAY down past the little red dots on my scale that mark weight loss efforts past. I think, deep down, I honestly didn't expect this to work. I'm astonished, and thrilled to be wrong

OMIGOD the suspense is KILLING me! Do you want 19.95? I'll pay it! The self addressed stamped envelope is on it's way right now!