Hi to everyone!!! (kinda long)

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone. I hope you all had a great holiday season. It was a

hard one for me. this was my first banded holiday. and I found out

a few things about the band! I found out that reeces peanut butter

cups go down like nothing flat! I also found out my band loves sugar

cookies. arghhhhhh!!! For some reason it seemed like everyone I

know gave me chocolate (why I will never know). so a few days after

christmas I told my son to come here and I loaded up his arms with

boxes and boxes of candies and I said to him " I dont care where you

take this, just get it out of my site!!!! " . So, now the house is

back a " junk free " zone! I swear my band likes junk more than good

stuff. I heard someone else say that before and I thought " yeah

right " . Well I will pb and slime over veggies or meats, but chips

and candies and ice-cream go down great! So, it is up to me baby! I

am in the drivers seat of my life and I Need to make the " right "

choices for my band. I had thought at one point in the journey that

if I got this band that the pounds would just fall off effortlessly.

well that is not the case at all! It is still a matter of self

control and will power. when the choice is in front of you to eat a

peanut butter cup or slowly and I mean " slowly " chew some meat or

veggies to death then I Need to make the " right " choice for my band

and my body! I have lost 32 lbs since surgery and a total of 52 lbs

since the whole journey began. I also got into a size 24 jeans and

that is down from a 30-32 jeans!!!! :-) so I am enjoying the

victories. I am also enjoying everyone telling me I am melting

away!!!! :-) it is so great! So, for those of you getting banded or

just newly banded know this is not a magic fix it is still up to you

my friends! You still have to make this happen! I remember Dr.

Campos talking to us about our nutrition and how you can rack up the

calories real quick even drinking liquids, and he is right! staying

between 800-1000 cals a day is a tricky thing. I think for me it is

easist to keep it really simple. I do a protien shake for breakfast

to make sure I get my vitamins and protien. and then for lunch I

have soup, beans, refried beans, cottage cheese or a v-8. then for

snack I have a dannon fit and light (60 cals and like hardly any

sugar), and then for dinner something like some mashed tators, maybe

a tiny bite of meat and a few veggies. So, I am trying to keep it

simple. I find I do best almost in a stage 3. softer foods with

some veggies and very little meat.

well I will quit rambling now. I havnt written in awhile and I just

wanted to share my journey with you all. :-) I was looking at the

pics and you are all looking so great! such a inspiration to me! I

need to post some pics very, very soon. I posted a face pic on my

myspace and everyone flipped, I also put a new pic of me on my hair

station and everyone went " wow look at that compared to last years

christmas pic " ! Also congrats to you new comers to the banded

world. You will love your band. You get a relationship with your

body that you never had before. You learn to listen to it and treat

it right!!! :-) it is a wonderful tool!!! :-)

take care everyone. big hugs from Washington!!!

dob 10/6/06

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