Watch Me Shrink

I went in for my February lap band fill. Erin (left) and Heather (right) were nice enough to pose for a picture. Erin is an RN and fellow bandster. Heather is an x-ray tech. All of the staff in Dr. Neal’s office are really nice people!

The machine in the picture is were I sit for my fill. It’s a Fluoroscope x-ray machine. It reclines back and the arm (shown at the top in this image) comes down over my tummy and takes a live x-ray of my band, port and stomach. The image appears on the screen (shown in the left side of this image) and the Erin can see where to stick the needle in the port. No guessing. I’m so thankful Dr. Neal uses fluoroscope for fills!

The needle stings just a quick bit and doesn’t hurt at all once it’s in. The nurse then extracts a little bit of the saline to make sure she’s in my port and then slowly injects more saline. (Next time I will get a picture of the special needle, tubing and clamp she uses. It’s the very best, top of the line for band fills– unlike some of those weird fills I’ve seen done on Youtube.) Then I have to sit up and drink barium as Erin watches it go down through my pouch, band and into my stomach. It’s kinda neat to watch.

That’s it. It takes me a lot longer to type all this than it does to get the fill. LOL! So, I now have 8.4 cc in my 14 cc lap band.

I’m a slow loser and proud of it!

I’m down another 8 lbs for a total of 32 lbs lost. Bye! Bye! Never to be seen again! It has been about 24 weeks since my surgery. So that’s a 1.3 lb loss per week. That is a very healthy average. My Dr and the band manufacturers recommend losing 1-2 lbs a week.

Seeing many of my fellow August 07 bandsters lose 50-80 lbs sometimes makes me feel discouraged and it’s harder to post to my Aug. group. It seems silly even writing it now, but on those days that it gets me down it feels very real. So, I found a new area on my favorite message boards to post, because getting regular support is very important for this process. It’s called Slow Losers Unite It’s good to find others like me or that have been where I am. There is one member that has lost 150 lbs that had her surgery 1 year before mine. I am going to ask her for an interview and will post it here.

There are many good things about losing this weight slow, steady and healthy. It will be much less strain on my body and organs. I’m less likely to have hair loss or need plastic surgery. Best of all I’m more likely to keep the weight off long term. I’m happy to be a slow loser!

Healthy Fish Recipe

This is a delicious fish recipe that even gets our non-fish eater’s mouths-watering.

What you need:

2 Whitefish Fillets

2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Fat Free Parmesan (The Fat Free contains flour, so if you can’t find low fat use regular and add a teaspoon flour.)

Preheat Broiler and spray broiler pan with non- stick cooking spray.

Combine Lemon Juice and Olive Oil. Place fish into broiler pan, pour olive oil lemon juice over top. Sprinkle with Parmesan and stick in oven. Broil till brown and bubbly. It will form a fantastic crispy crust. Delicious!!

About 265 calories and 37 grams protein per 7oz fillet.