melting mama

Welcome to disaster...

I broke the other blog while attempting to suck the posts over to this blog.  So, now I am trying to take the posts one by one, over here and post them in somewhat chronological order.  Yee-haw.  I wish I were more technologically advanced, because this would not have occurred.  So, if you've been a reader of my blog, sorry, I'm a mess.  If you're new - here's the scoop, this is my blog, and I write mainly about weight-loss issues and weight loss surgery, with a lot of personal issues intermingled.  At some point, it will all come back together, but I'm going forward with fresh posts.  You didn't really miss much.  ::sigh::

<3 for my coffee.

I love my Keurig. I want to bring one everywhere I go.

That's all for today. I love you Keurig.

Send me more K-Cups, Extra Bold varieties, please. I need more.  This "Breakfast Blend" crap is for the birds... I have to triple them to taste the coffee, and they're not cheap, and I'm unemployed.

I think that's all for now.  ::sigh::

(Look at this sweetness today... she's happy with me because I let her have ice cream.
Nice Mama. That was before I tipped it upside down in the sink and melted it away.  Ignore my obvious state of distress.  I had no sleep.)

Belly Balloons

By MARTA FALCONI, associated Press Writer

Vittorio Campati is a 40-year-old restaurant chef. He weighs 308 pounds, likes pasta and sweets and has failed many diets. His last resort? A balloon inserted into his stomach in a procedure that lasts less than 20 minutes. European doctors hail the technique as a simple, less invasive way to fight obesity. "I'm having this balloon inserted in the hope of reducing the quantity of food that I eat," Campati said shortly before being sedated at Rome's Polyclinic Hospital Umberto I. Being a chef makes that hard. "I eat a lot of carbohydrates and I did several diets, but all of them failed," he said. Inserted down the patient's throat, a round silicon balloon is filled with a saline solution and remains in the stomach for about six months, when it is deflated and taken out before the material degrades. "We introduce a balloon of half a liter volume (about a pint) in the stomach and inflate it so it takes up space and helps slow down the eating," said Dr. Nicola Basso, the obesity surgeon who performed the procedure on Campati in early January. "This causes a sense of fullness, and the patient is helped to lose weight." The balloon, which also contains methylene blue to signal any leak, does not alter the shape of the abdomen and is too big to slip down into the digestive tract. Basso, who has performed the procedure on about 700 patients in six years, said the technique allows an average drop of 33-44 pounds over six months, although the weight loss is often temporary. "The efficacy of the treatment depends on how the patient is able to use these six months to change his dieting habits in a more or less stable way," Basso said. Basso hopes the procedure, which he said is less invasive than techniques like gastric bypass or stomach-stapling surgery, will catch on in the United States. Initial trials with the balloon technique are being conducted in Louisville, Ky., although the procedure has not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, he said. Basso acknowledged the operation's long-term effects have yet to be determined. Scott Shikora, a general and obesity surgeon at the Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, said the results appear encouraging. "I think it could be approved in the (United) States with probable limitations on how long it can be kept in the stomach," he said. "It looks to be safe and can be used to start weight loss for other procedures or on its own." Patients who seek the procedure first go through eating behavior therapy and psychological screenings. Basso said they also are monitored and psychologically assisted after the operation. "After years of failed diets, I got to the point of not being able to go on with my life, or even go out," said Maria Pia Di Liberatore, 21, who weighed 242 pounds in 2003. Two balloons and two years later, she was down to 141 pounds. "Life simply got better, it was a big revenge," she said in a phone interview from her hometown, Teramo. Sabrina Spalliera, a 33-year-old in Rome who lost nearly 66 pounds, described the sensation of her balloon as "drinking a lot of water all at once." "I felt full up after only a few bites," she said, looking fit in a tight, black suit and high-heeled boots. Spalliera, whose weight dropped from 220 pounds, conceded that stomach cramps and nausea were part of the deal, but she is asking for another balloon while trying to lose 22 more pounds. "Given the result and how rapidly I've achieved it, I'm really enthusiastic," she said. Obesity affects 27 percent of men and 38 percent of women in Europe and causes illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension that are estimated to account for as much as 7 percent of the European Union's health care costs. In the United States, about 31 percent of adults — 61 million people — are considered obese. Basso said about a third of balloon patients return to their initial weight after the device is removed, but another third maintain a permanent loss for years and the final third regain only some of the lost pounds. The American Obesity association says weight loss usually occurs soon after other obesity surgical techniques and continues for 18 months to two years. Few regain it all, averaging a loss of 60 percent after five years, the group says. Basso said at least 1.5 million people in Italy might benefit from surgical intervention against obesity, which he stressed is not just a cosmetic issue. "Obesity is not a minor problem. It actually reduces life expectancy by a quarter," he said.

Mornin'

I'm ready extra early this morning - we lost electricity yesterday due to a wild wind storm, and I guessed at the actual time last night before setting the bedroom clock. This means, in a half-dazed state (since I was already sleeping in the chair trying to watch TV with Bob), I set the clock a half hour off- and I'm ready a half hour early. Whee. It's 6am. I was wishing for some natural sunlight this morning nice and early - I loathe the winter darkness, and I swear that I'll never move to Alaska. I'd have S.A.D. in one day! As of today, I'm going to be leaving my house in the dark, and coming back home in the dark. How much does that suck? Yesterday was okay in the intake department - I did really well most of the day, until very late, where the cookies kicked my ass again. I believe that there are no mo cookies in the house, and I really don't want to bitch, moan and complain about food, but he's hearing it. No refined carbs are allowed near me. No matter WHAT they are, I cannot control my intake of them, therefore I can over-do it too easily. Do you realize how much microwave popcorn a gastric bypass patient can actually consume before becoming full?! Alot more than we should eat - especially if it says ANYTHING about "blasts" of butter on the label. I've enjoyed the 100 calorie bags, which are much better in the nutrition department - even if they don't have the greasy heart stopping yum to them. Here's to a "on plan" day. (Diet head must come back, apparently... perhaps WW is in order?) I'm working 7am-5pm which pushes my carb-o-craze time up perhaps enough to miss it altogether. I'm off, with my cottage cheese in hand. Till later....

Chicken

I ate too much chicken, now it's crawling up my throat. Don't you just love when that happens? Chicken, especially, is hard to judge when you're full until it's too late. Canned chicken is quite tricky, because it smooshes down to nothing, but then again, it's still a semi-solid. Mmm, chicken protein shakes! Anyways - working all bleeping day helped. Here's the day so far: 12 oz total lowfat cottage cheese (three feedings 7am, 10am, 12pm) 2 oz beef jerky (4:45pm) 1/2 Dexatrim All-In-One White Chocolate Raspberry Protein Bar 3/4 oz (unsure, but too much!) chicken breast in glop (chicken/mushroom/stuffing bake) (6pm) I'm very full right now - and hoping it sticks with me through the evening so I don't get the cravings. If I want another meal, I might try to have soup, a shake or something good for me, like a rice cake/natural peanut butter (a fave treat...) This day is Fitday worthy. Go me.

Bob Awards

It's apparently time to vote for the BOB Awards. Who knew? I've got yer Bob right heah. I gots me lotsa Bobs. I should win the BOB awards. Wait - it's a blog award? Oops, it's the Best of the Blogs Awards. There's all sorts of categories - including a weight loss one - where, Allan is listed - for his blog Almost Gastric Bypass. Yay Allan!