sounds like I just had a pity party and it was no fun

I have my first fill tomorrow and I am 6 weeks post op. I hit a plateau too and it was discouraging but then the scale started to move again. I actually was eating 800 calories a day and not losing and I upped it to 1200 and started losing:) I also played around with the Carb Cycling and it worked too. Just changing things up helped;) Everyone says those few weeks after surgery are tough to lose.

A friend of mine had the surgery a year ago and she said she would hit several plateaus and that was discouraging but then all of a sudden the scale moves a lot. In one year she lost 100 pounds. So we just have to be patient and trust in the process. Everyone says it takes a couple of fills to hit the sweet spot and then the hunger goes away and food stops controlling you. In a couple of months, we will be there.

I don't think you are having a pity party, I think you are asking a good question. When do we take charge of the food instead of the food taking charge of us? To put it bluntly the holidays just plain suck if your a lap band person starting out. I wish I could say it doesn;t and say the holidays are all about being with family and being together, etc, etc etc. But lets be realistic, most of our favorite times were spent around the dining table visiting with family enjoying food and drinks. I was banded the first year two months before Christmas and one month before Thanksgiving, and had my first fill 3 weeks before Christmas. It was the most stressful holiday of my life, my second Christmas (last year) I had been stuck for about 5 months at the same weight and continued to be stuck until after the holidays. Patience is hard, we all want that brass ring and that wonderful feeling of success and it comes at different times for all of us. Why am I telling you all of this, well I reached the brass ring and food no longer controls me or my life, but it was not easy. My journey had ups and downs, set backs and obstacles all along the way. I got frustrated, I cried, I hated my band, I hated what I ate, I hated what I thought I was missing, but the one thing that gave me hope was knowing that there were people that were successful and I tried to learn from them. I often e-mailed people and asked, tell me about your journey, was it hard, did you get stuck, how long did it take you, when did you stop feeling fat, when did you stop thinking about food. So when did I know I was going to make it and know that I was going to no longer allow food to control me, I can tell you exactly when and where I was. It was 8 months ago and I was at work. I was getting ready to get on an elevator and caught a glipse of my reflection in the long mirrored elevator door and honestly I was shocked. I was thin, not only was I thin, I didn't even recognize the person in the reflection. Food had always been a big part of my life, I am a very social person so parties and families and food all go together. I am still a social person but have found that I can be social with out food and drink, I no longer have to carry my food, I know what I can eat and how much and I know when to say no. I won't lie, I do have occasional days that I feel less in control but I just look up from my dest at the fat girl on the bulleton board and know for sure I do not want to be her again. So your question was when do you finally allow food to stop controling you, my answer is when you can finally start thinking like a thin person. When I was fat I always thought about food and the preparation of food and what the next meal was going to be. Now food is just that food, yes some of it is very yummy, and I love to cook but food made me fat and I prefer to be thin. There does come a time when you control the food and you control the band, for me it took almost 2 years and daily I remind myself of the fact that there is still a fat girl living inside me and she would love to come back if I gave her half a change. So yes be patient but you too can be successful if you just Bee "lieve" Good luck to you in your journey.

Fantastic blog. Fantastic comments!! And a special thank you to LovetheNewMe!!