Last week i got weighed and measured by my trainer to see how i have been progressing and i can say i hit ONEDERLAND!!!! i have lost about 25 inches totally of my body (10 inches of that is my waist) and lost almost 10 percent of my body fat. when i started my journey in july i weighed in at 265 and last week friday i weighed in at 199. i still got a ways to go but i just wanted to share my success on here and maybe it will motivate someone else who is thinking about doing this. this is not a miracle band of any sort. i have had 2 fills and dont even have 5 cc in my band and yes i can eat like a horse sometimes and i can eat anything i want but i choose not too. i watch what i eat and i also excerise pretty much daily. i cant believe i have gotten down this much!!

the other day i went to the mall and saw some jeans on sale 50% off so i decided to try them on. my friend tells me get a size 10 i was like no way i cant fit into that im still close to 200 lbs. then she said just try it i picked those up and also a 12 and a 14 (i wasnt sure what size i was but i knew my 16's were falling off my a**) and i tried on the 14's first and they were too big so i tried on the 12's and i couldnt believe they actually fit..OMG then i went to the 10s to try them on i knew they werent going to fit. well im half right and half wrong. i couldnt believe i was able to button them up. another OMG.... well i didnt exactly look like a model in them lol they were way to tight and i have to prob lose another 20lbs to be able to fit in them nicely but im almost there. i cant believe 2 more sizes i will be in the single digits again in jeans. when i weighed in at 185 i wasnt even in 12's or anything i was like 14's so i have to say i have to give probs to my personal trainer for shaping my body. i got so much to go i got atleast another 10 percent to go in body fat and maybe another 40 to 50 lbs depending how i look at the weight. if im in a 8 i think i will be happy and satisfied. just got to get rid of this baby/beer belly. lol .........

This is great. Congrats! When were you banded? I keep wondering to myself when am I going to feel "normal" again. I was just banded 12/9 but want it to come soon. Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks and keep up the good work.

I have been banded almost 24 hours! My doctor put me on liquids for 2 weeks...When my husband asked him if he meant one week, my doctor said, "No, she won't get hungry; she has enough "reserves." LOL; I've never had it called that before! Now, tell me, what do you consider "normal." 'Cause I'm the LAST person you'd want to ask about "normal."

That is absolutely wonderful... Keep up the good work. And Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.

thanks for your support guys.. and for questions i have gotten banded on july 3rd of this year. only suggestion i can help as a general suggestion is "POSITIVE PEOPLE MAKE POSITIVE OUTCOMES" my friend tells me all the time when im down and im in a plateau "what are you going to do about it" and that really gets me going to try harder because i control my eating habits and i control my life and excerise. and i am going to do something about it. other then that i can answer any questions you do have about your journey and im more then happy to help you with any question or concerns you have.

also i like to congrat you guys on getting banded its a big step. i dont know about the normal part i still dont feel normal but if your talking about when will you feel back to your old self. well eveyrone is different and some are longer then others. i was in the longer range it took me about a month to get back to myself. i dont know how much cc's the doc gave you wendy but i didnt feel hungry the first few days but after that i was so hungry all the time and soups and jello didnt do anything for me i ended up eating when i wasnt suppose to not alot but i did eat normal foods like in a week (now please dont take that to heart because i know its very bad and its can be bad for you) i never had pb even from the beginning only felt something get stuck like twice and i dont really think anything got stuck really but some hot tea help my throat with that. (i think my throat was sore)

good luck and thank you for your support and commments if anyone needs something that i can answer for them please let me know and i would love to help in any way i can. we all need support in some way or another...

Karen - Thanks for the dose of reality! Congratulations on such great weight loss in a few short months!

I got my first fill yesterday afternoon and am still getting used to it. I find that mushie foods don't stay with me very long. I also am realizing that the band isn't a magic wand. I still have to work on my poor eating choices and slowing it down.

I got the okay to start excercising. I joined Curves before the surgery and am looking forward to getting serious about it. What kind of excercise are you doing Karen? Does it get easier with weight loss? I too started at 265 and am down 14 pounds.

mem thanks for your supports gratz on getting banded. truthfully i dont know if the excerises gets any easier its hard to get my butt up out of the house and go to the gym but i do find myself doing it alot more and harder like i would go slower and my heart rate would be pretty high now i have to go faster to maintain the same heart rate i did before. so i guess in a way it does get easier but you have to go faster or heavier to maintain the heartrate. i been working on running and its hard. but usually i do about 5 to 10 minutes on the treadmill running my speed is around 6 usually and i also do about 30-45 minutes on the elipitcal and that is hard too my trainer gots me doing it with no hands and every 5 minutes i have to go as fast as i can for one minute (that really puts a strain on me it takes me the whole 5 minutes to get back to a normal heart rate and then im back to doing it fast again sucks lol) but i do know that everyday it will get me closer to my goal and i keep thinking that so i can keep going. i also go in the sauna to relax and sweat my butt off. i also have a personal trainer for 3 times a week and she really works my butt there are days where i have trouble bending down to sit on the toilet. but its a good feeling since i know it will make me better. she gots me doing alot of balancing excerise and core. my problem is i have a big stomach so no matter how many crunches or situps i do wont go away without the cardio and sadly we cant choose where our bodies take the stored fat from so i keep going and hopefully soon enough it will take that damn fat away from my tummy lol...