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I was shaving this morning and my wife came in and weighed herself, curious I asked how much? Her answer was 122.5 (she is 5' 5"), and that around Thanksgiving she noticed that her back was hurting so she dropped 5 pounds and had been holding steady ever since. You know how my wife dropped 5 pounds and then holds her weight steady? She simply eats less. Not a diet, not skipping meals, not exercising, she eats less of the things that she eats every day. If she wants a beer or a cocktail, she will skip dessert. This is how normal people interact with food. I am not normal, I am a mutant when it comes to food. The band is my tool to help me pass for normal person

Being into the 5th day of a new month, my energy level is still lagging behind my determination, but there have been some changes. With intent, purpose, and consciousness I choose to remember the basics, because they are the foundation which to build on. Eat much slowly (enjoy the food away from the computer and television) Green Tea beverages throughout the day (it seems to control my food cravings) Portion sized smaller (protein first) Eat more frequently (2 to 3 hours apart) Change happens with intention…. Stagnation occurs because Change never took place. Off I go...

Lets see where do I began...... This journey is a long time coming for me. I didn't just wake up one day, tired of being fat. Honestly I've been tired a long time. I guess now I'm just brave enough to really do something about it. That's why I'm writing this blog. I want to remember every step of this journey. One day I want to look back and see how far I've really come. In order to do that I have to start from the begining. I've struggled with my weight my whole life. I can remember my sister finding a note from the school nurse when I was in the fifth grade. The note was letting my mom know that I was 10 yrs old and 150lbs. The nurse wanted her to monitor my eating over the summer. How embarrasing is that ? By middle and high school my height kind of evened everything out. I still wasn't headlining any swimsuit issues, but at 5'9" I stood pretty tall and curvy. I was okay with that. fast forward 8yrs. I met the love of my life and I had just gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. I quit my job to become a stay at home mom, and everything went down hill from there. Don't get me wrong, My babies were the best thing that happened to me. I started my pregnancy at 280lbs, but I was so sick during the first 8 months with morning sickness, that when I gave birth I weighed 245lbs. Staying at home with no job and not doing any exercise. My weight skyrocketed to 375lbs . I wasn't happy and neither was my husband . I tried every diet and workout video known to man. After many months of hard work I got down to 330lbs. This is where I am stuck. I have gotten as far down as 316lbs. But every time I hit a stall I get discouraged and balloon back up to 330lbs. I'm been riding this weight loss/gain rollercoaster for 10 yrs and now I'm ready to get off......... I contacted a doctors office in my area (Cooper Hospital in Camden, NJ) Dr. Rohit Patel is my surgeon. I went to my first appointment on October 2, 2012. I got the information and decided to wait until after the holidays to schedule my pre-op appts. Not so I could pig out on food, but this was the first Thanksgiving and Christmas I would be able to spend with my kids in 3 yrs since I left my job in September for eye surgery. I'm not good with pain and didn't want to be a party pooper for the holidays. Now its the beginning of February. I contacted my Surgeons office in January and they got right on scheduling all the appointments I need. I have to do 3 months supervised diet with a nutritionist for my insurance. I have went to one visit and I have already been to my Psyche evaluation. All of my appts are spread out in 3 months. I complete my last nut appt March 27th. If everything goes according to plan I could be getting a surgery date as soon a s April. I'm super excited for what this surgery will mean for me and my kids and my marriage :wub: . My husband has been my bestfriend and my rock through all of my ups and downs. He has truly been supportive in all my decisions and helping me do whats best for me and my health. I looked into this surgery eight years ago when everything first got out of hand. But at the time the main option was gastric bypass. My babies were about 2yrs old, My husband was so concerned for my safety that he begged me not to do it so I backed out. Now with the kids being ten and safer options available, I now feel like I can do something for me. And my husband is comfortable with my choice so I am excited and ready to embark on this life changing adventure. As I write this blog and move forward, I hope to encourage someone who is looking to change their lives for the better. I will document every aspect of my journey, until I cross the fininsh line of my goal weight. I am looking forward to meeting new peolple and making many friends and life-long encouraging relationships. If we hold each other accountable we will no doubt succeed!!! So feel free to read and comment.....To Be Continued...God Bless.

Just got back from my 2 week checkup. Down 21 lbs from my pre-surgery start weight. Doc put me on the puree diet and told me to walk at least 1 hr a day 4 - 5 times a week. That's going to be difficult because of all the rain coming up for the next week. I'm doing pretty well with cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup and peanut butter. But I've tested a tiny bite of chicken, hamburger and Vienna sausages, seems like anything along those lines is still too tough for my stomach. Almost immediately I can feel rolling gas bubbles in my stomach and I have to burp. Found some great food storage containers at Wal-Mart. They seem to be the perfect size for how much I can eat at one sitting.

I have watched every minute of all 14 season of The Biggest Loser. There are some pretty intresting findings from the study. When Science Met The Biggest Loser http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2013/01/23/when-science-met-the-biggest-loser By Yoni Freedhoff January 23, 2013 Yoni Freedhoff It's NBC's Monday night television juggernaut and the guilty pleasure of over 7 million viewers. Now in its 14th season, The Biggest Loser is a an industry unto itself, with a 2009 estimate by the New York Times pegging its worth at $100 million in annual revenue. Viewers tuning in week after week can watch as Americans with severe obesity are routinely yelled at, exercised until they vomit, injured, weighed nearly naked on a giant scale, and seemingly taught that the numbers on that scale measure not only their weight, but also their self-worth and represent the only true value of their health and success. [see Are You Exercising for the Right Reasons?] Consequent perhaps to the show's immense popularity and polarizing approach, The Biggest Loser has led to the publication of a number of peer-reviewed medical studies that look at its impact on both the participants and the viewers. Their results are anything but pretty. Two studies have been conducted that examine how watching The Biggest Loser affects viewers' attitudes towards those with obesity. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the apparent tenor of the show—that obesity is a consequence of personal laziness and gluttony—the first study, published in the journal Obesity, showed that watching even a single episode of The Biggest Loser led viewers to dramatically increase their own hateful and negative biases towards those with obesity. [see How to Spot and Stop Bullying] This result may be explicable on the basis of the second study, published in the journal Health Communication, which found that watching The Biggest Loser led viewers to be much more likely to believe that weight is well within an individual's locus of personal control. And, of course, that message echoes the show's­—that if you just want it badly enough, you can make it happen.The corollary is that if you don't make it happen, you must simply be lazy, which in turn may explain the increase seen in viewers' weight biases. [see We're Not Fat Because We're Lazy] Interestingly, those same viewers who, consequent to the show, might attribute being overweight to laziness, were reported to be less inclined (go figure) to want to exercise or expect it to be enjoyable after watching a 7.5 minute workout on the show, according to a study published this month in the American Journal of Health Behavior. "People are screaming and crying and throwing up, and if you’re not a regular exerciser you might think this is what exercise is—that it’s this horrible experience where you have to push yourself to the extremes and the limits, which is completely wrong," said the study's lead author Tanya Berry of the University of Alberta. And what of the participants? Will being on The Biggest Loser change their lives forever? According to a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, the answer is yes, but perhaps for the worse. The researchers, including the show's own Robert Huizenga, looked at the metabolisms of participants following the completion of their first seven months with The Biggest Loser. As expected, due to weight loss and an effect broadly referred to as "metabolic adaptation," the participants' burned fewer calories at rest following their massive weight losses. What wasn't expected was the the magnitude of that decrease; researchers found that participants metabolisms slowed by an average of 504 more calories than would have been expected simply as a consequence of losing weight. In other words, participants' metabolisms slowed down to a much greater degree than was predicted. In turn, this suggests that the show's approach to weight loss may have risks unto itself and led the researchers to state: "Unfortunately, fat free mass preservation did not prevent the slowing of metabolic rate during active weight loss, which may predispose to weight regain unless the participants maintain high levels of physical activity or significant caloric restriction." This may explain why, when I interviewed three alumni of the TV show, they reported that 85 to 90 percent of participants regain most, if not all, of the weight that they lose, and that those who keep it off are generally the participants who have turned their losses into careers as personal trainers or motivational speakers. Ultimately the current state of the evidence on the phenomenon known as The Biggest Loser is far from flattering. It suggests that the show may be detrimental to both viewers and participants in that its combination of derision, personal blame, and extremes of exercise and dieting fuel societal weight bias while simultaneously discouraging people from exercising. Meanwhile, for participants, it seems to disproportionately slow down their metabolisms to the point where they're burning a full meal fewer calories than would be expected by their losses. [see Why We're So Fat: What's Behind the Latest Obesity Rates] If you're a regular viewer here's my suggestion. Instead of spending two hours a week watching The Biggest Loser, why not use that same amount of time to ensure you pack your lunch for work each and every day and take three 20-minute walks a week with a friend or a loved one. No doubt the impact of those behaviors will be far more valuable and positive to your mental and physical well-being than watching a show that science suggests may be doing more harm than good. [see 7 Mind-Blowing Benefits of Exercise] Yoni Freedhoff, MD, is an assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa, where he's the founder and medical director of the Bariatric Medical Institute—dedicated to non-surgical weight management since 2004. Dr. Freedhoff sounds off daily on his award-winning blog, Weighty Matters, and is also easily reachable on Twitter. Dr. Freedhoff's latest book Why Diets Fail and How to Make Yours Work will be published by Random House’s Crown/Harmony in 2014.

Hello all thought I would stop by and give an update. I went and saw my doctor today for my follow up appt. All went well. I can officially start mushies. Have to wait a week before I can start water aerobics. So I well be hitting the gym in the morning. I will get my first fill on March 5. I want to be down 10 pounds by then. I think I can do it.

Moved to solid foods on Friday, not only have Mistress Band and I not been on the best of terms since then, my weight loss stopped. This is why when we talk about calories in versus calories out, we always need to look at the big picture rather than the daily total. Once my body gets used to what I am feeding it, the loss will start up again. Until then I just need to concentrate on making sure that I am eating what and how much I am supposed to, getting my water and exercise in. On the plus side, I had my first spin class yesterday and survived.

Well, I'm open for business. "What business" you ask. “The business of shedding excessive pounds. Let’s see how I do. Over the past couple of years, I have learned about my strengths and weaknesses, and I found that it was hard for me to achieve the necessary balance. In my quest to achieve success, I listened and tuned in to too many self-made experts which had many contradicting opinions. The fact is that each person in their own skin achieves their goals. But I am not in their skin, so I need to find the balance for me. I’ve decided set aside all of their antidotes for now, and get back to the basic. I will just take things slow and pace myself according to my abilities. Which mean I won't get caught up in the hype to get thin; when it all said and done, I just want to feel good about myself. The journey is mine to make, the work is mine to do, and the victory can only be earned by me. I am getting older now, and I don't have the luxury of yo-yoing, stopping, quitting and restarting. This change must be permanent, for life. Not to get small, but to stay healthy and live better. I plan to keep this post up and running, I plan to stay motivated.

Day 6 of my pre-op diet has been difficult. With weird noises coming from--well, everywhere, sugar lows, weakness, headaches, and even envy as I watch my family munch down on mint chocolate cookies and milk, it has not been a good day. I'm almost watching the clock until I can say 6 down, 8 to go. It has always been difficult for me to diet. My stomach rumbles telling me that it wants food, any food, all food, and quick. I've always been able to lose 20-30 pounds as I diet, but eventually I would quit and then gain back everything plus some. I will not repeat that cycle this time, because I am not going to stop until I make my goal, and then my new way of eating will be habit and I won't go back. I am more committed to this plan than I've ever been to any of the other myriad of diets I've done. So while doing all the reminiscing of diets through the years, I am reminded of one in particular. One of my doctors graphically explained weight loss in the following way: He said it comes down to the basic fact of less calories in than you burn, and that he has never seen a picture of a prisoner of war who wasn't skin and bones. He showed me a couple of pictures even, and gave me a chapter of text to read where some POWs were starving to death, yet they still had to drag themselves to the local coal mine for 12 hour shifts with nothing but a handful of rice for the entire day. Then they drug themselves, step by step, sometimes crawling, sometimes pulling or pushing one another, back to the prison camps where they were lucky to get a small amount of water and another handful of rice. If they searched for a morsel of something else, or complained that it wasn't enough, they were tortured even more. Often these POWs prayed that they would pass during the night, knowing that their frail bodies just could not continue on. Others prayed for help to sustain them just one more day. As we are struggling through with our limited shakes or various different diets, I am reminded of those POWs and how they survived on a handful of rice for days, months, even years, all the while working hard labor in their camps. Tonight when I am hearing my stomach rumble, I'm trying to be thankful for what I have. With that in mind, 700 calories doesn't seem so small when compared to the lives of our brave prisoners of war in history.

I have not posted in a few weeks and have been reading many of the posts regarding the same questions and the tone of some of the answers. I work in the medical field and researched the band for 2 years and went to all of my preop classes etc... I was fully aware before surgery that the band is only a tool. The best way of thinking about it for me is the band holds me accountable to myself and what I eat!!! It is a tool only ,I have done the work so far. My loss has been very slow but I feel 100% better. I feel the first mistake some make is thinking the band is a cure and an easy way out. I have been stuck for 3 weeks now but will not let that stop me. I was banded 11-8-12 have had 2 fills. At my last fill the NP told me "you get it, you really get it"!!! Its only a tool, they cure for obesity comes from within and the desire to for once in my life do something for me and to become more healthy and active. I don't need to lose as much as some but the battle is the same. For those of you that have met your goal, you are an inspiration to me and gives me hope that I can do this with the HELP of my band. I do no rely on the band but always know its there. I have lost 21 pounds with 30 to go and its any every day decision but the band always reminds me how much and what I can and cannot eat. Looking forward to the green zone and until then I just keep doing the best I can. Not sure why I felt the need to write this but hope this help someone the way others on this post has helped me the last few months. By the way I am a 51 yr old grandmother raising grandkids the works full time so believe me I know the stress of everyday life and how I turn to food for comfort. No more thanks to my lap band, accountablity tool