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Well Good Morning to all of you LapBanders! Are you having a wonderful day, are you having a successful lap band journey? Well I am choosing to have a wonderful day and I have had a wonderful lap band journey. If you can't answer yes to both of those question, you need to ask yourself WHY the H E L L NOT! Hi, my name is Diane, Love to all my BFF's on lap band talk. I have been banded since October 2010, and yes I am a successful lapband participant. I set her dormant most of the time, surfing the site, occasional liking a post or making a comment. I don't really get caught up in all the Bull S H I T that goes on in the blogs or on the forums, because honestly people are going to do what they want and you can't fix stupid. My philosophy on life is to live to the fullest and you get out of life what your willing to put into it. There are times in life when we all ask the question,"Why is this happening to me?" God, why do you put so much burden on me? Seriously, how much more can I take or can I do? Seriously folks don't ask those questions because, life is just that LIFE and it will always throw you curve balls and it will always put obstacles in your path, it is how YOU chose to deal with the curve balls and the obstacles that defines your path. If you want to be successful or optimistic about anything it is your attitude that is your defining grace. Let me explain: What is a pessimist? a person who habitually sees or anticipates the worst or is disposed to gloomy. What is an optimist? the tendency to EXPECT the best and see the best in things, hopeful, confident. Now I want you to read both of those definitions and take a good internal look at your self, stand in front of the mirror and ask your self, Am I a pessimist or an optimist? If that person staring back at you from the mirror is a pessimist, I am here to tell you, YOU WILL FAIL at this WL Journey. You will never lose all your weight, you will struggle at every obstacle the band throws your way. You will whine about being hungry, you will whine about being stuck, you will whine about not losing weight, you will blame the band, the surgeon and everyone on this sit who has been successful or is really trying. Face it everyone, trying to lose weight sucks, and it is hard whether you have Lap Band or some other tool helping you. It is going to be hard work but if you believe in yourself, NOT the BAND, you can and WILL be successful I know because I was and am! So the next time life throws you Lemons, instead of crying over split milk, Make a nice cool, refreshing glass of Lemon Ade sugar free of course. Today, I dedicate my blog to my mother. My mother is 84 years old and is dealing with Dementia. Well maybe I should say we are dealing with mama having Dementia. Honestly I never thought we would be here, my mama was always such a vibrant lady, always a on the go, the life of the party. But now she is scared and lost and what is the saddest is she knows she is lost. She woke up yesterday morning at my house and walked out of her room like a frightened 2 year old waking from a bad dream. She was disheveled and crying. "Di, how did I get here? I went to bed in one place and woke up here? How did I get here?" She was sobbing, it broke my heart to watch. It took us the better part of the morning to reconstruct the night but with time and patience she was able to put her night back together and realize why she was with me instead of at her place. You see we are relocating my mama to be closer to me and my brothers, she had spent 4 days of hell, saying goodbye to all her old friends, her great grand children and grand daughter. She had packed her 84 years up in boxes and loaded them on a big truck. She spent the night in a hotel, had lost her suit case and drove for 8 hours, unpacked a truck into her new home, went to dinner in a strange town, went to bed in a strange bed and woke up scared. Now I ask you, What would you do or feel? Lost, scared, unsure of what is happen, Yes you would and so would I. I told my mama it was going to be OK! She said to me" Di, it may be OK but it will never be the same!." WOW what a powerful statement, and you know what she is right, it will never be the same. But it will be OK, and why will it be OK, because we are choosing to be optimistic. We all know the end result of Dementia, you slowing lose your present, live in your past and forget that there is a tomorrow! So why not make the most of what time you have left of today and continue to enjoy life. We could all give up on mama and just pretend this isn't happening or let others deal with it but is that really fair? So you see, life has now thrown me another curve ball or more lemons, I have whined, I have cried, I have asked those questions, Oh why me and my mama but today, today I am choosing to be hopeful and confident that my mama will slowly descend into the shadows of darkness known as Dementia, I am choosing to be hopeful that she can remain independent with minimal assistance from her family. I am choosing to make Lemon Ade. I know the odds, I know what the final outcome will be but it truly is about the journey and I am choosing to make this a wonderful, hopeful journey for me, mama and my family. So friends I ask you again are you a Pessimist or an Optimist and if you are a pessimist may I suggest you look really long and hard at that person staring back at you from the mirror and ask WHY?

Ok, so I went to the doctor yesterday for my two week follow up appointment. I have lost a significant amount of weight considering I had dropped below 35 BMI by the time I had my surgery. I am officially down 18.6 lbs at 2 weeks! Excited and I can fit into realy old clothes. Also, this is the first time I have been this weight in 12 years. Absolutely ecstatic about that. Now onto why God really watches over me...so many people said I shouldn't get the surgery, yada yada...but the best thing that could have happened to me happened yesterday. The surgeon sent my stomach off to pathology and they found an indicator of a type of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. This I would never have known had I not gone through this surgery. So that was a Blessing in disguise just as my prior denial from my insurance for lapband was a Blessing also. Anyway, where am I at now. I have entered into the 2nd stage foods for my diet plan. It appears to be a little different and a little more liberal than most. I can pretty much eat alot of different foods now. Obviously with the exception of harsh breads, nuts, etc and of course caffine, sugar, high carbs, etc. At my first meal I measured out 3 oz of food. I was sooo excited to eat and feel normal. Wow, let me tell you I ate 1.25 ounces and I overfilled myself, it was hilarious! I felt like I ate an entire Elephant, but it was such a small amount. It was oddly humerous. What I stepped back and looked at is what others see when I eat and will probably always see. To them, and to my current mind, it wasn't enough, but boy oh boy my tummy let me know. I now at least know my sign of feeling stuffed or full, yep I have the dredded LOUD burp. Hilarious trying to go on dates when I got that going on! Oh well, I digress. Hope everyone here is having a wonderful day!!!

Hey everyone. My name is Kelly and I wans to share my journey with you. Please free to question, comment, and give advise.Step One: to have surgery or not to have surgery. I did a lot of research about the lap band before I had it done. I listed my pros and cons of why I would want it and why I wouldn't. The saddest part is that my biggest cons were no buffets or pigging out on junk food! I decided right then and there I loved my life before any buffets. Step Two the consultation. I went to have my consultation done and to my surprise I found out that I had a hiatal hernia which actually was in my favor for insurance wise. I had been complaining to my husband about how much heartburn/acid reflux I had been having and popping tums like no tomorrow. My decision was made I am having the surgery. Step three the surgery. I set up the surgery for 3/21/13 at 5:45 am. Right after the surgery I was uncomfortable obviously but I was able to get some pain medicine. I was able to go home. Day one I got to walk around a little bit and slept for most of the time took my meds as needed. Today Day two. I woke up this morning feeling great I could already tell the pressure in my abdomen was going down later on in the day my incision areas were getting a bit soar. I was able to go grocery shopping today. What would usually take me 30 min to do took me about 2 hours but I got my walking in. I am ready to start my journey to become ME again so I think the best way to get there is by blogging! Anyone else recently had surgery?

For the first time in a long time I'm believing that hard work and determination really do pay off. I haven't felt this good about working out and being healthy in a long time. I would always but everybody before me ie husband kids work. Now It's my turn and I dont know how to act. It just seem so unreal to me. Oh well I thought I would just share some food for thought. Enjoy your evening.

I'm truely all smiles this morning. I went in to have a fill on tuesday and i weighted in at 216. I weighed myself today for the March challenge and i was down to 213. This has made my day. So I started my day off with an egg white veggie omelete. If I had this to do all over again I surely would.

Dealing With Stalls Just be patient. I know it's frustrating when the scale doesn't move. I'm on week 11 and I've had at least 3 different weeks where the scale doesn't move for 7 days, then I'll mysteriously be down 2 - 3 pounds overnight. Your body is just acclimating to the lower calorie intake and sometimes it is holding onto every calorie, trying to replace the glycogen stores in the muscles. I don't have a formula for getting the scale moving again, but I do try to mix things up to keep my body from getting used to a set pattern. I walk a little extra, up my vegetable intake, or eat low carb for a day or two to see how my body will react. I was eating pistachio nuts and sunflower seeds last week and EEEEEKKKKKK! I gained 2 lbs that week. Monday I went back to basics of eating my refried beans and chicken (eating 4oz every 2 hours), this morning I've lost the extra 2 lbs plus another 1lb. For the 1st time in 4 years I'm under 310lbs.

Geesh, I am just a few days Post Op and this liquid diet is very hard. I am having a battle with my mind. I want to eat something but I am not hungry. I hope this feeling goes away soon. I am able to walk around but still have alot of tightness in my stomach. I must say my energy level is still not where I would like it to be but I guess that is from not having much protein. I take two chewable vitamins a day. I try to stay away from the pain medicine because it makes me very drowsy. I will be updating thisblog throughout the week. I hope to connect with people for encouragement and just overall feedback. Thanks for reading

So, I had my surgery on Monday the 18th and came home from the hospital on Thursday. Have to say the staff at the hospital was wonderful.....too bad I got the roommate from HELL! Is there no such thing as hospital ettiquite????? This woman was so loud and obnoxious....on the phone constantly, swearing and just an over-all b***h. Made my stay almost unbearable....the staff felt so bad for me and tried to get me out of the room...but they were full. Anyway (thanks for letting me vent), everything went well and I am feeling pretty good....except for the Gas!!! OY>>> I am so lucky to have a wonderful husband who has been right by my side the whole time, changing my dressings, forcing me to drink the dreaded water, etc. Am even going to venture out tom. and go to a baby shower for a while....think I can liquify some cake..LOL! want to say Thanks for all the well wishes you guys sent me and for your words of advice. This is a journey and we all have a story to tell.....mine is just beginning and I am so excited but have to rememebr this is not a quick fix. There is lots of work ahead but one day at a time sounds good to me right now. Take care, Ellen

I am 9 weeks post -op and I am really starting to get excited. I am allowed more food than I am eating right now-- but the scale keeps moving down so I am going to stick with what I am doing. At Christmas I weighed 284. Just before my surgery (January 14, 2013) I weighed 264. I wish I had measurements but I never took them. Today I weigh 210. So since surgery I have lost 54 pounds. FEELS AWESOME. Can't wait to see how it feels to lose the next 54. I have not shopped yet for any new clothes and I think it is time. Everything is really baggy. I was trying to wait for the god forsaken weather to get warmer. I do not really want to buy winter clothes because by next winter I will be even smaller. And for the first time in my adult life- it will be soo fun to buy spring and summer clothes -- I hope.

Who has two thumbs and is cleared to start adding in soft foods? THIS LADY! I had my first appointment post op yesterday, pretty standard and quick. Had my incisions checked out and the steri-strips removed. I couldn't believe how much the little ones had already healed up. The big one over my port is a little rougher looking but healing a-ok as well. We talked about how I'd been feeling (10000% better!) and about other stuff (I'm living out my worst nightmare, having to regularly discus bathroom things with other people). Then I met with the dietitian and we talked about what I've been eating. Up to this point, I'd been doing a protein shake and a half- trying to work up to 2, and a can of soup split in half and eaten at morning and then night, and boatloads of water. Then she just casually slides in, "You might start adding in soft foods since you've been doing so well." UMMM WHAT MISS LADY, ESCOOOZE ME?! It was like someone told me they were buying me a new car, I was so excited lol. I've been on liquids for almost four weeks now and seriously was at the end of my rope. Last night, I tried things out at dinner (so my band would be at is loosest). I made tuna salad with Greek yogurt and a little mayo and hit it with the emulsion blender a few times so it would be thinner. I also tried cottage cheese a little later. OH GOOD LORD. Eating is a whole different thing! It felt almost silly to chew 15 times on something that was barely solid, but I know it has to be done. I had a hard time waiting forever between bites and not drinking while eating. I ate about a cup and a half of food total, more than I intended to do, but its weird looking at such a small amount of food and feeling satisfied. Full (satiated) is a feeling that I'm so unfamiliar with that I don't entirely know that I could recognize it. I actually just stopped eating because I didn't want to chance it. Nothing got stuck, no tummy trouble last night. This morning was a different story. Its like my stomach didn't know how to feel. After an hour or so though I felt a lot better, so I'm guessing part of it was just morning tightness. Yesterday was my first day back at work, where I'm on my feet all day. I have class today and long shifts all weekend so here's hoping I make it through haha. How are you guys doing?