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I am currently 6 days out of surgery-weight loss is over 10lbs. I feel absolutely wonderful! No real pain from surgery. Finally got a good nights sleep last night as I could finally get totally comfortable. I am super happy I decided to do this. Not only for heath reasons but for myself in general!

Done my first ever 5K Run/Walk today in Johns Creek, GA. Rained the whole time and the temp was pretty cool. But it was a lot of fun and I didn't even think on the wet and cool weather. Think it was better than if it had been one of the 100 degree days we sometimes get. Also had a friend in the 5K that had gastric bypass surgery just 2-3 days ago and she also finished. She did real well through the whole 5K. Kinda look forward to doing another one sometime, maybe soon. :-)

I became the proud owner of a Realize band on April 16, 2012. My band and I have had (like most) a love/hate relationship at times but even at the rockiest of times I've had no regrets. As time has gone on the 'novelty' of having the band has worn off. Worn off in a sense that we have become one. I have lost a ton of weight so far but honestly as happy as I am about that it is not what amazes me the most. What amazes me is the way I look at food now. I am 46 years old and have been overweight since I was a little boy. I use to plan my binges. I was never one for eating huge portioned meals but I was a severe junk food junky. I would eat my dinner with anticipation that I had Cheez-its, ice cream and soda waiting for me as part of my nightly ritual. I wouldn't be satisfied until the 1 pound box of Cheez-its was gone and the half gallon of ice cream heavily dented if not empty. Next day or every other day I would be going to the store to replenish. For the first time in my life I felt I wasn't controlled by food. I have had some strange moments in this journey where I felt like something was missing....There was times when I would be sitting there while watching t.v or whatever it was I might be doing and thinking 'I am bored and I don't recall every being this bored before' and I would get up and go do something. This was my AH HA moment..that moment when you feel liberated, that moment when you think my god what happened? My band had released me from years of food imprisonment. As time has gone on my appetite is almost non existent. I am amazed that I have not battled head hunger at all. I hope this is not a fluke. I still battle with my laziness but at least food is not a factor. Most of my weight loss has been with minimal exercise and it is something I am working on. Now that the nice weather is here I have been going out for 1 mile walks during my lunch hour. I remember a time when I couldn't walk the grocery store for 10 minutes and now I easily do a mile in 20 minutes. I am going to work on increasing the distance. I am doing a 5K Walk for Cancer in September. So was the band worth it? (in my best Adam Sandler voice) Hell yeah!!

Tomorrow will be 5 weeks with my band, my Husband comments on my loss everyday and my kids do regularly which feels great! My husband was saying a few days ago "your butt is getting smaller" after telling me several times over a few days I start thinking, maybe it really is getting smaller, so I say to my son (he is 7 and the youngest of 4 kids, he being the only boy and his sisters are all teenagers, so he is used to these questions and usually puts in his 2 cents whether he's asked or not) Is my butt smaller or is dad just being nice? You can tell the pressures on... "uum, um," and his eyebrows are pulled together in thought, what to do, what to do??? he finally says "I think it's smaller?" I laugh cause he's obviously trying to get this right and I ask "is it really smaller or are you just being nice?" his confidence must kick in now cause he sits up a little straighter and says "I think it's smaller yeah, yeah, it's smaller" so there you have it, either my family is being sweet or it's smaller. I've been really lucky, I didn't have to get a fill when I went in a few days ago, I'm never hungry and have to remember to eat, I don't have many cravings and haven't had a problem with wanting to over eat. i'm losing about 15 lbs. a month or 1/2-1 lbs. a day. I'm enjoying it now cause I know any day it will slow down and I'll have to really start working for it. I am noticing inches and my clothes are getting to big, today..right now, I love my band, we seem to be working together very well! My husband says if you could do it again would you. well right now yes, but like so many others I worry that I will lose 35 lbs and it will just stop, it's scary to think that I paid $10,000.00 to lose 30 or 40 lbs (I was self pay) and then he says... we need to get a bag going for you so every time you put something on that no longer fits (which is starting to happen !!!!) you can put it in it and get rid of it you'll never need it again. I gasp, he doesn't know but inside I think wait, what if I gain my weight back I'll need clothes.... Wow, why is this so scary, it's fun I'm losing weight I've only just started this journey... and I know some people return to bad habits ad gain there weight back, I'm familiar with plateau's and sure I will have my share, but since when have I been so weak to not be able to control myself??? not so long ago. or I wouldn't be where I am today. The band helps the belly not the brain. But you know my family has made lifestyle changes we eat better, we only buy healthy things my husband has lost 22 lbs and my teenagers all lost between between 5-9 lbs (all have and had healthy bmi's) but none of them have the band, we are making our life so that I and all of us know how to eat and live better. so I'm going to stick to it. worry about today and eat right so I'll be ready for tomorrow and then I'll repeat. this plan should work... NO NO It will work!

WLS is not Cover Girl. Easy Breezy is not a definition that can be used when talking about WLS. In reading the comments posted on Fox News regaurding Gov. Christie's lapband surgery, I was disturbed to see that people still see WLS as the easy way out. What I would like to know is what part of major surgery is easy? While lapband surgery is not a horrible ordeal to face, it isn't all sugar plums and roses. I was sick after surgery, felt like crap. Then I had trouble taking in enough. Then I was starving hungry. Then when I started eating again I was terrified. As the first 50 lbs melted away I was thrilled with my decision to have lapband, once I got past the 199 mark, the next 10 lbs took 4 months! I am still very glad I choose this change and committed to it. Just because you have WLS doesn't mean your cravings, desires, wants disappear. We have to learn to manage these things. WLS success requires a huge committment to change your lifestyle. This pathway to health is worth it, but it is far from easy. May 22nd I will be 11 months post op and I have gone from 244 to 188. I have gone from wearing a tight 18W to a very comfy 14. I know longer wear the 1-2X shirts, I know easily wear a large. These things are awesome and make then changes I committed to well worth the struggle. Every day brings with it a new set of challenges, opticles, highs and lows, but it is worth it to finally feel "normal". I no longer walk into places and feel like people are looking at me due to my weight. I am no longer paranoid over it (well almost there). I love walking into stores and being able to find cute clothes. I walked past the Women's sizes the other day in Belk and saw a cute top- guess what all they had were to big for me . My husband hugs me and comments frequently how small I feel and how proud he is of me. So no matter how people view the surgery, no matter if it is hard or easy, I don't give a rats bootie- this is my life and I choose health. I choose to change. I am on this journey. I still have 45 lbs left to loose. I won't make it to goal in a year. But by golly I will make it. One day, I will see the blessed 140's. I am not sure how much more changing and rearranging I will have to do to my life style, but I am committed and I will do what I must to finally acheive my dreams!

Today at work I had to give a presentation to over 100 staff members, the majority being managers & directors. Before I was banded I would get so nervous fearing all they would see was this talking whale…. Today, I felt confident in myself. I knew the subject matter, I was dressed professionally and I was ready. The presentation went off without any hicks and after it was over my coworker said to me, “Wow, you were so confident up there. How do you do that?” It made me think. I am confident, I am in control, I like myself…. No I love myself. I stand tall! All because in February 2012 I decided to put myself first, to change my lifestyle, to eat right & exercise. I got a tool to help me accomplish this, my band, and together we have done incredible stuff. I have changed and improved myself and today I do stand tall. I thank the band for that!

I'm not sure why and I'm not sure how, but early on in my life I learned to lie to myself about many things, but most importantly about what I ate. It is one of the things that I am having to unlearn in order for my band to work for me. Today, even though I ate less than anyone at the table, I over ate and I'm not ashamed, I'm not guilty. I made a choice, and went past my soft stop. Yes I was uncomfortable. No, I didn't PB or vomit. No I didn't stretch my pouch or cause my band to slip. But the important part, I am not going to lie to myself about what I did. I am going to log the calories (as best I can), I am going to eat lightly tonight (protein shake) and I am going to go back to my normal eating pattern because if I eat like I did today on a regular basis I won't lose any more weight.

About me and where I'm at in my journey to getting healthy... My Story… Born and grew up in NC. Now living in GA. I used to be a long haul truck driver seeing the USA through the windshield until a wreak that screwed up my left knee and back which put a stop to that job in 1992 making me walk with a cane today. After that, I had a life of not working and spending a lot of time on my rear end doing not much of anything but letting my body go to waste. But who sees that coming when one has not much of a purpose in life anymore. Mind and body pretty much went down hill. Then around 2007 I had neck surgery on my cervical spine where they fused 3 disc together. Shortly after that I started feeling run down all the time, just no energy to doing anything and feeling bad most every day along with stinging and feeling of pins sticking me in my fingers and toes. Went to get checked out and found out I am a diabetic, have an inactive thyroid, have neuropathy that effects the nerves in my fingers, legs and feet and I now take 5 pills a day so I can walk, ride bike or just simply keep my balance. Doctor said I have been a diabetic for at least 25-30 years. With visit to doctor, I learned that I weighed 383 pounds. I couldn’t believe I had gained that much weight. So I decided enough was enough and I joined a gym and have loved going. Changed the foods I’m eating and in 13 months, I lost 96 pounds. Shortly after losing 96 pounds, I learned I have cirrhosis of the liver, spleen and some other stuff going on. Doctor said it come from being a diabetic and being over weight for so many years. But it’s not all bad. Doctor says not to worry about it if I get weight down and keep diabetes under control, then good chance my liver can heal itself. The good news so far is I’ve lost enough weight that I haven’t needed any diabetic meds for over a year now. But with those problems coming up it is stopping me from losing weight, no matter what I do. I haven’t lost any weight in almost nine months. But I’m not putting on weight either. Maybe because I keep up with my working out and eating right. So now I’m working towards getting Gastric Bypass Surgery in hopes it can be the answer to saving my life. At least all my doctors seem to think surgery should help me. So that’s all, no problems here and I guess that’s all there is to say about me… :-) I protest!! This thing called getting back into shape is turning out to be a lot of work. Wasn’t near this hard getting out of shape!

6 days out of surgery & I am feeling better. I have an occasional tweak of what I'm assuming is gas pain & I don't have the endurance back yet but I am definitely feeling better. I've been up & out: grocery store, Farmer's Market, etc. Strangely enough, even though I'm still on liquids, everyone else in the house still needs to eat That first day home was really bad until my Dr prescribed an antinausea med for me. One tab & I felt so much better. I was able to get liquids down & feel better. Now I'm getting at least 2 shakes a day down & quite a bit of other liquid. Probably not the 80 ounces I'm supposed to but I'm getting there. I've had a couple of bites of motzerella cheese & some hummus. Felt good to taste something other than shakes & crystal light

Had my surgery on Monday 4/15/13. The whole day is a anesthesia induced blur. I don't remember leaving post-op. I woke up in the recovery room & was basically in & out of it the entire day. No pain but then I was barely conscious. My hospital stay was not so great. How are you supposed to sleep when people keep coming in all the time!? I know they need to check on patients, but damn. I did my walking but I had a lot of trouble with my breathing. I finally used the incentive spirometer and it got better within a day. I almost didn't get to go home yesterday because of a temperature. It was 100.4 at the highest. I dropped down a little but I was told I wouldn't get to go home until my temp was under 99.5. Well, I hated being in the hospital. I've rarely been so bored. So maybe I didn't put the thermometer under my tongue the next couple of times they took my temp. Just maybe.... Today is my first day home all day & I'm in more pain & have more nausea than I've had so far. I'm having a hard time getting liquids down. Even water tastes bad to me right now. Gotta say, I'm not thinking this surgery was such a good choice. I've never had a "real" surgery before so I didn't know what to expect but this sucks.