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OK....so after all the drama I found here from one 'crazy' thread....and the fear I found from it...tonight I can say that i have PEACE. I made my follow-up appt. with my surgeon (after the initial consult) and went in with my ever supportive hubby (i am truly blessed) and my full paged typed in tiny font list of questions I have come up with since my initial consult on May 28th. Many of my questions stemmed from many of the posts found right here and some came from my continued researching to learn all I can about what I am getting into when I have my surgery on Sept. 19th with the LapBand with Plication. What I found out was that the band is meant to be a LONG-TERM tool in my quest to remove this excess weight and keep it off...the plication is there to help...i love my surgeons analogy of its "a belt with suspenders". If I am compliant with my surgeon's directions and use the excellent aftercare program that is set up by my surgeon's office I will be just fine. He stressed that any questions or problems that may arise should be called into the office immediately so that it can be checked out....most times it will be nothing!! I know that my surgeon is one of the best with the proper training and experience performing LapBand with Plication. I am in good hands and this is the BEST DECISION FOR ME! What I take from this...if you have questions ASK YOUR SURGEON...if you have doubts about what your are going to do....ASK YOUR SURGEON....if you don't truly know what you are getting into(pre and post op and long term) ASK YOUR SURGEON. At first I was nervous and felt ridiculous going back to my surgeon and asking my "silly" questions....some generated here and some elsewhere...what would he think??....honestly, I think he was happy I was coming back and straightening out many untrue statements and POSSIBLE complications that I was told WERE SURE TO HAPPEN TO ME IF I GOT THE LAPBAND! I left that office feeling great about my decision to move forward and I take that very seriously since I have 2 small children who count on me every day! And before anyone :ph34r: can say "hey there WILL BE complications"....yes there COULD be and yes there MAY NOT BE ANY! So with that...I move full steam ahead and continue trying out protein shakes to find the best ones for me and I move forward and buy myself some tiny plates to eat from and I move forward and start cutting liquids from my meals and I move forward and start practicing eating slower and taking small bites.... ...and most importantly.....I AM MOVING FORWARD! :wub:

I found one of my trigger foods. It's spaghetti or more specifically pasta. My mom made some homemade spaghetti on Sunday (homemade as in, homemade from a jar, you know, the same line of thought as Olive Garden treats you like family). Really, Olive Garden treats you like family, I don't recall my mom ever presenting a bill at the end of a meal. But I digress. Any way, I took the leftovers home with me. For supper, I ate my normal portion, and a few minutes later wanted another portion - even though my stomach was telling me I was stuffed to the top. I wanted it so bad that I would have cage wrestled a bear for another bowl. It wasn't easy, but I stopped myself. The hardest part - and I can't believe it was so difficult to do - was to throw out the spaghetti. I kept telling myself that I could space out the spaghetti into several meals during the week. But, I knew if I left it in the house, I'd find some way to convince myself to eat more that eventing. There is a dog that trots through my yard daily, so he may be going into insulin shock today! Only 1 other time have I wanted to eat something so bad - it was a banana laying in the fruit bowl. So adios spaghetti noodles, I'll eat you at mom's house, but you won't be coming home with me anymore.

Yes, there are a lot of acronyms here. I've listed just the ones related to weight loss surgery, not ones in common use, such as LOL (laugh out loud). Be sure to let me know of any I've missed: BMI: Body Mass Index CW: Current Weight DS: Duodenal Switch weight loss surgery EWL: Excess Weight Loss FF: Fat Free GBP: Gastric Bypass GW: Goal Weight LBL: Lower Body Lift MO: Morbidly Obese NSV: Non Scale Victory, such as fitting in an airline seat NUT: Nutritionist OH: Obesity Help, another good online forum PB2: Peanut Butter 2 (peanut powder substitute for peanut butter) PCP: Primary Care Physcian PPI: Proton Pump Inhibitor, such as Prilosec RNY: Roux-eN-Y (gastric bypass) weight loss surgery SF: Sugar Free SMO: Super Morbidly Obese SW: Surgery Weight TT: Tummy Tuck VBG: Vertical Banded Gastroplasty weight loss surgery VSG: Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy weight loss surgery VST: Vertical Sleeve Talk, our wonderful forum WLS: Weight Loss Surgery

Hello everybody, today I will be banded. my check in time is 9am. I have been up since 4am, anxious with butterflies in my stomach lol. I am so excited huuuuh I have already took my before pictures this morning to have for a future ref of how far i came. i am just ready for these pounds to start dropping off. I give thanks to the Man above for making away for me. This is my time and it's time for a change. I will keep you posted after surgery and let you know how everything went.

At work on Wednesday they fed us lunch and I couldn't resist the free food. I had a single serving of pototo chips (160 calories) and 1/2 of a big cookie that came with the meal. If I hadn't already eaten earlier I wouldn't have felt so bad about it. So I tried to make up for it by walking an extra mile the same day. Sometimes the temptation is there, it's hard to make the best food choices, but I don't think I went too far overboard. I woke up 2 lbs lighter this morning. You have any tips to avoid temptation?

This is the vent post I never usually make just before I leave LBT for a while. It's the one I think in my head but never say out loud. But here goes: I get tired, as do a lot of the band veterans here I'm sure, of saying the same thing over and over. I get tired of people fighting wanting only their opinion to be heard, or people asking for advice then when you give it, refusing to even consider it. I'm tired of the same story, but different faces where people talk about how the band isn't the tool they expected, when perhaps their expectations were wrong to be begin with. I get tired of people expecting responsibility for their weight loss to be taken right out of their hands just because they got a little plastic ring put around their stomach. And most of all I'm ashamed to say that I get tired to offering support to my fellow banders sometimes. Sometimes I want to concentrate on me, get on with my life, and not invest in anyone else. I'm now in maintenance and again I feel like I've done enough, I don't have anymore to give right now, nor do I want to. My wish is for everyone to find the kind of success I've had, and to be inspired by the fact that if *I* can do it, anyone can, coz god knows I'm not special, but it doesn't usually work out that way. Instead of feeling like I'm helping, I get jaded and cynical and so damned tired of the BS and want to take a break from it all. Again. So that's me, actually verbalising for once why I won't be posting any more for a little bit. I'll be back, I always come back, but for my sanity, I think another hiatus might be in order.

I'm so excited to be down 50 pounds!! I can see and feel a big difference in my clothes - I'm amazed how baggy my clothes are on me. I would love to buy new ones but financially it doesn't make a lot of sense. I've bought some here & there as I've needed them. Like this new dress in my picture. I had a cocktail party for my company sales meeting & yes, I bought it in the regular size section! Who was happier than me in that dressing room? No one!!

Just another update! Sat with the Nutritionist yesterday, She was a very nice lady, we reviewed my three day food diary, what type of protein shakes they thought were best for this type of surgery. All of the food groups and my caloric intake, what I should be watching out for and what I am ok to eat and not eat. We also discussed what to expect for the weeks before surgery and after surgery. I thought it was a great visit. I also had the pleasure of setting a preliminary surgery date 10/9!!!!! Woot Woot! I am very happy to know that we are getting close, I still need to have my endoscopy done but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m getting very excited. Anyway I have to go to a conference call but I’ll write again soon!

One year ago today I was Banded!! So how was my year? Well, I was very very good for about 8-10 months and then I went back to my eating ice cream, too often. I almost always have soft serve but with jimmies(chocolate sprinkles, if you're not from Boston). I was going to the gym (since December, when my husband and I joined) about 4-6 times a week. As the nice weather came, that stopped. We are going today, we are in our workout clothes!! I need to get my s**t together and start over with my new life. My eating has been for the most part great. I love my morning protein shakes. I drink hot tea and iced tea all day and night. I brew my own iced tea, so it's decaf. I enjoy my large salad about 1 hour before my dinner. I have never used salad dressing, so I know I am great in that department. I do eat bread but only in restaurants with really great bread. I do have Chinese food with brown rice and where I usually eat you can get luncheon specials all day and I bring 1/2 of it home for another meal. Use to be I ate the whole plate full and then some more. I also never have fast food. I hate it. I know what you are thinking, a fat person who hates fast food! WOW! If I did any it was maybe french fries (no salt) (hate salt) or a shake and I gave them up and don't miss them at all. My grandsons are mad I won't go to McDonald's with them. Grampie will take them but never Grammie. So as far as my pounds lost, I started my weight loss March, 2012 with replacing breakfast with shakes and lost 26 pounds before my surgery. As of this morning I am down 74 big ones!!! Could it have been more-of course. I am not perfect. It was a few pounds more but the ice cream took care of that and the less moving of the body. I go to the doctor Friday for a fill. I have a 10 band with 3 fills for a total of 1.5 I guess my doctor goes slowly with the fills and I am fine with that. Everyone is different with your loss, eating and working out. Be you and not someone you're not. We do all compare ourselves to everyone, me included. Work towards who you want to be. Have a great day! I will try. Arlene aka "Eye Candy"

Well, this is embarrassing to admit, but for the past 2 years I've had to sit down to pee. At some point my gut and the fat pooch above my junk got too big and it was a real hassle (and messy) to use the urinals. So it was just easier and cleaner to sit on the toilet. So it was a happy surprise when I realized yesterday that I could use the urinals again. My job requires a dress shirt. I hated having to drop trou, tuck my shirt tale back in, and fight with my belt every time I went to the bathroom. Now I can go back to hosing down the back of the urinal and destroying the cigarette butts at the bottom. :-P P.S. They must think guys are pretty dumb around here. I saw a sign above the urinal that read, "Please don't eat the big white mint!"