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Ok, I was saving two pair of jeans because they were like new, they used to be so tight I couldn't wear them. I was looking forward to be able to put them on. I got them out yesterday to try to see if they would fit, and horrors of horrors, they are too big!!! I couldn't even get them to stay up comfortably with a belt. I'm crushed because now they have to go to the good will and I didn't even get to wear them!!! Oh well, I suppose that is a good thing. People have finally noticed that I'm losing weight, one at church and one saleslady at work. I told them thank you and yes it is hard work. I've lost 45lbs and I know I should be proud of that but somehow doesn't feel like enough. I know that I shouldn't compare myself to others but sometimes it's hard not to get weight loss envy. I was sort of complaining the other day and my son said to me that even though I'm losing weight I still look good and healthy unlike two of his co-workers that had the bypass procedure, he says they've lost a lot of weight but look like they've been sick. So i guess that losing slowly isn't so bad as long as I look healthy. I'm off all BP meds now, and have reduced my diabetes meds in half, Doc says probably will be off all soon. I am waiting to go back for another sleep study to see if I can go off my CPAP, I can't wait to get rid of it. I have 4 lbs to go before I hit one-derland, I can wait I'm so close.... but probably another 2-3 weeks. Oh well, slow and steady....

I am still seeing post about what you should be eating, how much you should be eating, why am I not losing weight, why does this hurt and why does that hurt. One thing that should be clear when you leave your doctors office either pre op or post op, you should have a list of foods you may eat. You should have been told exactly what to expect after your surgery and during the pre op phase. If you are not sure of these things then you need to schedule an appointment to see your doctor. I can not believe so many would have this kind of surgery and still be asking what you should be eating and what you should not be eating. In the pre op stage if your doctor or nutritionist has not gone over these things with you then you should ask or find another doctor. When I left my meeting right before my surgery in my hand (which was also gone over with us by the dietician) was a list of foods to eat and at what stage. A prescription for pain medications and nausea medication. I had times when I could start exercising and how much I was to eat in a day. The only way that they lap band is going to work for you is to have every piece of information from your doctor available at your finger tips. Every doctor is different in what they want you to eat so asking us if you can eat something is like asking can you remove your sutures. If you are afraid to ask your doctor questions then why have your insurance pay him or if you are self pay why hand over 16,000 dollars or more. He is getting paid to give you what you need to be successful in this journey. Not everyone loses weight the same and if you want or expect to drop 100 pounds in a few months that is unrealistic. Yes others have lost more then you but it does not mean you are doing anything wrong. It just means your body is not going to lose it fast. If someone weighs 400lbs and you weigh 250 they will lose faster then you. If you are having any kind of pain call your doctor it could be something serious. I think if you are unsure of what you are doing then your doctor should be the one guiding you .

I finally paid my AT&T Uverse bill word of advice check your bill often because they will upgrade your internet without your knowledge. I guess they didn’t get the memo about me being on a budget! Anyway how is everyone? I am okay… I guess. This recovery time is harder than I thought it would be. I guess I can start with the morning of the surgery. Surgery took about 18 minutes and I was discharged around 930am. Once again my amazing daddy took care of me. He made sure that my a$$ sat down and got my meds. And just like last time he went to work that evening! This is why I love my daddy! My coworkers (I don’t know if I told you guys this before but I work with nurses) been checking on me every day especially my partner in crime. It cracks me up when he texts saying how is my patient this morning! (I can’t laugh too much because it hurts) Despite of all the things that been going on with him losing his home and getting his life back on track. He still makes time to check on me and that means a lot to me. My support system has been wonderful to me. They are concerned about me because the first thing they ask me is I hope you’ve been sitting you’re a$$ down! I am but it is hard. I thought I prepared myself mentally for this but I didn’t. I am afraid that I am going to gain some of my weight back when I am so close to One Hundred Land! I was doing so good with my workouts and I really wanted to do my first 5K with Catfish next Saturday but I have to wait and try again. It’s sorta depressing but I am trying to get over it by thinking about how much I accomplish during this journey. So, I am going to put my faith in God and move forward. Besides I will have to do this again in a couple of months because my port has to be put in again. My surgeon let me know this yesterday I will a little disappointed but he told me to continue what I been doing and I will do just fine. Then he removed my packing on my incisions and showed me how to do packing. I just like to say two things: That f*cking hurt! Thank goodness for pain killers and two I am glad my daddy drove me because after all that I wouldn’t been able to drive. So what did my daddy do…. He took me out for some ice cream! I am such a daddy’s girl and a big kid but this actually made me feel better! I haven’t got my appetite back yet but I’ve been eating. I have too because all the pills I’ve been taking and I don’t need to be taking them on an empty stomach. I know I will resume my workouts soon but until then I will continue making healthier choices until I get back on track! I have to remember this is only temporary. Thanks for reading.

Today is exactly 16 weeks since surgery & I’ve lost 55 lbs since then. That plus the 10 lbs I lost pre-op mean I am down a total so far of 65 lbs! 65.4 to be exact, but who’s counting lol. I am excited! I am about 7 lbs away from being half way to goal. I am doing a lot of closet shopping, and now I realize if I don’t try on things frequently, I am in danger of several items becoming too big before I even get a chance to wear them! My sweet & generous husband thinks I should buy new stuff whenever I feel like it, even if I know I will only wear it a short time, & he says there are worse problems to have and that I should treat myself for having earned it. While I certainly agree with him in theory I cannot bring myself to go out and buy brand new things when I am not close to goal yet. I’m cruising ebay a lot. I have maxi dresses that I can wear quite a bit longer without them getting too obviously big, and a Donna Karan wrap dress that will just need to be wrapped tighter and tighter, but my pants and jeans…oh boy when you can take off your jeans without unbuttoning or unzipping them, you know they’re getting too big! So I need to get a smaller pair of jeans….and that’s where ebay comes in. I’m bidding on my favorite kind of Levi’s in the next smaller size and if I can get them for less than $20 I consider that a success. I’m so grateful for the sleeve. I’ve really had no problems with it, except for a bout with stomach acid a few weeks ago. I’m managing it with OTC meds and hoping eventually I won’t have to take it much. If I do have to take it every day forever, then so be it. It’s a very small price to pay, in contrast to the laundry list of health problems that I was headed for with obesity. My relationship with food has turned a compete 360. It is a bit of a mind trip though, because having loved food so much for all my 41 years, I still get excited about it. And then I eat it and after 4 bites I’m like “ugh, that’s enough”. So in some ways I feel like I live with a ghost – the memory of how satisfying stuffing myself used to be. And yet, now after a couple of bites I don’t want – can’t have – any more. (please note this is when following the "protein first" rule) It’s a very strange thing to wrap my head around -- this new ambiguous feeling about food, but it is actually a good thing. It’s what I wanted. I’ve always envied people whose lives weren’t driven by the urge to eat – food was always my obsession. When to eat, what to eat, when to eat next, what to eat if no one was there to see. Now I don’t have that uncontrollable urge, and it is lovely. I hope it lasts forever. I easily & happily stick to pretty paleo type eating, and have recently added one day a week where I have some good starch like whole grain bread. I think that revved my metabolism a bit, although I think it dampens my energy some on those days. I just don’t eat many carbs in the way of starches any more, and I absolutely do not miss them! I think I’ve had some dark chocolate maybe twice and my reaction was “meh” ....so why have it again? I have to say I am detoxed from refined sugar and thank God for it. I was a slave to sugar before. That evil is behind me and I do not ever ever want to let that monster out of its cage again. Because I fear sugar could sabotage me in the future, I am going to be very cautious about ever reintroducing it. My husband, who really wasn’t entirely on board with me having the surgery, has recently talked quite a bit about how happy he is with how things are turning out Go figure. LOL. We bought a 42 lb thing of cat litter at Costco last week, and as he said “ooof!” while hefting it into the shopping cart, I said “Yeah, well I’ve lost 1 ½ the weight of that” and it Absolutely. Blew. His. mind. Now, that was more than a week ago, and he’s remarked on it several times since – contemplating the weight I used to carry like that really had an impact on him. I said, “now you understand why I never had energy, right? Aren’t you glad the 65 lbs is gone? And, think about me losing another 65 lbs! You’ll have to put a tether on me or I might just float away!!” LOL Really, my energy has gotten so much better and I’m less than half way there….it is hard to imagine how good I’m going to feel when I get to goal! (please do note that I say ‘when’ not ‘if’) I’m stoked. I had a great week, and a great month. I track the patterns in my weight loss – regardless of intake or working out, every third week it flat lines. I accept it. The big picture is important; meeting mini goals are important. Meeting goals that are not related to numbers on a scale are important too. I’m all over this! Onward!

My body has a rule, when ever I have a cheat day, my body uses that as the new minimum for food intake. Had a couple of slices of pizza last night, starving this morning even though I have eaten my normal breakfast

I made it thru surgery! Not as bad as I thought. My mouth was dryer than dry, but they gave me ice chips. My surgery started at 7:30am They did the sleeve & hernia, was in recovery by 9:25, in there for about an hour, the to my room at about 10:30. I was on oxygen, they took it off at 11:30, just had to remember to breath deep when the buzzer sounds, they also gave me a breathing thingy that I have to do minimum of 10 an hour, it gets deep breaths, it helps A Lot with Gas bubbles & helps so yo don't get Phenomena I've been burping a storm. Walking around my room & the halls. No nausea at all They are stayed on top of the meds while I was in the hospital, the second morning I didn't have any. I just had gas pains. Also, I was able to get out of the bed & I'm sitting in a what they call recliner... But it's better than the bed. I was able to be out of the hospital by noon the day after surgery, I hated being there, being on the IV & eating ice chips, I was able to walk to my GI & passed, so they said I was cleared t go home. We ran to get my Rx & home we came where I started drinking an Iso Pure, not the greatest, but its protein, i wasn't to bad after I mixed some powder protein with it. took for ever to drink 8 oz. but I did that twice yesterday & so I hit my minimum mark of 50 grams of protein. I figured that was a great start. the only time I took the pain meds is when I went to bed. I don't like them they knock me right out. Since this morning I have choked down a iso pure without added powder & 1/2 a 16.9 oz bottle of water guess that's not bad where its basically 10am. I am not hungry, I just keep telling myself drink this, drink this. slowly. but drink this. then I give myself a break. I weighed myself & I am down 2lbs the only reason I got on the scale is I do my measurements once a week those were not so good, but I attribute that to being swollen, my plans for the day are SHOWER! then this afternoon a walk, & maybe 1 tonight. and of course every-time I remember I use the breathing thingy. I haven't really had troubles passing gas, from either direction. I know TMI, I also had a BM. the nurses had me a bit scared about that. I had it on my own no medicines or juices. I had it in my head it was going to be worse than it was. I guess it's better to thin that then have it be better. now if I could just Fast Forward the next couple months. Hope everyone is doing well.

I have had a weight problem for over 10 years. It started out with just 20-30 pounds over weight but I grew older and stressed I ate more and more. I would lose weight but I never maintained the loss. The biggest gain for me started about 3 years ago when I made the decision to move away from my family for my career. At first I was okay no weight gain but as I began missing my family the more I pulled away from the life I had created away from home and dwell on how much I missed home. That's when I started eating more and more. Before I knew it I was 70 lbs heavier. I tried Zumba and walking to get the weight off but somehow I ended up with a cyst on my knee. Walking or even bending my knees have become painful. In Jan 2013 I made the decision to change careers and move back home. I started getting interview quickly and was able to obtain a job doing exactly what I wanted for a great company. So that brings me to now. I'm happy again but now I have all this weight that is still here. My blood pressure is only maintained with medicine. I received a call from True Results to check to see if I qualified for insurance to cover it. (I had tried once before but didn't have a high enough BMI). On July 30th I went in to my appointment expecting to go home disappointed but I left with the goal of an early September surgery date. Insurance approved my surgery late August for September 18th. I am not sure my goal weight yet I would like to be down to 140 from 269 but I'm not sure if that's too much. I am now 6 days from surgery day and I am getting excited. I have lost 7lbs since I started the pre-op diet. I have struggled with not eating and snacking but I have cut my portions down drastically. I have finally found some ways to make my protien shakes taste better. At first I thought this was going to be a hard time because no matter what I did I could only taste the protein in the skake but now I actually enjoy drinking a few of the flavors.

Today's my day! I took all my measurements this morning and recorded them, did my pre-surgery wash, now it's just waiting until time to head to the hospital. I was excited to weigh myself this morning and see 216.4 on the scale. That is a weight loss since I started 6 months ago of 54 pounds. But it is a total weight loss of 86 pounds from my highest weigh of 302 pounds. I am hoping this surgery is a tool that will end the up and down yo-yo I have experience on the scale all my adult life.

Stop go, stop go, stop stall stall, go, that is how my weight loss has been. I am completely happy with my results. But like others I've seen on here, I am as impatient as a child on Christmas morning! Today I stepped on the scale and saw a movement of 2 pounds in one day. Wow, that's crazy. So that will boost my efforts to exercise, I have begun walking with a friend from work, this way it gets done before I even get home. Only walked a mile yesterday, but I figure its better than sitting on the couch. I have felt great, have no complaints. No pain, no pukies but I do notice if I take that one bite too many or too fast it sits in my esophagus for a bit which is unpleasant. Looking forward to expanding my food horizons, but have to wait till my next appt on the 17th. My surgeon said after 6 weeks I am considered healed. I am noticing a difference in my shape. So far have kept my boobs but they seem to be migrating south, sigh. My legs have thinned and I can see muscle again. My problem area which is my tummy or spare tire will be the last to go, but has shrunk some. My goal will be able to go into a different size by oct 17th. I am going on a girls weekend with my mom, we rented a beautiful chalet on lake Michigan right near Michigan city. There are wonderful outlet malls there galore so hoping I can find some deals. Staying the course with my morning protein shake, and soft foods, the never ending liquids and so on.