♥LovetheNewMe♥

Ignore them. I am proof that it can be done and there are many more like me out there. Yes it is hard work, yes it has taken me almost 2 years. Everyone's personal success is just that, they do say a 40% weight loss is good with lap band but I have set out to prove them all wrong. I will get to my ideal body weight. I am determined, my surgeon gave me a tool and I am using it to it's full potential and working my butt off to get to where I want to be. Just follow the rules, adopt a healthy life style and prove them all wrong. Gets them every time, my new philosophy is put up or shut up. Good luck to you and all of you, you can do this, you are all worth it!

Awesome article and right on target, I read where so many have WLS and still struggle with letting go of old habits. Learning to face our fears, develop new coping skills and learning that food is for nutrition not for comfort are key to our success. Developing balance in our life is all part of the journey. Thanks for the post.

Nice to see so many new face's on LBT. I have the day off today so I was trying to catch up on the web site. It is nice to see some old friends and some new faces. I am Diane and I was banded on October of 2010. I have now lost 112 lbs and am 8 lbs from my ideal body weight, a healthy BMI and healthy percent body fat. My journey like all WLS patients has had it's ups and downs. I have had my share of plateaus and difficulties and I can not tell you how much this web site and the people on her who are now friends have helped me. I have been a silent stalker and finally an active participant. In the beginning I didn't feel I had much to share so I read, listened and tried to learn all I could about my body and lap band. lap band got me started on this journey but after the initial 50 lbs the work really starts, honestly having lap band is just a little insurance.(sorry if you did not realize this but it is true) It is like having an extra conscious, that says,"Now you know you have eaten enough and if you take one more bite I am going to make your throw up if you take one more bite" "See I told you" I still have days when my eyes are wanting way more than my tummy will hold, and my 3rd conscious (hubby) says, Di ya gotta lot of food on your plate, you know you can't eat all that. I hate it but he is right. I can not say enough about my family, friends, co-workers and cyber friends. With out all of their support I would never have made it. They have held me accountable and challenged me when I felt things were stalled. Hard work, dedication, goal setting and sticking to the program works. The old saying is so true, "You are what you eat!" I love eating healthy now, I feel so much better, I have so much more energy and I am off all of my asthma medications and blood pressure medications. I never thought that would happen! I love exercising and I love working out with a trainer. Yes it is hard work, yes it takes commitment and yes it is also expensive but I made the financial cuts in my daily life because my health is worth this, I deserve to be healthy. I am thin now, WOW, can't believe I said that but I do have to admit, I am thin. I wear size 4" and 6's, I have no boobs left, (but a really sexy bra from Victoria's Secret with some sexy panties) I do have a little loose skin on my upper thighs and tummy could be tighter. But hey my arms look awesome and with "Justin's" drilling in the gym I will tighten up the other areas in due time. Will I be perfect, "Hell to the No" but you know what for a 56 year old lady who used to weight 252 lbs and wear a size 24 I look pretty damn good. Soooo. lapbander's new and old my words of wisdom to you are: Love yourself, believe in yourself, never lose site of your goal. This is not a "DIET", this is a life time commitment to living a healthier life style. This is about beating the odds, this is about being accountable to yourself. We can lie to ever one else and say, yes I am following the rules when In our hearts we know we can give more. How bad do you really want this? How much are you willing to give? After all it is your life! I am giving this 100% plus, I am so worth all the hard work, dedication and commitment. Remember you are worth it also, give your self a break, forgive your self for what went wrong yesterday and move forward. If you dwell in the past you will never have a future. Hugs and Best Wishes to all my cyber friends, thank you for all your support and encouragement!

Awesome, your walking on the trea mill will pay off. I started out just walking in my neighborhood and than progressed to my treadmill and than to a gym working out with weights. I can now do things I never thought I would be able to do. Starting an exercise program early is so key to your success. Keep the positive attitude and making sure your getting your protein. In the early stages prior to your first fill it is normal to feel hungry. Best of luck to you.

Forgive yourself and move forward. I hope things get better for you in the job market.Keep positive and use your energy to believe in your self.

Carie, Here goes... Can you meet with a nutritionist? If so they can really help you plan your meals. If not a good resources is the original lap band web site and it sorta gives you some examples of how much of each food group to eat. if you have lost 60 lbs since surgery, this is awesome, about gaining 10lbs back, in order to lose 1 lb of weight you need to eat 3,500 calories less per week than your body utilizes. it might help you if you had an understanding of how your body burns calories just to maintain normal stasis. For example, I am 5'1" tall, I currently weigh 140 lbs. I know I need 1757 calories just to maintain this weight, I plan my daily meals on a 1257 calorie a day diet. that is 500 calories less than my body needs. I have a lightly active life style, a sedentary job. I do exercise with a trainer 3 days a week to lift weights and do cardio. All of those factors taken into consideration, I lose on an average .8-1 lb per week depending on activity and how much protein I eat. Protein, that is the other key thing to weight lose, I eat between 80-100 gms of protein a day. Stress will effect weight loss. I think one of the hardest things for all of us to learn with lap band is that it is not the fix all for losing weight, it really is just a tool. I call it my insurance policy, my safety net to keep me from falling. (Kinda like a tight rope walker) I have been banded since October 2010. I have only had 3 fills. Yes sometimes I get hungry, yes sometimes I feel like I could eat my way through the fridge. But I did not go through all the pain and agony of WLS to gain my weight back, fighting head hunger is hard and it is a real issues sometimes. Do you log your foods, do you measure what you eat? Have you cleared your cupboards of all the tempting foods that are your triggers to over eat. We are like addicts, just our drugs are legal. Now an addict in recovery wouldn't keep a drug around, so we should not keep our tempting foods around. My temptations are dark chocolate and potato chips. I have never met a chip I did not love. So do a little internet goggle on weight loss and burning calories. I also recommend Myfitnesspal.com. It can help you get started figuring out how much you need to eat to lose weight, also there is a large group of us from lapbandtalk on there supporting each other and we make our food diaries public so we can learn from each other. This is a process and it is a life style change, embrace your success and make a commitment to use the band as the tool not as the main focus of your journey to a healthier, happier you. Good luck and if you want to join us my user name is the same as it is on this web site. Diane

Shery, you should be so proud of your accomplishments. You are making head way in spite of set backs due to medical conditions. I am proud of your determination. I know plateau's are so frustrating but we all go through them. Sometimes our bodies need to adjust and catch up to the weight loss. I have plateaued several times over the past two years and spent countless hours trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. I do understand it is hard to stay motivated during these times, but staying focused and not allowing the old habits to creep back in are key to long term success. Maybe if you changed up your routines for exercise, have you looked at your food diaries, are you getting enough protein. If your protein intake drops below the 60-80 range the weigh loss will slow down. Also I have found the closer I get to goal the slower it comes off. 3 months ago I needed to still drop 25 lbs. I had weighed the same weight for 2 months and before that I had weighed the same since last summer(7 months) I did exercise and micromanaged every morsel I placed in my mouth to the point I was driving me crazy. I started weight lifting with supervision, and slowly have started to lose again, tone up, drop inches and getting that much closer to goal. I have 8 lbs left to lose to be at idea body weight. Post a picture of your self at your heaviest and than a picture of your self now side by side on your fridge. Maybe if you can visually see the difference on a daily basis it will be motivation for you. I am a very visual person, I hated having a picture taken but now days it does not bother me. I look at the picture and say WOW, is that really me. I know it sounds silly but it is a positive affirmation of all you have accomplished to date. Congratulations and keep up the good work.

I eat on a small salad plate. I measure my portions and have from day one. I use measuring cups and i have a scale. I always eat my protein first and I always leave a bite of food on my plate. I have always tried to get between 60-90 gms of protein a day. i found that I lose better when I eat more protein. I rarely eat bread, potatos, sweets or junk food in general. I mostly eat chicken, seafood and turkey and pork loin, rarely beef. I do not eat fast food and the most important thing I do, I exercise. Find something that works for you and make it part of your routine. If you start adding exercise early it will help your to tone up and cut inches along with the pounds. If I need a snack I have a protein bar or drink and these are counted in my daily calorie intake. I log all of my meals and activities and I lived on this site in the early days and I blogged my frustrations and read everything I could from the people who were succuessful. Good luck to you, a postive attitude and learning to use the band as a tool and not realying on it to guide you will help you be successful. My name says it all, I love the new me. I am post op from October 2010, I have lost 112 pounds and have went from a size 24 to a size 6. Check out my pics I really do not look anything like the old me except I have the same smile. Good luck to you and your success. Be creative and have fun exploring.

Hey Bandstes, It has been a while since I have posted on here, I seem to spend more time these days on MFP and actually working out at the gym. I just wanted to touch base with everyone and ask the question, Ae you Exercising on a regular bases? As we all know the long term success to weight loss is developing a routine and learning to live a healthy life style. I know we all struggle off and on with making healthy choices. I will share that the longer I go on this journey and the more I see the positive results the easier the healthy choices come. I find even when i cheat or my version of cheating, I count my calories and don't seem to make as many unhealthy choices. But back to my question: Are you exercising? My answer is yes. I do strength training 3 days a week with cardio. I have backed off my cardio the past month because I wanted to slow my weight loss and wanted to build muscle. I have recently purchased the new Jillian Michaels DVD set this weekend and plan to start this in the upcoming weeks and blog about it. I purchase Jillian Michaels Body Revolution. I have spent $$$$ of dollars these past 3 months on a trainer and I love working out with him but I need to develop a routine and eventually stop paying for a trainer. My goal going forward this next year to to really learn to live this healthy life style. I have a friend on MFP who has been on this journey without WLS for ove 2 years and has lost 135 lbs. I have found her so inspirational and motivating. A year ago she made a commitment to really love a healthy life. So I am making my commitment and going to change things up a little. I no longer want to look at exercise as a chore but instead as my inspiration to being healthy. Hope everyone is doing well and if all of you are not on MFP my log on there is LovetheNewMe. Join us we are a great group and really support one another.

Currently my work out consists of working out with a personal trainer 3 days a week, I do a mix up of upper and lower body strength weight lifting. I also go to the gym 2 additional days a week and do extra cardio on several different machines. I have a treadmill at home that I was using 6 days a week but backed off as I have become closer to goal. I wanted to build muscles and tone so I dropped back my cardio. I am trying to wean myself from my personal trainer so I have purchased Jillian Micheals new DVD's and will start these next week. I plan to blog about them weekly once I get started. I have a pesonal goal to be at goal by Nov 1, 2012. I have 8 lbs left to lose to be at my ideal body weight. This will also be my 2 year band-versay.

Excellent article. Losing weight has so many ups and downs and a new set of problems around every corner. I feel one of the most important steps in successful weight loss is continued follow up with your surgeon, nutritionist and psychologist. So many try to do this on their own and fail to under stand why they fail. After all the did have WLS and why is it not working. I wish the medical community would stress the needed follow up for their patients. The emotional side of this journey is extremely hard and requires a lot of behavior modification. Relationships do change afte weight loss no matter how hard you try to keep them the same. I am a different person now after losing 112 lbs. I look at food differently and I chose not to place myself in situations with people that continue to not eat healthy. Now I can't a avoid my family or family events but I can always chose to bring healthy alternatives and show my family that Healthy Food does taste good. I think in the beginning I really believed that I would not change but I have and I really like me better now than I did before. I like my choice to live healthy, eat healthy and exercise. I feel very passionate about what an opportunity WLS has given me, it has given me my life back.

I am sorry you have not lost but as you said you have spent a lot of time sabotaging your self. I wonder how much after care you have done. Have you consistently followed up with a nutritionist and a physiologist. As stated above food addiction is a disease and most of us who have had WLS have issues around food, what we eat, when, how much and we also use food as a coping mechanisms. Honestly is you really want help, you need to begin by holding your self accountable. Fast food, even for your children should never be an option you even consider, we all know what are trigger foods are, and when we convince ourselves we can eat them it is just stinkin' thinkin'. We are addicts, addicts that have been given a tool to help us lose weight but that being said. The losing of the weight is 90% us and only 10% of the tool. So... You need to first forgive your self for failing and just get over it and move forward. The longer you worry about the past you will never move forward. You have your fill, so meet again with the nutritionist and again with the psychologist. Figure out your triggers for not following the rules. Log your food, all of it!! And start being accountable to your self. No one ever told us this was going to be easy, it is a process and it takes some of us longer than others to work through the process. Good luck to you and start using the band for what it was intended and for goodness sake stay away from Arby's and every other fast food restaurant, they are not your friend. Think healthy, good food does taste good and after a while your body will start craving healthy. Best to you.

It happens to a large majority of us, not enough protein, large amounts of weight loss. Try adding Biotin to your diet as a supplement for a while until you can increase your protein intake or add some protein shakes between meals. I have found the Biotin works and getting greater than 90 gms of protein per day. I use protein powder or bars for supplements 2 times a days. These are planned into my daily intake of food.

Great article, I would not be as far as I have gotten if I had cheated. You hit the nail on the head, just because you have WLS does not mean you can cheat and eat what ever you want, you get out of this what you put into it.

If you can believe in yourself. you can make your dreams come through. I started this journey 19 months ago. Like many of you I had been overweight for the majority of my adult life and had tried and never been totally successful with any exercise program or diet. That is why I made my decision to have WLS over the summer of 2010. I was so tired of being overweight, tired of my knees hurting, tired of being short of breath when i walked from my car to the office. Tired of being the girl with the pretty face, the death sentence comment for yes she is really fat but she has a pretty face. LapBand comes with its own set of challenges, we all went into this believing we knew what we were getting into but I am not sure anyone can truly prepare you for all you are going to experience. The early part of this journey was lined with challenges and so much of the unknown. For all of you pre and newly banded you need to know I lived on this web site in the early days, I logged on daily and would sometimes spend hours reading the forums and blogs. I wanted to learn as much as I could from the very people who I was trying to emulate. I learned quickly that there were just as many people failing as there were people succeeding and honestly that scared the hell out of me. I gleamed what info I could from the positive comments and tried to figure out how I was not going to become frustrated. The one most important thing I learned was that I had to be accountable to myself, no one was going ot hold my hand and make sure I ate what and how I was suppose to. This was all on me, my success or failure that is. Lapband does work, it can be the tool that you takes you where you want to go but remember it truly is a tool, it does not make food choses for you. It will not stop bad behavior, actually it will allow you to eat junk. Think about it sugar and starches break down in your mouth not in your gut so chips and cookies and candies will always go down when you have to work to eat protein and vegetables. I am an optimist, I went into this with my eyes wide open. I knew my life would never be the same, I knew I would be changing the life of not only me but also my family. I wanted to embrace my new life, when I chose my log on to this site, "LovetheNewMe". I was far from loving or even liking how I was but I knew that was where I wanted to go. Today, I do LovetheNewMe, I have no regrets with my Lapband. People often ask me, Do you regret having the surgery, instead of doing yourself. I laugh, they have no idea. The band helped me lose the weight but it was only a guide, the food I chose to eat, the exercise I chose to do and the new life I embraced was all about me not the band. You see I see my band as my conscious, it lets me know if I chose unwisely but it never stops me. I stop me, because I followed the rules my MD gave me and on the lapband web site. I have been successful not because of the band but because of me and my determination to be successful. Today was a great milestone for me. I went to my exercise session with my trainer today. Today was weigh and measure day. I weighed in at 145 lbs with a BMI of 27.4 and 26% body fat. I lost a total of 5 inches. My measurements are now 36-29-38, my thighs are now 21 inches and my arms are 11.5 inches. My trainer, was ecstatic, I thought he was going to cry, I think he was as happy if not happier than I was. When I left the gym tonight he told me I was his walking billboard that proved that hard work and determination did pay off. I said to him well you did it and he said no Diane you did it, all I did was show you what to do, you did all the work. I told him tonight, I would be happy staying at this weight but I did still have some goals, I want my waist to be 25-26 inches, I want my arms down to 10 inches. He thinks I will reach my ideal body weight of 132 in a few more months, will see. On another note, the dear hubby tells me tonight, I think your thin enough! Now remember this is the same wonderful fellow who said my thighs were less than optimal. I just looked at him very perplexed. So my new thought process is that I have thighs like a Chinese Shar Pia, because that was the breed of my dear departed Alexander whom I lost 2 years ago. I always said my Ali had only a face a mother could love so I am choosing to embrace my shrinkles and the rest of the world can just. "GET OVER IT." If you take nothing from my ramblings please take this, believe in your self, love your self, set goals and never feel like you fail. Set backs and plateaus are normal, if you stumble, forgive yourself and refocus. This is YOUR life, this is YOUR chance to learn to love your self and embrace a new life. If i can do this you can do this. I dreamed of being here and now I am. Is my journey over NO, this is a life long journey and a commitment. This is my life, my new life!

Good luck with your new goals!

Don"t be surprised if when you get ready to eat your first solids it feels a little different. It sometimes takes me a few days before I can work my self back up to the suggested amounts of protein. I can usually only do liquids for 48 hours and than progress back to solids. Everyone is different. Good luck on your goals, exericse early on is very helpful with the weight loss.

Toddy is correct, every doc is different, I was eating solid foods within a week of surgery. Small amounts but solids. the first few weeks are difficult but try to remain focused on your goals and take it one day at time. I am pretty sure your mand is ok, just follow the instuctions outlined by your doc and if needed increase the frequancy you take in liguids. The first 6 weeks is not about losing weight but learning to adjust to the band and giving your body to heal. You have a journey and a life style change ahead of you and the weight will come off. Look at your progress already, think of how great your going to do once you really start trying. Good luck to you in your new life.

Sounds like you have some acid reflux. I took prilosec for the first year after surgery due to reflux. I had this before surgery and it seemed to continue until I lost a large portion of my weight. I think taling to your MD is the best choice, he may have some suggestions.

Everyone loses at different rates. As stated by "honk, you have to have realistic expectations, we didn't gain the weight overnight and the lap band is only a tool and we still have to do a lot of behavior changing to reach our goals. I had surgery October 2010 and I am 10 lbs from my goal, I have lost over 100 lbs. I have followed the rules set by my physician 90 percent of the time, I rarely eat junk food, I stick to 3 small meals a day and have two protein drinks. I eat between 80-100 gms of protein a day and I do cardio 4-5 days a week and weight training 3 days a week. I have had plateaus that lasted for 3-4 months at a time. It can be frustrating but if you follow the rules with your eating and start exercising the pounds and inches will start to come off. Patience is hard but learning healthy eating habits is a new process for many of us and even though we have a band we get out of it what we are willing to put into it. Good luck to you and don't give up.

It doesn't happen as fast as we think it should but it does happen. I have had my fitbit for about 6 months now and it took me several months of really assessing my intake and output before I finally understood the delicate balance between eating and exercise. I wish it was as simply as eat less and exercise but our bodies love to through us curve balls. I finally started losing again after I one increased my protein and two added a protein drink snack midmorning and late afternoon. My nutrionist told me I was slowing down my metabalism the way I was eating. I do feel better now and have more energy. I do love my fitbit it keeps me motivated and helps me to set goals for my self. Good luck to you.

The answer is yes, many of us have gone through depression and feeling like, why bother but it does get better. If I had to redo that part of my journey I think I would go back and do a few sessions with the psychologist, I worked through my issues but looking back I think it may have helped me with my emotional issues I had with food. I did go through a grieving process the first 3 months. hang in their and knows that it does get better and you can realize your dream.

I have had two really bad experiences with drinking since banded. Both times it was with Dirty Martini's. I finally learned my lesson after New Years Eve this year and now only have an occassional 4oz glass of wine. I used to be able to drink multiple drinks and knew when I needed to stop, now days I can go from zero to wasted and never realize how I got there. I am 107 lbs lighter now but it still is not a good experience from my point of view.