♥LovetheNewMe♥

You look awesome and are doing a fantastic job, congratulations! I do know what you mean, about faces, the only thing recognizable on mine is my smile.

Great article Jean as always! I appreciate your insite and posts.

My looks have totally changed from where I started and I think there was a time when I looked a little more tired, thinner in the face, darker circles under my eyes. My opinion only but it takes time to get used to our new "faces" The person I see in the mirror today and the person I saw two years ago are two very different people. This is what I did to bring my new face into focus, I cut my hair, I changed my makeup, started using more night time creams, and skin brightening creams for dark spots. I do facials two to three times a week, I use a mask lotion that I found at the pharmacy, I started using the Philosophy brand of creams and lotions and I purchased a small, laser device to tighten my skin. Not sure which is working maybe a combination of all but I do not look as tired, or maybe I have gotten used to my face.

I am two and half years out and I have followed the rules and changed my eating habits. I have not gained any of my weight back and I have been at my goal weight for over 6 months. I do weigh myself every morning. I have a 5lb weight range I allow myself, I still weigh and measure my food and I still record my food on MFP daily. I may not be perfect with eveything I eat but I am honest with myself and count every healthy and unhealthy bite I place on my plate. Gaining weight back is a real possiblity with lapband just like with any WLS if you do not change your behaviors. The old saying you are what you eat is very true. Refocus and do not allow your self to go back to the old way of thinking, good luck.

You sound a little tight, I had this happen after my second fill and had to have a little removed. Do not suffer through this, call your doctor and discuss options.

We all have or had that same fear, I chose to look at lapband as my final out of the yoyo diets and failures. When I picked my name for this site it was so far from the truth, I was so far from loving myself. I am one that believes in positive affrimations and as silly as they may seem to some, I posted these affrimations around my house for the past 2 year. i became my own cheerleader, I was not going to fail, no way. This was the one time I would succeed and so can you, "Yes U Can! The power of positive thinking can take you a long way, so shake those negative vibs and take control of your life. You will love your self if you do... Good luck to you!

AJ is correct. I have trouble with oranges and usually do better with Cuties if they are fresh and juicy, I can eat maybe 3-4 sections before I feel full. You will only know what you can eat by trial and error we are all so different.

The Restrictor plate is the band, I call mine my safety net or added insurance. It gives me that little bit of something I need to keep me honest. Term restrictor plate has to do with car racing, it limits the power of the race car by restricting the intake and the comparison is very similar to why we use lapband. Good analogy I love it!

It is Terry, my son bought me a Sriracha cookbook for christmas because I love that rooster hot sauce and I have made several things from it and they have all been awesome. I also made an excellent Sriracha lentil soup and some Edemame Dumplings that were to die for. I may have a small stomach and only eat small amounts but I love to cook and find new ways to get my protein.

I love sushi but can not eat the rice or seaweed with out difficulty. If you like tuna steaks here is an excellent recipe: Sriracha Tuna Steaks 1 tuna steak 1/2 cup Sriracha sauce toast black sesame seeds 1 tbs olive oil Soak tuna in sharchi sauce and than roll in toasted sesame seeds. Heat olive oil in pan, place tuna steak in hot pan and braise 1-2 min on each side. Thinly slice and serve with some stir fried oriental veggies. I use onions, shredded carrots green onions, red, green and yellow peppers with small pieces of broccoli flowerets. Season lightly with low sodium soy sauce. I eat about 1/2 cup veggies with about 3ozs of thinly sliced tuna steak. If you like raw tuna and spicy this is awesome. If you can eat rice, serve the tuna over about 1/8 to 1/4 cup rice and cut the veggies down to about 1/8 to 1/4 cup.

Every one has an opinion and I chose to take what info I find helpful and discard the rest, I do not let what others say annoy me, life is too short and if it makes them feel better to give their opinion so be it. I have learned over the past 2 years posting on social media that there are a lot of opinions out here and I have to take the positive along with those who think they are helpful. Some people just feel the need to tell others how to do things, I eat what I want, I have learned portion control and in my book no food is off limits in moderation. Well maybe except carbonated drinks, they do not work for me. You are doing great work congratulations. Oh and if you allow it some people on this forum will drive you to drink! lol

Asheigh you are correct it is a very personal decision and everyone has to be comfortable talking about how they lose weight. There is so much stigma attached to WLS and so many people do expect people who lose weight to fail at some point or back slide and gain weight back or revert to bad habits. I do understand how you feel and we all chose to deal with these feeling differently, I am one who was totally honest from the beginning and I knew others would be watching. My being honest kept me honest with myself and I needed the accountability in order to reach my goals. Good luck to you, and always remember there is only one person you need to be totally honest with and that is yourself!

Congratulations Dawn, great job!

these look good, always looking for new recipes to try. thanks for posting.

Beth, losing 70lbs is awesome, weight lose will stall off and on. You are correct more exercise will help but you also have to be eating enough calories to lose, eating to little will also stall your weight loss. How many calories are you eating a day, how often are you exercising, and are you losing inches. I do fully understand how anxious you are about wanting to get rid of the weight we all were but it takes time, you are doing fantastic just start moving more and I know you will lose more weight.

Sorry lap band did not work for you but you made a very valid statement, with or without WLS the key to losing weight is healthy eating, in moderation and exercise. This same philosophy goes for us that had WLS and it has worked. My key to losing has not been my band it is my added insurance or safety net, what I have learned in two years in portion control and if you exercise and burn more than you take in you lose weight. Yes my band has helped me but without out totally changing my views on nutrition I would have never been successful. I wish you luck in your weight lose journey applying the principles you have identified.

Both suggestions are awesome, this is a difficult stage but it does not last long. I always added unflavored protein to my soups and yogurt it made me stay satisfied longer between meals. I also am weird and like protein shakes and during this stage I did a vanilla, peanut butter banna shake that I loved. Don't do it much now becasue so high in calories but when you are taking in so little at feeding you can afford the extra fat and calories.

I got stuck about 9-10 months post op also. I reached a weight some where in the 170"s and just sort of sat there with only losing a few pounds here and there for about 6 months. I know that is probably not what you wanted to hear but it happens, I about drove myself crazy trying to figure out what I was doing wrong or what I needed to do. I analyzed my food diaries and all I could see was I was always over in fat and carbohydrates and under in calories, below 1200 and sometimes below 1000. I talked with my nut. at the doctors office and she suggested I increase my protein and increase my cardio from 3 days a week to 30 min daily. I did all of this and finally started losing again. The one thing that did happen to me was I lost inches when not losing weight. On the months I had a large weight lose I lost little inches and on the months I had a small weight loss I lost a lot of inches. Just have patience, I know that is hard to do some times when you want this so bad but patience pays off, believe me it did for me and I was not aways perfect and did allow my self an occasional splurge. Good luck!

I added you all as friends, I am over 2 years post op and below goal weight. Let me know what I can do to help as you begin your journey. I am also on MFP my user name is the same as on this site. I record my food daily and my dairy is open for all to see, I am by no means perfect in my journey but feel I have made some successful changes in my life and 90% of the time I eat very healthy and clean. Good luck to all of you, it is an exciting journey and one that does change your life, it you embrace the change along the way! Good luck!

I am so sorry this happened to your husband, complications like this are rare but unfortunately possible. I know my physician recommends the gastric sleeve to patients when the band fails. I do agree with your decision of having the band removed because once the band has slipped there is a high chance of this happening again. Hope he feels better soon and once he has recovered from this event maybe he can discuss other alternatives if he wants with his physician. Best wishes to you both.

The band does not really make your stomach smaller that is a myth. This site http://www.lapband.com/en/learn_about_lapband/device_how_it_works/?scprop40=Jeff will explain exactly how the band works. In the first 6 weeks before your first adjustment some do lose weight but most don't. Most physicians do not put any Fluid in the band during surgery but some do. Some people are so sensative to the band that they never need a fill, just the band being in place gives them enough control that they are able to control the urge to over eat, which is what the band is suppose to do. I have been fortunate in my WL journey and reached goal within 2 years, everyone is very individual in how the lose. Good luck with your choice and keep reading there are a lot of successful people on this site who can help you.

You look awesome, congratulations!

Good article Jean, I have had my band for over two years and have experienced eactly what you write about, thus why I chose to learn to eat healthy and have not had a fill in over a year. My band is there and yes it works but I chose to not rely on my band as much as relying on me to practice portion control and my own restriction of food. Why did I do this, I read so much on these forums from others about needing a fill, needing to reach their sweet spot, needing to feel more restriction not to eat. For me I had to get control of my head in order to be successful so that is what I worked on ME instead of the band. May not work for everyone but it works for me. Been at goal weight for 5 months and no fills since Jan 2011.

Yes tell the physician, they need to know the type of support that is being offered at the sessions. I stopped using our support groups after a few sessions because of all the whining a crap that goes on, I had this surgery to be successful not try and figure out what I could still eat and that seemed to be all the meetings were about. the leader would try and refocus the group but i always seemed to walk away frustrated, I uchose to use this site for my support and it has worked.