vermonster05488

Well, its now been 3 years for us all!! How is everyone doing? I finally got the urge to check in after all this time. I reached my goal and now am headed back in the other direction. All due to personal choices that I've made over the past year or so. Thankfully, I am at a point where I can still do something about it. As Bunny was, I am now interested in the following: Have you lost the statistical 50% of your excess weight? Who has reached their target? Who has had problems with their ports/bands? Anyone had to have more surgery? Any one got plastics or thinking about it? Anyone had to have their band removed? Erosion anyone? With year 3 coming on, I am ready to get back on track. Anyone else out there still at it? Vermonster05488 __________________

Welcome back Zannie - There are a few of us in the same boat. I'm up 22 pounds and decided to do something before it becomes 42 pounds. It creeps on so easily. Like you, I've stopped exercising and eat and drink easy/soft foods. Time for a change! I've gone three days now with adding exercise to my day - not that it has been strenuous, but it's exercise. Kudos to those of you who have lost and maintained and also those that have been on a downward trend continuously over the last three years!! We know it's not easy. We still have to efforts to make and smart food choices. We were all told that the band was only a tool and can't expect anything more. I just have to keep reminding myself. Off to Lincoln, NE for the week, and will check in when I get back. Let's all have a great rewarding week!!!

Well bandsters, it looks like I'm heading in the right direction. Went for 1 hour walk outdoors yesterday with my husband and two dogs. Fresh air felt good and so did the exercise. Living in Vermont makes it a little difficult to get outdoors sometimes. And if that wasn't enough after 2 months of procrastination, I finally broke out the Wii Fit that we got for Christmas. I did 35 minutes of an assortment of things - hula hooping, hitting soccer balls with my head, step arobics, yoga deep breathing. Oh yeah, had to weigh myself (hmm, might be the reason for the procrastination). Weighed in at 168. Set a goal for myself to lose 10 lbs in 2 months. Unfortunately, I have a trip to Lincoln, NE all next week so will not be able to get a routine going yet. I'll keep you all posted as this seems to be motivating me forward!

Hey All, tomorrow is my 3 year bandiversary! Valentine's Day of all days. I went out this morning using email to a few of our previous bandsters with an invite. Maybe a few names will ring a bell: lizrbit, skyeblu79, travelgirl, zannie, skinnyjeans, babygrl1234, armkam, teacher, freesky, readytolose, rebecca, oldgeisser - they were all so good at posting updates. With my bandiversary tomorrow I have a few things to come forward with. First of all hit my low weight of 144 about a year ago. Yeah! Down 100 lbs. Never felt or looked so gooood! Shopping was fun - everything either fit or was too big on me. Over the last 7 - 8 months I stopped weighing myself, stopped exercising and started resorting to liquids and soft foods in place of good healthy foods. Cream soups everyday for lunch, snacks like chips and dip, cheese, cheese and more cheese, little portions of people food for dinner and drinks for the rest of the evening. I have found a new love for white russians containing milk, 1/2 & 1/2, vodka and kahlua or sometimes a few glasses of red wine. I truly think I've enjoyed the white russians so much because they go right down without a problem. I'm starting to think I may have replaced one bad habit with another. Well, now that clothes are getting tighter and I see a difference in how I look in the mirror I finally stepped on the scale and found that I'm up 22 pounds. Ughhh! (Kick self in butt) Time to get back at it! Time to change my food and liquid intake and start back in with exercise. Dang it, I worked hard for my loss and now I see it slipping away 20 lbs at a time. For Christmas I bought the Wii Fit and now I need to use it! Ok, enough of me. I think this was Phase 1 of my next approach - getting it out in the open and myself out of denial. You all are doing great! Keep up the good work. I'm reaching out to all of you for support - It does help hearing how everyone else is managing!

I'm up for the exercise challenge! I'll be joining you by walking on treadmill 20 minutes and a 10 minute workout with my stretch bands 4 times a week starting April 1st. I think this a reachable goal for me.

Tracy & all Put me down as one of the Feb2007 group. I had my surgery on Feb 14th - even the Valentine Storm 32" of snow couldn't stop me here in Vermont. I'm four days out now and feeling so much better as every day goes by. Would love to keep in conctact with y'all as I feel we are now family.