healthy and happy

Lapband La La.. First of all, in your video you said you werent sure if yoiu belonged in the lapbandtalk community any more. Well I am here to tell you that you are still a part of this family. We are here to support each other through the good times and the bad. Be positive! I believe that the band is what you needed to get you started on the journey to living a healthy lifestyle. You successfully lost your weight and got to your goal and have been maintaining it. I believe that you have now learned how to live and what to eat and can continue to do this with or without the band. The band was just a tool to get it all started but now you have the knowledge to continue the success that you have enjoyed. Dont let the removal of the band psych you out. If you tell yourself that the weight will come back and resign yourself to that, that is what will happen. You can do this. Stay positive and just keep on going as if you still have it. It really wasnt the band that made you successful. It was your attitude and mindset. i know several people that got the band and didnt lose the weight. I also have friends that got it and did great and are living healthy lifestyles now. The difference was the attitude and the determination of those individuals. I know it was a blow to you, but I truly believe you can do this. Pull yourself up by the boot straps and get your mind right to take this on. If you need someone to talk to, we are here for you. I know how it is when you are talking to friends and family about the band. People just dont understand! But really I think that when people make the comments they are making to you, they are really trying to make you feel better about having it removed, but they just dont get it and dont know what to say. The next video you post on here, I want to see you smiling and happy because you have figured out that you can do this!! You have a strong healthy body now, so now just get that mind strong to match and you will be fine!! PS. Not only are you still welcome on this forum, but you are helping others. Your story has made me really think about my own situation. I have been being a little bad for the past couple of months and not following all the Band rules. Reading this makes me really think about what damage I could be causing myself and it truly inspires me to get my own mind back on track. If you were following the rules and this happened, I certainly could be at risk by not following the plan. Thank you so much for sharing with us all!! Hugs!! Hugs!! Hugs!!

I know you probably wont believe this, but once you start going to the gym faithfully, you may enjoy it. I really didnt want to go at first, but after a few weeks of forcing myself to go, now I hate to miss a day. I agree with the others too, I do a lot of exercize that is just plain enjoyable to me becuase i like the activities. Ex. bike riding and swimming.- I love them. Even things you never thought you would like become enjoyable.. I NEVER thought I would run unless something was chasing me, but Now I have learned to like it. I ran a 10K (6 miles) in March and now I am signed up to run a half marathon in September. When you sigh up for a run like that it keeps you accountable. You know you have to stay in shape and keep training to be prepared for the big day.

Dont give up.it sounds like my doc had me on the same plan. Liquids for breakfast and lunch, then 4 oz lean meat and a non starchy veggie for dinner. On day 3, my head was about to explode. I was a big soda drinker- the nurse told me I was withdrawing from the sugar and caffeine. During the night of day 3, I got physically sick and actually threw up. After that I felt much better and the rest of the two weeks were much easier. I have heard a lot of people say that if you can make it through the first 3 days, you will be fine.

Thanks for taking on the chart Lisa! I am holding firm at 183 this week. I will have a loss to report next week hopefully.

Name, real or screen~ Agnes "Healthy and happy" Goal weight forJune 30~170 Weight on June 1st~183 (Shamefully) Age~45 Dietary goal for June~Stop eating all the ice cream and other junk food that I have been eating lately!! Exercise goal for June~get as much outdoors exercize as possible. Biking, swiimming, etc. Personal goal for June~ Working towards running a half marathon in Sept so I want to be running 6 1/2 miles in an hour before the end of June Date banded~August 11, 2011 Total weight loss since banding/pre op diet~70 pounds- had lost more but gained a few back What is your favorite summer activity~swimming, jetskiing, waterskiing, riding my bike, beach, I love it all. Love the sweet summertime!!! I need to get serious now! I didnt even participate in mays challenge weighing in like I should because I was too embarrassed to post my weight. I am gonna do it up right in June!

174 today. Up a pound. uggh!!! Agnes

Name, real or screen~ Agnes Goal weight for April 29th~165 Weight on April 1st~173 Age~45 as of tomorrow. Its my birthday!! Dietary goal for April~ cut out all this darned ice cream i have been indulging in. Exercise goal for April~pump up the training for half marathon I am going to run in September. Personal goal for April~get back on track with my diet and exercize. I have been a bad girl for the last couple of months Date banded~August 11, 2011 Total weight loss since banding/pre op diet~80 What is your favorite flower~dont really have a favorite. Larry- I appreciate you keeping these challenges going. It does give me some motivation knowing I am going to post my weight on here every week!!

Mine did it too but it has since stopped. It was really worrying me but now it is just as thick as ever. my doctor assured me it would level out and that I wouldnt go bald. He was right. My hair looks great now to go along my good looking new body!

So what does the doc say about stretching your pouch? Will it ever go back if you start eating small amounts again>>>

Some tricks that I have used and they worked... Bend over and then stand back up again and hold your hands over your head stretching up take several deep breaths I keep papaya enzyme with me all the time. if you have those chew a few up. It should help the food digest and go down. walk around I hope you get it down. It is a miserable feeling. Fortunately each time I have gotten stuck I have done the things mentioned here and it only lasted a couple of minutes. Good Luck!

I really suck this month!!! Uggh! I am up to 174.5 this month. Disgusting!!! Next month, game on! I will not continue this trend. I know I can do better than this.

I just got over a stomach virus and threw up many times. It was the first time I have thrown up since I got banded which was 8 months ago. That was my biggest fear after being banded. How would it feel when I throw up. Actually I really didnt notice much difference than the way it felt before. I did call my doc and he simply suggested I take some immodium and be carefull of eating afterwards for a few days as the throwing up can cause it to tighten up.

I would agree that definitely a lack of water intake will cause stuck episodes. Stay hydrated!!

Larry, I know the challenge is half way through the month, but I would love to get in on it now. I need to get on track. I have been traveling a lot lately and been absolutely awful with my eating. Just got back from visiting New York and wow I was a bad girl!! I did run a 10K yesterday though, so I was pretty proud of that. Unfortunately I am starting out at 173 for the challenge. Only 2 weeks left, so I will make my goal 167. My personal goal for the month is simply to get back to nutritious eating and get back into the groove on my exercize routines as well. What day is weigh in day??

Swimming is one of my favorite exercizes. I love when my pool is open for the season. Every single night, when I get home I swim laps and then lay on a float and read. Keeps me outside relaxing instead of inside eating everything in sight. You obviously love swimming, so just do it. You will be more likely to stick with an exercize if it is something you like. Go on girl! Put that Speedo on and get in that pool.

Is anyone else having problems with this site? For a few weeks now, all of a sudden some ads have started popping up at the bottom of the screen whenever I am trying to read any of the posts. When I scroll to the bottom of a page to read posts, there are a bunch of jumbled up ads and it looks like peoples tickers on the bottom of the screen and I cant read the rests of the posts. I cannot figure out how to get them off the screen. I have pop up blocker enabled on my computer and I dont see any way to "x" off the stupid ads either. Is it just my computer and me with this issue or is it an issue with the site???

Agnes checking in.... UNBELIEVABLE! I may have had an epic fail on the Valentines Challenge, but I am slaying this spring challenge. Weighed in this morning at 163. Five pounds down week 1. This 10k training is making my body become a fat burning machine. I love it!!! And to top it off. Today is a beautiful day. I have to work in VA Beach today so I am gonna take a run at the beach today instead of being cooped up inside on a treadmill. Everyone have a great day!

I am going to New York in April. Girls only trip. My daughter who is a senior in high school and my daughter in law are going with me. I have lost 89 pounds as of this morning. Down to 164. I am hoping to lose about 10 more pounds before I go and then we are going to do some serious shopping. SOOOOO excited. Shopping is so much fun since clothes can actually look good on me now. Loving my new life!!

Very inspirational. Thank you for sharing! I am from Emporia, just a little south of Richmond and I too had band surgery in August at St. Mary's hospital. I have had huge success with it too but as I try to lose the last few pounds to reach my goal, it gets tough as the weight drops slower but seeing your story helps me to stay focused. You've got to take it one step at a time and keep your spirits high. I too am running a 10K in April at our local YMCA and just joined a training team. Starting the training has helped me jumpstart my weight loss again too so I would encourage anyone at any level of their journey to find a goal and work towards it, whether it is to just walk and complete a 10K or run it. Keep up the good work!!! I dont know where you go to your support group but who knows if it is at St. Marys maybe we will bump into one another.

No offense Ajai, I see that you are newly banded. Trust me when you have your first experience being stuck, I am willing to bet that you will be jumping if you think it can get the food down. We all know that the best thing to do is chew carefully and take it slow to prevent it to start with. I agree with you completely on that but we are human and sometimes we get in a rush or we simply forget and stuff happens. When it does happen though, believe me, you will be willing to try anything (including jumping) to get it down. I think the topic starter was just wanting to know if it is doing any harm for them to jump. Good luck with your band journey and keep chewing slow!!

I do the same thing. I have only been stuck (really stuck) twice and I have to tell you that I dont know how anyone could stand that for more than a few minutes. I jump up and down also trying to shake it up and reposition the food so it will go down. I dont know if it helped or if it was just coincidence, but both times the food became unlodged and went down. I dont see how it could possibly be hurting you. After all, when you exercize (jumping jacks, jogging, etc) you are making the same motions so I think you are fine.

You jinxed me. I rarely get stuck but today I had an incident and wow it was rough. I popped 3 of my papaya enzymes and a couple of minutes later, it went down. I dont know if the papaya enzymes are helpful or not but every time I have gotten stuck I take them and shortly after the problem goes away, so for now I am a believer! I dont think it really matters what brand. I bought mine from GNC and they were Natural Brand.

Try chewing a few papaya enzymes. You can get them at any health or nutritional supplement stores. I swear by them. I keep a bottle of them in my purse at all times in case I have an issue. They are an enzyme that help digest proteins. Many other ppl on here use them too. My doc told me to get some before the surgery and keep them on hand.

Name, real or screen~ Agnes Goal weight for March 30th~160 Weight on March 1st~168 Age~44 Dietary goal for March~I have to attend several meetings for work this month that will require overnite stays and there will be a lot of food served. My goal is to resist the temptations and stay on track. Exercise goal for March~Get in 1000 calories worth of cardio each day Personal goal for March~ Stay on course with 10K training completing all the weekly homework assignments and attending the weekly training session. Date banded~August 11, 2011 Total weight loss since banding/pre op diet~85 lbs. What is your favorite outdoor excercise/activity~ bike riding, swimming, snow skiing (love them all)

I keep myself motivated by setting mini-goals or trying new things. For example, I always join the monthly challenges that I found on this site. On the challenge usually they have you set a weight goal along with some nutritional and exercize goals for the month. Then you have to post your weight once a week on here to check in and the challenge coordinator posts everyones results on a spreadsheet. It really does keep me on track knowing that I dont want to look like a failure when I check in each week and it is so much easier to think about losing 7 or 8 pounds this month rather than 100 pounds that seems unatainable. That really helps me with sticking to my nutritional eating and the exercize. As for sticking to the exercize, I kind of do the same thing. I am always doing something to keep me motivated so that I dont get bored. I just signed up for a 10K in April and I joined a training team that meets once a week and we have a program to follow during the week. It keeps me on track with some extra exercize and it gives me a goal to reach for. I also like to have variety in my exercize so I wont get bored. I do have some routine things that I do everyday but then I sneak in a lot of exercize with fun things. I love to ride my bike on pretty days outside, I joined an adult league volleyball team (you dont have to be good at it -lol and there are lots of other out of shape adults on the team. I go roller skating, snow skiing-just anything that is fun for you to keep it mixed up so you wont get bored. The more activities I am involved in the happier I am. I dont think about eating all the time and I am having a ton of fun. Good luck. You can do this. Start out slow with a little exercize each day and before you know it you will hate to miss a day!