Jim1967

It is very easy for expectations to be high. There is an old school myth that if you have WLS the weight falls off. Sorry to say its not true and I also went through that moment when I was like "OK, I had the surgery why is the weight not falling off". It sounds like you are doing great. Losing with the band is slow but progressive. I keep a ticker and I go back and look at the tracker to see where I've been and where I'm going. I have given up on expecting big numbers all at once as I can see I am trending downward and for me that is the key. I am trending downward while living a happy and healthy lifestyle and not struggling with another 'diet'. I am guilty of stepping on the scale far to often as you can see below. At first it was because I was obsessed with losing the weight and then it just became more about accountability. Weight loss is slow at times but as long is the trend is downward I am happy. I am excited to hit goal and wish it were sooner rather than later. BUT if I sit through the whole journey wishing I were at goal then I'd miss some exciting times along the way because there are a lot of non scale victories. Far too many to list but the latest is my wedding ring not staying on my finger anymore. (my wife is not as thrilled about that)

Congratulations and good luck to you all!! April 16 will be my one year anniversary. I can tell you it is so worth it and I wish I had done it years ago.

My belly is still noisy even 10 months out but of course its still pretty big You get used it and you learn that it is not necessarily hunger growls.

i haven't had any issues yesterday or today from either my work machine or my home computer. I use mostly Firefox. What browser are you using? Try deleting temp files in IE or Firefox then restart the browser and try again. Are you having issues with any other sites?

I do that often times as well but then I worry about whether or not I am getting a good amount of calories in to keep weight loss going. At some point if you don't eat and start skipping meals it can also put you in a stall and eventually you start to lose muscle instead of fat..at least that's how I understand it.

Satiety throws me for a loop sometimes. For someone who has been a binge eater all their life it is a difficult concept at times. What I can say is I don’t crave food anymore and I can typically stop when I am satisfied but at times I wonder if I am eating too much or too little. I like to think I am eating just enough to be satisfied but then I have my days where I will actually skip a meal either because I am just not hungry or I get so involved with work that I just forget. Then I get into my own head whether or not I am sabotaging myself somehow. I also have had my moments where I think ‘crap, I should not have taken that last bite’. Twice last week and again today I had Breakfast at 6:30 and then ended up working through lunch to then realize it is now 4:30 and too late for lunch as dinner time is right around the corner… I guess I am just over-thinking it all…

Sometimes I scratch my head and wonder if I am doing this right....

Congratulations!! We refer to these as NSV or Non scale Victories. I think NSV are awesome and even better than the number changing on a scale. Perfect NSV is shrinking out of clothing. My latest was my wedding ring slipping off my finger and not staying on. My Wife wasn't as thrilled as I but we can adjust the ring as we go. But Laurie is certainly right there are so many ways to gauge success!! Congrats again, Jim

Exactly and this goes to back to what I was saying about eating on the fly. A lot of times I would be running late for work I would make a quick Breakfast and try gobbling it down.....big mistake. Now when I am running late I will just make a Protein shake because that slides down a lot easier. Plus I can take that on the go. I also tend to find myself tighter in the morning. Not sure if you have experienced anything like that or not. In the mornings my band feels tighter and I cannot eat as quick compared to say 2 in the afternoon.

I must say I am truly shocked and sad by some of the responses Betsy got here. She doesn't need me to defend her but really?? If she cannot come here and release a little frustration without being bashed then what is the point of this site? Isn't this the very reason Alex created this place to begin with? For us to help one another. Sure we are not all going to get along but clearly she didn't post frustration just to be beaten down further Very fact is she is struggling and while she didn't come out and "say help me or what would you do or do you have any advice" she let off steam. She clearly needed some encouragement and some reassurance. -Sincerely yours, Truly Disgusted

Wow if I gave up after month 1 I would never be where I am today. I don't think my weight loss kicked in until like mid way through month 3. There is probably a good chance you have no fill or very little in that band. Honestly, you are not giving it a chance from the sounds of it. A lot of people, myself included seem to have had that feeling "OK, I had surgery now the weight is going to fall off"....It is frustrating but it doesn't work that way. Sorry you are going through a tough spell but I recommend seeking out a support group or talk with your Doctor. Your expectations seem a little high at the moment.

Hopefully it will be different this time. I have a good tool to work with.

That's my biggest fear...

You're absolutely right Laurigee. My Wife reminds all the time of the struggle.

Thanks Rebecca. You're doing great yourself. While I agree men seem to lose quicker than women I was 450 pounds on surgery day. Losing is easy if you break the cycle when your that overweight. I can only imagine how many calories I burned just getting out of bed in the morning. I lost 38lbs doing a 6 month monitored diet preop and quite honestly that last two months of that six I wasn't trying all that hard. I was 488 at that time and was lucky to stay on my feet for 10 minutes without my legs screaming at me I did it without trying honestly. I just cut back on everything and the weight came off.

The thought of this scares me....I get this is no 'fad' diet and I am making that lifestyle change but I fear the weight will come back. Losing has always been easy for me but keeping it off is hard. I dropped 170+ pounds on my own once and then gained it all back plus an additional 90. I went from 393 to 219 back up to to 488 all just under a decade. "Normal" scares the hell out me B

I think you need to really sit down and listen to what your body is telling you. Are you being honest with the band and eating the way you should? If so then perhaps you are too tight. You really need to analyze your behavior. I had a rough week once where I seemed to PB and have stuck episodes quite often and it made no sense to me seeing that I hadn't had a fill in 6 weeks. I finally took inventory in what I was doing and realized I slipped into some old habits of eating quickly and on the fly. We spend most of our lives eating a certain way and as easy as it sounded in that Seminar 16 months ago I can tell you it isn't. I thought oh hell eating slow and chewing food is easy...I learned and on occasion I am given a free lesson from my band. Like everyone else said above, only you can decide if your too tight BUT you have to be honest with yourself because in the end any damage done is damage that is self inflicted and only affects you. Good luck and I hope you figure it out.

Funny you mention that. My Surgeon has a unique sense of humor...something that I really like. When I was on the table and they were getting ready to put me under he came over and asked me if I was ready. He then held up the band and said "I want to introduce you to your newest and best-est friend. You treat this friend right and work with him the rest is gravy" After that they knocked me out. LOL

I think Mis73 touches on all the points that I would. My insurance company would accept WW had I done it but they required food journals, and exercise logs as well as receipts covering the 6 months. I did not have any of that so I did the 6 months. My Surgeon's practice had an in-house insurance coordinator. That person took care of all insurance needs between them and I. She knew all the ins and outs. She compiled all the data in the format the insurance company wanted and she submitted it. I really had no interaction with the insurance company aside from the very first call to see if it was even covered at all.

Here is a side by side comparison: http://www.wlshelp.com/lap-band-vs-realize-band.html

I have the Realize band. Surgery was April 2012. It was also my Doctor's personal choice to go with it as well. I put my trust in him and so far it's working out great!!

People who've never had weight problems can be entertaining if you take it that way. Years ago when I lost a ton of weight doing Atkins I had a female co-worker say to me "wow your face is so skinny". LOL Another time a different co-worker said to a buddy of mine "Jim is going to be so handsome when he loses the rest of his weight" I know both comments were truly meant as compliments but it easily could've been insulting. A lot of 'thin' people who never battled obesity are unsure how to handle the situations.