blanham04

So today is my one year bandiversary! I thought I would Celebrate by writing a post on here. First off let me start by saying this has been the best year of my life! I had almost walked out of the surgery because I was scared and didn't want to go through with it, thank goodness I didn’t! As of today I am down 135 lbs and have went from a BMI of 58.2 down to a BMI of 38.4. I still have a long way to go, but wow what a journey! I thought I would share some highlights: I was able to get a new job that I enjoy much more and make at least 25% more pay! Losing weight made me more confident and I am doing really well at my new job! I am now wearing clothes that I haven’t worn since high school! Yes, I kept them hoping that someday they would fit again, and guess what some of them are starting to get big on me! I love when I catch a glimpse in the mirror and wonder who that person is, because I don’t recognize myself! I also happened to be flipping through some pictures and of a wedding my wife and I recently attended and I saw a guy standing next to her and started getting jealous because she was standing so close to him, then I realized it was me..haha! On the Disney cruise that my wife and I took to celebrate the first 100lbs that I lost I was able to get on the waterslide and not feel ashamed or worried about getting stuck! I also was able to keep up easily on the excursions and do many things I never thought I would before, like mountain biking through the rainforest! I only told my family and one close friend, and didn’t even tell them right away. I still don’t feel comfortable with people knowing that I had lapband surgery or how much weight I have lost. The reason I don’t tell people about the surgery is because I feel like people take away from all the hardwork that I have done. I have been working out twice a day now for over 8 months. I earned this weight loss, but all one has to do is look at a story like the new Jersey Govener and all the comments about it to see that people really seem to chastise you if you “take the easy way out” by having weight loss surgery. The only thing that I feel bad about in not disclosing the help that I have gotten from the lapband is that friends of mine who were also overweight may now think that I did this all on my own. I don’t share my weight loss because I am embarrassed by how much I weighed, that I let myself get so bad. I do plan that if someday I hit my goal of 200lbs lost, I will share that! I’m hoping that I’m able to do that by this time next year. Thank you all for reading and being there when I’ve need support. If anyone would like help, or wants to talk about any issue, I feel like I have enough experience that I would be happy to share or help support someone else in their journey. I wanted to leave you with my favorite comment from a college buddy that I ran into recently, he hadn’t seen me in about 2 years. “Wow, you look great, did you Sh%t out another person?” Made my day!!

I've been a little lax in activity on this site lately, but I've been busy in my own journey. I wanted to share that as of today I have lost 101 lbs!!!! I really started trying to lose weight in February of 2012 and I was actually banded on May 10th. I am halfway to my goal of 200lbs lost and I am pretty excited about it! I hope by this time next year I am at my goal. On a side note, a lot of people at work keep asking me how much I've lost (I wish I could hide the fact that I'm losing weight, but it's kind of hard). I tell them that I'm not sharing that information (I've never been a good liar) and they seem to get upset with me. Its kind of bothersome. Anyone else have this issue, how did you deal with it? Best of luck to you all!

Awesome Job, as a fellow Dr. Aguila bandster I am so glad to see this as I also need to lose over 200lbs! Thank you so much for the inspiration, and I hope to be joining you soon. I am sure you have made Dr. Aguila proud!

Here is an article I was reading and thought I would share with you all: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/14/health/father-son-bariatric-surgery/index.html?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_health+%28RSS%3A+Health%29&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner&iref=obinsite

What is Gastro?

Congrats!!!! I live in Florida the land of theme parks, and went to univerals studios a few months after surgery and was able to ride the rides where as last year I wasn't! It's big victory and congratulations!!!

I went to Europe when I was younger and really enjoyed it, and I have always wanted to go back but didn't think I would get as much enjoyment out of it as a fat person. So when I lose 150lbs then I am going to Europe. I am thinking about scheduling the trip a year in advance so I have a goal/reward to work towards!

I thought I would share a few NSV's I've had recently as I find these very motivating. I was banded May 10th but I count since I started the program in February. Since then I've lost 70lbs and continue to lose about 2 lbs a week. Anyway on the NSV's: 1. I was able to buy a new belt today at a normal store, I didn't have to go the Big and Tall store. I wanted to keep the old belt and I had been punching holes in it to keep using it, but I work in a professional office and the shabby look doesn't fly. Anyway I went to the store to actually pick up some socks and figured I'd try on a belt just to see and low and behold it fit!!!! 2. I am a guy and shave every morning for work. Shaving has actually become a lot easier believe it or not. I never expected this change, but I have noticed that my face shaves cleaner and I have a lot less razor bumps now. 3. This one is pretty exciting. I was the biggest person in my office of about 100 people for a long time. There was one other guy who was also large, but about 50lbs lighter than where I started in February. Well since I've lost weight and now I have passed him up he wants to join me in my fitness routine. I am happy to have a workout buddy, and I am really glad that I (the fatest (former) person at work) has inspired one of my coworkers to get into better shape!!! Thanks for all the support fellow bandsters and I look forward to posting more NSV's on here!

Ok I am impressed if you managed to go on a cruise and still lose weight if you say you ate like you were on vacation. I used to go on vacation just to eat, so I could gain 10 or 15 lbs in a week on a cruise ship. Are you excercising a lot or something? What's your secret for losing 10 lbs while on vacation, especially one that has a lot do do with eating?

This sounds great to me, that was kind of my fear as well, what happens if I get to the point where I can't do it myself anymore and need the band to do its job a little more. This sounds like a great plan. I am really glad I'm not the only one on here who is experiencing this. I have only been on it for 5 weeks, but the weight is dropping pretty rapidly. I am down about 60lbs including the 3 weeks presurgery diet. So the band is working well, but this will be the 4th time in my life I've had a significant weight loss and the hard part for me has always been keeping it off. I have definately changed my eating habits, but eventually if I go on vacation or "have a bad week" I don't want to put on 10 lbs because my band doesn't stop me from eating.

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So I went to my Dr. today 5 weeks after surgery for my first fill if needed. I had lost 14 lbs since surgery and was told I didn't need a fill. The Dr. also said that they noticed that patients who worked with their bands more, needed less fills. I have been doing this (eating healthy and working out a lot) in order to produce results. At this time I can eat whatever I want, and have had a bite of pretty much anything (pizza, bread, ect.). I have also read a lot of success stories on this site, and noticed that some people who have been really successful went for long periods of time before they got their first fill and those same people don't complain about getting stuck. So I guess what I am asking is from those of you who have been successful, do you feel like you tried to avoid getting filled until you needed it, or did you just get one whenever. I could have probably done with a fill today because I could go out and eat whatever I want and probably not have any repercussions, but I like knowing that I can eat anything I would like and not having to worry about it making me PB or anything. I don't want to criticize anyone, I feel like whatever it takes to make the lap band work for you then go for it! I am just curious what others have experienced in their journeys... Thank you for the feedback!

Great Job, that is really impressive, keep up the good work!

Great NSV, smaller clothes and doing physical activity that you couldn't do before are much more rewarding than eating that extra serving of food!