DELETE THIS ACCOUNT!

Everyone has opinions and advice and that is what makes us different individually. I am not one to sugar coat things but for someone to come and tell another "you are giving out bad information or advice" is just dead wrong. That is the opinion bad information or advice is being given.
 
Keys to a successful journey in my opinion is:
Patience
Education
Following basic guidelines set forth by a Doctor and/or Nutritionist
Making good food choices
Develop good eating habits such as eating slow, smaller portions and chewing up food very fine
Analyze your hunger to ensure it is really truly hunger and not head hunger
Patience
Ongoing Education throughout your journey
Constant follow up with Doctors and Nutritionists throughout the journey. This is a must should band adjustments be needed.

While I understand is is perfectly normal to read up on the manufacture website on the product I think I would put more faith in the experience others have had with the product and that goes for both patients and medical professionals alike. I read up on Realize band on the manufacture website but in the end they are trying to sell a product. I want to hear from the 'end users' and the medical professionals who work with the product.
 
 
Just my penny worth of thoughts
 
Oh and Fen-Phen said they could help people lose weight as well but in the end the drug was pulled for causing serious health issues along with deaths and they ended up shelling out $13 billion in settlements. Anyone who just takes the word of a manufacturer as FACT or word of law is not a wise person.

I thought I'd update, work and life have been busy,
I think the last time I blogged here was right after my first fill, and I have my 2nd one in five more days.
 
I've lost 34 lbs. since my surgery at the end of June.
My struggle with exercise is an on-going thing, I just can't get myself to just do it.
 
Eating is easier as in I don't do a lot of it, I don't think about it much and when I do it's because I have to go out to eat.
That has always been the hardest for me, making good choices when I'm looking at a menu and then at other people's plates is HARD, but I'm doing it.
Last week at a birthday dinner I had a salad...actually it was lettuce and dressing...because everything else on the menu was not for me. Everyone else enjoyed the family style feast of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, BBQ chicken, baked beans, buttery green beans, chicken fried steak and biscuits...that was like my own version of hell for about two hours, but I did not put a single "bad" thing into my mouth.
While everyone left there stuffed and feeling gross, I left with a happy tummy and a happy heart.
 
When I got home I had a little grilled chicken, and it tasted amazing.
 
Another victory...I'm thankful.

I went in for a fill this morning. I am now 9cc in an 11cc band. I hoping this is it for me in the way of adjustments. I am getting a little concerned as I have so much in the band already that I worry about maxing it out. A few people along with the Doctor told me not to let this concern me. Still plenty of room in the band and I could only be one small adjustment away from the ever elusive sweet spot. Adjustment I got today could be it but who knows.
 
How do I really know for sure though? I seem to come out of a fill appointment feeling good. I hardly get hungry and when I do it's about 5 to 6 hours after my last meal. My appetite is so diminished. I am really starting to believe I am in the zone but my brain is waiting for some kind of magical light bulb to go off in my head.
 
Scale will drop 10lbs or so in the first week after my fill then I sit idle for the next two until my next adjustment appointment. I can eat any kind of food that I want or have tried I should say. I am yet to attempt a hamburger or sub roll. I haven't had an actual hamburger since March but I am not missing it.
 
For the last week or so I was really looking forward to this appointment so I could see the Nutritionist only to find out one called out sick and the other was on Vacation. Needless to say, I was disappointed.
 
After talking with my Wife and Mis73 it is determined that I am not taking in enough Calories and most likely putting my body into survival/starvation mode. My last 8 day average is 898 calories per day. I am going to work on increasing to at least 1200 a day with a goal of 1300. My next appointment at the center is 9/25. My appointments are typically three weeks apart. We'll see how it goes. I lost 11lbs during this past three week window.

Considering I had to work Sunday I had a pretty decent weekend. Weather was great. My Wife and I stumbled on to a great deal at Sam's Club Saturday. IPhone 4 8GB model onsale for $48 bucks each and they were waiving the activation fee for this weekend only. We were due for an upgrade so how could we say no to two IPhones for just under $100. Who cares if they don't have Suri!! It's over-rated anyway. Going from an Android to an IPhone is a world of difference. I am not a Mac guy by any means as this is my first Apple purchase but so far I am impressed. So much more stable then our Androids.
 
I did have a two stuck incidents with the band this weekend. Saturday morning we went to breakfast and I got scrambled eggs with a little bit of home fries and wheat toast. It was near the end of breakfast I ate a half of slice of toast a little fast and it got stuck. I started hiccuping and finally I guess I made a face of some sort and my wife told me to go outside and she would pay the bill. It finally passed but wow I have done this to many times in the past week. Since my last fill on 7/2 I have had 3 stuck episodes. Two of them involving bread. So bread is now out of the picture until I learn to eat slower and chew. I know its not the bands fault. I did it each time by eating too fast and not chewing enough.
 
I really need to buckle down and pay serious attention to my habits or I am going to do some damage to myself or band or both. I don't want to cause a slip. Good news is, I think I am definitely in the zone now. I can eat a little and go a long time before I get hungry and I don't have any head hunger or cravings. I am really enjoying this. I am down another 2lbs this morning for a total of 90lb since October with 54lbs of it gone since Surgery day April 16.
 
I have gone from 6xl t-shirts to 4xl.
 
Here on out until it becomes habit I am going to eat only at the dining room table away from the tv and laptop so I can focus solely on the food and the chewing. Jean mentioned in her book Bandwagon to put the fork down between bites and I need to make sure I do that. Actually, Jean mentions all of that. Don't eat in front of the tv or computer, chew, chew, and chew and put the fork down between bites.
 
If any of you have not read Jean's book Bandwagon yet it is really a must read. Jean has so much valuable information and tips. It's a must have for Bandsters!! Link to Jean's blog and from here you can order the book http://jean-onthebandwagon.blogspot.com/

My surgery was one month ago today. Have only been on regular food for a couple days. Doing well so far.

Had an appointment with Dr Fox today and he is happy with my progress. He asked me what my secret was. I was thinking "what are you smoking?" and I told him following your instructions. He grinned and said "That is what I wanted to hear". Look at Dr Fox being funny. He is a great guy.

Laying in bed this morning and my arm hits something on my leg...I think to myself...what the hell? Turns out I have a hip and leg bone that has been hiding in my thigh for at least 3 decades. Needless to say it's pretty cool to find all these bones that have always been there but have been hiding...collar bones, shoulder bones, now hip bones...oh and I am even seeing ankles too, real ankles and not cankles. Just thought I would post this in my blog today. Feels good.

One day while my husband and i where not married but a couple i went out to where he works for lunch, As we ate our lunch we got to talking about this guy that he didn't like and i had just seen. I ask what his name was he said Robbie i said oh like my name lol he said yes. We where talking and the conversation came up that he had had lap band surgery about two years ago. I said well how much did he weigh before? My husband said he weights more now then he did when he started. I could tell i had a puzzled look on my face and i said but my real mother had gastric bypass and she lost about 200lbs. He said yeah well he said lap band doesn't work.
That right there was my first conversation about lap band and the first time that i had even herd of it I thought well that will be something that i never ever do and just forgot about it. Until i considered the surgery for myself after i found a doctor that would do it and it not cost an arm, leg, and liver then i got to thinking about that very conversation. I was a little worried so i got online and looked it up. I stubbed on a video on YouTube about lap band and i saw that people did really really good with it. I was confused and wanted to know why in the world this guy had only gained weight. So who better to ask then the doctor himself right.
Well my appointment came around and i had so many question and thoughts and was pretty much scared crapless why i still don't know but i did ask if this going to work because there is a guy and he said it doesn't work and he gained lots of weight back. The doctor and the dietitian both said you have to make it work. It is nothing but a tool and you can cheat it but really your only cheating yourself. I said so is there a way that i can know that i wouldn't end up bigger then when i started? They said yes you do what your supposed to and don't try to cheat your band and make sure that you have fills like your supposed to. I said really that's it. The dietitian said its a tool its there to help you loose the weight, if you are not serious about it and you continue to do what your doing now then NO it will not work and it will be no ones fault but your own.So i left that day with a new look on life and a new feeling about life i thought well i can do this and i want to, I want to be the person that i feel like i am on the inside!
But the thought was still in my head if this guy gained so much weight back what did he do wrong. So i asked my husband who later came back and told me, He had one fill, drank sodas, ate whatever he wanted and more. That was all i had to hear was that the band didnt fail him he failed the band. And **** happens i know but i still cant for the life of me understand why someone would pay so much money to have this done and not do what they know they are supposed to do?
Its not even that hard to stick to really. Its protein really you just have to make sure that your getting lots of protein and not lots of crap. Yeah im sure it will not kill you to eat bread but the first time it gets stuck i promise you probably will not be eating bread again. Grease the first time you get heart burn real bad and throw it up you probably will try and stay away from it right? I know i do. Sugar well they make all kinds of sugar for people now that cant have real sugar its not hard to just stop buying and sub it for the fake sugar. Sodas I can see being a problem. I don't miss the taste and i really don't miss buying them the only thing i really miss are the bubbles. I know it sounds really crazy but that's really all that i miss about them. I haven't had a soda since august. Candy wasn't hard for me to give up i don't like it any ways. Chocolate well you can find it in sugar free and most of it now is pretty good. I will eat dark chocolate but i don't like to much of the rest. Cookies i will be the first to tell you i went through a cookie faze but again it in moderation i didn't just sit down and eat a whole box of cookies just about two or three a day and i didn't gain anything. Ice cream again i am going through that faze right now and still in moderation. I remember when i could sit down and eat a whole pint of Ben and Jerry's by myself now it takes me weeks and weeks to get through one and still i don't weigh any more. The band isn't there to be a BIG DIET your whole life its there as a tool so you can learn to control your portions and control what you eat and to know that most the time its not that your hungry but your board and that's what people tend to do when they are board is eat. Why i don't really know it just seems to be the thing to do.
That's why i am going to say this if you dont work with your band it will NOT work with you. It didn't take you one night to gain all the weight and its not going to take one night to loose all the weight. Hell it might even take longer then a year but if you are doing what your supposed to be doing to work with the band then there shouldn't be a problem! Now don't get me wrong there are ways the band can fail and i have read about it and watched it on YouTube but most of them where fixable unless the person didn't want them fixed or couldn't have them fixed. I have herd about a hole in the band where it leaks the water and wont fill that is the bands fault not yours. Also your band can slip and they will tell you that and from all the ones that i have herd about its because of the person not listening when they say very clearly DO NOT EAT HARD FOOD. Don't eat to soon and don't do anything that they tell you not to do there are reasons they are telling you this. Its not to piss you off and its not to hurt you its because they want you to have success with the band. Now what you cant always help its when you have a tummy bug and are throwing up to hard your band can slip and i have read that you cant even keep down liquid and there is horrible pain in your lower back and chest. I hope i don't ever have that!
But really the band can only work if you work with your band. If you don't want to work with the band then don't worry about the surgery because you probably shouldn't get it. Im not trying to be mean im just saying i am so sick of people saying the band doesn't work. I think its a bitterness that it didn't work for someone and they are pissed and they don't want anyone else to get the band because for them it didn't work. I can sit here an honestly say all the bad things that i have been through have been MY OWN DAMN FAULT. And i will say that so far every time except for the tummy bug there just wasn't anything any one could do for me. It wasn't really anyone's fault. I could blame everyone but at the end of it all i am the only one that is putting things in my mouth. No one else does it for me. So don't let anyone put you down if you want lap band and think its the best thing for you then you get it and make everyone else eat their harsh mean words! Because i know without a doubt that you all can do it and everyone can make it work for them.
There will be bumps, bruises, scratches, cuts, stops, slips, tears, pain, sweat, emotions, and maybe even some heart aches along the way but you have to remember your starting a new life. And with new things comes other new things. And im sure you can always find a friend on here who will understand what your dealing with and can find a way to help you to deal, and heal from whatever it is. And never let others get you down. Because once you see the new you, you will smile and know that it was all worth it and it really wasn't so bad it was really kind of fun. And once you see the 100's mark even if its 199 you will feel joy and just feel like you can rule the world and maybe even cry with happiness.
Always remember this you didn't get fat over night so don't think you will get skinny over night. It takes work and more work and time.

Its been 7 months since I started my weight loss journey. I had the Lapband surgery and I'm happy to say I'm down 100 lbs. What I been learning along my journey is slowly but surely if we don't give up and follow the Dr. advice.

I have hit below 300 for the first time in a year and half! Just wanted to share my milestone!