Nyawela

That's an interesting mix of thoughts. I have recently befriended someone whom is a representative for Medifast and I've attended a few of the seminars. One of the biggest push for them seems to be learned eating habits. This makes perfect sense otherwise when you are at your goal weight you'd just ballon back up or become part of the yo yo dieting I suppose. I also have a friend whom had I believe her stomach stapled this was back in 2003 or so and I remember how scared we were for her before during and after. She wasn't very big but to her she was huge and found herself unpleasant and had taken so many pills to try to loose weight. I was totally against the pills but I guess once you get it into your mind you'll do anything. Her problem was more so she wanted a "quick" fix so to say because she never really changed her habits. I remember her being stapled about a month or so into it and she was eating bread which was on the top of the DO NOT list because it expands and she'd eat and eat and eat. I used to think oh dear God don't let this girl explode. My point is very early on before I even thought about dieting or looking at my options I realized there has to be some self discipline and dedication to making yourself healthy by not only loosing weight. I am currently 320 pounds and because I've become ill I've done so much food research and it scares me to know what I was and put into my body at this point. I too struggle with emotional eating, depression eating, uncontrollable snacking etc...but I've taught myself to be mindful and that its not always about giving in but holding out. I appreciate the feed back its always interesting to see how people are doing personally and how things relate to them. I'm looking forward to finding a seminar I can attend and getting more details =)

I've been reading different post in the forum trying to get a good idea of the process before and after so to speak ups and downs etc. I noticed that there are lots of people on "diet" foods after the surgery. It seems almost like a diet on a diet type situation. I don't understand I was under the impression you do one or the other not both at the same time? When you are doing your counsultation prior to surgery isn't part of it a lesson in learning to eat properly? most of the items I see people eating I cannot imagine are good for you long term before surgery I cannot imagine after. I also noticed that some people are keeping the device for life not sure why but I thought it was temporary and with your new found learned eating habits you can maintain your health without "dieting" per say just mindful behaviors. What was your overall purpose for getting the device? Mine would be to loose weight to my desired goal and then remove. I have started retraining myself on how to eat properly.

2muchfun I agree with finding the issue but that is the thing they are giving up they are blaming it on my weight/head or other basically because they cannot pinpoint it. running_scared They have no per say tested for IBS they have given me a few IBS medications to try and see what the end result came out as. I have not done any allergy testing. I've seen I believe three specialist and many other regular physicians and the outcome is the same because they do not understand my symptoms to relate to anything they are familiar with they are giving up. I am doing my last three test this week I believe it will check my antibodies and infection which they use for lupus and a few other issues. The pain is on my lower left side consistent with how you might feel if you have a horrific kidney infection. That pain increases if I ingest caffeine or any medication and random food from time to time sometimes plain old Water makes me hurt severely. When I eat the first bite of any food I get so dizzy I have to hold myself from falling. If I eat anything that tightens up my stool even a tad I feel weighted down, heavy, dizzy, and extremely tired. I randomly have bloody clots in my stool which are completely unexplained still. Because there isn't technically anything on our left side they don't have a clue. The migraines I can tell are a side effect of the pain so its not a issue on its own to my knowledge. One of the specialist told me after pushing into my side and stomach very hard asking if I incurred pain that I had a rib issue ruptured or something. That was basically an attempt me to seek a muscular doctor but its clear that its something inside I can feel the pain and it radiates when I eat I don't know any skeletal muscle that would hurt when you eat .. lol Also, I was seeing a chiropractor for an unrelated issue and he confirmed I had no muscular issues or skeletal to his knowledge. This is the first time in my life I have to deal with doctors in this area I normally live up North and they treat people better there I would like to go up there to be treated all together but its just not an option right now. Living daily in pain with no relief from medication or direction from a doctor is hard to do. My family reminds me on a regular basis how strong I am but its like chipping at stone eventually if you don't stop chipping you may chip through it. If loosing weight is the answer then yes I will do that but I don't know that I am loosing fast enough right now. An average day consist of about 85% fresh fruits and veggies a day. 5% grains or carbs a day. 5% seafood and 5% fat a day. I don't eat anything out of a box or container I cook with fresh everything with reasonable exceptions like grains. I don't use MSG anymore. I don't use real milk. No meat. Rarely have cheese, eggs, or other animal products. hopeless!

I've have been overweight since the beginning of time I believe....I've always been pretty comfy with my weight this is part of the problem I know. I am now in my late 30's and I've become sick. I have no previous medical history to really speak of only surgery was Cesarian in 2000 about 5 or 6 yrs ago I was diagnosed with Apnea but that may have been job/stress related. I never have high blood pressure and I am on absolutely NO medication not even over the counter. Over the 1.5 yrs my health issues have taken over my life. I had to give up food I loved pretty much over night because anytime I consumed it the pain was so horrific. Kind of like some weird pain food therapy. It didn't take me long to figure it out food was my enemy I gave up anything with caffeine including soda, medication, chocolate (I still try on occasion not without penalty though), I got rid of all the processed foods in my house, and I gave up meat. This is a complete 360 for me I a native Cajun girl and we are raised to believe that food is life, love and liberty. I suffer from constant belly pain and migraines even after my food alterations. What is making it worse on me is that I am back in Cajun country came on a mission and haven't been able to leave and my dietary change is almost impossible here. I have seen several doctors and have had all these costly procedures. I've lost faith in them almost because they won't help me or try to help at least. I've turned to self help basically and depend on my change in eating habits and personal family support. I was about 353lbs in March of this year I did a juicing fast and felt better than I had in my life during that week which is awesome for me. I lost 20lbs also that week and since then I've given up meat. I'm now at 320lbs. I've taken up a subscription at the gym and we go almost daily to exercise and I eat nothing but fruits and veggies occasionally I have fish and shrimp or seafood in general. My newest doctor requested all my medical records he is supposed to be the best stomach doctor around in addition he saved my father from cancer so I thought I'd give him a try. He requested I do a few more blood test if those come back negative he said there is nothing he can do for me that it may just be that I have a stomach pain and migraines. Possibly due to weight or something else they cannot detect. About six months ago I got severely depressed because its hard for me to get out of the bed most days I am always tired, sleepy and cranky. I have a migraine and hurt so bad and cannot take a thing for it so I have to deal with the pain on a scale of one to ten I stay at about a six daily. Its taking a toll on more than my body at this point its breaking me down. I've in the past looked at weight loss surgery but never had insurance that would cover it in the past. The guy who gave me my car him and his wife had lap band I watched them go from overweight to fit almost over night and they felt and looked great. They were constantly telling me I should try but at that time I had no health issues so I said I'd be okay I was comfy being fat pretty much. I noticed our new insurance covers it I believe at almost 100% I would have to get the specifics but needless to say its covered at some amount. In my opinion with the extreme change in diet and exercise and I am not dropping weight faster it doesn't make sense to me. I'm wondering at this point if it would be better to just have surgery? I had thought if I tracked my activities and eating via Body Media and went back to my doctor in 4months and said OK its on paper there is no denying that I eat right, work out, etc what is wrong with me?? if that would help. However, I haven't been able to hold a steady job because I am always sick. My family our income is suffering because I cannot work and I am suffering. I want to be NORMAL and not sickly. Sorry my post is so long my story is so massively long and stranger than strange. I have it in entirety on my blog if you want to read more there. I need to go post some updates. Any thoughts on surgery being a good option for me? suggestions? I'm always open to opinions or advice.