Hankaoui2000

Yesterday was my 6th month anniversary of being banded (was banded November 30th). My starting weight was 257. My weight was 247 the day of surgery. I currently have 4.5 cc in a 14 cc band. My current weight is around 217! I AM 40 POUNDS THINNER THAN I WAS AROUND THANKSGIVING. In fact, I've lost about two turkeys myself or 8 pounds of sugar or however you wanna look at it. TO ME, THAT'S GREAT! Sure it's not the big numbers some people are pulling, but it's amazing for me. To show you how amazing I'm including an old journal entry..........
 
THE OLD ME TALKING:
".... During the weekend it was really difficult to count calories when it feels like every calorie is a big mistake. So the good thing was that I started counting again, the bad thing is that I ate over 2,500 calories today, and I know that's not conducisve to weight lost.....
After my appointment I was sooooo drained, I didn't go to the gym. I just couldn't get in the right mindset. I have to be in the right mind set and do things in a certain way when it comes to working out. Then I felt bad because I shoulda, coulda, woulda went. This is the type of thing I was talkin about. I feel like if I was a better, different, person I would have pulled things together and went. ".....
 
THE NEW ME TALKING:
I used to be a size 22. NOW I AM A SIZE 16. I used to hate going to the gym. NOW (althought I dont love it, love it) I ENJOY THE GYM AND RARELY SKIP EXERCISING. I used to have trouble doing 15 mintues on the elliptical. NOW I CAN DO 60 MINUTES ON THE ELLIPTICAL, BUT WHAT I REALLY LOVE IS SPIN CLASSES!!! I used to be out of breath, and have back and knee pain from walking. NOW I CAN WALK FOR AN HOUR PLUS OUTSIDE! I used to be so fat that people thought i was pregnant. :ph34r: NOW PEOPLE TELL ME I LOOK NICE, CAUSE I DO!
 
Although every day is not perfect with the band. Things are so much better than they were! I still struggle with my food addiction everyday. The band does not cure the addiction just like locking the liquor cabinet doesn't cure alcoholism. Food addiction is a real thing and mine isn't going anywhere. I still have to fight myself to make the right choices. AND I DO MAKE MISTAKES, OFTEN, TOO OFTEN. But I've learn to pick myself up and start again the next day! And I you can see I used to eat upwards of 3,000 calories a day. Now I eat about half that (it should be less) but i'm wortking on it! The band isn't for everyone, but it's working for me. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE OUT THERE! :wub:

Let me first tell you a little about myself. I grew up as a very athletic and yes a very skinny kid without a care in the world. Then the teenage years hit and I started battling depression. As a result I was put on drug after drug, many of which cause weight gain or atleast an inevitable carb obsession which leads to obeseity. I essentially became my feelings: slow, sluggish. I used food to try to fix my problems. But it didn't work, so I ate more and more.Don't get me wrong even in my teens and twenties there were times when I was healthy and thin, but then I would yo-yo back everytime my medications would have to be changed or tweaked to treat my depression and anxiety. From the time I graduated college 2008 to 2011, I yo-yoed up 100 lbs from 155 lbs weight to almost 257 lbs at 5'4''. This was the position I found myself at when I started my process of approval for lapband surgery in July of 2011. I was over 250 lbs. A size 22 pants and xxl in tops. It was the seemingly little things that made life so miserable as an overweight person. Some of these little things included walking from my car into the schools for work. I got mad at myself everytime I forgot something upstairs because the walk up the steps took my breath away. I would get blinding back pain. And then there were the times when people asked me "when is the baby due?" that really ruined my self esteem. I guess it wasn't there fault. I did look like an egg on stilts with my apple shape and protruding tummy.
I knew right away that a typical diet wouldn't work for me. As long as I was able to each such large amounts of food it wouldn't matter what food I was eating (even healthy food is not longer healthy if the quantity is too large). I needed something to help my control the bottomless pit that was my stomach. Something that would stop my stomach from being treated like the trash compactor that it had become. Most importantly I needed a solution that would allow me to still absorb the medications I needed to maintain my mood. The lapband was the tool I chose to help myself lose weight. Yes, it is a tool not a fix all or miracle cure.
So far I have used my tool along with diet and exercise to lose about 60 lbs. I am now in what some people call "onderland" where that first number on the scale is a 1 instead of a 2,3,4 etc. It has to be one of the best feelings in the world. I now wear a size 14 pants and a large top. Even though I'm not what many people call skinny or what I even consider skinny, I know that the decision I made and the sucess I have earned and deserve is signifigant to my health and wellbeing. I now don't have to struggle so much with the physical and emotional weight that was taking over my life. I can walk, I can even run (a little) and I love cycling. It hasn't been easy. In fact, it has been really hard to give up the food that I was using to comfort myself; in fact I still battle emotions that cause me to overeat, but now I feel like it's a battle I can win.