Frederic

Grand Island has an active support group that meets the 3rd Tuesday of each month. If you'd like more details or just want to discuss what our meetings are like feel free to reply below or send me a message.

I will admit I haven't been around the forums as much but that's because I've been successful, It's unfortunately true that the more successful you are with the band the less motivation you have to hang out on internet forums and talk about. But I want to show support for all of you new Bandsters out there. Feel free to send me a message if you have questions. The long and short of it is that I have continued to lose weight at a steady pace by watching my calories and exercising as regularly as possible. I've had no complications from the band of any kind yet.

I guess for me the test is if you see someone who is watching what they eat and exercising and still struggling with being overweight would you tell them about how WLS helped you?

There is a middle ground between gushing about WLS and keeping it a secret. I only mention my WLS if somebody asks. I have nothing to be ashamed of I worked hard before the surgery and I still work hard after the surgery the difference is my hard work actually generates results now. I just hate the idea of WLS being this thing only whispered about in secret and treated like something to be ashamed of. People don't keep tonsillectomies a secret or kidney stones. I believe WLS should be no different.

This thread really seems to illustrate some key differences in how men and women perceive friendship. I've always been amazed at how differently the genders process these kinds of relationships.

This is my experience as well. The more people hide their WLS the more it seems like something to be ashamed of. If I'd known how common WLS really was I could have benefitted from it over 10yrs ago. Nit to mention situations like this where you're angry (or at least upset) at a friend because they're not commenting on a secret your keeping from them. Have you considered the possibility your frustration is really just a misplaced and unnecessary feeling of guilt? Are you seeking validation of your weight loss because you're having a hard time acknowledging you needed/wanted WLS? I don't know your friend but I can say that everything your feeling is from how you're perceiving things. You have made a major decision and had excellent results. Seeking validation from others is a dark path filled with self doubt. I would encourage you to feel proud of your actual results regardless of anyone else noting them.

I encourage you to ask yourself why this situation bothers you. What does it matter if she notices your weight loss? If you guilt her into complimenting you, will it even mean anything? Does your friendship hinge on your relative appearance?

If you don't trust her enough to tell her you had surgery why do you think you know her motivations at all? I'd suggest she doesn't want to comment on the weight loss because she doesn't want you to think she thought of you as fat before. Whenever someone tells me I look good after the weight I've lost in my head I hear them say "you used to be so fat and ugly you look so much better by comparison." Or maybe your friend thinks you don't want to talk about your weight loss because you haven't mentioned it and she's afraid there's something wrong you don't want to tell her about. Or if you've known each other a really long time maybe she never noticed you gained thew weight. I have friends from childhood I still think of as taller or shorter than me based on elementary school and don't realize their actual height until I'm standing face to face with them. Human perceptions are much more subjective than we'd like to think.

Noisey stomach is common with the lap band. Basically it's just caused by air and fluids in your stomach passing back and forth through the band into the 2 sections of your stomach. Gasses are created as food digests in the lower portion and fluids are collected in the top portion as we eat and create digestive enzymes. The fluids try to flow downward the gasses try to flow up. The noises occur when the try to squeeze past each other through the band.

Regardless of whether your surgeon does the surgery or not if you can't follow the pre-op diet you may not be ready for the post op diet. Even after WLS there is a level of discipline required for it to be successful. Perhaps you aren't ready for this commitment yet. It doesn't mean you won't be someday but perhaps that day hasn't come yet. I hope you can find the motivation to stic with your pre-op diet because you'll need that strength later when going through bandster hell.

As someone who has lost 100lbs I can say on a large frame it isn't as extreme as you'd think. I mean I can wear smaller clothes but they still fit the same way. My before picture compared to my current picture looks more like I lost 25lbs.

I think he's doing well, but that might be because we're approx. the same height, we were approx. the same starting weight, had our same surgeries at approx. the same time, and have lost approx the same amount of weight. Like me he may have chosen the band to reduce the need for cosmetic surgery if successful. When you're losing as much as we have to lose the idea of losing weight slower but steadily has some appeal in and of itself. I doubt I'll ever get out of the obese category on the BMI but there are other metrics to aim for as a large framed man. I wouldn't be surprised if his goal like mine is a 38 inch waist since that's an even better metric for reduced heart risk than BMI.

Hummus is fine in fact it can be a slider food and it's easy to over eat. For me with sushi it depends on what type it is, I don't have any problem with rice but I know some people do. Salads are again a person by person thing I used to enjoy all kinds of salad but now a lot of higher Fiber vegetables (like broccoli and some types of lettuce) can feel very uncomfortable. The only carbs that are "blocked" usually are ones that expand in Water. That's why toast is easier than fresh bread and few people have trouble with chips or crackers. Anything that turns into sticky paste when dropped in water has a good chance of causing a person to get stuck.

I will now share the secret of how I went from never exercising 2 years ago to running 2.2 miles every day. Step 1: go to bed wearing workout clothes and set the alarm 5 minutes earlier. Step 2: every day first thing out of bed: set the timer on my ipod nano for 5 minutes and walk around the house staying in constant motion until the time is up. 5 days later set the alarm for 1 minute earlier. Step 3: every day first thing out of bed: set the timer on my ipod nano for 6 minutes and walk around the house staying in constant motion until the time is up. 6 days later set the alarm for 1 minute earlier Step 4: every day first thing out of bed: set the timer on my ipod nano for 7 minutes and walk around the house staying in constant motion until the time is up. 7 days later set the alarm for 1 minute earlier Step 4: every day first thing out of bed: set the timer on my ipod nano for 8 minutes and walk around the house staying in constant motion until the time is up. then just keep doing this when you get to 20 minutes if the weather is nice walk out the door and away from your house for 10 minutes then walk back. When you get to 25 minutes. Try walking while listening to each odd numbered song and try picking up the pace for every other song When you hit 30 minutes. try running during every other song. The key is to build a manageable habit. that you can incorporate into your routine. The more you do it the more natural it becomes. For decades I would fall into the trap of "by the time I get changed to go work out or go to the gym I won't have time to work out so why even bother". Now on the other hand I don't feel as good on a day that I don't work out. I cannot emphasize enough how important I believe "focusing on your habits" is the most important part of weight loss.

I would encourage you to set smaller goals and more specifically focus on those rather than getting trapped in thinking about your weight as the only number that matters. I've barely lost any weight in the last 4 months but all of my clothes fit better; I've obviously put on muscle; and more importantly I am eating better and able to be so much more active. Some suggested goals... Exercise at least 5 minutes every single day. Count all of your food calories Get all of your recommended Protein these are goals that you can consciously control unlike what the scale says which is gonna be effected by all kinds of factors you can't control like the weather and where you are on the globe relative to the equator not to mention your own hormonal cycles. WLS is about an opportunity to retake control and get healthier; the weight loss itself is just a side effect.

Sandwiches (including hamburgers). Basically I get stuck on bread so often I'm getting increasingly food averse to it so sandwiches which I used to love for convenience are now a disappointing option at best and I usually end of deconstructing them and eating them with a knife and fork just throwing the bread away. (This did lead to the discovery that it's cheaper to order a subway sandwich with extra vegetables and use the flatbread like a plate than to order one of their salads. Way to take advantage of the health conscious)

Our household (2 adults) has seen about a 33% reduction in grocery expenses but the quality of food has gotten much better. I no longer shop for the best price per unit instead I'm usually buying the smallest sized option (what good is saving .02 cents an ounce if you throw away 50 ounces). I also switched to soy milk because it has a longer shelf life and I was tired if throwing away milk when it spoiled (the Protein boost was an extra benefit). There's also more fresh produce and lean meat in my cart rather than cheap fatty meat and canned goods.

They are supposed to make sure that you have realistic expectation for the severity of change you'll be experiencing and that your emotionally equipped to deal with the changes that can occur especially if successful. For many WLS candidates a lot if our personal identity is not just tied to how we look but to specifically being big. Men can feel like they are less powerful; women can become addicted to increasing amounts of body modification; and there is an increased risk if seeking out unhealthy relationships. WLS is a big deal; if you aren't at least a little bit scared by the whole process you probably aren't prepared enough for what you're going to go through. Just try to be honest with both the professional and yourself.

You're expecting too much. If at 2 months you've lost 16lbs you'd be doing better than average. Your expectation of losing 25lbs in 2 months isn't impossible but it would be extremely uncommon. Going back to soft foods won't help since it will lead to slider foods which give your body access to easy calories (the one thing the lap band is designed to reduce access to). The initial weight loss often leads to a false expectation of a steady trend of shedding pounds but the reality is your weight is going to fluctuate up and down. You need to look at the long term and accept that some months you won't lose anything and sometimes you may even gain back weight but stay focused on how much you've lost total.

As someone who works with Behavioral Health Professionals I'm really disappointed to hear some of these accounts and I encourage you to report your negative experiences to your respective state licensing bodies. It sounds like some of these people really shouldn't be practicing and may even be guilty of insurance fraud in some states.