charlesoakes68

Since July, I'm down another 10 lbs. total is 90 pounds lost in 4 1/2 months. Wonder if I can lose another 10 in 6 weeks?? 100 pounds in just my first six months would be amazing.

What a f**king inspiration! Dude congrats! You lost the weight of an entire adult male! You must feel like a million bucks! Half the man you once were LITERALLY!

Me at the beginning of the year and me last weekend. What a difference 6 months makes. Feels strange seeing the pic to the left. When i looked in the mirror thought I looked the way I do now. I told myself I wouldn't post a pic until my one year bandiversary but what the hell. First four months down for me, here's to our next four months guys!

I usually have a protein shake for breakfast. Either a smoothie king gladiator with only one portion of fruit, or I make my own protein shake with lean1 chocolate or lean1 chai latte. I love adding pb2 to my protein shakes too. A good lean1 chocolate with pb2 is 25 grams protein to start the day and less than 300 calories

I wouldn't think being hungry after 3.5 hours is all that big of a deal! That's 3 meals in 10.5 hours, right?

One more thing- asparagus effs me up! Gets stuck every time. And as far as pasta and rice is concerned, when i eliminated it from my diet- i just sat back and watched the pounds melt away so fast! When I tried incorporating them back into my diet after a couple months, not only did my weight loss slow down, I've actually gained a couple pounds back at a couple points. Then eliminate them again, and the fat melts away once again. Pay attention to the type of calories you're eating and how it's affecting your journey. I use myfitnesspal religiously. Tremendous help.

This may be the wrong time for you to decide to have the lap band surgery. You have to want the weight loss and health benefits from not eating and drinking those foods anymore. You have to really really want it. Right now it doesn't sound like you want it. You're choosing bad foods over weight loss, plain and simple. I'd suggest writing down five strong reasons you want to lose weight and live a healthier longer life. Read those reasons for a day or two. Figure out which is more important to you, those five reasons, or ice cream, soda, and obesity. The band doesn't do the work for you. Even with restriction you have to make good food choices.

Me personally, I spent the first couple months not eating a single bit of bread or pasta or rice. Now I guess my taste buds have adapted and do not like the taste of them. I do enjoy quinoa and wild rice, but pastas and breads and white rice are just not tasty to me anymore! My wife will make them for herself and the kids, and I always take a bite just out of habit because my old self wants it. New self realizes upon the first bite that they aren't that tasty after all

3 cc's at time of surgery, and every fill thereafter was a different amount. First fill was 1.2 cc's. second was 1 cc. Third fill was .8 cc's. fourth fill was 2 cc's (thank you different nurse for helping me to get to the green zone faster!). Last fill was .6 cc's. now have a total of 8.6 cc's of fluid in a 14 cc band

Has anyone experienced bulging veins in the legs after surgery? Seems my bulging veins on both legs keep getting bigger. Don't know if possibly it's because I've lost so much weight that their appearance is more noticeable? But they worry me. They're dark and achy sometimes. I'm worried about blood clots, but without a regular primary care doctor and insurance, can I find a dr that will actually help? Anybody else experienced anything similar?

Congrats on the successes. For those of you who have slower results, be patient and make sure to get fills regularly to make sure you're in the green zone. I myself was banded April 5 2013 and have lost 80 pounds so far. Lots of NSV's along the way, especially these past few weeks (raiding the back of my closet and finding out that old clothes that I assumed would fit me now, actually are too big!). Lets keep up the hard work and keep moving forward !

So what is everyone's status now that it's been a couple months? It's been several fills later for me, and i do believe I'm in the green zone. Matter of fact I'm thinking about asking for an un-fill! Restriction is crazy- had some acid reflux last week- and nausea. Very uncommon for me. I was thinking my band is too full yet these past couple days have been great. Maybe I get swelling after these past couple fills? But after a few days the swelling goes down and all is well? I'm not sure. Have any of you experienced this? So far I'm down 80 pounds.

Quick update. I'm down to 270 which puts my weight loss at 80 pounds. Crazy that I've almost doubled my weight loss since my last comment on this thread. Had several fills, totaling my band to 8.6 cc's. very restricted on quantities eaten but there's still loopholes. Trying my best to avoid the loophole. The loophole is- if I don't eat meals- but just continuously snack- I can end up eating more. So I'm doing my best to make time to sit for 20-30 minutes to enjoy a meal, that way I get full enough to keep from wanting a snack later. Been doing cardio, walking has turned into some jogging. Making and beating personal goals with my workouts. Myfitnesspal has been a tremendous help. Highly recommend it to you all. Log every thing you eat! Look me up! Myfitnesspal screen name is charlesoakes68

What a hottie! Congratulations and keep up the great work!

I actually gained a few pounds before the fill- due to eating rice with dinner. Never realized (or maybe I knew) how carb sensitive I am. That was confirmation. So after the fill I'm down a few more pounds and eliminating the carbs once again. They were right, the band is just a tool. It still takes effort on our part as well

I've had one fill so far, last week. I now have 4.2 cc's in my 14 cc band. They only allow 1.2 cc's per fill- so i know the process to finding the green zone will require patience. Can't wait till next week when I get my 2nd fill

It can take several months and several fills to get you to the green zone. Be patient. There's a reason they do it this way- otherwise they'd just fill the sucker all the way up from the get go, right?

Banded 4/5. Total lost- 46 lbs. seriously having a hard time adjusting to the lowered amount I should be eating- yet doing better with waiting 1 minute between each bite- and chewing food thoroughly. Overall, still eating so much less than I used to