sleepwalker

This is the first time that I have written on this forum. I hope that this is informative or helpfull in some way. I was at about 290 lbs and 5'9 in September of 2012. I am currently 224 lbs and feeling much better. I also found out through this process that I have celiac disease. Change came in a major way to my life when I began this process. Most likely some of my weight gain came from how completely off my entire system was from the celiac. I was deficient in every Vitamin and severly anemic. That has been corrected. Ironically the band helps me as much with the celiac disease as the celiac disease helps me with the weight loss. I have to avoid so many foods now. The band helps with that because I don't need to eat nearly as much as I did. Alot of people that have the band complain that they have had problems, slippage, vomiting whatever. I can tell you slippage comes from the fact that many of us have so much viseral fat when the band is installed that the band can't really be anchored. The person who recommended the doctor to me, went a year and had to have his band replaced. Now his new one is anchored, due to his weight loss, that was now possible. He will never need another surgery. I needed 40 percent a large fat deposit around my stomach to be removed in order for my band to be installed in the first place. That much viseral fat = no good. The up side is that viseral fat goes away first. The other problem, that no one wants to admit, is many people don't follow the doctor's instructions. That causes the majority of the problems. People think they can get a band and do whatever they want. It doesn't work that way. You need to make a lifestyle change. If you aren't ready for that then don't do it. You need to be a different person after the surgery. It will also take some time to master how to control the food intake with the band. You will need to learn about volume and speed at which you eat. I pause several times while eating as I feel pressure start. Also watch your Fluid intake while eating. That will get you faster than anything. You'll end up burping to try to get air out and possbily throwing up. I can manage this very well now. I am now at the point where I am beginning to realize that I look so much better than I have in a long while. I'm down 64 lbs and am 10 lbs away from where I was as a baseball player in High School. I was always a little higher on the scale than the average person my height due to muscle make up. I was always a weight lifter. I describe myself as a work in progress as I still have work to do. I get a lot of compliments now and it is nice to hear. My personal decision was to not advertise the fact that I have the band. Very few people know about it. I'm not embarrassed by it, I just wanted it to be personal. I wanted the battle to be won, but didn't want to feel that people were trying to judge my progress. There are only a couple of people at work who know and I do talk to them about it. Sorry to chew your ears off about it, but thank you. The few that know, I love you guys for your support. My immediate family knows and I talk to them about it here and there. That's about it. I'm not telling you out there to do that. It is just what works best for my personality. This is what I want to point out, at least to the guys out there. No one tells you this part. You will find new confidence in your new look, when and if you get there. I'm a married father of two. I have found myself recently thinking about other women that I encounter and even acting out like I'm gonna try to make that connection with them to make something happen. I sware I stopped myself, and have done nothing wrong. The problem is, you all of a sudden correct a problem, in a short period of time, that you've most likely had for years. You suddenly start feeling like you can do anything and like you've been reborn. It is mostly good, but just be careful and make decisions based on where you are at in your life, not where you are at in your weight loss and new self image. I actually started to walk over a talk to a very attractive girl, this week, a total stranger, who I was able to see showed interest in me. I was going to try to get her number or whatever. I then said to myself, "what is wrong with you, you're married." I then changed direction and walked away. I sware, this is what happens when you get to the point that I'm at. I'm sure it will fade, but I'm just saying, be aware that your thought process can be a little affected by your success. Just don't act without thinking carefully. You don't want to make a mistake that you will regret. By the way, some one showing interest in you is ok. It's kind of validation, especially if you haven't felt good about yourself in a long time. It helps you see that you are getting somewhere, but if you don't see that in someone, that doesn't mean that you're not doing well. Just remember you can see that type of attention come your way, that doesn't mean you need to act on it. For me, it brought me back to a time in my life where that type of attention wasn't so illusive, a time when I had a very different self image and level of confidence. It did make me feel good. The funny part is, that encounter made me realize that I'm well on my way to experiencing life with that type of self image again, just not totally there yet. Time will hopefully totally get me there, but I'm doing well now. If you're single, knock yourself out, have fun. If you're not single then remember the one at home who most likely helped you get through the rough part and helped you get where you are right now.

Believe me when I tell you, 50 lbs in less than a year is great. If you go too crazy and get too tight you will loose too fast. These results look great at first, but are very hard to maintain. Additionally, if you get too tight just to get results, you will be living a miserable life when it comes to food. Yes you have to find whan works for you in terms off CCs in the band. I don't know your story, but remember you can always step up your weight loss by working out. The exercise itself will also eventually help you to feel better mentally. If you have the time to do it.

I somehow accidentally clicked on and vote only one star for my own post. If anyone knows how to remove that let me know. I wouldn't vote on my own post. Oh yeah, I hope somebody sees it as better than one star.