HealthyNewMe

Thanks for sharing these step by step changes to the transferring to life on maintenance. My husband and I are not there yet, but I'm always interested in what I've never been able to do...., maintain weight loss.

Thing is, you'll never find a two week period where you won't have food waved in your face..... My two weeks was late last May during my son's graduation. I sat through three separate meals out at some of my favorite restaurants. Then, we attended several different parties, all centered around food. To top it off, my husband and I threw a crawfish boil at our house with 200 pounds of crawfish and a cake from our favorite bakery. I stuck to my mantra (that I've used for other difficult situations in my life)..... My mantra is..... I CAN DO ANYTHING FOR TWO WEEKS! And I did! You will too!

I always tend to jump to the other side of the weight loss equation when I hear of people hitting a stall.....have you vamped up the exercising ?? Sometimes that helps boost the metabolism. Sorry, I'm not a breakfast eater, so I can't help you out there.

I'm impressed..... Congrats!

The fact that you've been maintaining for 3 1/2 years s something I love to read.... Awesome!

Night cough = Doctor's visit

You've only got THREE choices in life: Give up, Give in, or GIVE IT ALL YOU'VE GOT !

Your mom surely, in my opinion, over reacted. However, as a mom of young adult children, I can see that SHE is scared too. You're her daughter, her baby. She's scared bc she's not as educated about the surgery as you are. She didn't say the right things.... She said the wrong things in a dramatic way.... But, she loves her girl and is scared!

Head Hunger..... Probably part of the reason we are where we are. When I taught, I too, wanted to eat when I came home from school ( kept the habit from when I was a kid and my mom had snacks for us when we came home from school.) So here's what I did. I re-adjusted my three meals. No breakfast, lunch at school was my first meal, I ate my second meal when I came home from school, and then I ate dinner later that night. It might not work for you, but it worked for me. My band is usually right in the morning. Two cups of coffee fill me in the morning.

VERY noticeable difference in only three months... Wow!

Seems like you are doing extremely well. My doc would think that's too much food, but it seems to be working for you. Now, if you start getting too tired of fish and veggies, that might be too much of another kind of food. I also have had great length of time w/out feeling enough hunger to eat. But, I too, could eat 2 to 2 1/2 cups of food at a time. My last fill (#6) has pretty much put me at my SWEET SPOT. No hunger, no desire to eat (other than in my head), and very small amounts of food at each meal. Yeah for the SWEET SPOT!

Nice insight, lellow !

Yesterday, I went back for my six month visit to the biomedical research facility that is conducting a long term study on patients having lap band surgery. (Participating in the study is how I had my surgery and all follow up fills done for free.) My first NSV is that I lost seven inches around my waist. My second NSV is that my BP was 110/72. My third NSV was when I stopped on the way home to Dress Barn. I immediately walked in the store and turned to the left for the "Women's" sizes. A sales clerk approached me to ask if she could assist me. I said "No, I'm just looking around." She asked if I was shopping for myself or someone else. I responded, "For myself." She responded, "Mam, you should be shopping in the other half of the store, the "Misses" Department. Guess what? She was right! I fit in size LARGE. LARGE never felt so SMALL. My final NSV happened as I walked into the gym. Approaching the door was an old acquaintance. I greeted him and told him hello, but I could tell, he just politely responded back, but didn't try to make conversation. Halfway through my workout, he approached me and said he hadn't even recognized that it was even ME, since I lost so much work..... The OLD ME was unrecognizable!!!! Not a bad day!

I miss most carbohydrates.... Chewy bread, pasta, and the occasional sweet. But, I've broken the addiction, and like a drug addict, I need not be around my old friends, which caused headaches, zapped energy, and added layers upon layers of FAT.

Wow, Madam Reverie.... You gave a ton of good advice!

I live in Louisiana. This facility is Pennington Biomedical Research Facility. It is part of LSU in Baton Rouge. The name of this particular study is Heads Up. My husband's medical insurance is BCBS, through the state's Office of Group Benefits ( OGB). OGB teamed up with Pennington to conduct a five year study. I submitted my application ( along with over 20,000 other people) in January 2012. A computer generated lottery selected 100 names in 2012. 100 additional names were selected randomly in 2013. I was lucky enough to be one of those names. The research facility performed all of my presurgery tests, evaluation, and physicals. Once my surgery was approved, I met with one of the surgeons Participating in the program. My surgery was 100% free, and all aftercare fills are also free. I must return to the facility at six months, one year, and every year for the next five years. At each one of these visits, a complete medical and physical evaluation will be done on me. As a side note, my surgeon's office in New Orleans, is also conducting a free trial right now on patients who would like to have the POSE Surgery done for free. I believe it will be much easier for person to get in that program. Google WHY WEIGHT, and click on surgery options. They are looking for candidates to participate in their newest surgery option, which is done endoscopically. Hope this might help your friend.

I wish I had words of wisdom, but I'm at a loss bc i have nothing but the opposite... Support, encouragement, and thrills. I will tell you how I celebrated my 100 pound milestone this week. I handed/mailed all four of my kids an envelope with a crisp new $100 bill.... No note, no explanation ( my kids were never used to us doling out money... We never did). So at first they were dumbfounded and completely puzzled. It didn't take long before one of them figured it out... You should have seen the text messages going off between them! Now they can't wait till I hit my next milestone! As far as the lack of support from your husband, I'm guessing you may need support from group counseling or a counselor to help you figure out how to handle this as you continue to lose. Things are changing. Some people resist change. They just can't or don't want to handle it. Best of luck as YOU continue to become healthier.

If ever you feel like quitting: THINK ABOUT WHY YOU STARTED !

EXERCISE

Huge milestone... Congrats!

I haven't researched this, but three months ago, I switched from Splenda to Truvia. My limited knowledge is that Truvia is made from the leaves of the stevia plant. I like the taste bc it doesn't have an aftertaste, like Sweet n Low, and may not contain the chemicals that are in Equal and Splenda.

Buying a treadmill or elliptical for your home would cut out travel time to and from a gym. Plus, if only a 15 minute window of opportunity opens, you can do 15 mins of cardio. If the next day, only a 10 min window opens, then you only do 10 mins that day.... Don't want to buy equipment?????.... Get out and walk for that 10 minute window. If there's a will, there's a way!!!! However, if you're not motivated or if you're overwhelmed by being out of shape.... That's a whole other ball game. I can only share with you that I looked like a beaten pup for the first six to eight weeks that I started exercising..... For me it was pure agony. Moving a 327 pound body is torture. But, I'm stronger than I realized, bc I persevered. Now, I exercise six days a week. I found my will.... I found my way! Best of luck to you!

Glad to see you've more or less made your decision . Best of luck!

I was banded the week before you, 8/22/13. It's very much a learning experience.... These first few months. The way I see it, you've lost 35 in five months and THROUGHOUT THE TWO MONTH HOLIDAY SEASON. I think bravo!!!!! Keep in touch!

I hate to even say this, for fear of being stoned..... but for years, I thought it was an easy way to weight loss myself. I didn't think less of people who had WLS. I just didn't know (as a non WLS person) ALL of the commitment, change of behaviors, change of thinking, modification of food choices, and the amount of exercise that still had to be done. I was uneducated about the day in and day out of life after surgery. So,for years, I too saw it as an easier way to weight loss. I CAN ADMIT WHEN I'M WRONG!!!!!!!