babsyintx

Hi Bright, I really like that top!!!! You will look beautiful!!! Enjoy the party. I may take you up on the offer to get some clothes. I have been very frugal with replenishment!!! Babs in TX 334/180 -154 New goal: 170

Hi Tinkerbell, Speaking as a long term bandster (20 months), it was the best decision that I have ever made. I have no real problems to speak of . I have no regrets except that I wish the lapband was available when I was younger. Babs in TX 334/180 -154 6/23/03

Hi Patty, Welcome to the banded side of life!!! Congratulations and good luck to you on your journey!!!! Babs in TX 334/180 -154

Hi Lisa, I am a junkie too!!! I like BO and I also like the Vasquez Puerto Rican kid with the great voice. And I like the guy with the braids (singing teacher I think) Babs in TX 334/180 -154 New goal: 170

Hi, My husband did not know my weight until long after I was banded. But now I tell him what I weigh everyday to keep me on track. Of course it helps that I now weight at least 50 pounds less than him..... I was always afraid to tell him, but I am sure that he had some inkling... Babs in TX 334/180 -154 New goal: 170

Laura, Dr. Carter was also my surgeon in June 2003. I was his 120th lapband patient or thereabouts! He has done close to 700 lapbands so far. He is really a wonderful surgeon and he has a great track record of very successful bandsters. I believe he has a great surgical technique as well. Post op care is phenomenal as well. So there ya go!! Good luck with your journey. Feel free to email me if you have questions. Babs in TX 334/180 -154 New goal: 170

Hi, No weight listed here in TX, but I have an obvious problem with the pic looking like me present day! I went to pay a ticket at the drivers bureau. they looked at it several times and the lady asked if that was really me. I told her that I had lost some weight. She wanted to know how I did it. Led to a discussion about the lapband. She showed my license to everyone in the office. I still havent changed it though! Babs in TX 334/180 -154 New goal: 170

Hi Alexandra, That is way cool Eventually, I will have to get my rings resized. I am wearing my wedding band in my middle finger and my diamond ring on the middle finger right hand. Been too lazy to go and get them sized properly!! Babs in TX 334/180 -154 New goal: 170

Hi Vera, Glad they fixed you up!!! Cool pic! Thanks for sharing this with us. The big question is how are you feeling? Babs in TX 334/180 -154 New goal: 170

Hi Lisa, I recall a time about a year ago when I got abused by a young girl who posted here. She wanted to know if it was OK to drink with the lapband. This was someone who was having 4-5 drinks on a saturday night a few weeks post op. I gave my opinion about her not being serioius enough about her weight loss, It got ugly and I kinda took a break for a day or two and came back here. Sometimes people dont want to hear an opinion. They just want to vent. And sometimes a topic that wouldnt normally bother the majority offends a minority. Stuff like this happens on all support boards, especially when they are growing and there are new people who dont understand the warped sense of humour of some of us folks on LBT. Its not possible to get along with everyone even if you meet them face to face in a social setting. Although this is a broad sweeping generalization (and I will probably get my ass grilled for this statement) I find that many obese and formerly obese people including myself want everyone to like them. Many of us have depended on our strong personalities and the strength of our intelligence to overcompensate for the way we feel inadequate about our physical self. It is natural that as a whole group of strong individuals that we will occasionally argue and disagree over certain topics. Anyway, as far as I am concerned, there really wasnt anything in the previous posts that offended me. Lets be kind to each other. We are all in the same boat and all oif us need to row it together even if we dont have the same final destination. Babs in TX

Hi Alex, Good plan! I had reflux for one night two weeks after my fill last Aug 2003 and I was rushing to the doc to take some out! I did not even wait an hour after it happened and I was in my car at 6:00 am heading to my docs office. I cant imagine having reflux on a regualr basis and I do know some people that dont understand that reflux should not be part of the banding experience.. I feel pretty fortunate that I have not had this problem. I have not had a PB in 9 months and only 5 times in 20 months, each experience being from chicken or steak . There are days that I am convinced I need more restriction because my weight loss has slowed down so much and I do have the ability to eat more. I then do a mental adjustment, go back to basics and find that the weight can still come off if I work at it and stick to the basics. Babs in TX

Marion, The lapband is a slower, but consistent tool to lose weight. The average weight loss is 1-2 pounds a week. My first year I lost 120 lbs, which would be more than 2 pounds a week. But I had a lot to lose, so it went faster and I worked very hard to get the pounds off. My feeling about this topic is that it really isnt gonna matter whether you got to your goal in one year or two years. It would only matter if you had a really really high BMI with cormorbidities that required you lose the weight immediately or risk death. In my case, I had a high BMI but I did not have short term life threatening issues, so I am happy with the progess I have made in 20 months. Babs in TX 334/180 -154 lbs and still losing!!! New goal: 170 and size 12

Hi , I can think of lots of reasons why I got fat. I was born a preemie and weighed about 4lbs. That was pretty small in the 1960's. I was thin until I was about 10 or so. I was always forced to eat everything on my plate. I came from a very dysfunctional family and I had low self esteem problems because of an abusive mistrustful father. I remember weighing about 120 at age 10/11 and then I remember 160 at age 15 and the last recollection I have of being under 200 was when I was 19. Then I started drinking heavily and of course with hangovers I would have the urge to eat whoppers or chicken wings at 12:00 midnight. I also drank and ate a lot in my 20's. I remember weighing about 247 at age 23. Then I moved to Holland and my weight stabilized for a while because of smaller portions and less processed foods in Europe. I stayed in the range of 250 - 260 for a while and went to a dietician to see if I could lose some weight with a well balanced diet. This did not work very well. After my first child, I got up to about 300 lbs, stayed there for lots of years. Ballooned up to 327 and went on Atkins and got my weight down to 279 over an 8 month period. Then I got pregnant again in 2002, went back up to 320 and after my baby was born I dropped back down to the 290's. I was nursing my son for a year and did not gain or lose any weight. ONce I stopped, I ballooned up to 334 about 3 days before lapband surgery. THere is some obesity in my family on my fathers side, mostly the women. None really on my mothers side. My mother was anorexic at one point when she was married to my father. She weighed 82 pounds at her lowest and did not go above 100 until she left my father. She is 5 ' 2 " , so she is much shorter than me and my brothers and sisters. My sisters and my brother do not have a weight problem. I did not try to diet often. I think I made two serious attempts to get the pounds off. I was always so hungry all the time and I loved junk food. I was never a sweets eater, but I loved bread, cheese butter and Pasta. So I would say in my case, there were a lot of causes for my weight gain. Babs in TX 334/180 -154 New goal: 170

Hi Everyone, Today, I got on the scale and had lost 2 more pounds putting me at the original goal weight of 180 decided by me and my surgeon. I cant believe that this day is here!!! At the end of last year (optimistically) I had set a new goal of 170 since at Christmas time I was finally in the 189 range or thereabouts. I have been fighting to get out of the 180's for a few months. Something about the 170's sounds so much better. So technically I am at GOAL, although ideally I should weigh about 20 lbs less...... Babs in TX 334/180 At Goal -154 New goal: 170

Lisa, I forgot to add that you need to have the Crystal Light and Vodka ready for me. I wish more bars would serve this..... THe cranberry juice has a lot of sugar..... Babs in TX

Lisa, I am so used to eating a certain way that I can go weeks like this and then sustain a big loss and then go on a couple of day binge!!! I love queso and chips and dips, but they are what made me plateau for so long. And lets not forget about drinking. When I come to Vegas next week, I am boozing, so need to drop at least 2 pounds next week to accomodate my three day drinking spree!!! I can live without food, but I do want my booze! I am a cheap date though. Only takes me a few to get toasted. Babs in TX 334/180/170 -154 6/23/03

Rachel, I count, but in my head. I do this regularly at the end of the day. I pretty much know my range for active weight loss. I really never go over 1200 calories unless it is a special occasion or I am going out to lunch with folks etc... Babs in TX

Hi Dori, I just changed my ticker a couple of days ago. It seems like I have to change it frequently lately. I will just have to do it again today..... I figured I should get on the scale first this morning before I do it just in case I should be lucky enough to see 179.... Babs in TX

Lisa, You crack me up! I will see you next week and we will have some fun. I think a Saturday shopping spree is in order. I am bringing some clothes for you (if I remember). you will have to remind me... Babs in TX

Hi Audrey, I know you know the answer cause I do too! Give yourself a break. Sometimes you need a couple of bad food choice days cause it seems when you have a lot of weight to lose that it is never ending. Two weeks ago, I weighed 10 pounds more than I do now. I was eating a bunch of crap and put on 5 pounds and had to lose that in addition to the 5 more I lost. I find now if I deviate even a little bit from my 1000 calorie a day plan, i dont lose. And its really easy to put the weight back on even with the band. I still have a lot of work to do myself about feeling guilty when I have a treat or go off the wagon for a while. Babs in TX 334/180 -154 New goal: 170

Hi Megan, What are your daytime Snacks consisting of? I dont snack in the daytime cause I like to save my little treats for the evening. Whatever, it is, I try not to exceed about 100 calories in evening junk. Thus the Healthy Popcorn cause I know a bag goes a long way> I eat them really slowly...... Babs in TX

Hi Lisa, Two weeks ago I ballooned up from 186 to 190. I decided I needed to be serious so I am back sort of on an Atkins approach with very limited carbs. My caloric intake has been between 950-1000 or so a day. i know it sounds low, but I am not that hungry when I eat mostly Protein. Sample day: 2 cups of coffee with fat free milk and a Splenda One Atkins or Slimfast low carb shake late morning Lunch: 5 oz of turkey meatballs with a little feta Dinner: Some kind of meat or fish (5 oz ) plus some veggies and two tablespoons of rice or potato After dinner: A cup of tea with two mini oreos Snack again: I share a bag of Healthy Pop Orville Redenbacher popcorn with my two kids. It is a two serving bag that we split three ways! I spray it with fake butter so it really tastes like the movie theatre version!!! Only 75 calories! More Water or tea, then bed time. Following this plan, I dropped 10 pounds over the last two weeks. I do not feel deprived and if I want a tortilla chip or two, I reach for the bag and have a few. If I get a real sweets craving, I take a teaspoon of Peanut Butter and some sugar free jelly and put it on a triscuit and have it with my evening tea. So thats about it. I think I will continue with this til I get to 170. Oh wait, I am going to Vegas next week, so ##@$@ can this idea that I can continue more than a week! babs in TX 334/180 -154 New goal: 170

Hi, My story is not so exciting. My name is Barbara Anne like the Beach Boys song. Unfortunately, its a popular name and people were confusing me with other Barbara's on multiple boards. So I adopted Babs in TX. I accidently got bumped off this board and couldnt figure out how to get my old screen name back. So hence I am now known as "BabsyinTX. Other than the internet, no one actually calls me Babs!! Babs in TX 334/182/170 -152 6/23/03

Hi Everyone, I have been whining as of late that I am not losing weight fast enough for my liking. SO I decided to go back to the basics again. I am eating about 900-1000 calories a day, 60 gram of Protein, 64 oz of liquids and a Protein shake inthe mornings to get my metabolism going. I dont like Breakfast and rarely get hungry til anywhere from 1:00-2:00 pm. The scale is finally moving again in the right direction. Its easy to make excuses and get off track. I actually gained about 5 pounds of waterweight and was up at 190 again two weeks ago. So I grabbed the bull by the horns and here I am at my lowest weight so far and a new ticker!!! Babs in TX 334/182/170 -152 6/23/03

Tropicana, I wish I had known how hungry I would be prefill. At least I wish someone would have told me.... Babs in TX 334/182/170 -152 6/23/03