GonnaBfree

HI I was banded in 2007 also. doesn't seem to be alot of bandsters from our era active anymore. I'm looking for people who have had the band and maybe are out of touch with it. I never had "great" success with the weight loss, but have managed to keep my weight down. This for me is a success. I am still down 46 pounds. But I'm back on bp medicine and now take cholesteroal med. I'm pre-diabetic and am finally getting around again to do something about it. Before I keep going, I want to be sure i'm not just talking to myself. so if there is anyone that can relate. Let me know.

Well my birthday is coming up soon and I vote we get to splurge a little. We're not dead, we're just trying to make the right choices 99% of the time. Happy Birthday! I head back to my fill doctor tomorrow. Haven't been there in a over a year. I don't even remember what I weighed when I last went. I think i was sent a letter to come in and they wanted some lab work done. Ooops! Took me a while and I've lost the lab slip. Wonder if he'll still give me a cc? I'm not even sure if I want one. Why does all the healthy food seem to get so stuck? I'm doing well right now without a fill. I don't have a lot of restriction, but I do have some. I should just go for it. If it's too much, i can always get some taken out. right?

Can I ask a dumb question? Why do I hear the word hernia so much on this site? Is it somehow related to the band or the size of us?

Hang in there is right. I've been banded for almost 3 years now. Take FULL advantage of your weight loss tool right now. You won't always be hungry, you won't always be on liquids, you won't always be loosing. I had a quick start at loosing weight and then plateaud for actually a couple of years. In hindsight - I should have attended meetings - I should have started to exercise - I should have lost as much as I could. BUT, I did not regain the 40 pounds I had lost the first year and that is the first time in my life to maintain a loss. Like I said, I'm almost 3 years out, and ready to loose again. I've got an appointment to see my fill doctor this Friday, I start a once a week exercise class on Saturday, and I'm keeping track of what I eat with an online app called the daily plate. Mentally I'm there again and that's where you need to be. Get on top of your weight loss wave and ride it. And stay there. You will be able to eat again. You will find out that some healthy stuff gets stuck and really bad stuff slides down. I am giving you the knowledge to remember you ARE still on a diet and the band is a tool and only works with you. 3 years out and I feel wiser about this tool. I think if I had come across these words 3 years ago, things might have been different, but a I also know that it's up to me and not my band. Be strong everyone. Life is not over, you just have to chew it more. (and you'll really notice how crappy meat can be that they serve people and how much grizzle or bone is in what gets ground up).

Awesome that you joined a gym. Just don't set yourself up to fail. Don't promise to go everyday. Start with a promise to go on a specific day of the week and if you go more, great, but go on your day until you feel good and want more. We'll get there! This is our year! 201.0 = 2010 = loose it Then we've got to party like its 199.9 !!!!!!

Do you remember when you got on track and once you got there, you found it easier and wanted to stay on track? I'm so glad for that feeling. I have been keeping track of things on mydailyplate for about 9 days now. I've lost 6 pounds by just being aware of what i'm eating. yesterday, my family decided on subway for dinner and I stayed healthy. i even got home and ran to my computer to see if I could eat all 12" and stay under my calories. I could! And I did. Then I went back and checked later and found how many carbs i had just eaten for that meal with the bread. suprised i didn't fall asleep. but it was VERY satisfying. My exercise class that was supposed to start this saturday called and had to post pone a week due to something else going on in the school gym. Not sure if that was a relief or a bummer. kind of both. My fill is scheduled for 2/4. I just want a little more restriction. My band has always given me restriction on the healthy foods - go figure. I don't want to be discouraged. Just keep telling myself I have to chew more with more fill. Part of me wonders if I really need it and part wants it as a back up. I've always said if you want to know if I have any regrets, ask me in a couple years to see if the weight stays off. Since it's been a couple of years, I'll have to say No Regrets. If it's done anything, it's kept me from putting weight back on. and now that I'm ready again, I can go for "round 2". It's funny about setting my onederland goal. It's been a really long time since I've been this "close" to being under 200 and starting a diet with a goal. 31 pounds is nothing when i think that the last time i was setting goals I was 72 pounds away. I'm looking so forward to this and feeling so motivated. It's fun and enlightening and i love this feeling i get. I hope if i can be of any help or encourgement or anything that anyone feels free to contact me.

How's everyone doing on this thread? if you're like me, we touched on a subject and decided to avoid it. So let's work through this together. We've all been there and to avoid it, we are allowing food to win. I haven't been back to this thread in a little while. Since then, I HAVE MADE A FILL APPOINTMENT. That was step 1 for my new year. I actually kept putting it off, but my brother has turned into someone to inspire me. He is going to have gastric bypass surgery next monday and he is on the pre-surgury diet. We have created our own little group on livingstrong.com and use their tool called my daily plate. this is an easy access way to journal all that we eat and we all know that using a food journal is the BEST tool we can ever do for ourselves. he can even access it through his ipod. it's easy to go on and create my daily food and it keeps track for me of calories, fats, carbs, and so on. My next step is getting back to exercise. I have not worked out in a routine in MANY years. It's been all about the kids for the past 8 years. So this new year while i was looking into the community education book for classes they might like, i found an exercise class that they are holding during the same time as a lot of the kids classes at the same school. I wanted to start with something easier on the knees like water aerobics, but i thru caution to the wind and signed up anyways. I start this saturday. Zumba here I come. i'm feeling this is my foot in the door back to exercise. and it feels good. For anyone out there feeling bored with their routine: make a change to it. add different music; do something different for a week or 2; but don't stop. work thru it. For those that emotionally eat or night time eat - easier said than done - but get out of the kitchen. I was driving home last night from work and i was upset about something my husband had said. I wanted soooooo much to pull into the next gas station and buy a bag of chips and dip and gorge myself to relief. That has been my poison of choice for the past year that I've been off track. Amazing what you can eat when it slides down. But something wonderful happened - I kept driving. I made it home, I actually told him that I didn't like what he said and that was my relief. Guess what, we didn't solve anything, but I wasn't hurting myself over it and setting myself back. My nighttime eating comes and goes. sometimes i feel that once i'm alone (all are off to bed) i'm entitled to eat. I'm usually the last one awake and my routine is to watch tv in the kitchen and clean up and make lunches for the next day. Since "starting over" for the past week, i've been trying to make changes to this. trying to make lunches right after dinner, cleaning it all up and getting out of there. it's helped. also, making my own lunch allows me the feeling of doing something for myself during all of this and is somehow satisfying. plus i'm usually using leftovers for my lunch, so I know in my mind, i get to eat them, and it's ok that it's not right that minute. (sometimes typing out your life can give you insite to some really kool things). we all need a kick in the butt but don't want it. Well when you are ready you know you are the only person that can kick yourself in the butt. My 3 year band anniversary is 4/24 and i want to hit onederland. I haven't been there in a VERY long time and that is my short term goal. i have 32 pounds to loose to get there and 3 months to do it. I'm glad i got my band and i'm glad it's still here for me to use 3 years later. I may not make it to my alltime goal all in one continuous journey, but so far, i'm happy.

Toxic men are always a problem. I have always been my thinnest between relationships. But since I'm married and the kids are getting a little older, I'm mentally making more plans to work on me. I have to stop though and separate reality from the excuses in my mental plans. Working out is something I miss, but my excuses include blowing out my knee or not being able to sleep because I worked out too late at night. Good job on working out at lunch! Keep that up! I told my husband this morning about how i was searching on this site last night and discovered others that have found comfort in food and that they have a name for it "sliders". I told him about my plan to get back to my surgeon's and get a fill. He tried to talk me out of it and said i should just eat healthier. I have restriction eating healthy. I have to get back to basics and re-learn the band rules.

Hi everyone. This is exactly the thread i was looking for. I was banded in April 07. Lost 40 pounds and kept it off, until recently and i've gained 10 back. i was looking for others who may be in the same situation and looking for encouragement and a team to go through this. I was figuring to make an appointment with my surgeon's office "after the holidays" , but also thinking of just doing it sooner so I can avoid another unnecessary 5 pounds or something. I really need to make this work. i really thought the band would work better for me. Being away from the bandwagon, i did not have to face having it. but tonight, just looking around on this site, i've learned there is a name for what i eat and it's sliders. The best thing is now i know i'm not alone. The next thing is to just stick to getting this type of support. I didn't want to be the only one. It's great to come where i can be understood and maybe helped. Can i please join in your thread and who's up for finishing what we started? I need to do this. I'll be making my appointment tomorrow and see if i can get a fill. this feels good just writing here.

Shirley - sounds good - see you at the next meeting. I don't have much time to write today. have to get some work done! But, I'll check in! Have a great one.

yes, as long as I ate slow and chewed i had little problem. the first few bites of a meal will make it or break it. you have to take it slow from bite #1 and chew. i'm learning more now in the last week than I have in the last year. but my eyes are wide open for this and i can't fool myself. it's totally a tool, just like your food scale. but i don't regret the sidetrack, it taught me. want to know something gross: (I'm still trying to break some old habits, but I'll tell you anyway) Last night, i was cutting a hot dog into bit size pieces for my son's lunch. well while doing that, I decided I would eat one as well. I did it while standing at the counter, did not take my time (for fear of getting caught of course) and felt it would never go down. I went to bed, but sat up a while to be sure I wasn't going to choke on something sliming up. I ended up PB'ing the hot dog pieces. this morning in my shower, I still PB'd a hot dog piece. I grossed myself out, but I'm honest with you. I'm learning this now, because I've never had this much restriction. but I'm done eating before I go to bed, that's for sure. the bad part, drinking something if you feel like this doesn't help. It just adds to what's coming back up. PBing some will say they've never done it, but I think it's a natural part of this all. it's not daily, nor with every meal but it's a learning tool. it's really weird how much it NOT like throwing up. it's a softer gentler action that's coated with slime and you wonder where that all came from...(again, sorry for the gross honesty). i was breaking the band rule saturday and ate a piece of gum. after a while, i thought the extra saliva created from the chewing was going to come back up. i had to spit out the gum. i'm probably too tight, but i'm living with it until i see if things loosen up like they have in the past.

Julia when you finish your ticker, there is a box below that you can copy and paste to your signature.

Hi all. i haven't been on this site in a little while, but noticed a few of you from my part of town. I was going to go to the meeting at Bethel, but ended up have my 'port revision' surgery that day and was out of it. How are you. I'm in St. Clair Shores and have been banded 11 months now. My port revision has totally revamped my restriction and now I'm learning to eat all over again. I've struggled and yo yo'd, but I'm in this for the long run! I'll be at the next month's meeting! Let's meet up there! Should be April 2nd. Let me know and we'll KIT