salsa1877

In the case of that I have a legal obligation to step in and report to child welfare services because I am a mandatory reporter. Hopefully this will be my last year as a teacher. I really don't like the job. It is thankless and I am noticing that I just don't have the patience that I used to. I don't want a job where I have 5-6 hours of "homework" after I am finished at my job. I would like to come home, workout (of course) and then just spend the rest of the evening with my BF doing whatever we want. I have had to give up our season tickets to the symphony and the theater because I just don't have time to go. Plus we just moved to the central oregon area in June and I DON'T LIKE IT HERE. The people are rude and the landscape looks like nothing can live over here. We are trying to find jobs so that we can move to Western Washington (even though right now they are under 8 feet of water!) because that is where my family lives. Only problem is this lap-band bill that I pay every month makes the income that I need very high. Oh well...it is worth it. Even if the dang scale isn't moving. Good NSV though...the last three shirts that I had in my closet this morning are all too big. The scale has not moved but I am losing size like there is no tomorrow. I will take that over the scale not moving any day! Have a good day. My kids are state testing today so it is nice and easy for me!

I never remember being skinny when I was younger. I am only 28 now, but when I was in grade school I was already in larger size clothing. Working at a high school, I see everyday how big the kids are getting. I see them walking into class with a grande extra cream tons of sugar coffee drink, 2 egg mcmuffins and a candy bar and I just want to scream. This is what they are eating at 7:30 in the morning and for some it is their "snack". Our kids have open campus during lunch and the kids come back with all sorts of unhealthy foods and I just shake my head. Most of my kids know that I have had the surgery cause they have made comments about how little I have eaten. When I told them that I have not had McDonalds since before August 8 they were stunned and didn't actually think it was possible. One said he didn't believe me because no one can go that long without eat it. He told me that McDonalds should have its own food group. This story is running long but I just had to say that we went into a local sandwich shop the other day and there was this very very overweight kid that was probably in middle school. While we sat there eating, this kid consumed 2 foot long sandwiches and was begging for soup, which the parent relented and dessert. The mother tried to put her foot down about the dessert but the kid pitched such a fit that she just threw the money at him and told him to get what he wanted. Well he didn't just go for one dessert but bought three. It made me really sad to see that because I know what a struggle he is going to go through when he gets even a little older. Of course the teacher in me wanted to go over and teach a lesson but I decided to mind my own business. Well this turned out much longer than I thought so I am going to head to bed now. State testing at school tomorrow! Should be fun!

Isn't accountability amazing! I am actually looking forward to going home and working out tonight. Not sure if it is because I am starting to like exercise or if it just means that I won't be at work. Either way I will milk it for all it is worth. Will check back in after the workout to post!

So my doc says that if you lose 50 pounds in the first year you are what they consider successful, so by my calculations you are doing just great. As for the feeling full... I have not felt full (or really hungry for that matter) since I gotthe band. I eat 1 cup of food at a time, and I struggle to get to 1000 calories a day. I had an incident a few weeks ago that required me to have my band completely unfilled (didn't chew well enough! naughty me!) and I still no longer have the full feeling. It can be frustrating at times for me. I sit down to eat and I have no feeling in my tummy...I finish eating and still feel exactly the same. I am getting used to it now, but it is a mental change. I think for most of us we considered a meal "successful" if we had a very full (almost uncomfortable) feeling in our tummies when we were done. You don't get that any more (or at least I don't) So when should you stop eating...I think that depends on your body and your personality. For me I have to have very clear guidelines (I am a scientist AND a teacher, its in my genes!) so I stop at 1 cup of food. Could I eat more? YEP Especially right now since I am unfilled, but I choose not to. My strict schedule works for me, but would drive others crazy so you have to find what works for you, using some of the suggestions that you might get here. I would think that a half cup is a little on the low side. But I would take Janet's advice and keep a food log and see how many calories you are eating and make sure you get enough Protein. If you are getting very few calories, try and increase the amount you are eating to see if that works. As for the band size I think I have a 10cc, but I (like Janet) don't concern myself with that. One less thing that I have to care about!

I absolutely regret NOTHING about the band. Would I have been happier if I could have lost the weight without having spent 17000$ to get the band, of course, but this is the greatest thing I have ever done for myself. This band has literally changed my life. I am going to be quitting a job that I hate because I know have the confidence that I can do what I want...I never had that before. But here is some advice that I can give you. 1. You will still battle food, but it is much easier because you are not hungry. I have head hunger everyday, but now I can stop and think...Is this real hunger or head hunger? If it is is head hunger, the first thing I do is head for the Water bottle because I know once I drink, I can't eat for at least a half hour. 2. You still need to exercise, but that too becomes easier when you see that it actually makes a difference. I worked out faithfully for years with NO results (because I was eating way too miuch), so I just gave up on exercise. Now even when I am not doing my exercise routine, I find myself using my exercise ball, during commercials or while taking a break from grading. 3. This is a much of a mental fight as it is a physical one. One of the best things that I did was tell myself over and over and over...This is going to work. I will never be hungry. I love to exercise. It is funny how mentally you can make yourself fit into all of those molds. Don't let people make you feel bad about your weight loss or lack there of. This is a very personal battle. Some people can do it without the band and good for them. Others of us need some help. Nobody ridicules people for their golf handicap, but they feel it is okay to do so because you don't lose the weight as fast as others. Here's the thing to think about for those people who lost the weight? Are they going to keep it off. Your doctor may put you on a pre-surgery diet, and that you will have to follow. So I hope this helped. I tell it the way it is, but I want you to know that just because you didn't lose weight now doesn't mean that you won't lose weight with the band. It truly is the greatest thing I have ever done for myself.

LadyBug - How is the fill working? I wish I had a workout buddy. My BF is not so much into the exercise thing. He said he did enough for a lifetime when he was in the military. Day 3 done last night. I was too tired to post afterwards. I could barely lift my arms up.

Yeah Gweniper! I went shopping this weekend as well and at one store was completely out of plus size clothing both in the bottoms and the tops. However at another store the plus sized shirts were too big and the regular sized shirts were too small. However, I am officially able to wear size 16 regular jeans so that is exciting!

So my food choices haven't been bad but the scale has finally stalled. I think it could be for a few reasons. 1. I don't know if I am eating enough. I struggled to get to 900 calories today. 2. I really have ramped up the weight lifting (my arms are sooooo sore) 3. My stress level is at a very high level and I tend to hold on to weight when I get stressed out. That is the reason I am looking for another job. I just can't do the whole teaching thing. I don't like the job, but despite the fact that teachers complain they don't get paid enough, try finding another job that pays what I am getting right now! 4. I am eating the same thing over and over and over. We can't seem to get out of a rut! 5. I lost a ton of weight last week so maybe my body is just trying to balance out. On a good note (weight wise, not pocketbook wise) I essentially do not fit into any of my clothes. I tried on a bunch of stuff before we moved and it was a tad big, but still fit. When I went to find an outfit to wear to work on Friday, NOTHING FIT! I went shopping and am happy to say that at 1 store I was out of plus size clothing all together. At JC Penny's I didn't fit into any of the plus size shirts (too big) and I didn't fit into anything in the regular section (too small). But jeans I am officially at a size 16 regular:clap2:. That was exciting. Well I am off to do my sit ups with my new exercise ball. Gonna hold off on the arms though for tonight. I could barely write hall passes today they were so tired! I am doing the exercise challenge for the August Bandsters too, so I will just leave my signature for that one as well as the one going on here.

Worked out with the exercise ball again today. Hoping to get something going as my scale has officially stalled. My arms are tired, it is quite a workout.

Day 1 down. I had to cancel my gym membership for financial reasons, but I got some weights and an exercise ball, so now I am good to go at home. My arms are so tired, it almost hurts to type!

I have been freezing since I have started losing weight. People think I am crazy because I am cold all the time, and I, like you, was always hot! I have resorted to an electric blanket at night cause I can't seem to get warm.

My brother and I are incredibly close. In fact, I still act like his parent (Sometimes he likes it, other times he doesn't) I am his only living family member. His dad died when he was 10 months old, so I am all he has left. He has been very supportive of my choice to have the surgery done. He was a little nervous because I was going in to have surgery, but is convinced that by me losing weight he will have me around for longer. He needs it to. He bought a house 2 years ago and got into that sub prime market with the HUGE adjustable rate mortgages and now can't afford it. So here I come to the rescue and am buying his house from him so that he can keep. I know what a nice (and probably stupid) sister I am. This thread has been very helpful. It was sad but good to see that I wasn't the only one that was carrying 100 pounds of baggage from my childhood!

It is funny that what is a blessing for one is a curse for another. I am so glad that I am finally losing in my boobs! I was a DDD when I started and am now down to a DD. I would be very happy if they went to a C! My BF said that he would be alright with a C, but I don't really know if he would be HAPPY about it. So my scale has finally stalled, but when I was trying to find something to wear this morning, I couldn't find anything to wear. i went through 18 shirts (not an exaggeration) trying to find something that didn't make me look the marshmallow man. Everytime I would put a shirt on, my boyfriend would just shake his head. By the time I was done, we left late for work and I had 3 shirts left in my closet. So even though I am addicted to the scale, even I have to not look at it sometimes. I wasn't going to break down and get clothes, but I don't have a choice. Teaching high school is tough enough when you don't look like fool in your clothing! So now we are going shopping this afternoon when we are both done with work. I won't buy much because I am broke, but I need something. I am going to hit up the thrift stores hoping that I can find clothes that fit and aren't hideous! Who knows, maybe I won't have to shop in the plus sized sections any more! Keeping my fingers crossed.

LadyBug! Yeah, I knew it would happen for you. You have been very dedicated even though you had to wait so long. Be proud!!!!!!

I absolutely agree that most of the reason that I got where I am today is because of my childhood. Obviously I have made very bad choices along the way, but my mother was not a stable woman. She actually spent time in a psychiatric ward. My weight problems started when I was 7 which was consequently the same time that my mom handed me my 6month old brother and stated that she didn't want him and that I was going to raise him. She would still fix me dinners and do my laundry but would do nothing from him. As a result I became a 7 year old mother and feared that someday she would stop wanting to be my mom too. As a result I would start hording food in my room. I would sneak food out of the kitchen just before it was bed time so that I could gorge myself with it. I figured that way if she did decide to stop feeding me, I could wait a few days. We were also VERY poor and she made that quite clear. Daily she would tell us how much money she was spending on food just to keep us alive. Didn't help that she had a 3 pack a day cigarette habit! It just continued like that. She also used food as a reward and punishment. I remember when i was in middle school and got a C- on a progress report and I was not allowed to eat anything except Water and 2 slices of bread for 7 days. I day for each letter grade (+ and - included) that the grade wasn't an A. Since then I have had a love hate relationship with food. Up until this last summer if I didn't have enough food in my cupboards to last at least a month, I would panic. I always felt that I was going to run out and starve to death. My BF is a psychology major and has really helped me with a lot of the issues that have surrounded my childhood. My mom died 2 years ago and that has really helped me in starting to change some of my behaviors and attitudes. I don't panic about food any more, but I am still working on the money issues. I never feel like I have enough no matter how much is in the bank. Right now things are hectic because of paying 17000 for the surgery, but even so I shouldn't be staying up half the night worried about it. Now I have continued to make bad food choices since I have moved out of my house, but I think it is because that is the only way that I learned to deal with my issues. I am so thankful to have this place to come now, because I can get out my frustrations, comments and people to talk to who understand the problems that I am having. I don't think that i would have been as successful if I hadn't had this place.

LadyBug- Yeah for the fill. I really think that this will help you so that you are not so discouraged. I know that I didn't think that I had a whole lot of restriction with my fill, but now that I am unfilled, I can tell that I can eat a lot more than I did before. It is really taking some major will power right now. On of the things that I did when I first got my fill was that I told myself that I had good restriction and that i was going to be full very quickly. I went in with the attitude that my first fill was going to be all that I needed, and I found that it worked for me. I don't know that it would work for everyone, but it helped me prepare mentally. In fact, I have convinced myself that I can't eat popcorn (haven't even tried it) or rice (tried it once and a few days later had problems) so I just don't eat them. I have had problems with milk, so I have convinced myself that I can't eat chocolate or hot chocolate. For me if it is cut and dry and I just CAN'T have something, I don't seem to have as big of a problem avoiding it. Even if it means never having ice cream again. Good luck and keep us posted on how the fill is working

Bras were the first that I actually HAD to buy. I am big on the top (thanks to genetics on BOTH sides of the family!) and it was just getting uncomfortable. I went with bras that were too small around and within 2 weeks they were fitting just like they were supposed to. So Nana, if you think that you can stand going to tight, I would suggest doing that, especially if you are finding that clothes are consistantly getting bigger. I am trying to buy my brother's house from him since he was naughty and did get the bill paid on time every month so if that goes through I will actually be able to pay for some new clothes. I am buying the house for more that he owes on it so that we can get some cash out. Then he is going to pay off my surgery and I can stop sending him 500$ a month, so even with a mortgage payment I will be saving a whole lot of money! Mini shopping spree here I come. (I say that, but I am such a penny pincher that it probably will not happen). However I do NEED some long sleeve work shirts. It is down into the teens every morning now and I go to work at 5:00AM. Well gotta finish grading test. Have a good day.

I bought a pair of jeans at Goodwill because I just can't afford to be buying clothes so that they fit. I am down to a very few outfits now that I can wear. A great NSV (and a funny one!) We were moving last week and I could feel that my pants were way to big. Well just as I got into the house from carrying several boxes, my jeans just fell to the floor! My BF and I were laughing so hard. it was a good thing that friction held them up for the last 15 seconds or I could have bared my behind to the entire town! And Fastpitch mom I also look like I have a load in my pants!

Janet I totally understand, but I think part of mine is for the opposite reason...I didn't eat anything for Thanksgiving so I totally feel like I got jipped. Yesterday I made a pledge that I would only eat when I was truly hungry and not just on my normal rigid schedule just to see what would happen. Well by 6:30PM I had only eat 380 calories so I had to force myself to eat so I realize that all the wanting of food is coming from my head and it is starting to scream loudly. Plus, I know that I could eat a lot of food right now if I wanted to. The unfill didn't cause me to become hungry it just allows me to eat more food that I normally could. Plus, I am missing the full feeling. I don't know about anyone else, but because I RARELY get a hunger feeling in my stomach anymore when I start eating I don't feel anything and when I finish eating I don't feel anything, so the only satisfaction I get is from the taste of food. I don't know if that makes sense. However, it is dangerous for me that the only satisfaction comes from taste, especially now that I know I can eat more. I told my BF tonight that I sometimes I just want to forget the band for 1 day and just eat whatever I want, forgetting the protein and the calories...but I would feel SOOOOO guilty. I made the committment to the band (and my pocketbook!) so I just keep on what I am doing. Part of my problem right now is that we just moved and so we haven't been cooking any of our meals, so I don't have any leftovers for lunch. So instead I am eating frozen meals that I can zap in the microwave and there are not very many out there that are high enough in protein and low enough in calories. My BF gets frustrated because we will look around the store for a half hour looking for something for me to eat for lunch and then I just give up in frustration because I am so picky on how I spend my calories. Well it is now time for dinner. We are having homemade fettucini alfredo. Sitting in front of me is about 1 cup of chicken and 4 rotini noodles. I refuse to give up a food group so I just have few so that I don't feel deprived.

LadyBug - You should post more so that we can help you! That is what we are here for. I have started posting more so that I continue to make progress and not get lazy. I feel accountable when I post here. Maybe you could post what you are eating or how you are exercising and maybe one of us could see something that could help you, or give you some suggestions.

Pigs One thing that is both good for you and working against you is that you started at a low BMI! You were already ahead of most of us before we started. However, my doc said when I went in because of the lodged food, that they consider the band a success if you lose 50 pounds in 1 year. At that rate by 4 months (Dec 7) you should have lost a total of 16.7 pounds. You are not even to the 4 month mark and have lost significantly more than that. I can imagine that looking at some of us that have dropped a lot of weight quickly must be frustrating, but as much as we rely on one another for support, this is an individual journey. I have found that in order to be successful you really have to match your personality. I refuse to diet and do not exclude any foods except for rice, and only because it doesn't work well with my band. I need a very regimented schedule so I only eat at specific times of day and only eat 1 cup of food maximum. My daily food schedule looks like this: 1. Breakfast 6:30 AM - Usually a breakfast lean pocket 140cal 6 Pro 2. lunch 11:30 AM - Leftovers from dinner ( no less than 20 grams of protein) about 250Cal 3. Snack 3:00 PM - Pure Protein Bar 180 cal 19pro 4. Dinner 5:30 PM - Whatever my BF fixes but no less than 20 grams of protein, about 400 cal. My goal is to get 1000 calories a day, but now that I am starting to lift weights I am going to try and increase it to 1100-1200. This is what works for me, but it will not work for everyone. I am a teacher so I don't have the opportunity to eat more during the day, which is why I am loaded in the evening. I don't allow myself to snack, except for the 1 after school and that is just to stave off any sweet tooth I may want to develop and to get more protein. One thing that I realized very early on in this journey is that I am going to need to use my will power a lot. However, if you feel that you are doing all the food right and the exercise, your body may just be going at its own pace. I am assuming that you didn't gain all of your excess weight in one year (though you know what they say about assuming), so we can't expect to lose it all in one year. Would I love to, yes! Will I? I don't know, but I have just found what is working for me and keep going. I think that 21 pounds is great, and I hope that you are proud of that. Just keep working at it, and it will come off!

That is some dedication Becky! I don't walk in the cold and it was down to 15 degrees this morning, so that is why I had to stop walking outside and why I needed to join the gym. A treadmill is a good choice. I had one but had to sell it when we decided to move into an upstairs apartment. I got mine at Wal-Mart for 350$ earlier this summer and it was a pretty good one. My muscles really did need a rest. I sneezed tonight and my ab muscles felt screamed at me.

Frangipani - It was very difficult to actually go and join the gym (and fork over the money) but I felt very good afterwards. Today...a different story. I am very very sore, so I am taking today and tomorrow to rest. It has been a very physical last few days so I think I deserve it. Starting Monday though, no excuses. Everyone else is doing great on getting exercise during the holidays.

Nana, my plan is to have lost my 100 pounds that I needed to by my bandiversary. Actually if my weightloss progress stays the same according to my graphs and charts that I create and analyze with my weight data (Remember I am a chemist and NERDY!) it says I will be there by March. I am not sure if I believe that though. I am waiting for the day when the weight stops coming off. Hopefully it won't but I am at least preparing for it. But yes, my ultimate goal is to be at my target weight (which is 100 pounds down) by my bandiversary.

So moving truly is a workout. I didn't have a scale since Tuesday so that was the first thing that I unpacked this morning and stepped on it praying that all that work did something for the waistline as well as the pocketbook (we are saving 210$ a month on rent). Sure enough it did. Lost 2 pounds since Tuesday!!!!!! We didn't Celebrate Thanksgiving yesterday because of the move, but I think it was a mistake on my part. I had so much head hunger yesterday I thought I was going to start knawing on the boxes as I brought them up the stairs. My BF did buy a pumpkin pie (not the best part of the meal to eat:guess) but it was really the only plausible thing since none of our cookware was accessible and neither one of us wanted to cook. I only had a VERY small piece so I was okay. We went to a local restaurant where I thought I could get some resemblance of a Thanksgiving meal, but it didn't look so good so we opted to split a cobb salad instead. I told my BF that I am going to get a Christmas dinner because otherwise I might just go stark raving mad. Even if I only get a tablespoon of each food, I deserve that much. I joined a gym this morning and did my first workout. My muscles are still really sore from moving but I needed to do something besides cardio. I like lifting much more so that will be nice. No more walking outside (I hate that!)