sghatl

06/01/07 12/08 Here are my before and after pics. I went back to the beginning of my journey when I started Optifast to lower my BMI enough for surgery. I still have a way to go but feel so much better about my self now. A fix of my abdominal hernia will help reduce the look of my stomach and I will get a tummy tuck at the same time.

Thank you and very happy New Year to everyone too.

Christasha, I am ready to post my before and after pictures. Can you tell me how you got your 4 pics as 1 to post and what software did you use? I was waiting to post to the poll till I reached 80 pounds. Well, finally today I did. I NEED to exercise.

Great news about your meds, Christasha. I agree with you about our goal expectations. We can't set one that we had in our earlier years. We must be planning to stop about the same time since our goal BMI's are nearly the same. My PCP only wants me to lose about another 10 pounds but that is not enough for me. I told her I would still be obese but she said she doesn't consider me obese. I have very little weight to lose in the top half of my body. I am down to bones there. But below the waist is another matter but she considers that heredity and not obesity. She said surgery can take care of that. But I want to lose about 30-40 more pounds at least. I love my unfill. I can eat most anything and I am even losing more weight. Good luck with yours too. Tomorrow is my band anniversary and I am so proud of my accomplishments this past year and absolutely love how I feel today compared with last year. I am sure you all feel the same way too.

I'm like you Kennergirl. I had 1 cc taken out of my band last week. I had been too tight since my last fill in August and I paid for it with bad reflux. The reflux caused some aspiration of food into my lungs and I ended up with pneumonia on my last cruise. I lost weight though. Like you, I can now eat anything. I do still feel some restriction, however. I will have to be very careful for the holiday. I am flying to Pittsburgh to spend Thanksgiving with my sisters and going home always spells disaster for me. Old habits return. I see the doctor again on December 17 and will hopefully get a slight fill. I do know that I will allow myself to be too tight again. I could hardly eat anything but soft foods or the reflux was really bad. I want to be able to eat fruits, veggies and salads. I really missed them. I got my fruits by making smoothies and finally resorted to baby food to have some veggies. Even those that I cooked managed to cause me some problems. No more. I can lose and still be able to eat most things with the band. NO more reflux for me.

ATL38, who is doing your surgery? I live in Lilburn. If you have any questions, ask away. Good luck to all the newly banded, waiting to be banded or just getting started. It is all so worth it.

Stephanie, good job - almost at goal. I can only imagine what you must feel like. Good going and congratulations. It has all been so worth it, guys. I am heading off for another cruise on Saturday - the last of 4 for this year. I didn't post after the last one because I didn't like the cruise ship we were on. Our small group had fun but I will never sail Carnival again. I did lose a very small amount of weight - around a pound. I see my doctor 3 days after I get back from this one. We are evaluating having my hernia surgery. I am contemplating having a slight unfill. I keep having too many issues. I still think it's my esophagus and not my band but I have to try. He will look at my esophagus when he does the surgery. He said it sounded like I have a hiatal hernia but he repaired it when he banded me. He didn't do the abdominal hernia at that time because it was large and would have to be redone after I lost weight. I am losing ever so slowly and still cannot eat anything raw - so much for salads, fruits and veggies. I do miss them so.

Good going Fannie. I know how good that feels. I have been buying my tops on the regular side but this last week I bought pants over there too - XL's but who's looking. Sales people treat me like the size I am and not the size my head still thinks it is. Like Apples2 I still head for the plus size section first. Congrats to all of us.

Christasha, I kept waiting for you to start the poll for October. When you didn't, I decided to do it.

Welcome, tryin2lose. I live in Lilburn and I, too, used Dr. Steinberg. I just love him and his staff. They are super friendly and very responsive to any needs. Good Luck on your journey.

Wow. You were lucky to get it done when you did. I am on Medicare and they are paying for everything so far. My secondary has picked up anything they didn't so no out of pocket expenses for me so far - no co-pays either. This is wonderful. I will be leaving for another cruise in the morning so talk with y'all in a week. I'm going to the Caribbean.

Oh, Stephanie, you are almost at goal and a size 6 to boot. Congratulations!!!! Like Chris, I will never see a size 6. I am being realistic in my goal and will probably wear a 10-12 when I am finished. I am short and fluffy. I started in sizes 4x-5x tops and pants. I can wear a 16 in a blouse and 18 or 1x in non-knit pants now. I usually am buying size L in tops now. Chris, you BMI is lower than mine. I am in no hurry. I don't think I am too tight but I still can't eat salads or most any raw these days. My veggies have to be cooked to a very soft stage. I can eat most meat and fish though except for any overcooked and ground meat gives me fits. The skins on anything get stuck, no matter how small. The trouble seems to be my esophagus not my band and I have had this trouble off and on for most of my life. My DR fixed my hiatal hernia when I was banded. I think a lot of my problems with eating are the LARGE abdominal hernia I have. I think it pushes up against everything in my abdomen. We will fix this when I finish losing what I want. I have to get to a BMI < 35 to have plastic surgery and we are going to kill two birds with one stone - am abdomioplasty and a hernia repair. The DR said my hernia was too big to repair at banding and would have to be refixed after I lost weight. He told me to be glad that now insurance will pay for the plastic surgery while he is doing the hernia repair. Keep up the good work you two and we must keep in touch.

Weight loss for me has really slowed down. I don't think I eat enough most days as far as calories go. I do make sure I get enough Protein. I went on a two week cruise last month and actually lost 2.8 pounds. I ate pretty much what I wanted, just small amounts. And rather than omit deserts, if I wasn't too full, I would order one and take one bite. I was quite satisfied but only did that a couple of times. I have realized that I don't enjoy food anymore. It's more about what I can eat. I pretty much eat to live now. Nothing knocks my socks off these days. I cook but nothing tastes the same or is even good to me these days. Anyone else feel the same way? I do love how I feel. My mobility is back. I didn't even use my scooter on the cruise at all. I have started walking at the grocery store also and when I go shopping now. I went shopping this past week. How depressing. Who wears the styles they are displaying in the stores. All this baby doll look is for the teenagers not me. I decided not to waste my money on them. And I need some clothes. My winter things from last year are too big this year. What's a girl to do. I should be excited to be buying smaller clothes and not shopping on the plus side but I am not.

My insurance paid for the lab tests, the medical portion and the administrative fees but did not cover the cost of the Optifast liquid itself. That was the most expensive portion of my program. They consider it food and they don't cover it.

Rondapooh1, how did your doctor's appointmen go?

Welcome. We are here to help. Tell us what you need.

I want to start out by saying I LOVE MY BAND. Yes, it is hard work but I get so many high's from losing that I am still willing to continue working hard. I just returned from a 16 cruise on Crystal and I pretty much ate what I wanted (but band kept portions quite small) and I lost 2.8 pounds while on the trip. The biggest thing that has happened so far is that today I made it to Onderland which I had originally set a goal of August 1 to get there. I plateaued along the way and did not get discouraged. I am disappointed that I cannot get my tickers to update to the correct numbers today. I am down 70 pounds now since surgery and 137 pounds total since I started this weight loss journey. I am still in shock - 198 pounds. I haven't been there in many years.

Thank you luv2teech and Stephanie. Thanks for the warning on soy Protein and thyroid meds. I didn't know that, although all of the protein I have consumed and bought has been whey protein. I usually use unjury or Matrix from bariatriceating.com. I don't watch out for sodium because all of my doctors tell me the sodium level in my blood is too low. So I have never had to watch sodium. But now that I am off BP meds which included a diuretic, I may have to start watching. As far as liquids are concerned, I have at least 64 oz per day. That is another thing my doctors tell me is that I might need to cut back on my Water consumption, again because of the low sodium, but I never do. And it is all mostly water that I drink except for a decaf tea to start my morning. I already own the resistance bands although I have not used them in a while. I admit I have been lazy of late. I do enjoy water aerobics and will resume those as soon as I get back from vacation. I haven't totally not exercised. I do walk on the treadmill in my basement a couple times a week but I can only walk for 15 minutes. I have bad knees and relied on a scooter to get around outside my home before I lost my weight. I have only used it once in the last 3 months. I only need it to cover an entire mall to shop. If I got to one or two stores now, I walk. I am flying to London on Sunday, spending a night there and then meeting the ship in Dover on Tuesday. I will be sailing back to NY by way of Iceland and Greenland. I have lots of all day tours scheduled in every city and even have 8 days at sea. It's a 14 day cruise and I am excited. It's on Crystal cruise lines, our very favorite line. I haven't been on them in almost 2 years. My husband and I cruise anywhere from 2 to 4 times a year and this will be number 32 coming up. We have already been to South America and Antartica in Feb of this year. I have two more week long cruises scheduled for the Caribbean in Oct and Nov on Carnival and Royal Caribbean. As I said, we love to cruise - our vacation of choice. We like to see the world and usually cruise in the Caribbean in November to rest up for the hectic holidays ahead. That is the first time I have heard those things about a plateau, but they do make sense. And as I said, I am more concerned with being healthy, feeling healthy than I am with rapidly losing weight. It took me years to put it on and won't come off magically. I am anxious to get off the next 3 pounds - I will no longer be morbidly obese then. I told my surgeon that I thought it would take me 18 months to lose my weight - from surgery date.

Good idea. I've been making morning shake with bananas and one scoop of Protein powder (100 cal 23 g prot). I've tried berries and had problems with strawberry seeds. I know I can't eat crushed pineapple in Jello. I haven't tried it in the blender. And I have started drinking V8 to get in some extra veggies. 60 cal and 2 veggies per large can. My Protein Powder and shaker are packed for the cruise already in case I don't get enough protein in in a day.

I am sure that is the problem but I am eating all I can as it is. I even supplement with protein shakes made from the powder. With the chewing ability of my teeth and my crazy esophagus, I have trouble with eating things with skin on them including all fruits and vegetables, raw or cooked. I got stuck the other night on the seeds of yellow squash. Not my band I'm pretty sure but stuck in my esophagus.

I plan to exercise on the cruise and I plan to enjoy myself. What I really was saying is that if I am not losing with eating around 900 calories a day now, what will happen when I eat more calories on the cruise. It still won't be much because I can't hold much and I do make good food choices. I am not consumed with losing weight but living healthily. Just how long can I eat so little calories and not lose weight. It has to come off eventually. BTW, as a fat person I avoided buffets of all kinds. I just don't like them. The food on a buffet line is generally made for the masses and not good. Plus my husband goes way overboard on buffets and with his being diabetic I just can't watch him eat that way. We are dining room people.

I have very good restriction and can eat only about 1/2 cup of food at time and I haven't lost weight in over 3 weeks. I am making good food choices - no sugar, very little carbs, low fat, getting lots of protein. I don't know what my problem is. I haven't really been exercising lately. I had to stop for a while because my blood pressure was extremely low. I am now off BP meds and doing well. I am in no hurry to get this weight off as I have lost 133 pounds already - 66 pounds since surgery. I have been 'dieting' now for 18 months and I guess I am at a plateau. I will patiently wait it out. What bothers me is that I can't lose with what I am eating and I am about to go on a 14 day cruise. What will I weigh when I get back? At least I have restriction so I can't eat much at one sitting. I hope I can get more exercise in in the cruise's gym.

What you can eat is a very personal thing. I find I cannot eat pickles unless I cut off the outer rind of the pickle. But then I have trouble eating the skin on most fruits and veggies. I have to peel everything before eating or cooking. The skin on a red or green pepper no matter how tiny the chop will just get stuck in my esophagus and come back up.

I have that happen to me too about every 3 hours when it is time for me to eat again. My stomach doesn't seem to want to be completely empty. It doesn't happen when you eat or after you eat She is saying that it happes several hours later.

Here's hoping the 8th month yields better results than last month. I only lost 2 pounds last month despite making good food choices. I guess you could say I plateaued. I haven't exercised in 3 weeks and hope to get back next week. My blood pressure was too low and causing me to be dizzy. I have been weaning off medication per my doctor's advise. That is one big NSV though since it was my only co-morbidity. I missed my goal of Onderland by 08/01. I am still a little over 4 pounds away. Just so I make it by 09/01. I want to be under 200 when I leave for my cruise at the end of the month. I had my fourth fill this morning. Hopefully this will help too. I have been eating a little too much I think although calories have been between 1000-1100. That's what you get when you are older than dirt, I guess, and a sluggish metabolism. I can't complain though as I am down a total of 131 since I began my wieght loss journey. Keep up the good work, you guys. We are so much better than 8 month ago.