gingerbug

6 days ago I had a stretched pouch because I was n ot following the rules (small slip up). I went on a liquid diet for 6 days and when I went in today, it was back where it should be. I got my restriction back, too, without needing a fill. If you are worried that you stretched it and your doc wont check with fluoro/x ray, maybe you could do few days on a liquid diet?

Oh, I know. I go still for the saki and two bites of sushi. Not the rolls or the rice, just the fish. I can eat about 2-4 pieces of sushi, depending on their size.

It means no longer being invisible.

I am usually a rule follower but I slipped and started to 'eat around the band' too much. Then I started to get too hungry and would eat more. The stomach stretches, whether there is a lapband around the stomach or not. I would drink that stuff that illuminates under xray and they watch the liquid go down. It illuminates on the screen the pouch and then they print our pictures for reference. My doc office does this before and after every fill. Also, I went in for a check today and my 6 days of liquids did shrink my pouch down so I can eat today. I have to weigh my food and no more than 4-6 ounces at a time. I am so close to goal, I can totally stay on track now.

I walk right on by the Plus size section of ugly clothes on my way to the size 12/14 misses clothes. I look like a normal person I am no longer invisible, people actually look at me now. I have the energy to make it through my day I am less of a ranting bitch, my emotions are more stable Sex is much more fun I actually recognize myself in the mirror

We do flouros/xray each and every time we get a fill so they check then. I had gone in for a fill and she wanted to make sure so she checked before she gave me the fill. Apparently, i was twice the size that I should be but she also told me that she has seen them 4 times the size the should be and that will the liquid diet I would be back down to where I should be. I think our pouch is supposed to be the size of an egg. It can stretch to accomadate a meal but will go back down unless we consistantly are stretching it out. In my case, I went on vacation, then had thanksgiving, then dh and i went out to ear a lot and were cooking yummy foods and i went overboard for about 3 weeks to a month or so. Never again.

So close yet so far away. I have a stretched pouch and I earned myself a week of liquids to get it down again. Not exactly what I had in mind to make goal by my band-iversary but that is the price I pay for overindulging myself recently. I am a bit crabby but I keep telling myself to suck it up.

I am on the verge of breaking a small plateau. I really want to make goal before thanksgiving so I can just maintain for a month or so for the holidays, a break, if you will.

I preferred fuzzi bunz but I was never without prefolds and covers. I preferred to fold my prefolds into thirds and lie them in a cover - I like Proraps. They have double gussets and NOTHING got through them.

Surely it will fall off of you, 20 pounds is a piece of cake and it has been only 3 weeks. I remember sweating all night long for WEEKS while my body was getting rid of all that Fluid I had been retaining. Good times. Take care of yourself!

Woohooohoooowooohoooo!! I did it I did it! Throwing myself a parade here!

LOL, well, you flush that part down the toilet. You wash your underwear, don't you?

TOTALLY brag worthy!! That is exciting!!

I finally had a picture of myself taken yesterday. I am usually taking pictures! This one is me about 20 pounds from my heaviest: and this is me yesterday:

I use cloth and I prefer to use fuzzi bunz diapers since they go on like a 'sposie. I have a HE washer so I dont go through too much extra water washing and I line dry when I can to cut down on that. Anouther reason I chose this particular brand (after, of course trying most other ones out there) was because of how fast they do dry, even in the dryer. It makes me sick to pay for diapers (for the occasional times I have needed to use a paper diaper) I just throw away now that I have spent so much time using cloth.

Um, no. I could NOT have done it without the band. What worked for me, I think, is that I was already a healthy eater, I just would eat mass quantities of food. I would try to diet by counting calories but eating less than 1800 calories left me crabby, miserable, hungry, and ill feeling. I would fail time and time again. Now, I eat anywhere from 600 to 1200 calories a day without those feelings. I dont obsess over food. I dont feel guilty when I eat. I dont look at myself in the mirror and agonize over my failures to eat in a manner that is healthy for me. I love my band. It has given me the control I did not seem to have before andit has given me my life back.

You are at a kick ass pace, IMO. Maybe less than some but, seriously, BARELY. We cant compare ourselves to others, it is just not realistic. You are doing an outstanding job.

I am doing well, almost there. I am having serious allergy issues lately and the gym is a distant memory. I am thinking in a week or two I can launch back into it and round this last 13 pounds off. Averaging still around 1.9 pounds a week according to fitday and I figure that when I get to that goal I am going to evaluate whether I want to go for 20 more. I love being able to fit into normal size clothes and I love that I look like everybody else. Average.

What factored in? Did you use a chart? If so, which one? Did you pick a past weight that you liked or did you take advice from your doctor? Did your goal change once you got to your initial goal? thanks for sharing!

I am glad to see that lots of others feel the same way about it that I do. I am getting close to my initial goal and I want to meet it before I change my goal. I dont really know what I *want* or *should* weight. I am almost 5'11" and I havea medium frame. I will be fine at 190 but I am thinking that 170 would be great, too. I am having an easy time losing weight, I really cant explain why but I seem tofeel I should just roll with it. Going for a size is a good idea too. I would like to be a size 12 and right now I am a size 16 but I am thinking I will have to be closer to 160 to get there. Well, at least that was thee case the last time I wass at 160.

yeah...well...I broke down and went to walgreens and bought an enema bag. Warm water enema if I go more than a few days without a BM and all is right in my world. No more cramping, no more bloated painful stomach. It is all good.

It depends on who they are. I can forgive those I care about because I have been jealous myself. If someone is making rude comments to me I will decide if it is worth getting into as some people just need tome to work things through on their own. If it is worth getting into I address it in a manner that does not put them on the defensive. If possible, that is. If it is someone who has no impact on my life I ignore them. Life is too short. If you cant reason with them, let it go. It is their problem , not yours.

It is the same thing with my husband and I. We travel and look for really good food. Sometimes I am jealous of what he can eat but I cannot but to be honest, my band has gotten me to try foods I might not ordinarily try and I have been thrilled with many of my choices. It does not change what we do, just my food choices when we get there. I also find that I can usually manage a taste of what I want but cannot eat a lot of. I still get the experience without it impacting my weight. Remember, sometimes change is good.

Dr. Schulman, Thanks for sharing your time with us. I have a question for you, if you dont mind. I am 16 pounds from my goal of 190 pounds on my 5'11" frame. My body shape is much thinner on top than I am on bottom. My shoulders are not much more narrow than my hips but the shape of my bottom half is much more 'curvy' than my upper half. As it stands, I feel I am thin enough on top yet I still have the same problems that I did before i had gained my weight in the first place, the hips and thighs. I feel that my skin has recovered nicely from losing weight so quickly. With the exception of what having two kids has done to my lower abdomen, which really does not look too bad in itself, I dont have any loose skin. Is it possible that I could have good results with just getting liposuction? I am a full size larger 'on the bottom' than I am 'on the top'. My goal is to look balanced. If I lose too much weight, I run a big risk of being really 'bony' on top since I have a large frame. I want to stop my weight loss at 190, spend some time at the gym toning my muscles, and then have lipo on my lower half. I am hoping this goal is not entirely impossible. Oh, i dont know if this is relevant, but I had only been obese for about 6 years. I dont know it that plays a part in skin elasticity. Thanks for your time, V