RedTulips3

Thanks for the recommendation Sunshine! Any advice from someone who has already been banded is much appreciated! Chiquita- Welcome to LBT and the the Jan 08 Bandster page! Congratulations on making such a big decision! It is a long road, but I'm sure it will be worth it in the end!

I also wonder how much they exercise. They have the "last chance workout", which I guess is the day before the weigh in. And challenge day I gather they reserve a lot of their energy for the challenges, which are workouts in themselves. (like this week's was with the 24km triathlon). I'm guessing they have 2-3 more big workout days. What else do they do besides exercise? They never show anything else. And if they do, it's usually them sitting around eating a product placement food such as, oh I don't know...Quaker Weight Control oatmeal, Jenny-O turkey, Nabisco 100 calorie packs, Extra Gum, and Subway (did I miss any?) What do they do when they aren't exercising or plugging a product? They must go out once and a while like to go shopping because they obviously have clothes that fit them properly because they are all dolled up for the elimination room. But it seems like they would have a lot of free time, unless they do exercise 6hrs a day everyday.

I also love Biggest Loser! I Tivo and watch it later so I don't have to watch the 30 minutes of commericals from a 2hr episode. I didn't follow the other seasons but a few weeks ago Style channel or Bravo showed almost the entire last season and the season before that, so I recorded all of them and watched them! It is amazing what they accomplish on the show and the changes they make in their lives and lifestyles. I always find myself crying at some point in every episode, whether it's when one of them wins a tough challenge or when they meet a certain weight loss goal. I look forward to watching it every week! It gives me motivation for the week to keep doing what I'm doing and to know that I can reach my goals as long as I persevere.

My sister got me into it last season and how could I not watch this season? The season premiere is waiting for me on Tivo. Will probably watch it this weekend. I would rather watch it recorded anyway so I don't have to watch the 20 min. of commercials!

This was the mindset I had also, Everything else is fine with me I'm just fat and I was meant to be fat, which is something I accepted and did not let it stop me from living my life. My parents are the ones who actually brought up the idea of WLS, not even for me, but for themselves. When they told me they went to a seminar, I didn't even want to hear about it. I had drummed it into my head that I was going to be the healthy fat person. I thought that the only WLS was gastric bypass and I would not consider it because it seemed too drastic and I did not think the benefits outweighed the risks. But when my parents told me about the band, I was definitely interested. I didn't acquiesce to the idea right away though. It was only after more researching and thinking, did I want to do it. Once there was a surgery I might consider doing, I realized that just because I didn't have any co-morbidities now didn't mean I'm not at risk for them in the future. Now I have the opportunity to improve the quality of my health and my life overall. I am ready to do this!

Loser, What an amazing transformation! You look great!

My all time highest was 315 around April time. I got down to 300 (by way of low carb) in May and somehow maintained it even though I was not attempting to do so. I started low carb again in August and am now down 40 more pounds. I'm hoping to get to 249 by surgery time in January. Being that I have been overweight since I was 5, I couldn't even fathom what a normal weight would be for me. The doc asked me what goal weight I had in mind and I had no response and asked what he thought would be a good goal. He gave me the goal of 180-190lbs. Me? Under 200? Music to my ears! But after doing some small calculations, the BMI for a 5"7 adult who weighs 185lbs is 29, which is the very high end of overweight, verging on obese. Even though he gave me that goal weight when I was 40lbs heavier than I am now, I think it's still way too modest of a goal and I'm determined to get to a more normal weight. I've gathered that docs give their patients a number that falls into the average 50-60% loss, but I've seen so many people here on LBT who have surpassed that and I want to join them! I'm shooting for 165lbs, which would put my BMI at 25.8 which is the low end of overweight. I'm hoping that being young will give me an advantage, but it also may not be a factor since I've never been a normal weight so I don't know how low I can get. The lowest I ever got after being full grown was 250ish. It happens to be that I do not have any co-morbidities as of right now, but 100lbs overweight is still 100lbs overweight! I'm hoping to gain relief from my morbidity! I know the odds are stacked against me. If I don't do something now, I am setting myself up for the inevitable. Both my parents have many co-morbidities such as arthritis, sleep apnea, hypoglycemic occurrences etc. I know where I'm headed and it ain't pretty! Looking forward to long healthy future!

Tifferoni, First of all, all I have to say is WOW to you! 93lbs! That is absolutely amazing!! Congratulations! Did you lose all that since Feb? I'm 20 and I'm also in school. Did you tell your friends about the band? If you didn't, did they suspect that you had surgery or did they buy that you were "just" watching your food and portions and exercising? I'm in school full time and am around my friends a lot and we're together for meals also. I haven't told any of them about the surgery and as of right now I do not want to tell them and only my family knows and I'm worried that they will possibly pick up on it. I'm doing low carb and exercising now so they all know that I've been losing weight so I hope that will make the transition to the band a bit easier in terms of them noticing my weight loss. I'm having the surgery over winter break so it's not like I will have to miss school for it and try to explain my absence. Any of you other bandsters who are in school, what was your experience with getting the band and your friends knowing/not knowing?

I've also been a size 11 since I was about 14 so I can understand how it's hard for her to find cute shoes. I started finding some great things on zappos.com that are cute and come in 11s, even 12s. I know there's a Canadian site Buy Shoes and Handbags - Canada.Zappos.com and it seems like they have 11s as well. The only downside is that some things on Zappos are a little pricey as they have designer shoes, but you can also find reasonable prices. I do have to pay a little more for a cute shoe sometimes because they are hard to find in regular stores.

Dec. 24, what a lousy day to start! So what you're saying is that the liquid diet is probably starting Dec. 26? Anyhow, congrats on your surgery date. CallMeJim is also having his surgery on Jan. 7th.

I usually do the walking at 3.6/3.7mph and the jogging at 4.0-4.2mph. I did week 1 twice, the first week walking at 3.6mph and running 3.9mph and then the second week I walked 3.7 and jogged 4.0mph. I find that I would rather go a little slower to make it through the whole 20 min. of intervals than burn myself out too early. If I ran any quicker I may not make it through. Hope that helped a little. Good luck!

I'm taking it slow and doing week 2 for a second week

I know exactly what you mean by detoxing from sugar. Those first few days are horrible....constantly craving sugar/carbs. But all you need is a little willpower to get you through those first days and your good. Of course I still miss my favorite foods, but the numbers on the scales going down give me all I need to keep going (and the compliments don't hurt either ). Last time I did low carb, I did it for almost a year. But you know how it is...you go back to eating the garbage, even though it's not good for you. But this time, since there is an end in sight (ie the surgery) and I am moving full steam ahead knowing that it's not permanent. I am going to discuss the low carb eating with the band with the nutritionist and the doc. I have seen a range of different approaches to eating with the band here and I wonder what will work for me. After doing low carb, I see the positive effects that it had on my cholesterol, weight, sleep, energy and life overall. It's just that I don't know how to achieve success, except bu upping the protein/fat (Atkins) and cutting out all sugar and dropping my carbs really low. But I want to be able to eat that piece of bread once in a while and eat the potatoes once in a while. It will be interesting to see what happens come banding time. Actually when I had my consult with the doc in August I was a little over 300lb and still the there wasn't going to be a pre-op diet. I haven't read a lot about pre-op diets here because they don't pertain to me, so I don't know if people with comparable BMIs have pre-op diets. I have no idea if my doc prescribes a pre-op diet for some of his larger patients or not. 10 days liquid seems pretty average from what I've read. I've seen as little as 2 days and upwards of 4 weeks. I had no idea that there would possibly even be a pre-op diet until I read about it here. The doc never mentioned anything about it at the consult. So I called his office to see what the deal was and they told me they don't require a pre-op diet and boy, was I happy! I believe at the consult he said I would be getting the smaller band. When I met with him back then, I didn't know as much about the band options as I do now. I think he uses Inamed/Allergan so I'm presuming that he means the 4cc band. When I go for my appointment some time before the surgery I will be sure to be asking him about the band plus all the questions I have come up with after spending the last 3 months on this board being educated about the band. Welcome to the Jan. 08 bandster club Min!! Congratulations on getting a band date!

Jim, our surgery dates are 2 days apart. I starting researching in August and made my surgery date back then as well, so I've been itching to get to January for some time, 3 months to be exact. 3 months down, 2 to go. I wrote about this in a post in response to someone having to wait until 08 for banding and my thoughts about having to wait. I'll try to briefly write them again. Again, these are just my thoughts about my situation. It's so tempting to just eat whatever we want until Jan. because hey, the band will help us lose it! I had to snap my mind out of that kind of thinking for my own sanity. I thought, I can just eat whatever I want until then, or I can try to do something to start the process. I decided that whatever weight I lose now will NEVER come back once I get the band. So I decided to go low carb, which is something that works for me and I feel good doing it. I figured I should push off the "farewell to food tour", as they call it, until only a week or so before my surgery to lessen the damage. Also, the band is only going to restrict our stomachs, not our heads. We are going to have to change the way we view food, why wait until the band to start trying to retrain ourselves. I feel like that will be one of the hardest parts of all after banding. I know that when I do what works for me that I am in control of what goes in my mouth. When I eat what I want, I'm not. I guess it's a bit easier for me to say this because I know there is a diet that works for me. If you have some sort of plan that works for you and you don't hate it that much, why not try it? I try to remind myself that whatever I lose now, the sooner I will reach my goal, banded or not. And even if you don't do anything until January, it won't be the worst thing, but it sure ain't the best thing. Maybe it's also easier for me to say because my doc did not give me a pre-op diet. No medifast, Optifast, liquids, nothing. I can eat whatever I want until 9pm(maybe even 12am) the night before my surgery. I think my story would be a lot different though if I had some sort of unpleasant pre-op diet to "look forward to". Jim, what kind of pre-op diet do you have? Other Jan. 08 bandsters, is your doc requiring a pre-op diet? If so, what kind and for how long? What other things have you done in preparation for surgery? Have you had you had your psych evaluation? Nutritionist consultation etc.? Are you required to do a sleep study? When I went for my consultation a sleep study was not required, but as of '08 my surgery center is making it a new protocol for all patients. I'm calling this week to schedule my psych eval, pre-admission testing, and nutritionist consultation. Already scheduled my sleep study for the beginning of Dec. January will soon be here! All in good time!

5lbs, it's nothing you can't handle! And who thought being obese could be so amazing! I can't wait until I can declare myself obese! And I see you arrived at onederland not too long ago either! Congrats on that as well! You're right, every victory is more motivation to keep with it. Keep it up!

Congratulations! Amazing NSV! Well it sorta is a scale victory but not at the same time! Either way, you'll take it!

Kaydotrn, Don't feel silly at all, it's an amazing achievement! I also did week 2 run 1 today, but my ipod decided not to work today so I had to keep track myself and I forgot to look at the sheet for the intervals of running/walking so I ran for 2 min and only walked for 90 seconds, oh well. 90 second intervals are better than no intervals. At first I felt silly running for such a short periods when there are people next to me running for 10 minutes straight. But guess what? If I did that I would pass out! That's the point of this program, to ease ourselves into being able to run distances. I have yet to try running outside. It's probably a very different experience than on the treadmill. Keep up the great work!

Posted before I went to the link Marimaru posted. I thought the clip was cute, but those pics I am ROTFLOL!!

Very funny clip, reminds me of my cat. How about a smelly breath kitty licking your face until you wake up? Exfoliates the skin very nicely! jk.

Gibson, Never gaining back these few pounds I lose now is such a strong motivator for me. I've been in a place where I'm eating whatever, whenever, wherever, anything and everything and there's only so much a I can take before I make myself sick and get bored eating my way into an unhealthy oblivion. I don't feel good physically or emotionally. I just try to remind myself everyday how great I'm feeling now without all the junk I was eating before. But don't worry, I haven't officially parted ways with my Chinese food, pizza, pastas etc. I do owe them a proper goodbye, but our goodbyes will be short and sweet, but I will be happy to say goodbye to them and trade them in for a life of health.

Hi Mich, First of all congratulations on starting your Band journey. I started this whole journey in the beginning of August when I had my first consultation with the Doc. Because I am a full time college student, I knew my schedule would not be very flexible in regards to having the surgery and I knew I would have to wait until winter break. I set my surgery for Jan. 08, a 5 month wait! I was upset that I wouldn't be able to do it sooner, but there was no way to make it any earlier. The doctor wouldn't even confirm the surgery date because he doesn't set surgery dates so far in advance! This was even more upsetting because for all I knew, my doc could be on vacation during the one window of opportunity I would have to do this or I would have to wait until Summer 2008!! They penciled me in though at the consultation and just the other day, the doc's office called to confirm my surgery date and time!!! Wahoo! As you can see by my ticker, I am also counting down the months, weeks and days til my surgery. As upset as I was, I knew there was nothing to do about it and it was going to be a long haul until January, so I asked myself what I was going to do until then. I could just eat whatever I want until then or I could try to do something to get me on my way. Obviously, the reason why many people get the band is because dieting never worked for us. The one diet that was easy for me and that worked (while I was on it, of course) was Atkins. So the week after my consultation, I started Atkins. When I do Atkins, I feel great, lose weight and feel healthy overall. The difference this time is that I know that if I do it until the surgery, those pounds are never coming back! That is my motivation to keep going. There is a destination in sight unlike the last time I did it. Like you, even if I do lose a lot of weight now, I still qualify for banding, so it's not a concern for me. The way I view it it is that when I get the band, I will have less to lose with it, getting to my goal weight all the more quickly. I could have decided to have a 6 month "farewell to food tour" as they call it, but I've realized that this whole journey is about changing my whole lifestyle. One of those changes is being responsible for and in control of what I eat. When I eat whatever I want, I have no control, but when I do what works for me, I am the dictator of my life. The success is in my hands. Before I felt that this wait was a curse, but it has turned into such a blessing. Things that I'm changing now are hopefully going to help me in the future. Why should I wait when I can start on the road to a healthy life. With that being said... will I splurge on carbs, sugar etc that are not good for me before my surgery? Yeah, I'm not going to lie, I probably will. But I'm waiting to the last possible time so I won't have time to gain all the weight back that I'm losing now. There are a few other things that have also helped me with the wait. One is by coming here to LBT and reading, reading, reading. I highly recommend you spend some time her while you wait. I have learned so many things about the band that I didn't know before and I'm glad I'm being educated about them now than after I'm already banded. Many people come to this site and say "I was just banded, now what do I do?" Yes, I cannot understand what it means to have a band and everything that comes along with it until I get it, but at least I am going to be aware that there are emotional, psychological and physical changes that are going to take place once I do get banded. It's also so inspirational to see how everyone is succeeding and it reaffirms to me that I made the right decision to have the surgery! Another thing that is also helping me pass the time until surgery is monthly support meetings. I don't know if your doctor has them, but mine does. Unfortunately, since I am in school full time, I cannot always attend, but I try to when I can. It's a place where I can here weight loss surgery patients talk about the issues, challenges, victories etc. that they have had with their surgery. Again, I may not be able to relate to them yet, but it's more support and inspiration. If you have access to such a group and your schedule allows for it, why not? I hope some of what I've wrote will be of some help to you. I know how you feel! I was in a similar position as you 3 months ago. I can't even believe that it's even been 3 months. I also try splitting the time into smaller increments. For example, since I am in school, I have midterms this week so I know that I am half way through the semester. Before I know it, it will be Thanksgiving break, and then finals a month later and before I know it, the holidays will be here and a week after that is my surgery. That sounds like a lot less time than 2 months! This works really well for me, I would suggest doing this for yourself as well. I hope that the next 6 months won't be as long as they seem. Before you know it, April will be here. Good luck with everything! You can do it!:clap2:

I just finished week 1. I did sessions on Monday, Wednesday and today(Sunday). I was too busy Friday and Saturday to do it so the week got kinda messed up. When all of you started Couch to 5K I thought it would a great thing to work on and it didn't seem so daunting because it gradually gets you into running. I hope you guys will allow me to join you even though I'm pre-band. I think I'm going to do week 1 over again, but up the speed. My brisk walk was only 3.6 mph and my "run"(jog) was 3.9mph. Today I did 3.7/4mph. I'm taking Jachut's advice and starting slow and working my way up. If you any of you redid Week 1, what were your speeds the first week 1 as compared to the second week 1? You all are such inspirations to me!

There is a non-profit organization called "Dress for Success" that you can donate your old suits/career separates to Home - Dress for Success From the website: "The mission of Dress for Success is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Founded in New York City in 1997, Dress for Success is an international not-for-profit organization offering services designed to help our clients find a job and remain employed. Each Dress for Success client receives one suit when she has a job interview and can return for a second suit or separates when she finds work" Their website says that their greatest need is for size 12 and larger, which is what bandsters would be donating most likely! They have affiliates in over 30 states as well as in Canada and the UK. It seems like a great cause to donate to because they don't just give them the clothing, but they also offer them career guidance and a mentoring program

Adryan, I too don't have any co-morbidities either, but the odds against us are so strong. If we don't do something now, they're just going to creep up on us one day. Before I started looking into the lap-band a few months ago, I thought I could just be overweight for the rest of my life because, hey, there's nothing else wrong with me. I was choosing to ignore the truth. And now that I've faced the truth, I'm doing something about it. We're so young and we have so much of our lives ahead of us! Did you have a consultation with a Dr. yet? Do you have a date for surgery?

NSV stands for "Non-scale victory". Maybe it didn't come up in your search because you typed in "NVS" by accident and not "NSV".