RedTulips3

I beg your indulgence because this post is pretty long, but I got all reflective when I started writing. I have lost 60lbs exactly since surgery, so that's been 10lbs a month on average. I am very happy about that. That is what I had hoped for, so I can't complain! I can't believe that I'm so close to my goal, when a year ago I felt so far away from it. If I lose only 1lb a week until my 1 year bandversary, I will be at my original goal of 160lbs! That's a very exciting thought. I would have expected that by now I would have felt decent restriction. I am still trying to find it! While I credit some of the weight loss to my band, I feel that much of it has been on my part because I do Atkins low carb. Since I can still eat pretty decent size quantities, I've had to rely on my carb restriction and exercise to get the weight off. But maybe I don't give enough credit to the band, but then again, I rarely feel its presence. I don't really think about the band that much, and I just live my day to day life like everyone else. I am at my lowest weight ever, I'm in the best shape I've ever been in, and I feel amazing! It's interesting, because major weight loss is a very personal journey. A personal journey that is a very public one as well. There's no way to hide it. My friends and family have watched me shed over 100lbs in the last year and I have had tremendous support from them, for which I am grateful. Sometimes, however, they think they understand what I'm going through because they can see the change, but they don't really understand. For almost my entire life, people looked at me and saw an extremely overweight person. I never noticed the stares (which I'm sure I got), but I didn't care. I still feel like a extremely overweight person, even though I'm not. I think people still look at me the same way, but they don't. I look around a room now and I can see that I'm not the biggest one there anymore. I know I look different, but I still feel like the same person... because I am and I'm not. I am still my bubbly self, my personality hasn't changed but my body has. By no means am I skinny, because I still have weight to lose. So I guess that puts me in the category of the everyday overweight person? It is weird to think that I'm just another one of those "normal" looking people (so I've been told). And you know what? It's not so exciting. Not that losing weight, and having NSVs like being able to fit into smaller clothes and not worrying about the seatbelt on the plane fitting aren't exciting, because they are extremely exciting and they are what keep me going! What I mean, though, is that a regular sized person doesn't have a better life. And I knew this was true even before I lost my weight. I saw (and still see) many of my friends who aren't happy, and they're skinny, so it's obviously not possible that being thin automatically makes you happy. I had to learn that happiness and self worth was independent from the way I looked and how much I weighed. I think accepting myself and my body when I was overweight has made this journey that much easier. My happiness is not dependent on the number on the scale (but believe me, seeing a lower number when I step on the scalemakes me extremely happy!) To put it in an extremely cliche way (and I do beg your forgiveness, but really, it's true!), I think that the journey itself and the things I've learned about myself on this journey are more important then the actual goal itself. I never saw myself as the extremely self-motivated person, but I have come to realize that I wouldn't be where I am today if I wasn't. In conjunction with that, I've learned to be patient and to persevere. When I started this journey, Being under 200lbs seemed ages away and being from the generation of immediate gratification didn't help much. But there wasn't a chance that I was going to magically drop 100lbs overnight (even though tv ads guarantee it!), so I had no choice BUT to be patient. Sometimes I feel like I'll never get there, but then I have to remind myself about the strides I have made. I get immense satisfaction from seeing how far I've come in such short period of time. From walking at 3mph on the treadmill to walking at 4mph. From being totally out of breath, feeling like I'm going to die after 30 seconds of jogging on 3.5mph to running on 5mph for 5 min. knowing that if i really wanted to, I could go for longer. It's those small things that make up the journey that mean the most. Yeah, so those are my thoughts as of late. Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts and feelings with you. I appreciate the opportunity to do so and I look forward to reading about your experiences and thoughts about your journey. Thank you to those who read my whole post, and if you didn't, I don't blame you!

Jim, why do you have to eat your vegetables? Your doc thinks it pushes the food through because it's Water? In general I start with the dense Protein. The other night, all I ate for dinner was chicken thighs. I was able to eat 2 chicken thighs, I would guess around 5-6 oz. I was definitely not hungry after that, but I could have eaten more without a problem of being too full. I don't ever have that "I don't think I should take another bite, because if I do..." feeling. I'm not wishing being stuck though Is it possible to chew your food too thoroughly that it goes right through the band? Including dense Proteins like turkey, chicken etc? I do chew my food extremely well, and I mean really well. Maybe that's why I rarely get stuck?

Chrisann, do you mean that little card with the yellow, green and red zones? I never got that card, but i have seen a pic of it online. I find it strange that I can eat so much. I went to the doc 7/3 for a fill. I had lost .2cc from my 2.4 so he gave me .5 to total 2.7. Within the week I was eating the same amount as before so I went back 7/17 for more and he gave me .2cc for a total of 2.9cc. Still no difference so I went back 7/24 and got .3 more for a total of 3.2cc. But here I am 2 days after my fill and I just ate 2 cups of lettuce 5 oz of tuna, 1 piece low carb bread and 1.5 oz of cheese. This was all consumed within 25 min. And I absolutely do not drink with my meals. I'm not asking to get stuck and PB, I just find it weird that I can eat so much, even though I got 1 cc added within the last month. I am still losing weight because I follow low carb, but I feel like it's coming from that as opposed to the portion control that the band is supposed to give me.

Only 8 to go! Name_____________Weight Now____Goal_____lbs lost aJoneen............230.........220.......3....... Bea1128............220.........199.......3.5..... Babs0101...........185.........170.......0....... blesdbyonmzur......159.........148.......4....... BTTRFLI1432........221.........210.......0....... Bunkey1965.........205.........195.......7....... Chocolate_Snaps....260.........240.......0....... Darr5380...........170.........150.......0....... Epm316.............209.........199.......0....... erikadawn..........199.........175.......0....... FloridaGirl........235.........215.......0....... HeatherO...........165.........155.......7....... JennyPoo...........169.........159.......0....... KarenG.............164.........158.......2....... KathyStrick........305.........290.......0....... Lapbandfan.........260.........230.......0...... Leslie2Lose........219.........209.......5....... LessNLess..........144.5.......140.......0....... LilMissBand-Aid....239.........225.......1....... Lunabeane..........212.........200.......9....... Luu2008............219.........189.......9....... Luv2Laugh..........232.........212.......0....... luvinke............206.........190.......0....... mamato3............199.........184.......6...... mcgreen............189.........175.......0....... mdgarcia31665......225.........200.......0....... MollyMolly.........192.........182.......2....... mominlv13..........308.2.......300.......7.8..... MSnika3............228.........204.......4....... NANAbanded.........225.........199.......4....... Ninja..............204.........189.......5....... NukeChik...........221.........199.......6....... Ollie..............242.........210.......0....... Redtulips..........188.........180.......6....... Renewedhope........176.........155.......3....... ronni_NC...........243.........220.......0....... slgandera..........185.........173.......7....... StartingOver.......220.........205.......5....... Sunshine2..........187.........170.......2.3..... want_so_bad........170.........155.......0....... Sades..............186.........180.......6.5..... Sadie..............216.........199.......4.......

I like the Slimfas Low Carb in Chocolate but not in Vanilla. I drink one every morning for breakfast. I tried the EAS Myoplex (aren't they the same?) and I could not tolerate more than one sip!

An older list was copied somewhere so here is everyone's most updated stats (I think)! Keep up the great work guys! Name_____________Weight Now____Goal_____lbs lost aJoneen............230.........220.......3....... Bea1128............220.........199.......3.5..... Babs0101...........185.........170.......0....... blesdbyonmzur......159.........148.......4....... BTTRFLI1432........221.........210.......0....... Bunkey1965.........205.........195.......7....... Chocolate_Snaps....260.........240.......0....... Darr5380...........170.........150.......0....... Epm316.............209.........199.......0....... erikadawn..........199.........175.......0....... FloridaGirl........235.........215.......0....... HeatherO...........166.........155.......6....... JennyPoo...........169.........159.......0....... KarenG.............164.........158.......2....... KathyStrick........305.........290.......0....... Lapbandfan.........260.........230.......0...... Leslie2Lose........221.........209.......3....... LessNLess..........144.5.......140.......0....... LilMissBand-Aid....239.........225.......1....... Lunabeane..........212.........200.......9....... Luu2008............219.........189.......9....... Luv2Laugh..........232.........212.......0....... luvinke............206.........190.......0....... mamato3............199.........184.......6...... mcgreen............189.........175.......0....... mdgarcia31665......225.........220.......0....... MollyMolly.........194.........182.......0....... mominlv13..........308.2.......300.......7.8..... MSnika3............228.........204.......4....... NANAbanded.........225.........199.......4....... Ninja..............207.........189.......2....... NukeChik...........221.........199.......6....... Ollie..............242.........210.......0....... Redtulips..........189.5.......180.......4.5..... Renewedhope........176.........155.......3....... ronni_NC...........243.........220.......0....... slgandera..........185.........173.......0....... StartingOver.......220.........205.......5....... Sunshine2..........187.........170.......2.3..... want_so_bad........170.........155.......0....... Sades..............188.........180.......4.5..... Sadie..............216.........199.......4.......

Can't believe it's been 6 months! As of right now I have 2.9cc in a 4cc band. Everyone speaks of this illustrious "restriction" and they seem to just "love" their band when they have it. I have never had such feelings towards my band (lol), so maybe I do have restriction and I don't realize it and don't love my band enough, or I don't. (I think it's the latter) I just feel tighter in the morning, but I drink a shake. I feel like I am the one controlling the portions because I haven't ever gotten uncomfortably full, even after eating a lot. At night especially, I can eat almost anything I never drink when I eat, I've never had a PB (not that I want to). I've only gotten stuck a handful of times, but they all passed within 15 min and then I go on to eat a normal sized meal. I haven't had any problems with bread, Pasta, eggs, lettuce etc and other common foods that people have issues getting down. I'm not complaining because I do enjoy being able to eat them, I'm just confused as to if I have restriction or not. I am doing atkins and I feel like if I didn't I wouldn't have been losing weight. Just the other night I ate 6 chicken wings, about a cup of low carb pasta and a 1/3 cup of cauliflower. Yesterday I ate about 2 cups of lettuce, 4 oz of chicken, a piece of low carb bread with hummus, and 1/2 cup of broccoli. And I could have eaten more. (Though this did keep me full all day long, for a good 7-8 hours) Does this sound like a lot to you guys? How much food do you get full on? I'm not hungry between meals, which is good. But I would say the amount of food I eat now is comparable to the amount I ate when doing atkins pre-band. Any thoughts?

See?! I told you so! Now I have the pics to prove my statement! I saw your pics in the before/after thread also and I was going to post, but then you put them here! Adorkable, You look absolutely "adorable" and amazing! Such a big difference! Keep up the great work!

Congratulations Lana! Have you gotten over your shock yet? Almost there Bunkey! You can do it!

I'm down 1.5lbs. In the 180s now! Name_____________Weight Now____Goal_____lbs lost aJoneen............230.........220.......3....... Bea1128............220.........199.......3.5..... Babs0101...........185.........170.......0....... blesdbyonmzur......159.........148.......4....... BTTRFLI1432........221.........210.......0....... Bunkey1965.........205.........195.......7....... Chocolate_Snaps....260.........240.......0....... Darr5380...........170.........150.......0....... Epm316.............209.........199.......0....... erikadawn..........199.........175.......0....... FloridaGirl........235.........215.......0....... HeatherO...........166.........155.......6....... JennyPoo...........169.........159.......0....... KarenG.............164.........158.......2....... KathyStrick........305.........290.......0....... Leslie2Lose........221.........209.......3....... LessNLess..........144.5.......140.......0....... LilMissBand-Aid....240.........225.......0....... Lunabeane..........221.........200.......5....... Luu2008............219.........189.......9....... Luv2Laugh..........232.........212.......0....... luvinke............206.........190.......0....... mamato3............199.........184.......0....... mcgreen............189.........175.......0....... mdgarcia31665......225.........220.......0....... mominlv13..........316.........300.......1....... MSnika3............228.........204.......4....... NANAbanded.........225.........199.......4....... Ninja..............207.........189.......2....... NukeChik...........223.........199.......4....... Ollie..............242.........210.......0....... Redtulips..........189.5.......180.......4.5..... Renewedhope........176.........155.......3....... ronni_NC...........243.........220.......0....... slgandera..........185.........173.......0....... StartingOver.......220.........205.......5....... Sunshine2..........187.........170.......2.3..... want_so_bad........170.........155.......0....... Sades..............189.........180.......3.5..... Sadie..............216.........199.......4.......

Wtg phowell! You look great Gillian! Such a big difference! Keep it up! Pictures are a great way to see the difference because it's hard to see the change when you look at yourself every single day. Adorkable- 70lbs!! I can tell you that without even looking at the pictures that there's a big difference!

It is amazing and weird, but more amazing! I still feel sort of odd walking into the regular area of a department store. I feel like people might see me and wonder why I'm shopping in a section that doesn't have my size. But I also feel weird in the plus department, because I tried on the smallest size in tops and bottoms and they're too big on me so I know I don't really belong there anymore and people there probably wonder why I'm shopping there!

If you have certain products that you use that aren't perishable or you can find some way to preserve the ones that are, I would highly recommend it. I went overseas and I made sure to bring my favorite Protein bars and 20lbs(!) worth of Protein shakes because I knew I wouldn't be able to find them where I was. It's really important to have these products on hand, as they will help you stay on plan as much as possible. Like you said, the walking a lot will help. I did not make any official exercise time during my vacation, but it was built in naturally by all the walking I did. And I did lose weight while on vacation, which is a great feeling. Have a great time wherever you're going!

Keep it going guys! WTG! Well this one is really a scale victory but an nsv for me. I am no longer obese anymore!!! I am only overweight! Less than 8 months ago I was morbidly obese! I have been morbidly obese since I was 13 and obese since I was at least 9. And here I am today with a BMI of 29.9! It's hard to imagine. And the last time I weighed 191lbs was when I was 11 years old.....and 5 inches shorter. To add to all that, I can now shop in the misses department as everything is too big in the woman's department. I don't think I have ever done that. I can fit into a 16 skirt (and I even fit into a 14 once!) and I'm wearing an XL/L shirt depending on the store. I bought myself some shirts on sale in a Medium (GASP) for the fall. The thought of even purchasing a medium is baffling...me? possibly wear a medium? Thanks guys for letting me share these exciting occasions with you!

Down 3lbs and I am officially overweight and not obese anymore! Wahoo! NAME ____________weight now____ goal___ lbs lost *****:sleep:********** :confused:****************:eek:***** aJoneen............230.........220.......3....... Bea1128............220.........199.......1.5..... Babs0101...........185.........170.......0....... blesdbyonmzur......159.........148.......4....... BTTRFLI1432........221.........210.......0....... Bunkey1965.........209.........205.......3....... Chocolate_Snaps....260.........240.......0....... Darr5380...........170.........150.......0....... erikadawn.................199..............175............0.......... FloridaGirl........235.........215.......0....... HeatherO...........169.........155.......3....... JennyPoo...........169.........159.......0....... KarenG.............164.........158.......2....... KathyStrick........305.........290.......0....... Leslie2Lose........223.........209.......1....... Lunabeane..........221.........200.......5....... Luu2008............219.........189.......7....... Luv2Laugh..........232.........212.......0....... luvinke............206.........190.......0....... mamato3............199.........184.......0....... mcgreen............189.........175.......0....... mdgarcia31665......225.........220.......0....... mominlv13..........316.........300.......1....... MSnika3............228.........204.......4....... NANAbanded.........225.........199.......4....... NukeChik...........227.........199.......0...... Ollie..............242.........210.......0....... Redtulips..........191.........180.......3....... Renewedhope........176.........155.......3....... ronni_NC...........243.........220.......0....... slgandera..........185.........173.......0....... StartingOver.......220.........205.......5....... want_so_bad........170.........155.......0....... Sadie..............216.........199.......4.......

Looking great Jen! Congratulations on your loss so far!

Happy Belated Birthday by one day and congratulations on not being obese anymore! That's my next goal. Only 2lbs to go. Here's to being overweight!!!

Congratulations B-Man! What an accomplishment! Keep it up!

You can do it 40! You'll be there before you know it. I just entered onederland just about a month ago and it was huge milestone for me! Can't wait to celebrate in your milestone too!

Sorry to hear you're on a plateau! But good for you for not giving up!!!!! That's such a great attitude to have. If I had only lost 15lbs in 5 months (doing a little math based on your stats) I would have lost hope ages ago so kudos to you!! When is the last time you had a fill? How's your restriction? Are you tracking your calories? Maybe you need to step up the exercise. You're doing cardio and walking 2 miles, which is great! Maybe you need to add weight training to build muscle, which will burn more fat. Keep up the great attitude and motivation!

I say go for it! The first week is hard because you're weaning yourself off from carbs but by the second week you should be in the swing of things. This way the week before your surgery you won't be so miserable from craving all the carbs. Plus, if you do it for 2 weeks, you'll lose more weight and you'll be closer to your goal! I didn't have a pre-op diet but from the time between my initial consultation/decision to get the band and the date of my surgery was actually 5 months so I used it to my advantage and did Atkins and lost 60lbs! I love how I feel when I get rid of the carbs and I figured the more I lost then, the less I'd have to lose later. It was one of the best decisions! Good luck with your surgery!

Great NSVs everyone, Keep it up! It's the little things that make all the difference. I'm taking classes at a gym and I can keep up with the instructor (and all the skinny minis too!)

NAME ____________weight now____ goal___ lbs lost *************** ********************* aJoneen............230.........220.......0....... Babs0101...........185.........170.......0....... blesdbyonmzur......159.........148.......0....... BTTRFLI1432........221.........210.......0....... Bunkey1965.........212.........205.......0....... Chocolate_Snaps....260.........240.......0....... FloridaGirl........235.........215.......0....... HeatherO...........172.........155.......0....... KarenG.............166.........158.......0....... Lunabeane..........221.........200.......0....... Luu2008............219.........189.......0....... Luv2Laugh..........232.........212.......0....... luvinke............206.........190.......0....... mcgreen............189.........175.......0....... NANAbanded.........225.........199.......0....... Ollie..............242.........210.......0....... Redtulips..........194.........180.......0....... Renewedhope........179.........155.......0....... ronni_NC...........243.........220.......0....... slgandera..........185.........173.......0....... StartingOver.......220.........205.......0....... want_so_bad........170.........155.......0....... __________________

Congrats Carrot! Congrats Mamato! You did it!

Name..............Current.....Goal......Lost..... Babs0101....................185.........170.......0....... blesdbyonmzur.............159........148.......0....... BTTRFLI1432...............221........210......0....... FloridaGirl....................235.........215.......0....... HeatherO.....................172........155.......0....... KarenG........................166........158.......0....... Lunabeane...................221........200.......0....... Luu2008......................219........189.......0....... luvinke........................206........190.......0....... mcgreen.....................189.........175......0....... NANAbanded...............225........199.......0....... Ollie............................242........210.......0....... Redtulips3...................194........180.......0....... Renewedhope..............179........155.......0....... slgandera.....................185.......173.......0....... StartingOver.................220.......205.......0....... want_so_bad................170.......155.......0.......