JustWatchMe

!!!Applause!!!! I LOVE this post !!!! Thank you for all of the affirming wisdom you share with me and all of us on this board. This is what it's all about. Self respect and "being seen". Being seen, indeed. You are truly an inspiration.

Perfect and what I needed to read today. "I believe that it's the day-to-day challenges after the weight stops falling off that really makes or breaks this experience." Yep.

Welcome to Bandland!

This made me laugh out loud. It made me remember all of the puréeing I did in those first few weeks. You're right. It all looked like crap, but it was delicious.

Hi Bandsters, Just checking in and freezing here in Chicagoland. I've got my boots on and a fleece jacket over my clothes at work. Sitting in my ice cubicle. It's been a wild week for me emotionally, but I'm happy to say the food has been pretty level. I'm glad for that. I'm sure my 12-step meetings have a lot to do with that. My girls leave for college this weekend. One off to Spain. Missing them already. I surprised myself at lunch when I stopped eating meatloaf after a soft stop signal and without getting stuck. Sounds simple, but after the Christmas holidays food-for-all, it's a practice I thought I forgot how to do. Anyway, I love my band and my Bandsters. How's everyone doing?

Give yourself time to heal. Don't ever give up on yourself. I'm sorry this happened to you. Be kind to yourself and stay on top of your doctors to find out your next steps. Good luck.

Congratulations, stay on plan, don't binge, and relax. You're on your way!

Welcome and good luck. LapBand has saved my life. My advice is pre surgery clean your house and get all caught up on laundry. You won't want to lift baskets or a vacuum cleaner for awhile. Move as much as you can every day. Stay off the scale. Really. Almost all of us have a gain post op and it is not indicative of success or failure. It's your body healing. Also write down all your questions after they discharge you because if the nurse calls to see how you're doing at home, you'll have a handy list to grab. Welcome to the forum !

Excellent reminders. My task is to create and strive for goals that are action based instead of outcome based. Walk the stairs at work five times a day instead of lose ten pounds a month. Also goals that are "do" instead of "don't". For example, do eat solid Protein first at every meal instead of don't eat Pasta. It's great to have milestone weight goals and I do. Sort of. But day to day and hour by hour I can only control what I do, not what I weigh.

197.4 01/03/2015 Lol my finger hit the zero instead of the nine and I almost gave myself a heart attack seeing my typed weight. I haven't weighed 107 since .... Ever?

I started at 302. My boss knew about my LapBand and at 60 pounds down said I looked great and must have lost twenty pounds! Lol I smiled and said yeah.

I hope you get some relief. My last fill put me a hair away from red. When I eat correctly I'm fine. Chew too fast and I'm stuck.

Wow, that is incredible!!! I'm so inspired by you!!! Congratulations !

Good luck !!!

I was supposed to have two sessions. At the first one the psychologist suggested I stop tv eating. At the second one I admitted I hadn't broken that habit. So he refused to clear me for surgery. Nice, huh? Well, it was the best thing in retrospect. I broke that tv eating habit and never returned to it. I saw him again three weeks later and he cleared me. I was really pissed, but it woke me up to the fact that I had to do my part or WLS was not going to work for me. From that day on, when the NUT or nurse or surgeon suggested something, I did it. I credit this willingness to follow directions with the success I had in my first few months. So my suggestion is to listen to the psychologist, and if s/he suggests something, treat it like a requirement.

Go get a fill. Most people get their first fill at six weeks or sooner. I was six weeks. It is the whole reason we got the adjustable tool. Once you start with fills you will begin to figure out how much restriction works for you. Call the doc and set it up. Good luck.

@@Miss Mac "An apple is fruit. Apple pie a la mode is not fruit." Damn. There's always a catch.

I just want to wish you well and send you a cyber-hug.

I've never maintained a weight loss (and I have had many, including one really big one) in my entire life. So for me, no. This is about keeping it off.

Beautiful! Congratulations !

Congratulations !! You're on your way!

Our previous dog was lost suddenly as well. Very shocking and hard.

I feel ya. Always hard to lose a beloved pet. Your new pup is a cutie!!

One of the mixed blessings of this technological self absorbed age is the camera phone selfie. I have an iPhone now and I take selfies every time I set my hair and put makeup on. Several times a week. I don't do anything with them except look at them. Once in awhile I'll update my Facebook profile picture, but since I'm 53 and not 19, I can't do that in good conscience more than once every couple of months. Point is, seeing myself in a picture regularly helps me objectively see that no, I am not ugly and wrinkly and unattractive. Well, most days. The odd thing is that two pictures taken the same week can be radically different. I have vitiligo as well as all of my other crappy problems, and it's been hard for me not to see only my blotchy skin this year. But I learned to stay out of the sun, and it helps minimize the contrast. Here's the bottom line. I look better than I have in decades, even with this vitiligo that I developed just a few years ago. But I often can't see my beauty. My feelings of how I think I look can dictate what that mirror tells me. So hard reality photos are a way for me to see what others see. My nineteen year old daughter has been telling me for years that I look best without makeup. Yeah kid, ok. Well guess what. This fall I developed a skin reaction to eye makeup. Bad news. I can't tolerate nail polish or eye shadow. My eyelids flake and become flaming red and raw. Nice, huh? Just when I'm losing weight and starting to feel pretty. Well here's what I did. I stopped using most face makeup. I use only mascara, a touch of eyeliner, face powder and red lipstick. I look better than ever. Sure the hundred pounds gone helps (LOL), but I used to put so much foundation on that I didn't even recognize my own complexion before. This change was very scary for me. But since the vitiligo diagnosis, I started to take better care of my skin. I moisturize and use SPF every day, every season. My skin coloration has evened out a little from staying out of the sun, and since I hydrate so much as a WLS patient, my skin is clearer and brighter. @@CowgirlJane you are one of the most beautiful women on these pages. Truly stunning. And such an inspiration to me and so many of us. Thanks for keeping it real, because we aren't always in perfect head space. But we work through it. Together here we give each other the support and the knowledge that we're not the first or the last to feel these sometimes explainable, sometimes irrational feelings. All of you are beautiful. As am I. I have pictures to prove it. Tee hee.

I'm a bander but my advice would be focus on the hard and real changes you need to make now. Let the effects later come when they will. For now here's what I found useful. First, pre surgery I gave up tv eating. Permanently and forever. This was much harder than it sounds. But it really helped me stop distracted eating. Second was to stop drinking with my meals. Practice now to have a glass of Water half an hour before your meal, no liquid with your meal, and no liquids until half an hour after your meal. Third is chew chew chew your food into tiny pieces. Into mush. This is also harder than it sounds. Fourth, slow down your eating. If you chew enough it will slow you down, but try to pause even a little between bites. Some folks put their fork down. I found it just as hard to actually swallow one bite before taking another bite. I still do. Fifth, start walking. Even if it's just around the block or around your workplace office a few times a day. You'll need to walk immediately after your WLS to help the shoulder gas pain and to speed your recovery. These habit changes can take a lot of work and will be easier to do post op if you start now. I promise you, if you focus on practical steps now, the what-ifs and worries will take a back seat. Congratulations on choosing good health for yourself. We are all rooting for you.