jjsmiles

Hi everyone, I have been working really hard at the gym (both cardio and strength), but now that it is spring in Canada I am hoping to do some more walking outside. My question is this - Does anyone know of a piece of equipment or a way of tracking the distances I am walking? I cannot get a pedometer to work on me (I don't know if I am lopsided or something, but I can't even get one to be accurate even when I walk around the house trying to calibrate it). When I go on regular streets, I get in my car and check the mileage, but that limits where I walk. Help me, please

Congratulations!!!!! The inner mobidly obese person in me is terrified of running/ jogging. Although I go to the gym 4-5x per week, I have not had the nerve to try jogging on the treadmill. I think somehow I am going to stumble and fall off or that my ankles will break or something On the treadmill, I can get up to about 3.9 miles per hour (hanging on), on the eliptical, I seem to be doing about a 12 to 12 1/2 minute mile, which may be a slow run, without the pressure on my joints, although I am not sure. Keep it up!!!

I know it is really hard not to compare yourself to others, but the reality is that the weight you lose pre-op on the shakes is not true weight. The people who lose massive amounts (me included) on the pre-op diet (I am specifically talking about the shake heavy pre-op diet, although I would argue it is probably true on any pre-op diet) are losing Water weight, not fat. Many of those same people are really upset after the surgery when they stop losing weight or they even gain weight when they go on mushies. They didn't actually lose fat during that time and once they start to eat real food, their body holds on to it, and replaces the water lost pre-surgery. You are doing fine. Just stick to the diet, if for no other reason than to prepare you for the diet restrictions you will have post surgery (it does make it much easier to cope with). Good luck to you

Congratulations Adrianna. Great job in changing your lifestyle so that you know you will be able to keep the weight off :incazzato:

I think you will find that there are as many different experiences on this topic as there are people who post here :tongue2: I can personally eat anything as long as I don't take really big bites and I chew well. Some of the so called danger foods are regular staples in my diet (asparagus, salad, chicken, pork, popcorn, bread (although I eat the weight watchers whole wheat bread which is very light and airy), eggs, etc). I have been "stuck" a couple of times (for no apparent reason) - for example for a couple of days last month I had trouble with chicken - but I am really stubborn and kept going back to it, and I again have no problems. I have had an episode with bananas and with eggs, but only once each. For me being stuck feels like a golf ball is stuck at the back of my throat and it usually happens almost immediately after swallowing (although I sometimes am eating too fast and have another mouthful in my mouth before I realize the problem). It is quite painful and for me, I immediately go to the bathroom and basically "hoark" it out with a bunch of saliva. It is not a true vomit, because the food hasn't passed beyond the small pouch. I have read here that some people walk around in pain for hours, until it passes, but I don't think I could keep the stuck stuff in me even if I wanted to. I don't have any trouble getting rid of the offending food. Like I said, I bet there are hundreds of different experiences out there and you just have to wait and see how you will react. My WLC doesn't say not to have foods, but does say to try them with caution because some people have problems. Unfortunately, until you actually get banded, there is no way to predict what or if some foods will bother you.

You have spent a lifetime avoiding cameras and can't find any pictures of yourself at your heaviest weight, yet now you take a picture of yourself on a weekly basis so you can see if you look different.

Your cat is hoarking up a hair ball while you are beside her in the bathroom hoarking up a piece of stuck chicken.

1. Make sure you are actually eating enough. Some bandsters are happy with their weight loss, but aren't eating enough to keep them going - that means a blend of healthy foods, not just Protein. You may be experiencing highs and lows in your blood sugar - doesn't have to be diabetes. You might want to consider eating very small portions 6 times a day rather than 3 times a day to keep your blood sugars level. 2. Get some blood work done - get your thyroid levels and blood sugar checked as well as your electrolytes and your Iron levels. I have thyroid problems, but do well with medication. I found out my iron levels were low when I got my blood work done about 3 months ago, am taking an iron supplement which has helped my energy. You might want to consider taking a good Multivitamin, plus a calcium/vitamin D supplement if you don't drink much milk. Remember you have made a major change to your body, not only with the surgery, but also with the change in eating and exercising. You need to ensure that your body is reacting to the changes in a healthy way :biggrin2:

I think it is pretty obvious that the surgeon you spoke to has an agenda. I have never seen any research that said the lap band patients will only lose 50 pounds. Although you didn't say it, I am suspecting he recommended that you get a gastric bypass. If you have done your research and have decided the band is for you, you should go find another surgeon. Being self-pay, there will be many out there, lining up for your money. The long term stats at this point are saying that gastric bypass patients will lose more in the first year after surgery, but by about years 3 and 5 post surgery, the weight loss is basically the same for both surgeries. As with anything in life, you can and will be as successful as you are willing to work for. There is nothing simple about being banded, and it is in no way an easy solution. You will have to work hard to achieve great success. This forum is full of people who have lost lots of weight and gotten to their goal. Good luck!!!

Becky, I know how overwhelming and frightening this issue is. As you can see from my ticker, I was pretty close to your original weight, so I probably know better than most about your skin issues. I thought I wouldn't care what my body looked like, if only I could lose the weight, but I was just fooling myself, it bothers me enormously. I have spent my life avoiding intimacy (I couldn't believe it when I first started on this forum and found out that the majority of people here have successful initimate relationships) Heck, I've been a member of this forum for 8 months and have never visited this thread!! He sounds like a good guy. You need to try to think of some ways to make yourself comfortable. I am rooting for you to have a successful relationship for the both of us!!!! Can you get hold of those pictures that the plastic surgeon took? Could you show them to him, so at least you know that he knows what you look like? You don't have to be in the room when he looks at them - or maybe you want to be in the room. It seems to me that it is your fear of the unknown and the possible humiliation that you will feel if he doesn't react well to you that is driving you crazy and causing you so much stress. He has told you he is ok, but at this point you can't accept that. If you take the uncertainty out of the equation, would that take some pressure off you? I mean they aren't pornographic pictures, they are just pictures of a female body (I know - easier said than done). I guess I am saying at some point you either need to take a risk or give up on the relationship. If he makes you happy, you need to gather your courage, but in a way that you can live with. Good Luck!!!!!!!

I wouldn't believe anybody who says that they don't have those days. Rather than beating yourself up, think about it this way - it is normal to indulge on occasion, and didn't you get the band to be normal? Maybe it would help to think this way - eat really well 80 or 90% of the time, so that you can let loose every once in a while. Embrace what happened and let it go. One of the worst things you can do to yourself is to get in that cyle of negative self talk which eventually can lead to "oh the heck with it all, I blew it so I might as well eat anything and everything I can find" (or is it just me that can get into that kind of thinking if I let myself?)

PS Karen If you want to see a progress picture, I did post pictures yesterday on the "before and after picture" thread in the general support forum. I am no great beauty, but I am proud of my progression!! Jacquie

Hi Karen You are doing great - 60 pounds is right where you should be! I know it is hard not to compare yourself to others (I look at those that have lost 100 plus pounds in the same or less time and wonder how they do it). I don't have any secrets, but probably my "key" word is "awareness". Before I got involved in my journey, if I thought of food, I ate. If I wasn't thinking about food, I still ate. I was totally oblivious to what and how much I was eating. I am single and what I put in my body did not resemble healthy food in any way. I ate high fat, high sugar convenience food as the majority of my diet and in massive quantities. I think my weight loss really kicked in because my body went into shock when I stopped feeding it with sugar and fat on a 24/7 basis :drool:. I now choose healthy, relatively natural food about 90% of the time, and I document everything I eat (including quantities). I do this for 2 reasons - one to make me accountable to myself (if I write it down, it can't be unconscious and I am making a choice to eat it), and 2, so I can keep track of what I am actually eating. I try to eat between 1000-1200 calories most days, although I don't sweat it if I eat more. When I go out to a restaurant, if possible I try to plan what I am going to order before I go, so that I won't be tempted by the bacon cheeseburger with fries and gravy. I am NOT doing low carb. I am consciously trying to eat the way I plan to eat for the rest of my life, which includes all food groups (and I still consider chocolate and pizza food groups ). I go to the gym 4-5 days a week and have worked up to a routine of hard cardio (60-100 minutes on combination eliptical and treadmill) and 24 minute sprint circuit. During my cardio, I am up to at least 4.5 miles per session, and have gone up to 7 miles. In terms of restriction - I have never been really restricted (at least not to the point where I have trouble eating solid foods). I have had 2 fills and have 7 cc's in a 10 cc band. I rarely have trouble eating any food, including hard Protein, bread and Pasta. I still can easily eat 1 1/2 cups of food at once (3-4 oz of protein and about a cup of vegetables). As long as this works for me, I don't want to be more restricted. The band helps me stay satisfied for hours after I eat (although I still battle head hunger and always plan for an evening snack or two as this is my "trouble" time). Two things that I am not very healthy with: I am now really addicted to sea salt and coffee. My blood pressure is actually quite low, but I have found that I really crave salt, on everything. I also drink at least one large (like 20 oz) cup of black coffee with splenda every day, sometimes even two :eek:. I try to drink at least 8 glasses of Water every day, but besides coffee, that is about all I drink. Liquor is kind of a waste on me (I don't really like the taste), so fortunately I don't have to account for wine or spirits in my life. Sorry for the novel. Remember you are doing great and you have achieved phenomenal success in the last 8 months. When you get down - just think- where would I be if I were 60 (or 80 or 100) pounds heavier?

I am happy to give my story away for free, but if someone wanted to pay me - GREAT!!! I think one of the things that many of us have to offer is a realistic picture of the band (not the advertisers rosy picture). I also think it is important for people to see all sizes who have been successful with the band - not only people with 50 or 100 pounds to lose. I see over and over (even on this forum) the thought that the lapband won't work for people who are morbidly or super obese, and they need to have gastric bypass in order to be successful. I also firmly agree with Hastings that there needs to be more of a pre-op process to prepare people for their weightloss journey. As many people have said before me "your stomach can be banded but no-one has developed a band for your brain". IMHO, the head stuff is much harder to deal with than your stomach stuff. The vast majority of us didn't get obese overnight and to expect the band to take care of years of dysfunctional eating is just not realistic. In this way - I think it is a-ok to pay people for their stories - the good and the bad!!!!

Celebrating my entrance into ONEderland. Blue shirt is late 2005 at around 350 pounds, green shirt is May 30, 2008 at 197.6 pounds.

I was banded September 25, 2007. I have lost 81.4 pounds since banding and 124.4 since June 12, 2007 (when I committed to the journey). I entered Onederland last week, which was something I didn't think was possible. I am seriously considering lowering my goal weight. After all, the only reason I picked 180 is that it was less than 200 .

OK - this may sound weird, but I was looking in the mirror the other day and tried to figure out what looked different. I finally figured out that I could see light between my thighs. I don't ever remember being able to see between my legs when I was standing normally!! :smile: I agree with GG - I bought some pretty and cheap bras in a 38DD. I couldn't wear underwire before (hurt too much), now that is all I wear (it is interesting though that with all the weight I have lost, I haven't lost a cup size or a shoe size ). I had my elderly neighbors tell me I didn't need to lose any more weight (ok so they are old and kind of blind), and they were really shocked when I told them how much I still weighed. I am no longer the largest person in my office. When I see people I haven't seen in a while, they do a double take and make some really big comment (often very amusing). I only have one piece of clothing from my youth - a beautiful black velvet vest that my mother made and embroidered flowers on. I don't remember when she made it exactly - probably late junior high or early senior high (maybe 14 or 15 years old?). Anyways the vest sides cross way over each other. Yesterday (I just decided to challenge myself to see what I could do) at the gym I did 100 minutes of cardio (55 on the treadmill and 45 on the eliptical) and did just over 7 miles. I also did a 24 minute sprint circuit (combination weights and cardio). When I started, I thought a mile and a half was pretty impressive. The first time I went on the eliptical, I lasted 7 minutes and pretty much fell off with jelly legs .

Congratulations all - it is a wonderful achievement and you need to take a moment and celebrate. :huh2: Gretchens - it sounds like you are doing exactly what you need to do to be healthy throughout this journey by trying to take away the focus from food. Good for you!! I know that our issues with the way our bodies look is huge. I thought that I wouldn't care what my body looked like as long as I lost the weight. WRONG!!!!!!! It seems the more weight I lose, the more aware I am of my body and the sad, deflated way it looks (I think I was more or less oblivious before to the round puffy version of me). The good news is there is always plastic surgery and you can start saving now I also take pleasure in the fact that I look pretty good now (at least fully clothed). Whether it is true or not, people telling me that I look fantastic is a real bonus in my world. Try not to worry or get discouraged if you can't lose weight according to schedule. As you get closer to goal, it is harder to lose and the losses tend to slow down. You may have to introduce more exercise, but you know it is time to do that anyways. Keep your eye on the real prize (your health) and stick to it and you will get there!!!!

My weight loss clinic is not a "self pay" agency, and they take the pre-surgery weight loss time very seriously. In order to be considered for the surgery, you have to show your committment to losing weight. In large part I think it is to show them that you are ready to move forward and follow the committments required before and after surgery. The readier you are before the surgery, the more likely that you will be successful after surgery. If you are not truly committed, you will find the pre-op diet extremely difficult and the 4-6 week post surgery diet of Clear liquids, then thicker liquids, then mushies and very little to no restriction almost impossible. I have been lose weight throughout the process, through a lot of hard work. Maybe I am dead wrong, but I kind of question how a person who "can't" lose any weight before surgery (for whatever reason) will be helped by getting the lap band. The lap band isn't a miracle drug or cure and you still have to eat less in order to lose weight. If you already eat healthy and not very much and still can't lose weight, I don't see how the lap band will help. Just my opinion - I am sure there are exceptions, but I don't think they are the "rule" that the band was made for. :sad:

I guess one of the things I need to "weigh" in on - does your daughter WANT the lapband? I know that I was obese in my teen years, but I was also extremely passive aggressive when it came to diet and food. When people told me that I needed to do something about my weight or tried to force me to diet, I always found a way to sabotage all efforts. I didn't want to be fat, but I wasn't capable, mentally, of allowing someone to help me until I was ready to seek help. Part of that is typical teenage behaviour and part of it was my very dysfunctional relationship with food and myself. If your child has not started to deal with some of the issues that led her to 280 pounds and actually embraced the band as a tool to help her, it will not be successful. The band is not a miracle to "make" someone lose weight. Even if you get to proper restriction, most bandsters find they can still eat the food that was their weakness very easily (i.e potato chips, chocolate and ice cream). The band is a tool and you must follow the rules in order to lose the weight. I have read people who post that they see the band as more of a maintenance tool rather than a weight loss tool and I totally agree. I am losing weight by eating 1000 calories a day and exercising a great deal. The band helps me to stay satisfied for longer, but it doesn't stop me from eating foods that made me obese in the first place. The band is helping to retrain my eating patterns, but if I don't want to change, or I am not ready to change, it will not work. I totally agree with the poster who suggested therapy for your daughter, whether that helps to lead to the band or not. This is a huge decision, that needs to be her decision, with her full awareness, knowledge and consent. Good luck!

Have you considered that your band is too full and that is why you have trouble eating solid food? You should be able to eat most regular food (just less of it) as long as you take small bites and really chew, chew, chew. You may be still losing weight, but there are a couple of real problems with only eating foods that go down easily: - are you getting your nutritional, Vitamin and mineral needs met by following your current eating plan? - there is a real danger that you will start to eat more and more of the danger food, increasing your calories and fat intake. The cycle then begins again where you are eating more, not losing (or gaining), getting discouraged, eating more (you see where this is going) - the real purpose of the band is to help retrain your eating patterns to healthy food and healthy portions. Can you say you are doing this? If not, what happens if and when you get to goal weight and you are trying to maintain on a life of chocolate. Pretty tough to do. I know I tried for many years and just got bigger and bigger and bigger. Just my 2 cents worth.

So last month I wrote a letter of concern to the CHR regarding the cutbacks to the Weight Management Clinic in Calgary, and I got this response by letter today: Thank you for your letter date April 17, 2008 regarding your concerns of the Calgary Health Region's the Lap Band Surgery Program. The position of the CHR and the Department of Surgery is very supportive of the lap band surgery that you yourself had, and we are very supportive of an expanded program in Calgary for the lap band surgery. The Lap Band Program was started in 2006 and we reported early success with our patients' outcomes. I understand you had your surgery in 2007. We are not funded currently to provide this service to the population that requires it in Calgary. We are funded at this time up to 25 cases per year. We believe that this is a much needed service and that the Obesity Management Clinic and the Lap Band Surgical Program need to be expanded. Consequently, we are working on a strategic plan to take forward for funding submission. We thank you very much for your concern for this very important public health issue. Sincerely, Andrea Robertson Vice President Interventional Services and Foothills Medical Centre Administration

Wow BBK - I think your body looks terrific!!!! I can't believe that those pictures are only 6 days out. Once you are all healed up you will be able to wear a bikini! I hope you are starting to feel like yourself again. You go HOT GIRL! Jacquie

Steph you look terrific. I think the weight gain is all those things, just remember it is likely more fluid and hormone related than actual fat. Your body wants to hold onto everything it can - after all you traumatized it by having major surgery and now it is fighting back! One day soon it will forgive you again :thumbup:

Hi Kat, I hope your mini vacation was great and you are all hyped up (or calmed down - whatever works for you!). I was thinking about you and your surgery tomorrow off and on all day today. I wish you all the best. Let us know how you are doing when you are up to it!!! :thumbup: Remember you truly deserve all the good things that are coming your way. Your generosity of spirit and kind nature shine thru your posts. God bless you and keep you safe.