CandySmooch

Erin - I emailed you

Dr. C, I just passed my one year band anniversary with a total loss of 33lbs. I have good restriction and only PB if I eat way too fast. I know my band works - I have 1.75cc in my 4cc band - when I was filled to 2cc I was only able to get soft foods and sips of liquid and even my aftercare Dr. said well at least we know it works as I had my band in MX. I follow the rules of bandsters and work out at Curves 3 times a week and yoga once or twice a week on top of that. My 33lbs loss has been anything BUT STEADY. My day of surgery I was at my highest of 293lbs - today I sit at 260, but still struggle with the same few lbs. I lost 10 right out of surgery, another 5 over the next few months getting fills until last November was my last fill and I didn't lose anything for quite awhile until just this past March when I dropped another 10 after going on South Beach diet after being fed up with not losing anymore. Now I'm struggling to maintain that loss. I don't overeat at all, I make good choices most of the time, and I'm excercising 3-5 times a week. Before you say I could be gaining muscle, I am a little but not enough to make a big difference. I'm still wearing the same size clothing as my surgery day but they just fit a lot better instead of being skin tight. I contacted my Dr.'s office and explained that I've only lost 33lbs in one year and if I needed to come in for a check up even though I don't need a fill because I have comfortable restriction. His nurse said it was all up to me to decide as this is a personal journey for everyone. I don't want to waste my money as I'm self pay for my insurance does not cover any of this. So what would you suggest in my situation? My mom is starting to think the surgery hasn't been effective that my progress should be more than what it is - I'm starting to feel like a failure, I've tried everything. Do I need a tighter fill? I like my restriction, I don't really have to worry too much about what I can and can't eat - pretty much everything goes down as long as I'm careful and take my time and I like that. And around that time of the month is when I have "perfect restriction" where some things are a struggle and I have to give up and eat Jello. I am hungry 3-5 hours after I eat a meal. Thanks for being here for us!

I cannot even begin to tell you why men say such mean things for no reason. I hate it when my DH says I'm such a slob - and I'm not - its just that he's extremely anal from the way he grew up in dirt, roaches, & mice so I know he has issues with cleanliness and he goes overboard because I left a bill on the table and a load of clean clothes in the dryer - I get sooo sick of it! So then I ask him why he's such an asshole? We don't see eye to eye on certain things. Regardless mean and hurtful things never solve the underlying issues, but when you can't get them to say whats really on their mind - what can you do? Just rememebr ANGER IS ONLY A SECONDARY EMOTION TO AN UNDERLYING ISSUE and its his job to be man enough to tell you - and when they're not? I don't know - I think many of us face these same issues. Keep your chin up and see how things go - I know those things hurt like hell - they do to me - they hurt me to the core - and I know I've said mean things back in retaliation to see how he likes it but really it doesn't solve anything by bringing my character down. Just know that we are here to get you through your surgery and weight loss - we will lift you up when he puts you down - till the bitter end sweetie

I bought an electronic nutrition assistant from Curves and just busted it out again to get crackin. It only allows me to track Calories, Fat, Sat. Fat, Carbs & Protein so Erin if you could give me some guidelines that you would like me to start with I will input those into my daily goals. Do you want me to start immediately with your food intake guidelines or would you like me to log 4-5 days first so you can get an idea of my diet and what I need to change?

I'm 5'5 and currently 260 - highest was 293 - mini-goal is what I weighed in high school and was pretty happy with myself at 230 and if I can make it to there then the surgery was worth it, but my ulitmate goal is 170ish - I'd be simply divine at that weight and fighting off all the boys then

Thank you so much Dr. C and Erin - I have emailed you back. We can keep most of the discussion on the board if its beneficial to others, I have no problem with that. I'm verry happy that there are still people out there who love their jobs of helping others like me I look forward to trying to jump start my weight loss. My problem is I'd like it to be slow steady weight loss not going 6 months on a plateu and then bam somehow I lost 5lbs only to platueu again. I don't really do fast foods, junk food, or sweets anymore - only if I find myself in an absolute bind. chips, I buy the multi-grain baked wheat thin crackers or baked veggie chips. I do sugar free things, like Jello & cool whip, sugar free pudding cups, no sugar added fruit bars - sugar free coffee creamer. No sodas, except on a very rare occasion. I only drink Water, propel, or crystal light, only 2-4 cups of coffee on an average week. I really don't think I have a portion control issue - I do think I eat more than the standard 1 cup of food - maybe more 1 1/2 depending on how hungry I am, but I really like the level of restriction I have although I could allow to be slightly tighter if you think that would be beneficial Erin or Dr. C. Looking forward to this. Many thanks

wow that sounds awesome but definately out of my price range! technology is so wonderful these days and if I had the money I'd totally do it - thanks for all the great information!

interesting a boddy bugg huh? i'm going to google - how expensive is it? is it a computer program? would you mind explaining a bit more? thanks

Slow loser here! I even follow the rules and excercise 3-5 times a week with still only a 33lb loss after being banded one year. Nope its not muscle gain either.

Thanks for helping us Dr. C!!!!!!

I'm in and will share my story shortly

My favorite bandster lunch is Olive Garden Salad, dressing on the side, one breadstick and a to go cup for my raspberry lemonade that I'll have to enjoy later or I take a sip if the breadstick needs a little help going down.

Always Love Whipples Touching And Honest Posts! 2 Kudos For You Sweetie!

Smooches To You Too Vines! I've Missed You!!!!!!! Hugzzzzzz

OMG OMG OMG - I LITERALLY BUST OUT LAUGHING SO HARD WHEN I READ THAT - THAT'S SOOO FUNNY IT JUST MADE MY DAY! THANKS

OMG I too love doing this for Jon except I will say that I NEVER enjoyed swallowing before my surgery but was woman enough to tolerate it, but since my surgery...........hell no - I don't know if he's even realized it or not since I can be a little sneaky about it - like giving it back to him as if I didn't get it all, LMAO - but even if I do keep it in my mouth I immediately head straight to the bathroom to spit because since surgery I can't do it anymore - now swallowing literally makes me gag on the goo - gross! I like doing the act but not what follows hehe........ heather - I agree - I'd rather give than receive - receiving nice once in awhile but I think guys get more out of receving than at least I do now I can't get over Joyce's response of "training herself" on her own - I still have the gag relfex occasionally during the act but thats because somethings poking me in the back of the throat - how do you train yourself past that???? I'm completely baffled.

Well when I'm home and we're bored we always end up in the bedroom. At least that never gets boring even after 3 years together lol. Its one thing we've always had in common so when we're bored and nothing's on tv he'll just ask if I want to and thats that! But if I'm bored by myself, I like to read magazines, books, call a friend, take the dog for a walk - you know the usual stuff.

Good thread :rant: Mine was when my boyfriend wanted us to be more active and we had started walking together. He always wanted to take long walks and I'd find myself sweating, out of breath, and barely able to hold a conversation with him. I was completly embarassed at age 24 and not even able to walk a mile without it exhausting me. I'd had enough.

omg - snorting vicodin? hear something new everyday lol

wow - i was one the original turtles and look at how the group has grown so large its hard to keep up. I just passed my one year mark and have a total weight loss of 33lbs - and i've had to work for every damn ounce so yep still a slow loser here but i haven't given up yet. sorry for being so scarce but this bored used to be a tight little community. now there are so many members and posts its become really overwhelming, but i'm still around :rant:

Can I update my stats? 293/11 months/5%/120min/3 fills/no diet drugs/caucasion/WL total today is 25 lbs. Oh and I truly believe the only reason why the scale started moving down was because I started the South Beach Diet after exhausting all of my other resources. Moderate Diet and Excercise wasn't cutting it. I've cut out basically all sugar, refined carbs, and highly processed foods and got my scale to move another 10lbs over the last month. Thanks

Hi everybody - I would like to share something that I do becaues I firmly believe in the power of positive thinking. Every few days or so I spend a few minutes rubbing my belly and affirming that everything is going to go as well as can be. No erosion, no slipping, and satsifactory weight loss along with my skin will not sag. Yesterday I was doing this and kept calling my band - Band - I know you will work - we can do this together etc etc. I realize it all sounds a bit silly, but here we are back to the power of positive thinking and I need all the motivation I can get. It also helps me to feel connected to it. Well all of a sudden it came to me - I've been doing this for several months but instead of just calling it band - I decided to name it so I could actually have a personal relationship with it since we are now partners for life. Sooooo I have named my band BAMBI - LOL - that's the name that came to me and popped in my head yesterday - I felt it was saying we're in it for the long haul and just calling it Band wasn't doing it. I want to encourage everyone to take your personal band a bit farther by nameing it - now lets see what kind of silly names we can come up with here! From now on I'll be referring my band as Bambi Silly I know but lets go with it!!! Who's with me?

Mmmmmmm not good Gained 1/2 lb - only lost 2 inches after killing myself at Curves for a month - I understand that 1/2lb could be muscle, but still not changing sizes. Then I got a bad yeast infection and a cold at the same time which has prevented me from working out for the last 2 weeks so I'm sure the last 2 weeks of doing nothing has counteracted the 5 weeks of killing myself and here I am back to square one - not losing any weight on my own - and I don't know if I should find a regular Dr. to do a metabolic workup on me since my insurance doesn't cover my bariatric Dr. or if I should go to the same asshole endocrinologist who put me on diet pills that didn't work 5 years ago after saying there was nothing wrong with me. There's my update in a gist. Boo hoo pity party for one please.

1. Weight when banded (in pounds, if you'd rather not disclose then reply via private email to me)293 2. Study duration (between 6 and 12 months)10 months 3. Percentage of meals where you drank during the meal or within 1 hour after the meal - 20% 4. Average minutes per week you exercised during the study period - 120 minutes 5. Number of fills you received during the study period 3 6. Regularly used diet drugs during your study period (yes/no)?NO 7. Race (race showed as a significant success factor in the initial FDA trials for lap-band surgery, leave blank if you object to testing this factor) Caucasion 8. Weight loss during the study period (in pounds) 16lbs