phowell

Something else I wanted to say is that I got discouraged on here because everyone was losing so much faster than I was, but not everyone has the same body or the same weight loss. You really have to go at your own pace and make sure that you are doing what you need to do for yourself. I know that my work schedule hinders my weight loss, but I am still working at it. I have been banded for 2 years and am still not at my goal weight, but it is coming off slow and steady. I have had a few gains, but then I realize that the high fat/high calorie goes through WAY easier than the protein I am supposed to eat!

I think a HUGE part about being banded is learning to deal with all the things that made you fat to begin with. Those don't go away. And you have to remember that the band is a tool not a miracle worker. You have to learn how to work with it. I was able to eat bread (and still can if I do it slowly) and I can eat and drink at the same time. You need to find a support group or possibly an info class that goes through all of those things. Before I was banded I had to take several classes on how to live with the band. It was a big help. If you don't feel comfortable with your surgeon you need to find someone that can help. I would suggest looking around for someone that you think can help you more! Hope that helps a little...

I wish I could have a fill....it is getting better, though. At least I am losing again. Somedays I can eat everything in sight and still be hungry and other days I can hardly eat soup so I think I will stay away from fills for a little while longer. I am just so glad to see the scales going down!!! Finally I lost past 30 pounds....Chris--get a fill for me too, k?:tongue:Congratulations to making it to a BMI less than 40. Getting healthy is great!!!!!

I know that everyone says it, but if I can do it...anyone can!!!! I am so glad that this plateau is done!!! I can't believe it. Every time I step on the scale my heart jumps when I see the numbers going down instead of up...Thank you to everyone for encouragement and support!!!

Thank you Lana for your encouragement!!! I am glad that I notice my weight loss every day (just not on the scale all the time!!) I can run up the stairs without getting winded, I had to buy new rings, new skirts, new pants and new shirts--wow a little poem...:redface: I am thankful for my band because without it I would already have regained what I lost plus some.....I am just workin' through this dumb plateau and it is showing!!!

I think New start was wednesday and Behavior change was thursday the last part of last year, but I can't be sure. I am doing ok. I look at some of the weight loss on here and it is hard for me to believe. Some people that lose 150 pounds in 6 months....good for them, but I think that they are giving it to me....lol. It has been slow and I have been stalled for a while, but it is starting to slowly creep back down. I think I am having some trouble with my B12 so that could be a lot of it. I go to see the doctor on the 18th so hopefully we can get it straightened out!!!! Good luck! Trish

Ann D....I know how you feel. I weighed myself at 199.4 before work (I work overnights) and ran upstairs and scared the crap out of my mom....Congratulations!!!

Wow...what a place to finally be!!! I just have to keep it here...198.4 this morning. I usually go back up a few pounds and then back down. It is coming off....slowly, but surely. I am so glad to see the other side of that 200 number!!! WOO HOO!! Congrats to all who have gone before me!! What a blessing this band is!!!

Mama....I know how you feel. I have looked at all these people with their HUGE weight losses (congrats to all, btw!!!) and I feel your pain. My weight loss has been slow, but it is picking up again. I feel like for the past few months my body was rebelling!!! It has been slow going and the last time I tried to get a fill, it didn't work. It was way too tight and water wouldn't even go down. So I was able to eat WAY more than I was supposed to until just last week. Now if I eat too much, it all comes back up. So, with a little trial and error I am starting to lose again. I am SO glad to finally be under 200 I can hardly stand it. What an adventure. But even at that--when you average out the weight loss, it is pretty healthy, and pretty significant even at 30 pounds lost. And, it is the only time in my life that I have EVER lost 30 pounds and not put it back on when things weren't going well. My doctor and I have been discussing it and also decided that my weight loss is slow because I work the night shift and don't get the sleep I should. Don't know if that is true, but I have been really trying to get my rest and maybe that is what is helping!!! I am so excited for everyone!!! YEAH us!!!!

Well, I am going to try and get a pic in progress on here. I got it into my avatar, but who knows how I could mess this up...LOL. I don't have any befores yet. Somehow I have to get them off my camera to here!!!

I know how you feel. It has been slow going but I am only a little under 2 pounds away from onederland!!! So close, yet so far. Congrats to all those that have made it there before me! I will join you soon!!! Yeah!

I just wanted to say that I had a picture done with a friend of mine (for her phone caller id) and it was done at Christmas time. Then she did one of me on Saturday. Said she needed an updated one. When she showed them to me I almost cried! The difference in my face was almost unbelievable to me! Amazing. I LOVE this!!!! Congrats everyone. Everyday is a better day!

Congratulations to everyone that is close or in WONDERLAND!!! How great. I am getting so excited to join you! I was at 202.4 today. Can you believe it? It has been so long since I have even seen that number. It could make me cry!!!:lol:

I really think it has to do with the change in our diets! I was going to go on MediFast once and they told me that they would know if I cheated and ate something because my blood work would be off, but also because I would be in the bathroom very quickly with diarrhea! They said my body would be so used to the liquids that if I tried to eat something sugary or greasy my body would reject it and I would get cramps and diarrhea pretty quickly--maybe it is the same thing as when you are recently banded. Your body is used to the liquid diet and can't handle the sugar or fat?!!?:confused2:

Welcome to LBT wired!!! How is it going? I am actually going this afternoon to see Shellie for a fill!!! Hope it is the one that will do the trick!:thumbup:

I have one that happened yesterday. I am to the point that most of my pants are falling off. I desperately needed a pair of capri pants so I went to the misses part of the store and tried on both a size 16 and a size 18. Both fit, but I did buy the 18. The 16 will probably fit soon, but I really needed them to wear now! Is anyone else having a hard time figuring out which size and where to shop? It is almost overwhelming to me!

I ate sushi about 3 1/2 weeks after surgery and did fine. It is hard to eat in small bites and I only ate 2 pieces of it. Very filling. I did cut it up--like I said it wasn't easy,but it sure did taste good. I only do the california rolls, too. Let me know how you do!

I was told by my doc not to drink it anymore. It was tough at first, but now I really don't miss it. I crave water (never thought I would say that!!!). I was drinking a lot of propel and flavored water (vitamin water is NOT a good one--tons of calories!!) I did try to cheat and have a soda and the gas pain killed me. No fun. Won't do that again. I do know a lot of people that say they can drink it, they just have to drink it slow. As for me, I will stick to water! Trish <-----former diet coke addict:tongue:

carol4784--my point is that yes you pay taxes and work--good for you! You do that in case, at some point in your life, something should go wrong and BOOM!! You find yourself needing some sort of state assistance. I worked, was married to an enlisted military man, and paid taxes. Then, he decided that he was going to drink our money away, stay at other women's houses, pay for their cars, and sleep in their beds. I left. It left me with no money and no career because I stayed at home and worked small retail jobs for little pay around holidays because he was supposed to take care of me (or so I thought). I didn't go to school like I should have--my first mistake. So then I was stuck with him not paying child support, a car payment, and a job that paid a little over 200 dollars a month! Yes, there are people that take advantage of it, but you can't punish the people that really need it because of them. It is definitely not a black/white situation!

I have been on both sides of this. I looked into the band when I was on medicaid. I had 3 small children, lived by myself, went to school for 40 hours a week, did call at night for a little bit of money, and still had to study 20+ hours a week. I did this for 2 years and lived on very little. I was living in subsidized housing and was doing the best that I could. I did not want to "live off the system" for the rest of my life, but at this time I had to have food stamps and medicaid to survive. The state that I was in at the time did not cover lapband with medicaid only bypass and I knew that I did not want bypass. It would mean more time out of school than I could take (I only got 15 days off a year) and I had a friend of mine that did it and I knew it was not for me. So I waited, hoping they would cover it before I made too much money to lose medicaid, but not enough to pay the $485 a month for BCBS for myself per month with the $5,000 deductible that I would have to pay for for a year before I could use it. Now, I am lucky enough that I graduated from a wonderful program, got a good job, upgraded to a great job in the same hospital and have a good insurance program through the hospital. Would I want to go back on medicaid and food stamps because it was "easier?" Absolutely not. People look at you in a whole different way when you are on public assistance and treat you like you are lazy and don't want to work. So before you judge, just remember, they may just need a little help until they can do for themselves.

I work in a hospital and have worked in the OR before. Usually you go back with a gown on that is removed once you are asleep. Then they cover you with a very large sterile blue drape. You are only "naked" for a few minutes until they put the drap on. Once the surgery is over they take the drape off, put the gown back on you, cover you with blankets and take you to the recovery area. In my experience, when all of this is happening, no one is even looking at the patient. They are usually talking about their weekend, their kids, or what they are going to have for lunch. It is just something they do and they don't really pay attention to the nakedness!!:smile:

I agree with Luscious. This is just a tool to help you lose weight. In the beginning (right after being banded) most people don't lose a lot of weight. You are supposed to focus on healing, not losing weight, but people want to see that scale move. Also, a lot of people (myself included) weigh themselves at least once a day--I am on the scale probably 3 times a day. I just use Mondays as the day of my "official" weigh in. If I go up or down during that (which I do by 3-5 pounds) I don't worry about it. It eventually goes down. You really can eat around your band by using hi calorie liquids, not eating your protein, and eating things very high in calories/fats. You also need to make sure that you keep up on your fills. If you feel that you are eating too much, you need to talk to your doctor about getting a fill. That is how you become successful. Listen to your own body and keep in touch with your doctor. My doctor told me that the more they see me the first year (not necessarily for fills, just to keep up) the more successfuly I would be. Good luck and let us know how you are doing. This has been the best thing I have ever done to lose weight and get healthy. Trish

I still eat "bad" things, but so do skinny, healthy people. You can't try to cut it out and if you label it, then you eat it, then it is bad and you feel guilty--then if you're like me you eat more of it. I finally quit doing that to myself and if I want it, I eat it. It seems that I have much more control over my eating if I don't make a "do not eat" list. I can stop at 2 girl scout cookies instead of trying to eat a whole box and making myself sick. It will happen for all of us. It just takes a long time to change our lifetime habits. We are on a journey--you can't fail on a journey, you can only slip up, or fall down, then you get up and never look back! Good luck and WTG!!!!:thumbup:

When I was on soft foods I was craving Mexican food so I took fat free refried beans and mixed them with enchilada sauce, a little bit of shredded cheddar cheese and then put a little bit of sour cream on the top. It was delicious and a much needed break from yogurt and eggs!! I also had the usual applesauce, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese, cream of wheat, tuna fish, canned chicken (made into a salad like tuna salad)! I only had to do this stage for a week and then I got to eat "real" food so I didn't have to get too creative--but the mexican dish was my fave.:rolleyes2:

I don't know if this will help you, but I'll throw it out there anyway. I could eat whatever I wanted until my last fill and now I really am restricted. If I eat too much, I will PB so I just don't anymore (every once in a while I talk myself into those last couple of bites--don't get me wrong--I am definitely not perfect!). But this last fill has been wonderful. I have this sudden feeling like I am in control of my eating instead of the other way around. It didn't happen right away, but I just sort of came to that realization. I also don't worry about everything I eat and that seems to be helping my weight loss! If I want something (even McDonald's or DQ) I eat it. I just TRY to order the smaller size (sometimes I still order like pre-band and it never works--even though I am STARVING ). I don't write anything down, and I am terrible about exercising. If eating counts as bicep curls, I am all over it! LOL. I really think it is all about a good fill. That is most of the battle. Good luck. Hopefully my rambling helped a little! Trish