coolcrystal

I had a lot of these frustrations too and I think it's completely normal to have. My biggest fear was my friends and family placing expectations on me to lose a certain amount, by a certain time frame. So, I made sure to let my friends know not to do that. My goal was to lose 80 lbs the first year.. I'm 18 pounds shy of that, and my one year anniversary is in two weeks, but you know what, I still feel successful. And trust me, I could never lose weight before! I was gaining 5-10 lbs a month easily. My life was self sabotage over and over again, each time making me gain even more weight.. I know sometimes new people will come to this site and see negative things, as any surgery will have them, but there are far more success stories, they just don't need this site anymore.. they go on living their life and leave this forum. Best of luck!!

Kristi, you look amazing!! I wish I could be the weight of your before picture. LOL.

And, please keep in mind that many successful people drift away from this site.. go on living and just don't need the support of this forum anymore, but sadly, aren't here to tell their success story, so you won't see all the wonderful stories there are to tell. I can think of five of my friends who haven't been here in at least 6 months or more because they've reached goal and just don't need this support system anymore. Good luck! I'm super happy with my band!

Dang girl, you look fabulous! Congrats on your weightloss!! You are a good example of how this band can work for folks! I'm very happy for ya!

How's it going since your unfill? did you get it put back in and did your pouch go back into place? I'm getting another fill on Thursday which I hope will put me at a decent sweetspot so I can start losing again. Congrats on getting to a size 8! that's awesome.

I thought it was quite enjoyable!! sorry :-( towards the end it was sort of flirty almost.. hee hee. like in those old movies where they hate each other, but then they fall inlove and get together!! :-)

Girl, you are doing awesome and have lost way more than me in half the time. lol. I'm so glad I kept one pair of my size 28 pants and have kept up with my measurements and took a before picture to keep track of, because without those I don't know what I'd do. Sometimes when I look in the mirror I still see the 300 lb girl. But when I go to a party they call me skinny, but I'm not, but to them I am because they remember the 300 lb me. I still have far to go, but I saw a picture of me at a party a few weeks ago and I still felt disgusting. But like somebody else said, just think about how it would be if you'd never have lost weight.

Wow, you sound like you are getting a death sentence.. I can't wait for you to find out that if you do this right, you can still enjoy a lot of the same stuff you do now, just not as much of it and different food choices.. food won't be your top priority anymore. But my last big meal that I completely stuffed myself until it made me almost want to puke was two big bowls of Pasta with meat sauce and 4 huge pieces of texas toast. when I think about eating this now I want to hurl.. man, I don't miss stuffing myself at all. That was always the worst feeling in the world, but I did it anyway! You still have a nice life.. shoot even better because I remember sitting on my couch with a belly ache for 2 hours belching up food and now I can actually enjoy my life better. You'll be fine.

Yep.. in the morning I was already thinking about my dinner.. and the excitement of what was it going to be.. mcdonalds, or chinese buffet!! I probably spent 80% of my time thinking about food or the pre-dinner dinner I would eat before my husband got home. That's right. I can admit it now.. but not before. I would get home an hour before my husband every day and be hungry so I would eat a sandwhich and chips and then when he would get home I'd eat again with him!! the first dinner didn't even count in my head. It's nice just having one dinner now. lol. But, freeing up that "food" time is what opened up "me" time and working out time.

Man, I don't miss that part of the band. lol. But, I loved Isopure Clear.. the apple melon or the fruit punch one.. I thought those tasted like candy. I only had to do those for a week though.. then I went on to mushies... so it wasn't something I worried about for a long time. For vitamins I still take Flinstones. LOL. It always takes me back to my kiddy days!

The only people that I know that have gained back all of their weight from wls were my friends who got the bypass. They have all gained back all their weight or almost all of their weight and their pouches are stretched out. One of my friends said it started with some McDonald's fries one day. She pushed herself and ate a large fry and from their she stretched her pouch out and gained all of her weight back in like 5 months she said. Now, I know a few lapbanders who have gained back some weight.. but it's been only a small portion, like 5 or 10 lbs and it was mostly because they stopped getting the fills or something happened and they had to get an unfill, but usually they can get back on track. So, I'm not sure which surgery you are speaking of?? I had some complications with my band due to stress and I had to get half my fill taken out and have been slowly adding it back over the last two months. Now, i could have went and had 10 cheeseburgers if I wanted to, but I didn't. I haven't lost any weight, but I only gained about 2-3 lbs during this time of being without restriction. For me this is huge, because in the past I easily could have gained 10 lbs a month. I think staying on track is looking at food differently. Before my stress inducing week I had, I was at my sweetspot and losing about 8 lbs a month and honestly, I just lived life... I was working out about 3-4 times a week, but you know, every now and again I would have a shake... or an icecream... or a cookie.... I didn't keep myself from enjoying things like this because if you make it a big deal, it will be a big deal. And my lapband doctor told me not to deny myself these things every now and again and I think just knowing that I could have it, but chose not to most of the time got me in the good frame of mind. To where now, I could eat whatever I want without my restriction, but I just don't want it. And that feels good. So, frame of mind = don't ever make yourself feel like you are denying yourself something that your body needs. Reach a good restriction to where you aren't looking around for food and food isn't your top priority anymore. If you have a month or two where you aren't losing, don't give up... lord knows I felt like I did. And never lose your support system on here. I have gone through periods where I've gotten away from this forum and I think it just hurts me in the long run, because I get out of the lapband zone, which is a shame, because I like it here and need this support. Good luck! DISCLAIMER: I wasn't trying to knock the bypass, because I'm sure there are plenty of people that it has worked for, it just didn't work for my three friends. Just as, I'm sure there are folks that didn't do well with the lapband. Everybody has different bodies...

I enjoy red wine every now and again and the occasional long island ice tea, but very rare and the long island usually makes me gain a pound. lol. but, the red wine never made me gain any weight. I don't drink much though.

I like everything you wrote!! Especially the part about PB'ing so quickly nobody even notices and you can go back to working a second later. LOL. That part just cracked me up because I can totally relate, especially when I got too tight. My only problem is, when I got too tight and couldn't eat my body went into starvation mode and I stopped losing weight. And that totally sucks.

Humm, I have thought about this stuff too.. Let me ask you, do you think it would be cheating to go on the Biggest Loser tv show with having this surgery and compete against all those people for 250K? It's weird because I saw one contestant that looked like they had the lapband scars, but it could have been any surgery, but it made me wonder about it. Because it would give you a pretty big advantage over others who don't have that restriction. I wonder if they would be asked to get a complete unfill to be on the show so it's fair. I guess this didn't answer your question though.. lol. I don't think it would be fair because a lapbander - at their sweet spot - would have a big advantage and at that point ones morals would be questioned. But, just because one has the lapband doesn't mean they have restriction. This is just my opinion though...

I didn't have any restriction until the third fill and for me, at first it felt like I had two stomachs. The one below would grumble like it was hungry, but it didn't hurt. The one above was satisfied. Then I think the one below just sort of shrank up a bit and then never grumbled and always felt satisfied on , just to give you an example.. a small chili from wendy's.. or a can of tuna (the good kind - Bumblebee lemon pepper). Or half a chicken breast with a scoop of blackeyed peas. Also, when you have decent restriction you aren't running all over the kitchen looking for your next snack. food isn't your top priority anymore. This is how it was for me anyway when I had that sweet spot. But, again, it is different for everybody.

I think its sad that people are scared to say anything bad about the band for fear of being ridiculed about it or scaring people. I think newbies need to see all aspects of the possibilities of the band. I'm glad that a year before I got the band I researched the heck out of it and especially on here that way I knew everything that could happen. For some the band has been perfect the entire time, for some it hasn't. The truth is, some people can never find the perfect sweet spot with it.. it will either be too tight or too lose. People will say "get an unfill".. then you get an unfill and you are too lose... then they will say "get a fill" and you get a fill and you are too tight. lol. It will be a neverending cycle of fills and unfills. This is why I honestly believe the band doesn't work for everybody. For a majority, yes, but not for everybody. You have done amazing really with the 40 lb loss, but if one isn't getting any Protein in or eating good foods, how healthy can they be in the end? I don't know.. I'm rambling right now.. forgive me.. lol.