coolcrystal

Awee thanks. You know what's sad, is I was dating a jerk at the time and gave him almost all of my graduation pictures. The only ones to survive is this one and two others. I was very upset. I mean, I have other pics from that time of that size, but not of the graduation. I wouldn't call me normal sized in that picture. I was constantly picked on and called names because I had on two layers of clothes there and my bones use to pop out and people made fun of me a lot, which is why I don't want to be that size again. I looked great at 140-165. I don't really care what I look like this time around, I just want to be out of pain and I'm excited about walking again. I was able to walk around faire this weekend for 7 hours straight... without sitting. I haven't done that in a few years. I bet you'll be gorgeous no matter what and you'll feel better too. We are so lucky that we got to get this surgery!

I lost exactly 10 pounds. Not including the pre-op South Beach diet weight I lost. But as they say, the first month is for healing, so any weight you lose is a blessing. One thing I do to keep track of this is I keep an excel spreadsheet and I put my weight in almost every day or at least every other day. Then I make a graph only using every Tuesday's weight. (That's the official weigh in day). But I think it will be cool to look back through this later on.

My highest 298. My lowest as an adult was 122. I stayed that weight until I was about 21. Then I got up to 140 and stayed that until I was about 24. Then I got a foot disorder, got on steriods, fractured my knee.. and gained 100 pounds in a year! From there just ate a lot and got up to my 298. I did get down to 265 this weekend and then got on my T.O.M and back up to what my ticker says. LOL. just like that in a day. OH well. Oh, I found this pic of me from highschool. I don't want to be this small again, but wow, it doesn't even look like me. LOL. I was 123 in this picture and I know that because I kept a diary and was actually flipping through it the other day and I had written my weight in it two days before graduation. HA HA.

That's awesome!! with no restriction I lose about 1-2 pounds a week. I'm a pretty slow loser in this month too. Others seem to be in the 30's and 40's. But, my doctor takes the fills very slow, so, I probably won't see good weight loss for about another month. It's nice having a fill isn't it!?

Wow, I've never had any problems with my band at all. Never been in pain, had problems eating or anything. When I have good restriction I do have to chew well and I swallow in sections... but when I don't have much restriction like right now, I just take normal bites and chew it up like I use to. I don't know if the band like mentally whipped me into shape or what. I eat COMPLETELY different now though. My whole lifestyle has changed. I want to exercise all the time. I want to eat healthy. I don't crave breads, pizzas, burgers, and all that. I do miss that occasional breakfast sandwhich from McDonalds, but not enough to go buy one. I do occassionally have half a chocolate shake from Chic-Fil-A, but it's usually right before I go work out and its nice not to deny myself this yummy goodness at least once a week. And it's never prevented me to lose weight. I wrote several threads before banding about being scared and how would I survive without my bread.. lol... if I saw those posts now I'd probably laugh. I was more scared to change my ways than anything. But now, man, I feel SO much healthier, energetic and happy than ever before. It's so fricking amazing. Best of luck!!

what helps me when I need a fill and I can eat alot is I make some hummus which is high in protein and really good for you and I take romaine lettuce and dip it in the hummus. It's SUPER yummy, filling and healthy. I had that for dinner earlier and two tiny pieces of pork tenderloin and it really filled me up good. Good luck!:thumbup:

You can also just switch to screwdrivers or jack and coke. My other banded friend just shakes her coke up good and gets all that fiz out and then makes jack and coke. I haven't had much to drink since getting banded, but I am going on this cruise soon and I plan to get a little drink on.. lol

My psych appointment was so different. He just sat me down and talked to me about exercising and portions I should eat. It was almost like he was a dietician, but not. Not once did he even ask me any emotional issues or whatever. He did make a comment that pissed me off though. he said for somebody my weight to maintain it would have to eat 4500 cals a day and I challenged him on this becuase I was eating between 1900 and 2500 calories a day. Which yes, is a lot, but it sure wasn't 4500. LOL. Anyway, I took that 700 long question test and left. It will try to trick you and ask you the same two or three questions a few different times. They scored it and said that I was perfect for the surgery.

You were a size 34 at 277 lbs?? did you write that correctly? Because I was almost able to squeeze into a 24 at that weight...

Yeah, I did this too. I have jeans and stuff from 14 up in my closet and I got up to a 28. I was pushing 28, I had actually bought a few 28's.. they were a tinge baggy, but the 26's were too tight. I'm officially back into a size 24. Every 24 bottoms I tried on actually fit me! I was shocked. I'm also down from a 3x shirt to a 2x shirt. Wahoo! I went shopping at Ross today and got a crudload of stuff for under 100 bucks. I even found a skirt for $3 there! It was nice trying on clothes and having them fit... I was starting to not be able to shop there anymore as their stuff doesn't really go past 28 or 3x. When I get to 22 I can really do some shopping in my closet as I have tons of that size!

I have had two sleep studies done and let me tell you, it sucks.. You will have crap attached to every orifice of your body. Stuff glued on your head. Stuff glued on your face. Straps across your boobs and waist. STuff glued onto your legs. They put tape across my jugular and throat with a microphone in there to hear my snoring.. everytime my heart beat the tape would move and pull on my neck... And then finally a nice little thing that stays attached to a pointer finger. You are then told to go to sleep like this. Out of both of my sleep studies I slept for approximately 30 minutes both nights. When I had to go potty she had to come and unhook me and I had to wheel this medicine thing with me that all these cords hung on. It's the most uncomfortable thing I've ever had to do. With all that being said.. I have known people who actually slept. LOL. I brought a movie and watched it and read a book. One word of advice, when you come home, shower. That glue crap will be all in your hair.

That is so cool!! I had wondered if being fat affected my eyesight too. I got lasik when I was about 240 and got up to almost 300.. I worried about that, but luckily no changes. I just can't wait until my wrist goes down a little bit. There's this watch I got for xmas two years ago and it's always been too tight. lol. Congrats on the better eyesight!!

Am I the only one who thought it was rather ridiculous that Ryan felt he had to say "last year we decided not to vote off anybody in round 8".. everybody had that look of hope on their faces for one brief moment.. and then he was like, "but not this year". Why even say that at all? Sometimes I think Ryan is just a dick on purpose. He's very malicious.. He had no reason to even say that statement.

I just posted a part of this on another thread for a different subject, but I'm curious what you guys think: I got a fill yesterday and it wasn't crap. .6 cc... NO DIFFERENCE. The first fill I had was wonderful and I actually had my sweet spot right away. They put a full cc in there that time. Even though it wore off in a week, it was great. So, I was expecting something like that this time and no. I knew right away it wasn't even close. I came to work and drank my Soup.. ate it all no problem (last time I could only drink half). Then I was still starving after the soup.. intense starving pains... Today I ate an entire can of tuna for Breakfast, no problem... for lunch had a large chili.. no problem.. still hungry.. before there is no way I could have eaten all of this after a fill.. It actually seems as if she took some of the fill out! and never put any back in. So, I have a 3pm appointment today and I'm going to beg my doctor to just give me a little bit more. I doubt he will, but if I have to cry I will. God, sometimes I feel like I'm a crack whore addicted to drugs or something! and my drug is this band. I wouldn't be so upset if I didn't have to wait over 4 weeks for my next fill, but apparently somebody quit the fill center so they have a long wait right now :-( I'm going on a cruise in two weeks and I don't want to go hungry, as the food is so good and I know I'll want it!! Do you think I have a chance in hell that he will give me a little topper??

I'm stuck in a similiar situation right now. I got a fill yesterday and it wasn't crap. .6 cc... NO DIFFERENCE. the first fill I had was wonderful and I actually had my sweet spot right away. They put a full cc in there that time. Even though it wore off in a week, it was great. So, I was expecting something like that this time and no. I knew right away it wasn't even close. I came to work and ate my soup.. ate it all no problem (last time I could only drink half). Then I was still starving after the soup.. intense starving pains... Today ate an entire can of tuna for breakfast, no problem... for lunch had a large chili.. no problem.. still hungry.. before there is no way I could have eaten all of this after a fill.. So, I have a 3pm appointment today and I'm going to beg my doctor to just give me a little bit more. I doubt he will, but if I have to cry I will. God, sometimes I feel like I'm a crack whore addicted to drugs or something! and my drug is this band.

Wow! you look 15 years younger! great job!!! I wonder if I lose this much if I will look younger too. :-)

I haven't tried sushi yet, though I've wanted to, but my husband doesn't want to go quite yet. I've tried rice and havne't had a problem. I think the only foods I've had any issues with is scrambled eggs and really dry chicken. And I just don't think I chewed well enough. I didn't PB or anything, but it just felt like a bowling ball going down my esophagus. I still eat them just in different ways.

Congrats on this goal! It's cool that you set realistic mini goals for yourself.. Some people just set their major overall goal and its good to have these little celebrations that are accomplishable in a short amount of time.. WAY TO GO!!!

Yeah, I had to switch that Idol Gives back thing off during Miley Cyrus's song .. her and Billy Crystal's little back and forth thing got old and irritating then she sang this song that I've never heard before and she was running all over the stage being irritating.. I dunno. I just couldn't get into it. Oh, and then that whole Bono/aids lady thing made me cry and it's about to be my TOM and I just couldn't watch anymore... It's like, "lets make you cry and then make you listen to Miley Cyrus perform a stupid teenie bopper song"... No thanks. lol

I liked Jason's version of that song.. but I heard the same version on that movie 50 First Dates. I think it plays at the end of the movie and its a great version.. Tuesday night was rather boring to me. Nobody really stood out like they usually do. Kristy Lee Cook was actually good.. and I dislike her.. usually she's boring and irritating... Did somebody get kicked off last night??

Out of the almost 7 weeks I've been banded I've only felt restriction 2 of those weeks. During those two weeks I lost like 4-7 pounds each week. On the off weeks I've lost like 2-3 pounds a week. There was two weeks where I lost nothing... but gained nothing either... I just got my second fill yesterday, but it felt pointless to me as it gave me no restriction whatsoever.. and I can't get another fill until May, so it looks like my weightloss will be slowing down for the next 4 weeks and I will be happy just to lose 1 pound a week as I'll be doing this on my own now. :-( Very frustrating. As for working out; I work out every single day. Even on Sundays.

How funny, I'm eating it right now at my desk! LOL. whatever you do, be careful with the asian flavored one if you try it. I got one to try it and then looked at the sugar, carbs, and fat on it and it was like triple what the lemon pepper was. The lemon pepper was very low and good for you and the asian one was .. wow... crazy! Its funny, every time I go to wal mart I clean them out of the lemon pepper one. HA HA. I buy like 8-10 of them!

Okay, I've just got to get this out, and yes, I have bitched about this on other threads, and after this maybe I'll leave it alone, but I'm SO SICK AND TIRED of lap band doctors putting thier patients on this stupid 2-3 week pre-op liquid diet. It's DUMB. It's RIDICULOUS. and it doesn't teach the patient SHIT. Why make your patient starve when they can eat healthy wonderful foods like chicken, veggies, tuna, almonds, and things like this? The South Beach diet does the same exact thing to your liver as going on liquids does. And not only does it do the same exact thing for you, but it also TEACHES the patient how to eat better and properly on the band. It teaches them to stay away from the breads and the rice and things of this nature that you really should stay away from and it teaches them to eat healthier overall. Instead you make them do liquids in which case, I bet you at least 95% of the patients end up cheating and what do they eat when they cheat? pizza... cheeseburgers.. etc.. guess what, they aren't learning anything! and I bet their livers aren't going to be much better. It just makes me so mad... My friend got banded a week after me and her doctor put her on this liquid diet.. she cheated... and guess what she's eating right now.. fricking texas toasters sandwhiches from sonic, cheeseburgers, pizza, greasy nasty foods, cheese sticks, french fries, and going to buffets eating 2-3 plates of food.. not losing anything... and I put some blame on her doctor for not putting her on a pre-op diet that prepared and taught her to eat better. My doctor said he tried doing that liquid diet a long time ago but found that his patients always cheated and the results of the livers were actually better on the southbeach and the weightloss was even sometimes better too or equal.. So, can somebody on here tell me why? is there some other fact that I just don't know about?? PS: And this excludes the liquids that you have to do 1-2 days after a fill, i'm talking about the pre-op diet.

Exactly what you said.. that's the scary part.. poeple will lose a lot of weight on the liquid diet, but it's not healthy. You lose muscle, not true fat.. it's not real weight loss when you gain a lot of it back after you start to eat regular food again. The two pounds I did gain was during my T.O.M, and I know that's what it was.. and it came right off. It was nice knowing that the pre-op weight I lost was "for good" weightloss. I just think it's important for people to learn how to eat before getting banded. I just really feel bad for folks who have to do this. Especially if their scale does go up when they start back on solids.

I had the same fear about the tubing floating around and strangling my intestines too. LOL. That's funny. If I can remember though, my doc said he cut it to fit my body, so I don't think it floats around in there much. Having second thoughts is pretty normal actually... I think most of us went through that.. Good luck!