Ceradad

ant-I am 6'3". 240 is probably still a little too high. But, originally, I set a goal for somewhere btwn 250 and 270. Now, I'm 10 lbs from that range. I reset it awhile ago seeing how well I've been doing. Btw, I would consider pool time as working out. Unless you are floating around drinking margaritas:biggrin:, you are exercising.

Yeah, if they hadn't I would have had a whole new definition for bandster h*ll.:biggrin: As I stated in other threads, I have a great DW who allows me to hit the gym at the rate I set early on. If she can't be home to pick up DD, my in laws only live about 5 minutes away. They have been great as well. All told, I couldn't imagine how I would do it w/o the support system I have in place. Of course, I've also stated that I have always told people that if I could just find the willpower to actually get in the gym on a consistent basis, I have the drive to accomplish alot. I just had to go through surgery to find that willpower.:smile2:

You know, I don't even know what brand of band I have.:biggrin: But, I do know that I had 4 cc's in after the surgery, so it must be the AP. No, never went through the bandster h*ll. Started losing right away. Got my first fill last Thursday. That was not fun. PA had trouble actually finding the right spot in the port. Then, had the bevel the wrong way.:cursing: I hate needles and damn near passd out when it was finally over. :smile2: I just keep doing what I need to do and that is the important thing. It seems like most are doing just that. Also, one thing I learned early on in life when it comes to working out. Never compare yourself to others. We're all different and we gain/lose differently. The important thing is, you are doing it! Great job everyone.

Thanks again. I just refuse to go back to where I was. 100 down with another 40 (at least) standing in my way

Here is what I've been told/heard: You need Water to flush out your system. If you aren't drinking enough, your body starts to store it (water retention) and this causes you to bloat and not lose weight as effectively. I've also read that if you only drink when thirsty, you are already dehydrated. Not so sure on that one or where I read it, but I believe it to be true. And, just from my own experience, I know if I am not getting enough water, my weight tends to go up a few lbs even though I do cardio every day and watch my diet. When I start to make a mental note to be sure to drink water, my weight starts to regulate and go down again. Lastly, I know I drink ALOT more than 64 oz in a day and I still find myself dehydrated simply because of how much I exercise. If I do more cardio, I sweat more. Then, I need more water just to replenish what I sweated out.

Thanks, but sometimes I think I should just be COMMITTED!:rolleyes2:

Somebody that says the same thing as me, only BETTER! Thanks.:rolleyes2: Here's what I believe. We have been constantly kicked around by "normal" people and overlooked due to our size. By not educating others, we are leaving our friends behind. To me, that is not an option. By letting others think we are losing weight w/o the surgery, we are making other overweight people feel lower and spiral downward and enhancing stereotypes.

Here is what I do: Cardio 7 mornings a week. If I work that day, I do btwn 50 and 65 minutes on the elliptical machine keeping my HR in the weight loss area. On my off days, I run for 35-45 minutes @ 5.5 mph on the treadmill, then off to the elliptical again for another hour. 4 nights a week I lift. 2 upper body and 2 lower body. I do circuit training w/3 circuits each night. Upper body is 8 exercises working all parts. Lower body is 6 exercises, again working all muscles.

You're correct, it is judgemental. Just as everyone's on here is. And, you are correct that privacy is your right. That is a God given right. However, by letting this woman continue on with the assumption that you are losing the weight "the right way" you are leaving her ignorant. You also left that other woman who had the surgery out to dry. You abandoned her to be the only one talked about behind her back. That would be like me leaving a fellow officer to face a suspect by himself. We need to have each others backs. In this you are incorrect, imo. Ultimately, that's what it comes down to here, opinions. The question was asked about keeping it secret. I gave my response. I contradicts most opinions in this thread. To me, if you are keeping it secret, you are embarrassed about having to rely on a tool to help you lose weight. By keeping it secret, you are simply prolonging peoples stupidity about the process to lose weight. But, that is your right and I respect that. No hard feelings?

Fair enough:biggrin::rolleyes2:

I'll give you that, but what about people that were banded 4-5 mos prior to us. I don't see near the same numbers being put up on a consistent basis as I do with our group.

Great to see Stef back! Got my cardio in this morning @ 0500 once again. Elliptical for 65 minutes, 5.2 miles and 1072 calories. Lower body tonight.

Here's what I eat for lunch every day: Buffalo chicken salad. I take a couple cans of chunk chicken in a bowl, add some Franks Buffalo wing sauce (amazingly low in calories and almost no fat), a little ff ranch dressing and some dill pickle relish. Mix it all up. Then, I take 1/2 cup, put it in a whole wheat wrap, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and voila, LUNCH! It's pretty damn good too.

Last week was a very bad week for posting. Very sick last week. Only missed 2 workouts though. Tuesday nights leg workout and Wednesday mornings cardio. Oh well. I'll start anew from todays workout. Working the 1015-1815 shift, so I got both cardio and upper body in this morning. Week 3 of my 2nd cycle of this big cycle. Upper Body: Rev grip lat: 130 x 11 Incl bench: 145 x 11 Cable crossovers: 60 x 11 DB curls: 30 x 11 Skull crusher: 80 x 11 HS military press: 60 x 11 Back ext: 55 x 11 DB shrugs: 90 x 11 Total of 3 circuits. Cardio: 100 minutes on elliptical-8.14 miles/1715 calories. Resistance btwn 6-10

Last week was a very bad week for posting. Very sick last week. Only missed 2 workouts though. Tuesday nights leg workout and Wednesday mornings cardio. Oh well. I'll start anew from todays workout. Working the 1015-1815 shift, so I got both cardio and upper body in this morning. Week 3 of my 2nd cycle of this big cycle. Upper Body: Rev grip lat: 130 x 11 Incl bench: 145 x 11 Cable crossovers: 60 x 11 DB curls: 30 x 11 Skull crusher: 80 x 11 HS military press: 60 x 11 Back ext: 55 x 11 DB shrugs: 90 x 11 Total of 3 circuits. Cardio: 100 minutes on elliptical-8.14 miles/1715 calories. Resistance btwn 6-10

You know, it's funny but I seem to notice alot of really good numbers of weight loss from people from Aug of '07. Was there something about that month that we all seem to be doing well?

Here's one that happened for me last night. Little history first though. When I had the surgery I was wearing 48" jeans. Biggest ever for me. After a couple of months of just dealing with them getting bigger and bigger, I finally gave in and purchased 46" jeans. Couple months later, I had to go back and buy 44" jeans. Last night, DW came into the kitchen while I was getting my lunch ready for today and told me those are way too big for me now. I undid my belt and showed her that they come out about 3 inches from my body. I have to go get 42" jeans now.:thumbup: Good thing I just keep going to Walmart and buy the cheap ones until I stabilize and can then choose to buy some better ones.

***Warning-the opinions stated below are not that of the Moderators or Administrators of this Forum. They are being expressed by an idiot:biggrin:.*** Ok, I'm going to get up on my soapbox for a few minutes and speak my peace. Again. Please, be patient and please, please, please don't take offense to what I say. I will say my peace and leave it at that. We all know people that are in the same situation we are in or have been in. There are alot of people in this world, this country in particular, that are hurting. Why would you keep such a great device secret? The more you get the word out, the more people can realize there is another choice for them. Also, I for one would have appreciated more people that have had it being open about their decision and experiences. The more info I would have had, the easier it would have been to make the decision. I had alot of people at the place where I work lose weight suddenly. Or so it seemed to me. This made me feel absolutely awful. Kept thinking, "how can they do that when I can't?". After getting the lb, I've found out almost all of them have either had the lb or the RNY. WTF? Why make it seem like you held a secret to succesful weight loss from others in need? Would you keep a cure to cancer secret? I would hope not. But, alot of you seem to want to basically the same thing as that. Seems like despite alot of exclamations to the contrary, it seems like alot of you are embarrassed by the lb and having to "resort" to it. By keeping it secret, you are seemingly admitting to yourselves and everyone else that it is wrong to have to have the lapband to lose the weight. I can almost guarantee you that if you have kept it secret and told the half truth that you are only watching what you are eating and exercising, and someone finds out about the lapband, they are going to think you are ashamed of it. I don't give a darn what others think about what I had to do to lose weight. The only people I care about what they think about me are DW and DD. Otherwise, you are with me or against me. I didn't do this for anyone except myself and my family. And, if you think you work with judgemental people when it comes to how you look/appear, try being an overweight police officer. Most of the men/women I work with are ex military. You want to talk about appearance being important. How do you react when you see a "fat" cop? That was me. I had to deal with the constant razzing from these people for over 7 yrs and take it with a smile. By keeping it secret, you are merely making it a little easier for people to remain uneducated and ignorant about the benefits of it. You are making it easier for people to continue thinking that it is simply about willpower to lose weight. You are doing an injustice to all obese people out there. You are keeping the "dark ages" about weight issues in the norm. Ok, I'm off my soapbox and done beating my chest. I had to get that out or I would have choked on it. You may now start to stomp me for my opinions and I will take it w/o too much rebuttal. Unless someone personally attacks me, then I will rebut. Otherwise, thanks for listening to my ranting and raving. Also, to anyone who has made the decision or is seriously considering: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! I hope you all the success in the world with it. You have taken a step in the right direction to take your life back from your stomach. Which is a MAJOR step imo.

Jess-I decided to post over here instead of the Feb thread. Thanks for the great words of encouragement. I am seeing lots of results. After almost 3 wks of plateauing, I have lost about 10 lbs in the past two weeks.:thumbup: Now, for my workout today. I'm working the late day shift, so I got both in this morning: Upper body: 40 minutes of strength Cardio: elliptical for 100 minutes/8.14 miles/1712 calories. Little run down as I am still fighting the last vestiges (I hope) of this darn flu bug, but I made it. Keep up all the great work everyone! Spring is almost here:thumbup: And, WHERE IS STEF? We miss you!

I may have come across a little too hard. I think I didn't quite say what I meant to completely (something I tend to do:rolleyes:). I was trying to say that BMI should not be the only number to look at. As leena stated, you should look at everything, weight, BMI, bf%, and how you look/feel. Sorry for any misunderstandings.

Thank you so much for the great encouragement. It really helps me sometimes to get that. I've been lucky compared to some on here. I am a police officer and if you want some of the most un-P.C. people around, hang out with cops. Especially if they are ex military. Great guys and women, but they take health, fitness and appearance very serious. They are a main reason why I had to get this surgery. I was tired of being the "jolly fat guy" around here. As much teasing as I got for being big, they have been just as supportive seeing how much and how hard I am working at this. They see me eat 2 meals a day at least. They know what I am eating. They see how much effort I am putting in the gym. So, as I said, I'm lucky there. Plus, my DW has been nothing but supportive of my efforts. It would be so easy for her to complain that I leave at 0445 every morning to get to the gym to do cardio and then not get home until after 6 pm because I am lifting after work. But, she doesn't. She knows I am doing this for her and DD as much as myself. So, if you are going to go through the pain of the surgery, go through the pain of working out and watching what you eat. Making the decision to have the surgery is the easy part. Overcoming a lifetime of excuses is the hard part. Done rambling. And, all of you are doing just as great. Seeing some of the numbers you guys are putting up makes me work that much harder. Thanks.:thumbup:

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree that the BMI is a good indicator of being "healthy". As you'll notice below on my ticker, when I reach my goal weight (which is 240 lbs), my BMI will still be 30 and considered "Obese". I'm 6'3", played sports all my life, lift 4 times a week and graduated hs at 250 as an offensive tackle in football. I'm looking to get 10 lbs below what I weighed 19 yrs ago and I'm still going to be considered obese? That is crap. If I go much lower than 240 (which I may shoot for depending on how things are going when I get there), I will still have to lose alot to be considered "Normal" and will look absolutely awful. Not saying to not go by the BMI, just don't look at it as the end all for how you feel about yourself. Numbers on a scale and on a chart are just that. You need to be healthy as well. If you are healthy and you're numbers are in the acceptable ranges, NICE JOB!!! You have accomplished what you set out to do. Make a better you.:laugh:

THANK YOU!!!! I was beginning to think I was an insensitive a$$ for thinking things like this. (not to say I'm not anyway:biggrin:) I've been banded for 6 mos and got lucky that I was having really good success and didn't have my first fill until this past Thur at my 6 mo checkup. But, I realize I am an exception. If someone is struggling with losing weight with the band, they need to realize something is out of whack. Either they are eating too much, aren't exercising enough, or both. I see alot of people on here who complain about being slow losers and then check their posts to see they aren't putting the effort in needed. From day 1, I made the choice to get to my goal weight as quickly as possible and then stay there. I watch what I eat, give in occasionally to cravings with just a little bite, and work my arse off at the gym. So, I would say for once in my life, my adult is in charge.

Confession time: When one of my officers at work had this done about 3 yrs ago, I was one of the first claiming he took "the easy way out". I felt you had to work for the weight loss. Now, after being educated and 6 mos post op, I know the truth. I, too, have never worked so hard at losing weight. I am in the gym 7 days and 4 nights a week. Difference is, I am not only keeping the weight off, I am losing more each week. This is why I tell just about anyone willing to listen, especially overweight friends, how I feel about the lapband. I tell them if they have any questions whatsoever, to ask away and I'll answer them honestly. Why keep this a secret? At the same time, I feel they need to know about all the work they are going to have to put in for this to be a success.

Welcome BigRick. I have lifted since hs and even considered going the amateur powerlifting route back about 10 yrs ago. Played sports all through hs and cc football. Like you, after I was done with the sports, I didn't give up the eating aspect. Late in 2006, I decided to give lapband a look. After getting through the insurance obstacles, I was banded Aug 28, 2007. Just over 6 mos. I'm down almost 100 lbs (as you can see below on my ticker) and would be more if I didn't lift so much. I do cardio 7 days a week, lift 4 nights a week, and watch what I eat. This is the best tool ever for guys like us. With your background, you should be able to get back in the gym and make an immediate difference post op. Don't give up and keep us posted. Good luck. Also, ask away with any questions. As Steve said, you'll get honest answers.:laugh: