kossde

You know, Jls_27 - you and I are in incredibly similar situations. I am 27 years old, started out at 321 lbs and am down to 180- I was banded April 11, 2008. I am also at a point where I have started making some pretty crappy decisions about what I eat. It seems chocolate has been re-introduced into my life lately and eating out has become more common. This past week I’ve been working incredibly hard to not eat out for dinner or lunch and to make sure I get my exercise. Chocolate is still there, but the trigger-food chocolate (these excellent little milk-chocolate caramel thingies) has been replaced by plain dark chocolate. I don’t like dark chocolate at all but it works great for a chocolate-fix and is DEFINITELY not a trigger food. I’ve also been working to replace the simple-carbs with fruits. Grapes and Strawberries are in season- two of my favorite foods of all times. You may want to start readjusting your food choices one item at a time. Are you like me in that you love your sugar? Or are you more a loaded baked-potato type woman? Make it a point to keep trigger foods out of reach. Make sure you have healthy or at least minimally unhealthy substitutes that won’t result in a second or third helping. If you can cook, do it. If you can’t cook, eat things that you know will fill you up easily without too many calories. For me it’s chicken. I can eat about two oz of chicken and be completely full. Also- this is very important. Just because we’re getting close and close to goal doesn’tmean we can forget about our required Protein intake. Make sure you’re getting your protein J I have to remind myself of that every day- the stuff is gross LOL Good luck- Excellent work thus far!!!!

You should absolutely take it as the compliment he intended because you deserved it :smile2: When I first started going to my gym, I was about 260 lbs. I would do this complicated sort of walk-jog where I'd walk about 3 minutes and jog about 3 minutes. One day, this personal trainer who was always there walks up to me out of the blue and says, "You're doing a great job." It made my day - it may have been what kept me exercising all this time. I mean, in being realistic with myself, it was quite obvious at the time that I wasn't exactly in shape and I know that she was honestly impressed by the amount of effort I was putting into improving my quality of life. Keep up the hard work and make sure you smile when people notice that you're kicking butt!

I'm averaging about 12 lbs a month since the start date- 145 lbs in one year.

I was 26 when I decided to have the surgery. I did it because my mom called me very early every morning just to make sure I hadn't stopped breathing in my sleep. I didn't and still don't suffer from any co-morbidities, but come on, I probably would never have lived to see 40 years old. Reality was terrifying.

I had the exact problem when I first started running outside (off treadmill). I called my doc and they said it would go away. I do recommend calling ur doc to make sure but my pain disappeared completely a week later.

I gained 10 Lbs in the month following surgery. I've since lost 140 lbs. My one year anniversary is in two weeks. Don't lose hope! You haven't even had a fill yet right? Don't stress! That will change everything!

LOL. I don't think I've ever really been a bikini person, but if I look good in one, I won't have a problem wearing one :thumbup:

All the advice on here is really good. I'm excited about how much weight I've lost and how well I am doing but I'm the kind of person who likes to plan ahead. I appreciate all the advice on here and I think I've decided to hold off on getting another fill. I forgot to mention in the previous post that I actually have a small history with my doctor of crying wolf. For the longest time after this last fill, everytime I could eat 'too much', I'd immediately call my doctor and schedule a fill. it took me forever to realize that just because I could eat a bit of baked potato, that didn't mean I needed a fill. That said, to answer some of the questions on here- I'll start by saying that I'm 27 years old and while I don't intend to ever really wear a bikini, I also don't really want to look too saggy before my time. I've PBed 3 times since I got the lapband and all three were due to me not following lapband rules. I still do have restriction but not as much as I did right after my last fill and can probably eat about a cup of food at a time right now depending on what it is (baked potatoes go right through so I dont eat too many of those) I haven't regretted even one decision I've made in regards to this surgery and the way it's changed my life. Even if I don't lose any more weight than I already have, things are SO much better now than they used to be. I think I'm going to just keep trucking on for now and if a time comes when I start to gain weight or lose control, I'll do what I have to :thumbup:

You know, there was a time in my life when I would have refused to let anyone see a picture of me ever. That said, I don't have any recent pictures of me. I'll see if I can't upload some today though

I hung onto my clothes for a long time. Infact, I didn’t even start buying new clothes until I was down almost three full sizes. Looking back, I probably went to work with sagging, loose clothing for several months without realizing it. I went from a size 30 down to a size 24 one day at JCPenny’s and haven’t looked back since. I am now down to a size 16 and buy ‘cheap’ clothing because nothing lasts me more than a few months. Minus one pair of slacks, I have either passed my semi-old clothing to other family members or given it all to charity. The one pair of slacks remains in my house to remind me of the weight I’ve lost. Seriously, you can fit two of me in that pair of pants; sometimes I still try them on when no one is around just so I can see how different I am now. It always motivates me.

I am also cold a lot. For me it's due to metabolism changes. I will be cold, drink a lot of protein and within an hour, I'm nice and warm. I also have a hypothyroid condition and an iron deficient - those don't help.

Ok that's scary. I actually had a very serious nodoze-type addictin to caffeine until very recently. Luckily I was able to spend a week detoxing and overcome the addiction but I still drink unsweet ice tea on a regular basis. Maybe I should start drinking my tea decaf.

What did I do when I lost 100 lbs? Honestly, I just stood naked in the bathroom and danced a little jig. That's all. But I will tell you this, that was the best dance I've ever had

I think this is a good thread and it asks a very valid question. In my experience, it seems to me that a lot of the negativity is due to frustration. Everyone here is fighting a battle, either a battle to lose weight, help a loved one lose weight, maintain weight loss, or even to simply live. The normal blunt opinions are one thing. People fail to realize all the time how their comments impact others. Why, I’m absolutely certain I’ve managed to offend quite a few people on this forum without ever intending to. If I have, I sincerely apologize. I don’t interact with any other forums, but I would imagine hurtful opinions are present in mass quantities all over the internet. The comments that concern me, though, are statements made about someone’s decisions or attempts to lose weight. It’s the threads such as, “Do I really have to stop drinking sodas?” or “Who cheated on their preop diet?” that seem to result in the most vicious responses. Everyone has an opinion on these questions and it’s not uncommon that the opinion, hurtful as it is, is something along the lines of, “If you didn’t want to follow the lapband rules, why did you get it?” I think most of the time, replies like that are due to frustration and aren’t meant to be mean but rather to drive home a point. A lot of people, including myself, have trouble drawing a line between honest and rude.

I went in for the surgery at 7 AM and was back at home by 11 AM the same day. It was as close to a non-event as 'real' surgery can get. They made four small incisions (about an inch wide or less) and one larger incision (about two inches wide) on my stomach. All incisions were glued - no stitches. The impression I was given was that the larger incision was needed to bring in the lap band. They woke me up almost immediately after the surgery and injected me with quite a bit of morphine. They made me drink this vile white liquid while standing in front of an x-ray thingy to confirm the lapband placement and sent me home. Once I was home, I slept. When I woke up, I began walking, moving around as the doctor instructed. I never had to take the pain medicine they gave me. I was able to work after the initial three or four days of recuperation although it would have been faster if I’d listened to my doctor and drank my protein! I may never forgive myself for thinking, “I don’t need protein.” It took me about two weeks to adjust to the band. It was like I had to learn to burp again, everything was different. My stomach felt bloated and I couldn’t figure out how to get the gas out of it. I think it was just swelling from the surgery. Once that went away, I felt completely normal. The incisions themselves never really caused me any grief except I couldn’t take a bath for like 6 weeks! Surgery rules were as follows: - 1 week clear liquid pre-op diet (protein shakes are allowed even though they aren’t clear liquids) - 2 weeks post op diet – same as initial pre-op diet followed by 2 weeks of ‘mushies’ like mashed potatoes. I actually took Wendy’s chili and put it in a blender and poured it over mashed potatoes- that was GOOD! Then regular food consumption can begin, assuming you are able to eat. - No swimming or baths for 6 weeks post-surgery due to the possibility of infecting the incisions. Showers are OK - No peeling the glue away from your incisions because it’s rubbing against your shirt (I learned that one on my own- was REALLY gross but kind of cool – I’ll spare the details) - No heavy lifting for 6 weeks post-op - GET YOUR FILLS!!! I can’t stress this enough. How many people forget to get fills and spend years wondering why they aren’t losing weight? We may never know. - Don’t eat until you make yourself sick. This will be easier than you think. If you follow the instructions, chew slowly, take SMALL bites, you will know when you are done eating.

I was banded in April, 2008 and have lost about 130 lbs so far (I think I say this in every post- it makes me so happy I want to shout it to the world!). I have between 50 and 60 lbs to go. When I look at myself in the mirror, I’m incredibly happy with what I see. I’m more slender, I have a face with actual bone structure, and my eyes just pop right out (in a good way). But now that I’m losing weight, I’m concerned. Until very recently, I considered myself wholly unfazed by the way some people (not all people) treated me when I was heavy. Now, however, I’m beginning to second guess myself. It seems, some time while I wasn’t looking I became acidic and cynical. I don’t trust people or care about people or really even want to be around people. I’m not shy or reclusive, but I never allow myself to develop friendships because of an underlying opinion that no-one truly wants to be around me. I want to fix my attitude. I want to stop being the b**ch that no one wants to be around. I’m pretty sure that my attitude toward people played a big part in why I now have very few friends. What can I do now, before I lose all of my weight, to begin adjusting my attitude and developing a healthier way of viewing others and communicating with people?

My self-esteem is and always has been very high. Its not that I care what others think, its more that I want to begin to change who I am for the bettrer. I believe in being honest with myself. Honestly, I can be kind of a mean person. I'm not a bad person, just mean and rude and apathetic. I'm the team lead for a very high profile Help Desk in Dallas and I simply cannot continue to grow in my career or as a person if I continue to act petty and immature. I am going to take everyone's advice into considation. I've got to do something about my personality flaws so that I can really begin utilizing this new life style to its fullest.

I think you're doing fine. Personally, I fall off the wagon about once a month (most people call it PMS) and I have an overwhelming desire to devour everything I see. Ah, thank you Lap Band for the limitations you put on my insatiable appetite! For me, the fix is to make sure I don’t surround myself by trigger foods. I buy candy, but not candy that I like enough to sit and eat an entire bag worth. I avoid carbs because for me, one carb = two carbs = three carbs and so on. I buy a lot of healthy veggies and fruits and make it a point to veg out on those as opposed to more fatty alternatives. In regards to the emotional eating, that’s more complicated. I think a big part of resolving that issue is discovering why you are eating- which emotion are you ‘overcoming’ by indulging? For me, it’s boredom. As long as I can avoid boredom, I can avoid emotional eating. What causes you to emotionally eat? Are you stressed out? Depressed? Anxious? Angry? Bored? There are other ways to address these emotions besides eating. Google has quite a few options for addressing emotional eating. Some of them have been very successful for me. Best of luck to you- keep up the excellent work J

I dont actually really know where the salivary glands are, but I do know that right after my last fill I began getting really bad headaches when I ate. I read on a thread somewhere here that it might be because of sudden changes in the blood sugar levels. I still get headaches occasionally if I eat something I shouldn't or if something gets stuck. For me, taking several long, deep breaths or going for a short walk seem to help.

I was put on ADD medication recently and the appetite suppressant also suppressed my desire to drink. Without realizing, I went about a week drinking VERY little liquid(we're talking 8 to 16 oz a day). During that week, not only did I not lose weight, but my back and sides started hurting REALLY bad. As it turns out, I had been drinking so little water that my kidneys were beginning to seriously protest and had started causing kidney-infection like pains. My doctor felt the whole situation was quite hilarious and threatened to put me on an IV if I didn't begin paying closer attention to my drinking and eating habits. The day after I went to my doc and began drinking like I was supposed to (64 oz a day) I lost an entire pound. Within a week, I had lost about 5 to 6 lbs. As my doc describes it, a large amount of the fat we burn is removed from the body via water. If there is no water to remove the fat, it will simply stay put. I'm sure its more complicated than that, but that summed it up nicely for me.

Congratulations on your weight loss. Before I had lap band surgery, I was quite terrified that like you, I'd become bored once I lost the weight. I think a lot of food addicts wonder, "If I can't eat- what will I do with myself?" I have it all planned out now. I am taking up sports and out-door activities. I have a high-energy little miniature pincher, basenji mix (dog) who is more than willing to jog with me every day. My whole family loves camping, hiking, and boating. What do you enjoy? Maybe now is a good time to start investing in some life-enhancing activities. Are you an outdoors person like me? Are you artistic? What about volunteer work? You can’t go wrong with volunteer work. I think for a lot of people, reality really doesn’t match up to the ‘skinny’ future they foresee for themselves and it can be somewhat of a downer. But look on the bright side - you've achieved an amazing goal. Take advantage of this new you and get out there and change the world!

Is 1,428 the amount of calories you ate? I really don't think that's so bad, especially for a man. How much weight do you have left to lose? I should also point out that right after my last fill, I lost about 20 lbs and promptly plateaued for about a month. Since then, I've lost consistently about 10 lbs a month. Also, I plateau about 2 weeks out of every month. That's just how my body works. How many calories does your doctor suggest you eat? What kind of exercise do you do? How many fills have you had?

I have a 2 week plateau every month. For me, it's water weight. I had once, right after I had my third (and most recent) fill. It lasted about a month. You'll be fine. Two weeks, three weeks, even a month is really nothing to worry about. Just keep exercising and following doctors orders.

I’ve been overweight for 23 years (I’m 27 years old if that tells you anything) and have had an addiction to food that is so extreme that at one point, all I could think about was my next meal. My favorite part of vacations was eating out every night. Every penny (literally) I made at work went straight into my stomach. I’d buy take-out meals designed for entire families and eat them by myself. When I first got the band, most of my family thought it wouldn’t work for me. The band limits the size of your stomach, but it definitely doesn’t help the addiction too much. They figured I’d either give up the band, stop getting fills, or just ‘eat around the band’ entirely. I was banded April 11, 2008. I’ve lost 128 lbs since then. I have had three fills. My first fill had hardly any restriction and within a week, I scheduled my second fill. The second fill lasted about a month before I started doing exactly what you are describing. I would literally eat and eat, stop and wait for the food to go down, and eat some more. It was time for a third fill. So, three months after I was banded, I had my third fill. I told the doctor to make it nice and tight. He did. I think I am at around 5 CCs right now in a 14 CC band. For about a month after my third fill, I was devastated (I like to think I was going through withdrawal) I would sit down with my food and stare at it- and stare at it- and continue to stare at it. I was moody, angry, hungry, and had no energy at all. I was desperate to continue eating; my mind was telling me over and over to just take another bite- one more bite. My stomach, however, was telling me that there was simply no more room. After one or two very (VERY) uncomfortable lessons, my stomach won. I started paying attention to what I put in my body. I started to exercise (needed to do something, anything to keep my mind off of food) and before I knew it, I was no longer eating out because it was simply a waste of money. I was cooking healthy foods, making good decisions, and jogging. Some people may say I was too tight after the third fill. But I could drink water without any problems, and I was still getting enough calories to sustain myself. I was / am really- really tight. This is what it takes for me. The addiction is still there, it’ll never go away. With out the reminder in my stomach, I would eat everything in sight. You may consider seeing a counselor about your addiction, but I also think you should get a fill. People don’t generally adhere to addiction if all it does is make them miserable. You’d be surprised at how quickly you stop overeating once there’s no more room to overeat. I think you should give the band a shot. I think all bandsters are addicted to food. If they aren’t, why are they overweight? Good luck! If you need someone to talk to, you can email me at chanda.cryer@gmail.com.

I think there are a few questions you should ask yourself: 1) Did this lack of energy begin before or after the surgery? 2) Are there specific periods of the day where you feel the energy increases or decreases? 3) Are you getting enough sleep? 4) Are you eating enough Protein? Question 1 is incredibly important. If you had the same lack of energy pre-surgery that you have post-surgery, the issue probably isn’t actually caused by your dietary changes. Understand, of course, your caloric intake is very low and probably isn’t helping things. I have had a hypothyroid condition since birth that went undiagnosed because most doctors considered my thyroid within ‘normal’ ranges. After being put on meds, my energy levels shot through the roof and my metabolism also improved. Depending on the doctor and the scenario, your thyroid might be considered ‘normal’ and still be quite low. If you have reason to believe that you may have a thyroid condition, it might be a good idea to get a second opinion. If the issue occurred post-surgery, chances are it’s not your thyroid. Something else to consider – how is your Vitamin intake? Your Iron levels? Are you anemic? Question 2 is more based on what you eat, when you eat it. Most people begin to become very tired mid-afternoon (between 3 and 5 PM). This is because their body is telling them to refuel (eat / snack / digest things). Are you ‘refueling’ properly? If not, try to make sure you get a powerful lunch or, if that’s not possible, take a moment to refuel around 2 PM or so. Obviously you can’t eat very much, but eating some healthy yogurt or downing a Protein shake will go a long way to give you a little boost of energy before dinner. Question 3 is pretty obvious. No sleep = no energy. The average person needs 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Are you getting this? Do you have sleep problems? Do you find yourself waking up frequently during the night? This could be a symptom of a more serious issue- sleep apnea, insomnia, or even narcolepsy (there are types of narcolepsy that don’t involve falling asleep at random places) Question 4 is probably the same question your surgeon would ask if you came to him/her with your concerns. Are you getting enough protein? Basically, you should be getting somewhere around 50 – 60 grams a day (Please correct me if I’m wrong). Make sure you’re getting enough. Eat it if you can, but if you can’t – drink it! Do whatever it takes to make sure this happens- it’s crucial in any attempt to exercise. Not only does it impact your energy levels but it also repairs muscles (something I learned the hard way). Good luck! I hope I was able to help.