Melody2006

I'd also suggest to them using something like thedailyplate.com to help food journal. It's free, so suggesting it at your support group might be a huge help to them. Food journaling makes a huge difference.

I have huge respect for others that can eat just 1 or 2 a day and that's it. I for one cannot. But for me, I'm a former addict that can't limit myself so I can't even have one. Just the truth for me. I have to acknowledge that fact and deal with it. One taste leads to a binge. Like a former drug addict.

Tomorrow I will be out from surgery 5 months exactly. I'm down 71 pounds. My life is different. Yours soon will be too.

So glad it went well! Keep us updated on your progress.

Green, don't worry the world isn't hurting for population so don't feel bad. I don't feel bad at all that I'm 33 with no children. I'm probably doing this world that is over populated a favor.

My vote is snake oil. $117.00 for 120 capsules. If it was so great everyone would be taking these diet pills. Don't fall for the scam! Your already loosing good.

I have 4 cc in a 10 cc band. I feel restriction, but not overly so. I'm afraid to over fill and I'm loosing consistently and don't feel hunger much so I'm just going to sit where I am until things change.

I must say logging my calories daily into thedailyplate.com has made all the difference. Everyone here is doing so great.

This has been a busy time for me with work, weight loss, and 2 hard college classes about to end. I'm at 194 so weight wise I'm doing great. And I've made even more changes for the better. I'm now drinking 2 green tea's a day and have yet to have a cold this winter. I'm tracking my fiber intake and making sure I get 25 or more grams a day. I eat closer to the 1,000 calorie a day mark. I bought some new jeans on clearance at TJ Maxx and I'm now sporting a size 18 jeans and a Large size with tops and my new winter pea coat I got at a local thrift store for $7. I just don't see the point to spend good money on clothes right now when they are loose on me in a month. My bf bought me a treadmill off of craigs list about a month ago for $175. It's a $1,500 treadmill. It's been great and I'm still using my pedometer daily. It's a habit now. A long with drinking my 64oz of crystal light with fiber daily. It's all just become a lifestyle change for me. I did eat 2 pieces of pumpkin pie today at thanksgiving, but really didn't over do anything else. Oh well, I've had a few off days with going out to dinner with friends and it's so occasional I've still been loosing great. Can't wait to get down to 135 this summer and get all new clothes. Just wait...it will happen summer 2009.

I've found myself so hungry lately. Just one day it hit me, I'm starving! I'm really working on will power this last 2 weeks. I'm down to 220, lower than my last weight watchers weight. So for that I'm happy. But I'm no longer loosing either. I scheduled my first fill. And I'm glad I called because they couldn't get me in for a week and a half. So reminder to self : call right away. I just called to confirm, and they still don't have an exact time for me to come in and they won't even have one till wednesday or thursday of t his week. I'm off that day, so any time will do, just as long as I get one. I'm still mulling over joining the gym in my area. I'm still undecided at this point. My next weight loss goal is 199. So, 21 more pounds to loose!

I got a really nice e-mail sent to me today telling me they read my blog and that I was doing great and asking me how I did it. That kind e-mail really made my day. I didn't even know if anyone even read my posts. This is what I sent back to her: I'm eating around 1,300 calories a day (the plate says thats what I can go up to and still loose 2 pounds a week). I give a lot of my credit to using thedailyplate.com I couldn't have lost like this with out doing that easy way of food journaling. I needed something easy and cheap. This week I paid the $45 for the year long membership, but up to this point I was using it free. I read this and it's TRUE: Several studies have shown that people who keep food journals are more likely to be successful in losing weight and keeping it off. In fact, a researcher from one recent study says that people keeping a food diary six days a week lost about twice as much weight as those who kept food records one day a week or less. As for exercise, I bought this pedometer and I keep it on from morning to night and I do 10,000 steps a day. I saw people who are doing the videos on youtube about their weight loss surgery's and have lost big (over 100 pounds) are using this exact pedometer. Best money I ever spent because this is the only pedometer that slips right into a pocket and still works. It's the Omron HJ-720ITC and I ordered it from amazon.com because they have the best price on it. I wanted to get real with myself and I'm not going to become a gym rat or stick to weight watchers and pay $45 a month there for a membership. It didn't work in the past, and it won't work now. I did buy a $175 treadmill a month a go off of craigs list so I can still get my steps in every day in this cold weather.

I got a really nice e-mail sent to me today telling me they read my blog and that I was doing great and asking me how I did it. That kind e-mail really made my day. I didn't even know if anyone even read my posts. This is what I sent back to her: I'm eating around 1,300 calories a day (the plate says thats what I can go up to and still loose 2 pounds a week). I give a lot of my credit to using thedailyplate.com I couldn't have lost like this with out doing that easy way of food journaling. I needed something easy and cheap. This week I paid the $45 for the year long membership, but up to this point I was using it free. I read this and it's TRUE: Several studies have shown that people who keep food journals are more likely to be successful in losing weight and keeping it off. In fact, a researcher from one recent study says that people keeping a food diary six days a week lost about twice as much weight as those who kept food records one day a week or less. As for exercise, I bought this pedometer and I keep it on from morning to night and I do 10,000 steps a day. I saw people who are doing the videos on youtube about their weight loss surgery's and have lost big (over 100 pounds) are using this exact pedometer. Best money I ever spent because this is the only pedometer that slips right into a pocket and still works. It's the Omron HJ-720ITC and I ordered it from amazon.com because they have the best price on it. I wanted to get real with myself and I'm not going to become a gym rat or stick to weight watchers and pay $45 a month there for a membership. It didn't work in the past, and it won't work now. I did buy a $175 treadmill a month a go off of craigs list so I can still get my steps in every day in this cold weather.

I just sent her an e-mail. Hope she joins here!

Just block out what others did with going back at such and such a time. I took a month off of work and I'm glad I did and don't regret it. You see I'm doing great with my weight loss. I had a hell start but it's been great ever since I got past all that.

This has been a busy time for me with work, weight loss, and 2 hard college classes about to end. I'm at 194 so weight wise I'm doing great. And I've made even more changes for the better. I'm now drinking 2 green tea's a day and have yet to have a cold this winter. I'm tracking my fiber intake and making sure I get 25 or more grams a day. I eat closer to the 1,000 calorie a day mark. I bought some new jeans on clearance at TJ Maxx and I'm now sporting a size 18 jeans and a Large size with tops and my new winter pea coat I got at a local thrift store for $7. I just don't see the point to spend good money on clothes right now when they are loose on me in a month. My bf bought me a treadmill off of craigs list about a month ago for $175. It's a $1,500 treadmill. It's been great and I'm still using my pedometer daily. It's a habit now. A long with drinking my 64oz of crystal light with fiber daily. It's all just become a lifestyle change for me. I did eat 2 pieces of pumpkin pie today at thanksgiving, but really didn't over do anything else. Oh well, I've had a few off days with going out to dinner with friends and it's so occasional I've still been loosing great. Can't wait to get down to 135 this summer and get all new clothes. Just wait...it will happen summer 2009.

I used to drink 8 or more diet cokes a day. First thing I used to put to my lips in the AM when waking up. I was never much of a coffee drinker. I now drink 2 Water bottles (32 oz rubbermaids) full of crystal light live active a day. The crystal light with the Fiber. And now I also do 2 green teas or more a day for the antioxidant benefits. I've started this soon as the fall came (the green tea) and I have yet to have a cold and I work in a busy hospital. So it must be helping in some way. I use 2 splendas (the kind with the 1 gram of fiber per packet) in my tea. I sneak some benifiber in my bfs hot chocolate. All is well in our house. I recently read that hot chocolate has great antioxidant benefits and I'm making a cup a day for my bf and he has yet to have a cold. And thats amazing for a guy who's wheelchair bound! I just start the tea kettle and we are both sipping away after that. Now my friend bought a tea kettle and some hot chocolate and some green tea and her and her husband have gotten into the habit. Can't hurt!

Can I ask if you food journal? I think people blame no weight loss on fills, most of the time they need to get honest and realize they aren't doing their part.

It's sad that the cost and lacking availability have people taking these measures. I'm going to bring this up to my surgeon at the next follow up so more medical people who have pull in the lapband world become aware and hopefully they can be our voice to people who have any type of control on costs and availability. If they become aware they might loose business, maybe things will change with cost and doing fills on patients they didn't do the band on. I suggest no matter what your view on this is you voice to your surgeon that people are buying fill kits online easily and just doing it themselves due to cost and availability. I see why people are trying this. After reading this I gave a 2 second thought if I could also do it myself. I then quickly thought no matter what, I cant stick around my stomach with a needle myself and be confident I'd do what it takes.

I just bought one a week ago off of craigslist.com. The family paid $2,000 for this nice pro form treadmill but the mom got fibromyalgia pretty bad and could no longer use it. It does have a weight limit of 350 pounds. They sold it to me for $175 and were super nice people across town. So definitely look into your local craigs list. I've used it every day almost. I'm so glad we went this route. We looked into those 2nd hand sports equipment stores but they wanted almost full price.

Lennie, You are such an inspiration! I opened up your pic to full size and I was just blown away at how amazing you look. Reesa

I bought a pedometer before my surgery and have used it every day since. I'm 4 months out. I'm loosing great. Not every single day have I hit 10,000 + but I'd say 90% of the time.

I use the Pure Protein bars. They can be found at walmart, grocery stores, etc. 20 grams a protein each. I keep one in my purse at all times. I'm never in a pinch anymore. South Beach diet bars is what my dietitian recommended.

Image if you you did this 2 years ago. Where would you be right now? Every day you don't is a wasted day. In 3 months I've lost almost 60 pounds and my life has completely changed. Bad foods no longer rule my life. I now eat to live and think about how a food benefits my body as fuel. At first I just really wanted to loose the weight. Now I'm all about my health. At first I had a few people try to bring my idea of the lap band down. Now, everyone is supportive and I'm willing to tell anyone I had it. It's no secret for me. I'm not ashamed. In the beginning I was scared, but I knew if I did not do this I was agreeing to be fat forever and let my eating habits rule the rest of my life. I went on an eating tour before the band to "say goodbye one last time" to my favorites. Now, I can honestly say I'm not even tempted by those things. Not even sure how the band made that happen. I can't believe it myself.