littlemissband

I am a single mom of an 8 year old girl. I have been heavy most of my life. I had the skinny teen years and after that I just kind of blew up like a balloon. I could always lose weight but I could never keep it off. I decided that the band was the right way for me to go. In 9 months I have lost a total of 147 lbs! It is so amazing. I love it and would do it over again and again! On my journey I lost 45lbs before surgery. I had surgery on September 24th 2008. I work out every day by walking to the gym, running 3 miles and walking back. When I go home from work I will do 50 minutes of Cardio training(Butt kicks, running, jump rope ect) or I will do 50 min of Circuit training with weights(Lunges, squats, crunches, planks ect). I watch what I eat for example the only things that I drink are water and 24 oz of milk (Skim of course). All other drinks are empty calories and I would much rather eat my calories and feel full off of them than to drink them and not feel any satisfaction. I try to eat things like Blue Bunny light yogurt in the morning as I tend to be tight in the morning. Watch out for some of the yogurts out there. Some may say light but take a look at the sugar in them it will shock you. For lunch I will try to do a whole wheat pita bread with 1 tsp of mustard, some light turkey breast, 2% lowfat shredded cheese 1 tbls or less, and a tomato. I normally can get about half of this down and I will save the other half for the next day. For dinner I will try to incorperate all of the food groups. For example last night I ate a spinach strawberry salad which consists of fresh spinach, strawberries, almond slivers, red onion, and for the dressing lemon juice, extra light olive oil, splenda, and vinagar. For the main dish we had homemade chicken pot pie (lowfat version of course). Then I had some cooked cabbage, and some apple salad (apples, grapes, walnuts, yogurt). My portions are really small. You may be thinking how did I ever eat all of that and I ate everything listed just small amounts. I eat all of my meals on a small saucer plate and I eat with a baby spoon to help control the speed of how I eat. At my three month visit I weighed in at 214 lbs. That is 42 lbs down! At five months I went in to get my first fill. I found out that my port had flipped upside down so they had to do a revision surgery to flip my port back over. Then two weeks after surgery they finally gave me my first fill 4 CC. Unfortunetly it was too full! I had the throwing up things going on and so I went back in and they took out .01 CC and I was fine. At my six month appointment I weighed in at 185 lbs. That is 71 lbs down!At eight months I went in for my second fill. This one seemed tight but I just dealt with it and only ate things like yogurt, applesauce, and pudding. Until I got yelled at by the dietician. I love her! She told me that I need to be eating solid foods and I told her if I tried I would be throwing up. So she told the doctor to take some fluid out. They took out 1/2 a CC and once again I am fine and I can eat food! At my nine month visit I weight in at 153 lbs. That is down 103 lbs!! :) 148 lbs down from my original weight!My goal was to get to 150 lbs. Which with only 3 lbs to go I don't think that it will be a problem. I have 3 more months to get to my year so I will get the weight off. That is pretty much my lapband journey. Everyone always asks me for advice. The best advice that I can give you is to dedicate 1 year to yourself to enjoy the rest of your life! After your band take time to exersize at least 6 days a week for 30 min a day, eat right and you will feel great. And the good news is after just giving up 1 year of your life to exersize and focus on yourself all you will have to do is maintain it and I can't speak for everyone but I do not have any excess skin hanging down. Which was one of my biggest fears. And I did not have to have any more surgeries. Once you get to your year I never thought I would say this but you will start to enjoy exersize and miss it if you don't get a chance to do it. Everyone says they don't have time to exersize..trust me I tried that one too. So at work we get 30 min for lunch. I am always here for lunch and I never miss a meal so I thought no more excuses I run everyday at lunch so that I am guarenteed at least 30 min of a workout. If you are not that lucky to have a fitness ceter at your place of employment there are other alternatives. There is always a show on TV that you have to watch everyday. Chances are that show is 30 minutes or more. Give that show up for one year and watch the results. If you must see it tape it on another TV and watch it after your workout. I hope everyone has great sucess with their bands as I did. Keep me posted with all of your journeys. I love to hear how everyone is doing! At my doctors office they call me their poster child for the Lap Band. That is so nice to hear. Good luck and Best wishes to you all! :)