MADE IT 2 MY GOAL..OH YEAH

Try so no sugar added ice cream. It only has 3g of sugar and about 130 calories. I only eat about half a cup once a week and it helps me out ALOT!

I was just wondering, how many weight goals do each of you have. I have often heard (since I was a child) "slow and steady wins the race". When I first met with my surgeon, one of the first things he ask me was what weight did I want to be. Without a second to think I blurted out, between 125-130. He smiled and told me with the lapband it is possible to loose that much weight and get to my goal. But instead of going first off to 125-130 pounds, how bout we try to 150 pounds to start with. So, while I still want to get down to atleast 130 pounds, my first goal is to get to 200 pounds even. Why did I pick 200 pounds and why even? Simply because I want to be 200 pounds before I set another goal for myself. I figured that if I do start small and go for the gold, I will make it easier than saying well, let's skip everything else and not let up until I reach 130. Today, as I sit here and type this for everyone to read, I look back at these past 8 months. I for starters can't believe that it has been 8 months already. Yes it has been a long and rough road to where I am now, but nothing worth having is easy to get is what I have always been told. I sit here with happy tears in my eyes and now that not only has this journey so far been hard, it has been well worth it. The day I checked into the hospital for surgery, I weighed 267 pounds. I hated looking in the mirror. I hated going shopping for cloths. I hated the thought of even getting naked infront of my husband. I am not 203 pounds and only 3 pounds away from my first weight goal. I am thrilled, excited, and amused. I no longer dread to look into a full length mirror. I no longer hate shopping for pants, and I have finally (after 3 years of being together and 1 year of being married) will let my wonderful husband see me without anything on AND IT FEELS WONDERFUL LET ME TELL YOU!!!! This band is an amazing tool and I couldn't be where I am today if not for it. Would I reccomend the lapband to someone else. HELL YEAH I WOULD, WITHOUT A SECOND THOUGHT!!! While I am only 3 pounds away from my first goal, I still have 2 others to meet. After I get down to 200 pounds, my next goal is to make it to 150 pounds, then after that goal has been met, I want to get to 130 pounds. With the lapband, I have no doubt that I will make it to where I want to be. My lapband is my best friend.

I'm going to google it, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised it one of the hits happens to say something about a sexual position...lol

WOW!!! You'd think a Doctor would remember something as important as you telling them you have the lapband. I agree with you, it's a really good thing that your friends works in the OR. There isn't any telling how long it would have taken them to decide, well we need to take a look at her paperwork to see what's going on. GEEZZZZZ. If you want a Tattoo, I say go for it! I have 2 tattoos and I love them. I have one on the outside of my right calf that is a mouse holding a bunch of balloons with my daughter Savannas name under it and one on the lower part center of my back with a stars falling down around a moon. I want to get another one after I finish loosing my weight of a butterfly coming out of its cocoon symbolizing the start of my life as a healthier, happier, and thinner me. As for the uterus and how much it weighs. I have no idea. I had a hysterectomy when I was 22 yrs old and I am now 30. If you do have to have one, whatever you do, do not let them do a complete. No matter what they say, just because you have endo, it doesn't mean you have to have a complete, I was just told 3 yrs ago that a partial would have done just as good, and if it doesn't you can always go back to have the ovaries removed and thats what my OB/GYN should have done to begin with. I was way to young to have a complete so now I am stuck with the playground but no equipment..(thats what my hubby likes to say lol). And the worse part is, until I am 35 (atleast) I can not be put on any horomone replacement therapy because it is to dangerous to put someone as young as I am on it due to the risk of breast cancer, heart attack, and stroke. So I am stuck with mood swings from hell and hot flashes in the middle of the winter that make my hubby wake up in the middle of the night feeling like a popsicle.

Can someone please tell me how many grams of protein I am suppose to have per day? I had a book that told me, but I have lost it or misplaced it somehow.

BORED BORED BORED...I AM SO BORED. Is there anyone out there that may be as bored at this moment as I am? Anyone wanna start some kind of conversation with me? Male or female, I don't really care. Just someone please conversate with me.....

oh thank you thank you thank you. You have no idea how bored I am right now..lol. Things are going wonderfully now. I didn't have any complications other than the doctor couldn't get me to my sweet spot soon enough. I just now (well since feb) starting loosing weight like I wanted to. I got my last fill this Wednesday and I had lost 36 pounds since Feb and have lost 2 1/2 since Wednesday. The best thing about my band is I am finally able to loose weight and not end up gaining it back. I am getting my self confidence back and feel so much better about myself. I can actually look in a mirror now and not hang my head in same. The most unexpected thing about being banded is the gas. I never had problems with gas until I got my band and now, its almost all day everyday. But I can live with the gas as long as I am getting healthy. How are things going for you? Same questions apply.

thanks bunches

Removing the band? I thought that once you get the band, you have it the rest of your life. I actually thought that once you hit your goal weight, they take the band out and place a smaller one in. Correct me if I'm wrong but, once you hit your goal weight and they take the band out, don't that just set you up to regaining the weight back? HUM?

I was the same way as you are for about a month after surgery. I think it is a combination of the major change you just went through, getting use to it, and maybe the liquid diet. I may sound old fashion here, but there is more to sex than just sex. Intemacy is more than sex. If you aren't in the mood for sex yet, than try a little back rub (you give her one not her give you one lol), are major flirting. Kissing is nice and nibbling on the neck is good to. You don't have to always penetrate to be intimate. Be sure to always let her know that sex isn't the only reason you are with her. I hope this helps you atleast a little. Good luck

My husband and I have been married a little over a year but been together for 3 years and were together only 5 months when I had my band placed. These past couple months (since the weight has been falling off rather fast) he has been telling me that alot of marriages break up after one spouse has this surgery done and looses the weight. I love my husband more than I could ever even begin to put into words, but lately he has been driving me crazy. He is always calling second guess if I am going where I say I am going. Example: I went for my fill this Wednesday and when I got home I decided to take a shower and wash my hair. He calls right when I get in the shower and gets the answering machine, leaves me a message saying, I need to talk to you call me back now. I finish taking my shower and call him back and he is like, why didn't you answer? I tell him that I jumped into the shower and he gets mad. He then tells me that some truckers (he drives a big truck) say that 2 woman in a small car was flashing every truck driver they passed and accused me and my cousin of being the ones. Then goes into this spill of, you are loosing the weight fast now and looking sexier than ever and you are going to want to see if you still have it. Your gonna want to show your body off to people and eventually have sex with someone else just to see if you still have it. Now let me explain, this is his 3rd marriage and his other 2 ended because they cheated on him. I have never cheated or even thought of cheating on him. I know what I have and I WILL NEVER DO ANYTHING TO LOOSE IT! I have told him this time and time and time again, but he just wont believe me. He is always telling me i am suppose to see a psychiatrist to let them know what i am going through and talk about my feelings now that I am loosing so much weight. I don't think I need to go cause I know that I am not going to cheat. My first marriage ended cause he was cheating on me so i know how it feels to be hurt in that way and i will not put the man i love through that. I was just wondering if anyone else is going through this same thing and if they are, how are you handling it. OH AND BY THE WAY, ALL OF THIS IS COMING FROM A MAN THAT IS ALWAYS BEGGING ME TO HAVE A 3SOME WITH HIM AND ANOTHER MAN BECAUSE I HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED ANYTHING LIKE IT. MY ANSWER IS ALWAYS THE SAME THOUGH....NO WAY!! Cant you just imagine him after it happens. If he is so insucure now OMG think of how it would be after that. Sorry that was so long winded, but I just need someones advice on how to handle this.

Hey everyone! Hope everyone is having a wonderful day. I had my 5th adjustment today, the doc added 0.5ccs to my band. I'd tell you the total amount of ccs that I have now but to tell you the truth, I have lost count. Anyways, the last fill I had until today was Feb. 22 of this year. I knew I was doing good since this fill with finally starting to loose the weight and all. I noticed my clothes were getting really baggy on me but didn't pay alot of attention to how much I was loosing. I was informed today that since my last fill I had lost 36 pounds. OMG!!! You could have knocked me over with a feather when he told me. 36 pounds in less than 2 months. I was so excited that I couldn't stop smiling for the longest. I have another appointment in August and he says that with the way I am loosing now, I should be down to about 160 or 150 by the time I come back. I am so looking forward to my next visit and these next 4 months to see how good everything is going and how much I will be loosing over these next few months. Only thing bad about my fill today. Now for the next 24 hours, I am on a liquid diet, then tomorrow back to the mushy diet, then Friday, I get to return to a full diet. I know I can get past today easily since I haven't even really been hungry since he adjusted me and drinks are filling me up. I wish everyone nothing but success and happiness with their band. For anyone that may get frustrated with not loosing weight like they want to or think they should. DO NOT GIVE UP!!! The weight loss will come in time and before you know it, you will be able to wear that cute little bathingsuit during the summer.

My doctor told me eating any kind of soup with broth is a big no no. He says the broth with the soup makes the soup itself pass right through the band and it doing this, you will not have the fullness feeling. However, I have found that Cream of Chicken is just as satisfying and keeps me full longer than trying to eat soup with broth. Try the cream of chicken and see how it goes. Also cream of brocolli is really good to. Just add a little bit of salt to it and it goes down easily and (as for myself) I have no problems with it getting stuck.

Hey Emma, with my 1st and 2nd fill, I didn't have much restriction at all. I was able to lose a little bit of weight but it was mostly will power that help me in loosing it. With my 3rd fill, I had a little more restriction, but not much and again more than anything it was will power that help me in loosing it. After my 4th fill, I had alot my restriction and was able to loose alot of weight with very little will power due to the major restriction change. My 5th fill (yesterday), I havent had but just a few hours to see how much different it is going to be, but if it helps, my day went by easily. I wasn't hungry much at all and if I did feel a little bit of hunger coming on, I found that fluids help me with it. So far this morning, I haven't been hungry and I weighed myself when I first got up after going to the bathroom and I have lost 2 1/2 pounds since yesterday. I am on the mushy diet today, so around noon I am going to try to eat me a little bit of oatmeal. Havent gotten any futher with what I plan on having rest of the day except for plenty of fluids. Your first and second fill, I believe is just getting you use to having your band so if you aren't loosing like you want to, dont worry about it. It takes most of us about 3 or 4 fills to hit our sweet spot then the weight starts coming off. I'm sure that you will start loosing soon and you will be on cloud 9.

First thing to remember, this isn't a race to see how much you can loose and how fast you can loose it. We all stall in our weight loss. I have found that eating a few more calories than I normally do, I can usually get my weight loss back into action. When I start to stall in my weight loss I just remember what the turtle said to the rabbit, "SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE".

First of all, what is VSG? I don't think I have ever heard of it. Second of all, the carbonation is suppose to stretch your pouch I think because it bloats your stomach. I talked to my doctor at my last visit (in Feburary) and he told me if I make sure it is caffeine free, diet, and I shake the fool at out it to get the carbonation out (make it flat), it is ok to drink soft drinks.

I'm with RESTLESSMONKEY. Don't put anything out for yourself to drink during your meals then you wont be tempted to drink or forget not to. It's hard at first, then you get use to not drink while eating. GOOD LUCK!

I am so sorry that you have had to put up with her bullshit (excuse my language). It just makes me so Mad when people refer to having the lapband to help us with our weight as a "cheat". I don't know how anyone could say that having this surgery is a cheating way to loose weight or even say that it's the easy way out. This surgery is anything but the easy way out or a cheat to loose the weight we need and want to loose. All these people that think and say this, needs to have a glimps into our new lives. We are having to learn all over again how to eat, and when we mess up by taking to big of a bite or not chewing our food well enough, we have the most god awful feeling that we (well most of us) wouldn't wish upon our worst hated enemy. We have to have constant checkups with our doctors and we have these long needles stuck into our stomachs or where the port is to tighten our band. We choose to give up most of our favorite foods and soft drinks, we have to search extra hard when we go out to eat so we can make sure we aren't getting something with to many calories or to much sugar intake. We have went through so much before our surgery from being depressed over our weight to several several failed diets. No, this is not the easy way out. For most of us, its the only way that we can get this weight off. I am not ashamed of having my band, and if I could, I'd shout it from the highest mountain top. I love my band and there isn't anyone out there that can change my mind about that. So, don't let the negitive things that people will say to you get you down. Remember what I was always told growing up. People only say mean things to you because someone inside, they have things about them that the don't like so in order to make them feel better about themselves, they have to put other down and my favorite of all times...OPINIONS ARE LIKE ASSHOLES, EVERYONE HAS ONE AND MOST OF THE STINK!!!! Enjoy your band hun, and enjoy what it has, can, and will do for you and your health.

I have to admitt...when I first read the title of this thread, the first thing that popped into my mind was an adult toy. I guess my mind is in the gutter today..hehe. I am way passed the mushy stage but I like to make smoothies so I may just have to invest in a magic bullet soon.

The closest that I live to a support group is over 100 miles away. There is nobody around where I live (that I know of) that has had the lapband. There are days where I wish I had someone to talk to, someone that knows exactly what I am going through and will go through in the months and years ahead. I have my parents, my friends (most of which have no weight problems what so ever), and my husband that have been there for me since I had my band placed, but as much as they try, they just don't understand the things I am going through. So, I was thinking. Most people that own a cell have to watch to make sure they don't go over their minutes but have free text. I am this way. I can text all day long and never have to worry about going over any minutes or being charged after a certain amount of text messages sent or recieved. If anyone out there would like to be my text buddy just let me know and I will shoot you a private message with my cell number and we can chat about what all is going on. I think this would be a good thing for anyone that needs to talk one day just to vent or whatever.

I have been going to the gym for the past 4 months trying atleast to go 3 days a week. Some weeks I meet the 3 days other weeks, I don't. My husbands pay was cut back and so was his hours recently resulting in us not having the money for my membership to the gym for now. I have a few DVDs of Pilates and just finished doing one of them called 8 min abs. While the exercises aren't that hard to do, I have found out that Pilates have got to be for the skinny folks. I managed to finish the whole thing but I don't think that I did the exericses exactly the way I was suppose to seeing as how I still have to much in the middle and wasn't able to actually touch my elbow to my knees while doing them. I was wondering if anyone out there did exercising at their home and if you would care to share with me what you do. I still can do the walking up and down the cove road that I live on (until they come to me and tell me they are going to have to start charging me for use of the road..lol) I really want to get rid of this stomach and I know that its not going to happen before time to slip into that bathingsuit this summer but atleast I want to be able to look better than I did last yr.

Dancing...that sound like fun. I use to love to dance then I gained all this weight and was to embarrassed to dance anymore. I am going to have to give that a try, can't believe I haven't even thought of dancing myself. And the free part, OH BOY YOU CAN'T BEAT THAT KIND OF PRICE. Thanks

Everyone looses at their own speed so dont try to compare what you have lost to what others have lost. Comparing yourself will only make you depressed, trust me, I have learned that the hard way. We are all impatient to reach our goal weight but you have to remember, we didn't put the weight on over night and its not going to come off overnight and we had the lapband not the bypass so it will take longer to come off. As long as you do as you are suppose to, IT WILL COME OFF RATHER IF IT COMES OFF SLOWLY, THEN SO BE IT. 30lbs since Jan. is really good and nothing to turn your head at. This month I will be 8 months out and I have only lost 60 pounds, I know that is not as much as some people have lost but it's great for me and its 60lbs that WILL NEVER HAUNT MY BODY AGAIN. As for filling foods, try foods that have a high amount of Protein, chicken is good and seems to fill me up faster and I still filled up longer when I eat it also.

I have felt all of your fears. But, I pushed myself through them and realized, I deserve to be happy, to be able to look in the mirror and not be ashamed or disgusted with what I see. You probably will have excess skin after losing weight. The main thing to remember is, EXERCISE EXERCISE. I have a set of 3lb weights that I use 4 days a week for my arms, and when I go to the gym, I make sure I push myself to workout on my thighs and calfs. Sure, there are days that I have to push myself to go to the gym and I make up all kinds of excuses why I can't go (grocery shopping, to tired, I'll go tomorrow, there's people there and I'm embarrassed). After I go through the reasons I say to myself, I can go grocery shopping after I am finished, I will be even more tired if I just set around and do nothing, and I may be embarrassed to be infront of the "skinny" women, but atleast both they and I know that I am working on losing the weight. Don't let your fears outweigh the goodness that this operation will bring to you.

I was out on the road with my hubby this week and I did everything right. I ate 3 times a day and 2 days I had a little snack. We went into a resturant to eat supper and I had baked chicken (only able to eat just a few bites) with sugar free bbq sauce, a few bites of a baked potatoe, and a few green Beans. I no more had taken a few bites of my food and I could already feel the pain hitting me and starting having that throwing up feeling. So, I excuse myself and ran to the bathroom and by the time i made it to the stall, I was throwing up ( didnt even get to shut the stall). After I was finished, I cleaned up and went back to the table just to sip on my splenda sweetened caffine free tea. A few hours later, I started getting a really bad headache, didn't feel good, and just wanted to lay down. My hubby thought maybe my sugar was low so he goes to the gas station and gets me a snickers. I ate about 4 bites of it and around 15 minutes later, I felt fine. Eating the snickers, it didn't get stuck, I didn't hurt, and I didn't throw up or even feel like I was going to. I have noticed this happens alot since my last fill. Healthy food, I have all kinds of problems with. I take extra small bites, I chew,chew,chew,chew, and chew and swallow a little a time. It still gets stuck, I end up vomiting and feeling like t-total crap afterwards. Now, when I eat something that is not healthy, that has more sugar than allowed, way to many calories, and yes even has caffine in it, I have no problem whatsoever with it. I do the same as I do with the healthy food nothing different. So, my question is. Has anyone else experienced this or am I the odd one out and the only one experiencing it? I have a call into my nutritionist hoping maybe she will know what is going on and why my band is working like it is. I'm not complaining in the least. I am finally losing weight like I am suppose to be and starting to feel better about myself. I LOVE MY BAND!!!! I am just wondering what in the world is going on. I actually find it amusing that this is happening.