BioTeacher

Thanks for the thoughts bashful. I can see that I am feeling negative. The no weight loss thing has really got a big hold on me. I haven't lost anything since last November 08 and I have just tried all I can think of. And school is just so tiring. I think maybe I am just a bit depressed really. I go to doc on this coming Monday. I already have 7ml in my 9ml band. I think they do not want to put any more in there at all. I used to fret about that but I don't anymore. Whatever. As far as the scheduling, I will try. Things just go at you at school so fast and so many things need done at once that I have a hard time keeping up. And I tend to take care of school stuff always first, then family, then if any time left for me. There isn't much left and so I am so tired I eat poorly. I always try to go into it thinking I am not going to do that, etc. It seems that never happens. At my doc we have a counselor we can see. Maybe I will ask to see her Monday. I guess I just know my capabilities and I am fearing the worst. I have always thought I was a more positive person but maybe I have slipped to the dark side! I know the blog helps me get it OUT. Just wish I could find some path that I could follow to help me start losing again. I have tried so many. At 13 months and none for quite awhile you wonder if you can do any more.... well, again, thanks and I will try to tie on some happy!

I got back on track today. Ate out at both lunch and dinner but did good and ate good snacks. Walked after dinner too. I wanted to go do my weights after a week off due to vacations but just did not feel the motivation! What GOOD did it do? I tried for 8 weeks and I am still as fat or fatter than I was then. So WHY do it? I will try to go tomorrow or even Sunday. For sure on Monday anyway. Then school is starting and I am not feeling very confident that I can keep it up at all. No time for me! :mad:I am just about to start eating a shake in the morning, then tuna and green beans for the other two meals of the day with maybe some yogurt for snacks. This sounds dull to me but surely I can lose just eating that. I will probably gag up the tuna but I am just about to give up here! I gotta get this going, I just gotta!!!!!! I am desperate to get the scale moving again! I just returned from almost two weeks on vacation and did OK but not so well. Too much fat in the things I ate. The pictures of me were absolutely AWFUL. They make me sick to see them. I just feel like I have made no progress here. For the past 8 Weeks I have worked out with weights 2-3 times a week and done 30-50 minutes of fast walking almost EVERY DAY! And I am no better off right now than I was 8 weeks ago when school started! I have lost nothing and maybe gained. I am afraid to get on the scale and come this Monday morning I will be getting on there at the doc's office. And then get yelled at. At least I know WHAT I did wrong this time. WHY I cannot get this loss going again I just cannot figure it out. I have invested in some Weight Watchers chocolate fudge bars. They are so good, one point, and even my family loves them. Try them if you have not--they are truly good fudgies. Just get the plain chocolate fudge ones for a treat. I can hardly keep up with the number of papers and planning that I had--I never got more than 6 hours of sleep and had trouble exercising much less eating right. I just ate and was so tired. I was just beat after fixing dinner, cleaning it up, grading papers, then bed at about midnight and up at 6am. By Friday I was DEAD! Now it is going to be WORSE!!! Every year I hope to stop it but once the merry-go -round starts I am lucky to hang on. And MY health and what I need will not get done. Much less to even LOSE any weight. ha ha....I am so fearful. I do not weigh enough for any other kind of surgery but I sure weigh enough to look and feel BAD and FAT. I may have to face that this is IT! It makes me so sad. I know I would have more energy and feel better too if I could get more off. But I was unable to make a DENT in it this summer with all the charting and exercising. I cannot do it when school starts. Not sure what to do. The weight just stays right on my front belly. I KNOW I need to put myself up there at the top of the list but you have NO idea how that just does not happen. So much planning with so many kids now. Parents. I have an extracurricular that takes lots of time. Then I have to cook meals for the family, clean up, then if I do not do papers every day then all day Sunday is taken. It takes all my energy just to keep up with my job. I have examined and examined what to do and nothing is jumping out at me. I just feel overwhelmed and it has not even started yet. Can someone just make meals an send them to me ??:thumbup: Am feeling stressed and it has not even started yet. I am feeling real anxiety over the fact that I will not take care of myself. Yikes. Help, help, help. :sneaky:

I am just wondering how you are doing now after a few more days. Is the weight still seeming to come off? I have NOT been eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's a day. However, my weight is just not moving. Your plan of eating seems like a good one. I can sure live with it. When school starts and I am a teacher I cannot eat subway each day but maybe something close to that. I am just about to start eating a shake in the morning, then tuna and green beans for the other two meals of the day with maybe some yogurt for snacks. I am desperate to get the scale moving again! I just returned from almost two weeks on vacation and did OK but not so well. Too much fat in the things I ate. The pictures of me in my bathing suit were absolutely AWFUL. They make me sick to see them. I just feel like I have made no progress here. For the past 8 Weeks I have worked out with weights:mad: 2-3 times a week and done 30-50 minutes of fast walking almost EVERY DAY! And I am no better off right now than I was 8 weeks ago when school ended! I have lost nothing and maybe gained. I am afraid to get on the scale and come this Monday morning I will be getting on there at the doc's office. And then get yelled at. At least I know WHAT I did wrong this time. WHY I cannot get this loss going again I just cannot figure it out. I too have invested in some Weight Watchers chocolate fudge bars. They are so good, one point, and even my family loves them. Try them if you have not--they are truly good fudgies. Just get the plain chocolate fudge ones for a treat. Another problem I have now is that school is starting in ONE week. I found out I have 180 total students which is 25 more than I have ever had in the same 6 classes. I can hardly keep up with the number of papers and planning that I had--I never got more than 6 hours of sleep and had trouble exercising much less eating right. I just ate and was so tired. I was just beat after fixing dinner, cleaning it up, grading papers, then bed at about midnight and up at 6am. By Friday I was DEAD! Now it is going to be WORSE!!! Every year I hope to stop it but once the merry-go -round starts I am lucky to hang on. And MY health and what I need will not get done. Much less to even LOSE any weight. ha ha....I am so fearful. I do not weigh enough for any other kind of surgery but I sure weigh enough to look and feel BAD and FAT. I may have to face that this is IT! It makes me so sad. I know I would have more energy and feel better too if I could get more off. But I was unable to make a DENT in it this summer with all the charting and exercising. I cannot do it when school starts. Not sure what to do. I will try to use an eating plan similar to yours. But I have sort of in the past and I just do NOT lose any weight. It just stays right on my front belly. thanks for the thoughts and please post and let me/us strugglers know if it is still working for you. It might help me for sure!

Just returned from being gone almost a week. I first was gone earlier in the month for four days on a trip with 3 sister in laws, mother in law, nieces. Did OK on that trip but that was the one where I threw up. Then a scant week or so later I went to visit relatives and stayed the weekend with them. Drove about 600 miles in three days. They never really had real meals, well we had two, I was afraid to ask for food so I ate my protein bars, pb crackers, etc. that I had brought with me. Some pretty strange eating. Then these last four days I went to Florida with my daughter and me only. On the beach. Well first of all the pictures. I hate, hate hate putting on a bathing suit anyway. I pretty much have refused to do it! Well I can sure see WHY. I look absolutely AWFUL in the pictures. Even those with clothes on! I just have this awful load of FAT right on my entire front portion. I have worked hard this summer on weights, walking and it sure looks like I have made absolutely no progress at all! UGH! It just looks so awful. I just cannot get this going again. Then I did not do really well on the eating on this last trip. Not that I had a lot or really bad just not good. I am sitting here now feeling terrible about how I look in those pictures and very full and FAT!. And then I get to go in MONDAY and weigh in for my appt. I am going to gain. I feel it coming. I think I will try really hard to get a handle on things and be very strict the next three days maybe even using a protein shake once a day. Right now I just feel like a huge pig and those pictures really showed it. I just want to look NORMAL! Not even thin, just a normal person who, when I look at a picture does not make me cringe! Ugh Ugh.... I will get back at the exercising tomorrow but I have got to find something to get this scale and my weight moving DOWN! I am so discouraged.... hmmmm.... Also I found out that we have such large class sizes. I will have more students than I have EVER had in my teaching career! I cannot hardly handle what I have had before. I am up at night doing papers, working all day on Sunday, just exhausted by the time I get any dinner done and cleaned up, then papers....how can I possibly do more than ever? I am more tired and slower as I have gotten older. YIKES! If I had some more weight off I would feel that more energy! But once this merry-go -round begins I will once again NOT take care of myself. I will be lucky to get my other stuff done. And then here I go again eating and not taking care....I see it coming a mile away. Much less making any progress toward losing MORE! I will have at least 30 in all classes and with six that means 180 students with papers to grade with good quality? hmmm. Plus I am teaching a high level class now that requires more even. One thing I NEED To do is to dump off my extracurricular assignment. It takes up way too much time. I guess I will see how it goes. But based on past years I think I know. NO sleep, won't eat right, exercise will dwindle to nothing, and there I will be fatter than ever. Scary and tiring to even think about. I know I am LUCKY to even have such a good job--many people don't but it is really getting to me. But when I was off this summer I tried really hard to get this weight going and look where I am. Right where I was. Still looking FAT and awful. Sorry if you are reading this and it is bringing you down. Just get off now! I need to vent but I do not know HOW to get going and get out of this mess! Help!!!!! :sneaky:

Just returned from being gone almost a week. I first was gone earlier in the month for four days on a trip with 3 sister in laws, mother in law, nieces. Did OK on that trip but that was the one where I threw up. Then a scant week or so later I went to visit relatives and stayed the weekend with them. Drove about 600 miles in three days. They never really had real meals, well we had two, I was afraid to ask for food so I ate my protein bars, pb crackers, etc. that I had brought with me. Some pretty strange eating. Then these last four days I went to Florida with my daughter and me only. On the beach. Well first of all the pictures. I hate, hate hate putting on a bathing suit anyway. I pretty much have refused to do it! Well I can sure see WHY. I look absolutely AWFUL in the pictures. Even those with clothes on! I just have this awful load of FAT right on my entire front portion. I have worked hard this summer on weights, walking and it sure looks like I have made absolutely no progress at all! UGH! It just looks so awful. I just cannot get this going again. Then I did not do really well on the eating on this last trip. Not that I had a lot or really bad just not good. I am sitting here now feeling terrible about how I look in those pictures and very full and FAT!. And then I get to go in MONDAY and weigh in for my appt. I am going to gain. I feel it coming. I think I will try really hard to get a handle on things and be very strict the next three days maybe even using a protein shake once a day. Right now I just feel like a huge pig and those pictures really showed it. I just want to look NORMAL! Not even thin, just a normal person who, when I look at a picture does not make me cringe! Ugh Ugh.... I will get back at the exercising tomorrow but I have got to find something to get this scale and my weight moving DOWN! I am so discouraged.... hmmmm.... Also I found out that we have such large class sizes. I will have more students than I have EVER had in my teaching career! I cannot hardly handle what I have had before. I am up at night doing papers, working all day on Sunday, just exhausted by the time I get any dinner done and cleaned up, then papers....how can I possibly do more than ever? I am more tired and slower as I have gotten older. YIKES! If I had some more weight off I would feel that more energy! But once this merry-go -round begins I will once again NOT take care of myself. I will be lucky to get my other stuff done. And then here I go again eating and not taking care....I see it coming a mile away. Much less making any progress toward losing MORE! I will have at least 30 in all classes and with six that means 180 students with papers to grade with good quality? hmmm. Plus I am teaching a high level class now that requires more even. One thing I NEED To do is to dump off my extracurricular assignment. It takes up way too much time. I guess I will see how it goes. But based on past years I think I know. NO sleep, won't eat right, exercise will dwindle to nothing, and there I will be fatter than ever. Scary and tiring to even think about. I know I am LUCKY to even have such a good job--many people don't but it is really getting to me. But when I was off this summer I tried really hard to get this weight going and look where I am. Right where I was. Still looking FAT and awful. Sorry if you are reading this and it is bringing you down. Just get off now! I need to vent but I do not know HOW to get going and get out of this mess! Help!!!!!

Thanks Cyndi. But just know that I am over one year post op and this is the first time I have EVER thrown up! So you do not have to expect that kind of stuff. I hear it happens to others but really not to me. Hopefully you won't get it either. Wondering when your date is?? Hope it is coming up soon. Thanks for the words of encouragement! We must all help each other. And thanks Laura. I may have to mark stringy chicken off my list. Now eggs go down just fine. I just have to eat slowly and chew and stop in between. I still eat too fast. Thanks guys!

Went on a fun girls trip. I did OK on the eating. Ate chef salad or grilled chicken salad a lot. If we ate at a family Amish type rest. then I had green beans, chicken, stuff like that. However, I had my very first ever throw up! I was eating lunch at the rest. where the flea market is. I had some white meat chicken on the bone and was eating it slowly and chewing it up, At least I thought I was. I also had eaten some green beans. Ate a bite of mashed tatoes then gave rest to my kid. All of a sudden it began to hurt in my chest like REALLY BAD. Like a heart attack! I felt bad. I went to the RR and there was a big line and I was about 6 back from even getting in the door. I almost just yelled for all of them to get out of the way and head for the sink. I was gulping to hold it down. Then I saw a door, I ran out, went behind the bldg. and just puked it up. I felt FINE afterwards and immediately better. wow. My daughter knew what was wrong but the other 7 people had no idea about my band so did not know. The nice Amish lady waiting on us asked if something was wrong with the food! Also because ate very little of it. Man oh man, I do not want that. I guess the chicken got stuck. Yikes. So I stuck with salads the rest of the trip. Seriously. Before that I had some Wendy's grilled chicken and felt a little stuck too. Guess I am not going slow enough or eating with more chewing.....ugh. You ever had any of that? I have read about lots of people who have but that was a first for me! I am proud to have worked out with weights for SEVEN weeks now since school is out! I am so proud! Gotta figure out how to keep that up. Also my cardio is great. We even walked back to the hotel from restaurants twice about a mile! One night after walking all day at flea market! No problem. I have not been on the scale since July 6th. I will try to not get on there til I go back in August. Not sure I can do that! ha. I do not feel a big weight loss but do feel loose in some clothes and others fitting just fine. Probably have lost nothing.... did not track the foods on Fit.com while gone so will get back to that now. Trying to eat 1600 calories is sort of hard--so used to trying to stick to less. Oh well. Water is going well too. Many other things going on. Two more short trips coming up. My daughter is my watchdog though and she keeps me good a lot. More later.

I did talk to my Doctor Yesterday about how much I have in my Realize Band. 7ml in a 9ml. Because I read my brochure they gave me on the band at surgery and it clearly says it holds 9 and they can put in NINE! Also I asked my doc, how much liquid is in the TUBE that leads from the port to the band?? Now I am a science teacher-- ONE ml is not very much and with the length of that tube it surely is at least ONE! Well My doc did not know the answer to that question! And it is NOT in the literature on the band or the port. My doc says it is a very small diameter tubing. OK but I bet it MUST hold 1/2 to 1ml! That ain't much at all! So if they say you have 7ml you may not have all that IN the band itself anyway! Some is in the darn tubing. So I know I am focusing on silly stuff--just that they CAN put more in there and I think they will. My Doc promised me to take the time to draw out ALL the saline next time so I could see that it is IN there and not leaking out a hole or the tube got disconnected. I read the book and these kinds of things happened up to 10% of the time. I have been urged by many on the LBT to get that checked and he agreed to do it in 4 weeks. Also said he would immediately put it all back in there. Interesting..... Meanwhile no fill this time. And he did say he could put more in it. But is it up to me? (I think there needs to be a bit more!) NO. And when and how much?? who knows?? I have advised to UP my calories from 11-1200 to 1600 a day. They think I am in "starvation" mode and am using my calories too efficiently! How about that!? I am also exercising BIG time with weights, walking, etc. So I am to try this and lose very slowly at about 1/2 a week but just keep at it... if it doesn't work I am too switch off then. What a journey this is! Thanks though! I need a BIT more in mine still and am GLAD to know I should be able to get it in there.....

Well i went in for my checkup. I have officially lost 35 lbs. this year. Do I want that back?? NO! But I lost all that by last November. I requested my doctor today and not the nurse pract. Sorry, but the guy is kind of goofy. Spent about 15 minutes going on about artificial sweetners. Now I seriously do not use much of that anymore so it is not an issue. I showed him a solid FIVE weeks of great exercise. I have lifted weights 3 times a week mostly upper body. I have hit the treadmill anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 to over an hour on many days! There were only TWO days where I did no formal exercise! I put it on a calendar for him to see! Then I used the Fit.com and put in my foods. So I had a week of foods for my dietician and then the old notebook I used before that. That Fit.com one is awesome! So easy to use, most foods are there, does a pie graph of carbs, fats, proteins. She really liked it! I guess I need more fruits and more veggies. When you are trying to not eat too much and then you eat your protein first, then the room in one cup of food for those is not there. But I will try. Guess what the doctor wants me to do, EAT MORE? What a hoot! I was trying to consume from 1100-1200 calories a day and all the exercising. They are wondering if I am putting myself in "starvation" mode so that my body is using the calories so efficiently I am not losing. So he did an analysis of how many calories I need a day at my ideal weight, and says to try to just cut out about 2-300 each day. I have read this idea is Mindless eating. Not so much you feel deprived but just enough to get some off. Anyway at that rate I should lose 1/2 lb a week and 30 lbs a year, then the next year 30 lbs. So in two years I should be at or near my goal. Well, it is true, I will still be here then. However, it is extremely hard to watch others lose at such a great rate and then here I am. But honestly if I could just lose steadily I can keep motivated! I looked at my Realize Band literature really close. It says 1-2 lbs a week. So I should have lost about 50 lbs. by now conservatively. Any way the doc wants me to consume about 1600 calories a day! To INCREASE my intake and see what happens. If in 3-4 weeks I am gaining, we will stop it, if it seems to be working then I need to eat more. OK, I will try that! Interesting. Also, as many have urged me, I asked him HOW he knows that the fluid in my band is still in there. He promised to draw it ALL out next time so we could check it and then he says he can put it back all at once. Interesting. Also I looked in the literature and then can put up to 9ml in a 9ml band. Sure enough he said he sure could. I now have 7ml and he said they would not necessarily stop. But no fill today. OK then. I asked how much (ml) the tube from the port to the band held. Even with a short length dang it, it hold a ml or two. He did not know that answer. Said the diameter of the tube was real small. Still there is some saline in it too! I looked and that as many as 10% of the people tested with the bands had leaks, holes, or the tube came off. So it should be checked. Just for my benefit as well! Doc also said he checked my barium swallow from March and it looked fine but it sure showed plenty of stuff is going through there pretty easily! I saw it! The book with the band clearly says that the patient should NOT BE ABLE to eat very large quantities of food and should therefore lose weight. It is right there in black and white! And they tell me I am the one who must do all the stopping and the band doesn't do much. Interesting. So I will start looking at 1600 calories. I will try to come up with a workout plan that I CAN continue when school starts. A "mini" routine maybe. Let's see how this goes now.....:confused3:

Well i went in for my checkup. I have officially lost 35 lbs. this year. Do I want that back?? NO! But I lost all that by last November. I requested my doctor today and not the nurse pract. Sorry, but the guy is kind of goofy. Spent about 15 minutes going on about artificial sweetners. Now I seriously do not use much of that anymore so it is not an issue. I showed him a solid FIVE weeks of great exercise. I have lifted weights 3 times a week mostly upper body. I have hit the treadmill anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 to over an hour on many days! There were only TWO days where I did no formal exercise! I put it on a calendar for him to see! Then I used the Fit.com and put in my foods. So I had a week of foods for my dietician and then the old notebook I used before that. That Fit.com one is awesome! So easy to use, most foods are there, does a pie graph of carbs, fats, proteins. She really liked it! I guess I need more fruits and more veggies. When you are trying to not eat too much and then you eat your protein first, then the room in one cup of food for those is not there. But I will try. Guess what the doctor wants me to do, EAT MORE? What a hoot! I was trying to consume from 1100-1200 calories a day and all the exercising. They are wondering if I am putting myself in "starvation" mode so that my body is using the calories so efficiently I am not losing. So he did an analysis of how many calories I need a day at my ideal weight, and says to try to just cut out about 2-300 each day. I have read this idea is Mindless eating. Not so much you feel deprived but just enough to get some off. Anyway at that rate I should lose 1/2 lb a week and 30 lbs a year, then the next year 30 lbs. So in two years I should be at or near my goal. Well, it is true, I will still be here then. However, it is extremely hard to watch others lose at such a great rate and then here I am. But honestly if I could just lose steadily I can keep motivated! I looked at my Realize Band literature really close. It says 1-2 lbs a week. So I should have lost about 50 lbs. by now conservatively. Any way the doc wants me to consume about 1600 calories a day! To INCREASE my intake and see what happens. If in 3-4 weeks I am gaining, we will stop it, if it seems to be working then I need to eat more. OK, I will try that! Interesting. Also, as many have urged me, I asked him HOW he knows that the fluid in my band is still in there. He promised to draw it ALL out next time so we could check it and then he says he can put it back all at once. Interesting. Also I looked in the literature and then can put up to 9ml in a 9ml band. Sure enough he said he sure could. I now have 7ml and he said they would not necessarily stop. But no fill today. OK then. I asked how much (ml) the tube from the port to the band held. Even with a short length dang it, it hold a ml or two. He did not know that answer. Said the diameter of the tube was real small. Still there is some saline in it too! I looked and that as many as 10% of the people tested with the bands had leaks, holes, or the tube came off. So it should be checked. Just for my benefit as well! Doc also said he checked my barium swallow from March and it looked fine but it sure showed plenty of stuff is going through there pretty easily! I saw it! The book with the band clearly says that the patient should NOT BE ABLE to eat very large quantities of food and should therefore lose weight. It is right there in black and white! And they tell me I am the one who must do all the stopping and the band doesn't do much. Interesting. So I will start looking at 1600 calories. I will try to come up with a workout plan that I CAN continue when school starts. A "mini" routine maybe. Let's see how this goes now.....

Ebony thanks for your thoughts and suggestions. I did start using the tracker at Fit.com yesterday and it is amazing. Also I can show it to those doubters at my doc's office next Monday when they say I am eating too much. So far I have made my foods fit it really well. I am trying to have one to two protein shakes a day for the next week here and then some small meals to get jump started again. I hope that works. I really doubt if I am overexercising. It is sort of funny to hear someone accuse me the fattie of that! but it is kind of nice too so thanks! This upcoming year is my 24th year of teaching. I have always gained a bunch of weight when I start out and just cannot handle the weight thing after. Sounds like stress eating or just rewarding myself for a long hard day? Maybe. I have had two times since 2000 where I lost 40 with medication and supervision only to gain it right back. Lots of $$ spent there too. This next year I have more students than I have EVER had and the older I get the harder it is to grade stuff and keep up. At 3pm I am EXHAUSTED and guess what--I gotta eat! It is a bad bad thing. I always every single school year have all these goals for myself and I fall right on my face when all the work starts piling up. Well thanks again for the nice nice note. You sound like you have really got it going now and I am so happy for you! Talk to you later...:thumbup:

I read a lot of posts here and looks like my group. I was banded just about one year ago today. I lost 40 lbs. initially and in the last 8 months have lot NOTHING and have gained about 5-6 back. I exercise like crazy every day. I have started doing some weights for about 4 weeks now too. I do not measure so I will try some of the online trackers you guys are using. I feel like I am beating my head against the wall in trying to fix all the things that could be wrong with me and my band journey. I have a Realize Band with 7ml in a 9ml band. I keep waiting for this "magic" restriction spot that has just never happened. Doc's office has pretty much told me it is in my head. I really and truly do not eat sliders, candy, stuff like that . I really don't. I guess I eat too much period. I am trying to get back on the somewhat post-op diet and using at least one high protein shake a day and three very little meals. Let's see if that makes a difference. I am feeling like this is just one more diet that I have again failed at. I thought I would have lost so much more by now. I am so glad I did not tell too many people about this banding because I too would be trying to explain my lack of success to them. Ugh. :cursing: I am getting on LBT a lot now because I am a teacher and off for the summer. Once school starts the stress begins and I spend my nights grading grading grading. I barely have time for 6 hours sleep a night much less exercise! Then there is all that measuring, logging, etc. Probably not enough time in the day for all that and I am LAST on the list. I too have addiction in my family. I have a brother who is about 6'2" and weighs every bit of 500lbs. He is in a wheelchair with diabetes and all. I have a brother who is alcoholic, been sober for 20 years, now just heard he is taking pain pills. My mom was an alcoholic and so was her dad. I too stayed away from alcohol but FOOD now that seems to be another story. After a hard day, I sit down and say--I DESERVE IT! Gotta stop that. Again, now I am because I am getting enough sleep. When school starts and all the stuff needs to get done, parents yelling at you for no reason, etc. etc. I turn to it for comfort. I gotta break that one before school starts. So, enough of my pity party. I am going to watch, listen, and learn here. Maybe by next year I will get some more of this off. Any initial suggestions?? You guys are trying HARD and doing your best! You are an inspiration even when you have problems. We have all been there so it helps us feel like we are not alone! Sign me up! :tongue2:

Debbie: I hope the very best for you with your Realize Band journey. I would love to hear you say yours is working really well as you go to be getting it filled. In fact, if I could hear from you again about how yours feels and stuff, maybe it would even help ME to talk to my doc about mine, you know? They keep telling me that I have mucho head problems and that the band is working fine. So don't go by my progress please! You will probably just do a lot better! Keep in touch please. :tongue2:

Well I made it pretty well. did not get hungry until about 12:30PM. At that time I had some leftover meatloaf that I had made from 93/7 sirloin. I truly had about 1/2 cup to 3/4 c. That lasted about an hour and a half. Then I had a protein shake. I am using an instant breakfast (sugar free), 2 c. 1% milk and a BUNCH of ice cubes--I bet there are 25 of them. Then I blend it up. It makes a huge cup of stuff and about 1/2 of or more is crushed up ice. Takes me a while to eat/drink it! Then I did have about 10 almonds later. Then at dinner I had about 1 cup of some taco meat stuff with a little cheese on it. Then now about 10:30 with some hunger I had another shake. Now I am going to bed. That should be a pretty good day there. Also worked out with weights about 45 min, then 15 on treadmill. then tonite about 25 min more with dog walking. Got in some just plain water around some of that too. That is a pretty good day. Trying to just be really restrictive on what I eat and do at least a modified version of the post-op diet I used for awhile there. I really lost a lot then too. I was really only hungry this morning finally and a little bit tonite so all is well there. I hope this helps. I am looking at my ONE YEAR check up next week and am sure facing a gain of a couple lbs. more. Gee. Hope this will at least stop that! My daughter got jilted by a bf of over three years just on the phone just like that. It is amazing how hard it has been on her and on me. I am trying to listen and she has quit sobbing all the time. It makes me sad too that this kid was so mean to her. She has tried to figure out what happened, if there were signs she did not see. It just hurts me so much to see her in such pain. She is such a sweet person too and could not have cared about anyone more..... Say a few prayers that she heals up. Has said it was like someone just died all of a sudden but the bad difference is --He chose the "death" of just saying "I don't want to see you anymore!" Well wish me well on my continuation of the crazy diet as many and as much as I can..... :thumbup:

Well I made it pretty well. did not get hungry until about 12:30PM. At that time I had some leftover meatloaf that I had made from 93/7 sirloin. I truly had about 1/2 cup to 3/4 c. That lasted about an hour and a half. Then I had a protein shake. I am using an instant breakfast (sugar free), 2 c. 1% milk and a BUNCH of ice cubes--I bet there are 25 of them. Then I blend it up. It makes a huge cup of stuff and about 1/2 of or more is crushed up ice. Takes me a while to eat/drink it! Then I did have about 10 almonds later. Then at dinner I had about 1 cup of some taco meat stuff with a little cheese on it. Then now about 10:30 with some hunger I had another shake. Now I am going to bed. That should be a pretty good day there. Also worked out with weights about 45 min, then 15 on treadmill. then tonite about 25 min more with dog walking. Got in some just plain water around some of that too. That is a pretty good day. Trying to just be really restrictive on what I eat and do at least a modified version of the post-op diet I used for awhile there. I really lost a lot then too. I was really only hungry this morning finally and a little bit tonite so all is well there. I hope this helps. I am looking at my ONE YEAR check up next week and am sure facing a gain of a couple lbs. more. Gee. Hope this will at least stop that! My daughter got jilted by a bf of over three years just on the phone just like that. It is amazing how hard it has been on her and on me. I am trying to listen and she has quit sobbing all the time. It makes me sad too that this kid was so mean to her. She has tried to figure out what happened, if there were signs she did not see. It just hurts me so much to see her in such pain. She is such a sweet person too and could not have cared about anyone more..... Say a few prayers that she heals up. Has said it was like someone just died all of a sudden but the bad difference is --He chose the "death" of just saying "I don't want to see you anymore!" Well wish me well on my continuation of the crazy diet as many and as much as I can..... :redface:

I too have the Realize Band. I got mine almost a year ago now. I lost about 40 lbs. initially and that was about 8 mos. ago. Since then I have struggled not to GAIN weight and have in fact gained some back. I cannot hardly ever feel what I thought was going to be the restriction that helped me feel full and not eat any more. I now have 7ml in the 9ml band. I think I am just about at the end. It has taken me this long to get all that in there. Every doc appt. I hope that this 1/2ml fill will be the one to really make the difference but alas it has never happened. Now they are telling me I should not feel anything just that I am satisfied and to STOP eating. Well, if I could do that I would have before surgery, huh?? I have been really mad and angry about this band and now I am just in lah-lah land where I just don't care. I guess this isn't helping you much but know that there are others out here having the SAME problems as you. I hope as you get fills that you will feel it and it will begin to work for you. I have watched many people who is has worked for. Just not me. There are lots of us Realize people out here.....know that we feel your pain and problems. Maybe your doc will be more helpful than mine is. Basically they tell me it is all in MY head now and I am crazy. Believe me I do not sit and eat ice cream! I am pretty good but just not working. I am now trying to see if I can go back on the very restrictive postop diet. I was so hungry then my stomach hurt but hey--it might work. And I am not sure I can do it now--then I HAD to, now, I don't and my life doesn't work too well around it. Best of luck and keep in touch.....hope things turn around for you I really, really, do!! :thumbdown:

Well here I am not doing any better than I was in April. I have gained some weight and just cannot get it to STOP. I do not hardly ever feel restriction. I am eating well, exercising a lot and steadily gaining. I gave up my beloved TAB a year ago and I too WANT it back. It did not do any good to get rid of it. I have lots of WATER, now too. I am just kind of "Whatever" about my LB now. I am gaining, it seems like the same diet I have went on the past ten years. I usually lose 40 then gain it all back. And I need to lose like 60 more!! I too wish I could have had a roux en y but my BMI did not qualify for it. This is all I could get and now it does not work for me. I am trying hard, hard to be full and just STOP. I am trying to go back to postop hungry, hungry diet. I cannot go back to Weight Watchers. I am a lifetime member and went back numerous times. Same thing happens there as at my doc's office. They only recognize and really help the people who are successful. The strugglers and rejoiners are ignored or made to feel like failures. Well, I failed AGAIN, yet AGAIN. I don't know what to do now. I just don't. My band is just about full---7in a 9 and I am at the end of my rope. I am tired of looking and feeling like this. I am tired of trying so darn hard and then GAINING! Crap!! Well better to write here than eat, right? Am I angry, you bet I am. But now I am getting over that and am just totally disappointed. Please don't tell me it is a TOOL, I know that. the tool is doing almost nothing for ME! Hey all of you out there, you are NOT alone! Wondering why I did not do research into how successful this really is. As I hear all these people on the site so darn excited about getting their surgery and changing their lives I just want to SHOUT and say --IT MAY NOT WORK THAT GOOD!! But being there like them I hope the best for them and don't want to squash their happiness. This lapband thing is just NOT what it was cooked up to be. Or else as I heard many people say here--it is ALL ME and I am just a nutso crazy eater and my head is just on backwards. It is ALL my fault I never feel the restriction. There isn't supposed to be ANY! That's what the nurse says! Oh well. Sorry I got on a roll here and got some of this OUT of my system! YES! :thumbup:

I have been exercising a lot, watching the eating pretty well, etc. etc. I feel pretty good but the old fat right here on my front part is just not getting any smaller. In fact I get up to the highest weight since surgery last year. What the freakin' heck?? I feel like I am on a roller coaster that I cannot get off of. Right now I just want the gaining to stop! I am obviously eating/doing something very very wrong. The only think I can think is that I need to go back on my post surgery diet. Protein shakes and only eating 2-3 oz of anything. Problem is I am not at all sure I CAN do that again. I wrote down I was soooooo hungry and my stomach just hurt. I just do not know if I can force myself to do it. It really is almost impossible to have a somewhat normal life too. Eating out is awful. I remember we did not eat out at all. Now, is that bad? No but even though we don't eat out much there are times when we do and I do pretty well at those places. At least I thought so??? right now I am looking at a gain of 10 TEN pounds of my 40 I lost back. And it just keeps creeping UP! I must have some serious problems in my head I need to get straightened out. I will try to do some shakes and eat as little as possible. See if I can at least get this stopped!! YIKES!!!!!! :cool:

I have been exercising a lot, watching the eating pretty well, etc. etc. I feel pretty good but the old fat right here on my front part is just not getting any smaller. In fact I get up to the highest weight since surgery last year. What the freakin' heck?? I feel like I am on a roller coaster that I cannot get off of. Right now I just want the gaining to stop! I am obviously eating/doing something very very wrong. The only think I can think is that I need to go back on my post surgery diet. Protein shakes and only eating 2-3 oz of anything. Problem is I am not at all sure I CAN do that again. I wrote down I was soooooo hungry and my stomach just hurt. I just do not know if I can force myself to do it. It really is almost impossible to have a somewhat normal life too. Eating out is awful. I remember we did not eat out at all. Now, is that bad? No but even though we don't eat out much there are times when we do and I do pretty well at those places. At least I thought so??? right now I am looking at a gain of 10 TEN pounds of my 40 I lost back. And it just keeps creeping UP! I must have some serious problems in my head I need to get straightened out. I will try to do some shakes and eat as little as possible. See if I can at least get this stopped!! YIKES!!!!!! :thumbup: