DaMomb

Wow.... great job long2bThin! You have lost a lot of weight. That is awesome. It is true how many things we don't do because of our weight. I work with the youth at our church, and my weight has definitely been an issue when we go and do certain things like water parks, skiing, etc. But mostly, it has caused me to be so ME focused. I am hoping that once the weight is gone, I can be more GOD focused. I am trying. God is, and has always been so awesome in my life, and I want to serve him in a way that is more pleasing to Him. Good luck to you on your journey too. I bet you are doing LOTS more now!

I think of the scripture that says I must become less, that he becomes more. I know that my weight has been the focus of my life for years. Its really hard to let God be our main focus when we can't get ourselves out of the way. I believe that as I become less (literally) He will become greater in my life. I am so thankful for this opportunity and pray that God gives me the strength for success, not only for me, but I am hopeful that my success will help some of my friends that are overweight make this life changing decision. This is the first time in years that I have really had hope that this situation (weight) is going to change, and change long term.

no more bread for me. 2 bites of toast this morning... and up it came. which is better??? skinny or bread??? skinny of course, but dang im gonna miss that bread :thumbup:(

me too:thumbup:

I got my second fill last week and for the first couple days back on solids, felt awesome restriction. Then....nothing. Crap! So I am back to eating normally, and this morning, I take a bite of my breakfast, and it goes down a little way, and then stops! ACK! Very uncomfortable... so I keep swallowing trying to get it to go on down and nothing. So I think... I will just take another bite and maybe it will push the first bite down... WRONG. Now I am very uncomfortable. So I go get some milk, and try to take a drink to see if it will possibly liquify and... WRONG AGAIN! After a couple of minutes of being very uncomfortable, it all comes back up. So that was my first time for that. This will sound weird, but I was a little happy about it, cuz it means my band must have tightened up a little. A couple hours later I had some yogurt. No problem. Tonight, I try to have a toasted sandwich, and after a couple bites.... Stuck again! Sheesh! This time it went down after a bit but I decided a nice glass of milk for dinner sounded much better than anything solid. So, hopefully, I might not need another fill. The couple days after my fill, when I had restriction was awesome. That is where I wanna be. Guess I will take it easy for another couple of days and then try solids again. I love this website because it has so much good information. Good luck to you all!

Wondering about perking up some of the protein requirements with a juicer. I was thinking of the Vanilla Protein drinks and adding juices such as strawberries, or apples, blueberries... really the choices would be endless.... has anyone tried mixing these?

Although I did feel like the comparison was odd, you are exactly right about the above quote. But I guess that is a difference in personalities. I do feel a little responsible for letting others know if there is something I know that could help them. Although my starting BMI was over 40, I am not as large as a lot of ppl that have this surgery. And that doesn't matter at all, because my weight struggle has been the overwhelming focus of my life for years. When I see someone that is really large, my heart breaks for them. I know how overwhelming my weight is and has been, and how hopeless it has felt to me, and for me, if I had an additional 100 or 150 pounds to lose, I can imagine how overwhelming that would have been. So, for me, I am so hopeful that this works, and that maybe I will be the catalyst for someone else. For me, I guess I do feel like I am my brothers keeper in some ways. Please note the excessive use of "for me". I have only my conscience to be accountable to. Not anyone elses. And, certainly, no one else is accountable to my conscience...

Talk about apples and oranges.... being banded and vd??? hmmm... :tt2:

Good for you! I agree totally with the way you think. I hope that I can somehow help someone with their weight struggle. I honestly haven't had anyone say anything like ppl on here say though. If anyone said that this was the easy way out, I would laugh in their face. Surgery...easy??? Are you kidding me??? But honestly, I have had such positive responses from everyone. I think sometimes we tend to expect prejudice from ppl and if we do, usually we won't be disappointed. Even if the prejudice is only perceived. I am certainly not saying there aren't stupid ppl out there, but we have to be careful not to carry a chip on our shoulder either. For me, this is not about others, or what they think. This is about me. And just dealing with the band, and learning to live my life with it, I don't have time to really worry about what others think/say.

I just got my second fill 3/3/09 and I was feeling some amazing restriction. I was so happy. And I have had two really large fills, but now I am not feeling anything like I was just two days ago... ( Bandster hell is not just the couple weeks after surgery, it is every second that goes by until you finally get that special fill. Waiting for your surgery to be approved, the 10 day diet, and the surgery are all a walk in the park compared to this. At least I got a feeling for what real restriction feels like. Now I will just have to get another fill I guess to truly get me there. Many have said that it can take a week or so before you can tell for sure. I am hopeful that is what happens for me. *sigh*

The hardest thing is waiting for the band to "kick in". It is very frustrating and then there is that little fear in the back of your mind that this isn't going to work for you... and then what??? But anyway, I got my second fill this week, and I finally have restriction. It is awesome. Everyday feels like Thanksgiving to me now... (stuffed) but without having to eat much. And there is no desire to graze at all. That was the thing I was struggling the most with. I am loving my band, and I am so excited because now I know I am going to be losing weight. Waiting for restriction though is the pits! If you can get your fill under fleuroscopy, do it, cuz it does get you to the green zone much faster....

Love your answer Josephine. And I am just like you in that I share with everyone that I have had weight loss surgery. And like you, I have lost, gained, lost, gained... and I am so excited to hear that you have kept the weight off for 2 1/2 years. I not only hope, but I believe that this is going to work for me long term as well. One thing I have personally found is that my "thin" friends are the most hopeful that this will be successful for me. They are constantly encouraging me, and checking on me. Even though some ppl have never been overweight like I have been, it doesn't mean that they still have not been in a constant struggle to keep weight off. Good luck and God Bless.

Awesome Job Trina! Dimyvette, We are on the same track. I too was banded on 12/30/08 and am only down 20 pounds. 8 I lost when I wasn't even trying, 9 I lost on my 10 day pre op and 3 pounds at my 2 week post op. Nothing since then. If you don't have restriction, then any weight you lose, or keep off is just kudo's for you! The way I explain it to everyone is that it is like a belt on a baggy pair of pants. If you have one on but it isn't tight enough, your pants will still fall down. I just got restriction this week, and it is sooooooo much easier now to eat less. Hope you get restriction with your next fill. Good luck!

I am experiencing the same thing as you are. I just got my second fill this week, and I definitely have restriction for the first time since my surgery. Yay.... but.... It is usually 30 min to 1 hr before I realize it. I have been eating small amounts and thinking.. hmmm... i don't really feel full, but then a short time later I realize I feel stuffed. NCs queen had the best idea i think.. if you still feel hungry in an hour, have some more.. I am really excited about finally feeling restriction tho!!

Everyone is different, but I am the kind of person that doesn't have any secrets. Sometimes that is good, sometimes it isn't. My hope is that my success will be an encouragement for someone that might have considered WLS, but just wasnt sure if they should or not. Being overweight is horrible, and affects almost every area of your life. If knowing that I have had this surgery helps someone else make this decision, then I feel like I have helped someone. If your mom has struggled with the same 80# her whole life then even if she is negative about this in the beginning, when she sees you succeed, I bet her attitude will change. Good luck to you!

I had my first fill on the 3rd under x-ray. I was a little worried too.... but honestly, after everything else, this was a total breeze. I highly recommend having it done under x-ray if possible, because it gets you to the green zone quicker and, if you are a visual learner like me, then actually seeing how small the stoma is will truly help you to "get it". I pushed it after my surgery because I couldn't feel anything and food didn't seem to bother me. After my fill, I had no desire to push it. It has been a week and I am still being very very careful. I am not to the green zone with this fill, but I got 7cc which seemed like a lot for a first fill. I have a 10 cc band. Anyway, I definitely can't eat like I could before, but still can eat more than 3 oz without getting full. I do stay full forever tho. Good luck to you and don't worry. Hope everything goes well for you!:thumbup:

Being 24 will definitely work in your favor. When I was 30 I lost 74 pounds (phen/fen) and my stomach and everything looked pretty good. I was surprised. (And I lost the weight really fast.. about 7 months). Now that I am 44, I am afraid that it is not going to go quite as well. However, this is what I take comfort in.... 1. Before surgery: Fat with stretch marks 2. After reaching goal: Thin with stretch marks... I will opt for the 2nd choice anytime!!! Babies wreaked havoc on my tummy, my butt and the skin on the inside of my thighs above my knees. What babies didn't completely disfigure.... Gaining almost 100 extra pounds did. If I have been able to live with all these stretch marks fat, then I will be fine living with them at goal weight! 95% of us women have stretch marks, loose skin, and some flabby parts. (It may even be a higher percentage). I know one of the things I realized quite a while back, (long before deciding to have WLS) is that if we don't learn to love ourselves fat, we will probably still have some problems with loving ourselves when we reach goal. I am not saying that I loved "being" fat. I just learned to love me in spite of being fat. After losing the weight when I was 30, I still felt disappointed with my body. Now I understand that I am who I am. I am so excited to have this opportunity to lose weight and get some control over this area of my life, but I don't have any preconceived notions about what I am going to look like. I am hoping that I don't end up with a bunch of face wrinkles, but if so, then I will learn to love my little skinny wrinkly face. :confused: Good luck to you in your weight loss journey. And it is a journey and it is about much much more than just losing weight.

I got my fill today under x ray. Got 7CC! :confused: I was shocked. don't remember reading about anyone having that much at the first fill. But I could be wrong. It was very fast (about 5 minutes) and totally painless. It was pretty cool seeing the barium fluid and water going through the stoma. It was very small, but went through without any problem. WooHoo!!! Let the weight loss begin!!!! Hope yours goes as well.

I am getting my first fill tomorrow under fluoroscopy. I am really excited! :thumbup: I watched a video on you tube that showed it being done that way, and it looks pretty cool. It is supposed to be much better that way. Able to get to the green zone much quicker.... and that is definitely where I wanna be! Good luck! :tongue: Here is the link if you want to watch it. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sseeEWiSSzM]YouTube - Dr. Ortiz - Band adjustment under X-Ray[/ame]

I am really depressed. I was banded on Dec 30. I started out on the liquid diet for the 2 weeks post op. I did great on the 10 day pre op diet. Even through Christmas. I never cheated and was so proud of myself. I thought that after the surgery it would be easier, but after being around more food than Christmas time, for the New Years celebrations and football bowl parties, I decided to "try" a little food. No problem! So I tried a little more.... still no problem at all. So today, I just ate like normal, and everything is just like normal... :grouphug: I actually tried to see if something might make me sick, so that I would stop, but nothing did. OMG... this is horrible. I am so sad. Just the eating I have done has put me back in that place where I want to eat all the time. I know my doctor is probably going to be mad, and I hate the thought of waiting for 4 more weeks for a fill... I definitely think I have some depression from the surgeries. (I had my gallbladder out 4 weeks before my band). And I always feed my depression.... but I really feel out of control, and that makes me even more depressed. I just didn't expect this after my surgery. I thought I wouldn't be able to eat afterwards. *sigh*

Green... just wanna say... I may not know ya... but I like ya! Excellent job on reaching your goal so quickly. How much have you lost? How long has it been? I totally agree about the weighing thing. I got rid of my scales years ago, and told my hubby I refuse to be a slave to that stupid scale! I have lived in that place where all my emotions are dependent upon those numbers. Plus, my scale at home and at the doctors never is the same. The thing I am looking forward to the most is not just losing the weight, but for once in my life, keeping it off! That would be more than awesome! Anyway, you are smart and funny! (Just like me!) hehhehehhe:tt2:

Good for you diet peach! I don't think it is any more wrong to try to justify eating poorly than it is to try to justify being judgmental (bordering on mean). As you said ALS, you have made mistakes before and will again. As have I and everyone else on here. It all just works better if we are more forgiving with one another. Forgiveness does not equal enabling. Most of us struggle with security issues as it is, and our goal is to quit trying to feel like a piece of dirt, and this should be a safe place for that. Whether you justify it or not, your post seemed mean. And now mine does as well. So I am very sorry. Good luck to you in your journey!

Excellent response! (just thought I would let you know) btw.. you look awesome!

Kudos to you Green. That is the kind of response I am talking about. Honesty (not enabling) with encouragement. I did the opposite. I did great pre op, and through Christmas no less. Never cheated, but post op I completely fell to pieces. And when you fall to pieces and break all the rules you feel like a worthless piece of $hit (excuse the language:blushing:) and like you are the only one in the world with such a pitiful lack of willpower. What happens here is you find that others have fallen to pieces too, but still went on to be successful. I needed to know that all was not lost. I was okay, and I could just go on. So here i go.... off to "skinny land"! WOOHOO!! LOL I can't wait to be weighed again, and I am looking forward to posting some before and after pictures. hehehhehe But first...just to make it through the next few weeks I guess.... I am glad I am in this boat with others.

Like you said Donna... no skin off your nose. We are all adults and truly only accountable to ourselves. But the main reason, I would think, for this forum is not to be lectured or enabled, but to be supported. I know what things I have done wrong, and I am doing my best to do better. What I think we are looking for when we "come clean" and tell ppl we messed up, is for other ppl that have messed up to come along side us and let us know that they did, but more importantly what they did to press ahead. I started the thread, and I knew very well I had goofed, but others sharing that they have had a similar experience but encouraging me to stay with it has been immensely helpful. Unsure... just keep it up. Thank God that every 24 hours we get a whole new day to start all over if we make a mess of it. You should probably really look for a support group. I know I am going to look for one here. If there isn't one in my area (which I don't think there is), then I just may be the person to start one! But support and accountability are probably as important in this process as your actual diet.