Veronica72

Thank you! We share a birthday....Happy belated birthday to you! Congratulations on the 8.5 lbs. That's great.

By the way... anyone notice my weight loss ticker at the the half-way mark? Yippee!

Finally finished plateauing. I'm down almost 5 lbs. this week after a two-week stall. Pete - Best of luck to you. I hate to hear that you're going through a rough time. You're always lifting all of us.... What are we? Holiday Hotties? up from them. Those are the types of stressors that can not only sabotage our progress, but put lots of weight back on. It looks like you are still managing okay, though, so horray for you!

Thanks China and Sue. This sure is a roller coaster of a process, isn't it? I did make the 3 lb. loss this week. Five more pounds to go and I'll be at the halfway mark! I guess that's my goal for July... to hit the halfway mark.

I forgot to check in last week. I lost 1 lb. I do my official weigh ins on Fridays. It looks like I may have 3 lbs. to report tomorrow... if I drop .2 lbs. I'm glad I'm finally hitting my stride. I'm sure I'll plateau for a bit soon, but hopefully I'll keep on working through it.

Woo Freakin' Hoo! I'm down 5 lbs. from last week. *Happy Dance* I got a small fill yesterday, too. .75 ccs.

Thanks Pete. I'm glad to see you still on the board... and still losing and encouraging your fellow "losers." You're doing fantastic.

I'm down 3 lbs. from last week! The scale is finally beginning to move again. I've scheduled an appt. and will hopefully get a fill on Thursday. I've had 3 and am at 5.5 cc's so far. I don't have any restriction at all. Anyone else experiencing this with that much fill?

It's four months later and I'm finally back and down one pound. It's only one pound, but it signifies my moving in the right direction again. I've been taking a doctor-recommended hiatus from concentrating on the weight loss -no more fills :thumbdown: - to concentrate on trauma therapy that I started in December. It's hard to post that, but I wanted to share that the benefits are proving to be phenomenal. I'm not a therapy-type person and only started going per the surgeon's requirement, but how incredibly "freeing" I'm finding it to work past issues that I had no idea were weighing me down. Yes... literally! Hopefully, I'll have more lost pounds to post again soon.

No weight loss for me for the past two weeks. *sigh* My appetite is back with a vengeance. I did finally get my first fill (3 ccs) last week. Not much difference yet. I have another one scheduled for March 12th. Hopefully after another fill or two, I'll have much more control. I'm gunning for at least one pound to report next week!

Congratulations Pete! You are doing so well. Well, for my first February weigh-in, I lost 1 lb. I'm going slow, but steady.

Good job on the spreadsheet guys!

Just checking in with my total for the month. I lost one more pound this week for a total of 6 lbs. for the month. My goal was 10, but I set that when I was supposed to get a fill mid-month. I'm good with 6 lbs. I'll stick with a 10-lb. goal for February since I SHOULD be getting my first fill 2/12 and am hoping that will make a difference. Six lbs. is good, but guess what's great?? I hit "onderland" today. Woohoo! BTW - Where is this spreadsheet? Is it going to be posted? I think the month's biggest loser should get to put a "January 2009 How Low Can You Go Challenge Winner" ribbon in their signature.

So far, I lost 2 lbs. the first week, 1 lb. last week, and 2 lbs. this week - for a grand total of 5 this month. Not great, but I'm certainly pleased. I went to the doctor on the 19th, which was supposed to be for my first fill, but they apparently scheduled me too early. They said they like to wait 8 weeks. I'll get my first fill February 12th. I'm looking forward to it. I get fairly hungry.

Preferably odor eliminating candles. There's a show on BBC called "You are What you Eat," and Jillian (the nutritionist) had definite opinions on poop. She has all of her "patients" poop for her so she can examine it. Blah. I'm sure next time I watch it, I'll pay more attention to what the "ideal" is and try to fill in all those who are interested.

I paid a $250 program fee after I was approved by my insurance. My share of the surgery is supposed to be 10% (insurance - BC/BS Federal Employee Program), but I have not received the bill yet.

Thanks. After I posted, I realized that I may have come across as snippy and hoped that I didn't, as that wasn't my intention. I just wanted to share my story and say "yeah I've been there, too." After I gained it back this time, I figured I better have a better plan in place if I wanted to try to lose it again, since losing and regaining is bad for you. Good luck to you in reaching your goal. I'd be happy with 32 lbs. gone (forever?!!) in 6 months!

What I got the band for was the appetite control. You can have all of the education, support, exercise, determination, etc. in the world, but if you have my problem - which most of us probably do - you can't control your appetite. You've lost it (congratulations!!!) and perhaps you will keep it off (wonderful!!!- I really hope you do.), but maybe you'll be stuck thinking about food all day long, constantly battling the urge the eat, beating yourself up every time you think you've overdone it, exercising a little more and a little more to make up for the calories you couldn't resist. That's the point I was at and why I got the band. How successful I'll be with it remains to be seen, but I feel it's my best shot at keeping off what I lose. I've lost over 50 lbs. several times. I've lost over 100 lbs. before, kept it off for about 4 years. Changed every habit I had. Ate off of little plates, kept track of my calories, timed my meals, bought nice clothes, learned as much as I could about nutrition, drank tons of Water, worked out 2 times a day, which included a three mile run, and lots of weight lifting... I never could control that damn appetite though. Even if I didn't give into it, it made me miserable. If I did, I was more miserable. Peace of mind and a fighting chance are worth getting the lap-band for in my opinion.

Well, it looks like I'm eating too much! I added 200-300 calories this week to get to around 1000-1100 per day and have actually lost 2 lbs., whereas I was at a standstill until I did that. Anyway.... I generally get in 3 meals per day, 1 snack, a plain Protein supplement (1 scoop of Isopure in 6 oz. of water) and a "supplemented" protein supplement (mixed with yogurt or cream of wheat). My snack is either a Yoplait Fiber One yogurt or a sugar free pudding. My meals generally consist of one of the following: 2 scrambled eggs 1 can of tuna with a bit of light Miracle Whip and relish 1 individual size cottage cheese 1/2 can of refried Beans Wow... everyone else seems to be eating less. I'm still on mushies and haven't varied my diet much, but am pretty satisfied with what I've been eating. If I get hungry in the evening, I'll eat a sugar free Jello (10 calories) to stop the rumbling. The only thing I've really craved since having the surgery is a big old slice of pizza. Yum.

I've been very well behaved when it comes to following the doctor's eating plan, but I can see how people can screw up. For the most part, we're addicts.

You are doing fantastic! Kudos to you. I'm doing the same thing you are, with the exception of a 30-minute work out. I'm supposed to wait 6 weeks, but I did start doing my elliptical machine this week for 2, 15-minute sessions per day and that kickstarted me into losing again. But, I am taking it easy, going slow, and not using the arm things, since I'm not supposed to be exercising yet. (I can walk, but don't on rainy 30 degree days.) I'm also getting in at least 50 grams of protein per day from supplements.

Looks like Ann is kicking butt. 36 lbs.?! Wow. I need to get some tips. I lost 2 lbs. this week. I do my official weigh-in on Friday morning. So, put me down for two this week - which brings my total, since surgery, to 17 lbs. lost. Woohoo. I was stuck for almost two weeks, but added some calories and started exercising a bit, at a real low intensity, and seemed to do the trick.

I put on 15 lbs. to qualify. I felt like Morgan Spurlock in that film Supersize Me afterward though. Blah. Fifteen is what I've lost so far, too. Wouldn't that be ironic if that was all I managed to lose?