stephleon

This is the best idea. This is exactly what I had to do to see it. I am down 80 pounds and couldn’t see it until a couple weeks ago. I started at 24W and currently wear size 16. It was obvious to everyone around me but I just couldn’t see it. So I got out some old pics of me from before surgery (they were hard to find, I was always hiding behind people) and compared them side by side to some from a week ago. I thought to myself…. Wow what a difference. I also looked at some pics my husband took and had to take a second and third look because I did not recognize myself. It was great. Hope you get the same experience. I have been trying to take a pic of myself every 2 months and compare. Keep lookin and you will notice a difference too!

I also had the shoulder pain and bloating for many days. It is all the gas they put in me to move things out of the way. It went away eventually and I also had a rough start like you are. It was not anything serious just a lot of discomfort. I had my surgery on 12/13/08 and am down 75 lbs. Once I got off the bumpy road (gas, bloating, discomfort at port site, bruising, stitches opening, ect...) it was so worth it and I WOULD do over again even with what I went through for the first couple months after surgery. I would do it because now I am a totally different person and I love life. I wake up every day feeling so much better and my kids have noticed a huge difference in me. I still have a few minor holes in the road to get around but I feel unstoppable at this point. You will get there too. It took me 3 fills and several months before I really started losing the weight. Take it slow at first. It’s okay to go slow. My progress is slow compared to a lot of people but I am healthy and it’s going to stay off. I have slowly developed mew life styles and have NO regrets at all. Good luck and stay positive. I paid for my surgery out of pocket and started second guessing my decisions for the first month or so but I a glad I stuck with it.

I have been doing weight watchers off and on for several years. Now that I am banded I started again and it’s been great. My thought on the yo-yoing of the same 5 pounds is one of two things. If you are working out, you can only count up to four points back in to your daily allowance. So even if you burn nine points you can only add four back in to eat (hope I made sense). The second thing is if you are working out a lot and if you are doing resistance training on top of cardio it could be that you are not eating enough. I know first thought is I am not going to eat any more. That is what I told the personal trainer when she told me that. But, WW does run on the lower end of calories. Your body burns off a certain number of calories everyday. If you are working out on top of that it is possible that you are not getting in enough calories and your body thinks you are starving it. I bought the body bugg (24 hr fitness also seen on biggest loser) and it is amazing how many calories you burn during the day. So I took my trainers advice and the days I did cardio and resistance training I ate up to 5 "allowance" points (i divided the 35 pts WW gives by 7 days in week). What do you know??? I lost weight. I did it again and the next week I lost weight again. I got out of that yo-yo and it has been great. It is just an idea but I thought I would share. Hope it helps and good luck. Really quick I have to say I love WW and also can’t say enough about the body bugg. It has really helped me open my eyes as to how much activity I am truly doing. It is very motivating too. If you have even played with the idea, it is worth every penny. Really it is and I am not someone with extra money lying around.

Me too! I paid for the lap band out of pocket even though I could have had the gastric bypass paid for through my insurance. There are way more problems with bypass and its permanent:eek:. I knew with the lap band I could get it out if anything went wrong. The lap band takes work but it is worth it. I am losing at a study rate and I have complete control. I have control. With the other surgeries you do not get to control the amount of restriction. I am happy with my choice and I would do it again if I had to!

I am doing great. I am losing slow and study, just the way I wanted. I am using a Nurse practitioner named Sheila. She is located in Salem and I make all my appointments through Fill center USA. The fills and consultation appointments cost $165. If I just want to have a regular visit with her (no fill/unfilled) then it costs $85. There is another person that works out of Eugene that comes to Portland once or so a month. I was having a hard time making her schedule work with mine so I went through the Fill Center. It has been working well for me. She is really nice and has worked hard to make things work for me too. Hope that helps and good luck!!

I am always cold all the time too. I lost my boobs:crying:. oh well cant have it all I guess. Too bad we cant pick the places we want to lose the weight. on the good side.... I have lost exactly 80 pounds since the date I called to schedule to be banded. I was 308 in oct 2008 and tonight I weighed in at 228:thumbup:

In about a week I will have my 6 mo anniversary. I have lost almost 60 pounds. I had a slow start but I am doing good now. I am having a slow and study weight loss. How is everyone else?

im in. i have already made small goals for myself as well. so when is start? how many weeks do you want to go? there are other challenges out there as well for different dates ( ie june 1st and 4th of July). So throw out some details and I will join the fun.

I have a 9.75 CM band that holds 4cc. I have had 3 fills and am currenltly at 3.2 cc. This is my sweet spot (for now). I had my last fill just over 2 months ago and have been losing 2.4 lbs a week since this last fill. I am pretty tight and there are several things I dont dare to eat (breads, pizza,torillas, oatmeal, things like that). But I am very happy where I am and excited to see the changes every time I step on the scale and look in the mirror.