xavier

heres my story...you asked for it! Well I guess I was obese since about 20 years (Im 48) and I dieted lots of times and lost weight but always gained it back plus a little more.

I self paid since I didnt have any comorbidities which I guess was good.

I got banded 5/09 and weighed 215 but I know I was in the 230s before that and of course higher even with pregancy..my daughter is 17 so it was getting silly to call it baby weight!

Anyway I lost about 5-6 pounds a month beginning after 3 fills which put me at 6cc in a 10cc band. I got toabout 180 and for many months I stayed the same. I thought maybe that was it and part of me was pretty happy with it. My doc is 5 hours south of me in LA and I work 5 hours north in Sacramento...so I was lazy to get a fill and I didnt know if it would matter but I guess I just refused to diet or exercise since I had never been able to do that long term before! After 10 months a friend nagged me to at least go down and see my doc and I ended up getting 1.7cc. From ther I started losng at about 5-6 per month again pretty easily (except for the slow process of learning to eat slowlu carefully and not throw up!).

So then I plateaued agin at 155 and I was pretty happy with that! But normal BMI for me would be 145 so I got a fill doc only about an hour and a half away and she gave me 0.3cc which I thought could never make a difference! But I lost 15 pounds over three months and have stayed at 140 ever since!

The only times I counted calories or weighed food etc was on those plateaus just to see if I was being honest with myself...

These days in maintenacne the whole thing is pretty easy.I eat about 1000 cals a day and take the protein first thing very seriously since I am a fish only vegetarian...I start almost every day with a Premier Protein shake from Cstco which is 30 grams of protein and 160 cals. Your protein needs are half of your ideal weight so for me 140 pounds so 70 grams a day...