HDmama

Well, I had some restriction, but there really hasn't been anything I can't eat (I just choose not to eat things that have no nutritional value....I've just focused on Proteins and veggies). I've never had to really eat super slow like I've read people do or drink slowly - I've not really changed in that regard because I haven't needed to (guess I was on the loose side)....I have the standard size band (10mL I guess?). I also started dieting after I had my first consult so before I ever had surgery, I had lost over 40 pounds (which really helped I think). I'm going to just be cautious with eating this weekend and if it doesn't seem to ease up a bit, I might go back next week for a slight unfill....I'm not enjoying not being able to drink as quickly (or as much since it takes so long)....starting to think I shouldn't have messed with it (but I'm hoping it's just a little swelling because it's been so long since I've had a fill?). Well sounds like you are back on track now - congrats on the loss.

Good morning ladies. So I was lying in bed the other night and my port felt really weird - almost like it was sideways or something...the next morning, that area felt a bit sore, so I wasn't sure if I had done something - so I called the doc and they had me come in yesterday - it's all fine AND I got a very small fill (.5 cc - this was my 3rd fill since being banded). The doc was very happy with my progress and actually said my weight was fine and I didn't need to lose anymore (which was a nice NSV) - but I'm still aiming to be a normal BMI (which means losing another 14 pounds to put me at the high end of normal). Anyway - I'm hoping this fill will help me lose these last pounds. I will say I guess I haven't really known what restriction felt like because I've never quite had this experience. I can normally drink my water really fast and haven't had to think about the size of my sips or anything - now it seems to be very slow going down and I can't take big gulps - I'm hoping this is just a little swelling or something and that this part eases up because I'm used to drinking a lot and quickly (especially when working out)....I hope everyone has a great weekend.

I "revised" my goal (lower) because when I looked it up (after I had set it), it still puts me in the overweight category (although I'm currently wearing a size 6 and it's hard to wrap my head around how I'm considered overweight still, LOL). If I get down to the new "normal" (in terms of BMI) goal, I imagine, I'll be in a size 4 :thumbup:.

Hello ladies...looks like you are all doing well! Claire - 13 pounds? WOW - way to go....at the rate I've been losing, that would take me MONTHS, LOL. So I'm 23 days from my 1 year and I'm 4 pounds away from my original goal (14 away from my revised goal)....I'll be THRILLED if I make it to the original - it's very slow going though, so not sure I'll make it. I'll admit, I have been terrible with my exercise lately - I really need to get back into my routine, kids starting school has wreaked havoc with my schedule . Hope everyone is having a great week.

Hello ladies...hope you all had a great weekend. Leigha, congrats on the run - sounds like fun (and way to go beating your son's girlfriend :smile:) Clare - my DH would have been THRILLED to go to a game....he misses that I know - he subscribes to a special pay channel out here that shows the rugby games (of course they show them after the fact, so he has to be careful not to answer the phone when Wales plays because he doesn't want anyone to spoil it for him, LOL). I have a rotten cold at the moment, but apparently, the upside of that is I seem to be tighter than normal, LOL. So I'm finding it difficult to eat solid food....so maybe I'll finally lose a few pounds :thumbup: Hope everyone has a great week.

Oh NO....that is heartbreaking news. I was hoping we'd hear from her that she was just in the hospital recovering...she seemed so sure that it would all be well. My condolences and prayers go out to her family.

kcg - we used to go regularly before we had little ones....we haven't been since my oldest was 2 (she's 7 now)...so it's been quite a while - I'm sure my DH is a bit homesick. I've told him he can go on his own if he wants to, but he doesn't want to go without us (and 4 tickets, plus car rentals can get pretty pricey..and we can only stay a week or so when we go :smile:). His parents come out to us twice a year and stay 4-6 weeks each time, so it just seems to work out better (we give them our air miles so they don't have to pay so much). Anyway...so after my big bike ride and the gain, I dd, in fact, start losing again....was doing fine and then all of a sudden, the scale started creeping up again. And after a long weekend of walking for over 10 hours...the scale was up again and slowly crept up 3 pounds from my lowest weight :bored:. So I really started considering getting another fill, and what do you know - the scale started moving back down again (not to where I was, but I'm now only 2 pounds up instead of 3!)....I will admit that I have been severely lacking in the exercise dept this week - I have done....ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. So tonight, I'm getting on my exercise bike and will do at least 30 minutes there and I will do at least 30 minutes on the treadmill....I've got to get this moving in the right direction again. At the rate I'm going, I won't be at my goal weight until Spring :w00t:. Hope Astramom is OK...

kcg - my in-laws live near Cardiff actually. So I started the weekend out on a good foot (or so I thought)...I went on a 23 mile bike ride on Saturday and in spite of that, I hopped on the scale today and seemed to have gained a pound :thumbup:. I'm going to try to stop thinking about it and just continue as I have been. I've contemplated going to get a small fill, but honestly, I eat so little now, I don't know that being able to eat less would be good. I guess I'll just see how the next couple weeks go. Have a good week everyone.

kcg - are you in the UK? My husband is from Wales (his family is all still there)...if so, hopefully you are seeing a bit of sun today (at least I know they are in Wales, LOL). Sorry to see you haven't been feeling well, but I guess the upside is the weight loss, right? I've lost 3 pounds in the last MONTH...so very slow going for me. It's very frustrating to not see the scale moving, although I apparently am still losing in inches because I just went down another size....

Can you share with us what type of foods you are eating on a daily basis? Are you getting enough Protein? Sounds like you are exercising (which always helps, even when the scale seems to stall - keep it up). Do you track your calories at all? If not, that might help you get a good picture of where you are at (nutritionally) and perhaps you can make some tweaks? I tracked everything I ate and all my exercise religiously for the first 8 months - it's only been the last month or so that I've eased up on that (I'm still eating the same way, just not tracking it since I pretty much know how many calories everything I eat daily are :tt2:). Do you get all of your Water in? Do you hold off on drinking while/after eating? Just trying to get an idea of where you are so I can offer some (hopefully helpful) advice. Have you taken your measurements along the way? That always helps keep me sane when the scale stops moving.

I think I'm in a good place with restriction - I can eat most things without problem (I just don't eat them most of the time)....I get what I consider full (now) pretty quickly (not like the full I used to experience, but just feels really slow going down and I take that as my cue that I'm done - no matter how much I don't want to be, LOL). I've actually only had two fills and have 4.5 cc's in my band - the last couple times I went in, they didn't think I needed a fill based on our conversation and my rate of loss at the time - not sure they would agree with that now since it's slowed down - but I don't want to be so tight that I get stuck on most things....I already eat pretty small portions so I can't imagine eating less, LOL. Weight is the same this week as last week (even though I did two 15 mile bike rides this weekend)....but it will eventually catch up to me (at least that's what I tell myself).

Great thread! I was banded 10/22/09. I've lost 107 since my first appt (70 pounds since surgery). I hope by my 1 year anniversary, I'll be at my "original" goal (which was 160)....I've since lowered that goal since it still puts me in the overweight category - but if I can get there by my one year, I'll be thrilled. I'm planning on kicking up my exercise and trying some different stuff to get my loss going again - the weight loss has really slowed down even though I'm still doing the same stuff. I'm really not complaining though - I'm happy with where I am and even if I don't lose another pound, I'll be happy.

What was the date of your surgery? - 10/22/09 How healthy did you/do you eat? - Relatively healthy - I don't snack or eat junk food, but I probably don't eat as many fruits/veggies as I should. How much do you exercise? - minimum of 4 days a week, but usually daily How much have you lost? - 107 pounds (some of it pre-op) Are you happy with your results? - heck yeah! Best thing I've ever done for myself.

Not sure what you define as "a while", so I may not be what you had in mind :cool: - BUT, I'll give you my answer anyway. I've only puked once (two weeks ago) - I ate some chicken that was a bit on the dry side....let's just say, I hope to continue my non-puking streak - that was not pleasant. I do sometimes feel food just sitting there sort of stuck"ish", but it usually goes away within a few minutes so not sure it's a real stuck, KWIM?

I can totally relate. Only my hubby, mom, and in-laws know (and one friend) -and I didn't want to tell people initially because I didn't want the negativity that I knew would come with it from others (it was bad enough hearing that I was taking the "easy" way out from hubby, I didn't want to hear it from anyone else). And as I get more and more people asking me what I did, I do sometimes feel like I'm "lying" - but really - I DID THE WORK....yes, I had some help - but honestly - the band does NOT help me/make me get on the treadmill/elliptical/bike or whatever else I do DAILY. It does not make it so that running is easy for me (but I run because I can and it's a challenge and because I want to push myself) - it does not make my choices on what I put in my body - the only thing it really does is help me not eat as much and makes me more conscious of WHAT I choose to eat because I certainly didn't go through this to not be successful. It's NOT easy (whether you have the band or not)...I have very little fluid in my band (only had two small fills) - I can pretty much eat what I want, but I don't - I make good choices and I exercise...so those are the things I have to remind myself of when I start feeling guilty about not divulging the "whole truth". I feel like if I told people, they'd discount all the hard work that I've put into this and just give all the credit to the fact that I had WLS - which is just not true...I know someone else who had the same surgery but chooses not to work out and not to eat the way she should, and guess what - she doesn't look any different today than when she had surgery...in fact, I didn't even know she had lapband until I overheard her talking to someone about how it doesn't work....

Well that explains it, LOL. It was only 11 years ago that I was in a size 6 (at 160) - so I don't have anything else to compare it to.....at my lowest (adult) weight, I was 135 and I looked VERY thin and was wearing a size 4....I doubt it's even possible to get down to that weight again (lots of years and a couple of kids later ).

This is a VERY interesting thread. I'm 5'6, and my original goal was 160, but then I saw that was still considered "overweight" on the BMI chart. I chose that goal because at that weight, I'm in a size 6 (so it's shocking to me to be considered overweight in that size). So I've lowered my goal to 150, which puts me at the high end of normal (and I'll probably be in a size 4 at that point!). I'm already in a size 8, so it's hard for me to believe that I'm still considered overweight - but apparently, I am

Betsy - that program looks awesome! How did you find it? I'm very excited about trying this - thanks!!

That makes me crazy! My DH actually made a similar comment (while I was in the hospital AFTER surgery). But here's my take on it. To me, this doesn't feel any "easier" than dieting….for me, the only difference is if at some point, my willpower is diminishing and I'm having one of those "oh who cares, it's too hard, hopeless, etc." days - the band won't allow me to do something to sabotage all of my efforts J (well not without some sort of reminder that it's there)…and honestly, for me - having gone through a major surgery is enough of a motivator to remind me that I cannot let my old habits come back or I'll be right back where I was. But I wouldn't say it was easy. I journal all my food, I exercise daily and I don't eat JUNK - it's not any easier for me to do that because of the band (in fact, as far as the eating goes, sometimes that's difficult to do…I'm sure junk food would go down a lot easier than solid protein at times, but I CHOOSE not to go there, it's not that my band is making that choice for me).

I love the dailyplate app for the iPhone (think it's called Livestrong)...I use dailyplate.com on my PC, and this syncs right up so I have my info handy and updated whereever I am. I use it to track both my calories and my activity....I'm seriously addicted.

I also work in an environment where this CRAP food here all the time....seriously - and not only is it just here, right next to our printer so every time I have to get something from the printer, it's staring me down..but people go out of their way to come and bring it right to my office to offer it to me (even though they see, I'm clearly not eating that type of junk). What I normally do when I feel tempted is I log in to dailyplate and look up the nutritional values of whatever it is that's tempting me.....seeing that one small cookie has 140 calories and a bunch of fat usually turns me off immediately. So looking up the calories and then figuring out what exercise I'd have to do to burn it off usually tells me whether something is worth it or not (more often than not, it's just not worth it, LOL). Hang in there....there will always be temptations, but the more you DON'T give in, the stronger in your resolve you'll become (at least that's my experience).

Fun! Let's see, being able to RUN (yep, I have NEVER been a runner, but I love that now I can). Being able to fit in one of our chairs with both my kids (and they aren't piled up on my lap fighting for space, LOL). Being able to fit comfortably on any ride at Disneyland. Going from a size 22/24 (pants) to a size 10 and from a 26/28 (top) to a Large!! It's awesome to be able to shop ANYWHERE! Being able to wear heels and not feel like my feet are going to fall off, LOL.

WOW! 6 months! How time flies when you're able to be out enjoying life :thumbup:. I'm doing well. I've only had 2 fills (last time I went in, they didn't think I needed one, and honestly, I probably don't)...so I have 4.5 cc's and I seem okay with that. I can eat 3-4 ozs solid protein and then I'm done...I stay full for 4-5 hours...some days I'm hungrier than others, but I just make smarter choices about what I choose to eat on those days than I would have in the past. The weight loss is slowing down now, but it's still moving in the right direction, so I'm happy about it (it's not going up, right?). It is a lot of work (especially in the beginning), but I've found that the more I do it, the more it becomes habit and now it doesn't even occur to me most of the time to pick up something that doesn't offer me anything nutritionally (junk)....don't get me wrong, at times, junk looks really good - but I just walk away and look up the calories and see how much EXTRA I'd have to run/walk/work-out to burn it off, and suddenly, it's not so appealing, LOL. Hope everyone is doing well and staying focused. For those that are struggling - don't lose hope, just keep making the right choices more often than not and exercise if you can and it will start coming off, I'm sure (perhaps slow, but as long as it's moving south - you're good, right?)

I was banded in Oct. From July-Oct, I lost 38 (pre-band), from November until now, I've lost another 46 pounds (so 84 pounds in the last 8 months). You can do it - just focus and do what your doctor tells you :smile2:

I tried them pre-band - they did nothing for me - except make me consume 100+ (can't remember the calorie count) extra calories. I would think that it's not good with the band because it's not really protein and is just wasting space in your stomach so I can't imagine you'd stay full longer - and if you eat after having one, it's just that much less room for the type of stuff you should be eating that will keep you full (protein)