JamesJ4

Accidentally posted this under the wrong forum earlier...woops, i'll try it again. I remember many years ago going through these forums reading about the success of everyone post op. I'm sure if anyone will understand my post its people here. I liked reading stories that i could relate to, it gave me hope. Here is my story pre-op to present and what ive encountered as good and bad effects of the process: I grew up a big kid, the biggest in my class of course, bigger than grown men by the time i was in 7th grade. i was 6 foot tall and I tipped the scales at over 300 at the age of 12, and graduated high school around 318. After high school i ballooned up to 330, yoyo dieted for a few years, losing some weight then gaining it back plus some extra every single time, finally hitting my all time max of 388 by the time i was 27. I don't think i need to go into description of what that feels like but its a horrible life living that way. I was blessed enough to get a job that had insurance that covered the procedure and in late May of 2010 at the age 29 of i started my path to weight loss. The weight loss came slow as i would drop pounds here and there, never gaining but hitting many many plateaus along the way. By 2011 I was steady at 330, which while a huge improvement, was not exactly where i wanted to be. I read on here about how people dropped massive amounts of weight over 6 months and i wished i could do the same but i guess i just wasn't built that way. Working out was still hard because of my size and eating right was like pulling teeth but like all of you i pressed on. By the time 2012 hit i was back at my high school size of 315 and while i noticed the difference people started to judge me. See to your friends and some family they think this is a miracle procedure that will take you from morbidly obese to Brad Pitt over the span of a year max....wrong.....its a daily struggle and only your true loved ones and real friends will be there for you throughout this, some of us learn this the hard way. See once you start doubting yourself and think everyone is silently judging you it gets twice as hard and because I elected to let everyone know i was getting the lapband i couldn't make excuses - i had nothing to hide. To me it actually gave me motivation to keep with it to feel better that i would accomplish this and to make the doubters in my life see anything was possible. 2012 was probably the hardest year in my life, i had many outside complications in my personal life that changed me and my family. It was the most devastating 12 months I hope I ever have to go through. That being said it drastically slowed down my weight loss progress, I never gained a pound but stayed steady at 315 all the way until November/December where i finally hit a milestone of 298. I was under 300 for the first time since my preteen years. In February of 2013 I went in for a adjustment, this was probably my 5th or 6th once since surgery and i had around 6.5cc in my band (large "vega" band). When I went to lapband meetings and read older posts people always talked about the "green zone" which is like your magic spot where it all starts to fall in place, well, I had FINALLY reached mine. Finally under 300 i started doing kettle bell workouts and choosing more active assignments at work. I started eating healthy, salads, high Protein meals, no cokes, no more sweets. I still indulged but in moderation. I lost 45 pounds by anniversary date in May and now sat at 249. I felt great, my clothes didn't fit, and finally...FINALLY...people asked if i had lost weight. I thought that was the strangest part so far. I had lost 88 pounds t get to 300..and it was like no one noticed, hell I barely noticed, most of my clothes still fit at that point and i was so discouraged....i mean really 88 pounds and i barely notice a difference, then i lose 50 and its like I'm a new person. You see yourself everyday so you'll never notice the changes, small or big. Take pictures, it will help to show your progress, that's a big regret i have. I was so disappointed with the amount of time it was taking I lost interest in a diary/journal, i wish i would have kept with it. I kept losing weight throughout 2013 until i hit my goal weight of 235 and continued a past it down to 225 by September 2013. Here i have stayed bouncing from 220 (my low was 213, didnt feel right at all) to 230. I did it and i've kept it strong for 16 months straight. It can be done, and you can live happily. I know this was long winded for a first post but i'm working graveyards and i wanted to give a snippet of what its been like for me. I willing to answer any questions you have, there is of course more to parts of this story than i feel like writing so feel free to contact me if you'd like. I tried to attach a picture of different times in my life from pre op and post op but i'm new to this site so i hope i did it right. The Good: buying clothes you never could get before playing with my daughter without having to sit every 5 minutes no more knee pain not sweating ALL THE TIME Better sleep Feeling more active and not wanting to be locked in my house 24/7 from embarrassment The Bad: My wife's reaction once I hit my goal weight. She wasn't used to me looking like i did, and she was concerned with me leaving. Her thought was if i finally feel good and have lost weight i was going to sew some wild oats from my youth. This still causes problems today. This one will sound arrogant, and i don't mean it to be, just simple truth that I'm sure a lot of us have noticed after successful surgery. People look at you different, you will garner some unwanted attention at times. This causes jealousy in your home life with you significant other. It happens a surprising amount, and while its a ego boost it can really hurt a relationship, even if its out of your hands. Learning your body, and when to say enough is enough can and will cause you to became sick at the most inopportune time (out to eat with family or friends). I have had at least 5 incidents where i had to quickly excuse myself to go to the restroom because i still struggle with eating slow and proportions. I'll probably always have to deal with it and it can be very aggravating. Take the good with the bad though. Not having anyone to go through the struggle with. If you can find a weight loss buddy do it. I was basically alone my entire time, its not easy.

Little over 4 years post op lap band 388 to 219 (as of this morning)No Regrets. Feel great about myself. Wish I would have known more about the possible negative effects it would have with marriage and the new you. That's a frustrating battle to go through day in and day out.

I remember many years ago going through these forums reading about the success of everyone post op. I'm sure if anyone will understand my post its people here. I liked reading stories that i could relate to, it gave me hope. Here is my story pre-op to present and what ive encountered as good and bad effects of the process: I grew up a big kid, the biggest in my class of course, bigger than grown men by the time i was in 7th grade. i was 6 foot tall and I tipped the scales at over 300 at the age of 12, and graduated high school around 318. After high school i ballooned up to 330, yoyo dieted for a few years, losing some weight then gaining it back plus some extra every single time, finally hitting my all time max of 388 by the time i was 27. I don't think i need to go into description of what that feels like but its a horrible life living that way. I was blessed enough to get a job that had insurance that covered the procedure and in late May of 2010 at the age 29 of i started my path to weight loss. The weight loss came slow as i would drop pounds here and there, never gaining but hitting many many plateaus along the way. By 2011 I was steady at 330, which while a huge improvement, was not exactly where i wanted to be. I read on here about how people dropped massive amounts of weight over 6 months and i wished i could do the same but i guess i just wasn't built that way. Working out was still hard because of my size and eating right was like pulling teeth but like all of you i pressed on. By the time 2012 hit i was back at my high school size of 315 and while i noticed the difference people started to judge me. See to your friends and some family they think this is a miracle procedure that will take you from morbidly obese to Brad Pitt over the span of a year max....wrong.....its a daily struggle and only your true loved ones and real friends will be there for you throughout this, some of us learn this the hard way. See once you start doubting yourself and think everyone is silently judging you it gets twice as hard and because I elected to let everyone know i was getting the lapband i couldn't make excuses - i had nothing to hide. To me it actually gave me motivation to keep with it to feel better that i would accomplish this and to make the doubters in my life see anything was possible. 2012 was probably the hardest year in my life, i had many outside complications in my personal life that changed me and my family. It was the most devastating 12 months I hope I ever have to go through. That being said it drastically slowed down my weight loss progress, I never gained a pound but stayed steady at 315 all the way until November/December where i finally hit a milestone of 298. I was under 300 for the first time since my preteen years. In February of 2013 I went in for a adjustment, this was probably my 5th or 6th once since surgery and i had around 6.5cc in my band (large "vega" band). When I went to lapband meetings and read older posts people always talked about the "green zone" which is like your magic spot where it all starts to fall in place, well, I had FINALLY reached mine. Finally under 300 i started doing kettle bell workouts and choosing more active assignments at work. I started eating healthy, salads, high Protein meals, no cokes, no more sweets. I still indulged but in moderation. I lost 45 pounds by anniversary date in May and now sat at 249. I felt great, my clothes didn't fit, and finally...FINALLY...people asked if i had lost weight. I thought that was the strangest part so far. I had lost 88 pounds t get to 300..and it was like no one noticed, hell I barely noticed, most of my clothes still fit at that point and i was so discouraged....i mean really 88 pounds and i barely notice a difference, then i lose 50 and its like I'm a new person. You see yourself everyday so you'll never notice the changes, small or big. Take pictures, it will help to show your progress, that's a big regret i have. I was so disappointed with the amount of time it was taking I lost interest in a diary/journal, i wish i would have kept with it. I kept losing weight throughout 2013 until i hit my goal weight of 235 and continued a past it down to 225 by September 2013. Here i have stayed bouncing from 220 (my low was 213, didnt feel right at all) to 230. I did it and i've kept it strong for 16 months straight. It can be done, and you can live happily. I know this was long winded for a first post but i'm working graveyards and i wanted to give a snippet of what its been like for me. I willing to answer any questions you have, there is of course more to parts of this story than i feel like writing so feel free to contact me if you'd like. I tried to attach a picture of different times in my life from pre op and post op but i'm new to this site so i hope i did it right. The Good: buying clothes you never could get before playing with my daughter without having to sit every 5 minutes no more knee pain not sweating ALL THE TIME Better sleep Feeling more active and not wanting to be locked in my house 24/7 from embarrassment The Bad: My wife's reaction once I hit my goal weight. She wasn't used to me looking like i did, and she was concerned with me leaving. Her thought was if i finally feel good and have lost weight i was going to sew some wild oats from my youth. This still causes problems today. This one will sound arrogant, and i don't mean it to be, just simple truth that I'm sure a lot of us have noticed after successful surgery. People look at you different, you will garner some unwanted attention at times. This causes jealousy in your home life with you significant other. It happens a surprising amount, and while its a ego boost it can really hurt a relationship, even if its out of your hands. Learning your body, and when to say enough is enough can and will cause you to became sick at the most inopportune time (out to eat with family or friends). I have had at least 5 incidents where i had to quickly excuse myself to go to the restroom because i still struggle with eating slow and proportions. I'll probably always have to deal with it and it can be very aggravating. Take the good with the bad though. Not having anyone to go through the struggle with. If you can find a weight loss buddy do it. I was basically alone my entire time, its not easy.

ahh the stretching/yoga poses.....that is a PERFECT description! I know I've done that countless times lol. Very glad its working out in the end for you.

New to posting, been lingering around reading for months, I know what I'm about to say has been asked 100 times before but here it is anyway. I had surgery May 31. My starting weight was 352, after pre-op I dropped to 335. I'm now hovering around 325-329 which I guess is good but I am ALWAYS hungry and i can eat large amounts. My post op diet was a disaster, I jumped into mushy food by the end of week one beginning of week 2. Since late part of my second week I went to mushy food to soft food to pretty much anything I could eat and continued through that week and into week 3 and 4. I'm 1 month post op and I'm back into that bad routine of fighting off bad foods (Chips, candy, burgers and fried anything) and to be honest I'm failing a few times and I feel helpless! Should I have some sort of restriction? heck the other night I was so hungry I ate a double meat cheese burger for gods sake. I've talked to a few others from my area that have had this problem but my concern is should I be able to eat that much? Right after surgery I could barely eat a thing, did I stretch my stomach out or did the healing process take over and now I just basically have a wide open band? My doctor asked how I was doing the day before I returned to work and at the time I was still eating small amounts and soft foods and getting full fast and he said "don't worry that wont last". So is this normal? do I just need to schedule a fill ASAP? Just concerned that I should be losing weight by now and not Yo-Yo'ing already. To make matters worse I am currently working graveyard shifts from 5:30 pm to 5:30 am (on second week in a row with one more to go:mad2:) it really kills my attempt to diet or exercise and that dang snack monster shows his ugly head 2 or 3 times a night! On top of everything else my wife and I are fighting off a bad run of buying to much to fast while i was off after the surgery so i am also super stressed out and eating to compensate......any advice is appreciated.

TeXas please :thumbup: Galveston Born (BOI) and currently in Gods country,Santa Fe Texas where it says 95 but feels like 103. Dont you love the humidity? Banded May 31st By Dr. Duc Vuong out of Dickinson.

@Rocketray, i ate at a slow pace, no shoveling in, lol. I actually took around 1/2 hour or so to do it, i just never got full. @SunD1 This is a hard spot to be in, some people dont understand that when you work nights and everyone is asleep its a different world. On bad nights your non-stop picking up the slack from the day guys and go home exhausted and lazy and grab what you can before you try to get a few hours of sleep before the world wakes you up, and on good work nights its slow....a little to slow and you have to fight off that snacking temptation with a stick! We will make it through it though thank God. We just need to have a few fills and more practice and time! @KarenKeeline - thank you very much for your support! I do love this forum. Congrats on your success, I hope to be there soon! @ozgirl, yes i could find a job with better hours, just not better pay. Luckily i'm in a rotationg shift and working this graveyard's isnt always a back to back to back type of situation. See i work at the now media and president induced hated company BP. We're doing what we can to fix everything but more and more keeps piling up. On top of that i work in Texas City on the Gulf of Mexico so our site is taking a little beating here but i'm sure our area will survive with lessons learned. That being said we are in hurricane season and we have a few little turnarounds going on so hours get a little crazy, but the pay sure makes up for it. I have been winning my war on snacking, and i wait until my body tells me to eat, once my stomach starts growling a me i grab whatever i brought in, problem is without a fill i'm hungry every 1-2 hours depending on what i ate. I know i should be full longer but its not happening! Oh well a few more days and i go in for fill # 1, God i hope it gives me some sort of restriction but i'm prepared to deal if it doesnt :thumbup: oh well thanks again guys!

thank you both for the reply, i know someone posts this same problem every day i was just worried that i have ruined my band already. Today will be the start of high protien low carb. Started off with some great baked tilapia and veg and water. Calling tomorrow to schedule a fill hopefully early next week. Thanks again folks!