Noturningback15

I got banded for health reasons mostly. Before my mother passed away from cancer I promised her I would do something about my weight to decrease my chances of getting cancer as well in the future. At that time I was around 390 and she was more concerned with me than herself! Well, I am going to follow through with my promise! If I get sick it's not because I did not change my lifestyle! Secondly, I got banded because I want to look and feel good about myself. I am tired of being a fat grown up! I can't wait until I get under 300! I thought it would happen in January but hopefully I will hit 299 by the end of Feb! Good luck to you!

I really really hope things get better for you! Even though you are eating some unhealthy things you still may not be getting enough calories in order to do a 60 min workout on the elliptical! Wow you be on it! 30 min is the most I can do and I discovered that doing that with 30 min on the bike 5 times a week I had to increase my calories some....but maybe you should consider either increasing to 1200 min or decrease your workout some. You are probably burning 700 or more calories when using that elliptical for 60 min? Good luck and I hope your situation works out! Everyone has a season to go through things and a new leaf will soon turn for you!

coffee (didn't start drinking until I became banded), Country Time Lemonade, sugar-free drink mixes (all flavors are good).

Name, real or screen~SF2009 Age~31 Weight on January 31st~307 Goal Weight for February 28th~299 Exercise Goal for February~4 to 5 days 1 hour a day. Dietary Goal for February~1500 to 1650 depending on workout days. 1200 no workout days. Personal Goal for February~GET A DATE! Date Banded~02*23*2010 Total Weight Loss Since Banding~53

Whew! You go lady! I feel you! I am going to do just that too! My goal size is a 14 as well but I want to be a 12 on my wedding day if and when I get married.

I was told by my GYN before I had my band put on most likely I had PCOS because of my lack of weight loss and all of the other symptoms you named plus I would go over a year without a period and then turn around and have one for 3 months or more! Oh, I forgot about the severe cravings for Carbs only!

That is good to hear! I am getting excited! I am going to be patient until I lose over 100lbs like you and see what happens. I am getting teary eyed thinking of this clearing up! It really makes me feel so ashamed in public. I got hope now! People really don't understand how this has made me feel over the years. I avoid all V-cut or low-cut shirts. I remember as a teenager wearing turtle necks and it was hot outside! OMG!

Bad idea for me to lower my calories to 1200! I didn't lose a pound and as a matter of fact I am up 2 pounds this morning! I worked out for 1 hour yesterday and I just knew the scale was going to be down lol! Okay, I am going to go back to my 1500 cal range! I weighed myself at 5AM so it may go down to what I was yesterday.

I am going through the same exact thing right now! I am at my sweet spot....I got my fill on December 16 but the reflux didn't really kick in until about a week ago. I guess my band got tighter even though I lost 10 pounds in 4 weeks. It seems as though it would have gotten loser? Anyways, I am going in on Feb 1st for a slight unfill because the acid is horrible! I can fill it going up and down throughout the day. I am at 7.3 so I am going to ask for 7.2 and hopefully it will make a difference. I noticed I haven't lost any weight since the reflux started and my band got tighter too. It will only get worse so if I was you I would call. I think the only reason I am not coughing on it at night is because I doubled my dosage of Nexium.

Congrats! I will agree it is the best thing I've done too!

Congrats on your girls! That's good to hear and good luck on getting back on track! I can only imagine having to tend to children and keep up with all of these rules we have with the band!

My scale has been stalled for 2 weeks now and I am hoping that by Monday it at least be 306! I weigh in on Feb. 1st and wanted to be 303 to be a total of 15 down from my last fill 6 weeks ago but 11 or 12 will have to do!

LOL! Good for you! Glad you shared! I know it feels good to see that scale go down!

1 pound! LOL! That's my avg. Now, I have lost 2 pounds a week since my last fill on Dec. 16 but that's not my usual. I avg my total loss since surgery day and it avg out to be 4.8 pounds a month. I am happy though because it's staying off! That was the point of me getting the band is to keep it off! I have never kept off this amount of weight for 11 months!

Today, I had breakfast at 9:30, lunch at 1:30, and dinner at 5:30. I had a popcicle at 12 something. I didn't get hungry in between meals. I ate at those times because I don't like to go more than 4 hours without food but I am sure I could have went longer.

Yes mam! I have skin tags everywhere! On my neck, on the side of my stomach and underarms! I think it's related.

I only lost 4 pounds at my 6 week appointment after my surgery which was expected. They let me know that the first month after surgery is a healing process. The weight loss will begin again. I do understand how it can be discouraging to lose all this weight on the liquid diet before surgery in a few days and then it slows up so much! Cheer up!

Yea, I'm thinking even though you didn't have insurance for those years your weight should be recorded somewhere? Did you ever join a gym or weight watchers during that time and they have your weight on file?

You are so right about that! I guess that's why they came to the conclusions that it still was a success. My thoughts are that whites make up a larger sample population to start with and therefore when the selections are done they have a higher chance of picking the more successful ones versus a small sample of blacks to choose from. Since we only make up around 12 % of the US population every study researchers do on us seems to be outrageous with the outcomes! I am going to be a success at my weight loss no matter what the studies show! Good luck with yours as well!

When I was 394 I used plently of things at the gym that I am sure I was not supposed to LOL! I was just thinking that since the bike is not actually moving and you are sitting still it couldn't do too much damage? The only thing that is really moving are your legs but then again depending on the brand....

Thanks for the reply. The creams and ointments doesn't work. I have tried plenty of them. I will see what it looks like when I get closer to my goal weight. Then maybe some skin lightner will work then.

So, I am going to go into the new year with a new set of goals. Today, I have decided to eat one meal a day and do liquids for the rest of the day. I love breakfast so I probably will have solids then. I am at 312 so I am going to do this until I see 299. I pray for dedication and courage. I know it's not going to be easy but I just have to get out of the 300's before January is up! I wanted to be 299 by the first but it didn't happen. I am not going to complain about it but move on. My plan is to do 1 hour of exercise for 5 days a week and eat/drink 1000 to 1200 calories a day. I am happy with my progress so far but I haven't seen a 2 in front of my weight in over 10 years so I am too ready for this change!

Finding research on this issue is very hard and most of what I have found is very vague. I found this a few minutes ago but it doesn't explain why. I am going to keep looking. I seen something yesterday that said black women have more of a Type B fat cell than other's (not more fat but more of a certain type of fat) studies show that we actually have 10% less fat than our counterparts when we go in for surgery. I am assuming with this Type of fat it may be better to do a malabsorptive type of procedure instead of the band? My theory so don't quote me on it. Comparison of outcomes after laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding in African-Americans and whites Parikh, Manish; Lo, Helen; Chang, Christopher; Collings, Dinee; Fielding, George; Ren, Christine 2006 Nov-Dec;2(6):607-10; discussion 610-2, Surgery for Obesity & Related Diseases BACKGROUND: Race may affect outcomes after bariatric surgery. This study compares outcomes in terms of weight loss and comorbidity resolution between African-Americans and whites after laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB). METHODS: Data from 959 patients undergoing LAGB between July 2001 and July 2004 were prospectively collected and entered into an electronic registry. Propensity score matching analysis was used to match whites to African-Americans on the basis of age, gender, and preoperative body mass index (BMI). Preoperative comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertriglyceridemia) were also compared. Operative time (OR), length of stay (LOS), comorbidity resolution, and percent excess weight loss (%EWL) at 1, 2, and 3 years were analyzed. All data were updated through May 2006. RESULTS: A total of 65 white LAGB patients were matched to 58 African-American LAGB patients on the basis of age, gender, and preoperative BMI. The preoperative mean age and BMI were 37 +/- 19 years and 47 +/- 7 kg/m2, respectively. A total of 55% of the white group and 64% of the African-American group had one or more comorbidities (P = NS). Median OR time and LOS were similar in both groups: 50 minutes and 23 hours, respectively. The majority of patients in both groups had major improvement or resolution of one or more comorbidities (61% whites vs 77% African-Americans, P = NS). There was, however, a significant difference in %EWL between whites and African-Americans at each time interval (49% vs 39% at 1 year; 55% vs 44% at 2 years; 52% vs 41% at 3 years; P < .05 for all values.). CONCLUSION: Despite the disparity in weight loss with the LAGB in African-Americans and whites, both patient populations experienced a similar improvement/resolution of obesity-related comorbidities id: J0125081, year: 2006, vol: 2, page: 607, stat: Journal Article,

Enjoyed reading your blog and it is very inspirational! Congrats on losing 50lbs!:Banane10: