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You will do great, just keep you eye on the prize, lol!! I began at a very tight size 24, within a year I was a 00 and have maintained ever since. The maintenance is the hardest part. Losing is easier, because you have the reward of watching the scale go down, NSV's, smaller clothes and many compliments. You will easily be able to get to size 10!

(I'VE ADDED PHOTOS IN A LATER POST....scroll down) Ok old timer pro sleevers or anyone else, really... did this ever happen to you?? I've lost 70 pounds, I've gone from a 30 to an 18/20 (tight, but i got them ON! ), I now fit in bathrooms stalls, airplane bathrooms, airplane seat belts, chairs at places I avoided because of...small chairs, I can reach my feet, feel my hip bones and rib bones, see my chin, cross my legs, reach stuff on the floor from a sitting position, walk up the stairs without getting winded, workout for an hour like it's nothing, get up from the floor without the aid of chairs or 8 strong sailors and a winch--and a plethora of other NSVs... BUT--(we all have a big BUT, don't we??) I CAN'T SEE IT IN THE MIRROR!!!! I see the same 349 lbs staring back at me. WHY oh WHY is my brain doing this to me??? Is this a normal part of the process?? Will it get better? I don't even think my before and after pics look drastically different. That has to be some sort of sickness.... lol

I'm still in a scale stall at almost one month but I have lost some inches AND my blood pressure has gone down so much I was taken off those meds. Oh and also my blood sugar seems to have normalized around 90. Down from the 150s. Some little NSVs for me. @@Veronica Page I'm really happy for your loss. You're exactly one week ahead of me.

nsv= non scale victory

Hello all, this is my first challenge...here is my info. Name, real or screen- Dana Goal weight for August 31st~228 Weight on August 1st~238 Age~40 Dietary goal for August~no carbs this month Exercise goal for August - work out with trainer 1x per week...I am already working out 4-5 days/wk for bat 90 mins a day...the trainer will be an added bonus Personal goal for August~ROCK CLIMBING when I go on vacation at the end of the month Date banded~3/12/12 Total weight loss since banding/pre-op...40 lbs (NSV...out of plus sizes!!!) What is your favorite place to travel?~Caribbean

I waited two weeks but just bc I didn't feel like it. It was fine and it also turned into my second NSV - next morning my hubby told me "baby I could really tell last night that you are down a lot in weight". It was sweet in a weird way. I am down twenty pounds and most from my tummy.

Congrats on your NSV! And great that you are learning to slow down your eating! excellent advice for newbies!

I have kind of an embarrassing NSV to share. I've lost about 44 pounds this year and about 16 since surgery 8/14. Had my first fill yesterday. I finally weigh less than my husband again. He's been eating healthy and working out as well.

Hello - my name is Anne and I got the lapband on my 43 birthday - over 2 years ago. Dr. Chand was my doctor at the Cleveland Clinic - and he did a great job - I haven't had any problems - and have lost about 70lb. I need to lose about 100lb total to be at my goal weight - and I have been at a stall for the past 6 months or so - I have only ever had 2 fills, the last being over a year and a half ago. I still have good restriction - somedays too good - so I don't feel my stall is from lack of restriction - I still can only eat small amounts - but my choices haven't been the best and I have been picking on slider food - crackers and chips are my huge down fall - I am determined to get it back on track this summer and want to lose 10lbs by Sept when I go back to school. I am a teacher - and have 3 children - am married 23 years tommorrow to a pretty awsome guy. We are both off all summer - and we enjoy going on our boat, camping and taking our kids to swim meets and softball and baseball games. We have 2 bearded collie dogs - who we love to death - and one cat we wish we didn't she isn't a bad cat - but older with litter box issues so she ends up living in the basement as she has ruined a few carpets. I came here as I know the one way to get back to basics and get back on track is to be accountable and talk and listen with others who are going through this. I have been a slow loser - which is ok with me - I know the 70lbs I lost are never coming back -and and if I take it slow and steady I will reach my goal eventually - I just am taking time to enjoy the journey - it has been a wonderful ride - many small nsv that just creep up on you - one thing I am trying to incorporate this summer is exercise - my dh and I have been walking every morning - for 45 minutes - this is a huge thing as I hate exercise and lost the 70lbs without any exercise at all....so hopefully we will continue! Looking forward to coming on here and sharing and learning! Huggs! Anne

And what is this "only lost 26lbs"?? - that is a whole lot of weight my dear! It wouldn't be I "only gained 26lbs" would it??? Don't be hard on yourself!! You made a positive decision to change your life and every pound and NSV counts towards that goal to be healthy!!

We had a Redbox movie to return, so I stopped by the CVS on my way to the library. The Redbox kiosk was out of order so I went to the library and picked up my books that were reserved. When I got back in the car I remembered the movie. The nearest Redbox was at McDonald's. I walked in and had the weirdest feeling. I realized I hadn't been inside a McDonald's since before my surgery in late April. It smelled greasy and kind of made me a little queasy. This from a girl who lived on bacon egg and cheese biscuits, sweet tea, cheeseburger Happy Meals, and more Diet Coke than you can imagine. Amazing, strange and wonderful!

Congrats! Can't wait to hear all the NSVs and SVs.

Just think, we are FAMOUS! Hahaha! By the way, Gig Harbor and Lake Oswego are two BEAUTIFUL places to live. I have family in both cities. While I love California, there is sure an extra sparkle there on sunny days! NSV: I brought my trophy to Mexico to show Dr. Ortiz. He came out between surgeries and was so excited. He took a lot of pictures of the two of us (eat your heart out, Betty;), his hand was around my waist. ) I am his FIRST patient to report winning a trophy in a race. haha! Next time, I'll be hauling that giant first place trophy across the border. I ran an easy 4.5 miles today in a little over 45 minutes. Hey DAWN, you are shrinking by the minute. Hey, JULIE, how hard is it to maintain without being able to run? I'm tempted to have the surgery, but am scared to be immobile. It is worth it, right?

I am 6 weeks out today and I feel fantastic. So much so that I just registered for my first ever half marathon in November. WTF? I don't run. A killer could be chasing me and I'd just lay down. To think just a few short weeks ago I was an emotional wreck and kicking myself for going through with the surgery, and now here I am feeling better than ever and registered for a freaking half marathon. Never in a million years did I think this could be my life. THANK YOU VSG!!!

Phew! I feel better now, I thought it was me but now that I know that it's everybody I fell much better. I know this post will go unnoticed but I am actually having fun, for the first time in my life I feel invisible. I think I am going to log this in my NSV chart. Weight Loss to date all of me

I have been working up to running non stop and I was able to do it! I had actually ran 3 miles straight at the gym a few days prior so I KNEW I had no excuse not to do it at this race. Prior to this I had been stopping at 1 mile but I knew that was my brain and not my body stopping me. I have another 5k this weekend and I can't wait to run that one too. By no means is this fast running but it is a start and I feel stronger and faster every week. If I can do this now it is exciting to imagine what I will be able to do with 50 more lbs off me! Sorry I just wanted to share this NSV.

NSV means non scale victory. The scale may not go down, however your clothes fit better or some measure themselves and see how many inches they have lost. Good luck with your band!!!:smile2:

yesterday I went to my pcp for my fasting blood sugar testing (diagnosed pre-diabetic july 06) while talking to the doctor he suggested that I might be able to get off of metiformin (sp) if my a1c's were still looking good. I guess the last ones were good. I was excited and then the nurse called this morning and confirmed that I was to discontinue the meds. that my A1C's are doing much better. 5.4. this after 3 months following surgery I am happy. :bounce:

Lisa, you have a NSV!! Would you have felt like doing this 6 months ago? Betty, I can't believe you can handle a motorcyle, but don't want to drive in Houston! Girl, you sound fearless to me!

Whew. This has probably been the busiest month I've had in years. But I wanted to take some time to reflect on my year since my band repair and Celebrate a small joy. It's been one crazy year - almost to the day - since my 2005 surgery. This time last year, I had my band access port replaced to a lower profile port, the access area moved to a different part of my body - and my tubing repaired due to a leak. (And I just found out from reading my medical records, I had some never-before-mentioned-to-me minor surgical things tweaked during the '05 procedure.) In other words I was practically rebanded a year ago.(I was banded 5 years ago originally, but after major league complications, I struggled mightily to achieve and maintain any real loss with my band. But almost one year ago to the day, I began a sort of "second chance" with the band.) Since my doctor insisted I treat this as a new band as if I was "brand new," that's what I did. I tried life almost as a "new" Banded patient again. One year later, the experiment didn't quite work as we thought. But I am grateful for some of this past year's progress. No, I'm not considered much of a success after only losing 51# -52# of my 70# goal in all these years but although I may have to now consider other non-band & surgical options to get the weight off, I am trying to reflect on some of the positive things that have happened at least in this past year. One difference - with the newer band I once again felt, at least for a time, some real restriction which was really good. It's helped me to have some renewed success and to help deal with the Monster of "Head Hunger" vs "Real Hunger". That's a good thing as a popular domestic diva might say. But now I'm overdue for a fill. Once I get some things settled and situate myself with a new fill doctor I'll be on my way again. Stay tuned. The positive stuff? Well after a busy 2-week period including an out-of-state trip and then some parties and events, I had a small Non scale Victory (or "NSV"). Well, non-scale victories are the only ones I have since I haven't had a "SV" since I got my weight into OneDerLand. But hey, a girl has to take her joys where she can find them. Here's what happened: I had to go shopping to find things to wear (most of my clothes seem curiously big, and although the scale isn't moving much I think my tummy tuck is finally starting to 'kick in'). As a shopped I saw a Clearance Rack for regular (non plus sizes). I rarely can find anything good on the sales rack in larger sizes (A silent curse for the tiny size 4's who can always find something good on sale or clearance :phanvan ) Well, as I browsed, I saw a great dress and grabbed my normal size 16 and put it over my arm. When I peered at it later, I realized that size 16 might be too big after all. This is a major relevation. Some of the thinner among you can't possibly fathom this - but eyeballing a size 16 and having it possibly be too big? Omigawd, that's a big deal for someone like me. I had to make myself hold the dress up and keep looking, because in my head, I didn't believe it, although my eyes were clearly telling me the dress was just too large. On a good day I'm a 16 in jeans, especially with slimmer-fitting brands. [ Background: Now keep in mind I'm a Professional Fat Person - I sometimes feel like being fat, or fighting fat is what I seem to concentrate so much of my energy on. I mean, I'm the girl who can't get her BMI under 30 after having had WLS 5 years ago :rolleyes so my weight is a constant struggle. So after dieting, exercise, LapBand surgery and then a "Well, Dang, I had LapBand 4.5 years ago, why am I waiting? Tummy Tuck" operation- I am usually a size 14 / 14W or so. Sad but true - after all this money, time and effort - honestly I'm grateful just to be able to get to the "regular bigger sizes." Habit still makes me head for the Plus Sizes & Womens Sizes clothes rack. My larger frame means they usually fit a bit better. And really, I'm a Size Tall so there are no regular sizes in Jeans/pants for me, but hey, that's life, eh? But being taller makes my rather uneviable heavier weight a bit more tolerable as I have a larger frame to space my fat out on.] So I'm in the store, right? After arguing with myself for the longest, I drag myself back to the dress rack so I can pick up the same dress in a size 14. I avoided dresses for the longest due to the hanging pouch of skin at my belly. Now that's been minimized quite a bit. So this is the first dress I've bought since my Band Repair and my Tummy Tuck. And although I didn't lose a pound (actually like most TT patients, I initially gained weight due to swelling & Fluid retention) I think my abdomen is finally starting to look trimmer. I have to convince myself to pick up the size 14 but since it's the only one left in that size, I do get it. I really had to quiet my self doubt just to grab the Size 14. Later in the dressing room, I go to pull it over my head and wiggle into it, only to realize it's too tight. I'm crushed - literally. Then I realize two important things: #1. It has a hidden inner zipper which I never bothered to undo - once I unzip it, the dress slides down and fits. #2. Although it was on the Size 14 section of the rack, the dress is tagged as Size 12. Yep, me, NewSho - Professional Fat Person managed to get into a Size 12 slinky silk spaghetti strap dress. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had it on, and it wasn't ripping or splitting. When I saw myself in it, I almost cried. The lady in the next fitting room probably thought I was having a Nervous Breakdown but I was so full of emotion. I never thought I'd see a size 12 again - and although this wasn't my real size, it felt great. I just twirled and twirled and twirled around in the fitting room - I couldn't believe it! Now reality is - I'm not delusional - I can't wear size 12 jeans or shorts. But this dress actually got on my body. Honestly, I need a Boob Lift but until then I have to solve any breast-related issues with well-engineered bras. So this dress does call for a bulletproof strapless bra. Plus my butt really is a size 14 - that should have been the size I should have bought but since the Size 12 actually got on, looked OK and since it was on clearance - that baby came right home with me. A beautiful little silk slip dress in size 12 - and I actually got in it. It was worth its weight in gold. Me? In a 12? Even for just one night, it was so exciting.:confused: I wore the dress to the party that night. There was lots of media & TV coverage of the event, but I felt confident. It did the job, but after losing some weight (and after treating "The Twins" to a much-needed Boob Lift) I would look GREAT in it. But for right now, just getting in it was the victory. I'm still fighting the war but it's nice to win a battle now and then. Thanks for letting me share this. It ain't all gloom and doom over here, all the time. And though I'm always fighting the Battle of The Bulge, at least I got one good shot in this war. :clap2: Happy Band Journeys To All, New Sho (a.k.a. "I ain't a size 12 but I got to play one on TV, just for one night :kiss2: ")

whosya - that is amazing!!!! You're a RockStar!! lulu - good luck w/ the knee!! Don't push it too much too soon or you'll be out of commission for longer :thumbup: Mindy - I'm there with you :eek: We CAN get back on track and get this program done! I'm determined to enjoy running by the time I'm done! Ok - little NSV today. My twin sister has always been smaller than me (ALWAYS) She is one size down from me now and that's already bugging her. Today she asked me for this jogging program and told me how much she weighs - I only weight 8 pounds more than her!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's on a mission now for me not to catch up with her but that's ok I got the band to help me out (hehehehe) I'm going to do yoga (for the first time) tonight. I bought all the goodies (much to DH's chagrin) so we'll see how it works out! Have a fabulous Sunday everyone! wombat

I was sleeved on the 24th and my 2 week post-op appointment is this Wednesday. My surgery went fine but I was in a lot of pain, had no appetite, became dehydrated and developed a kidney infection (a rough 2 weeks I know). Now I still have a little bit of discomfort at my incision sites but other than that I’m doing a lot better. I’m so ready to be off liquids and actually have some food. My only problem is I dropped 13 pounds last week and the scale hasn’t moved since last week and I’m starting to worry. But everyone around me is telling me I look so much smaller than I did before so that is my NSV.

Lissa~ Now that's an NSV! Love it....

Love my band so far banded 4/6/12 down 32 lbs. From pre op. But Did all the pounds come from the one part of my body I actually love ,My breasts ?!?!! I guess it's kind of a NSV but I put my phone in my L breast as usual when I leaned over it fell out.that has never happened.so i started to really check them out and they are kinda just sitting in loose LoL .I guess this is a good thing.not sure if I should get new brad just yet but thought it was interesting :-)

So, whenever I would get out of the shower, I would wrap the bath towel around me backwards, leave the back open because it didnt fit, of course....unless it was a beach towel. Well, yesterday I decided I would try to wrap and tuck the towel, see how far I was from being able to wear a bath towel out of the shower...IT WRAPPED, and IT TUCKED..and it was CLOSED!! NOT A BEACH TOWEL, A REAL BATH TOWEL! LOL! I felt normal for once! I am also excited to announce that I bought a few dresses from Old Navy and of course I go STRAIGHT to XL. Well, they are WAY too big! L is even a little too big. I bought 3 in L and 1 in Med, the Med FITS!! I would like to lose 10 more before I wear the med...just to feel a little more comfortable. I have had to purge my closet AGAIN, I am running out of clothes! But it is great going shopping! I almost got emotional in Old Navy. My head still hasnt wrapped around the weight loss. That is my only hold back. I don't always see the 70 lbs gone.