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Indeed, its one of the reasons I have chosen to undergo surgery, although I could work at it myself, I cant garantee I wont regain at some point, and I am undergoing surgery in 2019 after which I will have to keep my weight down perminantly to avoid problems. So WLS for me is an added support to help me keep my weight as low as possible. My disinterest in cooking is currently greater than my need to satisfy my pallet. In recent years I have avoided cooking and rather look to quicker alternatives. Bread, rice and potatoes also store longer, and I dislike crowds and shopping, so keeping stocked with fresh vegetables is difficult for me. I have become reluctant to push myself out of my comfort zone, when I do it life is better, but It gets the better of me at times. Essentaily I have social disorders that make me more inclined to behaviours what would lead to weight gain. What I call lazyness is probably anxiety and avoidence. my bmi is only 31, took me a while to climb to this weight again but here I am. If it wasnt for my future surgery |I probably wouldnt be going through with WLS.

Yes, absolutely. There are many reasons you fall off the wagon, usually falling off the wagon isnt introducing a bit more lean meat, vegetables and legumes in to your diet to ward off hunger, its going off the rails and eating high calorie and nutritionally void foods too frequently. Nobody gets obese eating comforting portions of lean meats, vegetables and legumes most of the time and treating themselves occassionaly. If you dont feel good eating filling portions of nutritionally dense food then you have a phycological issue, you arent suffering physically from this. Its difficult to gain weight by over indulging in lean protein and vegetables, but you can by over indulging in potatoes or high calorie processed foods. So I dismiss the idea that people stop eating nutritionally dense low calorie foods because? What? they're starving? What is the pressure that makes them not able to do it anymore? How is it not sustainable? Are they low on energy? If you are saying they dont feel good because they crave high calorie foods too often and want to give in to temptations often enough that it causes weight gain then that is phycological and can be changed with persistance its like an addiction. You wouldnt be saying this to an alcoholic. I felt like I wasnt getting anywhere on wholefoods after a while, but in hindsight if I kept going I would have broke the plateu eventually, even if I didnt it would be a better place than I am at now. I take full responsibility for mucking things up for me.

I went for a year or two trying to lose weight and had the 'no weight change' too. I saw a few pounds lose with the band surgery and a little after the first fill. Now on my second fill, the weight seems to slide off. I had a big problem with xmas and chocolates. I had to decide that it was up to me to say No to sweets and food that is bad for weight gain. The band keeps your portions down. When you are restricted you can eat a small amount before you are full and the full feeling lasts. Only then did I realize how much I was eating at a meal before the band. The band gets rid of the hunger pains and that makes a BIG difference. I think you will see weight loss.

You know that you struggle with emotional issues of confidence & esteem that comes with being fat. But you may not know that you could be what are called as an avoider. This is due to the turmoil that comes with public & private dislike for obesity and you avoid confronting your situation at because of the fear of not being able to beat it. Here is how an avoider thinks – once you deviate even slightly from a diet or healthy eating you figure you might as we drop the whole thing – this stars a cycle that avoider can’t find a way out of – We are fat we try to lose weight we deviate just a little we feel rejection for the perceived failure we isolate ourselves from people we stop talking about it, we stop the diet we eat a pound of candy – we get fat then we try to lose weight and the cycle continues Instead of avoiding bad foods avoider tend to want to avoid other things like the people who want to help them and the disciple of trying to eat healthy. Avoiders try to separate themselves from these 2 strong emotion associated with dieting. The minute you ban any food from your diet you are setting yourself up for failure. If you eat half a cookie or a couple of fires from that banned food list – the diet is dead and that’s where the guilt sets in and now you feel that you lack the strength to succeed. This shame spins you back into the cycle of avoidance When you reach an obstacle you decide that instead of trying to find a way around it you might a well turn around and go back to the beginning –4 fry’s leads to a handful then the whole bag. One way to handling emotional eating is you live & eat in the now – not being upset about what you are in the past and not obsessing about what you will eat in the future. The very thing that’s designed to help people lose weight is the very thing that promotes this harder – diets promote the all or nothing mentality. In our lives we allow for a margin of error – which we should also do when trying to eat healthy – if you are eating 1000-1200 calories a day – allow for some of those calories to be used for a little bit of something you really want - you need wiggle room in your diet to make it work – the all or nothing practices has to be thrown our of your mind. You can learn to reprogram your mind to strip away the guilt that comes with dieting. You have to realize that it’s not that the first slice of cake that will doom your diet – it’s the second or third or whole thing that leads to weight gain. You have to listen to your body & respond smartly to your cravings and emotions but over time you will learn how to eat right and mange your craving and that’s when you’ll train your brain to stop obsessing about eating right and punishing yourself – If you stop overthinking you’ll stop over eating..

Dottie, I am retired and staying at home. I retired early almost 5 years ago (Aug 2004), hubby retired about 2 years later, but he had a hard time adjusting and wanted to add some income. He went to work full time at BassPro when they opened a store here about 18 months ago. After a work life of sales and primarily sales management, the retail environment has been a tough adjustment for him. He is firearms specialist for the store - and they could not have a better one. I tell him the job description was written for him! He loves most of the job, but really does not like some of it. Like any job, I guess. At any rate, I am home with my dog most days so Jack and I have frequent conversations. I am an art quilter and enjoy having the time to work in the studio. Oddly though, I find many distractions, family obligations, multiple quilt & knitting group obligations, friendships, etc. None of these are bad things in any way, but take me out of the studio. I have decided it's best to just go with the flow and enjoy everything I can... The hardest thing about retirement for me has been STRUCTURE! No commute, no office, everything is up to me. After a lot of years with structure being decided by others it has been a constant struggle to structure my own time! It's so good to hear your thoughts about maintenance. I have read in a couple of books that our bodies seem to find the right weight as we approach that "normal" status, and we tend to maintain that weight naturally as long as we continue active lives and the exercise we have established. Our food intake does not necessarily change a whole lot, according to those authors. Some of the participants in this thread have had a somewhat different experience. I sure understand that we must always be aware and ready to deal with any weight gain, no matter how small. A soldier on guard!! Please feel free to p.m. me...

Journaling is no fun but it helps in figuring out what may be causing weight gain or a plateau. To be honest, I only did it for 7 months. I stopped only after I was confident in my ability to measure the size and quantity of food by eye. Give it a shot and if it proves to be too tedious then try something else. I used the Bodybugg site but a popular free site is Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, Food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate

Oh, and re: weight gain. I gained 100 pounds over the few years I was on zoloft. Switched back to prozac and started losing it steadily. I am sure they are all different, and even different peopl have different reactions, but for me prozac does not cause weight gain. Zoloft sure as hell does though. I switched to zoloft from prozac about a month before meeting my now hubby. I figured I just got fatter from being happy or something. Then I got pregnant and nursed, so that left me on zoloft for 2 years or so and my ob prescribed them. When I went back to my shrink we went over everything and hat was when the timeline all clicked and it made sense. I never really remembered or put 2 & 2 together that I started gaining with the zoft until I went back to my shrink, who was the one who actually switched me. Durn it.

You offer some great and well-founded insights and I thank you for taking the time to tell your story. I spoke too fast (and perhaps too naively) when I wrote that other WLS are plug and play. I think they just seem that way when one has experienced complications with a lapband. I also suspect that we haven't yet seen the long term effects of the more recent WLS and that is why those surgeries currently appear to be so much more attractive than the lapband. Let's get 10-15 years of data collecting behind the more recent WLS options and then we can talk! The rapid weight gain after an unfill, or getting one's band removed, is logical so don't be hard on yourself. The lapband, when optimally adjusted, really allows us to live on 900-1,000 calories/day without the hunger or feeling of deprivation. Take away the lapband (or its optimal fill) and there is no one in the world who could hang on to 900 calories a day comfortably....at least no former obese person. All the best, and welcome back to the banded life.

HI all! Just wanted to give an update on this as it seems there is definitely some commonality here with unfills and getting back to the "green zone"..I don't know if we can ever really achieve where we were before. I think the initial fill series and weight loss is our chance to do it. From there the band, for me, was a tool to keep the weight off..and it did that for quite a few years. Turned out I lived with being too tight, stretched my esophagus..but my weight was maintained. Who knows what my caloric intake was at that time. I did get food and drinks in and didn't count calories..but I stayed within a 5lb range usually. Now I am approaching almost a year since my unfill..it was September of last year. So 10 months later I am still up 40lbs. I got my last fill a few months ago..I was up 50, but my boyfriend of over a year unexpectedly left me in May. I lost almost 10lbs on the "heartbreak" diet..wouldn't recommend it, but it finally pushed the lbs down. Now..I am maintaining that loss. What I will need to do to kickstart the rest of it...not sure. I don't think I want to get any tighter. I don't want to go back to where I was. I was talking to someone about this last night..explaining my journey over the last year of rapid gain even though I was severely restricting calories. I think I am back to almost "mere mortal" status where I really have to restrict low, exercise my rear off and work harder to get off these 40lbs..and THEN..let the band do its job of keeping it off. I don't think these last 40lbs will come off solely relying on the band. My hunger has dimished to back where it was pre-unfill..of course the stress and heartache also help curb the hunger..I have lost interest in food, but still eat and maintain. For now..letting myself heal from the breakup and other things going on before I start full force to lose again. I also am kinda waiting for track season to wind down as my larger motorcycle suit I got to replace the one that no longer fit will be dangerously too big if I lose another 10-20lbs now and it is too costly to have it altered again and again..so waiting until I am back to my normal weight before I alter it one last time..so torn about losing too much before November comes....ahhh priorities!! Keep sharing stories..I don't think the surgeons REALLY understand what isgoing on with the unfill process. They assume we are all gorging on the things we couldn't eat when we were filled. Sheesh I gained 5lbs on air!! Seriously..the initial few weeks were scary fast weight gain..even on nothing!!!

I guess I need to make this clear, the surgery I had had nothing at all to do with the fact that I run, I have had a myriad of foot troubles since childhood including a congenital deformity that has caused me no end of misery. When I was pre and post surgery, I really couldn't do anything, walking, biking, swimming, yoga, pilates, anything, so that is a lof of what contributed to my weight gain. Running seems to get such a bad rap. I love running for a host of reasons, it's not just that it is one of the best ways to burn calories, but it requires no special equipment, you can do it pretty much anywhere or any time you'd like and it really does let you just zone out/get into the zone (your choice!) in a way that not many other things do. I think people criticize running as "injury inducing" out of habit, I actually think that my years of running helped me avoid injuries because it is a fantastic way to strengthen not only big muscles like quads, but all those little muscles in an around the ankles. Running has never been my only form of exercise, but it is one of my favorite forms. Yeah, I have a bike, but I live in a very high density/high traffic area so riding it is not that much fun, you spend the whole time worrying about cars. The trails near Chicago are very dangerous for women, unfortunately and even so, you'd have to pack your bike onto the car and drive some distance to get to one. I'm back to running again and to yoga and to pilates and to doing my usual 5 miles a day of walking (I'm a fanatical fitbit tracker!). The point of my post was to say how hard it is to start again, especially with the additional pounds, but I appreciate your response nonetheless!

I'm curious about something. I've been consistently losing on average about 1-2 per week since banded 1/17. I started back on my NuvaRing 2 weeks ago and have not lost a single pound since (not gained either). coincidence or what? I've not been eating any more and doing about the same amount of exercise. I know BC has its weight gain issues but I was thinking ok! I'm banded and exercising this shouldn't be a problem. I get my second fill on Friday.. I have to decide to continue with the ring by Monday.. (it's not for preventing pregnancy its for cycle control..it has always been a beast lol) I'm wondering what's worth more to me?? taming the beast or losing weight consistently, I hope this wasn't TMI for everyone! What would y'all do?

I got pregnant 3 weeks after surgery, I was devastated, I was 41 married and had 2 kids, I never planned anymore, I just wanted to diet not have kids kinda thing, I considered all options. 7 weeks later I miscarried and it actually upset me a lot but I got on with the diet and put it behind me. I had gone 8 years using the withdrawal method and never got pregnant. Two months after that, low and behold I was pregnant again, unplanned. This time it was a shock, but after losing the last one, it put babies v diet in perspective. I continued dieting, lost 75lbs (45lbs whilst pregnant) and had my band de-filled by 2.0ml at 20 weeks. My pregnancy was great, loved it! I lost 28lbs within 2 weeks of giving birth .. I guess that was baby weight gained and with bump and baby weight gone I was a new person - so much smaller than I thought I would be. My son Nixon is now 8 months, he is a joy and the best thing that has ever happened to us. I have maintained my weight whilst breastfeeding but had my band filled last week so I can continue my lapband journey. Lots of people get pregnant whilst banded ... the weightloss changes your fertility for one thing. Dont think its the end of your diet, just keep eating healthily, put your baby first, be sensible, listen to your Doctor. I was a plus sized Mum to all 3 of my kids, dont be embarrassed, we have the right to have kids like everyone else and we dont all have complications, there will always be bigger moms than you, the nurses have seen it all. I started the journey at 325lbs, now about 260, long journey still ahead ... and a cute baby boy to accompany me with it. Be prepared for when life throws you a curve ball! Good luck x

I'm really lazy with the boards lately, haven't been reading outside my month's thread.. this title caught my attention, so I read the 1st 2 pages.. just wanted to reply before going to bed! I knew you were talking about the sleeve, did not realize it was so soon, glad you're feeling better already!!!! Good luck with the weight gain -- jeez who says that to a bariatric patient? :frown: And screw the person on the other board, you know it doesn't take anyone else to tell you how some people in the world are just daft. I'm always interested to hear about surgeries after banding, just in case (knocking on wood too!!!) I ever lost the band due to something, I really don't want RNY, or the your-shit-smell kills people surgery.

Hi everyone! I am to be banded this coming friday on Feb 6 and am a little nervous! I think I am reading tooooo much! lol...Anyhow, the dietician told me that I was to do a liquid diet for 2 weeks but when i saw my surgeon on Thursday he said that I just needed to do high protein and low carb, low fat to shrink my liver. He said that the dietician uses the two weeks as a standard but everyone is different. I am 5'7 and 250 but I wasn't told I had to do a liquid diet. I did start yesterday on just liquids and am doing protein shakes and broth. I noticed a lot of people didn't like the shakes and is wondering if anyone ha stried Lean Body by Labrada. The ready to drink shakes are 260 calories, 40 grams of protein, 9 grams of Carbs, and no sugar. To keep my intake small, I drink half a shake at a time. It is a pretty large shake (about 17 oz). I know the Optifast is only 160 calories and about 20 grams of proteins and 20 carbs. But my shakes have less carbs and more protein. I know if I do half and half...that is still 130 calories, 20 protein, 4.5 carbs...and they taste really good!!! I am still pretty nervous about Friday though. I guess I wouldn't be normal if I wasn't even just a tad! I'm 37 and have been a size 8-10 my whole life and an athlete. About 7 years ago, I was diagnosed with LUPUS and have been up and down with my weight being on steroids. Each time I have gained and lost, gained and lost etc...but last couple of times have not lost and have been tired from the weight gain and not working out. My twenty year reunion is in July and I am stoked about getting back down and fit once again! Not too mention I am doing the Susan Komen 3 day 60 mile walk in November for Breast Cancer!! :cheated: Hopefully I haven't bored any of you by my long disertation, but I have been on the website a couple of months and only posted a couple of things and really just reading eveyrones posts. I must say I am touched and in awe of the amount of support I see for each other on here! So good luck to all you Feb bandsters! I'll be keeping you in my prayers! :tongue2:

I suffer from clinical depression before and after surgery. Mine is not related to the weight it is do to the missing chemicals in my brain. But it is easier to manage with my meds and not adding being overweight on top of too. I did 3 years 2/week conseling and learned some great coping skills. See a MD and a shrink too I agree the Bible is to best place to read if you have depression and there are many, many books out there for depression. Just don't let people“tell all you gotta do is change your way of thinking”. They don't know what they are talking about. On the two weeks when you want to eat do something else instead, do something for yourself instead of giving yourself food. Ask about wellbutrim it really helps with depression with out weight gain. So/most antidepressants cause you to crave carbs or some weight gain. Drs seem to think you can be happy and fat or skinnier and depressed. Cheri

Read this every day. You all keep me encouraged. Sometimes I must admit I get overwhelmingly jealous, but that’s ok!!! I’m 6 weeks post surgery and at 2 weeks I had lost 20 lbs, then I added purée/soft foods and immediately gained 4.5 lbs. I have truly had major issues with bladder and kidney problems. Just don’t feel good. Therefore my “exercise” program has mainly been running to the bathroom. Ha! But....FINALLY, this past week the weight gained is gone plus a couple more lbs. yeah I wish I could say, “6 weeks and I’ve lost 35 lbs,” but I’m seriously glad for my 23+!!

It is wonderful to read all your success stories and the mounting rewards as December 2018 sleevers! Wow.  My surgery was 12/17/2018 at NW Medical Center in Coral Springs, FL. I am currently three poundsaway from onederland!!! A total of 57 pounds from 258 start weight the first of December. Usually major consecutive holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas thru New Years in the past, meant a weight gain for me. I tried to use restraint, but all the rich, high calorie "specialty foods" of the season just continued the never ending weight battle + cycle resulting in feeling more discouraged and hopeless with each passing year. :[ BUT NOT THIS New Year of 2019! I love my sleeve and so glad to have begun a new, hopeful and promising track! Does anyone else feel the same? Refreshing, right? My blood pressure and blood tests all came back healthy - And, left injured, problematic knee is much improved. Bowels have stabilized andVitamin regime no longer causes nausea. I follow closely Dr. V and my nutritionist's recommendations for balanced nutrition with moderate exercise, at this 3 ½ month juncture. Other aspects I am thrilled about is the ability to be satisfied with so much less volume of food. I really have not missed sugar, salt or fat laden recipes and Desserts. While I had made major changes in my diet losing 41 pounds (298 at highest point) before considering surgery last November, the sleeve just simplifies and propels me forward in getting to my healthy weight. I desire to drop another 40 pounds and feel the confidence I can now do so. Not to mention, keeping it off and maintaining a healthy weight via reduced stomach - Breaking the vicious cycle. I have not seen the scale read under 200 pounds in over 23 years! That's a lot of baggage for this petite 5'0" frame and interior designer constantly on her feet. My clothes closet has been purged and taken to a quality consignment shoppe or Goodwill - Now shopping in regular departments for limited clothing in size large for tops and XL for slacks. Most of these sale items are quickly becoming too loose. So happyto no longer see 1X, 2X or 3X (at highest weight) on my clothing labels. Right? Excited for my size 10 and petite medium goal.  Really proud of all of us! Let's keep on sharing our victories and "all the nuances" of becoming our best physically and emotionally. None can truly appreciate nor understand this journey we embark... except for us. That makes us a pretty fabulous group of comrades. Happy spring everyone! ;]

@@Cowgirl Jane (who posts here) and a friend of mine in real life who's also struggling with passing kidney stones now said they both gained weight and that it's temporary. My girlfriend said her urologist said that when a kidney stone is stopping up the works the kidneys struggle to release much urine from the body. The weight gain is from liquids your body is having a hard time getting out. When the stone(s) are all gone and all the channels are cleared, you'll lose the temporary Water weight. Makes perfect sense, eh?

Oh, no doubt. I didn't mean to imply that it did. I can only speak from my experience, because my experience is all I have. I still look longingly at cheese. I love cheese. Cheese is like nirvana to me. But I know that if I eat it, I will pay for it, either in weight gain or in pain from the band. Does that mean I never eat it? No. It just means it's a treat, and not something I'd eat often, or much of. I don't even buy my favorites (salami-cheese or cracker barrel extra sharp) because it goes to waste. There's no sense spending 3 bucks for a package of cheese that I'm going to eat less than 1 ounce of before it goes bad. This band surgery doesn't make *anything* magically go away. I don't think I, or anyone else here implied that it does. As I've said a few times, you have to work with the band. If you don't, you're just killing time. I wasn't speaking in absolutes. No one - and I mean no one - eats perfectly from the time their band gets put in, until they reach their goal weight. Working with the band doesn't mean forcing anything for everyone. Working with the band, for ME, means giving up many of the foods I stuffed in my mouth without really tasting, enjoying or thinking about before. It means stopping when I feel full. It means that pizza is a treat, not a weekly dinner. It means that if I am committed to seeing the scale continue to drop, I can't eat many of the things I enjoyed before /shrug. I don't consider it deprivation. And I do occasionally (seriously occasionally - once every few months?) indulge in something that I enjoyed weekly before. But in much smaller portions and in much fewer instances. Really. I'm not being preachy. I know that sometimes fast food is the only option for folks. I know that sometimes, your body is screaming for ice cream. I know that sometimes it pays to give in to a craving in a small way rather than over do it by putting it off. But I also know that the less I give in, the better I feel. And right now, at this stage of my banding progress, I'd rather feel better right now than order from Pizza Hut because I'm too tired to cook. It's a personal thing. Everyone has to do it *their way*. Banding: The Burger King of Weight Loss Surgery. (Have it your way!)

I'm married (2nd marriage) but no kids yet. It hasn't really been my weight stopping me, but my life...career, my first marriage ending, meeting my hubby at the time that I did in relation to my career. Now I have to finish anesthesia school before I can try to be a mom. By then, I should be at my goal weight and able to keep pregnancy weight gain to the recommended level...provided I can get pregnant by then. We'll see! Balancing career and wanting to have a family has been tough.

August 8th - Miles: 8 CW: 165 August 15th - Miles: 7 CW: 163.8 August 22nd - Miles: 5 CW: 161.4 August 29nd - Miles: 5 CW: 160.8 Sept. 5th - Miles: 5 CW: 159.8 Sept. 12th - Miles: 5 CW: 158.2 Sept 19th - Miles: 5 CW: 157.4 Sept 26th - Miles: 5 CW: 158.6 (TOM weight added ughhhhhhh) October 1st - Miles: CW: First, I haven't been doing alot of walking because of the rain going on...I know youre saying go to the gym....but I hate the gym with a passion...but I do realize I'm going to need to do that because of this issue I have encountered this week with rain all week...I hate walking/running when its wet outside...ewwww....next sorry AA men but also weight gained this week because of TOM...but anyway...I need some motivation people...Wish i had someone to work out with me...my kids are no help...they dont wanna walk/run with me...Im not losing like I planned...my plan is kind of smaller than others...as you see in my progress I'm only losing about 5 lbs a month...i know I wasnt as heavy as others buuuuutttttttttt because of my height my bmi is high as you can see on my ticker...and about this challenge I think it has helped me a great deal to at least be accountable....i had actually started working and walking/running more because of this challenge and I thank the one who started it....you have helped me a great deal....when is the last day for this is it the 1st of Oct of the 31st

I'm in month 2 of a 3 month medically supervised diet as required by my insurance. My first month I lost 17 lbs. This last month I had a harder time staying on track and also weighed in when I was seriously bloated from menstruation. As a result, I gained 8 lbs. I'm terrified that insurance won't approve me. I'm confident that I can lose this month and that I will have lost weight overall during the 3 month period, but I can't erase that +8 for this months weigh-in. Please, if anyone has gone through this, can you tell me how insurance handled it? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

hello! Im confused about where to post for February, is it here or on the monthly forum? I am hopefully getting my surgery date soon, the surgeons office says it will be in about 3 weeks. I am getting excited. I am not telling anyone, just my husband obviously. I do not want any judgement put on me ( which has been my whole problem since I was a child, and has most likely contributed to my weight gain.) I am currently 190lb, and 4ft 11. I may not be as heavy as some of you here, but 190 at my height is very bad! My surgeon would like me to lose 80-90lbs. I have hypertension & sleep apnea. I am a stay at home mom to my amazing 19 month old son, he is our miracle baby, we endured 6 years of infertility, un explained. It was never mentioned that my weight had anything to do with it but I suspected it. After several rounds of ivf, he came along! My main reason for the surgery is so I can be around for him, and hopefully have another baby. Well, that's me, I hope to get to know all of you better, and will post my surgery date soon, I hope!

The first thing every morning..... I get up go into the bathroom, get undressed and weight myself.... It has never gone up more than 2 ounces and occasionally stays the same. The 2 ounces I don't attribute to a "weight gain". it always goes down the next day

I am sitting here waiting on the insurance company to approve the surgery so I can start my new life! I am so excited about this procedure. I have had weight issues since I was abused by a family member when I was approx. 10 years old. I guess I decided to hide behind the weight and it would protect me. :rolleyes2: But it started coming on when I was in the 5th grade. Up until then I was thin. In fact, my mom told me that when I was a baby they had to take me to the doctor because I would not eat... WELL not having that problem now!:eek: Anyway, I was active in Jr. High and High school, being a cheerleader all through those years. I was still larger than all the other girls, but had/have a great personality and pretty enough face, that I didn't let my weight become an issue in my life until I was married and having babies. Not being able to blame the pregnancies on my weight gains. Only gained 12 lbs. with first pregnancy and 20 with the second! It really started when ex husband started having affairs that the weight came on and it came on fast, I am one of those ladies that keeps everything inside until she decides to explode! Well it took me 18 years to finally explode and when I did, I lost 120 lbs of my own and his 180 lbs as we divorced. Then I did the rebound thing... I KNOW I KNOW,, stupid and he turned out to be an alcoholic and all the weight I had lost came back on as I saw my life going south again.... Then we divorced and I lost some of the weight after that. No my thyroid is pretty much shot, I am on medication but the doctor told me that with my thyroid issues I would have a lot harder time loosing weight and that is when I decided to try the route of the lap band. I have done alot of research and think this will work for me as it will help me to keep it off. My support system isn't very good with family, my mom is always telling me about these shows she watches on tv about the lapband and all the bad stuff that happens. :mad:(Yes, I told her to stop watching so much tv.!) So I am looking for a different support system and that is where I came across this site. I am hoping to connect with a few people on here to help keep my spirits up and my head up at the same time. Anyone out there interested in supporting one another in this adventure I am game!:blushing::thumbup::biggrin::thumbup::thumbup::tt2: