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Losing two pounds a week is the healthiest most natural pace there is for a human body. Remember the slower it comes off the easier it is to maintain. My WII yelled at me today for losing too fast!! Lol

My goal seems so far away at this point. My surgeon and I have set a goal for me but right now I am so down cos my weight loss has slowed down so much. I am doing what I am suppose to be doing but it feels like I am not getting anywhere fast. I go up a pound, come down a pound. Feels like this cycle that doesn't end. Anyone have suggestions getting past this?

Last night was a bad night to be fighting the demons, I call them demons because they go inside my head and tell me things like I'm not good enough or I'm not losing enough. It is a constant battle with them. Whenever I become positive about the surgery, they seem to come from out of nowhere and start with me. It is a tug-a-war between me feeling good about myself and me feeling depressed, I can't seem to get past this no matter how much weight I lose. It just isn't coming off fast enough. It's like I want to lose it over night but I know that won't happen. I look in the mirror and get so sick of what I see...the big belly, the rolls, the saggy skin. How could anyone love me like this? Good thing we have clothes to cover our bodies up. I don't know how to get rid of the demons, I used to cut myself to relieve the pain I felt inside but with the help of medication I don't have that urge anymore. I just need to find a way to keep them from coming back. My head hurts and I feel overwhelmed with emotions when this happens. If any one else feels this way, let me know what works for you.

Alarm. 7.00 AM showered, maple and brown sugar oatmeal (for kate). went to make coffee, milk was outdated on November 7th & today is the 11th. suggested kate smell it to see if it was feasible. it was not. have to stop at dunkins donuts. at this point cole realizes banks are closed due to veterans day. now no coffee and no money. enter sisters wallet. 9:00 AM drs appointment mass general hospital downtown boston. seeing hand doctor for hand pain. (and not from slappin kate) he was a total toolbag and his assistant typed out our entire conversation. click click. clickety clicky. CLICK. instead of addressing my hand pain issue he psychoanalyzed me and said the pain is all in my mind. so i said i imagined that my hand hurt so much this morning i could not wipe my ass. his assistant still typing, click click clack. i felt like i was withstanding trial. as soon as we left the office kate declared, your hand doctor should get a foot up his ass. onto Boston common. sister sat on Mrs. mallard and i collected leaves to give to friends who live in tropical places and do not have fall leaves (which i made kate carry in her purse.) alot of men with tight pants, which kate pointed out are referred to as” moose knuckles" if you don’t have a visual of what that is, as kate said 10 times today, google it. especially one guy in yellow pants with yellow shoes. he was looking for his yellow hat, and we were looking for a curious monkey. Sorry we were laughing to hard to snap photo. we then went to the paper store. this is now kate talking now before i explain this, just a reminder that my sister nicole is 35. and i am 24. [kate] *points at table with miscellaneous items, but particularly a book about cupcakes picture included* "oh nicole, i almost got you that for christmas last year" *nicole turns around and looks at table, instead of asking, almost got me what?, she sees a stuffed chicken and with the enthusiasm of a 3 year old says " you almost.... got me.... the CHICKEN!" "really, oh my god" to which i have to reply, "no nicole, the cupcake book" She slumps down with a big "ooooooo" and frowns. Besides this incident, everything was going smoothly until I purchased 3 rolls of paper to use later to decorate a bulletin board. The lady at the store gives me a small bag that barely contains the long rolls of paper. Picture included. off to the Prudential building but were cool Bostonians so we will call it the Pru. Lunch at Wagamama. asian bistro. miso soup was had,with Japanese pickles and real ramen noodles with chicken. pictures included. this is a big moment people, i introduced kate to pinkberry frozen yogurt. pics also attached. I had a 200 calorie pumpkin with raspberry small frozen yogurt. Kate had a super sized. chocolate , with peanut butter crunchies and to top off the fat already around her liver, white chocolate shavings. 9000 calories. its 10 pm and this was at noon. she still wont stop asking to go back and bellyaching about how amazing pinkberry was. bathroom break lord and taylor. enter Pandora. we check out some charms and get kate sized . we speak to who we at first thought was a nice and normal salesperson. back story. my stupid sister loves the Minnesota Vikings football team who btw are 2 and 6. so we ask her to show us a ton of charms until kate says "oh can i see the viking, that’s my favorite i want that one for Christmas" salesperson [silence...................] [but why?, why would you like the viking?] like it was bad luck or something. i mean really lady what kinda question was that? kate "well i like the Minnesota vikings football team" salesperson [oh] nicole*rolls eyes in disgust* saleslady then forces us both to take pandora catalogs. which i also make kate carry in her purse (Go Pats!) off to crate and barrel. where i pick up some wine glasses for a xmas present. when we get to the checkout counter the saleslady asks "can i just throw a handle on your box instead of give you a bag?" mind you, there are 6 fat heavy wine glasses in said box, and since were at the pru, were obviously not parked outside and have a long trek back home so a bag would be handy. Nicole “actually, may i please have a bag? to which saleslady makes a clicking noise with her tongue rolls her eyes and throws them in a bag. kate was so pissed she was ranting about the stupid b***h at the "Cracker barrel" for the rest of the day. i said kate, its crate and barrel.... to which i get a whatever! fast forward, Davis square train you know the picture of the bag with the rolls of paper sticking out because the paper people didn’t have a decent bag. yeah well thats about to come into play .when were leaving the train station and i walk by an up and down escalator and BOOM this is when the bag decides it can no longer handle the paper rolls. i bend over and realize im not going to reach it in time to which i yell to the little sister to go after paper rolls being carried down the down escalator of course there’s 1000 people watching much their joy since nothing exciting has happened all day. kate grabs rolls just in time and we flee with red faces. we finally make it home and prepare a great meal with swiss chard, chicken, Brussels sprouts, and red mashed potatoes. it was delicious and we washed it down with some ice cold beers. we recanted our day and our full bellies hurt from laughing so much!

Anyone not taking it? I am supposed to start taking it and the side effects have me wondering. I dont seem to be losing weight particularly fast but I don't know what my gallbladders threshold is for punishment I suppose I will end up taking it, but just curious about others experiences.

Wow fast! Awesome!!

Back to work, no pain, nothing to report. Stil conserned about being able to drink 2 cups of broth, slim fast and staying hungry. Searching the web looking for information on what types of foods will I be able to eat and what to avoid. People talk about being banded, but no one talks about what foods they are eating. This liquid diet has caused me to lose weight, Weigh in with the Dr on Thur and post what his scale claims I lost since I was last on it before I was banded. Family did not want me to be banded so no support coming from there. It's Taco's tonite and even with my door closed I and smell the meat cooking. I'd feel a lot better if I could just take in some of the meat.

It took me a long time to wrap my head around not loving food anymore. I also go to a therapist and used support groups for this. I started this journey with WW and went to their weekly meetings. All of this helped a lot. I am still on my journey and yes, I miss food. Slowly but surely this "missing food" is going away. I really no longer enjoy eating, to be honest. It's takes me a long time to eat a very small amount and I get full fast. But the pounds are dropping off with little effort. I would highly recommend you seek out some sort of therapeutic help before you make your decision. It is a big decision and a very personal one. No one can decide for you but you must give up the love affair you have with food now and that is a loss. Whatever you decide, best wishes!!!

Wow. I was just doing purees at that stage and no more than about 2 ounces at that! I would say your husband expressed himself poorly if he wanted you to respond well. (I certainly wouldn't responded well)! I couldn't eat a whole Jr. burger (no bun) until I was probably 1 year out. That said, if it made you uncomfortable, you're either eating too much or the wrong thing for your stage of healing or eating too fast. When I started trying new foods post op, I found that it was bets to take like a quarter of what I thought I could eat, eat that and wait 15 min before trying more. Sometimes I'd end up with another quarter, oftentimes, not. It is important to advance your diet, but it's not worth making yourself sick. Go back to your previous stage if you must and work your way back to normal food a little slower.

I say, don't push your sleeve. As long as you aren't trying to drink the whole cup at one time and are drinking rather than gulping, go ahead and drink. Just try not to drink large amounts really fast. Once you start putting in mushies and then solid food, you will feel the restriction from your sleeve. So don't worry that your sleeve is too big. Good luck with your journey!!

04/02/2007 I have concluded today that I could not advise anyone to have this surgery. I am having such a hard time. I have so much hurting on my body. My mental state is something else completely. All I want to do is cry. I am hurting, hungry, following the plans, having my vitamins, protein shakes (3 or 4 a day), broth or soup, GasX has become candy to me. Advil every 4 hours, Phenergan for nausea in the evening (I think the pain makes me sick). This has been the absolute worst experience of my life. If something doesn't get better fast, I will have to have this thing removed. 5 days and I still feel like shit. I feel like someone could stick a pin and me and I would fly away. Terrible....

It's hard but you need to be strong. If you advance your diet too fast you can cause a slip (or set yourself up for one later). Just tell yourself that the "hell" is only for a little while. As you get restricted you won't be able to eat a bunch of inappropriate foods anyway and will be full and happy with way less; then it won't be such an issue. So be strong now! Just leave the room/house when they eat if you need to!

Good info maxskillz. I haven't started my pre-op yet, mine is 5 days. I used to fast a long time ago for a week, 2 weeks and the longest is a month. The first 2 to 3 days are the most challenging but after that (or at some point) you start to feel a high like you can do it all your life. I am hopeful I will experience this when I start my pre-op on 8/18. My biggest challenge is I will be on an 8 day cruise..at least it starts toward the end of the cruise. Good luck but make it fun like Maxskillz. Keep us posted.

Try not to stress about the tests. They are noninvasive, and anxiety could work against you in the results of the tests, so take some time to yourself before you get into the office and just take a few relaxing deep breaths. The pulmonary appointment is to make sure you don't have obstructive sleep apnea, he may send you for a sleep study if you do or if he suspects you might. That is not a bad thing either and it will aid in your recovery from surgery and your weight loss. Good night's sleep is VERY important for our health and wellbeing. (Not to mention the wellbeing of others who have to deal with me when I don't get a good night's sleep You may take a breathing test where they measure the input and output of your lungs, and see if you have any type of asthma or breathing issue that could be a problem during surgery or after. Mostly it's a bunch of questions and a breathing test into a machine, and you're done. The stress test, is just like walking on the treadmill. The doc will hook you up to a bunch of electrodes, like an EKG and they will run that EKG as you walk. They will make it harder and harder or raise the incline on the treadmill so that your heart pumps faster and they monitor the output of your heart while you are putting stress on it by walking faster and harder. Some doctors also incorporate a sonogram to this test and then you basically jump off the treadmill onto the table lie down and they take a sonogram of your heart to be sure that under stress there is no abnormality. That's it..sounds worse than it is. Even if you think that your fitness level is not up to it, just doing a bit of walking will raise your heart rate and the doctors won't let you go so fast you fly off or tip you up so high you fall down. If you're feeling pain in the knees or hips or anything like that just flag the doc and tell them and they will modify things for you. You will do great!

2 months post op. Dont chance it. do 4 ounces of meat And maybe a piece of brocoli... im 10 months post op. ive only been ill twice from having a bit to much or eating to fast.. Stinks when you have like 2 seconds notice that you are going to lose it. yeah. Typical guy here i dont like to be sick so i avoid it at all cost.. Chris

I have noticed this to! I thought I was crazy. I usually get full fast and never graze but this week I feel like I can eat eat eat! I have a full feeling but want to keep eating! Michelle xo

I was told I am in the clear and can eat what ever I want now Im actually trying not to lose weight right now cause Its coming off too fast so Im trying to eat some fatty things but the few bites of pizza just didn't sit well all day bad idea would love to know if pork is hard to digest anyone know?

Hi there! Welcome! I'm from Utah too, Dr. Hansen is my Dr. as well as my daughter's Dr. He's located in Sandy, UT. Just got banded on the 12th of Feb., my post op visit is next Tuesday. No insurance coverage, so things went pretty fast. Hope to hear from you again! lessofme

I have to admit. I didn't make it through the full day without incident. Was great until dinner and then I had pureed cauliflower with canned chicken. The chicken was not pureed, but it is very soft. I only had small amount, but something just didn't sit right and back up it came after about 15 min. Maybe I ate too fast. I'm sure I will have considerable learning as I go through this process!

Secret bander my problems are fried foods and bread. And eating too fast.

It is scarey...but my anticipation of my new life totally overrode any fear I could have had. I fairly bounced (a real feat!) into the hospital. When they took my blood pressure in the room before they took me down, it was something like 90 over 60. They laughed and said, "Wow, you aren't stressed about this at ALL are you!" and I said HECK NO...Bring it on!!!! But then they said my BP was too low and the anethesiologist wouldn't take me with that number, so I had to get up and march around until it went back up (hahah). Listen to me here folks....you are NOT giving up the foods you love. You are only giving up the GOBBLING, CRAMMING and INHALING of the foods you love. I can eat ANYTHING I could before....if I take ENOUGH time to do it. I too felt like I was giving up an old friend...until I woke up and I was just the same, except my NEW friend was helping me shed pounds like I have NEVER experienced before, and knowing it was permanent made it pleasureable (as you know, when dieting when you are overweight the goal is just a stopgap. You and I always know we'll just sail those numbers right back up within the year...it's pretty much a guarantee...so it's really hard to get excited about ANOTHER diet in a long list of diets we go through in our lives....). You will hear all kinds of stories on the forum, but I got my band at 55 years old, breezed through the surgery (WITH all the ammunition I had gained by researching before I went in...ALL my bases were covered and there was NOTHING that could surprise me...I was ready for everything), and I have to say all things considered breezed through this last year. All of a sudden it was over and I was at goal and I couldn't believe how fast it went and how great I felt and how happy I was!!!!! There is no substitute for knowledge prior to getting banded. You need to know, expect, anticipate EVERYTHING. Prepare for the worst and you could be pleasantly surprised. Prepare for the gas. That's probably the worst thing you will face. Get your gas-X and know your de-gassing positions. USE your pain meds as you need them. Don't be a martyr. Make sure everything you COULD possibly need is within arm's reach for the first two weeks and you will be fine. Better to be overprepared than underprepared. I'll be thinking good thoughts for you all!!!:crying:

Got restriction but only until 1pm and I eat way to fast. LapBand ~ November 1, 2016

I too am addicted to food. Cycles of binge eating followed by periods restraint; I have worked my way up to 310#. Three years ago I began the process for gastric bypass(259# at this time) During my three month nutrition counseling I began to loose weight and working out. I convinced myself that I didn't need the surgery. Yes I worked hard and lost nearly 100#. I told myself "I'll never go back". Fast forward, I could not maintain the 100% lifestyle it required for me to succeed. 310# TADAAH! All I can think is if I would have stayed on track with surgery, where would I be now. I am now 2 days away from surgery, very nervous, but I know this is the tool I need. This will not be an easy journey and requires commitment and a present mind. Do not get discouraged by mistakes. That only leads to a vicious cycle and sets yourself up for future disapointment. It has helped me to admit where and why I "failed" , pick up my bootstraps , leave it behind and move on. If I need to reformulate the plan, I do, if not then I'm back on track. I know you too will come to a conclusion about what is right for you. There are a lot of resources out there.

I can tell you are excited. I hope you have positive supportive people to boost you on . Much success. Good for you. I will have my surgery on April 25th also. I am on Day 10 of the full fast. I'm not sure what I weighed on the bathroom scales before. At Drs. office I was 231. Today I am 220/in clothing.

So today was the day Patty and I had set aside to do our Christmas shopping. Well, HER Christmas shopping. I don't have any family to speak of, so all I buy for is her. But she has lots of family, and they are on their best behaviour right now, too. Her family gives presents that are to die for. We were out shopping, her in her Amigo thing with a basket, and me walking beside her. We have division of labor, she tells me what to get and then I put it in the cart. It's her job to decide what we're buying for her side, and while we're in the stores I pick up necessities. I bought dog food. Got a great deal on fifty pounds. When we got home I had to carry all this stuff in the house. Sure was a lot of stuff! I carried the fifty pound bag of dogfood in last. About halfway up the steps I realized this is about the same amount of weight as I had lost. Hmmmmmm. Boy was it HEAVY! I realized I still have a couple more of those bags around my middle. No wonder I was tired, no wonder my knees hurt. No wonder I couldn't sleep. That sure put things into perspective for me. So try this the next time you're worried that it's not coming off fast enough, get something that weighs about what you've lost and carry it around for awhile. You will develop a healthy respect for what you've already accomplished. Now, I've gotta go rest. The stores are murder this time of year.