anyone else trying to get back on track?

[stylist43 0]

! i was banded on 12/31/08, almost 2 years ago, and i've been all over the place. the first year i did really good and lost a fair amount of weight and was on the right track.

about october of 2009 i got a fill and it was too tight. i didn't get around to doing anything about it because my dad was really sick at the time and i was constantly with him in and out of the hospital over a period of 3 months.

i went and got an unfill in feb 2010 where they took almost everything out of my band. i came back in 4 weeks and i had gained back 9 lbs. they put more in and i did ok. i got another little bit put back in in april,

since then i've been eating all over the place and i constantly eat around my band because those are the things that are easiest for me to eat. i've gained 20 lbs since i was at my lowest weight after my surgery.

i'm not totally sure why i fell off course or what made me do it. i think i just love the taste of junk food too much i'm just now desperately trying to find the motivation and courage to get everything on track again.

i wanna do this for my dad. he was the one who totally supported me and wanted my band to do great things for me. he passed away in january so now i feel like i need to show him that it can

i'm going in to the doctor monday to get a little bit of a fill and hopefully get myself back on track. you'd think after two years i'd get the hang of it.

if anyone has any support or suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

(and thanks for letting me post this...even doing this makes me feel a little better and more confident)

[rumar 1]

no, I understand you totally! How about 3 years of being banded and still struggling? I was banded 08/2007 and like you lost a fair amount of weight...........seems I got to a 55lb weight loss and the scales would not budge after that (but I really loved my size 18). Then it seems that everytime I got a fill , it felt like nothing..............I could still eat... Then, like you a big life event (my brother passing 2009), I started gaining weight like crazy...........I now am at a 25 lb weight loss which is just pathetic!! It is always a struggle no matter what you do...............band, gastic bypass............it boils down to the same thing................we have to attack what is eating at us, not what we are eating!!! I just got another fill this past Monday, and for the 1st time ever, I fill very very tight ..................can't eat anything ............can drink only hot stuff very very slowly. I think I wlll be calling my doctor because I am too tight. I am even throwing up saliva from chewing gum!! Yikes!

I pray and hope you get back on the right track but just know that you are not alone!!!

[MississippiGirl 0]

I'm back on track too! I've bee on track pretty much since my surgery in Oct 08...but over the last three months I've had a lot of work stress and no restriction...so I've gained 20 of the 104 lbs i've lost back. I went four weeks ago to a new doctor closer to my home to get a fill....it didn't help! But I've been disciplined and had self control and I've lost 9 of those pounds I've gained back! I go back tomorrow to get a little more..Hopefully it'll be enough!

We can do this! I've also ordered a book that hopefully will help me changing my mindset about food. It's called eating mindfully! I'll let you know if its a good read.

[isaviolinist 11]

I also fell off the wagon for awhile and gained 50 pounds back. I decided to get back on track in September and have since lost all the weight I regained plus some. Calling the gym, logging back into LBT, restarting my blog, restarting my food log were the hardest parts of getting back on top of things. Once I initiated all of those things, it was much easier to get back into the swing of things and into a routine. I'm feeling better than ever now and I feel like I learned a good lesson which will make me stronger in my weight loss in the future. I also started seeing an eating disorder therapist for my compulsive eating, and its definitely helping (I don't want to feel like Im teetering on the edge anymore...this time I want to be successful and for good).

There are a lot of us who struggled but have gotten back to it - you have a lot of like minded support here!

[stylist43 0]

thank you so much for all of your replies! its so good to know that i'm not the only one who's a had a few set backs. it's all about getting back up, dusting yourself off, and going at it again.

i went and got another fill on monday. i can tell a world of difference! i was at 5.4cc and now i'm at 5.9cc. when i was at 6cc before that's when i felt that i was too tight so she didn't want to put me back up that high quite yet.

she also wants me to keep a food journal and record when i exercise to keep myself accountable for what i'm doing and eating. i'm hoping that this will help.

[isaviolinist 11]

I keep a food log religiously (literally everything that goes into my mouth goes into the log). I do it on fitday.com. I love it. Its free, I can enter in custom foods, and they have a HUGE food database. I find it to be more convenient than carrying around a pen and notebook. I also hand in my food logs and recovery logs (I log my workouts, if I had any pain, how much sleep I'm getting, motivation level etc) to my fitness practitioner at our fitness center and they give me feedback on what I'm doing. Its been invaluable for keeping me on track. I know if I miss a workout or go on a binge, ill hear about it from them. You should see if you can find something like that. That way, you're not just logging but you're checking in with someone weekly.

[AlienBandit 10]

For me it always seems around Christmas time that I fall off the wagon badly. I have found the best way to get back on track is to revamp everything in my life top to bottom.

First I start by doing the 5 day pouch test. I start on a Monday and go til Friday. This limits what kinds of food I am allowed to eat etc.

While I am watching my food closely (and checking my band because when I fall off I always wonder if I need a fill etc) i go crazy with grocery shopping buying all healthy things and Proteins etc ( I do this on the Sunday before the pouch test starts)

During the week I go through all my clothes and items around the house getting rid of the junk ("fat" of my apartment).

To get my exercise routine back in place I set 3 alarm clocks around the apartment so I have to get up to turn them off. Of course once I am up the dogs are up that means a walk outside and by then I am so awake I might as well go to the gym.

By the time the week is done, my mind set is better, I am eating good again, I know whether I should call my doc for a fill or not, my apartment is a little empty and more organized, I have a list of new clothes I must buy (always in a smaller size for more motivation) and I am back in my exercise routine.

Falling off is easy, getting back on track is hard. It may take a week but that is better then nothing

[coachmac1210 0]

! i was banded on 12/31/08, almost 2 years ago, and i've been all over the place. the first year i did really good and lost a fair amount of weight and was on the right track.

about october of 2009 i got a fill and it was too tight. i didn't get around to doing anything about it because my dad was really sick at the time and i was constantly with him in and out of the hospital over a period of 3 months.

i went and got an unfill in feb 2010 where they took almost everything out of my band. i came back in 4 weeks and i had gained back 9 lbs. they put more in and i did ok. i got another little bit put back in in april,

since then i've been eating all over the place and i constantly eat around my band because those are the things that are easiest for me to eat. i've gained 20 lbs since i was at my lowest weight after my surgery.

i'm not totally sure why i fell off course or what made me do it. i think i just love the taste of junk food too much i'm just now desperately trying to find the motivation and courage to get everything on track again.

i wanna do this for my dad. he was the one who totally supported me and wanted my band to do great things for me. he passed away in january so now i feel like i need to show him that it can

i'm going in to the doctor monday to get a little bit of a fill and hopefully get myself back on track. you'd think after two years i'd get the hang of it.

if anyone has any support or suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

(and thanks for letting me post this...even doing this makes me feel a little better and more confident)

[Jachut 487]

I tend to get majorly off track when I try to diet.

This year has been hard, I was sick, having chemo and I got right down to 130lb (I'm 5ft 10). Being as dysfunctional as I am, sigh, I loved being officially "underweight". I was so happy the day I saw 59kg on my scales. OK, so I'd lost half my colon, had an ileostomy and was majorly dehydrated with severe diarrhoea, but dammit, I was officially SKINNY. I was unfilled at the time too, I worked SO hard to keep that weight.

But as nature tends to dictate, I got better. Chemo finished, my body returned to health and a little (healthy) weight crept back, I got back to 140lb. I panicked. I began to diet very strictly. Dieting never ever ever works for me. I even gained a pound or two more and my old cycle of binging/starving has returned. Eat too little and only "good" foods, restrict fat, exercise a bit too much and sooner or later your body cries out in protest and you begin to lose the willpower, cave in to chocolate cravings and such. Through this time I've been completely refilled and it still hasnt helped.

The answer to me, and I've done it this past week is to STOP dieting. Accept the weight gain, stop trying to lose it in a week, just take a moment, a deep breath and start eating normally. Enough at one meal to get you through to the next. Eat raw vegies, sure, but not as your sole source of nutrition. Say no to anything between meals, but anything goes for a meal - if I want a hotdog, I have it. That squashes the annoying nibble cravings - the Cookies, chocolate chips. It works for me. I am staying off the scales for a couple of weeks because when I dont see instant results I tend to go off the rails again. I'm back to just running rather than gym for a couple of weeks - long distance running for my body cuts fat incredibly well, weights and gym dont work nearly as well for me.