Wish Me Luck

[bandpal 7]

Hi All,

I wrote this and posted it yesterday to my monthly support group (November 2007) but no one really posts there anymore, so I want to share it with you also, since the subject matter is relevant:

It's been a while, hasn't it? On the hope that there are some of us still reading this board, I wanted to check in and say hello. Overall I'm doing well. I weighed in this morning at 62.9 kilos (138.4 lbs), 5.1 kilos (11.2lbs) below goal weight, and 67.1 kilos (147.6 lbs) less than I did on the morning of November 21, 2007.

That's not to say there haven't been bumps in the road and elements of my new life which I'm not comfortable with. I can't keep anything down before the early afternoon hours, liquids included. It's rare for me to eat a meal without spitting up some food at least once. It's hard for me to drink for hours after meals, which has occasionaly interfered with taking medication.

I'm also changing jobs this fall, which will necessitate leaving behind the "spitting image" which I've acquired at my old job. So... I'm making the 2.5 hour drive up the desert to my surgeon's office and am getting a full cc taken out. This'll take me down to 5 cc's, down from a high of 6.5 cc's two years ago.

I'm a little scared. But I also know that it's time for me to step up and see if I can keep some of the good habits I've developed over the past three and a half years. Some of these are:

- Eating slowly

- Chewing food thoroughly

- Not eating a large Breakfast (basically, I don't eat breakfast anymore)

- Eating primarily vegetables, reasonable amounts of Protein and small servings of carbohydrates.

- Avoiding sweets as much as possible and trying not to ping pong between sweet, salty and fatty foods.

- Not binging late into the night.

The band forced me to adapt these habits, which meant that I was able to extinguish the bad habits of a lifetime which got me to where I was on that November morning. Now it's time to see if I can keep these habits out of choice rather than from necessity. And of course I hope I'll still feel the band in there, doing it's job at 5 cc. Please wish me luck.

- Bandpal (David)

[Cindy C 150]

Good luck, David.

[SageTracey 608]

Good luck David and thanks for sharing.

[Snoopyloverny 3]

Wow, congrats and good luck at new job! Btw, for a male - you write very well!

[bandpal 7]

Thanks for the support, everyone. I'm back from my unfill, one cc lighter than I was before (wonder if that'll show up on the scale?).

I got to the appointment early enough to stroll through a nearby pedestrian mall, passing restaurants and food stands that would have reduced me to a puddle of drool before. Now, I gave them a passing thought and decided that I preferred my own cooking. I did buy 2 kilos of green seedless grapes from a fruit cart, and right after I left my doctor's office, I sat in a l ittle park and slowly and successfully ate six of them (I had been unable to keep fresh fruit down before). That was my celebration.

Back at home I ate a delicious dinner without any pb's, and woke up this morning without any regurgitation. It looks like this morning's coffee is staying down, too.

My surgeon was great about the unfill. It was interesting that not one of my list of complaints (not being able to keep food or liquids down before noon, pb's during and after meals, not being able to keep down fresh fruits or vegetables) raised his eyebrow: all normal at that level of closure, he said. That relieved me, because I was concerned that something had gone wrong.

This morning I feel a little like a kid setting off on his first bicycle trip with the training wheels off (or, more accurately, raised a little). I hope it's a smooth and steady ride, and if any falls are ahead, I know I'll be able to get back on the bike and keep going. My guidelines for a safe journey:

- Eating slowly.

- Chewing food thoroughly.

- Not eating a large breakfast (basically, I don't eat breakfast anymore).

- Eating primarily vegetables, reasonable amounts of Protein and small servings of carbohydrates.

- Avoiding sweets as much as possible and trying not to ping pong between sweet, salty and fatty foods.

- Not binging late into the night.

- No bread or bready foods. The only thing bread ever did for me was make me fat.

Thanks again, everyone - have a good weekend.

- Bandpal (David)

[Losing 2 0]

So glad to hear that all is better now & that your list of complaints didn't raise an eyebrow... Continued success.

[kmaas21605 14]

How did you stop "the bingeing late into the night"? That is really my problem! I eat well during the day and then double my calories after 8 p.m.

[bandpal 7]

How did you stop "the bingeing late into the night"? That is really my problem! I eat well during the day and then double my calories after 8 p.m.

First of all, there's no "stopping" it. It's hard-wired behavior and it's with me forever. I do believe that it's possible to greatly lessen the frequency, and I have. The band has helped tremendously, because:

1. I can't eat as much.
2. I can't eat as quickly.
3. When I eat too much too close to my bedtime, the food comes back up when I lie back down and I either can't fall asleep or am woken up with food in my mouth in the middle of the night.
4. The next morning after a binge, my pouch is still full of food for hours.

All of these enable me to stop (something I was almost never able to do before) and ask myself questions like: "Is it really worth it?" or "what do I want to do - eat or sleep" and sometimes the answers comes back "no" and "sleep". Thanks for writing, and good luck!