March Bandsters: MASTER THREAD

[Fenton 3]

You guys are doing great! Very inspirational.

Going back into this WoE, I'm doing what you are, Special K - my patented Fenton shake for Breakfast, Soup for lunch, then I had a dinner of veggie burgers, yogurt and pear sauce. Eventually, I want to get to where Scrappy is, but I've proven myself a bad bandster enough times that I think I'm going to be using girlie2shooz' friend's "Keep filling til you're at Goal" advice.

We'll see.

[HarleyGirl 1]

Nice to see some activity here!!

I still start my mornings with a Protein shake....I still find, even after three years that I'm pretty tight in the mornings. Sunday morning I went out for breakfast and paid for it all day....I was super-duper colossal stuck for the rest of the day. I generally don't/can't eat until afternoon.

lunch is usually just protein....tuna, a few slices of cheese, some sliced turkey, chicken....whatever.

dinner varies greatly.....Del Taco .99 bean burritos are a staple...I know, tacky, tacky, tacky....high protein, high Fiber, fairly low in fat and I can eat dinner for $1.06!

I packed on fifteen pounds over the holidays (YIKES).....I've managed to get ten of it off.....but the last five is sticking. I'm sure once the weather finally breaks and I'm out more, it will be easier.

It was a rough winter.....I'm looking forward to the change of the weather...and well, just change!!

[SpecialK 22]

Hi Scrappyfriend ! You are doing fantastic. I am maintaining within +/- 5 lbs right now but never got the last 50 lbs off. I was a stress eater before and still am a stress eater now. I know the right choices to make and do very often which is how I'm maintaining but I am discouraged with myself, not the lapband, that I didn't stay committed long enough to finish. I have to say I still have the desire to finish but I just don't stay committed every single day, every meal, every snack like I need to. I got to the point where being healthy at this weight was such a blessing that I'm just enjoying that. Plus, I'm still under incredible stress due to my family situation and as we all know, eating doesn't solve the problem but it sure is a quick fix that is hard to walk away from when you have a lifetime history of behavior. I did see my foster mother by dropping in uninvited on Mother's Day and she invited me to stay and eat with them and I did but I was under such stress that I could barely eat due to restriction. I haven't seen them now since but I am staying committed to myself to do what I know is right for me. Can't let family drive my life and I was doing that.

I walked in the Race for the Cure for breast cancer here in Columbus and really enjoyed that. I am still getting out and taking walks and I did a tremendous amount of spring yard work this year 250+ bags of mulch! because I couldn't do any last year due to being post breast-reduction. I'm totally healed great from that surgery and still wish some day I can get my arms excess skin done - they look atrocious -- but I am not going to allow myself to get the stomach skin problems done until I lose what I think will be my final weight or close to it.

Just want to say hang in there to all of us who are now 3+ years post op! I would still do it again!

I've been pretty much maintaining a weight in the 140's for 2 years. Been as low as 132 for about 10 minutes and as high as the low 150's. I eat all the same food as I ate before sugery just a lot less of it minus the junk ( cakes , Cookies and chips). Once I eat the junk I start to gain, so I have to be very careful with that. Breakfast I will either eat a banana or 2 scrambled eggs, lunch is some sort of leftovers today it was a bowl of chili and a dinner roll, for supper I will have meatloaf, baked sweet potato and green Beans. I also eat a bedtime snack some examples are Jello, popcorn, salad.

I love to eat and have to deal everyday with telling myself no I'm not really hungry inbetween meals, and not eating junk food is a constant battle.

[SpecialK 22]

Hi friends. Summer is here and I love getting outside. Been doing some celebration and stress eating so I guess I always need to be on guard. Not out of control but coming back to this forum for support helps. Have any of you tried Overeaters Anonymous.. I have been considering this for emotional support. I can't make my hospital support groups due to my new job being so far away now and I can't get there in time.

[chubbychecker 1]

Hi Special K,

I am now well aware of the psychological aspects of my eating. It has been an interesting unwinding process since I was banded, and I have set backs too. I am now on a set back but plan to get my head in order by next week to get filled and start losing again. Just made myself a sandwhich in the middle of the night ha! (Woke up after going to bed to early) Took one bite! Silly me for thinking I could actually eat a sandwich. All one bite was delicious! ha!

I too find this forum very helpful to get me back on track or keep on track. Keep on posting I am listening.

[SpecialK 22]

Happy 4th of July to my Shrinking Shamrock friends. Yes, I am still hanging in here and hope you are too. I have recently begun reading some of my inspirational books again about eating and controlling your urges and it is helping. I keep thinking I should go back for some counseling to get stronger but then I have good weeks and think I'll do it on my own. So, I've been pretty good for this holiday weekend -- promised myself to give up the sweets that I had been indulging in and get the sugar out of my system. I did allow myself some corn on the cob yesterday and it was good. I find that I can only eat about 2/3 of an ear of corn and then I get the full signal and have to stop for 15 minutes and then I can finish my ear of corn and even eat a 2nd one. I know 2/3 of an ear of corn can't be a nourishing meal but it is a treat to enjoy a summer favorite. The fresh strawberries in the stores are wonderful. Enjoy your summer.

[scrappy_friend 0]

I need to ban myself for all junk food for about a month. I gained 4 pounds just from eating junk over the 4th of july weekend. Somedays I just hate myself.

Happy 4th of July to my Shrinking Shamrock friends. Yes, I am still hanging in here and hope you are too. I have recently begun reading some of my inspirational books again about eating and controlling your urges and it is helping. I keep thinking I should go back for some counseling to get stronger but then I have good weeks and think I'll do it on my own. So, I've been pretty good for this holiday weekend -- promised myself to give up the sweets that I had been indulging in and get the sugar out of my system. I did allow myself some corn on the cob yesterday and it was good. I find that I can only eat about 2/3 of an ear of corn and then I get the full signal and have to stop for 15 minutes and then I can finish my ear of corn and even eat a 2nd one. I know 2/3 of an ear of corn can't be a nourishing meal but it is a treat to enjoy a summer favorite. The fresh strawberries in the stores are wonderful. Enjoy your summer.

[HeatherMarie 4]

What books are you reading on eating and controlling eating? I am very interested in helping my head in this journey. I was banded in March 2011 and haven't had the success I had hoped for.

Thanks!

[SpecialK 22]

What books are you reading on eating and controlling eating? I am very interested in helping my head in this journey. I was banded in March 2011 and haven't had the success I had hoped for.

Thanks!

I've had these awhile but they might still be available online or a library maybe.

The Thin Book by Jeanne Eddy Westin, 365 Daily aids for fat-free, guilt-free, binge free living

Thin Tastes Better,by Dr. Stephen P. Gullo.

The Dieters Prayer book by Heathe Harpman Kopp

This is a more recent buy that I am just starting: Made to Crave, by Lysa Terkeurst

[SpecialK 22]

My hot air balloon basket link

I had the most wonderful work experience but it was also another weight loss journey checkpoint for me too. They had a carnival at work with all kinds of great rides and they also were offering tethered hot air balloon rides where you got in the basket, they take you up about 50-100 feet and then bring you back down. It turns out they have to be careful about how much weight they put into a hot air balloon basket at one time -- oh my! never thought that they would make a comment about me and my friend being too much weight with the 2 others they put in our group to get in for a ride. The balloon pilot was a little nasty or snide that they hadn't planned right to put me and my friend in a group with lighter people. I hate this kind of weight embarrassment stuff. It wasn't easy climbining in and out of the basket but I did it okay. So that is a win for me -- I was light enough with this 130 lbs gone that I could do it but still embarrassed that there are things you can't do if you are still a certain size.

On all the other rides I was able to fit on the rides just fine. There were some rides that are hard for me to step up and get into and then you had to jump a 18" or so for getting down but I did it! It did make me aware I have to keep working at this. I want to be able to jump down from a small height and not be fearful of my knees.

Last, I'm celebrating a victory that I walked and walked all day in 90 degree heat and my feet were not hurting and my friend who is about the same size or little smaller and definitely 8 years younger than me, was so tired and her feet were aching and I was still going strong years later.

So keep on going Shamrocks, no matter how long it takes, getting to our healthiest weight is worth it.

http://www.lapbandta...38353-dscn0283/

[Fenton 3]

OK, back again. Sick of backsliding - an incredibly stressful year, but so what? I'm not the only person to have had stressful times, and so many of you guys have ridden it out, and clung onto the band and have done well.

I'm on Day 2 of the Five Day Pouch Test, and it's going fine. For me - for most people, I think - starting is easy, but sustaining the effort is the killer. I look at people like Scrappy with profound admiration and gratitude: she's brought herself to where she needed to be, and she's stayed there. So now I have to try to be more like her.

I think focus is key. I was listening to Tom Arnold on TV last night, and to Dr. Drew Pinsky talking about Amy Winehouse, and they basically said the same thing: with addictive behaviours, getting clean must be the only priority - not family, not love, not career. Pinsky cited Robert Downey Jr as an example of the only way he felt that narcotic addiction could be conquered. Downey left the movie biz for almost two years while he worked on himself, and now, clean and sober, he's at the top of his game.

Of course, eating behaviour and straight drug addiction have as many differences as they do have parallels, but I think that's a useful example. I'm going to try some kind of daily affirmation, where I shall think about what I'm going to do to lose weight each day before I get out of bed.

The band is a fantastic tool; I have to learn how to use it, to embrace it, and to let nothing get in my way.

Weigh-in on Thursday...

[wishin4 0]

Hi Everyone,

After reading Fenton's post last week I decided to try the 5 day pouch test too. I've never done it before and today is my 2nd day. I am keeping myself busy so as not to think about food. But other than that I am doing fine. I am facing the prospect of having to have my band removed. My doctor has mentioned it a couple of times. I started to get heartburn and terrible reflux after about a year of being banded. My original surgeon was no help, he kept saying he didn't know what was causing it. He left the practice to go to another area and my current surgeon, who is a banded patient himself, has taken a more proactive interest in my case. At first he hust slowly started refilling my band and I didn't go back to him but was in horrible pain from constant heartburn and reflux. I had to sleep in either my recliner or with several pillows propping me up in bed. I took Prilosec twice a day and still had the problem. Finally, when I stopped losing weight, I went in for another fill and my husband told me to be sure and tell the doctor about how I have to sleep. When I did, he refused to give me a fill. Instead he set up a gastro swallow test for me. He met me there the next week and when they viewed me swallowing the nasty tasting liquid he said, "I was afraid this is what it was, you have a dilated esophagus" At that point he removed all the fill from my band. He told me to come back in 3 months and we would do the same test. That was last October. I've done the test 3 times more and I have another appt on the 16th of this month for another. Each time there was no difference and he said I still have a dilated esophagus. I am so frustrated over this. I asked him if something I did is causing this and he said no. He said it was caused by being too tight for too long. Needless to say, with little restriction I have managed to gain back about 15 pounds. So I thought maybe if I did the 5 day pouch test I would feel tight again and get back to where I felt restriction again and begin to lose weight . He has told me that he thinks he'll have to remove the band. I am just sick over this. I don't want to go back to where I was before I began this journey and I don't know if my insurance would cover another surgery for a vertical sleeve or a larger band ( I have a 4cc band). He thinks the band being small is part of the problem. Have any of you experienced what I am going through?

[wishin4 0]

Well, I finished the 5 day pouch test and lost 6 pounds in the process. I now have a tighter feel when I eat (even though I am not filled) and am more conscious of what I eat. My appt is on the 16th and I would like to be a few more pounds down and have a successful gastric swallow this time. I am trying to eat more like when first banded, rather than eating like before banding. It's a little hard since I am married to an overweight, poor eater who loves mexican food and slider type foods. Not impossible though just more work. Sigh!

[Fenton 3]

Hang in there, Kathy! It sounds like the results from the pouch test are really promising! How are your symptoms - any easing?

Things have been going well for me: it's been about 2 weeks and I'm down about 15 pounds, I'd guess, a significant amount of that being that Water weight you lose rapidly when you first drastically reduce your calories. I need to focus more on the satiety thing - right now I'm basically doing calorie counting, and being glad that I don't feel hungry between meals. Every Sunday, I'm going out to dinner at my favourite restaurant and having a three course meal - including desert, and a glass of wine. I don't know if that's the right thing to do, but it restricts any excess I might eat to one night, and I ignore cravings to allow myself that one blowout. And I save half of my entree for lunch the next day. So far it's going well: we'll see if I need to revisit that down the road.

One nice thing about being Back on the scale is that I've found I put on less weight than I'd thought. Either that, or I lost more Water weight than I estimated!

SO, yeah, full steam ahead...

[wishin4 0]

So far so good, I weighed in this morning and lost another pound. I am more mindful of my eating now and plan on trying to stay with it as long as I can. I also haven't had any heartburn during the day like I was starting to get again. The best part is my clothes are fitting better. This gives me incentive to keep going. Sounds like you are doing the same thing. Keep up the good work Fenton. No hunger pangs really makes it easier. Now if I could just turn off the head hunger.