I just ate an entire bag of Oreo cookies...

[bandster_1007 1]

..oh and as for losing the weight, gaining it back, then not being able to lose it again...i would say that most of us are in the same boat...that is why we have surgery.

we cannot beat ourselves up over it, or we will never free ourselves from the fat or the fat mentality.

[bandster_1007 1]

..and i don't have a ticker, because i was unfilled during a pregnancy then miscarried, then ate my way through mourning..

however, i was banded 10/18 and was 228, as of today i am 204, and i did not get restriction until march. so i have 24 lbs since march...that includes the pregnancy which was march (miscarriage) thru may.

[Alexalon9 0]

Abby (love that title, by the way - my hubby and I quote it frequently) I am in the same boat you are! I feel EXACTLY THE SAME. AS YOU! I am reading all of these posts from post-banders and it seems like they aren't "fat like me", they are the "thin types" I am hearing how fitness and energy and eating right changed their life - then maybe they are just "those types" of people - of which I am not! I am confused because no one really ever says - "WOW, this band put a stop to all my overeating" - which is why in the hell I am getting it - they say - "I changed, or my eating habits had to change, or I had to do the work" - all rhetoric of Weight Watchers or weight loss gurus - things I have never been able to identify with. If these folks changed so drastically - where does the band really fit in? And it seems that the post-banders view the pre-banders as "unenlightened thinkers" about food and we need to develop a new way of eating and viewing food - but that is the problem in the first place. No one seems to attribute the weight loss and change to the band, but to their habits and will power (which is all you have pre-op and for maybe several months post-op). I don't get it and I keep thinking - weren't these people all as fat and out of control as me?????????

OK, I've totally felt (and sometimes still feel) the same way as yall (abby + noah)! I'm a 19 year old college student and I've had the band for almost two years now (banded 9/06). Losing weight and being healthy is a total life style change. It's not something that can just happen in a matter months...it's just not. It's a struggle and I don't see any one saying that it's easy.

Before you get the band, you need to understand one thing. IT'S NOT A SILVER BULLET! If you get the band, you will lose a lot of weight, but you still have to be strong. I'm a strong willed girl, and fearlessly went into surgery because I wanted to be thin. Period. There was still a whole lot for me to learn though :tongue: and I still am learning

I totally say get the band, but gurl you still gotta work. I am still working myself! I've lost like 40 to 50 lbs. And I have my ups and downs. Sometimes I just want to have Mc Donnalds and sweets and what ever I know will kill me. But that doesn't mean I'll never be thin. Ever since I've lost the amount of weight that I have lost, people look at me in a different way. Even though I've got another 20 to 30 lbs to go, that gives me my motivation to move on. I don't hate myself and I'm not at risk to die anymore, but I know I'll get there still.

You have to get back on the wagon and I'm sorry to tell you that it's gonna be so hard. I know how you feel and you need to heal yourself emotionally as well as physically before you can really be happy and healthy. :tt1: You can do it! It's a day by day process. Start by cutting down the amounts of bad foods you eat untill it gets to the point where you rarely have them. Gurl, IT'S HARD I KNOW! But you gotta do it. The band just helps you really, but the work is still up to you:frown:

OK, so losing the weight and getting healthy is like climbing a really really tall mountain. Think of yourself post band as a climber with no shoes or climbing gear or anything. The band is your gear! (Am I making any sense?) The band makes it possible to climb the mountain, but you still have to be the one doing the climbing. YOU CAN DO IT! BELIVE IN YOURSELF!

I babbled an awful lot, hope that helped!

[plain 12]

Abby (love that title, by the way - my hubby and I quote it frequently) I am in the same boat you are! I feel EXACTLY THE SAME. AS YOU! I am reading all of these posts from post-banders and it seems like they aren't "fat like me", they are the "thin types" I am hearing how fitness and energy and eating right changed their life - then maybe they are just "those types" of people - of which I am not! I am confused because no one really ever says - "WOW, this band put a stop to all my overeating" - which is why in the hell I am getting it - they say - "I changed, or my eating habits had to change, or I had to do the work" - all rhetoric of Weight Watchers or weight loss gurus - things I have never been able to identify with. If these folks changed so drastically - where does the band really fit in? And it seems that the post-banders view the pre-banders as "unenlightened thinkers" about food and we need to develop a new way of eating and viewing food - but that is the problem in the first place. No one seems to attribute the weight loss and change to the band, but to their habits and will power (which is all you have pre-op and for maybe several months post-op). I don't get it and I keep thinking - weren't these people all as fat and out of control as me?????????

Hi Noahsmom. There's a reason why few people say the band "put a stop to all my overeating"........Because it won't put a stop to all of somebody's overeating. The band basically makes you feel more full with less food. Now, once a person feels "not hungry", can they keep on eating? Absolutely. The band doesn't totally stop that from happening (actually, nothing can. The only thing that could do something like that is to hire a companion that follows you around 24/7 and physically slaps the food out of your hand). The band helps re-train your brain to realize when it's time to stop eating.

The band is super for people like me (very fat and likely as out-of control as you). My problem was that I would eat enormous quantities of food (I worked out with weights, and my metabolism was high....I was always hungry. Then, as I got older, I gradually stopped lifting weights, but stayed in the habit of eating huge meals. Then I got in the bad habit of eating fast food. Before I knew it, I was morbidly obese). The band helps my physical appetite, and it will help yours, and it will help Abby Normal. But you and Abby (and I) still have to fight against "head hunger".

I am sooooooo pro band. But I believe that people need to go into the surgery knowing exactly how the band works, and what the limitations are. Good luck!

[plain 12]

OK, I've totally felt (and sometimes still feel) the same way as yall (abby + noah)! I'm a 19 year old college student and I've had the band for almost two years now (banded 9/06). Losing weight and being healthy is a total life style change. It's not something that can just happen in a matter months...it's just not. It's a struggle and I don't see any one saying that it's easy.

Before you get the band, you need to understand one thing. IT'S NOT A SILVER BULLET! If you get the band, you will lose a lot of weight, but you still have to be strong. I'm a strong willed girl, and fearlessly went into surgery because I wanted to be thin. Period. There was still a whole lot for me to learn though :tongue: and I still am learning

I totally say get the band, but gurl you still gotta work. I am still working myself! I've lost like 40 to 50 lbs. And I have my ups and downs. Sometimes I just want to have Mc Donnalds and sweets and what ever I know will kill me. But that doesn't mean I'll never be thin. Ever since I've lost the amount of weight that I have lost, people look at me in a different way. Even though I've got another 20 to 30 lbs to go, that gives me my motivation to move on. I don't hate myself and I'm not at risk to die anymore, but I know I'll get there still.

You have to get back on the wagon and I'm sorry to tell you that it's gonna be so hard. I know how you feel and you need to heal yourself emotionally as well as physically before you can really be happy and healthy. :tt1: You can do it! It's a day by day process. Start by cutting down the amounts of bad foods you eat untill it gets to the point where you rarely have them. Gurl, IT'S HARD I KNOW! But you gotta do it. The band just helps you really, but the work is still up to you:frown:

OK, so losing the weight and getting healthy is like climbing a really really tall mountain. Think of yourself post band as a climber with no shoes or climbing gear or anything. The band is your gear! (Am I making any sense?) The band makes it possible to climb the mountain, but you still have to be the one doing the climbing. YOU CAN DO IT! BELIVE IN YOURSELF!

I babbled an awful lot, hope that helped!

Wow- this is a great post. Very well put!

[Alexalon9 0]

yaaay! thanks plain :3

[general_antiope 189]

I disagree with the statements that "It's sooo hard"

It's really NOT hard.

It's not hard the way you know weight loss to be before the band. It's different. The fact that your hunger is controlling everything pre-band is a million times harder.

I still make poor choices now, but then I make brilliant choices. For longer periods of time. That's the beauty of the band - it's easier to get and stay on a regimen than it is without it...but like you, I could not fathom a life without the constant hunger. I didn't believe my Band Buddy about the magic fill til I got one :confused_smile:

But, you do have to come to terms with the fact that you must be active in trying and participating in your own weight loss or it just won't work.

[Alexalon9 0]

I disagree with the statements that "It's sooo hard"

It's really NOT hard.

It's not hard the way you know weight loss to be before the band. It's different. The fact that your hunger is controlling everything pre-band is a million times harder.

I still make poor choices now, but then I make brilliant choices. For longer periods of time. That's the beauty of the band - it's easier to get and stay on a regimen than it is without it...but like you, I could not fathom a life without the constant hunger. I didn't believe my Band Buddy about the magic fill til I got one

But, you do have to come to terms with the fact that you must be active in trying and participating in your own weight loss or it just won't work.

I see what you mean and I agree with you mostly. I just want to explain what I meant. When I say that it's hard, I mean that we still have to make the right choices in what we eat. Weight-loss is not a cake walk for everyone. I'm a teen with a killer sweet tooth and "eye hunger," and I've come to learn that you have to get over that as well as eating the right foods and exercising.

I've never gained weight since my surgery but I've found that I lose weight when I'm really strict and hard on myself (in terms of exercise and what I eat) rather than when I relax on being my own warden. :rolleyes2:

[bandster_1007 1]

for me the hard part was losing my best friend, food. after i got over what i called my food "detox" it was a lot easier. now i do cheat, but i do not care.

[Alexalon9 0]

for me the hard part was losing my best friend, food. after i got over what i called my food "detox" it was a lot easier. now i do cheat, but i do not care.

yay for you! I think that's the hardest part! :rolleyes2:

[Vicki J 0]

Wow, I'm not sure how to reply. I guess the first thing I would say is that if you don't have insurance to cover therapy or even if you do, Overeater Anonomous might be a good place to start. This might help you find out why you're binging and how to handle it. The other suggestion is to get the Beck Diet Solution book. It is not a diet but about your thought process.

As for the band, I guess the best way to say it is I was a binger and used to drowned my stresses in any food handy. The food of choice was sweets. I could do my stress/depression/anger/boredom justice with ice cream or Cookies. Yeah, like Abby Normal, I could loose weight but keeping it off was the crux of the problem. I truly believe unless you have a medical problem or medication problem we can all loose the weight but how much and maintaining it is the quesiton.

The band for me has given me the little added push I needed to be able to keep off the weight. I don't fight my band and try to listen to the signals it gives me. That keeps the amount I consume down. All of us who have dieted know that we should eat good foods and exercise (ick). So I try to do that most of the time. I personally hate working out but I'm doing it and as I get in better shape I'm starting to appreciate it. Having said all of that, let's get real. Calories in and calories out is the whole thing. Yeah, good calories in is the goal but it's still calories in/calories out. So, if you like the sweets and you want to loose the weight, plan them in. If you put your sweets in smaller bags then at least you'll have to make a conscious decision to eat them if you go for the binge. That is unless you grab all of the bags. Most of the time we're just mindlessly eating and when we scratch the bottom of the bag/box we go "OH S**T." Then we spend the next week beating ourselves up because we blew it. Of course, this starts the old cycle and we eat because we were bad, beat ourselves up, eat, beat, eat, beat.... You know the routine. The other thing I have to say is when you do want to eat those forbidden things make a decision to have them and don't let it be an unconscious thing. Last week we had a part for an employee that was leaving. I brought the cheese cake and a white cake. Did I set myself up or what? Well, after battling myself over how I was going to blow it by eating cheese cake I finally decided that I wasn't going to let it be a compulsive eating thing. I decided that if I had some cheese cake it would be because I wanted it and I would count it. So, I had my sliver of cheese cake and counted it. Boy did it take a hunk of calories! But I ate it, enjoyed it and didn't let it have control. I have gotten where I journal all of my foods. If I don't, I forget and then I get into trouble. You can use fitday.com. It's free. It tracks your weight so when you feel like you haven't lost in forever or that you have only lost a minut amount, you'll usually see it isn't that bad. If you are stalled, you can look at what you're eating and doing and can usually find the problem. Remember ABC - all bites count.

The band isn't going to stop this from happening. The band will HELP you limit your intake. However, for some strange reason it makes it easier to control it. I can't say if it's because it limits you, you detox, or why but it helps. Maybe it's the success of loosing that does it, I don't know. You won't be perfect, don't try to be. Just try to follow most of the rules most of the time. It will spank you if you eat too much, too fast, or don't chew well enough.

I have my international house mochas every morning (burn 200 cal or so there) and I have my sugar free fudgesicles in the evening. Not the best choices but it makes me happy. I will eat a cookie or two now and then and have had some pie. But I do it when I'm in control. What would I do if I felt a major binge coming on....First I would get myself out of the kitchen, then I would try and figure out the cause, if I could figure it out I would try and figure out if eating would really help me cope, if I totally couldn't get rid of the binge feeling I would try and find something that would appease the urge yet not totally upset the apple cart. Lastly, I would forgive myself as soon as possible for my lapse. I would forgive my child within minutes if they endulged, why not myself.

I am not perfect. I will always be a work in progress. But I have hope because of my band.

Good luck to all of you. If I can be of help, hollar!

[general_antiope 189]

Alex - I hope I didn't sound all mean, I was just politely disagreeing. And I concur - being my own warden's a little harder, you know? I realize I eat worse when I'm alone. And I live alone, I work in an office by myself at the back of the building, hence the weight's staying around. Fortunately, I'm about to be traveling weekly for the next 6 months so I am looking forward to losing my last 40. Eating with coworkers in a new place where I'm not sure if I'll make it to the bathroom to throw up is a great deterrent. LOL.

Vicky - beautifully said!!! Especially the part about counting in the sweets! I do that all the time. If I want the mac and cheese, I know the small is 300 calories and that's all I get. I love not feeling deprived.

The plastic surgeon I went to last night - his staff asked how weight loss has been with the band. I said "It's been fun!" and they said "What?" and I replied "God, compared to counting every little calorie and bite and point and carb and still being hungry, I eat to make sure I'm consuming enough to live, and can have that square inch of cake, cheesecake, whatever, and be satisfied...yeah, this is really fun. :)"

[Tess415 1]

Hope you guys don't mind if I jump in with a few thoughts from my own life lessons. I too was very successful with diets for the short term. The most at one time for me was 75 pounds on Weight Watchers, but I always ended back to where I was plus another 20 pounds. At one meeting I saw a gal get her award for completing 6 weeks of maintenance, she physically looked fantastic but when you looked into her eyes you could tell she was one of the most miserable people on the earth. It made me think, I felt miserable on the inside and my eating choices were being driven by my emotions and things that were wrong in my life. If by some kind of magic I could be given a smaller and healthier body overnight... I would be like that sad and miserable person at her goal. THAT IS JUST NOT RIGHT!!!!

Since that time I've made some really huge changes in my life!!!!! For the past 3 years, I couldn't even think about doing another diet. I told my self the next time is going to be the last time, and I need to get my head in the right place to do it! After spending over 1 year with a psychologist, going through emotional baggage that had piled up over many years... I was now ready to think about getting my weight under control. I read the book by Mohammed Ali's daughter and I really related to her struggles and emotions.

I then admitted to myself that I need a plan to work through all of the emotions while I loose my best friend FOOD!!! I started seeing a life coach 4 months before I had my band placed. I spent those months training my brain to deal with stress in healthy ways, and staying focused and most of all to stay POSITIVE!!!! This is the first time in my life I am not using guilt and negativity as my motivators!! And WOW what a difference it is. I am a much happier person to be around. I have a lot to offer in this life!!!!

I am not perfect, but each day is a brand new day... full of new choices to be made, and I am really trying to only look to the future!!!

This whole thing is a process, and you'll know when you're ready. Take time now before the whole surgery thing to get yourself in the best shape mentally so that this too can be a successful journey for you.

Best wishes to all for health and happiness!!!!

Tess

[bandster_1007 1]

"I have my international house mochas every morning (burn 200 cal or so there) and I have my sugar free fudgesicles in the evening. Not the best choices but it makes me happy. I will eat a cookie or two now and then and have had some pie. But I do it when I'm in control"- Vicki J

i couldn't have said it better myself..my thoughts exactly

tess--i wish that i would've dealt with my emotional problems before, because boy let me tell you it was a HUGE slap in the face, to be forced to do it. we (dh and I) had a rough few months, because i was a demonic monster without my food :crying:--now i'm happy :thumbup:

[Alexalon9 0]

Alex - I hope I didn't sound all mean, I was just politely disagreeing. And I concur - being my own warden's a little harder, you know? I realize I eat worse when I'm alone. And I live alone, I work in an office by myself at the back of the building, hence the weight's staying around. Fortunately, I'm about to be traveling weekly for the next 6 months so I am looking forward to losing my last 40. Eating with coworkers in a new place where I'm not sure if I'll make it to the bathroom to throw up is a great deterrent. LOL.

I didn't think you sounded mean at all! :cursing: I just wanted to clarify my statements because I also agree with what you were saying. :thumbup: