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[Apples2 19]

OMG...40 teenagers. You are a very brave woman! It makes me miss my boys. There were always a bunch of kids around and when my sons moved away, I missed their friends as much as I missed them.

Sounds like you are hanging in there and doing great even without a fill, Allie. Hope your fill in Oct. helps.

[allielee 263]

Thanks Apples, I have had 3 fills just not where I need them to be .. I hear you on missing the kids.. my daughters are 16 and 17 and in two years they both will be off to college. It makes my heart hurt just thinking about it. Our house is the "hang out" and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love having all their friends over. I will miss them terribly. I did get a puppy because I know I will be miserable and in need of something to baby :w00t: My hubby won't crawl up on my lap and let me hold him :thumbup: so the puppy will have to do.

[Apples2 19]

Thanks Apples, I have had 3 fills just not where I need them to be :w00t:.. I hear you on missing the kids.. my daughters are 16 and 17 and in two years they both will be off to college. It makes my heart hurt just thinking about it. Our house is the "hang out" and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love having all their friends over. I will miss them terribly. I did get a puppy because I know I will be miserable and in need of something to baby :thumbup: My hubby won't crawl up on my lap and let me hold him so the puppy will have to do.

You will do just fine with your daughters leaving to go out on their own. A little adjustment period but you tend to get used to the empty nest quickly. We got a 100# black lab after my kids left. He is our third son. So funny what you said about your DH not sitting on your lap. Our big ole dog sits in the recliner with my DH in the evenings. They try to out-snore each other.

We are lucky to have one of our sons back and farming with us. He bought a house in town last January. He spent a year in Iraq and I think he did some thinking about how nice it would be to farm. B/4 that time he always said farming was the last thing he wanted to do. My youngest left home at 18 to go to basic training. From there he moved to Alaska. Just two duffel bags and off he went. I worried for a few minutes and let it go. I figure if you raise kids that are independent and WANT to be out on their own, then you did the job you should have done.

Both my sons waited 2 yrs after high school to go to college. I made them promise me that they would. Youngest is now living in FL. He has his commercial pilots license, sea plane license and is a flight instructor and a ground school instructor. When you let them spread their wings (literally) they will find their niche and be happy with what they choose to do with their lives.

Guess I kind of got off on a tangent ... sorry.

[Great2BThin 5]

Allie, enjoy all those kids around. I had a difficult time with the empty nest at first. We were living in CA and they had both just moved out, when my husband who works for the airlines was transferred to the east coast. My kids stayed on one coast and I moved to the other. I never got used to the empty nest and now had the whole continent between us. Luckily we were only back east a year and a half and got to come to Denver which is really home for us. since then both my kids have moved to Denver as well. My daughter just recently and now she's living with us and DH can't wait til she moves out. LOL It's been an adjustment having her back with us. She's 27 now and I guess I still have a tendency to want to mother her. But it's been good and she'll be out on her own again soon.

As for getting to the sweet spot, I've had 5 fills and after the 3rd, 4th and 5th ones I thought I was there, but eventually it has worn off and I need more restriction. They said it had something to do with losing the fat layer between the band and tummy.

And now the exciting news for me; I HIT 70 LBS GONE THIS MORNING!

[allielee 263]

Apples, you must be so proud sounds like they are fine young men! I have always just hated change and look at me changing every day..lol.. I actually got whistled at today!!! I was like looking around for the hot chick and realized holy crap I am the hot chick!

Long2bthin- CONGRATS I bet you did a little happy dance didn't you. 70 pounds is so friggin much weight to lose you should be ecstatic! I for one am proud of you. Before you know it you will be at the 100 pounds lost. I can hardly wait to be in the 100 pound lost group!

Have a great friday!

[Apples2 19]

Allie...you are not too far away from the 70# mark. Not too long from now you will be posting about it. Great NSV....getting whistled at!!!!!!!!!

[brown bear 0]

GreatlyBlessed - I just wanted to say that I don't think it is your fault that you were snacking. If you don't have decent restriction, you are hungry, and if you are hungry - you eat. I know we have to eat the right things but I really am of the attitude that the band should help with portion size, and that includes snacking.

[Hunzi 0]

I'm back!

Hi Junies! I just popped in to to see how everyone is doing.

I'm feeling pretty good. I'd say I'm at about 90% of what I was before surgery in June. So I'm thinking about Round 2!

I'm going to have to ponder the timing, but I'm determined I'm not going to lose all the weight I lost pre-op. I'm up about 5-8ish pounds from my lowest weight which was about a week after I got out of the hospital after the infection. Not bad for 3 months of nothing! Of course if I binge much more like I did yesterday (TOM), it won't be long before I'm back to square one!

So, life is good. I got out of the hospital, took a couple of weeks to get back on my feet, was the #1 CONSULTANT IN MY MARY KAY NATIONAL AREA (serious woohoo!), and I treated myself to a bunch of new, really good looking clothes (in sizes 20-22 instead of 24-28!). Progress is being made!

Round 2 - I'm going to contact the surgeon soon, she's back to work after having the baby, and I'm brave enough to try again! I know she wants me to come in for an upper GI to check if there's any obvious damage from the infection. I don't think so, because I don't have any trouble eating or swallowing now that the swelling is gone. Of course we won't know if I can be re-banded until she actually goes in and sees everything with her own two eyes. The concern is scaring. As long as there aren't any serious scars that would interfere with placing the band, everything will be hunky dory!

You never know when I'll pop up!

Always

Hunzi

[Apples2 19]

Hunzi...sounds like you have been through the wringer but have a great attitude. Congrats on your Mary Kay accomplishment. Hope you can be rebanded soon!

[strikeuptheband 16]

Thanks Apples, I have had 3 fills just not where I need them to be .. I hear you on missing the kids.. my daughters are 16 and 17 and in two years they both will be off to college. It makes my heart hurt just thinking about it. Our house is the "hang out" and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love having all their friends over. I will miss them terribly. I did get a puppy because I know I will be miserable and in need of something to baby :thumbup: My hubby won't crawl up on my lap and let me hold him :eek: so the puppy will have to do.

Allie, I am also feeling the empty nest. My son just left (again!) this time to active duty in the army. He left after high school, went to the Marines and came home when that was done. Then he joined the Army Reserves and did that for a while but can't live on that part time work So now he joined Army full time and is off again, this time to Korea (at least people aren't shooting each other there, I hope!). The timing was just perfect tho, because I also recently moved due to my job and didn't have room for him at my new place. BF works nights so its lonely with my son gone but at least I have the cat to keep me company! Have you tried curling up in hubby's lap to see what would happen? lol This will pass, you will find some activity that you enjoy and not feel the empty nest so much after a while. Hang in there.

[strikeuptheband 16]

Well gang, looks like I am again on a losing streak! I have been sitting the same for most of my post surgery time (almost 4 months) but finally the scale is starting to budge! I think the last fill finally did it, can't eat much without getting pain in my chest so I go slow and am learning that that feeling means "No, not just one more bite, silly!" I have also been 'working out' by cleaning the mobile home we just moved into (my own dirt is ok, but can't stand other people's dirt! lol) Between laying new flooring, unloading a truckload of furniture and boxes, cleaning and washing everything, including the walls that were filthy, plus a new project of cleaning up a very old antique kitchen hutch (oh the possibilities!), my arm is about to fall off. It isn't exactly lifting weights but its strenuous work and looks like its finally paying off. Seems like as soon as we fix one thing in the trailer, something else falls apart! But I am staying busy and happy now that I can see some results from all my hard work. Also, I just put my home computer in the shop Friday so I haven't been able to get in here for the last few days. (sneaking in at work right now). I might be able to pick it up tonite after work and get on line at home again. I am lost without my home computer!

[Apples2 19]

Strike...good so see you back and that you are somewhat settled in your new place. A big life change along with the lap band life change. Yahoo...the scale is moving for you too. Best of luck in your new city and new life.

[allielee 263]

Hi Strike up.. Thank goodness he is not in Iraq. My hubby just retired from the Navy. Lol about crawling up in the hubbys lap! Thanks for the support and I am glad you are settled in to your new "place".

[GreatlyBlessed 0]

Thank You for the response brown bear. I was feeling really discouraged because when I had my last visit with the doctor his nurse stormed in the room and looked at me and said "YOU ONLY LOST 5lbs. SINCE YOUR LAST VISIT!" I felt bad but I really didn't have restriction. I have been working really hard to lose the 55lbs. that I have lost already and that was only with a 2cc fill. My nutritionist and the nurse practitioner said that I have lost this weight on my own so far just by changing my eating habbits and exercising. They said the band hasn't been tight enough to be effective. The nurse practitioner says she gives 4cc's on the first fill and here I am over 3 months out and I am just now at 4cc's. I have to write in a notebook eveyday to convience myself that I don't need a cookie and that I don't need that pie. I have filled 2 notebooks with reasons why I don't need certain things and reasons why I want to lose this weight. I try with everything in me to stick to eating healthy but it's so hard when I still have the same hunger and cravings as I did before the surgery. The band should be tight enough so that I couldn't eat it if I tried to. I need the fills to help me get the weight off. If I could do it by dieting alone I would have kept my money and spent it on something else. I paid cash for my surgery. I did this because I have been obese since elementary school. I just want to be normal for a change.

[Great2BThin 5]

Greatlyblessed, you've lost 55 lbs. that's fantastic. I've heard it said more than one time here on the boards, we got bands on our stomachs not our heads. The head hunger is still there and we still need to battle that. sounds like you are doing a good thing with journalling about it. If you follow the 'rules of the tool' (that's what my dr office calls it) then you will continue to lose. And as ou get more fills it should get a little easier but that still doesn't take away the head hunger. I've been lucky, my surgeon is very aggressive with fills, I've had 5 already and that doesn't include the prefill I got in surgery. But I still sometimes don't have the greatest restriction. I'm thinking of getting another at my next visit. Keep up the good work, you will get there.