Bunny Bandsters - April '09, MASTER THREAD #1

[ThinWithin 0]

I called my surgeon's office today on the way to work and confirmed that I've done all I need to do for my insurance company's requirements. I guess I just have a more accepting insurance company…well, that, and I have a BMI that’s pushing 60...

I’ve officially set the date for my surgery though—as of now, I’ll be banded on April 15th. I may change the date because of work-related reasons, but for now, that’s the date. :rolleyes2:

I decided to take one more last-ditch effort to try and lose weight on my own, though. I started today because there is roughly one month until my surgery date. I’ll be eating as if I had the band (or at least trying to eat the smallest sized portions I can while eating the breakfast/shake/lunch/shake/dinner regimen. I’ve also joined a gym and paid for a personal trainer 3x a week for the next 4 weeks.

I fear this may have been a bad idea because my trainer keeps telling me that I won’t even want the surgery after the month is up… Did anyone ever feel like they were “taking the easy way out” by getting surgery? I keep hearing this phrase thrown around a lot by people in my life who claim they are just worried about me going under the knife…

Also, sometimes I feel like I should be able to do it on my own because I’m young and in good health. I don’t know…

Did anyone ever deal with guilt associated with being able to have the opportunity to get the surgery in the first place? I have a lot of overweight family members who don’t have the financial freedom to have the surgery… sometimes I feel guilty—like I should struggle because they do.

Just things that I’ve been battling with lately… wanted to throw it out there and see if anyone else is going through it at this stage pre-op. :scared2:

I totally identify with that. It took me quite a while to come to terms with the fact that I was taking the EASY way out daily. Daily I over ate, daily i ignored my health. I have 2 children and that totally made me NOT want surgery because I wanted to teach them the 'right' way. For better or worse my reality is I dont know better. I cannot teach them what I dont know. I cannot give them what I dont have. I am getting this surgery to GAIN control. to LEARN better. I dont want my babies to be in this spot in 20-30 more years because the cycle just perpetuated itself. In my opinion easy is one donut big mac drive thru at a time. hard is what i'm doing....but that's just my thinking :scared2:

[PharmaGirl 0]

Hey there Jessica,

Don't know if others here will agree but looking back on my life I feel my biggest mistake was thinking I was fat when I was about 14 and then going on my first diet (I weighed 62kg [about 135#] and was 5'6" tall - not fat but not rake thin). Since then it has been a rollercoaster ride as far as my weight goes.

I've lost weight then put it back on (plus more) more times than I care to remember. Each time I've gone back, it has been harder to shift the weight. I've lost weight every which way - diets, exercising my ass off, diet pills, etc. and there have been times when the weight stayed off for a while (my maximum was about 18 months) as long as I was super vigilant and able to stay on track but it was a supreme effort and inevitably I always had a big fall off the wagon (which was inevitably followed by a bad spiral of feeling bad and then more eating) and each time I ended up at a higher weight than I had ever been before.

I think the lap band is a fantastic safety net which means you can never fall off the wagon big time by pigging out on food. Having a lap band as a safety net or tool to help you avoid slipping back to bad habits is no easy way out. Weight is still only lost by exercising more and eating less (more calories out and less in) - that's never easy and it is much harder for some of us (those prone to obesity) than for others (those who are not prone to obesity - some people are literally not able to put on a lot of weight no matter how much they eat).

As one of my doctor's said to Lisa and I - those of us who have a genetic propensity for storing calories as fat would have been the survivors in the stone age when sources of food were scarce (our fat stores would provide energy to go looking for food when food was in short supply while the skinny runts would all die as they would have no energy stores to rely on if they missed out on eating for too long etc) - its just too bad we live in a time of relative feast and not famine!!

You should definitely not feel guilty about getting a lap-band - it is no easy way out. If you look around on the site, you will see that there are so many posts from people who have battled weight over many years and who have successfully lost weight with the help of the band and who say that their biggest regret is that the lap band wasn't around to help them keep weight off when they lost weight in their younger years. You are lucky that this technology is available to you at this stage of your life.

I know where you're coming from in thinking about others who can't afford to get the help you are able to access. That is the result of a shitty health system. It is not your fault. You should not let that stop you from doing what you can to improve your health.

Edited March 24, 2009 by PharmaGirl

[MSan914 3]

Hi everyone -

Can you add me to the list?

My surgery date is April 28!!

Thanks -

[Band_Groupie 3]

First...Welcome new Bunnies!

jukebox Did anyone ever feel like they were “taking the easy way out” by getting surgery?

Did anyone ever deal with guilt associated with being able to have the opportunity to get the surgery in the first place?

From my personal journey I am one of those older women (turning the big-one 50 on April 27) who wishes the band came into my life many years ago. I've been a professional yo-yo dieter for about 30 years (I was down just above my goal weight about 8 years ago for the umpteenth time and up and down several times since then...I've lost 50 pounds at a time or more so many times). I have slowly creeped up after each cycle to my highest weight ever. I now have comorbidities for the first time and my health and pain has made it harder to exercise and my age is making it harder to diet and lose as I used to...in other words, I've gotten to the point where everything is working against me losing weight and I was circling the drain.

If there was one thing I'd tell younger women/men it would be to really look at your cycle of dieting now, if you are pretty good at dieting/exercise for short periods but gain it back, then look at the LB tool now as you're a perfect candidate (you already know you can commit to making changes). Don't spend 30 more years beating your head (make that body) against a wall like I did. As far as the guilt...I've posted so many times about how this has been the hardest part of this whole process for me. I feel guilty for 'putting myself on the list' in front of my family for awhile, for taking the time to do this, and the money (it's sev. K for us, ins. pays the rest, but even 2-3K is a lot for us right now). I feel guilty for not being able to do this myself and keep it off. I'm also not telling anyone at this point but my DH, so I feel guilty toward my 4 siblings who are all heavier than I am, but I can't take any negative feedback at this point. I've now gotten to the point that I know that taking care of me now will mean I'm a happier healthy person who will be around here longer and that will benefit everyone who loves me in the end.

I, like you, started off thinking this was the 'easy way out'. I can tell you after almost a year since starting this journey that it will be one of the hardest things I've ever done. The emotional part has been every bit as hard as the lifestyle changes. That's the great part about LBT for me. Since only DH knows (a skinny-mini like my kids) this is the place I come to make the emotional changes, vent, cry, laugh, and Celebrate with people who are going through the same thing.

Do I think you'll lose weight and start feeling better with diet and exercising with a trainer for a month? Of course you will. Do I think there's another tool (just like your trainer is a tool and your diet is a tool) out there that can help you in your efforts to lose and (for me, more importantly) keep it off, yep...it's called the LB. Are you ready to commit to the changes and hard work the LB will take from you for life and are you emotionally at the point where you're ready to start dealing with the emotional aspects of obesity and why you got fat in the first place...only you can know if you're ready to chose to get the LB's help. Good luck on your decision! -BG

Edited March 24, 2009 by Band_Groupie

[hopeful41411 0]

Jessica, I can relate to what Pharmagirl said. I've lost a significant amount of weight and of course put it back on again. I do not know how to not overeat. This surgery is going to be my tool to help me not do that to finally succeed at keeping the weight off.

Welcome new bunnies!

I weighed this morning and was down! YEAH!

[MrsMitch 0]

Hello Bunny Bandsters! My lapband surgery is scheduled for April 15, 2009! I look forward to sharing this journey with you all!

[Band_Groupie 3]

How are all of you doing who have started the pre-op diet? How long is your diet and what are you allowed to have? Just curious as I haven't attended my pre-op class yet. Are you ready to chew on your shoes yet (I could hardly stand the day I had to do liquids for my colonoscopy!)?

[hopeful41411 0]

I've got say this liquid diet stuff is hard! Today I've got the headache, which I'm sure is because of the caffeine withdrawal. Sucks! I'm on the bettermd.com packets. I have 3 pudding/shakes a day, one Soup, one cool drink, and one Fiber drink a day. They're ok. Not really good though. It's toughest to feed my family dinner. I'm also an emotional eater especially when I'm alone. My hubby is in school and I'm on maternity leave. So right now I know I can't eat anything and I REFUSE to cheat like some people of said they do. It's good though because it's making me face the reality of why I overeat. I've been chewing lots of gum and drinking tons of water!

All I keep thinking is I have to do this for 20+ more days?! But you know what the next thought is? That is 3.4 lbs. I will never see again! Every pound off will be the last time I see that number.... the last time I have to feel the hunger for that pound... the end of the two hundreds.... the beginning of finding onederland!

[PharmaGirl 0]

I REFUSE to cheat like some people have said they do.

Andrea, I start liquids tomorrow and I am going to refuse to cheat too. I have to do it this way because I can't cheat small - I can only cheat big time!! unfortunately, I'm an all or nothing kind of girl. :huh2:

BTW, congrats on the great start!

[jukebox81782 0]

I am ready to commit to the full life changes. I've already started living my life (diet/exercise) as if I have the band...and I've already lost five pounds in two days! Of course I know that's just Water weight--I too have been a yo-yo dieter since my teens, and I've always regained and then some. I like the fact that the LB will be my safety net...my line in the sand that I will not be able to cross with regards to overeating. Again, I'm so very happy to have found this site because I plan to be on here A LOT!

And MrsMitch--I'm scheduled for the 15th, too! I'll check in on ya! <3

[hopeful41411 0]

Thanks Pharmagirl! And congrats Jessica on starting now! Good for you! I cheated way too much the past few weeks to even think about dieting. I think every think I wanted I pretty much ate... including a couple of mini Cadbury eggs! My hubby always gets me an Easter basket which is all candy so I told him he's going to have to find a new filler! I sent him an email with some Protein drink ideas and a link to the Bodybugg calorie counter.

Hope everyone has a great day!

[MSan914 3]

waht is Bodybug??

[hopeful41411 0]

Have you seen the Biggest Loser? They wear something similiar, if not the same thing, to measure calories that you burn throughout the day.

[Band_Groupie 3]

waht is Bodybug??

If you do a search under the Forum Exercise there's lots of information about them there.

I can't afford a Bodybugg, and I know I wouldn't use all the extra features it has, so I bought an inexpensive (<$30 incl. s/h) electronic pedometer that comes with some basic software tracking. I blogged about it if you're interested HERE.

All I keep thinking is I have to do this for 20+ more days?!

Holy Cow...How many weeks do you have to be on your pre-op diet?? I don't even take my pre-op class until the beginning of April, so I'm guessing mine won't be as long.

[MSan914 3]

OK - thanks

I don't know that I could/would use all of the things...so the cost probably isn't worth it to me, right now.

Here is a web site that I found - and have been using...works pretty well for me.

You enter your daily food and Water intake and you record your activity.

AND it is FREE!!!

It may not be helpful for everyone though.

Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate