Just keep swimming ...

[Parvathi 2]

Hi everyone,

It's been a long time since I've posted here, or even visited, but I was thinking about the band and my journey last night, so thought I would visit.

I was banded in March 2005 and did really well. By the following March, I had lost nearly 110 pounds (50kgs). I had a lot of extra skin and my boobs were sagging to my knees lol, so I had plastic surgery to remove the skin and a breast reduction. I was on top of the world!

A couple of months later, I started really struggling to keep the weight off. Then I gained a few kilos. Upon further investigation, my band had slipped. I was rebanded near the end of 2006.

After being re-banded, I never did manage to lose any weight again. It was a constant battle. I quickly began gaining. Eighteen months and many tests later, we found that I had a hiatal hernia, which was blocking the band from doing its job. Unfortunately, due to the previous surgeries and a lot of scar tissue, the surgeon said that to remove this would be a really hard surgery, both during the procedure and recovery wise. It would have to be open, rather than laproscopic, etc. I gave it a lot of thought and in the end, I decided not to go through that. They weren't certain that they would be able to fix it, even by fixing the hernia, so it just didn't seem logical to put myself and my family through another surgery (would have been the fourth one in three years!).

I had all the Fluid removed from the band to keep the hernia at bay and that seems to have worked for now. I'm rarely pained by it.

I spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself and eating myself in to an early grave. In December 2008, I went to my GP for an eye infection and he sat me down for the talk. You know the one - the "You're way too fat and you're headed for multiple co-morbidities" talk. I already knew my sleep aponea was back and blood tests confirmed that my blood sugar was high. He told me that if I didn't do something NOW, I would have type 2 diabetes. Perhaps I should have known that already, but it was the kick in the pants I needed.

I walked into my local Weight Watchers meeting the next day and weighed in at 5kgs over my initial start weight. Gutted!! Now, like many others, I'd tried WW before, as well as various other methods. Perhaps I didn't want it enough previously, I don't know. What I do know though, is that I've now lost 18kgs again. I'm exercising daily, even if it's just a few kms walk with the dogs. I'm remembering what this whole path that I started 4 years ago was for.

If you're having problems with your band, I implore you to not give up. Follow the good food guidelines. Eat your fruit, veggies, whole-grains, lean Proteins and dairy. You don't have to regain the weight like I did. I kick myself everytime I look at my skinny jeans for letting myself get back to this point.

Coming back here, I notice several of the people I started the journey with have now hit goal .. I can't wait to finally join them. It may take years, but I'll get there, one way or another!

[5jacks 0]

Good for you for sticking to something!! I admire you for getting back into the swing of things and not letting it get you down. I have been gaining weight slowly and at about 15 pounds of a gain I made the appt. at the surgeons and found out that I've got a dilated esophagus. They took my fill out and will start the process over again a couple of months. That's why I'm back on here......always seemed to do better when I could research on LBT with what real people are going through. Hoping I can get my head back into this and figure out why I'm not able to quit snacking?!?!? The band helps us lose weight but in the end it's still up to us. Congrats to you for finding a way to lose weight.....no matter what the way is ! !