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My initial loss with my band was amazing (and a little scary), but the joy of seeing pounds dropping off on a daily basis was truly fantastic. As I was looking at my weight this morning, I noticed that I had only lost 5 pounds during the month of April and was tempted toward the negative by comparing my loss with what I did when I was first banded. Then I started to think about my bike ride on Sunday, 28 miles, 23 miles two days before, Both at speeds that it took me 5 months of work up to last year to be able to sustain for 15 miles. I thought about my spin class and the progress I have made during it, where I had to stop and rest halfway through when I first started. I thought about the fact that it is time to go shopping for clothes again because my pants are starting to bunch at the waist when I tighten my belt enough to hold them up. I thought about the fact that I am down to one belt because I haven't punched holes in the other two. I thought about the fact that the fat percentage on my scale hit a new low number this morning. I thought about all the weight that I lost on WW, and how 5 pounds in a month would have been a cause for celebration. Yup, the low hanging fruit of my band journey is all gone, but that's ok I burn more calories when I have to climb the branches to reach the higher fruit. Father God, please help me to remain thankful for all that you have given me instead of focusing on what I don't have...

"You are beautiful. Your beauty, just like your capacity for life, happiness, and success, is immeasurable. Day after day, countless people across the globe get on a scale in search of validation of beauty and social acceptance. Get off the scale! I have yet to see a scale that can tell you how enchanting your eyes are. I have yet to see a scale that can show you how wonderful your hair looks when the sun shines its glorious rays on it. I have yet to see a scale that can thank you for your compassion, sense of humor, and contagious smile. Get off the scale because I have yet to see one that can admire you for your perseverance when challenged in life. It’s true, the scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. That’s it. It cannot measure beauty, talent, purpose, life force, possibility, strength, or love. Don’t give the scale more power than it has earned. Take note of the number, then get off the scale and live your life. You are beautiful!” Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

I can’t exercise at work. I can park in a parking structure that is a block from my building I can give the elevators the day off and climb the stairs (my office building has 11 floors, my office is on the 8th floor) I can go to the bathroom on the 11th floor instead of my floor (& take the stairs, of course) I can take a break & go for a walk (it’s amazing how refreshing it is to get away from my desk for 10 minutes) I can’t drink that much water in a day. I can add lemon/lime wedges or crystal light mixes to the water for variety. I can carry a bottle of water with me everywhere I go. I can take a drink of water every 5 minutes. I can’t stop snacking. I can stock my pantry with healthy snacks I can pre-portion my health snacks. I can drink 8 ozs of water before having the snack I think I want. I can go for a walk instead of having the snack I think I want. As long as “I can” I will maintain my weight and I know I CAN!

I have not posted in a few weeks and have been reading many of the posts regarding the same questions and the tone of some of the answers. I work in the medical field and researched the band for 2 years and went to all of my preop classes etc... I was fully aware before surgery that the band is only a tool. The best way of thinking about it for me is the band holds me accountable to myself and what I eat!!! It is a tool only ,I have done the work so far. My loss has been very slow but I feel 100% better. I feel the first mistake some make is thinking the band is a cure and an easy way out. I have been stuck for 3 weeks now but will not let that stop me. I was banded 11-8-12 have had 2 fills. At my last fill the NP told me "you get it, you really get it"!!! Its only a tool, they cure for obesity comes from within and the desire to for once in my life do something for me and to become more healthy and active. I don't need to lose as much as some but the battle is the same. For those of you that have met your goal, you are an inspiration to me and gives me hope that I can do this with the HELP of my band. I do no rely on the band but always know its there. I have lost 21 pounds with 30 to go and its any every day decision but the band always reminds me how much and what I can and cannot eat. Looking forward to the green zone and until then I just keep doing the best I can. Not sure why I felt the need to write this but hope this help someone the way others on this post has helped me the last few months. By the way I am a 51 yr old grandmother raising grandkids the works full time so believe me I know the stress of everyday life and how I turn to food for comfort. No more thanks to my lap band, accountablity tool

Laying in bed this morning and my arm hits something on my leg...I think to myself...what the hell? Turns out I have a hip and leg bone that has been hiding in my thigh for at least 3 decades. Needless to say it's pretty cool to find all these bones that have always been there but have been hiding...collar bones, shoulder bones, now hip bones...oh and I am even seeing ankles too, real ankles and not cankles. Just thought I would post this in my blog today. Feels good.

I love the movie Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) with Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, it’s a must see so rent it if you've never seen it. This is one of my favorite scenes…… Just wanted to share it with everyone. I never get mad, Mrs. Threadgoode. Never! The way I was raised it was bad manners. Well, I got mad and it felt terrific. I felt like I could beat the sh*t outta all those punks! Excuse my language. Just beat 'em to a pulp! Beat 'em till they begged for mercy. Towanda, the avenger! After I wipe out all the punks of this world, I'll take on the wife beaters, like Frank Bennett, and machine gun their genitals. Towanda will go on the rampage. I'll put tiny bombs in Penthouse and Playboy... so they'll explode when you open 'em. I'll ban all fashion models who weigh less than 130 pounds. I'll give half the military budget to people over 65... and declare wrinkles sexually desirable. Towanda, righter of wrongs, queen beyond compare! How many of them hormones you takin', honey

OK... so most of you know me as a member of the Banded b*****s. I have been called RUDE, SNARKY, UNHELPFUL. WONDERFUL, A LIFESAVER, all in the same day. Such is life. Maybe, it would help if some of you knew more about me. I am currently 63 years old, banded at 62 on October 31, 2011. I am 8 pounds from my personal goal, but have achieved my GP, WL Surgeon, NP and Nutritionists goal of 175. I moved my own goal down to remind me that this is a life style not a short term diet. I will always keep working. I am 5'9" tall and no wear size 8 jeans, down from 20/22's My highest weight was 263, On the personal side, I am a wife (29 years with hubby # 2, # 1 and I parted ways.) I am a mother of two girls one 40 and the other 37. I am a grandmother to two gorgeous ladies, Morgan soon to be 13 and Grace 9 1/2. They belong to the older daughter. I have 2 great son-in-laws as well. I am the Godmother of two other young girls, Grace and Eva. I have been retired for almost 10 years. My hobbies are quilting, golf and traveling. My husband and I have been to all 7 continents and over 50 countries. We actually lived in Brussels, Belgium for 2 years, and still miss our favorite Neuhaus Chocolate. Good thing we are not there now, or I might have even more problems maintaining weight loss! LOL I have been an active member of LBT and really like helping newbies. My less than polite side come out when people ask what I consider stupid questions.... Like "gee do my scars look infected to you" or I went out drinking and threw op for 36 hours do you think I damaged my band." If you want positive help from me stay away from asking medical questions. We all have surgeons, nutritionists and other medical professionals for that. If you hurt take a pain pill or call your doctor. I love my LAP BAND and all the members of my private social group the Banded b*****s, so don'; pick on them either. We are all here to learn and help. I learn new things every day, and I hope a help a few other along the way. That's it for my first ever blog. I planning to go in for a fill next week, let you know how that goes. It will be my third. CHEZNOEL, AKA Princess Grammy.

Expectations. I think one of the biggest problems with my gaining and losing weight over the years is my expectation of the situation. Reading the forums here I see that I'm not the only one who suffers from expectation problems. For example in late 2012, I joined Ideal Protein. It's a medically supervised low carb, high protein diet that garners relatively fast results. I was expecting to lose weight quickly and I did. What was the problem? I expected to lose it faster than that! I expected to lose 100 lbs in under 6 months and when I had successfully lost 75 lbs I couldn't really consider it a success. I wanted to but I didn't make my goal. I didn't live up to my expectation. Had I looked at the reality of the situaton: I LOST 75 LBS IN 6 MONTHS perhaps I woiuld've been more gentle with myself. Perhaps I would have taken more pride in my accomplishment, perhaps I would've care more or acted sooner when I started to feel the weight start to slowly creep back. My reality was that I had already failed at this process and so the 5 pound gain that turned to 10 which quickly morphed to 50 lbs was simply more failure. With this process I'm trying really hard to have zero expectations of how it's going to work out but that's easier said than done. From my first meeting the expectation was that it would take months to fulfill the insurance company requirements. I wasn't going to let that deter me. Just proceed on and understand that this could take a while. Nutrition and Psychology and the toughest to schedule with people waiting MONTHS to get appointments. I was prepared. I had zero expectations. My psychology appointment was booked on a Wednesday for the following Monday. WHAT? When I discovered that my 6 months at Ideal Protein covered my nutrition requirements and I only had to see the nutritionist twice through the surgeons office I was pleasantly surprised but I was told that scheduling them could take months. I had my two appointments within 30 days. That was better than any expectation I could've set for myself. As of yesterday, I have fulfilled all of my requirements for the insurance company submittal process so now I have to wait. I know that it can take up to 7 weeks to get an answer from my insurance company but I plan to just continue to have zero expectation of time. It will unfold as it has to unfold and I will yield to the time gently. I'm going to carry this out to my surgery and then to my weight loss following surgery. I know that there are many people who have lost extraordinary amounts of weight in short periods of time. I know others who have had more stalls than a football staduim's restroom but I am neither of those people. I am me and my weightloss will be unique to me. My goals is to: Follow my surgeon's instructions Make my meal planning a priority Keep my body moving Educate my family on what this surgery is doing for me Not compare myself, my diet, my surgeon, my instructions to any other persons Have zero expectations of how this wll play out but know that if I just follow the rules it will play out as my body needs it to. Tha'ts my new reality.

I've found that in the 4 weeks since I've had my surgery I am obsessing about how much weight I'm losing. I'm losing a decent amount, but I want to make this work so badly I've forgotten about patience. Patience hasn't always been a virtue of mine, but I'm thinking this is something I'm going to have to work on. I didn't get fat overnight. It happened over years and I'm expecting to lose so much in months. Don't ge me wrong, I still think its important for me to have goals. I just need to be realistic. This is not a sprint to the finish line its a life changing marathon, with hills, valleys, and bumps. I'm really appreciating the people on here who are so open and caring to give me good advice and help keep my mind straight and help me realize what's happening with my mind and body is normal. Today, I am going to stop worrying. I will follow my Doctor's instructions and walk through my journey, so hopefully one day soon I will be able to help others.

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