♥LovetheNewMe♥

Glenda, you have not wasted thousands of dollars. I know you read my blogs and have heard me preach about this being a tool. I also had wonderful ideals that I would never have to watch another calorie in my life and had hoped that my band would tell me when to stop. But I have come to realize that the band will do all of those things but only if I listen and stick to the plan. I hope and pray I never have to have another fill, I like being able to eat just about anything I want these days, know that I have to be accountable to my self. I have restriction and I am in the green zone. You can do this, and it does take a lot of will power in the beginning until you get to the sweet spot but once there it is easier but never forget it is still you managing your behavior not the band it is there as a friendly reminder when you do something really stupid. Like eat to fast, not chew or over eat. The one thing I have to be careful of now is not drinking while eating, in the beginning I did this very well but the longer your banded the easier it is to slip back into some bad behaviors. Good luck and keep blogging. Diane

At I wanna be a losr. My starting weight was 248 and I currently weigh 168. I would like to weigh 148. To hit my goal I need to weigh 138. (goal set by the charts)

Well October the 27th was my one year band-iversary. Wow... what a year this has been. If you would have asked me a year ago if I thought I would be where I am today I am not sure how I would have answered. The road has been bumpy along my journey, I have been too lose, I have been too tight, I have peaked and plateaued weeks and months on end. I have lost no pounds, I have gained a pound or two, I have lost inches, I have not exercised, I have over exercised and I have had knee surgery but my biggest accomplishment is that I really do love "me" and I have learned that food is a necessity for nutrition not a coping mechanism. If I learn nothing else from this journey it will be that I can get angry, upset and frustrated and I know McDonald's is not my friend, my friends have been my family, my co-workers and all of you who have supported me and encouraged me. To all of you who are just starting, or who are struggling and to those of you who have been successful, share your success, admits your mistakes and love yourself! We are all worth the effort that this journey takes! I weighed in this week at 168, still not at goal but very pleased with my progress and yes, I really do" love the new me." I am going to share some before and now photos with you. I have dropped from a size 24 to a 12. Cyber Hugs and Kisses to All!

WooHoo, it is wonderful to be in the green zone. Good luck and keep up the good work.

Jennifer, believe in your self. Yes this is hard, and I think we all thought this would be our saving grace and all knowing answer to life long diet frustrations. But the one thing we all still bring to the table after lap band surgery is our behavior. That bad behavior you refer to is not going to change overnight just becasue some doctor put a band around our stomach, it takes time. As for self control, none of us have it. If you took my band away todo, I know I would gain weight. I struggle daily with making healthy choices and rewiring years of bad behavior. Holidays coming up and lets just all admit it, it is going to suck,,, If we let it. I appreciate your post and getting out frustrations on paper costs us a lot less calories than a snack. This has been my hardest conquest, learning not to eat when I am furstrated or worried. You can do this, and do not reqret telling others, that is our one thing that makes us stay accountable to ourselves. As for your friends telling you to use self control, sadly they are correct but you are also correct if we had self control we would not have a band around our stomach. I call my band insurance, it is that little extra I have to pay ever day just to make sure I have a safety net and a healthier life. You can do this, think of this as a small road block. Best of luck and know we all believe in you and know you can be successful.

Great Job, looking good!

Lee, Yes there are people who have moved on to gastric bypass surgery. Just a caution, weight loss is a journey and is not a quick fix. I also know lots of people who have had the bypass to only be back to where they were in the beginning. This process whether lap band, sleeve or bypass is about learning discipline, good habits and changing behavior. i realize that may not be a popular response on this site but it is true. We did not get fat over night and we are not going to get skinny over night. If you do decide to have the bypass surgery do it becasue it is the right thing for your health, not becasue you want to lose weight faster. Ok said my peace, I will shut up now. You can be successful, you can lose with the band, give yourself time before you rush into somehing else. Best of luck!

Congratulations!

First and foremost, see a doctor! It may be nothing but better to check it out, early detection is so important and all lumps should be checked and no you do not wait and see. Second, congratulations on the move and promotion. Asheville is a beautiful place, a big difference in temp from Flordia. Let me know how the appointment turns out, you have my e-mail through facebook and also my work e-mail. I will send prayers your way today. Hugs!

Once you get your first fill, you will notice a difference. I thought I had some restriction after surgery becasue I was losing and could not eat as much as before surgery. After my first fill I found out what chewing was all about. You are doing great and your discipline will pay off. As far as eating something and finding out it doesn;t work. We all do this, somethings like bread, I keep trying over and over only to end up throwing up. You would think I would earn after a year but old habits are hard to break, Keep up the good work and stay motivated.

Agree with above statement, post op we are all very excited and expected the weight to fall off. But reality sets in and we all learn there is stil work involved in this journey. I also am a year out and I still learn everyday. If I want to lose I have to eat right and 95% of the time I do. I occassionaly stray, a have something that is a waste in my calories but those days are few and far between and usualy a planned party or event. I still have episodes when I eat to fast and foods gets stuck. Bad behavior patterns are hard to break but with time and discipine we can learn new and improved habits. Take the time to learn your new body and new limitations, the weight will come off if you stick to the plan and eat lean and heathy. We all lose at different speeds, never compare yourself to another. Every pound lost is a success. Good luck and keep motivated.

I also know of several persons post WLS who have had GB surgery. A good friend 2 years post surgery had her's taken out last week. I agree with your statement of fatty and fried foods, that is something I have worked to keep out of my diet. Problem is there is a lot of fats that are hiding in foods and you really have to watch. Fat's has been the one thing I have noticed i go over in consistantly when logging my foods. I try to eat about 35 grams and at least several times a week I am over, I do believe this also affects my weight loss. Good luck with surgery, hope it fixes you and the pain decreases.

Sounds like you may need a fill, over time the band can loosen or tighten really no rules it seems. It is hard to lose with out being able to get all the protein in, because it does keep you fuller filling longer. I would start with my surgeon, all some protein bars or drinks. I find that if I take in 25 to 30 gms of protein in early in the mornings I do better through out the day with an additional protein drink or bar around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I have rarely been able to get all my protein in at meals, I average around 20 gms per meal and I try to eat 90 gms a day. I weigh 172 and have been losing really slow since early summer. I started tracking my food intake and the one thing I noticed even if I was under my 1200 cal goal my fat content was too high and my protein was always under my goal. So I added the protein between meals of at least 15 gms twice a day, the scale is moving again but slow. Like you I have gotten tired of meat as my protein and some days I honestly struggle to find anything I want to eat. I do like the colder weather so I can start making some soups with means and ground turkey and pork. I am only one year out from surgery this month and have lost pretty good but it is harder now and I have to really worked to stay focused and not become discouraged. Maybe a visit to your surgeon and a talk with the nutrionist might help also. I think you have done a great job and with a little assistance you can get back to losing weight again. Here is a web address for some good low calorie recipies. www.skinnytaste.com also you might try www.bariatriceating.com both of these sites are from weight lose people who have developed some recipies. I have tried several and they are pretty good. Good Luck and keep us posted.

We have all tested our bands from time to time and they do let us know what they will and will not tolerate. I have had two experiences with alcohol since banded a year ago and neither have ended well. I have no tolerance, if I drink I can't eat or I end up eating something while drinking that is not good for me. Now days I have an occassional glass of wine. I hate party's also, especially when people insist no there will be lots of things you can eat. New rule for me, eat before I go to a party, carry a protein bar. You may have gained the pounds from the dehydration from alcohol and should drop them quickly.

Great job, 44 lbs in 3 months is awesome. I am at a year now, as of yesterday and I have lost 76 lbs. Yes I had hoped I would be one of those that dropped all my weight in a year but slow has been good and I feel good. keep your focus you are doing a great job and it the slow will pay off in the long run.

Sorry you had such a bad experience your first fill. My fills went well but the unfill for me was a bad experience. I hope you talk to them and ask for some numbing next time, my physician does the procedure with fluroscopy and numbs me first. I like you hate needles, and the numbing makes the sticking a little easier. On my unfill I lost count how many times they stuck me and it was in the office. It has made me reluctant to have a fill so I have worked extra hard to lose the weight. Glad it's over and now on to losing the lbs. Good luck.

I sit here tonight after a long day at work, reading blogs and watching "Dancing with the Stars." As I am watching these people 'stars" put them self out there doing something that pushes them out side their comfort zone it came to me, "Is that not what each of us are doing?" We are putting ourselves out in front of everyone and allowing ourselves to be judged for our progress in our journey. I would like for all of us to give ourselves a "10" tonight. A "10" for being willing to admit we are not perfect. A "10" for taking each day, "one day at a time." A '10" for each new healthy habit we embrace and enculturate into our daily routine. We are all individuals and each of us has their strengths and weaknesses that we need to highlight. If we collectively added up all the weight each of us have lost over the past 6 months or a year, would we not be the "biggest losers." And guys being a loser on this site is a WONDERFUL thing, we need to stop thinking, I only lost a half of a pound, I only lost a pound. Instead we need to be saying, "WOW, I lost another pound. After all we are not the gainers we are the losers. For the first time in our life losing is winning. Now how often can you make a negative a positive. We may stall occasionally, we may stumble, we may even fall, but we will pick ourselves up, we will admit we strayed and we will get back on track. So I challenge each of my cyber friends in this weight loss journey to pick one positive affirmation to post for the week and embrace the positive energy it will instill in your life. I am posting a web site that I think may help us all if we could just allow ourselves to believe in our selves and open our minds to some positive thinking. http://www.vitalaffi...ons.htm#example When I chose my name for this blog I used the positive affirmation theory. LovetheNewMe. Honestly when I started on this journey I did not love anything about me but now after a year of logging into this blog and signing on everyday with my user name "LovetheNewMe." I do love me, I love the person I am becoming, part due to weight loss but even deeper than what you see on the outside. I love the person I am on the inside. It is hard to love yourself, we are our toughest critique, we judge our selves and we always see our failures not our successes. Each time we loss an inch or a pound or make it through a day always choosing healthy foods is a successes. We should celebrate every success we have, big and small. We are learning to lIVIT not dIET, we are learning to Love ourselves. My affirmations for my journey are: 1. I choose to make positive healthy choices for myself 2. When I believe in myself, others will believe in me also I say my affirmations every morning as I am getting ready for work, I look in the mirror and yes I talk to myself. and no I am not wacky. So my challenge to all of us is we put our best foot forward and and get the positive energy flowing on this blog, love your self, support yourself and most important believe in yourself, why you ask, why because you are WORTH IT. Have a great week all.

Thanks Roe for the post, I was a good little nurse and had my flu vaccine, 2 weeks ago. I have asthma so I always try and do this, don't want to spread they germs or catch them.

Well November Bandsters, I am replying to Deb's questions. I joined the November Bandsters posts even though I had surgery October 27th because I was so close to Novemeber and that is when my birthday is. I have learned a lot about my self this past year and also how much of an emotional attachment I used to have with food. I have lost 76 lbs to date and feel great. I have had few set backs along the journey, I hurt my knee exercising and had to have knee surgery 3 weeks ago but have not gained one lb and have continued to loss even though it has been slow these past 3 months. My body responded well to exercise and I really was able to lose inches which really helped me drop cloths sizes. I have went from a size 24 to a size 12 in a year. My goal was a size 10 in a year but I know I will get there by the end of the this year or shortly after. I have not regrets except I wish I had the surgery earlier. This has been the best opportunity for me to learn my self and develop healthier habits and behavors. I have everyone has done well and look forward to learning where everyone is.

Good luck and keep us posted

You need to take the meds and it will get rid of the bacteria. If you do not and have the surgery your risk for ulcers and GERDS increases. This is a small set back and worth waiting to get this corrected. I am going to assume you have been having indigestion or gastric reflux for sometime, my husband had this and after the treatment he has done so much better.

Michael, you have done great! I have followed you through your journey and you look amazing. It will be a year for me this friday and I am 76 lbs down and have 24 to go to get to goal. I know I will get there, just a little behind my schedule. Keep us posted, I enjoy following you and wish you all the success in the world, I know you will continue to be successful.

Glad your getting focused Jess, family and friends can be a great support also. I have been totally honest with everyone about my WLS and journey. I think this has been helpful to me because I have had so many people to hold me accountable. Some of them can empathize but my work friends have held me accountable. People have called me on things when I needed it, yes honesty is hard to take some times but it helped me. Keep going to the support groups they are great and do help.

Sorry for the medical problems but glad you got some answers. Remember to make healthy choses for your meals, pizza is not really the best option for us, yes we can have it occassionaly but we need to eat lean proteins, vegtables and fruits. Good luck and keep us posted.

I have to agree with Michael you are heading down a slippery slope if you do not want a fill because you want to enjoy the holidays. I am going to take a saying from NA, and what you want to do is "stinkin thinkin". You are trying to convience yourself it is ok to binge and enjoy a little break, after all look how good you have been. As foodaholics we need to change our attitudes and behaviors towards food, food has to be what we need to sustain us. We have to find new ways to enjoy our family and friends and the holidays. My suggestion is stick to your journey, it will bring you life long fulfillment where that sampling of food will only bring your eaters remorse. Good luck!