♥LovetheNewMe♥

OK I am wide awake! Staying at Mama's tonight, we have an early morning doctor appointment. Mama feel yesterday, what a week, state survey and in the middle,,, my mom calls. She is crying, she has fallen and afraid she has killed the babies, i.e. the babies meaning the singing bear and her snow tiger. OMG, so off I go, call hubby, he beats me to her apartment and sure enough she has fallen, into, on top of her coffee table. Babies are fine, mama is bruised and coffee table broke. OK, I called the youngest.. I am done, mama has to move, this is ridiculous, She can not live by herself and I have to work. I told them both I had made a decision if they could not and mama either moved in with me or they found her a place but she could not live by herself without constant supervising. All this results in a tight band, I did manage to eat and get my calories in but it was difficult. When this stressed the head hunger creeps in and I want to eat more than I should but my lovely band lets me no very gently that, that is a no no. I tried some strawberries with whip after dinner and 3 bites and in the trash it went. This is why I love my band, I was always an emotional eater, the band helps me with that. It forces me to deal with he issues at hand and not find comfort in a bag of chips or bowl of ice cream. When I am super stressed, sliders do not even work for me. Hubby told me today I looked like an old women. Hmmm, I think I take offense to that. Do I look old? I know I look a little stressed and yes I have some loose skin but do I really look that bad? Honesty please, Carole and Teri, you both will be seeing me in a few weeks and I need some honesty from my friends, so at our meeting I need your input about how I really look. Seriously I need to know, getting paranoid. I ran into a lady today at work on the elevator and she said,"Honey you are so tiny," I looked at her and said, "I used to be really fat." She looked back at me and said, " Well I would never in a million years guessed you were every fat, you look amazing," So if a stranger thinks I look OK, why does my family think I am too thin. Maybe it is just the dramatic change in my looks. Guess I need to stop obsessing. I do eat, and I do eat normal stuff. I just have to work at it harder some days than others. Today this is what I ate and you tell me what is so bad. Breakfast oatmeal with egg whites with diced apples, blueberries and sunflower seeds with raw sugar Snack: Apricot Kind Bar Lunch: Cup Broccoli cheese Soup and French Baguette from Panara bread Dinner: 1/2 single serve Birds Eye cheese and broccoli and 1/2 Chili Lime chicken and rice(lean cuisine) Bonus: pino noir and I forgot I also had some Mexican Trail Mix at work. 2 strawberries with whip Now that all calculates out to about 1300 calories so what is wrong with that day??? I know shut up and go to bed Diane, right! so goodnight all, sweet dreams.

Awesome, we are all here! So happy we are all together again, and drama free zone. I would like for us to try and be supportive of each of our personal goals for WL with the band, we got a little side tracked before and some of us struggle daily and never say a word so lets get this party started. I go see my WLS tomorrow evening at 4pm, he has not seen me for 6 months, think he will be surprised.

Mini, we would never drop you like a hot potato, now you did look pretty hot the other day at that wine tasting. Hubby better be looking over his shoulder, mama is looking good these days!

Awe, I think I feel a tear coming on! Love is in the room and ready for action. Love you Janet, big cyber hug

Yes I would have surgery again. Lap band has been a very positive experience for me and I have reached a healthy BMI 6 months ago and have been able to maintain that weight successfully with my band.

I agree with previous posts, I am one of those who has had success and do not blog as much or post as much unless asked or see something really worth responding too. I rarely see or talk to my original group and have become more active on MFP and FB. There has always been negativity on the forums and that us pretty typical for social networks, I was banded in 2010 and learned from the positive posts and the negative posts and people who were struggling the most helped me the most. I was determined not to fail, I read the failure rates but my experience has been that any WLS can fail. So my point is, take what you need from the forums and make friends with people who are successful and who will be honest with you! Good luck.

Congratulations on NSV! and welcome back also!

You go girl, you got this!

What your feeling is normal, we have all been there and the feelings are pretty over whelming in the beginning. I was what I call very prepared for the surgery but nothing prepared me for the emotional rollercoaster ride I had for the first few weeks and month after surgery. I went through a period of time, I morned food. I never thought I would every be able to get all those calories down and felt I would live on shakes for the rest of my life. Enjoy your band and allow yourself some time to adjust to the new life. Good luck!

I am over 2 years out and have trouble with constipation off and on. The Miralax helps but you must take it consistantly, do drink plenty of water. We can not eat enough fiber to help us, I tried fiber tabs but they give me gas and it is worse than the constipation. I have had two really bad episodes over the past two years and had to resort to something stronger at the advice of my WLS. I try to add some fat to my diet occassionaly to help also. I guess eating healthy has it;s draw backs also. Good luck to you.

Great post Jean, my favorite picture is me standing in my Fat pants. I keep it on my board in my office. I look at it daily, it is a real motivator and never allows me to forget how far I have come. I did not work this hard to go backwards and fail!

I drink wine but in moderation, I used to be a daily wine drinker but during the time when I was very focused on losing, the wine went on the back burner. Too many empty calories, that I was not willing to forfeit for my weight loss. I do go through phases now when I may go weeks and have a glass nightly than I might not touch it for months, just depemds what mood I am in. I rarely drink hard liquer, it makes me just a little to loopy! lol You have to find ways to incorporate the routine things you like in moderation. Good luck!

When using MFP for recording you need to set up the calories and protein to what your physician suggests. I have used MFP for over a year and it like the band is a tool to keep me focused and accountable. I hit many comps on my almost 3 year journey but I reached my goal and changed my eating habits , hopefully for ever! Good luck to you!

Congratulations on your success and hope you continue to do well!

Discomfort maybe but not sharp pains. I do a lot of cardio and strength training for the past year and half and sometimes I may feel a twinge when I do a lot of crunches but not really pain. I do imagine that we could build scar tissue around our band, if I was you I would discuss with my physician if it continues. Better safe than sorry.

First sorry your band had to be removed, second yes you can gain your weight back quickly if you allow yourself to go back to the old habits we all had before band. Weight lose was so hard for all of us before LB and other surgeries, without that added protection I know you must be scared. Try changing your thought process of "I think I will gain my weight back, to "I am not going to gain my weight back." I know that may sound silly but the power of positive thinking can and has been proving to help with many changing ones outcomes. I know you can hang on for 4 months, plan your meals and when hungry, refocus your self and remember what your long term goal is. Good luck to you with the sleeve I know you will do awesome!

Wilona, never compare your weight lose to others. Everyone loses at different rates and nothing can be more discouraging than trying to compete with others. It took me 2 years to reach my goal and there were many months I sat at the same weight and I was doing everything right. Our bodies have to adjust to us not feeding them what we used to and we have to give ourselves time to adjust to life with the band. Remember this is not a diet but a life style, yes we watch what we eat, we measure and weigh our food but it is not a diet in the true concept of the word diet. It is a life style change learning to eat a healthy diet. You are on track and what you are doing is working.

I do occassionaly drink while eating, I followed the 30 minute rule in the beginning only because it was what i was told to do, but over time I have learned that I can have a small sip while of liquids while eating. My problem with drinking while eating is that it sometimes makes me feel full and I am unable to eat all the protein I need to do, so I limit my fluid intake while eating. Another problem I have had is that if i am tight and I drink liquids I will PB my food everytime. Success with lap band is trial and error, you have to learn to work with your band to be successful. This process is not black and white and everyone of us is different. So I agree with the new research because it works for me in life but it may not for all.

Regret: felling sorry for something that recently happen or you did, morning the loss I think we all experienced some type of regret, I did not call mine regret but I did mourn the loss of what I used to call my favorite foods. The feelings are real and you need to deal with them and not ignore them. In my early months after surgery I became very depressed, I felt like I would never be able to eat normally again and yes I asked, "What have I done to myself." These feelings do fade and today I can honestly tell you this was the best choice I ever made. Has my journey been easy, NO. But being morbidly obese was slowly killing me, one day at a time. Give your self time to heal and deal with your feelings and do not ignore them. I am a very strong believer in counseling after weight loss surgery, they make us go to a therapist to make sure we are a candidate for surgery but no one focuses on all the feelings after surgery. The depression, regret and all the other questions are part of the healing process. Your body is going through a change, change is hard, your life is about to take a new course but if you can embrace the change it will be the ride of your life and well worth it. Hope you feel better soon, read the blogs and write your feelings out daily. It will help you to reflect back in the weeks to come as you watch your self succeed.

Have you tried some firm ware or shape ware aka Spanks? These products really work well in the beginning when we have lost but everything still giggles and looks bumpy under our cloths. If you wear the shape ware it will during this phase.

My sister in crime! lol we won't talk about Love and her wine!

Kime this was a hard lesson for me to learn. I like you was afraid if I ate more I would loss. I stalled my weight loss for 6 months by eating to little and not enough protein but once I increased my calories and protein and made sure i did not over exercise I started losing again and Dylan i agree with Terry YOU are NOT a FAILURE! Sometimes our bodies have to adjust to the major weight loss and it may stall for a few weeks or months. This is a process and it takes time It took me two years to loss my weight and sometimes I never thought I would get here but I am and have been for over 6 months. Good luck to you all!

One day guys you really will see the thinner you, it takes time to change the image in our mind even after we lose the weight. But you all are doing awesome!

I am a lot like SueBee I track everything I eat. I realize it is a lot of work but it was the only way I could stay honest with myself. I also measure and weigh food. When i was trying to lose I ate pretty close to 1200 calories a day and ate at least 70 gms of protein but tried to get closer to 90 gms. I also exercised 6 days a week when losing weight, I would do 30 to 45 minutes on tread mill of walk 5-6 miles per day plus 30 minutes of strength training 3 days per week. Building muscle helps you burn fat. Eating healthy has to include high protein for weight loss to be successful and for you not to feel hungry. On days even while at goal that I eat poorly and take in less than 50gms of protein I get hungry, I may have made healthy choices and had calories but not enough protein to keep me satisfied. Good luck to you!