♥LovetheNewMe♥

You need to be able to eat solids, if you can't you are too tight and this is not good for you or your band. Yes you will lose weight but this is not the healthy way. Call your doctor and make an appointment please.

Kime CONGRATULATIONS!, I remember that day! I too thought I would never get below 200 lbs and it is so exciting. You can reach that goal of 140 if you set your mine to it. I never thought I would be at a normal BMI but yet here I sit and have been here for 3 months now. You are doing awesome, you should be so proud of your accomplishments to date.

Awesome post! I love the necklace!

I was a year out before I started eating popcorn. Pop corn is one of the foods that can be a slider for some folks, it dissolves well for some but the kernals can be a problem for others. I would not recommend in early band stage, you need to stick with the healthy foods and leave the snacks for later after you start really eating better. Just an opinion, can you eat it, the answer would be yes, you can eat anything as long as you chew it well and it goes down, is it a good choice this early in your journey, no.

Claping, Claping. Yeah! for me and Yeah for you! and Yeah for all the Banded B's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

www.5daypouchtest.com/ This is the web site, this is a 5 day process that is suppose to test the working of your band. You start with liquids and work your way back to solids, it is suppose to help you start to feel satisfied again when you are eating. I have no idea whether this works. Good luck,

The band is not for everyone, there are a lot of rules that have to be followed and embraced in order to be successful. First thing I would suggest is that you make an appointment with your surgeon and discuss your options. Maybe meeting with a nutritionist and a physcologist would help you to get back on track and restart the process. But first and foremost you must make a committment to your self to be accountable to the process. This is hard, none of us has an easy time with food or none of us would have gotten to this site and this surgery. To me obesity and addicts are very simiar, we just do legal drugs, FOOD! Giving up what has been our turn to, or comfort zone is hard, it is hard to hold yourself accountable. Even if you do decide to have the Gastric bypass you still need to get your head in the right place because making sure you really understand your self, your triggers is key to long term success with WLS. If I can help support in any way please let me know and I wish you luck with your choice.

Just think how you will fill when that starts going down the other side. Like new Dawn stated, we all had a starting point.

Normal, if I remember correctly it was months before i was able to Lay on my banded side and sleep. It will be tender for a while but once you heel you will not notice until you get thin than the little bogger sticks out.

I did, causes bloating and belching. I didn't even drink the whole beer only a few sips. Lesson learned it is not worth the risk of harming my band.

Well I just thought I would blog a little tonight. We have all made it through Thanksgiving but we still have Christmas and New Years to survive and oh let's not forget all the wonderful goodies that will be floating around the office and at families and friends houses all holiday season... So that is what brings me to my topic today: Fad diets and Lap Band, "This is not a Diet" First I have a couple of questions: 1. How many of you have stopped losing and felt frustrated with the band? 2. How many of you have been so frustrated that you were tempted to fall right back into the dieting yo-yo behaviors of the past? 3. How many of you have been tempted to just leave your band a little tight so you would lose weight faster? 4. How many of you have been tempted to go back to phase one of eating, you know shakes,liquidsiguids, etc? 5. How many of you have been so desperate to see that scale move that you would just about try anything? Well if this is YOU, than STOP! Living with Lapband is not about fad diets and continuing some of the same behaviors that got us to this point in the first place. This is a life style change and none of us got obese over night, so why do we expect to become thin over night. Simple: It is just human nature and we live in an instant gratification superficial society. I posted a book in a blog several months ago and I am reposting tonight for those of you who want to continue to use your lap band as the tool it was intended. This was a book written by a lap band surgeon after studying patients who were committed to losing 90-100% of their excess body weight. I was one of those people who was stalled, no matter what I did the scale sat there and taunted me with the same numbers day after day. I was one of those who looked over and over my diary sheets trying to find out what I was doing wrong. So why didn't the scale move? To lose weight you have to eat 3500 calories less than your body needs to drop "1" pound. Now does everyone really understand what that means, I didn't. Well that's not true, I had read that before and I did know it but I didn't really get "it". Basically you have to eat less and do more but there is a perfect balance of how many calories you need to take in so your body does not think you are starving. Everyone needs to know what their BMR is and understand what that means. This is the amount of calories your body needs just to maintain a normal day of sleeping, eating, working and playing. Everyone;s is different and based on how active you are. I have a sedentary life style, I work in an office and I am basically inactive 10-12 hours a day, moderately active about 2 hours a day and maybe very active about 1 hour a day (if I go to the gym) I really began to understand this once I started wearing my Fit Bit and it took me weeks even wearing this before I really understood why my scales were not moving. I was eating band friendly foods, eating within my allotted calories and portions but the scale would move small increments or not at all. When I started to really analyze my intake and activity I finally started to realize i was losing what was expected due to my intake and my activity. Well I knew i was not going to eat less so I made a decision to be more active. I increased my protein intake, did cardio 5 days a week and strength training 3 days a week. Basically I became recommitted to my band and to living healthy. I had the eating part down but the activity part I still struggled with, I was inconsistant with my exercise and the level and intensity of the exercise. This is not an easy journey by far but it is achievable with dedication, accountability and true grit! No one told us this would be easy! No one told us this would happen over night! And they did tell us we would have to follow the rules and learn to make the band work for us. Key words, "Make the Band Work for Us!" So for all you Newbies out there please realize that success with Lap Band can be a reality, it does take hard work and it is worth every new lesson you learn along the way. When reading the forums learn from both the postive and the negative, there is something that can be learned from everyones successes and failures. So as promised, attached is the book by Dr. Simpson, "The Last 30 Pounds" . Wishing everyone a Very Happy Holiday Season, and remember this is not a "DIEt" The Last 30 Pounds.pdf

Love your list, awesome goals! Wishing you much success in your journey! I always used to hate pictures now I seem to be the only one smiling!

I right there with you AJ. I had to increase my calorie intake to 1550. I kept losing and the doctor wanted me to stabilize my weight. We add 500 calorie at a time. I hit my target 3-4 days a week still eating around 1200=1300. Good luck!

Your awesome, AJ!

You can do this, you will be there by Christmas!

Congratulations and much success in your journey!

It takes time to really get it, and yes .25 can make a big difference and it makes you wonder how. The band can be very fickle by nature and it has a mind of its own, I still have days when I never feel that stuck feeling and than like this morning, every bite I took was a struggle for the first 10 min until my band decided to cooperate and I have not had a fill since the end of Jan. Just focus on the small bites and chewing and wishing you continued success.

Kimi, it is frustrating but it happens off and on through out this process. I can not tell you the number of times I would be stuck at a weight and I never thought I would get to onederland. it will come, just be patient and continue to do what you are doing.

The world is your oyster and there are plenty of new things waiting around every milestone. Keep up the good work!

Awesome, sad we don't live closer. I have a lot of sixe 8 and 10's that I need to get rid of now. So happy for you this is awesome!

Good learning experience and good advice. Protein bars will give you gas, protein shakes are better and lower in carbs if you need a supplement. Did you know you can adjust your carbs, protein and what ever else you want to monitor on MFP. When you first enter your calories they assign the breakdown and it is much higher in carbs and fat then what we traditionally eat. I eat 40% carbs, 35% Protein and 25% fat. Now this is still a little high on the carb and fat end but it gives me 135mg of protein and 154gms of carbs. I was much lower in carbs when I was losing and really cut back on carbs after 2pm in the evening. I also got caught up in the greek yogurt for breakfast for months, thought it was ok because it was high in protein 15gms. It is better to eat things that require chewing and take longer to digest. But mainly do not be discouraged, I know you say, I only lost 1/2 lb but just thing you didn't gain and sometimes your body needs time to adjust to the new weights.

I wish I liked to eat Venison but I just can't get past those big brown eyes I know it is a great lean protein but I just can't do it. Kudo's for making such a wonderful healthy meal and economical in these days.

No WLS surgery is not the easy way but I know without the surgery I would not be at goal and able to maintain for 2 months. I know I would not have changed my cheating behavior with out the gentle reminder of my band. My journey has had it's ups and downs and I did go through a lot of emotional feelings with my relationship with food. I honestly did not realize before surgery how much I used food to cope with many issues in my life. The first few times I was faced with obstacles in my life after WLS I was angry and frustrated but learning to deal with what makes us eat and behavioral modification is a huge part of this journey and probably the hardest. Great post Kime. Success with Lap Band is possible, I am living proof, I ate what I was suppose to, I took my supplements and I exercised my butt off (literally). Today no one would ever know I was obese 2 years ago. Today when people say, you are so tiny, I say well I used to be morbidly obese two years ago and I had WLS. I get asked all the time, Do you regret it? Now think about that question, would you rather be a size 24 instead of a 4. I don't think so. People are so curious about what I can eat, I can eat what ever I want, but I choice to eat what is good for my body. I do always warn people thought that WLS is not the easy way out and it is not a guarantee, you get out of this what your willing to put into it. Wishing you continued success.

I am 2 years post op and I do take my vitamins daily and I use the chew-ables. This is what I do; every morning I place all of my daily supplements in a snack bag and take it to work with me and keep it in my pocket or lay it on my desk by my computer. This way I have them with me all day, I take half after breakfast and half after lunch. It is hard to remember if they sit in the cabinet and are not in front of you. As far as protein, for good weight loss with lap band it is key to get your protein in or you will not lose weight steadily and you will lean muscle instead of the fat we want to lose. I eat around 100gms of protein aday and yes it is hard. I do supplement with a shake on the days I can not get enough protein in just to make sure I get all the needed protein. Fish is a good protein choice because it has more protein than other meat sources by volume. I also add egg whites to shakes and my oatmeal and sometimes if I really need extra protein I add unflavored to my soups or other dishes that I cook. I try very hard to get 20 gms per meal, it is hard but with planning it is possible. They do make liquid calcium but it is nasty, I have found the chew-able, gummy vitamins to be the best.

Dear Kelly, I have been banded for 2 years and I do understand what you are saying. As a banded person, there are certain things that most of us really can't eat and anything with a bun is one of them. I tell people all the time that the one thing I miss more than anything is a big juicy hamburger. But when I look in the mirror or put on my clothes that in it self is enough reward for me and makes the hamburger less desirable. I agree with New Dawn's statements on keeping a dairy to make yourself more aware of what you eat. The other thing you have to do for long term success is figure out why you eat, and what your triggers are that make you crave currtain foods. I no none of us wants to admit this but we are addicts and like all addict it is easy to fall back in to addictive behavior. As a formally morbidly obese person, I know I can never forget I am a food addict and have to be very conscious of all my food choices. My suggestion is consoling,we are what we eat and if we do not figure out why we eat than we will not have long term success. Your unhappiness with the life you have chosen with lap band is just a symptom of a deeper issues. Good luck