agmg2011

I am about 2 weeks past my one year anniversary of my Lapband surgery. I am trying not to think about where I hoped I would be by now. Instead, I am thankful for where I am now. I have lost 45 pounds. I know that is not comparable to other Lapband patients, but my struggles and successes are my own and no one else's. I have struggled with my weight my whole life. Previous blogs have detailed my history. I guess I expected the band to make losing weight seem effortless. Although that is the case with some people, that has not been my experience. I have learned a lot about myself during this past year. The most important thing I have learned is that my struggle with food is much deeper than hunger. Over the years, food has become my friend who comforts me after a stressful day at work or in an uncomfortable situation, who celebrates special occasions with me, and who brings peace to my life. The Lapband has provided me the opportunity to get control of the physical reasons that I eat so I can deal with the other emotional and spiritual reasons I eat. It has not been easy. Many of the comfort foods I often go to are foods that go down easily with my band. It took me about six months to get my band adjusted to where my meals are the right size. Then I struggled with eating only my meals. I often justify an ice cream on the way home from work because I have barely eaten anything all day, especially during certain times of the month when my band is tighter. I am learning to carry those temptations to God as well as the emotions that cause the cravings. I am not successful all the time, but it is getting easier to make the right choices the more I turn to God and rely on Him. My eyes have been opened to the magnitude of the hold food has had over me the past few years. It is an addiction. I came to realize this after the many times that I have committed to seeking God before I eat for the wrong reasons only to find myself asking for forgiveness after I had finished eating. I realized that the food was coming before God if I couldn't even think about God and come to Him before making the decision to eat. It was always afterwards when I was feeling guilty that I considered my commitment. I have made significant progress in my journey, but I still have a long way to go. Spiritually, I want to love God more that anything else and be able to show that by totally giving Him my food choices. Physically, I have about 60 more pounds I would like to lose. However, I am thankful for how far I have come and thankful for my Lapband that has helped me get this far.

I am about 3 1/2 months post-op. I guess I thought that I would have lost more weight by now, but I am happy with the progress I have made. I have lost about 25 pounds since my pre-op appointment with the surgeon. I have had two adjustments to my band which now has 5.5 cc in it. I have been struggling with the same 3-5 pounds for a few weeks now. I knew going into this that I lose weight very slowly. I think that I have just been on so many diets over the past 25 years that my body really resists losing the weight. I guess it's thinking "why bother, she's just going to gain it back anyway". But I am dedicated to this process. I still struggle with what I eat, especially on the weekends. It is definitely getting easier to make good choices though. I exercise 6-7 days per week and that is now a habit. I really feel great each morning after I exercise. I know I have more energy throughout the day and sleep better at night. It's still the food that is my problem. I am improving, like I said, but I often allow myself to eat things that are not that healthy on the weekends because I am feeling deprived. I have got to get over that and instead feel empowered by the process of saying "no" and developing discipline. I have got to stop looking at food as a reward or comfort. I go for my third fill Tuesday, and I really hope it helps me to feel saitsfied on less food. I am ready to start dropping 2 pounds per week. I do feel my clothes are bigger today, and some people are beginning to notice. At least they say they notice, but so far everyone who says that knew about my surgery, so they are really looking for it. I am co-facilitating a Celebrate Recovery step-study class on Sundays. I am hoping that I will really deal with my food issues while helpiing other women with their hurts, addictions, etc. If this process can help someone recover from addiction, divorce, grief, etc. then surely I can recover from my food issues. I have to keep fighting this battle until it is won. I have no other choice!

Well, I am 7 weeks post-op as of today. I had my first fill yesterday. I was a little worried about it. We are leaving Saturday for a mission trip with the youth from our church. I was afraid that I would get too much and not be able to get it fixed. The nurse told me to come back Friday if I had any problems. So far everything seems OK. I'm not sure how much she put it. I am on liquids for a few days then I transition to pureed foods before moving on to solid food. I was really excited because I had lost 4 pounds since my last appointment which was 4 weeks ago. I though that was really good with no fluid in the band. It has been a long time since I have been able to stick to something consistently enough to see results like that. I hope that it will only get easier now. I have been working really hard to establish some good healthy habits. I get up at 5:00 through the week and about 7:00 on the weekends to exercise. Most mornings I walk for 30 minutes, but 3 days a week I am following the couch to 5k program. I am on week 4 of that. I really feel like I am accomplishing something when I am finished with running even though it is only for a few minutes at a time right now. I hope to progress to running 2 or 3 miles at a time several days a week. I know I need to give my body a time to rest, so I just walk in between the days that I run. I have had problems being consistent with my exercise in the past, so now I don't let myself skip a day without doing something. I have only missed one day of exercise in 5 weeks . That was the 4th of July. My dog and I went out for a walk that morning and she got attacked by another dog. I never went ahead with my walk because I was taking care of her. She had one pretty bad bite that had to have stitches, but since it was a holiday the vet recommended that we wait until the next day if we could get the bleeding to stop. She is all better now, but I am still scared to carry her with me. That dog is back in its 6 foot fence, but I am worried that it will get out again. I am really trying to eat right also. I keep up with everything on MyFitnessPal. Everyday is not perfect, but it is a lot closer than it used to be. Weekends are still a struggle because there is less of a routine to follow. Even those haven't been that bad though. I pray that these changes will be permanent and become a part of who I am. I need this struggle with my weight to be behind me. I have spent way too much of my life worrying about it. It is time to move on! God has other things for me to focus my attention on...things that serve a bigger and better purpose.

Your story sounds so much like mine over 7 years ago. I tell you my story below so you know that I can relate. Please don't think that I am saying this is really what is happening to you. I, of course, have no idea. I just remember how I felt at the time and wished that someone understood what I was going through. I was married for 10 years. About year 8, my husband became friends with a girl that he worked with. At first he told me about some of the things they talked about and about how she just needed someone to talk to because her life was a mess. I kept hearing rumors of them being together, but he denied that there was anything going on. I had no proof, but I became very suspicious, and that caused a lot of problems between us. Each time some suspicious thing happened, he had a way of making me feel stupid for even thinking that something might be wrong, like I was going crazy. As things got worse, I moved out for a while to give him some space. I was the main one taking care of the house and bills, but I was afraid if I made him leave, he would move in with her. For the months that I lived with my parents, I started counseling, but he would never go with me. Also, there was no effort on his part at all to try to work on the marriage. Eventually, I went back home. I told him that he could stay or go, but if he stayed we had to make a plan to work on our marriage. Within days he was gone. My husband also refused to tell me where he was living saying he didn't know what I would do. Finally, I had a girl friend that promised never to tell me anything unless she witnessed it with her own eyes. She told me he was living with her. He continued to deny it for a while, but I eventually knew for sure. They now have 3 kids one of which was conceived before we got divorced. I hope this isn't the case with your husband, but I don't want you to be misled as long as I was. I am to the point now that I can thank God for what I went through because it has made me the person I am today. I got involved in a ministry called Celebrate Recovery where I now facilitate a class for women struggling with all kinds of things including things like this. I truly believe that God can heal marriages and restore trust (I have seen it happen), but in may case, my husband was not willing to try. I have a better relationship with God and now have an amazing godly husband who prays for me daily. Our marriage is so different that what I had before and that difference is God is at the center of our marriage. My advice is to use this time to take care of you...go to counseling, get healthier, etc. Also, pray for God to show you the truth about your marriage and what you should do. Please feel free to message me or email me if you need someone to talk to who has been there.

Mine lasted over 2 weeks. I had lost weight, but my clothes were very tight until it went away.

It has been 1 month since my lapband surgery. I am really feeling great most of the time. I am trying to stay around 1200 calories and exercise every morning. I am down about 12 pounds since my presurgery visit. I started the Couch to 5K running program this week. I did that Monday and today and walked yesterday since I am only supposed to do the running program 3 days per week to let my body recover. This morning I was finished with the running portion and was in the slow walking part to cool down when I almost balcked out and became weak. My heart rate became very rapid. My husband was about to leave for work, but he saw that something was wrong so he helped me in the house and got me something to drink. Now I have had this type of episodes since I was about 18. Usually, my heart will race for a short time and then go back to normal usually after I have taken several very deep breaths or tried to hold my breath for a few seconds to kind of reset my heart. Only one other time about a year ago, I had to go to the emergency room and get a shot to slow my heart rate. I was really worried that time that something was bad wrong because it had never lasted that long before. I recognized that this one wasn't going away easily, so I let my husband carry me to our local ER. They did the same thing and now I feel great. Both of these bad times, I had been running early in the morning before eating or drinking anything. I think it could be what is triggering the episodes. Maybe dehydration or low blood sugar? They told me I have PSVT which is not life-threatening, but could be corrected with a type of surgery. Since it had only happened that once bad enough to go to the ER, I never saw the specialist. Now I am wondering if I should go, but I still am not ready for another surgery right now. I have researched PSVT and the only triggers that I can find are caffeine, smoking, alcohol, and illicit drug use. Caffeine is the only one of these that could have caused my 1st bad episode, but I stopped that before I had lapband surgery a month ago. So that is not the problem. One doc told me that it could happen without any particular trigger. But I am convinced that it has something to do with strenuous exercise before eating or drinking. I just have to figure out what I need to eat or how much I need to drink before exercise in the mornings to prevent this from happening again. I would be interested to know if anyone else has experienced this, and what I might do to prevent it. I am really trying to make changes to my lifestyle to finally get this weight off for good. I don't want to stop exercising in the morning because I find too many excuses in the afternoon. Plus I have more energy for my day exercising in the morning. I get my first fill in 2 weeks and I hope this helps me to be satisfied with less food. I am hoping that combined with the exercise will help me reach my goals. I would like to be down 50 pounds by Christmas. I know it is possible if I will stick to my program.

I am 3 weeks post op and was swollen for 2 1/2 weeks. I had lost about 10 pounds but all my clothes were tighter than before surgery. I feel back to normal now.

Today is one week since I had my surgery, and I came back to work today. It hasn't been bad, but it is still early in the day. I just have to remember to have someone help me lift boxes for a while. I am an auditor, and we carry our workpapers around in boxes. Since I am a supervisor, I carry them from one courthouse to the other quite often. I am trying to remember to let someone else do the heavy lifting at least until I get my stitches out. I don't want to mess anything up. It is hard to keep from being hungry when I am active and can only have liquids, but I am trying to keep filling things with me. I can already see that I did not pack enough today. I am feeling a little guilty being at work today because my Dad is in the hospital. He had back surgery yesterday and seemed to be doing fine when I visited him. He was supposed to go home today, but his tests showed some problem with his heart. I ask for your pryers for my Dad. His two older brothers passed away from heart attacks, so this really makes me worry. My Dad is my rock. He keeps me grounded most of the time. There is a lot of drama in my family usually related to my sister. My Dad and I can talk about these things and help each other through it. I am keeping in touch by phone and plan to see him this afternoon. Well I have to get back to work and try to be productive on my first day back.

It will be a week tomorrow for me too. My stomach is growlingand it really hurts. Today has been the worst. It just doesn't go away for long at all. I am going back to work tomorrow and am now wondering if I will make it through the day.

I was banded yesterday also. I mainly feel like I have been punched in the stomach really hard. I have been having a lot of grumbling sounds in my stomach also. I have been drinking broth, juice, liquid yogurt, etc. It really has not been as bad as I expected. I hope it continues this way. My gas pains are better now than yesterday. Maybe they are pretty much over. I hope everyone recovers quickly and we can all start our weight loss journeys.

I was banded yesterday also. I mainly feel like I have been punched in the stomach really hard. I have been having a lot of grumbling sounds in my stomach also. I have been drinking broth, juice, liquid yogurt, etc. It really has not been as bad as I expected. I hope it continues this way. My gas pains are better now than yesterday. Maybe they are pretty much over. I hope everyone recovers quickly and we can all start our weight loss journeys.

I had my surgery yesterday. I had to be at the hospital at 6:00 am and my surgery was at 8:00. We arrived and they took me back within 10 minutes. I had to change into the hospital gown and put compression hose on my legs. They asked me some questions and tried twice to get my IV in while I was in this room. Apparently, they only try twice and then let someone else try in the holding room before surgery. I got a shot to prevent blood clots and then they took me to the holding room. There I met the anesthesiologist and some nurses. They were able to get my IV in this time and gave me something to relax me even though I thought I was relaxed already. My doctor came in and prayed with me. That was nice. I had been praying already, but to have the surgeon pray with me was comforting. I don't remember much after that until I woke up in the recovery room. I remember wondering if it was over because I wasn't really hurting. Then I heard the nurse say that she already gave me something for pain because she saw my face wincing before I woke up. They carried me to my room where my husband was waiting. I had a great nurse while I was there. She checked on me quite often. I was never on a pain pump, but she gave me a pain pill that she broke in half so I could swallow it easier. I slept on and off for 1 1/2 hours then went for my swallow test. I guess I passed that and came back to my room. After this I was really hurting from the gas pains. I was very uncomfortable. I got up to go to the bathroom and realized that I felt so mucg better standing up. My husband pushed my IV bag around while I walked around the room first and then around the nurses station. When my nurse saw me walking on my own, she began getting my discharge papers ready. The 45 minute drive was painful because of the sitting. The whole thing really hasn't been as bad as I expected. I only lost 3 pounds on the pre op low carb diet. I didn't cheat at all, but I'm sure my portions were too big, I am ready to get the scale moving, I know it will be a few more weeks though.