ksmsusselman

Hi all! Karen here from Pennsylvania. I had my lap band surgery last Dec. on the 16th after trying way too many costly weight loss options that never worked, including about $900 on hcg injections. I'm the only patient in my county who has Hashimoto's hypothyroid autoimmune condition so my doctor says I'm "special" because he's the only doctor who has a patient with this condition, so he gets to report back on my progress, which so far seems to be going really, really slow. I lost 15# in the first month and another 3# in the second month and nothing since, despite two fills, the second of which was just last month. The only difference I've notice is that I have to eat a lot slower, especially my scrambled eggs & cheese, so it takes me longer to eat. Since I have this autoimmune condition which is accompanied by a gluten intolerance, I rarely if ever eat any breads. My menu is so simple it's pathetic: gluten free Chex Cereal or eggs & cheese for Breakfast, brown rice & peas for lunch and again for dinner and an apple and yogurt with each meal. Evening snack, 1-2 bags of microwave popcorn. That's pretty much it. My doctor says that's fine as long as I take Vitamins. I just started my exercising again last week so I'm hopeful that adding an hour mixed cardio and stretching will help speed up the process but I'm not going to stress over it. I'm eating healthy and not overeating and I'm exercising, and right now I can't afford a third fill on the band so I'll just have to be happy with whatever my body decides to do, right? So anyway, glad to have found you all! I get busy with a couple of home businesses so I'm not sure how often I'll get here but keep up the great work everyone!

New to this forum and I just wanted to pop in and say this particular thread was very encouraging to me. I had my lap band surgery Dec. 16, 2010, so 5 mos. ago and I've only lost a net of about 18# so far, which I lost by Feb., so nothing really since Feb. despite two fills, the second being just last month. I'm still eating more than a cup of food but if I don't, I get hungry quickly between meals. Also, I have Hashimoto's hypothyroid with a gluten intolerance so there are some things I don't eat anymore at all and with my autoimmune condition, it's advised that I don't "graze," but instead simply eat three meals a day and one snack. I've been doing really good with that so I think it's just my particular condition that's going to make it slower for me. But I'm only 5'1" and I'd LOVE to be in a 14/16 right now and out of my snug 18s. I was in 20s that were getting tight pre-surgery! But I'm remaining hopeful that this will finally work. If anything else, it's forced me to really be careful about what I eat and that I have to take an extra Aleve or two to get through my workouts because of my really, really bad knees. Oh, and just a few days after I started exercising again I was diagnosed with asthma so now that I'm on two inhalers, my workouts are going more smoothly because I can breathe. But anyway, don't lose faith! You're doing great!! And remember, stress can cause weight gain so if you stress over it, you may impede your progress. I know that from experience. That's what I told my husband too, so I haven't measured myself and I've stopped literally counting calories. I'm eating healthier than I ever have and I'm not over-eating, and now I'm exercising regularly - 1 hr. a day so I think my body just needs to catch up to what I'm doing. Glad to have found you all here!

Hi all - I hope I can write something because I'm LOL-ing so hard reading these posts it's making me cry! It's been five months since my surgery and as some have said, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with what I eat because I wake up just about blowing my husband out of bed! I call it getting my jet propulsion to get me up the stairs and don't stand behind me when I'm doing my workout. If we go out, I try and hold them in as long as I can then hope no one else is in the rest room while I'm in there. I'm thinking of trying some kind of OTC stuff like Bean-O or Gas-X or something because it's really frustrating. Whenever my husband asks if I want to go with him anywhere, the only thing that comes to my mind is all this blowing it out my butt and how to hide it! But I'm glad you all are here opening up about it so I don't feel so alone.