Mindy!

Thank you. I definitely agree with you. Sometimes I let others sway my opinion or shake my confidence so when I see such negativity I get really discouraged, but you're right; it is very mental. All of it.
And I just got banded on the 15th. Best decision I've made in my life so far. Ten pounds down and 47 down since I started my journey and I've never been happier. Or healthier. I hope you have a good holiday and congratulations on the surgery! The staple removal was easy-peasy. Not painful and it was really fun because I got to see my stomach without the Patches on it for the first time, haha.

You have every right to be angry and pissed off, these folks don't know their ass from their elbows on this one. Obesity is a complex disorder of the body that is a heck of a lot more then overeating. I just got banded and i'm waiting for my staples to come out after the holiday. I'd say Ignore the crap on face book, because a big part of this journey is a mental one. Their are going to be good and bad days with the lapband just like anyother diet, the difference here is the lap band has helped many to achieve a healthy body weight for the firstime in their lives, after a long struggle to loose the excess weight.
I encourage you to come onto the forums here and read the good, bad and the ugally to help you decide on weather this is the right thing for you.
I know for me personally it took a long battle of me not loosing the weight and then seeing a family member have the band done and failing misribly at it, then seeing a friend have a band done and she did wonderful with it and she reached her goals. I think it depends on how badly you want to have a healthy body and break free from the hold that food has over all of us to some degree. And the thing here is we can't escape food we need it for survival.
I hope that if you are banded that you are having a sucessful journey, and if you have slipped along the way you have the confidence to talk to your surgon or nutritionist about a plan to get you back on track.

Looking at it again and the sum would make far more sense if it had brackets in , the lack thereof is what leads to the confusion!

I usually don't do resolutions, but I feel like this upcoming year should be an exception. Perhaps reach my weight loss goal by next December? Or something more simple, like working out four days a week by the summer? Hmm.

Also, great blog post!

Diana, congratulations! Our dates are very close together, I had mine on the 15th. I have been dealing with a lot of shoulder pain, but I am using a heating pad and gas-x strips religiously. Today I was finally allowed to shower and wash off all of that orange stuff they painted on my stomach! Haha. Anyway. Hopefully if I have any trouble with my diet or exercise or emotions or whatever, I can come here for help.