Teri L

You and have a similiar profile - fairly high starting BMI, and a lot to lose. I would love to get down to 160, that is my personal goal.
I totally agree with everything that everybody said, but I also have another thought. I started this journey at 308 - if I only get to 200# and can actually maintain that, it has been totally worth it even if 160# alludes me. Even now, I am more physically capable and my health is improving. I simply refuse to fall into that "all or nothing" thinking that only if I hit a certain magical number on a scale will I be a "success". That thinking has not served me well over the years and I am not playing this time.
I have set for myself a series of goals because for my brain, that works better and is less overwhelming then having to think about losing 148 pounds (from my starting weight). For me, that number is just... awful.... it carries some emotional baggage I guess that would bring me down if I spent to much time thinking about it.
I am viewing the fact that I am on the journey and making the most of it as my success for right now. I was discouraged because the scale is moving slow right now, but I saw a friend yesterday that hasn't seen me in 2 weeks and she was shocked - she said I looked thinner in two weeks even though the scale only gave me a couple of pounds. I keep celebrating the small victories rather then being crushed by the possibility of failure or the enormity of the task.

Well said LilMissDiva! We are in charge of our destiny. We can sit and wallow in our old negative messages we bought from other people's messages about who we our, or we can take charge, and plow onward into new exciting territory. We are already successes in our lives by choosing to help ourselves by having this beautiful tool added to our tool box to finally, and I mean finally, lose our unwanted lbs. It might take us just a couple of months, it might take us 6 months, it might take 12 to 18 months. But we will always have our tools to help. I love my sleeve and will always follow the rules of the sleeve. There are moments where I think that I have reached my maxium weight loss because my scale has stopped moving. Instead the inches were coming off instead. Now I don't care what the scale saids, I just want my body to continue adjusting in inches and clothes sizes. It has taken me along time (6 weeks) to experience a long stall and that didn't mean that I was a failure. I went down from a 13 jeans to a size 10 jeans and a size 8 in slacks. Ummmmm, that is what I've been working towards anyways.
Yes, I can be my own worst enemy! I am chosing to be my best supporter now and to keep moving forward. Don't let your negative thoughts influence who you our. The negative thoughts are from the past diets that failed you, but they were really stupid diets that no one could continue on for a life time anyways. The sleeve is life time! Eat less. Be happy. Be thankful for what we have.
YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! :girl_hug: :kiss: :kiss: :kiss:

Hi there, I just had my band taken out 2 weeks ago (banded in May of 2005) . I didn't have major problems with it but because 1) i wasn't able to maintain the weight loss I did lose (only 40ish pounds and gained 30 back), 2) the "stuck" feeling is really unpleasant, at times even painful 3) having to know where bathrooms are at all time, and having to keep an empty Water bottle in your purse because if you get stuck, you gotta throw it up pretty quickly - this is commonly caused "slime-ing" because it literally gets all slimy from silva. The only good thing about sliming is that the food hasn't mixed with your stomach acids yet so you don't get the puke taste - mostly it's just the food, only slimy. Unfortanately, my surgeon wasn't able to convert my band to the sleeve as originally planned because of complications with my gall bladder. I have a Nov 30th surgery date for the sleeve. I can't wait!
It's a hard decision, some people tolerate the band better and have more success, but I do think overall there is a large percentage of bands that have to be removed for various reasons- slippage, erosion, and just for people like me who don't tolerate the band well and ultimately aren't very successful with it. I can tell you nothing feels worse than feeling like a weight loss surgery patient who failed. I was so embarrassed that I didn't lose my weight that I didn't go back to the doctor for years. I didn't even know about the sleeve before July of this year - it wasn't until I thought my band had slipped and had it checked that I talked to the doctor who was very helpful and made me feel less badly for failing to lose weight with the band. That's when I learned how many people aren't successful with the band and also how many end up having to have it removed (like a third!).
I hope this helps some. I wish you luck and much success with your journey.