Chrissy-Chris

I don't get on here as much as I use to since I have a very busy life, glad I logged on this morning.
Congrats on your awesome success!! You look great!! This is one of the most honest and TRUTHFUL stories I've read here. Keep on working that band and much success to you.

I'm going to bookmark this topic/post. We have so many people who don't lose the first 6 months to a year and they went into the journey expecting the band to do all the work. Obviously it don't work that way.
Congrats again and ^5^5 to you.

The latest research is estimating that 75% of over eating comes from emotional eating. Identifying the trap of emotional eating and having the specific steps to escape are essential in learning how to maintain your weight loss.


The Emotional Eating Trap:
Many of us focus our weight loss plans on diet and exercise only; we have no awareness, plan, or tools to work through our emotions which may be contributing to Snacks, binges, or over-sized portions. We get excited. We have our new bariatric plan and exercise routine in place and we are feeling great about it. Then BAM, out of nowhere we get an intense urge or impulse to eat a variety of foods that are not on our new meal plan. At the drop of a dime your feelings have instantly changed. In this very moment you are being seduced by a “thought-feeling” state. At this very moment your automatic reaction is to escape the “perceived bad feeling” which many of us are unaware of at the moment it is happening.
Escaping the Trap:
1. Identify the impulse to emotionally eat by asking the question: “Am I physically Hungry?” You will realize you are not physically hungry most of the time.
2. Change your emotional state by doing a quick meditation
Meditation:
1. Close your eyes and begin to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.
2. Think of something you appreciate or you are grateful for. As you think of this person or thing focus your breathing through your heart; breathing in and out. Focus all of your thoughts to this feeling of being grateful for three to five breaths.
3. Now think of something you love about yourself. It can be a physical body part or it can be a personality trait. Continue to focus all your thoughts on something you love about yourself for three to five breaths, focusing on breathing that feeling in and out through your heart.
4. Now think of one kind act someone has done for you. Again as you focus on this thought for three to five breaths, breathe the feelings in and out through your heart.
This meditation only takes a few minutes but will instantly change your feelings or at least neutralize them. This is a plan of self-empowerment that will allow you to escape the “bad feelings” by redirecting your feelings instead of avoiding them by over eating.
If you are interested in not getting caught in the overeating trap again, set up a schedule to do this meditation a few times throughout the day. The more you do this meditation the more you will strengthen your ability to self-regulate. The most important factor in learning how to maintain your weight loss after surgery is being consistent with identifying the impulse to over eat and following through with the meditation.

I love when I fly I don't feel like my thighs are pushing on the seat handles or the person in the seat next to me. The flight is more comfortable and the seatbelt is has to be tightened instead of barely fitting. We fly quite a bit and that was always a worry for me if there was somebody other than my children or my husband sitting next to me! My energy level has increased tremendously and I just feel so much better and not always so tired. Life is good.

Congratulations on your success! You look amazing!

I also use Premier ready to drink shakes and I get them at costco and Sam's. I also use Jay Robb powdered Protein mix. I get that at Kroger. They sell several flavors including chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and orangesicle (which tasted like a pushpop), all of which are a whey protein isolate. Like Sojourner said, a whey protein isolate drink is like getting a full meal deal. It gives you all of your amino acids, lots of Vitamins, and is really great for bariatric patients. I use almond milk instead of ff milk. I use Almond Breeze - 60 calories. I also use frozen fruit instead of ice. There is all kinds out there, and basically you just have to find one that works for you. Best wishes.

I also use Premier ready to drink shakes and I get them at costco and Sam's. I also use Jay Robb powdered Protein mix. I get that at Kroger. They sell several flavors including chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and orangesicle (which tasted like a pushpop), all of which are a whey protein isolate. Like Sojourner said, a whey protein isolate drink is like getting a full meal deal. It gives you all of your amino acids, lots of Vitamins, and is really great for bariatric patients. I use almond milk instead of ff milk. I use Almond Breeze - 60 calories. I also use frozen fruit instead of ice. There is all kinds out there, and basically you just have to find one that works for you. Best wishes.

I love when I fly I don't feel like my thighs are pushing on the seat handles or the person in the seat next to me. The flight is more comfortable and the seatbelt is has to be tightened instead of barely fitting. We fly quite a bit and that was always a worry for me if there was somebody other than my children or my husband sitting next to me! My energy level has increased tremendously and I just feel so much better and not always so tired. Life is good.

Congratulations! You look amazing.

How can you socialize and stick to your food plan?


Sooner or later you'll find yourself in a situation where you have little or no control over the food served. That doesn't mean you have to abandon all your band eating skills or go hungry. The key is to have plans, even for unpredictable situations.
Social eating poses all kinds of challenges to the bariatric post-op. How to resist the dessert cart? How to refuse an extra helping of potatoes that Mom mashed especially for you (with just a little gravy)? How to chat with nine people and still concentrate on taking tiny bites?
One recommendation applies to all social eating situations: do not experiment with new foods. You don't know how well they'll go down and you don't want to disgrace yourself in public. This has been a challenge for me because I love to try new foods, especially when I travel, but taking food risks in public is just not worth the potential pain and embarrassment.
How easily you can pull off social eating will depend in part on whether your hosts or fellow guests know about your weight loss surgery (a topic worthy of an article of its own, so stay tuned). Sometimes I think my new eating habits are harder on my friends than they are on me. For example, a few months ago I went out to lunch with a group of women, including a friend (we'll call her Kathy) who knew me when I was fat and knows I had weight loss surgery. This was not the first time I had dined with Kathy since my surgery, so I was a bit surprised to realize that she was studying me as I ate.
"Is there a problem?" I said.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't stare," she answered, "But I just can't get over the way you eat now."
"Isn't it great?" I said with hearty enthusiasm.
"Um, yeah, I guess so." There was an awkward pause. Then she rallied and said, "So how many dogs did you say you have now?"
I have survived many post-op social eating occasions with acquaintances who don't know about my weight loss surgery (and I'd rather keep it that way). Most of them keep their opinions about my eating (if they even notice it) to themselves. Sometimes they ask, "Don't you like the food?" (I answer honestly, yes or no), or "Are you diabetic?" (yes), or "Are you allergic to nuts? (no). Sometimes I have to use Kathy's change-the-subject method of getting out of an awkward moment (asking the hostess for the recipe, or a portion of dessert to take home, works well as both a compliment and a distraction).
Advance planning is crucial for successful social eating. Try to find out what will be served and decide what you'll eat. Eat something before you leave home, because the old advice to save your calories for the party is risky business for a post-op. Imagine how irresistible the buffet table is going to look if you haven't eaten for 10 hours. You're not just risking extra calories at that point - you're risking a stuck episode, a productive burp (regurgitation), or sliming - because you're too hungry to eat carefully.
If at all possible, bring some food that you can eat and share with the other guests (tell the host or hostess you're going to do this or it might get whisked away and stashed in the refrigerator). If you know alcohol is going to be served, bring a pitcher of a non-alcoholic beverage you like and announce that you thought everybody might like to try your special punch or fruit tea or whatever it is.
Stand-up can be easier than sit-down affairs because everyone is busy balancing a plate, cutlery, beverage and conversation and it's easier to sneak off and ditch the food without being seen.
At sit-down meals, I'll grab my plate and a neighbor's (making sure it's empty first, of course) and head for the kitchen saying, "Do let me help clear the table" or "Can I get you anything while I'm up?" (that's hard to pull off in a restaurant, though).
Speaking of stand-up affairs, finger food is a terrible idea for bandsters. Human teeth are just not designed to take a small enough bite of anything solid enough to be held in the fingers, so proceed with caution.
Whether you're standing up or sitting down, cutting up your food into tiny pieces and occasionally moving it around your plate with your fork are good ways to camouflage your spare post-op eating style.
And one last piece of advice: please do not give your uneaten food to your host's dog (or cat, or potted plant), no matter how hungry the dog claims he is. You have no way of knowing if the food is even safe for the dog. My dogs are four-legged garbage cans, and they have even worse judgment about food than I do!

I was banded almost 6 months ago, 1/18/13, and have just reached 70lbs this week (including pre-op). I'm a little nervous about posting because I hate that this site is public, but I LOVE looking at progress & success pictures (kind of the same thing) and get really inspired by everyone on this site. My life is so much better, just being regular obese rather than super morbidly obese, I am so much healthier and happier than I used to be. My biggest achievement so far is my resting heart rate. At over 330lbs (my highest known weight) my resting heart rate was in the low 100s (super scary). Now, my resting heart rate is in the high 50s to low 60s - like an athlete!! I almost feel like one, too.
Thank you to all of you who share on this site and put it all out there so we don't all feel alone.

Have a great day!!

I love when I fly I don't feel like my thighs are pushing on the seat handles or the person in the seat next to me. The flight is more comfortable and the seatbelt is has to be tightened instead of barely fitting. We fly quite a bit and that was always a worry for me if there was somebody other than my children or my husband sitting next to me! My energy level has increased tremendously and I just feel so much better and not always so tired. Life is good.

I love when I fly I don't feel like my thighs are pushing on the seat handles or the person in the seat next to me. The flight is more comfortable and the seatbelt is has to be tightened instead of barely fitting. We fly quite a bit and that was always a worry for me if there was somebody other than my children or my husband sitting next to me! My energy level has increased tremendously and I just feel so much better and not always so tired. Life is good.

I love when I fly I don't feel like my thighs are pushing on the seat handles or the person in the seat next to me. The flight is more comfortable and the seatbelt is has to be tightened instead of barely fitting. We fly quite a bit and that was always a worry for me if there was somebody other than my children or my husband sitting next to me! My energy level has increased tremendously and I just feel so much better and not always so tired. Life is good.

I love when I fly I don't feel like my thighs are pushing on the seat handles or the person in the seat next to me. The flight is more comfortable and the seatbelt is has to be tightened instead of barely fitting. We fly quite a bit and that was always a worry for me if there was somebody other than my children or my husband sitting next to me! My energy level has increased tremendously and I just feel so much better and not always so tired. Life is good.

I love when I fly I don't feel like my thighs are pushing on the seat handles or the person in the seat next to me. The flight is more comfortable and the seatbelt is has to be tightened instead of barely fitting. We fly quite a bit and that was always a worry for me if there was somebody other than my children or my husband sitting next to me! My energy level has increased tremendously and I just feel so much better and not always so tired. Life is good.

a lol Made me laugh

A lot of those things apply but I would say that overall it's been my self-confidence that has benefited most from the weight loss.
Now don't get me wrong, I was always opinionated, strong and confident but it's almost like when I lost the weight, people actually couldn't dismiss me as not worthy of having an opinion. And if I want something now, less people were inclined to say no to me.
I believe 100% that that says more about how society perceives people who are overweight that anything that has to do with me - I am the same person I was when I weighed 80lbs more, it's more about how suddenly, they can't pretend I'm invisible or not worth their attention. And that has made me more assertive and my confidence in what I look like on the 'outside' now matches my confidence on the inside, if that makes sense.

so last night i took a belly dancing class.....OMG... These are my people... They were funny, excepting and so free... Ladies of all shapes and sizes... dancing with their flowie dresses and short tops... some had lose skin, some were skinny... but all were wonderful... And they didn't care what they looked like or what you looked like.. they didn't care if they had stuff jiggling around.... They all walked around with heads held high and the "i'm a goddess" attitude... Look at me... i'm fabulous... It was wonderful being in a place were... so what if your body is not perfect... all are excepted...
I think i'm going to love this class and my new friends...

Congratulations on your weight loss. You look fabulous. I wish I knew what 10 kgs is compared to pounds in the US - but whatever - you should be proud of yourself because you look good!

Way to go countrygirl - you look great!

Congratulations! Good for you for getting back on track after getting off track for a while. Good story for those who have had the same difficulties staying on track!

Starting weight: 286
Current weight: 258
Banded 1/23/13
Weightloss: 38 pounds
I have been doing really well, some weeks go better than others. I find that some weeks I can lose 3 lbs and the next nothing at all. Haven't figured that out yet. I went for my 3rd fill yesterday afternoon and am a little concerned it might be to much. I have felt like some of the liquids I have had today stuck around a little to long in my throat. I guess I will know better when I can have mushy food tomorrow. I hope I don't have to go get an unfill. Glad to know everybody is sticking with it and doing well.

I meant to say current weight 248 on my post - making 38 lbs!

This is 65 pounds down, 45 more to go! Banded 11/12/12

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