waitingpatiently

The first Picture is me at 236 pounds and the second one is me 8 months out at 175 pounds. I'm now about 15 pounds less at 158.I'm scheduled for abdominalplasty and breast lift in 3 weeks. I can't wait

You are welcome to inbox me any time! I am 13 months out Lost 76pounds and I'm at my goal weight of 160 pounds. I'm scheduled for abdominalplasty and breast lift next month to finish out this chapter of my life and ready to take on the rest of it!!! Good luck!! You can do this.....just except nothing less than success!!!

That is a deal. I'm scheduled for the same two procedures the surgeon I want to use (because of his reputation) will only do 1 procedure at a time so....It is 8,000 for the TT and 7000 for the Breast Lift. For a total of $15,000. On one hand I can't believe I'm going to write a check for $15,000 but on ther other hand....I just don't think I will ever be able to stop seeing the fat girl in the mirror if I don't.

Checking in at 184. I Lost the 2 pound Water gain from last week plus 5 more actual pounds for a total of 7 pounds!! 1 pound to this months goal!! I might even be able to see 179 by the end of the month.

Today was an awesome day!! A store in our area was having a denim sale (80% off).. so I decided to pick up a few pair of jeans for this fall. So Im wearing size 16 and they are too big on me, so I thought well Im probably really a size 14....so if I get size 12 they should fit in september...The line at the dressing room as so long I decided just to take them home....When I tried them on at home, they all fit!! I couldn't believe it...so I gave them to my daughter and thought well I go back and get some Size 10s that way I should be able to get into them in September. When I brought them home and tried them on They all fit too!!!What is going on!!! I.m really a size 10!!!So I guess tomorrow I will go get some Size 8s and this time I will just wait my turn and try them on. It was such an awesome feeling!!! I just can't believe it!! I guessI didn't see it because i have been wearing a bunch of capris with drawstrings so I knew they were big on me.....but I could still get them to stay on if I tied the strings tight. What has been your greatest NSV??

I apologize for the lenght of my story. Just something that was on my heart. When I made the decision to have the band it was a personal one...it was all about me. I never thought about what the effects would be on my family. You see for most of my teenage years I actually was more on the anerexia side of things...I came from a skinny family and I learned quickly at the age of 10 (the baby fat year) that being chubby would quickly make me the outcast in the family...I remember my mom talking my sisters shopping at the mall and me shopping at the goodwill...always followed by the comment.."if you can just slim down a little I will take you to the mall as well" to say the least it messed with my head. So I went the other way....I actually remember counting out the number of grapes and crackers I would let myself eat in a day.....thats it...nothing else...and behold the attention that was showered on me. It wasn't until I was 14 when I met my now husband that I started excepting myself. I rememeber his mother not letting me go on a date with him unless I would eat with them....it still took a few years, but by the time I was 18 I figured "why do I care what they (family) think of me" my now soon to be husband loves me the way I am....what else matters. It wasn't unitll years later when I had 3 of my own children that the food issues came back. I just couldn't bring myself to tell my childen no to healthy foods (for fear of doing to them what my parents had done to me)....I figured is healthy... let them eat what they want....I remember seeing my eldest daughter be overweight at the same age I was...but just couldn't bring myself to limit her foods.....repeat pattern with youngest child....so other that my middle daughter who has always been a specimen of fitness... Me,my eldest daughter and son were on the bigger side and my husband was overweight by 15 pounds but nothing awfull. Advance forward to the last 4 months....I always knew my family would support me...but I had accepted that this was my journey not theirs. Boy was I wrong. Over the last 4 months a transformation has happened!!. I (40 and 5'6"--190lbs) have lost 47 pounds, My husband lost his 15 pounds, My son (13 and 5'9--198lbs) has lost 25 pounds!! and my eldest (18 and 5'3"--200lbs)....she is trying so hard (found out she has the PCOS like me) but she too has lost 18 pounds!! And my middle daughter (16 and 5'4"----120lbs)...well she is our cheerleader the whole way!!---she actualy wants to be a nutritionist/trainer. Even my mother in law that lives with us and is huge has lost 30 pounds!! I never thought that me getting the band would do all this!! That's 130 pounds----its like we have Lost a whole peson from our family! If Ididn't loose another pound I'm happy...we are back to hikng and exercising together its awesome.--I'm just left with a little guilt....Apparently, they were just waitng for me to take the lead....I wish I would have been strong enough to have done it sooner. So we are even having some friendly competitions! We all weigh about the same so When when my son and daughter gets to 180 I will give each of them $100......If they beat me there I will get them a person frig for their room. My son was up and running the nighborhood at 7am the next morning.!! I think...we might have broke the cycle!! I hope so....Good luck to eveyone on their journey...Maybe your family will be transformed like mine!! Did getting banded result in a unexpectent tansformation in your life?

I gave up trying to find one I actually "liked" and went to covering up the taste with SF syrups....this I can handle. I use jillian Micheals protien power and Jay Rob (but it is a ittle pricey) Here are two of my favorite recipes coffee Protein Drink=130cals/4carbs/17 protein 3oz favorie coffee (mine is keurigs-butter toffee) 3oz Almond Milk (SF) 1oz sf carmel syrup 1oz sf vanilla syrup 1 scoop vanilla Protein Powder blenderize with lots of ice Pina colada 125cal/2cabs/20 protein 1oz sf pineappe syrup 1oz sf coconut syrup 3oz Water ------------------------------------------I will sometimes sub a carbmaster yogurt for the water and milk 3oz almond milk but it adds about 40 calories 1 scoop jayrob orange protein powder bleander with ice Hope that helps

Welcome to the group!! There are a lot of geat people on here so if you ever have questions feel free to ask. They have been a great asset to me on this journey. Good luck!

I think its so funny how ever doctor has different guidlines--haha I agree the drinking thing ha been the hardest thing to adjust to. Prior to the band I dank most of my daily intake of Water with my meals. So now I actually forget to drink other times and have become dehydrated several times. It sounds as if a few of you have issues if you drink and eat at the same time...is that correct? I'have never exprienced that....I was told that dinking disolves the food quicker and allows it to pass through the band too quickly...which leaves you hungry quicker. I was told no liquids 30 mins before or 30 mins after a meal.....I never understood the 30 mins before....especially since I have not met restriction yet.....I tend to drink up untill about 10 mins before the meal and limit myself to about 2 oz after the meal ---thats the best I can do.....I have to have something or I actually end up in a coughing spell.

Cazzy you have done such an awesome job!! I hope you are proud of yourself!! I know it must have seemed impossible in the beginning but you made it work. You need to put a before and after picture up!! I bet they are amazing. Keep up the good work....you are an inspiration to those of us trying to cross the finish line. I have about 25 pounds left and it is getting harder not easier. I have to keep such a low calorie and carb count to get any results and well after 6 months....I am getting weary....I hope this doc gets me to restriction soon.

I'm sorry that the band life is not what you expected to be. I would encourage you to give it another try. I could see when we are at our lowest that the idea of the band is appealing and you feel like you would be willing to do anything to just be normal and healthy....but I guess with time, when you are some what normal and healthy, the honeymoon phase can wear off andfor some the realization that food will never mean the same to you as it did before can be a hard pill to swallow. I guess this is a lesson to those making the decision to remember... this isn't a short term committment....it truly is making a lifestyle change for the rest of your life. It isn't a decision that should be made lightly or in 2 weeks. It sounds as if you haven't been under the care of a band surgeon in a long time. I would encourage you to seek one out and get a check up. Some of your issues may be resolved with a slight unfill. And since you seem to feel you have your eating issues under control and could do this without the band, this might give you a little more freedom to eat some of the things you are missing such as salads. Im not insensitive to you being self pay....I understand that it can be expensive to maintain the band....but you knew that going into it. That is something else self pay patients should consider.......even those whoes jobs are fragile....the band must be maintained!! Or serious issues could develop. Anyway...I'm sorry for your buyers remorse I know it can be very flustrating and I hope that you will be able to maybe change your mindset and remember that excitement that you had when you first started this journey. Plug yourself back into this site and finish up the journey that you started.....The band is what you make of it. It can be a rope holding you back or a rescue devise pulling you to safety. Good luck.

Same here...I'm trying to add some abdominal exercises to my routine but boy do I pay for it. I will sore sore for days afterwards....I asked the doc about it...he said Its not going to hurt the band and to keep working at it as tolerated. I have also noticed activities such as hiking and climbing ...things with a lot of reaching definately cause it to be sore.

checking in at 191 this morning...thats up 2 pounds, but not worried....had a little too much sodium the last couple of days so its most likely water weight.

My doctor said nothing was off limits....but to be mindful of activitives that will change the pressure in the band....Flying on a plane or scubba diving....That being said I will say there might not be any limits to what the band can handle, I have noticed that activities that require a lot of reaching and bending at the waist do leave my port site on the sore side (sometimes very sore). Hiking and climbing especially. I sit damaging anything? I doubt it....but it does make me shy away from those activities a little.

feel free to add me same username:waitingpatiently

I do count calories/carbs/fiber....not so much the fat just because I choose lean meats and it really shouldn't be an issue. I log everything....sometimes we get selective memory when the scale doesn't move....we forget the extra hundred calories we have been consuming everyday. I hope that when I have lost theses last 24pounds that I will be able to settle in and not count eveything...but until I have restriction and have met my goal I am very much on a strict diet.

One thing I have noticed is that you can't keep the same calories count after you loose a significant amount of weight. If you were able to eat 1,500 calories at 300 pounds most likely you will need to drop that back as you loose weight. Think of weight watchers. You are even "x" amount of points depending on your weight, as you loose the weight, they drop the number of points. Also, It might be time to shock your system.....do something completely different for a couple of weeks. If you aren't following a strict low carb diet, give it a shot.....it might be what your body needs, (and by strict, I mean no more than 40 carbs a day or less) If you already follow this, then maybe reintroduce carbs to the diet for a weekend. see if your body responds. Consider all different exercises.....Our body gets complacent when we do the same exercises over and over...if you notice that they are so much easier to do now, than they were a month ago it is definately time to mix it up. Make sure you are drinking enough Water...This is a hard one for me. Before the band the majority of my water was consumed during meals. Now that that is a no no I tend to forget to drink it other times.....suddenly I realize I haven't had anything to drink that day and it will be 2:00. not good.....I actual set a alarm on my phone to chime ...Just to remind me to drink (crazy I know...makes me feel like I'm 80 ans can't remember to take my meds) Hope that helps