Caribear

I'm so happy for you!

You can change your signature by clicking on your user name at the top right of the page, then "My Settings," then go down to the tab marked "Signature." I wrote out instructions on how to add a ticker at the following link. I'm afraid I didn't help the original poster, but it will at least give you an idea of how to get started. I hope this helps. http://www.lapbandta...__fromsearch__1

I may not be the best person to answer this, because I'm pre-band, but I have heard that one of the most important things you can do is ask to see before and after photos, and not just the successful ones. Ask to see some results that the surgeon considers less than desirable. That way you can get an idea of what the real quality of his/her work is. Good luck in your search, and congratulations on your success!

I've been doing a lot of thinking about one particular habit that dies awfully hard - eating what's on your plate whether you like it or not. I know that there are times when we should choose to eat certain things because they are good for us, but if they're bad for our health and we don't like them, why should we be eating them? And by we, I mean me. Does anybody else do this, or is it just me? I really started to think about this a few weeks ago at dinner. Every Wednesday, the church down the street from us holds a community meal that is free to everyone. We always get it, because it is a nice break from cooking for me and something different every time. That day it was spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, and fruit. I was eating the spaghetti when I suddenly realized, hey, this doesn't taste good at all. It was greasy and salty and not at all the way I would choose to have it. But I kind of mentally shrugged and thought, oh well, it's free (well, we did put money in the donation jar, but it's not like we went out to a restaurant.) But here's the thing - even though it was unpleasant, and I knew it was bad for me, I still continued to eat it. In fact, I finished it. Then I sat there staring at the grease at the bottom of the styrofoam container and thought, now why did I just do that? It was then that it occurred to me that all those years of my grandparents constantly scolding me to finish what was on my plate has really ingrained itself more deeply than I imagined. Between that and the years of mindless eating, I had stopped being picky about what I put in my mouth. I realized at that moment that it was something I had to change. Over the next few days, I watched how my son ate his dinner. If he liked it, he would put a bite in his mouth, put down his silverware, chew it thoroughly, talk a little bit, and then eat another bite. If he didn't like it, he would refuse to eat it. On those days I would push him to eat at least three bites, and sometimes that was all he would eat. So I have decided that from now on, I will try to eat more like my son. After all, those are the habits I will need after I am banded anyway, so why not start learning them now? I will make my best attempt to do all of the following at every meal: pay attention to the flavor of the food I am eating put down my fork and have some conversation between bites chew thoroughly if I don't like it, I won't eat it (within reason) I hope that by doing these things, I can start to develop those good eating habits that I will need to be successful in losing and maintaining my weight. Things have been changing quite a bit here over the past week or so. I haven't been blogging nearly as much because my boyfriend has been on the computer every night. He had quit his job driving the Amish construction crews because they weren't paying him (yes, the Amish can be jerks too, lol) and things were pretty tight here for a while. But last week, his dad bought a local business and has hired him as the general manager (woohoo!) so he has been pretty busy. It's going to be crazy for a while until we get settled into a routine again. And another super bonus is that I will be doing some cleaning on their closed days, so I can finally have some income of my own and have a reason to get out of the house! I would be doing cartwheels with excitement if I weren't so achy and, well, 360-pounds-y. (lol) I hope you all had a great Valentine's day! <3

Congratulations on all your success!

I am pre-band, but had my gallbladder out in January '11. For me it started as a deep achy pain, and I felt like I had a brick under my ribcage. I didn't have any nausea unless I ate something fatty. Unfortunately for me, it started right before Christmas, and I ended up throwing up after every Christmas party I went to (couldn't resist the food!) Then about a week before I had it removed, I passed a stone. It felt like a hot knife stabbing me from the inside, lasted about 20 minutes, then suddenly just stopped. When they finally removed it, the surgeon said it was pretty infected and had lots of small stones and a few larger ones. I haven't noticed any changes to how I react to food since I've had it removed. In the beginning I was afraid to have surgery, and I tried to "fix it" with natural remedies, but by the time they took it out I was ready for it to go. So I would have to agree with the previous posters that if anybody is having trouble with it, just get it taken out. It's not worth the suffering.

I agree with the posters above. You haven't failed. You can always start over. The 45 pounds is a great success! I know it seems small when you compare it to the total amount you need to lose, so just don't compare the two. I have to lose about 200 pounds, and when I think about it in those terms I can't even get my head around it. So I divided it up into more manageable goals, and plan to reward myself in some way when I reach each one. I would recommend talking to a therapist. Mine has given me some great coping mechanisms, but I think the most important thing is figuring out whether you are actually hungry or just trying to distract yourself from something else. That and learning to be ok with the feeling of hunger were hard to learn, but vital. Just remember, everybody makes mistakes, but what defines us as a success is what we do afterwards. You can do this!

Both my mom and I have tried it and it didn't work for either one of us. I could taste the flavor too. I wish it worked, but if it seems too good to be true...Luckily for my mom, she ordered through a home shopping channel and it wasn't hard for her to cancel it. I don't see anything wrong with trying it if you want to though.

Maybe you could try going back on liquids for a few days, kind of like a "do-over." There's a thing called the 5 day pouch test that some people on here swear by. I haven't been banded yet, but that's what I would start with. I wish you the best of luck!

You can do this. The two and a half weeks will go by before you know it. I'm glad your recovery has been smooth so far. Congratulations on being strong enough to make such a life-changing decision!

I agree with the ideas above, with one thing to add. There's one thing my nutritionist had me do that has helped me tremendously with this. She suggested I make a coping "tool box." It can be real or imagined, but mine is actually a shoe box. You fill it with things that will take your mind off of wanting to eat. In mine I have a few books, a word search and sudoku book, some soothing music CDs, and a handful of other things that will inspire me. When my brain starts screaming at me, I make a cup of tea (the temperature and taste help) and pull something out of the box to occupy myself. It has helped me more than any other thing I've done to help control the emotional eating. I wish you luck and will be praying for you.

Great job! I know it can be hard, but you are strong (as you've just seen) and it will be worth it. Keep it up!

Thanks for the replies. @Jean, I read the article you wrote not too long ago and it was fascinating. I appreciate you taking the time to research these things and shed some light on them. @Kassie, thank you. I have heard that PCOS can be greatly improved after WLS, and I hope that is the case for you. I guess when I wrote this I was concerned both about post-op pain and recovery as well as inability to exercise. Since I wrote it I have talked to my surgeon and he assures me that it shouldn't cause any issues, and that they will make sure to keep me as comfortable as possible post-op. I've also found some exercises that I am able to do fairly easily, and am working to get my body in as good a shape as possible before I'm banded. I have been trying to give up worrying about things like this and just learn to trust that God has good plans for me. Bless you both, and you and all the other fibro bandsters are in my prayers. <3

I haven't tried this but I have a friend of a friend trying to hard-sell me on it right now. I've looked at it and basically the weight loss package is a Protein shake diet with some added supplements. I would caution that if you are taking prescription medications, you should make sure there aren't any potential interactions with the supplement pills. For example, if you are on an antidepressant, you should avoid the supplement because it contains 5-HTP, a form of tryptophan, and the use of the two together can cause serotonin syndrome. I go to drugs.com and use their interaction checker; you could also take a list of ingredients to your pharmacist and ask them. Provided everything checks out, I don't see any harm in it, but I just wanted to bring this up.

I'm sorry you've got such a rotten decision to make, but so proud of you for making such great decisions! And it's fantastic that you have such supportive people in your life. Good luck in your decision, I'll be praying for you.

I agree, I'd wait until after surgery. But what a great idea!

I would agree with Pollyanna. I'm pre-band too, but I think just literally starting over would be a good idea. And congratulations on your success so far, that's great! So far as the drinks go, I can't give you any advice except maybe check Amazon and see if they have them available with two-day shipping. You can do this, I know you can!

You can do it! I know it seems like it's going on forever right now, but every day you are that much closer to being done with it. It does seem like a really long time, but just hold on. Hugs and prayers <3

I had my second of nine supervised diet visits today. I wanted to go in anyway because I have been having trouble with my feet swelling. Not just regular swelling, but the kind of swelling that makes the skin hurt because it is being pulled so tight. I spent almost all day on the couch Saturday because my feet were so swollen and painful that I could hardly walk. So today I went in with my food and exercise logs to get my visit done and over with. I got on the scale without taking off my shoes or coat, and so the number showed that I had actually gained a little since my last visit. My scale at home says I am holding steady. My doctor looked over my logs and said he was pleased with what I was doing. I told him about the swelling and he poked at my ankles a little bit, then said he would order a blood test to make sure that my kidneys were functioning normally. He also said that my blood pressure was a little high, and that if it was still elevated at my next visit, he would put me on a blood pressure medication and a diuretic. I guess that the elevated blood pressure is both good and bad. Bad because, well, nobody needs high blood pressure. But good because it will probably indicate more of a need to the insurance company for the surgery - another comorbidity. I mentioned to the doctor that my blood pressure is usually normal unless I am in a fair amount of pain, which I was today and have been for the past few days. He agreed but said that he would still put me on the medication if it was still elevated next time. I noticed on the receipt that he also ordered a test for my thyroid hormones, probably because I haven't lost any more weight despite eating less than 2000 calories per day and burning from 300 to 600 per day with exercise (numbers from myfitnesspal.com) So they will call me with the results sometime later this week and we will see what they say. Two down, seven to go. The goal is coming slowly but surely. I think I can, I think I can!

It's not something you're doing, it's perfectly normal. If you don't have any fill in your band, it won't be providing you much restriction if any. The early weight loss is probably from when your stomach was healing. A lot of people gain weight during this period, so I would say you're doing great! Just hang in there.

I have heard many people on this board getting so upset about weight gain and lack of weight loss. And don't get me wrong, I completely understand. I have gotten on the scale myself and had that sinking feeling in my stomach when I saw the number. I have wanted to scream and cry when I saw the number go up. Trust me, I understand. But there is something that I was missing, and that was Godly love. I accepted Jesus into my heart when I was four years old. I don't remember if I even understood what that meant at the time, but it was what the grown-ups wanted from me, so I did it. I went to church with my mom until my pre-teen years. But then things started to fall apart in our family and we all lost our way. I don't want to get into it all right now, but there were many things that happened that were emotionally painful, and I felt like God had turned his back on me. I felt lost and abandoned. So I gave into the world's way of living, doing basically whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I still felt like I was a good person, and I believed in God, but felt like he didn't want much to do with me. After years of living this way, I noticed that He was showing up in my life more and more. Little things that would happen, little comments that people would make. I felt the need to go back to Him, but I didn't. I thought that after all of the bad things I had done, all the commandments I had broken, that there would never be a church that would accept me. After all, you can't be a Christian without going to church, right? But God kept insisting, kept calling me. Eventually I went out and bought myself a Bible and started to read. It took me a while, but it finally dawned on me that I didn't have to go to church to be a Christian again. I didn't need other people to accept me to be a Christian. I didn't have to be perfect. I didn't have to have a perfect past. Jesus did most of His work among the people who the church considered "undesirable," like prostitutes and tax collectors. If Jesus could accept them and love them, maybe He could love me too. Several months later, I was watching a television show on Daystar network, a Christian station. The woman who was speaking was talking about God's love. She said something that changed the way I looked at myself forever. "God loves you just the way you are," she said (paraphrasing.) "You don't have to lose ten pounds, you don't have to do anything different for him to love you." The woman was Joyce Meyer, and I have watched her regularly ever since. But that message really opened my eyes. It's really true. God loves you exactly the way you are right at this very moment. He loves you just as much as he loves anyone else. You are His child, and he made you knowing that you would be just who you are right now. He knew you would do everything you have ever done, good and bad, and he loved you just the same. When you feel the most unloveable, He still loves you just as much as He ever did. Even if you don't believe in Him, He still loves you! How wonderful! If you take anything at all from this blog, I want you to know that you are loved. You are loved more than you know, more than you could ever believe possible. And this love is not dependent on how much weight you lose, what kind of clothes you wear, or even how you act. You are loved simply because you exist, and you are important simply because you were born. God does not do things by mistake, and He would not waste time creating something that He was not proud of. It is important to take care of your body and make sure that you stay healthy, because our bodies are our home until we are done with our journey on the earth, but your weight is not everything. It is part of you, but not the thing that defines you. Even if you never reach your goal weight, God sees you for the beautiful creation that you are. And I hope that you do too.

I agree with you completely, Elcee. I just thought it was important to share because I personally have lost count of the number of times I have been treated like something less than human because of my weight. There have been many times that people have dismissed me completely without even bothering to learn anything about me. They have treated me badly, sometimes very cruelly and inappropriately. After having this happen so many times, I eventually started to believe them and gave up trying to lose weight. I lost my self-esteem and decided that it was easier to comfort myself with food than work so hard at losing only to be told that I still wasn't good enough. It took me a long time to re-discover that sense of self-worth. I guess I am hoping that by hearing the message that we all have immense value beyond our weight will encourage people to feel more worthy of the effort it takes to keep losing and not give up like I did.

Hi all! I am subscribed to an email newsletter called Godvine. Every weekday they send me an email with a verse, several video clips, and a story. This story was in the letter from yesterday, 2/3. It really warmed my heart, so I had to share it with you all. "Get Off The Scale Whether weight is a 'problem' in your life or it's some other single factor, this can apply to everyone. Never forget it! You are beautiful. Your beauty, just like your capacity for life, happiness, and success, is immeasurable. Day after day, countless people across the globe get on a scale in search of validation of beauty and social acceptance. Get off the scale! I have yet to see a scale that can tell you how enchanting your eyes are. I have yet to see a scale that can show you how wonderful your hair looks when the sun shines its glorious rays on it. I have yet to see a scale that can thank you for your compassion, sense of humor, and contagious smile. Get off the scale because I have yet to see one that can admire you for your perseverance when challenged in life. It's true, the scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. That's it. It cannot measure beauty, talent, purpose, life force, possibility, strength, or love. Don't give the scale more power than it has earned. Take note of the number, then get off the scale and live your life. You are beautiful!" Source: Something I Just Had To Share

Hi all! I am subscribed to an email newsletter called Godvine. Every weekday they send me an email with a verse, several video clips, and a story. This story was in the letter from yesterday, 2/3. It really warmed my heart, so I had to share it with you all. "Get Off The scale Whether weight is a 'problem' in your life or it's some other single factor, this can apply to everyone. Never forget it! You are beautiful. Your beauty, just like your capacity for life, happiness, and success, is immeasurable. Day after day, countless people across the globe get on a scale in search of validation of beauty and social acceptance. Get off the scale! I have yet to see a scale that can tell you how enchanting your eyes are. I have yet to see a scale that can show you how wonderful your hair looks when the sun shines its glorious rays on it. I have yet to see a scale that can thank you for your compassion, sense of humor, and contagious smile. Get off the scale because I have yet to see one that can admire you for your perseverance when challenged in life. It's true, the scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. That's it. It cannot measure beauty, talent, purpose, life force, possibility, strength, or love. Don't give the scale more power than it has earned. Take note of the number, then get off the scale and live your life. You are beautiful!"

I have to agree with everyone here, you look great! And thank you for sharing, I know how hard it is to put yourself out there when people have reacted negatively in the past. It does take a lot of courage to make yourself so vulnerable. Thank you.