Califdreamer

What I do when I think I'm hungry is keep my hands and my mind busy. I watch netflix now because tv has so many commercials and a lot of them are about FOOD! no cable, no commercials! Also have completed projects I had given up on. It's a win win situation. Get banded, have more energy, get more done in the house, way better sex life and things I didn't have 'time' for. It helps when my tv viewing was cut. Never realized how much tv I did watch! Plus I drink so much much more water than ever before. As for the "bad habits" well I like to think of them as different habits that no longer work for me. I need to learn different habits now. When I would say bad habits, it would make me feel like I was a bad girl for doing someting bad and needed to be punished (gain more weight). Then start the downhill spiral of being fat on purpose, not being good enough for whatever, being too dumb to know better and even worse knowing and still doing the wrong things, etc. When I changed my way of thinking, I changed too. Each day is a new beginning.

I did so much research before my surgery. I heard the horror stories, watched actual surgeries on youtube and weighed alol the pros and cons I could even imagine. I have 6 kids, 4 grandkids and a husband. This made me think a lot and after it was all said and done, I went ahead and took that big leap of faith and got banded. Never had a problem. It just took me 2 weeks to recoup after the surgery but then again, I always have had a slight reaction to anesthesia and the self healing stitches. They knew this beforehand, I was accomadated and had to have actual string stitches that had to be taken out later. Other than that, it's been a piece of cake! I have now lost 50 lbs! I for one, am so glad I did this! My regular MD asked for my surgeons name and asked if I would recommend him and I said of course! The more knowledge you have of what is happening, the better you'll feel. Like you say, there are risks in all our everyday lives yet we're still here! Who knows, maybe without the band, you'll have a much shorter life. You just never know.

Exactly, difa!

Hi Erica, I know how difficult it is when you hit a wall. I had my banding just 2 months before you and have hit my 50 lb loss and now have another baby step of 25. After that I still will have another 50. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I have also hit something else too. That dreaded wall! I am a stay at home mom and have 6 kids and 4 grandkids now. 4 of my kids are still home although they are 2 teens and 2 adults. As long as they are still students, we let them stay here! I don't have twins but I did have 3 kids in less than 3 years and then 9 yrs later, I did it again! 3 in less than 3 yrs. I know...some say I was crazy but I would still do it again. Any way, I would like to be your buddy in this endevor but I live in Southern Calif. If you would like, we can at least e-mail or talk on the phone. Let me know and go from there. And congratulations on your loss! That's really great!

ok I will! But if I can't, I guess I will try out the one in Riverside. I lost 50 lbs so far but seem to have lost the momentum to keep going. I know that to succeed I need to keep in contact with people that have and are working hard at this!

I just had mine done in November and I'm 51. I just reached my 50 lb loss 2 weeks ago. I am going in on thursday to see if I need 1 last fill or at least to see if I need it tweeked. I can pretty much eat most things I ate before but in much smaller portions and I do go to the gym since I don't have the room at my home to get equipment I enjoy. I love not feeling hungry all the time either. I can afford to eat better foods because it takes a lot less to fill me up. I thought of the lapband for almost a year. I used that time to do major research, thinking and interviewing many people who have had it done, who had been thinking about it and those that had all the negative you'd want to hear before making such a big decision. When I decided to have it done, it was very apparent to me that this was and is going to be a total lifetime change because obviously everything I had tried just didn't work for the lifestyle I have. As for the complications, I didn't really have any at all. Yet my husband does have a problem with bread as it makes him gag. Bread is my weakness and I thought that I would simply die without it and my diet cokes! Funny how now I love my tea and hard toast. I do not miss that freshly baked french bread doused in butter downed with that coke! In fact I think I hear my body gaging by just thinking about it. UGH! It litterally makes me angry with myself thinking of all that damage I have done to my body! Any way...sorry but I have a tendency to yak away...hope you think about it and just go with your own choice. It is your body.

I was banded 11/04/2011 and was wanting to join a support group in this area. Temecula to Hemet. Anyone know of one??? Would really appreciate it a lot! Thanks.

Maybe it's because of my age or for whatever reason. I don't hide it except from my parents but only because I want to surprise them in August. They live 400 miles away and have no idea yet. Anyway, first of all I would have down played it then probably would have given this co-worker a lesson on the different types of procedures. This way I would have been in control of the situation instead of giving her the upper hand. But like I said, that's just me. I know..I'm a control freak! Go to work with your head held high and keep up the good work. Let them keep following their 'diets' if it does them good. My mom always told us when we were in school, the "friends" there are just school mates. People at work are just co-workers. People you associate with outside of obligatory places are your true friends. (sounds better in our native language! LOL)

I have to admit that at first when we were talking and thinking about the band I didn't see it as a tool. I saw it as cheating. I have been banded since Nov.4th 2012 and am down 45+ lbs. I feel great and haven't told my parents, siblings or pretty much any one except a few close friends. NOT because of any other reason but because my parents live 400 miles away and the last time they saw me, last year, I was at my highest weight of 277 and wearing a 3x! Now I am in an extra large and I want so badly to surprise them this year! As soon as they see me then I will let everyone know. Now I see this as a tool only. I control what and how much I eat. I work out 5 times a week (although the last 5 I haven't due to health problems that have nothing to do with my band) and watch everything I eat. I do not feel like a fraud at all. I am the one doing all the work and it is not easy. Could I have done this without the band? Maybe BUT maybe the question here is...could I have kept losing without the band? Even when things were bad and I would pig out and I'd get depressed and eat more? Yet this band is a reminder to me that I am committed to this and I am a strong person and it's forever. If I overeat, I feel like I'm having a heartattack! I have 6 kids and now entered into the world of grandparenthood and the thought of a heartattack because of my weight makes me want to continue this journey. My band is a "friendly" yet painful reminder of why I did this and for whom (me first then my family). Each one of our journeys is different. And just like the doctor that has to tweak our fills, we have to tweak our minds and hearts, pasts and presents, hurts and joys and falls and goals.

Same here. I have an 11 cc band. First fill was 4cc, the second was 3 cc and the third was..can"t remember. I know it wasn't even 3 cc but I felt no restrictions until my 3rd fill. We'll see how it goes the next time.

my husband travels for work and so far there has been no problems. I have to fly out in July...just watch, I will probably have a problem. I am the lucky one that gets it all even when I travel with a group of people, a priest and a few nuns and I always get to be the lucky one. sheesh! Sometimes I think my group pays for these conferences just so I'll go and they breeze on by while I have to stay back for a bit! LOL!

hip hip hooray!!!! Congratulations!

I agree with all the above. Mostly journaling as you can actually see what you are eating. I eat more now than before the band and I am losing weight! The difference is I more aware of what I eat and more focused on why I eat. These are issues I know I have to deal with for the band to 'work'. I see it like this...the band is a tool. Whether I use it correctly or not is up to me and me alone. I am responsible for what and how much food I place in my mouth. As long as there are no complications, this must work. Was I scared? Oh yes! Nervous? Absolutely. Desperate? Of course. But I knew it was time. Was I forced into this? Nope. In fact when I was in the pre op room taking all my vitals and such, I knew I could still back out. As I walked into the operating room, I knew I could have walked right out too. Then as I lay on the table, my doctor must have seen my expression and asked me if I wanted to stop it all and I said no. But I knew that if I wanted to I could and that relaxed me so much. The next few days after the surgery and each little pain, I would think to myself...What the heck did I do to myself? I researched this so long and even saw some of the surgeries on youtube, All in all, I wish I had done this years ago! Just give yourself as much time as you can to heal and take it one day at a time. I look back at my old life and it seems so funny. It's like it's not really your life at all. It does make me cringe to be honest, on how destructive it really was. I hope and pray I never ever return to that type of so called existance again! Good luck and take care.

What happened yeaterday is in the past. I haven't weighed under 200 in many many years and am so close now so I can only imagine how you're feeling. Don't give up! There are many of us who look up to the bandsters like you!