monicaleigh

Thank you! You will get there! Dont give up on yourself, Failure is only an option when you open the door to it! Keep that door closed and the one to success open and the future is yours to decide

I have been banded for about 3 1/2 months and i have lost 58 pounds without a fill and plan on losing the rest of my weight without a fill. I am just so excited! I can't believe im more than halfway to my goal weight. Only 35 more pounds to go! This for me has been about more than just a band, it has been a lifestyle/ mindset change. I am so proud to be able to post and say Im doing it and in 35 more pounds i will have gotten t goal! If i said it had been a peice of cake i would be lying, but it hasnt been extremely hard either. It has just been a CHANGE, something different and new to me. I have developed a lifestyle of fitness and healthy eating that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I have learned new ways to think about food and how to eat healthy and still fill satisfied! My journey has been one of the most successful journeys i have ever taken and the decision to take it is one i will always be proud of! I have no regrets and can honestly say i am HAPPY with who i am and how i look for the first time in my whole life! I have confidence and a boldness that i never thought i would have! I have 35 pounds to go and will get to my goal! Im so glad to have this forum to help others as well as share my experiences with others who have been through the same thing!
Thank you all for your support.

I made a decision...I just said no more.. never again and i started thinking of food as nutrition.. and not for pleasure.. i stopped letting my thoughts revolve around when i could eat again and planning out what i wanted three hours in advance..when i had just eaten.. I started focusing more on my gym time and what i was going to do at the gym everyday..what cardio workouts..what weight workouts.. i also started doing activities that didnt revolve arounmd social eating events or just sitting around..I started playing basketball rather than watching tv for 5 hours..or even going bowling rather than an activity where im sitting like at the movie theatre which also gives option to the concsession stand full of junk food and soda...Its proven that people whose daily habits are active habits and not sitting habits... makes a huge difference in a person success in weightloss and maintenence. ..At the end of the day it boils down to you not just wanting it bad enough... but being willing to do everything you need to do in order to make it a lifestyle change. like i said its mostly in our heads! Ill be honest i can finish eating a portioned out meal and still be mentally hungry which leads me to think that im still physically hungry.. but i know im not..and so i dont just keep eating because I FEEL that way. I stop eating when ive finished what i NEED to eat... Its a a choice..is it easy? absolutely not! does it get easier? Yes! Do i have temptation when i am around junk food and yummy stuff? of course! But i dont give to my temptation... Its not like my mental hunger goes away or like im never tempted by anything...I am but i choose to fight my urges and continue to make healthy decisions regardless of how i feel or if im tempted..Its not easy.. but it is and will be worth it for the long haul. There is no set way on how to get rid of emotional hunger some people never do.. they just dont act on it. So its a decision and one that you have to work on ..what are your eating habits like? what are your exercise habits like? do you eat for comfort when your having a bad day?

I belong to another chat group of bandsters....and sometimes I have to scratch my head in bewilderment about how obsessed they are with food!!
On one hand they are talking about "woe is me" I'm not loosing!!! Then the next thread is "What's for dinner"
Yes, there should be a healthy relationship with food...we need it to live! But we don't live to eat.
For the past 35 years every Dr. I ever saw kept telling me "You eat too much....you eat to much...you eat to much....." better diet...better diet....!
Which I did many, many times, and eventually I failed at every diet, because I could not stop eating!!!
That was when my PCP said, in that case, perhaps you need surgery to help you stop eating...and that is exactly what the band did for me.
It took conrol of not only what I can eat, but how much AND also when by curbing my hunger cravings.
So why would I want to spend my time thinking and talking about food? I rather talk about weight loss, the band, fitting in new clothes, getting fit, etc, etc...
Bottom line...."Food is not my friend" It has done me wrong for many, many years and now I have to approach it with caution lest it stabs me in the back when I'm not looking.
Food, and the love of it, has always been my weakness....and I have to realize that at all times.

YAY!!!!!!!!!

I have been banded for about 3 1/2 months and i have lost 58 pounds without a fill and plan on losing the rest of my weight without a fill. I am just so excited! I can't believe im more than halfway to my goal weight. Only 35 more pounds to go! This for me has been about more than just a band, it has been a lifestyle/ mindset change. I am so proud to be able to post and say Im doing it and in 35 more pounds i will have gotten t goal! If i said it had been a peice of cake i would be lying, but it hasnt been extremely hard either. It has just been a CHANGE, something different and new to me. I have developed a lifestyle of fitness and healthy eating that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I have learned new ways to think about food and how to eat healthy and still fill satisfied! My journey has been one of the most successful journeys i have ever taken and the decision to take it is one i will always be proud of! I have no regrets and can honestly say i am HAPPY with who i am and how i look for the first time in my whole life! I have confidence and a boldness that i never thought i would have! I have 35 pounds to go and will get to my goal! Im so glad to have this forum to help others as well as share my experiences with others who have been through the same thing!
Thank you all for your support.

I have been banded for about 3 1/2 months and i have lost 58 pounds without a fill and plan on losing the rest of my weight without a fill. I am just so excited! I can't believe im more than halfway to my goal weight. Only 35 more pounds to go! This for me has been about more than just a band, it has been a lifestyle/ mindset change. I am so proud to be able to post and say Im doing it and in 35 more pounds i will have gotten t goal! If i said it had been a peice of cake i would be lying, but it hasnt been extremely hard either. It has just been a CHANGE, something different and new to me. I have developed a lifestyle of fitness and healthy eating that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I have learned new ways to think about food and how to eat healthy and still fill satisfied! My journey has been one of the most successful journeys i have ever taken and the decision to take it is one i will always be proud of! I have no regrets and can honestly say i am HAPPY with who i am and how i look for the first time in my whole life! I have confidence and a boldness that i never thought i would have! I have 35 pounds to go and will get to my goal! Im so glad to have this forum to help others as well as share my experiences with others who have been through the same thing!
Thank you all for your support.

I have been banded for about 3 1/2 months and i have lost 58 pounds without a fill and plan on losing the rest of my weight without a fill. I am just so excited! I can't believe im more than halfway to my goal weight. Only 35 more pounds to go! This for me has been about more than just a band, it has been a lifestyle/ mindset change. I am so proud to be able to post and say Im doing it and in 35 more pounds i will have gotten t goal! If i said it had been a peice of cake i would be lying, but it hasnt been extremely hard either. It has just been a CHANGE, something different and new to me. I have developed a lifestyle of fitness and healthy eating that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I have learned new ways to think about food and how to eat healthy and still fill satisfied! My journey has been one of the most successful journeys i have ever taken and the decision to take it is one i will always be proud of! I have no regrets and can honestly say i am HAPPY with who i am and how i look for the first time in my whole life! I have confidence and a boldness that i never thought i would have! I have 35 pounds to go and will get to my goal! Im so glad to have this forum to help others as well as share my experiences with others who have been through the same thing!
Thank you all for your support.

Congratulations!!!! Reading stories like yours keeps me focused on what is ahead! Thanks for sharing and I can't wait to see the post when you get to your goal!!!

I agree 100%! No giving up now, or ever... only up from here

Awesome!

I am about 3 1/2 months out and i have lost 56 pounds. I am down to 197 and have never had a fill.

I am about 3 1/2 months out and i have lost 56 pounds. I am down to 197 and have never had a fill.

I'm going to throw this out here just for the sake of proving the point. Cycling carbs and calories while exercising sufficiently is a very effective strategy to strip body fat. Men lose fat more easily than women. Why? Because a man's body consists of more lean muscle tissue than a woman's. And a man's hormonal makeup is more geared toward anabolism.
I like to eat. I don't like to feel deprived - and I like ice cream... No... I LOVE ice cream. I want to eat as much food as I can, while still losing body fat. Here is an example of my last 8 day period. For the first 5 days I ate relatively good foods and stayed in the 2000 calorie a day range - which is a deficit for me. I kept simple carbs to a minimum while making certain I was eating sufficient grams of Protein to protect my lean muscle mass. Then I let myself up off the mat and in the last two days I ATE... and I ATE A LOT... In the last 2 days alone I ate a combined 3000 calories plus of JUST ice cream. That does't include the mexican food at Bandidos or the alcoholic beverages or any of the other intake. I no doubt consumed somewhere around 4000 calories each day. But now I will settle back into a deficit for 5 more days, limiting those simple carbs but still keeping my Protein intake sufficient enough to protect my lean muscle mass.
This is certainly too extreme of a swing for most people here, but the general principle still applies. The high calorie days and sufficient exercise keep your metabolism white-hot, yet the lower calorie days keep your lean muscle tissue protected. The end result is a reduction in body fat, while not feeling weak and sluggish or depriving yourself.
I have used this principle for quite awhile and have more and more muscle definition as each month passes. If you don't believe me check out my gallery. My abs are becoming more and more defined as body fat continues to strip away. It's a slow but steady process but it is very effective. When I first started I had to dig through fat to find my port. Now the damn thing sticks out like a tumor because there's so little fat over it.... I have struggled with low fat / low carb / low calorie diets and sedentary lifestyles just like everyone else. I did Atkins and so many other fads... They don't work long term... You must have a permanent lifestyle change to be successful - band or not. The proof is in the pudding as they say... Search LBT and you'll be bombarded with threads and posts about people eating 800 calories a day and not losing weight... There's a new group of them that comes along every few weeks... So many just end up throwing in the towel and declaring the band didn't work for them... This isn't stuff that my surgeon or nutritionist gave me. It's research and trial and error I did on my own to get results. Save yourselves the headaches and struggles and learn from the mistakes of those who've gone down this road before you.
My advice for women trying this technique would be to do sufficient cardio 5 days a week at 40 minutes a session, working all 3 target heart rate zones. Add in two strength/resistance training sessions a week. Continually challenge yourself and increase intensity of your workouts as they become easier. Everyone's activity levels are different, but for the sake of argument I'd increase calories by 100 every 5 days until you achieve about 1200. Then every 5-7 days take 2 days and run that number up to 1800-2000 and then slam back down to 1200 for another 5-7 days. Repeat this cycle and you will strip body fat... and you will have so much more energy and not feel like you are dieting so much.

Well personally for me starvation mode exsist and has been proven in my journey..i dont have a fill.. but when i was eating 600-800 calories a day and worked out for 2 hours a day i might lose 2 pounds a week but normally more like one. So when i listened to every dieticion and trainer around me and finally upped my calorie intake to 1200, and continued to work out 2 hours a day (with weights and cardio) I started loosing anywhere from 4-6 pounds ever week and have been consistent in that since i upped my calories. So for me eating literally nothing and burning wayy more than i ate made me lose less. Eating 1200 calories a day and working out 5 days a week has made me lose more. Someone earlier asked how starvation mode exsisted since people are bulemic and anorexic. Well its like this.. anyone can starve themsleves and yes eventually lose weight.. but in the process you are not only burning fat..but you are burning muscle! your heart is a muscle...why do you think anorexic people pass out and look pale and like they are starving? Well its because they are..and in the long run it is terrible on your body and it can actually kill you. Being anorexic and starving yourself will kill you faster then being overweight. Also someone stated that dropping your calorie in take way low can get your body use to eating less, therefore if you ever eat more it will make you gain.. This is true. Thats one reason its not recommended to drop your calories below 1200 a day. In three in a half months i have lost 55 pounds (without a fill) at a daily caloric intake of 1200 calories with exercise. So yes for me upping my calories to the recommended amount worked wonders

Well personally for me starvation mode exsist and has been proven in my journey..i dont have a fill.. but when i was eating 600-800 calories a day and worked out for 2 hours a day i might lose 2 pounds a week but normally more like one. So when i listened to every dieticion and trainer around me and finally upped my calorie intake to 1200, and continued to work out 2 hours a day (with weights and cardio) I started loosing anywhere from 4-6 pounds ever week and have been consistent in that since i upped my calories. So for me eating literally nothing and burning wayy more than i ate made me lose less. Eating 1200 calories a day and working out 5 days a week has made me lose more. Someone earlier asked how starvation mode exsisted since people are bulemic and anorexic. Well its like this.. anyone can starve themsleves and yes eventually lose weight.. but in the process you are not only burning fat..but you are burning muscle! your heart is a muscle...why do you think anorexic people pass out and look pale and like they are starving? Well its because they are..and in the long run it is terrible on your body and it can actually kill you. Being anorexic and starving yourself will kill you faster then being overweight. Also someone stated that dropping your calorie in take way low can get your body use to eating less, therefore if you ever eat more it will make you gain.. This is true. Thats one reason its not recommended to drop your calories below 1200 a day. In three in a half months i have lost 55 pounds (without a fill) at a daily caloric intake of 1200 calories with exercise. So yes for me upping my calories to the recommended amount worked wonders

Well personally for me starvation mode exsist and has been proven in my journey..i dont have a fill.. but when i was eating 600-800 calories a day and worked out for 2 hours a day i might lose 2 pounds a week but normally more like one. So when i listened to every dieticion and trainer around me and finally upped my calorie intake to 1200, and continued to work out 2 hours a day (with weights and cardio) I started loosing anywhere from 4-6 pounds ever week and have been consistent in that since i upped my calories. So for me eating literally nothing and burning wayy more than i ate made me lose less. Eating 1200 calories a day and working out 5 days a week has made me lose more. Someone earlier asked how starvation mode exsisted since people are bulemic and anorexic. Well its like this.. anyone can starve themsleves and yes eventually lose weight.. but in the process you are not only burning fat..but you are burning muscle! your heart is a muscle...why do you think anorexic people pass out and look pale and like they are starving? Well its because they are..and in the long run it is terrible on your body and it can actually kill you. Being anorexic and starving yourself will kill you faster then being overweight. Also someone stated that dropping your calorie in take way low can get your body use to eating less, therefore if you ever eat more it will make you gain.. This is true. Thats one reason its not recommended to drop your calories below 1200 a day. In three in a half months i have lost 55 pounds (without a fill) at a daily caloric intake of 1200 calories with exercise. So yes for me upping my calories to the recommended amount worked wonders

I made a decision...I just said no more.. never again and i started thinking of food as nutrition.. and not for pleasure.. i stopped letting my thoughts revolve around when i could eat again and planning out what i wanted three hours in advance..when i had just eaten.. I started focusing more on my gym time and what i was going to do at the gym everyday..what cardio workouts..what weight workouts.. i also started doing activities that didnt revolve arounmd social eating events or just sitting around..I started playing basketball rather than watching tv for 5 hours..or even going bowling rather than an activity where im sitting like at the movie theatre which also gives option to the concsession stand full of junk food and soda...Its proven that people whose daily habits are active habits and not sitting habits... makes a huge difference in a person success in weightloss and maintenence. ..At the end of the day it boils down to you not just wanting it bad enough... but being willing to do everything you need to do in order to make it a lifestyle change. like i said its mostly in our heads! Ill be honest i can finish eating a portioned out meal and still be mentally hungry which leads me to think that im still physically hungry.. but i know im not..and so i dont just keep eating because I FEEL that way. I stop eating when ive finished what i NEED to eat... Its a a choice..is it easy? absolutely not! does it get easier? Yes! Do i have temptation when i am around junk food and yummy stuff? of course! But i dont give to my temptation... Its not like my mental hunger goes away or like im never tempted by anything...I am but i choose to fight my urges and continue to make healthy decisions regardless of how i feel or if im tempted..Its not easy.. but it is and will be worth it for the long haul. There is no set way on how to get rid of emotional hunger some people never do.. they just dont act on it. So its a decision and one that you have to work on ..what are your eating habits like? what are your exercise habits like? do you eat for comfort when your having a bad day?

okay...lets take a step back for a minute and try to relax! You have had the band two weeks right? and you say your failing? You havent even given yourself time to succeed! for the first 3 weeks after surgery even on a liquid diet i didnt lose a pound...my body was in shock and yours probably still is as well..So dont get extremely discouraged because your not loosing. as far as gaining two pounds, my doctor forwarned me that i might gain a few pound initially.Everyones body is different and reacts differently to surgery. As far as the foods go..you need to stick with what they told you to eat. Its challenging but no one said it would be easy right? My advice to you with feeling hungry and like you want chips and chocolate is this...Your going to want those things, especially when you (like most of us) are probably use to eating them pre-band. But you have to focus changing your mindset..how you view food and how you view yourself as a person.
Ive seen so many people on here and in my town who have had the lapband and not been successful but it wasnt because they didnt have the option of success..it was because they never changed their habits. Eating habits..mind set about food..exercise..all of those things start in your mind. You have got to be mind over matter in order to have success. The lapband is not a miracle fix, it is a tool that will help you if you use it properly.. i would advise finding a buddy if you dont have one..someone to be accountable to and that can help you deal with some of these emotions..they are normal and most of us have gone thru them at one point or another in our journey!...last but no least! You only FAIL when you allow failure to be an option! If you give up and you throw in the towel..you failed. but as long as you keep trying and pushing towards that goal that you for yourself, you are NOT a failure!

@ bambam Just wanted to tell you.. you look amazing! Your an inspiration! I can tell you ahev really worked hard and it has definetly paid off

I made a decision...I just said no more.. never again and i started thinking of food as nutrition.. and not for pleasure.. i stopped letting my thoughts revolve around when i could eat again and planning out what i wanted three hours in advance..when i had just eaten.. I started focusing more on my gym time and what i was going to do at the gym everyday..what cardio workouts..what weight workouts.. i also started doing activities that didnt revolve arounmd social eating events or just sitting around..I started playing basketball rather than watching tv for 5 hours..or even going bowling rather than an activity where im sitting like at the movie theatre which also gives option to the concsession stand full of junk food and soda...Its proven that people whose daily habits are active habits and not sitting habits... makes a huge difference in a person success in weightloss and maintenence. ..At the end of the day it boils down to you not just wanting it bad enough... but being willing to do everything you need to do in order to make it a lifestyle change. like i said its mostly in our heads! Ill be honest i can finish eating a portioned out meal and still be mentally hungry which leads me to think that im still physically hungry.. but i know im not..and so i dont just keep eating because I FEEL that way. I stop eating when ive finished what i NEED to eat... Its a a choice..is it easy? absolutely not! does it get easier? Yes! Do i have temptation when i am around junk food and yummy stuff? of course! But i dont give to my temptation... Its not like my mental hunger goes away or like im never tempted by anything...I am but i choose to fight my urges and continue to make healthy decisions regardless of how i feel or if im tempted..Its not easy.. but it is and will be worth it for the long haul. There is no set way on how to get rid of emotional hunger some people never do.. they just dont act on it. So its a decision and one that you have to work on ..what are your eating habits like? what are your exercise habits like? do you eat for comfort when your having a bad day?

Low carb intake day after day has a cumulative effect and can greatly impact leptin levels which will hamper fat burning. If I have 3-5 low carb / reduced calorie days I will follow it up with a hi carb / hi calorie day. On that day though I don't cram slider foods in at once, rather spread the calories out. This is also a great strategy to break plateau's or even avoid them in the first place. And on a high carb day I'm not at all above including ice cream and chocoloate... lol Ice cream is probably something I'd die without... lol

I eat no less than 1200 a day thats with or without exercise... even though i exercise 4-5 times a week.. initially after surgery I had the eating less is best mentality and i finally convinced myself to eat the reccomended 1200 a day rather than the 600- 800 calories i was eating...and i went from losing 2 pounds a week (eating less) to losing 4-6 pounds a week (eating 1200 calories a day. Sometimes i do things to trick my body.. like not exercise for two days in a row and have a cheat day occasionally (no sweets though) by upping my card intake for one day.. i really dont do it often enough.. maybe once a month. once a week is reccomended. I do alot of reading up on fitness and have had personal success with tricking my metabolism into more weight loss by using some of these techniques on occasion. I personally do it rarely because i love to exercise and thrive on it..and because i am very set on my 1200 calories and very persistent in sticking with that (no more and no less). anyway...ill stop rambling now lol

okay...lets take a step back for a minute and try to relax! You have had the band two weeks right? and you say your failing? You havent even given yourself time to succeed! for the first 3 weeks after surgery even on a liquid diet i didnt lose a pound...my body was in shock and yours probably still is as well..So dont get extremely discouraged because your not loosing. as far as gaining two pounds, my doctor forwarned me that i might gain a few pound initially.Everyones body is different and reacts differently to surgery. As far as the foods go..you need to stick with what they told you to eat. Its challenging but no one said it would be easy right? My advice to you with feeling hungry and like you want chips and chocolate is this...Your going to want those things, especially when you (like most of us) are probably use to eating them pre-band. But you have to focus changing your mindset..how you view food and how you view yourself as a person.
Ive seen so many people on here and in my town who have had the lapband and not been successful but it wasnt because they didnt have the option of success..it was because they never changed their habits. Eating habits..mind set about food..exercise..all of those things start in your mind. You have got to be mind over matter in order to have success. The lapband is not a miracle fix, it is a tool that will help you if you use it properly.. i would advise finding a buddy if you dont have one..someone to be accountable to and that can help you deal with some of these emotions..they are normal and most of us have gone thru them at one point or another in our journey!...last but no least! You only FAIL when you allow failure to be an option! If you give up and you throw in the towel..you failed. but as long as you keep trying and pushing towards that goal that you for yourself, you are NOT a failure!

I dont know if you were asking me or anglkrys but You dont need to be scared! You just need to go ahead and start trying to change your habits and mindset preband and it makes it so much easier post band...and i cant answer the question "is it worth it" thats something you need to ask yourself..and if you really cant say..then its probably going to be a tough thing post band..i can say it was worth it for me but i wanted it..and not just the band but i wanted to change my health overall and i was willing to do what it took in order to accomplish that. And YES it is challenging! But so are so many other things in life. Its a personal decision that only you can make and only you can decide if your ready for it!.. Like i said earlier to many people expect a miracle from the band...its not a miracle fix. its a tool, and in order for it to work you have to use it properly! You cant get the band and then continue eating junk food and fried food and other unhealthy stuff all day everyday just in smaller portions...thats not going to work for the long haul..thats why i saying its a lifestyle change and a mindset change that only we ourselves can make! Goodluck and i wish the best in your journey, both of you! And if you ever need someone to talk with or have questions about my experiences and journey please feel free to firned me and send me a message anytime!