Daddyof4

I kept 1 pair of pants and 1 dress shirt... I recommend all new Bandsters take their measurements and keep 1 pair of pants.
Tom, Toronto
Banded July 6 06
Wt. Loss; 160 lbs

I'm in the same boat with SoccerBlueJ. I was banded May 21, 2012, am about half way to goal and I've been filled and unfilled and still hunting for the green zone. I go tomorrow for an appointment and I think I need a little more put in because I'm not losing and am hungry after a fairly short time, not even 2 hours at best. I'm still struggling with head hunger and still eating stuff even when there's no physical hunger. I seem to have lost my motivation and have to get it back - any suggestions?Thank you all for keeping this forum going - I get a lot of inspiration from your posts.

What an awesome story! Truly inspiring.

What an awesome story! Truly inspiring.

I can't resist - the best scale is the one that shows your weight dropping!

I can't resist - the best scale is the one that shows your weight dropping!

I'm currently struggling to get back in the groove. Counting from going to the seminar at my highest weight, I lost 55 pounds the first seven months, then hit a plateau that stopped me in my tracks. I let my food choices get the better (or worse) of me and held steady for 4 months, now have gained back 8 pounds, have now lost 3 of those after another fill. This sounds like the old rollercoaster before being banded! I had an unfill to take me from 7.2 down to 6.0 and am now back up to 7.0 cc in a 14 cc band. I have started exercising, at least a little bit. I got Harvey Walden's book out of the library and ordered the DVD and have begun swimming some lengths in the pool. My biggest issue is an addiction to potato chips. I never really liked them before, now I can't get enough of them! This is probably longer than Alex had in mind but he did ask.

I can't resist - the best scale is the one that shows your weight dropping!

I can't resist - the best scale is the one that shows your weight dropping!

Pittsford

I'm currently struggling to get back in the groove. Counting from going to the seminar at my highest weight, I lost 55 pounds the first seven months, then hit a plateau that stopped me in my tracks. I let my food choices get the better (or worse) of me and held steady for 4 months, now have gained back 8 pounds, have now lost 3 of those after another fill. This sounds like the old rollercoaster before being banded! I had an unfill to take me from 7.2 down to 6.0 and am now back up to 7.0 cc in a 14 cc band. I have started exercising, at least a little bit. I got Harvey Walden's book out of the library and ordered the DVD and have begun swimming some lengths in the pool. My biggest issue is an addiction to potato chips. I never really liked them before, now I can't get enough of them! This is probably longer than Alex had in mind but he did ask.

Success relies so heavily on the individual compliance. I can't stand stats for that reason. Stats will show low success rates but they never mention if it was due to legit complications or if it was non compliance by the patient.

Hey Saww62! Nice to see another guy on the site. I don't know what "too fast" really means - I wish I could wake up tomorrow 45 more pounds lighter! As a rule, men lose fast and the more you have to lose the faster it goes, at least at first. Do your best to work the program and don't worry about how fast it's going. You will look back on these days from your first plateau and wonder why you were worried at all.
Ps. watch for the first few non-scale victories (NSV) too. For me, it was cool to be able to bend down and tie my shoes without gasping for breath.
Good luck and congratulations on getting the band.

Hey Saww62! Nice to see another guy on the site. I don't know what "too fast" really means - I wish I could wake up tomorrow 45 more pounds lighter! As a rule, men lose fast and the more you have to lose the faster it goes, at least at first. Do your best to work the program and don't worry about how fast it's going. You will look back on these days from your first plateau and wonder why you were worried at all.
Ps. watch for the first few non-scale victories (NSV) too. For me, it was cool to be able to bend down and tie my shoes without gasping for breath.
Good luck and congratulations on getting the band.

I don't care who knows I had LAPBAND cause I'm proud of my device!!! I will tell anyone:). Without it I would be way over 250 by now. My band has helped me loose 61 pounds in 4 months. I will shout it from the mountain tops!!!!

You're the one who should be yelling at your Doctor! You went through all this and for what? Why isn't the band doing anything?
I remember being mad and confronting my Dr...sort of, but it was 2-3 months after surgery and I was frustrated because I actually gained weight and was still out of control type hungry, as if the band was not even there...
He laughed at me! Sat me down, showed me the Yellow-Green-Red chart, explained each area, explained the process of fills, and told me what his / our goal is...the get to to the Green....
Which we finally did...since then weight loss has been easy and effortless.....
I hit my goal about 20 months ago..but since this is a lifestyle not a gimmick diet, (which I would eventually fail at if it were such) my body continued to loose...and now my Dr. informs me I am finished loosing, there is nothing left to loose without sacrificing Muscle...and we don't want to do that....maintain Protein at all costs...
With a new lifestyle the body will gradually and eventually level out to where it wants to be....where it is supposed to be....

If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results. We can't talk ourselves out of what we behaved ourselves into so why try. We go fat for a reason. Eating the wrong foods in quantities we're ashamed of. The answer is simple but its such a hard task- change. You have to change what your eating.
Insanity = doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

You also don't want to fill up with pool water!

SoccerBlueJ, yesterday I was fortunate enough to have the experience you should have had. My last fill was last October (7.2 cc in a 10 cc band) and I was having a tough time adjusting to that level. I was getting stuck too often, etc. and in December had 0.3 cc removed. I have been trying to adjust to the new level but still getting stuck and pbing more often than I should have been. I have to own up that I was not following the program - too big bites too quickly, eating slider foods. I saw the PA yesterday and she said that getting stuck 5 days out of 7 is clearly too much and my band is still too tight. She said there's no incentive to follow the program when you get stuck anyway and if you're too tight there's no extra reminder to avoid slider foods. She removed 0.5 cc and said to work with that, concentrating on the right size bites, the right portion size and the length of time to eat. I go back in 4 weeks and if I don't have restriction she will add probably 0.1 cc (not 2 full ccs!). I wish your doctor had been like this

I like David's first line. I haven't said that I wish I had told somebody-or-other but I told lots of people and have not had anyone judge me or make a negative comment, at least to my face. I had to ask one of my supervisors for advanced sick leave so I had to tell him and he said he thought I was making a good choice and would support me. I learned that my other supervisor had lost 30 some pounds a few years prior and he was supportive as well. I supervise 14 people and didn't want to just disappear for a week for the surgery so I told them what was happening and all of them said it was a good choice. One said she wanted to be next! It's been since May 21, 2012 and she has not yet gotten her band though .
That said, I've read posts from some people who had horror stories but that has not been my experience. If you feel right about your decision to join us in bandster land then it's right for you. Good luck in your upcoming journey.

I like David's first line. I haven't said that I wish I had told somebody-or-other but I told lots of people and have not had anyone judge me or make a negative comment, at least to my face. I had to ask one of my supervisors for advanced sick leave so I had to tell him and he said he thought I was making a good choice and would support me. I learned that my other supervisor had lost 30 some pounds a few years prior and he was supportive as well. I supervise 14 people and didn't want to just disappear for a week for the surgery so I told them what was happening and all of them said it was a good choice. One said she wanted to be next! It's been since May 21, 2012 and she has not yet gotten her band though .
That said, I've read posts from some people who had horror stories but that has not been my experience. If you feel right about your decision to join us in bandster land then it's right for you. Good luck in your upcoming journey.

I'll start with this. I've never read on here "Oh, I really wish I had told this person or that person about my surgery." There may be instances, but I haven't read them.
I was just shy of my 40th birthday when I decided, along with advice from my PCP, that this would be the option I could do to help me gain control of my life/health. I didn't have any "major" health issues, (other than being 324#'s!!) but knew that I soon would at the rate I was going. My life was going to be shortened due to my eating! Drastically shortened by all information available.
So I did tell my partner at the time about my decision...she was supportive. I told no one else until all the insurance, tests, etc had all been approved and I started my pre-op diet. I then told my son and parents/siblings about a week or so prior to surgery. And a couple of very close co-workers/friends. All were supportive, but some expressed concern as they would with any surgery. Not one tried to "talk me out of it". But at that point, I was 100% sure I had to do this, so it would have been useless for them to try. And "judge me", I've felt judged most all my life about my weight, let em judge I say. Do it for YOU, if YOU are sure this is what YOU want to do.
Fast forward over 3 years, best decision I could have ever made. I wish you much success with your journey. Never, ever give up!

my starting weight was 147kg , and my weight now is 80kg I lost 67 kg .
dropped from pant size 46 to size 32.. t-shirt size from xxxl to S

I went from 5X to L. 58 waist to 36. 420lbs to 199lbs in 11 months. Best thing I have ever done!