Fantasy

This is a fantastic question. It can be the difference between success and failure. My motivation is the fact that I invested so much in this journey, money, my health, my whole way of life. I lost my job 3 weeks before my surgery which I paid for myself. It took a lot of motivation for me to spend the money for the surgery with no income coming it. Well everything worked out for the best. I lost all of my weight and I never went back to work. An investment I made years ago allowed me to retire. All the timing was perfect. Sometimes the best motivation is just plain faith things will work out.

I only lost on the average 6 lbs per month. I had an eight week stall. It took me nine months to get to good restriction. Guess what, I eventually lost all of my weight. I have kept it off for SIX YEARS. It is not how fast or slowly you lose the weight. The main objective is to keep it off permanently. Please do not compare yourself to others or get discouraged. The band works beautifully. It sounds like you are doing everything you are supposed to. Enjoy the journey. Good luck.

I have had my Fitbit www.fitbit.com for a year and a half. I absolutely LOVE it. I don't know anything about my fitness pal so I can't help you there. Fitbit has its own sight where you can keep track of everything. You can go to it and check it out. The staff is so helpful. It is easy to set up. It really keeps me accountable. I bought a spibelt www.spibelt.com that fits around my waist and carry it in that. They say you can clip it to your bra, but if I did that it would surely go through the wash. I can't say enough about what a great product it is.

Call you surgeon. They are the only one qualified to give you the advice you need. Good luck.

Make a committment to follow the program your doctor has given you until you lose your weight. This is non negotiable. Do the best you can. You will have good days and bad days(for me sometimes is was weeks). The good will out number the bad and there will eventually be success. While you are doing this adjust what works best for you. If you really don't like to do things a certain way eventually you will fail. Adjust your life style so the band works for you. I have a major sweet tooth. So I use a lot of sugar free recipies to satisfy my sweet tooth, therefore I don't feel deprived. I consider exercise a four letter word. So I park a good distance from the stores. I do a lot of reaching in my kitchen. Items are placed at on a high shelf. What I learned in my journey is eventually the honeymoon phase is over and reality sets in. Do you remember how everyday when you woke up you were going to diet etc, etc. and then another failed weight loss day? How many times were you very successful on a diet only to gain all the weight back and more. Well the band does a beautiful job of restricting your eating and making you feel full sooner. Being the intelligent human beings we are, trust me when I say you can learn to eat around the band. So don't try and be perfect. I think this is the surest way to fail. Just take it one day at a time. Do the best you can and don't try and be someone you aren't. You can learn to stop eating fattening, sugary, salty, gooey foods. There are excellent substitutions out there. Mabey it won't be quite as gooey, salty, and sugary, but by habit you will learn to love them . I still have the fat brain mentality I was born with, but I learned to do these simple changes and they worked for me. This is my reality. Hope this helps.

You really must think about making a major committment until you get all your weight off. This isn't easy, and you will have good days and bad days. I sure did. Keep a food diary and exercise diary, if you can. Don't push yourself to a point that it is too much of an effort. That is the quickest way to defeat. You have to find out what works best for you, not other people. I read about people losing 20 plus pounds per month and exercise an hour every day, hard exercise. Well good for them. I do as little as possible, I push the envelpe in that department, but I did make a committment until I lost all the weight. I lost slowly but lost it all and more and have kept it off for 6 years. It has been very easy to keep the weight off because I adjusted things to the person I am, a chocolate lover and hater of exercise. I make a sugar free chocolate bar and I consider shopping a major workout. Don't get discouraged things will work out. Good luck.

Next month I wil be banded 7 years. It has been a complete success for me. Everyone is different. I think when you read about some of the band failures there is a lot going on with some of them (not all of them) that is psychologically and bad habit related, etc. Most of them will not admit this. I have read enough of their profiles to come to this conclusion. Good luck.

If you already told all of those people, one or two of them for sure will spread the word. I only told one person who I am not related to and doesn't know any of my friends. My immediate family doesn't know, not even the ones who live with me. Best thing I ever did was keep it to myself. No food police no opinions good or bad about my weight loss. Everyone is entitled to do what works for them. I am a very private person so this works for me.

Talk about a love hate relationship. Wishing the best for you.

I have read some real horror stories about people who went to Mexico had, weight loss surgery, then had compllications and their insurance wouldn't pay for it. I would call my insurane co. anonymously and ask this question. This can be a sticky situation.

Why don't you talk to an endocrenologist, they are the ones who are qualified to answer this kind of question.

Do your research and then do more. Don't believe everything your read on the weight loss forums. Go to the Allergan sight and Realize band sights and download a copy of their booklet. They are the manufacturers of the bands. Also you will have a lot of tests done. Make sure you get copies of everything. I guarantee you when the process gets going someone will say, "oh, I didn't get a copy of that". Good Luck.

I was on the San Francisco peninsula in 1989, Loma Prieta earthquake 7.1, whoa, what a ride that was.

You have only had your band two months? Well you have several options, have it removed, or get rid your negative thinking. Didn't your surgeon tell you it takes months for things to kick in for the band? You have to get to good restriction. Maybe your body just doesn't lose weight fast. Why on earth are you comparing your weight loss to others? This will really mess up your mind. I lost an average of 5 to 6 lbs a month and then had an eight week stall. Guess what, I eventually lost all of my weight and then some and have kept it off for six years. IT IS NOT HOW FAST OR SLOW YOU LOSE THE WEIGHT, IT IS KEEPING IT OFF PERMANENTLY. The band works if you let it. Good luck.

1. Losing more weight then I ever thought I would. 2. Wearing smaller sizes then I ever thought Il would. 3. No more medications. 4. Eating out and leaving food on my plate like a normal person. DRUM ROLL PLEASE 5. Being called a skinny bit-h

I am not a smoker, but I think the doctor telling you that won't get you to quit. He means well, but why doesn;t he tell his patients to eat less, then they won't need the band or a fill, same analagy, right? Throwing this kind of a curve ball at you when you are under the stress of having a ways to go before you reach goal is a little sadistic to me. Get another doctor who is a little more understanding and will work with you. Have you thought about electronic cigarettes, cheaper and healthier. Good luck.

Although my surgery was in 2005, I remember it well. I had no pain after the surgery not even in the hospital. If I hadn't seen the small incisions I would have thought nothing was done. I was tired for a few days. No shoulder pain, I even slept on my stomach when I got home. As far as sleep, I think the anesthetic messed me up a little bit, but it was no big deal. No problem with liquids at all, no problems swallowing. It was the easiest surgery I ever had and the quickest recovery. Just take it one day at a time. Everyone is different. Good luck.

Well it sounds like you have had several surgeries before and this was never an issue for you. Why would it be an issue now? Your surgery is only a few days away, Take a deep breath and relax. When you get to the hospital ask to speak to the anesthesiologist prior to your surgery regarding your concerns. Good luck.

After almost seven years, I still battle with food triggers. I have my good days and my bad days. Fortunately my good days outnumber the bad days. As the years have gone by I realize my food triggers have diminished. I also have recipes that are good substiutes. I can't live without chocolate.

Think about it. Four ounces three times a day? There isn't any food or combination thereof I can think of with a total of 12 ounces that would add up to a heathful amount of daily calories. Hasn't anyone ever figured this out? I had a friend who ate like this. She died six years ago from anorexia.

No weight loss surgery is perfect for everyone. One has to realize being overweight has its own risks for surgery. The band haters, they seem to focus on the fact that this "foreign obeject" is messing them up ( excuse me what are hundreds of titanium staples?). I have read enough profiles in seven years to read between the lines and figure out a lot of them ambushed themselves. For some reason or another if a sleeve or gastric bypass or a duodenal switch fails there is not as much hate. Even though a lot of them are ruined for life physically (and eventually mentally). Research has shown that a lot more disparaging things are being discovered about the sleeve. The stomach has a lot of nerves and hormones that keep our system in balance. Sleeve surgery was only used in the past for extreme medical emergencies. There must have been a good reason for this. All the yahoo about removing ghrelin, well it has been shown a lot more depression happens when ghrelin is removed. I have also read about a lot of sleeve patients groaning about hunger. The band reduces the size of the opening that food can go through. Gastric bypass does this, but over time it stretches. Also the pyloric valve is bypassed. Food rushes too fast through the digestive system. Reactive hypogylcemia can happen and this can result in seizures. Malnutrition in the bypass and duodenal switch, that is a whole other dissertation. Monthly iron infusions for the rest of your life, and how many times have I heard people who don't know any better go on about band maintainance. How about iron infusion maintainance. I can go on and on, but I won't. Take care everyone.

Have you had your thyroid checked, do you have any allergies? Gosh, I really feel for you. I can't think of anything else you should do, you seemed to have done it all. Good luck.

I was thinking it could be low blood sugar also. You don't have to be diabetic to experience low blood sugar. Of course you just had surgery and your body has just been through a lot. Good luck.

Gee, that really is unfortunate for you. But look on the bright side, it can and will be fixed. At least you had the right kind of surgery, think of what a mess you would be in if it was another kind of weight loss surgery. Good luck.

Hang in there, before you know it you will have had your surgery and be nice and slender. I can't believe it will be 7 years in August for me. The time goes by so fast. Let me rephrase it, the weight came off slow, the time went by fast. At least the weight stayed off. Good luck.