Mrs. CMK

Today I Celebrate my 1st bandiversary. Although I hoped to be in wunderland at this mark, I am only a couple of pounds away! I could not be happier to be down 102 lbs! WooooHooooo!!!!!!!

I, too, have BCBS of Illinois. Just took about a week to be approved. I also found that they no longer require the 6 month medically supervised diet before having the surgery. This change went into effect on 2/1/12.

I wish you well on your journey. God Bless.

Such an inspiration! Great job and I wish you so all the sucess in the world as we all travel on this journey together.

God Bless!

I stuck to 1000 - 1200 calories and had a steady loss.

God Bless

I am due to have lapBand on March 22nd and we are suppose to go on a cruise this summer... I am curious about how other people handled this. I was wondering about having the saline removed for just one week? IDK I guess I will see when the time comes I may not even be that concerned once I have adjusted to life with the band.

Having the saline removed for vacation would have scared me to death! I think once you have the band you may not even consider that as an option. I was so grateful for my band on vacation. I didn't overeat on vacation, I just made some bad choices and that caused the weight gain. My nutritionist convinced me to only focus on staying the same weight and not losing during the cruise. I think that made all the difference in the world to me. The one thing this did show me is how quickly the weight can come back on. I have worked too hard to go back now.

Congratulations on your upcoming lapband placement and although it is hard work, it is so so worth it.

God Bless

One of my favorite dinners is what I call Taco Dip.

3 oz of 99% fat free ground turkey = 90 calories

1/8 c. of reduced fat mild cheddar cheese = 40 calories

1/4 of salsa - 60 calories

24 Tostidos bite size rounds = 140 calories

I use the chip to scoop up the dip and I think it is delicious. I have been eating this about 3 days a week for the last 8 months or so and am not tired of it yet.

God Bless!

You look gorgeous chickadee! I am so happy for you. Looking at your pictures gave me chills. What an inspiration!

Thanks so much for sharing!

God Bless

So as of this morning I am down 92 lbs. Egads! I am beyond excited. 8 more lbs and I am buying myself a Kindle Fire. Yes, I could go out and buy it now but I am determined to wait until I meet that 100 lb lost goal. In the past, I could never meet a weight loss goal. I am going to stick to my commitment that I made myself. For me, I found that small goals work best. My bandiversary is on May 23rd. My goal is to be living in "wunderland" by that date. If I am at 199, I will have met that goal. That is my focus right now. When I meet it, there will be some celebrating going on! If you hear a loud noises from the St. Louis area, you will know that is me hoopin and hollerin! In 2 weeks I am going to see my dad for the first time since October. I know he is going to gush all over me and be so proud. I'm not gonna lie....I love that! Thanks for letting me share.

God Bless!

Of course this is the perfect forum to "brag". There are newbies out there that need to hear it. Congratulations on your success. You are an inspiration!

God Bless

Have you tried jogging your metabolism? Several people on the forum have tried something called "carb cycling" with success. Alternating between high carb and low carb days to jumpstart your weight loss when it is at a plateau. I have not tried it yet but have it in my hip pocket, ready to use, when I hit that plateau. I am no expert on it but you can put "carb cycling" in the search field on this forum and there is all kinds of information. Of course, you can google it too. Hope that helps.

God Bless

It is so normal to be a little scared. You will do great. Do everything the dr. tells you to do. It is so worth it. I wish you all the best.

God Bless

Doing the happy dance with you!!!! Congratulations. Ain't it grand???? Keep up the great work.

God Bless

I am happy to report that we had an amazing time on our cruise during Valentine's week. I am even more happy to report that for the most part I made good food choices ( I did not count calories though) and did exercise while on the cruise, in addition to some huge amounts of walking while in port. Even with all of that, I did gain 3 lbs. Statistics show that the average "cruiser" gains 1.5 lbs PER DAY! With that being said, I think I did pretty good. We returned from our cruise on 2/17 and I have lost the 3 lbs + 1 lb for a total of 4 lbs. Yahoo! Got right back on that horse and even found that I kind of missed my rountine. Who would have thunk it???? Thanks for letting me share.

God Bless

Welcome to the lapband family! So glad you are here. It is hard work and a great tool when used correctly and oh so worth it! I wish you all the best and look forward to hearing about your success. A good support system is so important and I am glad to hear you have it.

God Bless

You look great!!! Hoe much have you lost so far and how long has it taken you?

Thank you! I had my surgery on 5/23/12 but with the liquid diet, I consider my start date as 5/16/12. As of this morning I have lost 87 lbs. So it has been 9 months.

I finally feel comfortable in sharing some before and after pictures. Still working at it but I feel good about my progress so far.

I started at 304.8 lbs and could barely move. I bought a recumbant bike off of Craigslist (plenty of folks out there with brand new exercise equipment that they want to get rid of for real cheap). The first day, I could only do 3 minutes. I was miserable but I kept trying. My goal was to do 150 minutes per week. It took me 6 weeks to meet that goal. I have gradually bumped it up and now I do at least 180 minutes per week. I like my bike because I can do it in the comfort of my own home while watch TV or reading my Kindle. My favorite thing is to watch an episode of Criminal Minds while riding. I am so into the story line that I forget that I am exercising. When the weather is nice I walk and now I go to Zumba one night a week and do that for 55 minutes. I hated exercise too and although I don't love it now, I don't dread it. I just do it and feel proud of myself afterward. I also keep an exercise log posted on my refridgerator. I have met my exercise goals for 32 weeks in a row. I know that some can lose weight without exercise but this is what works for me. I wish you all the best.

God Bless

86

We started out with the same BMIs so I know how good you are feeling! Congats!

Thanks so much for pointing this out. I got chills over this and teary eyed. Looking at your pictures and seeing how fabulous you look just gave me some extra gas in my tank! Thanks for that. I can do this!

I am so sorry. This must be quite frustrating for you. I agree with Instyle98, you did nothing wrong. It is just one of those things. Keep your chin up and don't give up. You will be quite the inspiration to anyone else who may go through the same thing.

God Bless

As of this morning, I am no longer in the mordidly obese category! I am now just obese. When I started my journey, my BMI was 55 now I am at 40!!!!!!. I still have a long way to go but I feel so good about this. (she says with tears streaming down her face).

As always, thanks for letting me share and God Bless.

It IS hard......but oh so worth! Congratulations on your new life!

God Bless

So happy for you! Congratulations. Keep up the good work.

God Bless!

Well folks......I had my first "stuck" episode on Monday night. Home by myself and absolutely my own fault. chicken and steamed cauliflower. I was eating too fast, bites were too big and I definitely was not chewing enough. I waited a minute for the uncomfortableness to pass but it didn't. So I stood up, hoping that would help it go down but nope. A PB and up it came, slime and all. I feel like a real bandster now! lol

Here is the positive in this experience. I wasn't scared because all of you have been so good in describing what happens and most of all on how to prevent it from happening again. Also, it made me know that I NEVER want to do that again so I will be more aware of the speed I am eating, this size of my bites and chewing, chewing, chewing. Definitely gross!

Wishing you all the best!

God Bless!