Hazelbunny

I still find that I struggle with nightime eating. I don't know if it is boredom or what but 8 pm rolls around and I want to eat something - even if I am not hungry.

I would like to weight 270 or less by March 12, 2008 (my one year anniversary).

Not only does it represent a weight loss of 115 lbs - it also puts me into the Obese category and out of the Morbidly Obese category.

I can't believe it has been almost a year. Life has changed so much.

Hopefully the next year will bring the next 100 pounds off and I will be ready to start on the plastics journey.

I love my Band!!!

Does anybody on here know anything personally about either Dr. Lo Monaco or Dr. Heller in Houston ???

Thanks.

A friend of mine has had a breast lift with Dr. Heller and then she went back and had the TT and thigh lift. And another friend had her arms done with Dr. Heller.

They both look great!! What I find shocking is how faint the scars are in such a short time. I plan on using him when I am at goal.

So I read somewhere that you need to lose 50 lbs for people to notice, well I am there. And yes, people are noticing. Here is the issue though, like so many here I just can't really believe when people say that I really look like I have lost. I have such a screwed up body image.

This is why I take pictures. I really can't see a difference in the mirror. I have to look at pictures to "see" the weight I have lost.

It probably just takes time to see the smaller you in the mirror

I haven't been on much - getting ready for school to start for both me and my three kids has kept me busy. Plus we went on vacation in August.

I just wanted to pop on and post some progress pics. The first pic is in Feb before surgery. The second is in early June I think and the last one was yesterday.

I didn't know they had something like that - any more info? do you know if they have one for a regular sized iPod?

At this time it is only available for the Nano. That is why I went with the Nano instead of the video IPOD.

Here is a link - I think they are available other places too but here is the link

Waterproof Ipod nano Case, IPod 4G Case, Waterproof Ipod, IPod Protection, Waterproof Ipod nano Cover

You have to use them with the waterproof headphones. Instead of using the armband I use a waist band specificially for swimming. Leaves my arms free.

I have the IPOD waterproof cover for my Nano. You have to use it with the waterproof headphones but it has transformed laps for me.

No more boredom - plus I can set a playlist of songs to pace my workout.

I am having a hard time articulating this but here goes...

I am 9 pounds away from making a major milestone and for some reason I am terrified. I haven't been under 300 pounds in about 10 years.

I don't know what exactly the fear is - I really want to lose weight for too many reasons to even list but for some reason I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the weight loss and identity issues.

Anyone else struggling with this?

I had to come and brag to people who would understand my excitement. I am sitting her in a size 18 from Avenue!! WOOHOO!

I can buy the size 22 from Walmart and they are comfortable but I bought the 18 jeans from Avenue just because they were 18's. It has been 12 years since I have worn any piece of clothing that started with a 1

Waving hello to everyone.

I have been a board slacker. I haven't had much to report - I am losing a pretty steady 1 to 2 pounds a week. I have been working out regularly.

Sometimes I get impatient and just want it all GONE! But at other times I get really excited that it is actually going and I am not gaining it back.

I will try to be more consistent on the board - it really helps support wise.

So here are some updated pictures. For those of you who don't know my Hubby is weird about my pictures being online so that is why all the chopped off heads.

I can finally see a difference in pictures. Look how much longer the shirt is!!!!

Denise - Great Job!!! I can really tell a difference!

I need to put some update pictures up too.

I married my best friend. We have been together for 13 years and married for 11 and he can still get me in a dither so there is some heat there too.

As far as being romantic? - He is tarded in that department - he got me a pen for our anniversary for pete sake. However he believes that love, respect, and loyalty are the most important things in marriage so I will keep him.

If you marry just for heat - it fades. And if you just marry your friend (with no heat) then boredom sets in. I think you need a mixture of both.

We call you lower BMI because we are comparing you to us. Speaking for myself I do not think that "lower BMI" people have it any easier it is just a difference in perspective and frame of reference and quite truthfully there is a little bit of jealousy. Hindsight is 20/20 but I wish that I had jumped on it and taken care of my weight when I "only" weighed 250.

This is how I explained it to a friend of mine and I think in a previous thread. I have been in your shoes but you have never been in mine (and hopefully won't!). I have been 250 lbs. and felt uncomfortable walking into a roomful of strangers, on an airplane, shopping for clothes, etc. But at 385 those experiences went from uncomfortable and midly embarassing to absolutely humiliating.

I know I may be rambling - it is late. One of my children was born at 24 weeks and spent 3 1/2 months in the hospital, coded several times and her very life hung in the balance for quite a long time. A very good friend of mine had a son that was a sluggish feeder and wasn't keeping his temperature up very well so he had to spend 4 days in the NICU. She was terrified for her son and rightly so. I am not trying to take anything from her experience because mine was so much more harrowing. It was terrifying for her because that was her only frame of reference. I understood the fear that she felt because I had been there but she really couldn't understand what we had been through - not completely.

So to you 250 pounds is really fat and the same as a "higher BMI" bandster but from my point of view you are only spending 4 days in the NICU and I will be there 3 1/2 months. We can support each other but our journey is a lot different.

Have they filled you with Omnipaque or are you still with saline? I'm on Day 9 after my 3rd fill and the restriction is holding well.

I have omnipaque - I lost all but .2 cc's of my saline fill so they switched me to the omni

NSV - I had to see a vascular surgeon yesterday to treat a burst varicose vein - he measured my thighs for the compression stockings I have to wear for a week (can you say old lady!).

I have lost 4 inches in EACH of my thighs!!! Holy crap!

By the way, if any of you have leftover varicose veins from pregnancy go get them checked. I never knew ....until it happened....that you can "spring a leak" from a vein and it bleeds like a cattle slaughter. I know this will sound unbelievable but when I got out of the car at the ER, I SPRAYED blood all over the car next to us and left a spraying blood trail all the way inside. I am fine but it was shocking - learn from my procrastination and go see the vascular guy and get them checked.

I just got a fill of .2 ccs yesterday and it has made a huge difference. I am now at 3.1 and I now feel exactly like I did after surgery. Not hungry, get full easily, etc. I am hoping this feeling lasts pasts the initial few days

This morning I went for a short bike ride with my son - he fell and twisted his ankle and I had to carry him two blocks home. By the time I walked up my sidewalk I thought I was going to freaking die!! I was sweating like a pig and out of breath.

He weighs 60 pounds. I have lost 61 pounds.

WOW - I can't imagine carrying that weight again all day every day. Sometimes it seems like I really haven't lost that much until I have a WOW moment like this morning.

The new girl did my last fill and she did a fabulous job. It didn't even sting and I was done in 2 minutes.

I remember reading a post a while back. Somebody said they often would take a big bite of something like a burger. Chew it then spit it out. I thought they were crazy, but I think sometimes you miss that mouth of food.< /p>

I am not saying that I am overeating and that is what is causing the PBing, it just seems I am still trying to gage textures and what will go down the smoothest.

Do you think that pretty much it is truly a soft diet?

How do salads go down any suggestions?

I do not eat a soft diet - I love broccoli, meat, even the occasional Peanut Butter rollover on sprouted whole wheat berry bread.< /p>

I find that sometimes on my first bite of food I get a little overexcited and do not take the time to chew chew chew so I get a stuck feeling. It isn't that I can't do the food that I am eating but that I took too big of a bite or did not chew completely.

I love salads but I find that spinach and the softer lettuces go down better - romaine, green leaf, bibb, etc. Iceberg, besides being nutritionally bankrupt, is a hard lettuce and does not go down well for me.

I've hit a plateau also...so what's up with that? We are all around 3+ months out, what gives?

I am kind of stuck too. I am still working out like a freaking fiend but the scale is not moving.

However my husband took a picture of me yesterday and I didn't want to burn it so I am definitely heading in the right direction.

I think my main problem right now is impatience. I am doing everything right and I want to wake up TOMORROW no longer fat.

You know what I find the most hopeful about your post - that even with a year of not really being a model bandster you didn't gain weight.

WHen I was considering the surgery I can remember telling my husband that I would be satisfied if the only thing the Band did was help me to never gain another pound even if I never lost anything.

Congratulations on your two years!

I don't use artificial sweeteners. I love local wildflower honey in very small amounts - like drizzled over strawberries with a splash of balsamic vinegar.

I also don't eat fat free cheese or sour cream - they taste horrid to me. I just use a smaller amount of the real stuff.

I had my surgery with Dr. Spivak in March - I have no regrets other than not doing it sooner.

Good luck!