RIYAHSMOMMY

Congratulations! Already said a prayer for you. God bless and keep us posted.

In less than an hour I will be on my way to the hospital and will start the first day of the rest of my life. Pray that all goes well..

Love me some Chic fil A, and I could give a rats you know what, what their choose to support. It is a private company and this IS AMERICA!
Now, back to our regularly scheduled program....

WOW sorry ur coworkers are not supportive.it's really not their business but since they are in it.....my preop diet was full liquids with 3 oz of Protein in the evening.that is diet that can not be done forever.you can't live like that.
Also for me I've been successful dieting for up to 6 months but at some point u hit a plateau or a life situation and I give up.the band sets the bar for you.it's much harder to give up and over eat with the band.( although not impossible)
This is a tool to help u do the right thing u need it want it u did ur research it's the right decision for you so they can support u or don't say anything...gooodluck !!

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.

A week from today I get banded (finally)! I am nervous, anxious, and excited and was hoping to find a July 30th buddy. Anyone out there having band surgery next Monday?

Wow, thank you all for the support and encouragement. I am glad to hear that I'm not the only one. It can be very hard to get back on track and I think the longer you are off track the harder it is to get back on. This is day two for me "back on" and I feel better mentally because I don't have to feel guilty or beat myself up. So, even eight years with the band, it is still a struggle. It is the reality of it I guess, that no matter what, you have to follow the "rules" and basics and it isn't something that we can just ignore or "hope" will get better. We have to MAKE it work and we owe it to ourselves to put in the effort, because we deserve happiness. I tried "wishing" and "hoping" for many years, and, well news flash.....that doesn't make you lose one pound! We were told before we got banded that this is a
TOOL, not a miracle cure that makes everything go away. So we must use the tool and work hard, which for me, I have been a lazy/fat person who doesn't like to "work hard" on myself but has realized that I have to. And we can see on here that IT DOES pay off in the long run. The success stories are inspiring and real. "It works if you work it" is a quote used in substance abuse programs and it really applies to us with the band as well. When I follow the rules about portion, snacking, Water, and carbs...it works, the weight drops off. When I stop following the rules, the weight does not drop and comes back on. So lets start today. Don't wait until next Monday lol. I always had to wait until a Monday to start back on things, but that is just wasting time and procrastinating. We can do it!! If we slip (and we will), we get back track at THE NEXT MEAL, not the next week, the next month, or the next year.... Let's go!!!

My surgery is in 5 days...excited, nervous and anxious all at the same time

I apologize for the lenght of my story. Just something that was on my heart.
When I made the decision to have the band it was a personal one...it was all about me. I never thought about what the effects would be on my family. You see for most of my teenage years I actually was more on the anerexia side of things...I came from a skinny family and I learned quickly at the age of 10 (the baby fat year) that being chubby would quickly make me the outcast in the family...I remember my mom talking my sisters shopping at the mall and me shopping at the goodwill...always followed by the comment.."if you can just slim down a little I will take you to the mall as well" to say the least it messed with my head. So I went the other way....I actually remember counting out the number of grapes and crackers I would let myself eat in a day.....thats it...nothing else...and behold the attention that was showered on me. It wasn't until I was 14 when I met my now husband that I started excepting myself. I rememeber his mother not letting me go on a date with him unless I would eat with them....it still took a few years, but by the time I was 18 I figured "why do I care what they (family) think of me" my now soon to be husband loves me the way I am....what else matters. It wasn't unitll years later when I had 3 of my own children that the food issues came back. I just couldn't bring myself to tell my childen no to healthy foods (for fear of doing to them what my parents had done to me)....I figured is healthy... let them eat what they want....I remember seeing my eldest daughter be overweight at the same age I was...but just couldn't bring myself to limit her foods.....repeat pattern with youngest child....so other that my middle daughter who has always been a specimen of fitness... Me,my eldest daughter and son were on the bigger side and my husband was overweight by 15 pounds but nothing awfull.
Advance forward to the last 4 months....I always knew my family would support me...but I had accepted that this was my journey not theirs. Boy was I wrong. Over the last 4 months a transformation has happened!!. I (40 and 5'6"--190lbs) have lost 47 pounds, My husband lost his 15 pounds, My son (13 and 5'9--198lbs) has lost 25 pounds!! and my eldest (18 and 5'3"--200lbs)....she is trying so hard (found out she has the PCOS like me) but she too has lost 18 pounds!! And my middle daughter (16 and 5'4"----120lbs)...well she is our cheerleader the whole way!!---she actualy wants to be a nutritionist/trainer. Even my mother in law that lives with us and is huge has lost 30 pounds!! I never thought that me getting the band would do all this!! That's 130 pounds----its like we have Lost a whole peson from our family! If Ididn't loose another pound I'm happy...we are back to hikng and exercising together its awesome.--I'm just left with a little guilt....Apparently, they were just waitng for me to take the lead....I wish I would have been strong enough to have done it sooner.
So we are even having some friendly competitions! We all weigh about the same so
When when my son and daughter gets to 180 I will give each of them $100......If they beat me there I will get them a person frig for their room. My son was up and running the nighborhood at 7am the next morning.!!
I think...we might have broke the cycle!! I hope so....Good luck to eveyone on their journey...Maybe your family will be transformed like mine!!
Did getting banded result in a unexpectent tansformation in your life?

Hi i'm Ali. I've struggled with weight issues since I was little, mostly beginning around the age of 8-10 if not younger. I've always been a large girl, but the weight really took off around the age of 13-14 and became one of the biggest roadblocks in my life I have ever had. I am now 22, my highest weight point being at 445. A few months ago my dad came to me and told me that a hospital near us were starting to do lap band surgeries so we looked into it. I am now two weeks away from my surgery, and I have lost 30 pounds on my own thanks to curves & eating right. I was down to 410 when I last went into the hospital, last week, and can't wait for whats ahead.
I decided to go ahead with the lap band surgery mostly because I am at the point where just working out and eating right alone won't do much of a difference. I need something more drastic, without my stomach being torn in half. I'm ready to make the changes with the help of lap band to reach my goal weight loss. I'm very well aware of the fact that lap band is only a tool, and is not a magical weight loss device so I will indeed be working my hardest to achieve the best possible outcome for myself; both physically & mentally.
Hoping I can make some friends through the forums here that will be able to help me on my journey & answer any questions I may have in the future!

My tentative surgery date is July 23rd because of my work schedule. It may change by a week but it looks like I'm gonna be a July baby. Anyone else out there that will be banded in July?

I was banded on the 26th of June and am scheduled to return to work on the 11th of July. Honestly, I'm glad I'm taking 2 whole weeks off. Though I have a desk job, I simply can't imagine returning to work just after a week. It took 8 days to finally shake off the gas pain and am now dealing with surgical incision pain (and possibly mild infection...my surgeon did put me on antibiotics to be on the safe side).
Everyone is different thus recovery time will vary from person to person. I do, however, recommend taking 2 weeks off if you have the vacation/sick time to cover it or short term disability (FMLA leave). It's always a good idea to err on the safe side of things.

To all that has had the surgery already, what was your turnaround for going back to work?

Hi. I am new to this forum, I hope I can find a way to fit in so-to-speak. I've been lurking for a while now, and can't find anyone with the type of experience that I had/have. Here's my story...
I was banded in August of 2007. I have a memory problem, so I don't remember what I weighed then, but I know I weigh at least 30-40# more now. I'm almost at my peak weight.
I am an addict. A food addict. No bones about it. I was thin till a few years after I married my husband back in 92. Then I just added the pounds on slowly but surely. I had only tried a few diets, I'm not a yo-yo dieter. At least not until the past few years.
I come from a background of emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and sexual abuses. I blame myself to this day about everything I went through but I'm getting better. I chose food as my way to dissociate back then and especially now. It numbs my feelings of self hatred but it also makes me feel a short sense that everythings good. It's crazy this relationship I have with food and eating.
I have been in therapy since my teens but did not find the right "connection" with a therapist and psychiatrist until about 3 years ago. I spent many years trying to plug all the littles holes in my "faucet" but only realized about two weeks ago that I need to turn that faucet WAY down to stop the gushing. I don't know if this is making any sense. I guess, I need to stop the flood instead of worrying about all the little puddles. I'm on several psych meds that I think are doing their job, the rest is up to me. My hubby is extremely supportive. So, in therapy the last week, I was again addressing my food addiction and how I saw no way to stop it, until my therapist said, "What about Dr. Posner?" (my lapband surgeon) I was caught in my tracks like a deer in the headlights. Panic set in, then it finally made sense. I called the office when I got home.
You see, I couldn't handle someone taking away my addiction (the innocent lapband) and my surgeon places you on the South Beach diet, which seemed like a cruel joke to me. I did all the things I had to do, for a while. But my addiction and my self hatred ultimately led me to give up on the band, get unfilled and leave the program a failure. I've been living a life of reckless eating ever since. Recently, because of my super obesity, my osteoarthritis got the best of me and I had both knees replaced at the age of 46, which is very young. I don't have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or anything. Not YET. In order for my two new knees to last as long as possible, I HAVE to lose at least 125-150#. And I don't want to have a stroke or die. My therapist said "If you can't do it (work to lose weight) for yourself, do it for your husband until we can get you to care about yourself, which I aim to do." So, I'm taking the bull by the horns and hopefully start all over again with the band and the diet. I have a lot of support in place and have made great strides in caring for myself (work out 4 days a week at a gym) both physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. I'm in a much better place today than I was back in 2007. That's not to say I'm not scared out of my wits, but I'm trying to take care of my body, for once.
I see my surgeon, or the NP on the 27th. I don't know what will take place that day. I have a whole half an hour, ooh. Dr. Posner, the dietician and the NP were always good to me back then, I hope they will have "some" mercy on the 27th. I'm sure I'll get holy hell for doing to myself what I have done, and for not working my tool, but I think I can handle it.
This website seems really up to date, you guys sound like compassionate folks, and I'm easy to get along with, very honest...I think we can do business together! I look forward to any responses, good or bad to this introduction.
Hi, my name is Polly and I am a food addict.....' alt=''>'>