Tabithan

Hi everyone - It's Tabitha here. I started this thread over 2 years ago, and just when I was much closer to my goal, I quit coming here because life happens. Needless to say, I am back, because I need to recommit.

There is good news, however. The past two years I saw many challenges with regards to my weight. I actually went back up to 274lbs. The good news is that today, I sit at 244lbs. Only 10lbs heavier than where I was at my lowest, when I last posted here, and also 55lbs lighter than my surgery weight. Given that, I have to admit that while a part of me still feels like a failure, I am happy that I have been able to somewhat maintain or control. Every year since starting this thread, I have become a year older weighing less than I did the year before. I take pride in that.

But there is still a lot of work to do. I need to get to my elusive goal. I figure that even if I lose 20lbs while on here, then it will be 10 lbs lower than i remember being a long time ago, and if i can maintain that for another 2 years, I would be so proud.

so here I am ladies & gents - Back on track.

What I will do differently is this:

a) I hope to make a close accountability partner on here, who ultimately can exchange phone #'s with. I hope that when I stop appearing on here, which is the #1 sign I am slipping, they can call me and have me come back and post. This accountability will help me stay on track. I will do the same for them. I know it will take a few months of messages and slowly building trust, but like alcoholics, I hope i can get a lapband sponsor/accountability partner.

:smile: This time, I will work out. I have worked out 5 days int he past 7 days. I have found out that waking up in the AM makes it doable. I always have excuses in the PM.

c) I will make short term goals.

My goal for the next one week is to work out 4 days.

Will you do this with me? Can we do it?? I say that WE CAN and WE WILL~!

Let's be each other's accountability partners.

I look forward to breaking barriers with you and achieving out ultimate goals, together.

Here's to success!!!

I would love to join!! I have added taken the very last posted and added my stuff in, using starting weight as what i weight on 1/1. Good luck challengers!!! :-)

Name***********Starting****Current******Goal******ToGo

Astrasmom.............254...............254...........170..............84

Babe......................265...............265...........199.... .........66

Band_Groupie........172.5...........169.5..........158..............11 .5

BetsyB..................226.6.............226.6.........109...... .......117.6

BobbieND..............224...............224.............175..... ........49

Brigette.................198...............198.............150.... ........48

crzytchr.................217...............217..............180.... ... ....37

DANA36.................233...............233..............160...... .....73

destined4thinness...215.5.............215.5..........150.............6 5.5

ericanda1973..........198.5............198.5...........130......... ...68.5

HummingBird..........204...............202..............150........ ....52

jenibeni.................224...............224..............165....... .......59

Jennih...................232................232..............130.... .......102

KDEE....................240................240...............150...... ......90

Lisa65...................174.5............174.5.............145..... ......29.5

lotzasunshine.........247...............246.2.............175........ ...71.2

newdicarlo.............187...............187................135...... . ...52

ol55andahalf........184.................184................144........ .....40

RandaPanda...........194...............191................150........ ....41

scoutmama............270................270...............180........ ....90

SNDYCNRD.............207...............207................140......... ...67

TARASGIRL.............305...............302................225........ ....77

TeriLu....................215...............215................150.. .... ......65

TIGGER71G.............224...............224................130....... ......94

Tabithan.............244...............234................190....... ......44

Well, I think we can all agree on here that we are emotional eaters. Just like you guys, stress sets me off without even knowing it. I am starting back at work next week after being off for a year at home with my new baby. I'm nervous about going back but excited as well. Maybe this is what I need, to get back into a routine so I'm not thinking about food all day. I have been working out regularly still but my body seems to just crave the sugar. Why is that? It's like an addiction, I have sugar withdrawals. How do I get over that. Any ideas? Please don't tell me will power....or maybe thats all it is?

Our bodies crave what we eat. for me - it is salt - tortilla chips and salsa to be exact. For me, moderation doesnt work, and I just have to STOP eating the chips and salsa. Question - are there healthy alternatives that can give you the sweet taste? Like Yogurt, or some sugar free candy, or some sweet apples or grapes or other fruits? that might be something to try, to get you to wean yourself off the sugar... :thumbup:

I can't tell you guys how happy I am to have found this thread! I have been banded since Feb 07 and I am failing my band. I have felt so alone and so stupid! Here I went and spent 16k to lose all this weight and all I have lost is a measly 20lbs. Well I'm not going to let this get the better of me! I am back with a vengence. I know what I am doing wrong so now I need to make it right. Now I don't feel so alone after seeing there are others out there struggling just like me. I know I can do this and I would like to join this group to use at as support. Thank you to all of you who are sharing. I have changed a few habits these past few weeks, I am working out 4 times a week and trying to eat better. My goals for this week are to increase my Water intake and eliminate all forms of chocolate from my diet. I have 60lbs to lose to get to my goal. I want this so bad! I hope to get to know all of you on here. Thanks again to all of you courageous enough to admit your weaknesses!

Welcome Becca!!! I'm glad you found us and are chosing to recommitt. We can do this!! Those are great goals and you seem to be right on track. Please keep posting and we will all ensure that we are successful. Are you weighing/measuring your food and counting calories, or are you doing something different for your meal plan?

Hey Everybody! Is there room for one more in here?

I had my lapband Feb.5th of 2008 almost 1 year ago. Anyway I have been doing awesome up untill about 2 months ago I guess. I havent lost anything in those 2 months but i havent gained either. I am looking for some advice and help i guess to kick myself in the butt and get moving down the scale again. I started at 340 and am now down to 225. That is a great loss but i know it should be more. I know i can do this. I have gotten several fills. I actually have 11ccs in a 10 cc band. how crazy is that. The crazy thing is I am still eating like crazy. At first i was doing great with the last fill but now i guess i figured out how to eat around it.

I really dont understand myself. I cant eat till around 12 so I have coffee in the morning with cream and sugar then at luch i usually can only eat like one chicken strip or a small amount of Cereal.

But after lunch its like the flood doors open and All i wanna do is eat. And the stupid thing is I am not even hungry most of the time. I will eat and it will hurt so i wait a f ew minutes and then i can et somemore and keep doing it till what ever i am eating is gone.

I feel like i have failed my band and myself.

I know I am doing wrong so why do I do it???

I keep saying i am gonna start the pouch test thing and i get up with full intentions to do it and i find myself eating and say oh well i will start tomorrow but tomorrow never gets here.

I know i have rambled on and on but i am just frustrated.

ANybody know how i feel?? lol

Hi Krysti,

I completely empathize and understand your situation. You have NO IDEA how much!!!! FOr a week through this past sunday, I was stressed at work. With the stress, I started buying food to eat and I always bought HUGE amounts of food. I would go to Wendys and buy the spicy chicken sandwich means wiht medium fries and ranch dipping sauce. And that sandwich is HUGE. I would eat it until I feel sick - wait a little bit, then eat more. And later on, I hated myself for doing it. On saturday I went to chillis and bought a rib dinner for lunch. They are HUGE - a whole huge rack, fries and corn on the cop. To top it off, I also bought the molten cake. I came home and I ate the dinner...dont ask me how i stacked it in when usually 1.5 cups of food gets me FULL - then about 30 minutes later I ate the molten cake. Yes, dont ask. Those are just TWO examples. So I feel your pain. How was I able to get back on track as of saturday? I stocked up on Progresso Soups and decided to go back on my liquids. I wasnt able to do liquids all day but I did liquids until dinner time. Then at dinner i ate really really soft runny food that was in a frozen dinner. That helped me keep it soft. I did that for 3 days and now I have regarined my control and lost the weight I had gained the week before. So instead of striving for a full day of liquids, how about trying to be on liquids through dinner, and planning your dinner so you do not "make it up" and go crazy???

It has been a few days since you posted. Let us know how you did and let us know 3 specific goals you want to work on this week. Slow and steady......we can do this!!!!!

I'm baaaack!!!! Hello everyone! I was on this thread a month or two ago and disappeared because of such a crazy busy travel schedule. I am ready for some more good encouragement and ideas! I've been catching up on a ton of posts and am glad to see that there are so many more people on here that we can chat with! I did have some trouble with my band and seriously over the Christmas holidays, something happened and all of a sudden I was unable to eat or drink ANYTHING. I couldn't even keep Water down! Well, low and behold, my band had slipped badly! I was so discouraged and just knew that I was going to have to have another surgery to correct it. I went back today for the first time and my band was back where it needed to be! Woohoo!!! I was so relieved! I was getting sick of all the Protein shakes and Soups I was having to drink for 3 solid weeks! I had gained about 6 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas but after this I lost them so I'm back at where I left off!

My goals for right now are to stay on my exercise routine which I am doing well on and really track what I am eating on a daily basis. It sounds so simple so why is it so hard for us?? Ugghhh!!! Oh well, I'm staying positive and I will get good ideas and stories from this thread that I look forward to! My travel schedule has slowed down so I'll be on here on a regular basis now! We can do it everyone!!!!!

WELCOME BACK Bayougirl!!! We missed you!!! So sorry to hear about the slipped band but excited that it fixed itself and you are back on track. Wuhuuuuuuuuuuuu. So it has been 8 days since you posted. How are you doing this week??? :thumbup: What are your specific goals for February??

Hey Kaelin's G-Ma, tricking the body sounds like a great idea. I've been working on keeping my calories under 1500 (more like under 1700 most days, but still) and I do notice that I seem to be MORE hungry on days that I eat more than on days when I barely eat. I'm going to try to do that on again off again thing.

-music

I love that idea as well. Thanks Kaelin's G Ma - I will definitely try it!!!!!111

Oh my goodness, I had to tell someone this.

I went on My Virtual Model.com today because I thought I could create a new cute virtual model.

I was shocked, when I went to put in my weight, they wouldn't accept it! I put in 274 and got an error message saying that they were recalculating my weight to fit their BMI maximum requirements. They wouldn't accept a weight larger than 249!!!

This site: My Virtual Model - Your portal for social shopping

Wow, it's bad enough that we have a hard time shopping at stores, let alone to be kicked out of a "Virtual" site for being too big!!!

Anyway, that's my rant and I'm stickin to it, lol.

Hope you all are having a great day.

-music

Arggghhhhh - You have no idea what WORDS I want to use right now!! argghhhhh.

On another note - How are you doing? any word on your date?? I'm so excited for you Music!!!

Hello All- As you can see from my stats- not very impressive - no one would be asking me to be the postergirl for the lapband. I did not get enough fills early in the process, but believe that I may actually be approaching my sweet spot soon. I have come to realize a few things and wonder if anyone can relate...

• I became depressed a few months after surgery when it did not fix everything. Now, I am smart enough to know that it wouldn't, but, it still happened.
  
• As a result, I found myself drinking alcohol becuase I could and as a way of numbing myself.
  
• Alcohol passes just fine through the band and has oodles of calories.
  
• So do many other things that I should know better than to eat (ice cream, chocolate, etc)
  

So, I faced all of this and stopped the antidepressants (yeah, I think they were messing me up more than helping me) and although, I swore that I would never do this again, walked in to a Weight Watchers week one meeting. Yep - accountability - just like at the start of the band process.

I really never thought I would have to do this again, but the band does not fix everything - it really is just a tool.

Aquameliza,

You've made great progress just with the realizations you made, and I am confident that if you continue on this track, you will begin to see the kind of results you want to - and feel better too. Please let us know what we can do to support you. How are the weight watchers meetings going, and what are your goals for the month February??

I am very happy to have found this forum. I too have been struggling. Banded 8/07, lost 62 lbs. but since Sept. have gone up and down to the tune of about a 15 lb. gain. Very discouraged, but realize it's my own fault. Am also definitely a food addict, especially sweets and bad carbs. Have been neglecting exercise as well. Am going to try to make some definite changes. I have always done well when I track my food. This is my first post, so I hope I'm doing it right :thumbup:. I seem to overeat by slowing down and then am able to consume more. I just always seem to have a hard time when it comes to discipline. I plan to come back regularly to this site. Talk to you again soon!

Hi TThomp - Glad you have decided to recommitt to your band. You can do this!!!! And take heart!! You lost 62 lbs (which is impressive) and only regained 15, not 75 as in the pre-band days!!! :cool: So at least the band is good for something, right?

What are your specific goals for the month of February?

I am very happy to have found this forum. I too have been struggling. Banded 8/07, lost 62 lbs. but since Sept. have gone up and down to the tune of about a 15 lb. gain. Very discouraged, but realize it's my own fault. Am also definitely a food addict, especially sweets and bad carbs. Have been neglecting exercise as well. Am going to try to make some definite changes. I have always done well when I track my food. This is my first post, so I hope I'm doing it right :thumbup:. I seem to overeat by slowing down and then am able to consume more. I just always seem to have a hard time when it comes to discipline. I plan to come back regularly to this site. Talk to you again soon!

It's wonderful that you have chosen to recommitt, TTHOMP!!!! What are your specific goals for the month of February??? And please, be proud of the 62 lbs - and at least you only gianed back 15, instead of 80 as in the pre-band days!!! :cool: So the band has bene good for something!!!

I thought it would be interesting to post something my Dr. gave me with my fill:

"Our goal with these adjustments is for you to be full and satisfied with 3 small Protein meals per day. Eventually, it should take you 20-30 minutes to eat 3-4 oz of chicken. You can expect to lose 1-2lbs per week. If you haven't lost any weight for 2 weeks, it is the result of one or two things: 1) your band is adjusted correctly, but you are eating soft carbohydrate calories that move through the band easy; or 2) you are trying to practice Protein 3x a day but your portions are bigger and you are hungry between meals. If it's the latter scenario then its time for a band adjustment. If you are cheating the band with soft calories then its time for a DIET adjustment (emphasis added)."

Makes sense to me. My goal is not to count calories, but eat protein meals with a few veggies until I'm full. Then not eat again until I'm actually hungry (not head hungry). I'm gonna try it right this time and see how it works.

Hope this helps some of you!

This is SO WONDERFUL Nashville - how are you doing now on the working out and eating? How about the acide reflux - better now??

Hi Ladies,

My goals for tomorrow are:

*Write down everthing I eat.

*Eat 1500 calories or less.

*No sugar other than my 1t honey, fruit, and a piece or two of dark chocolate.

*NO SODA!!! This one is going to be tough.

*No drinking liquids around my meals. This one will be super-hard too.

* Eat chicken or tuna for lunch and dinner to try to feel fuller.

Thanks for listening. If you have answers to my questions please help!

-Hilary

Hi Hilary,

These are great goals and my heart is with you. How are you doing so far?? I can connect with practically everything you say - the crazing salty Snacks - my weakness is tortilla chips and salsa from chipotle - yeah, dont ask. And i cant have just one. For me, I jusr have to STOP eating them - just STOP. Moderation with them does not work for me. And after a few days of stopping, the taste goes away. The other day I went to chipotle to get chips and salsa (handnt had it in about a month) and it was just not as appealing.

I am with you as well on the eating then eating right after. I finally accepted that I dont like salad and have stopped trying to eat that - because inevitably, I want to eat something after. i eat rice and ground beef, sphaghetti, sandwiches, frozen dinners when i dont feel like cooking, etc. Real food - and when I do this, I find it helps with my satiety.

how is your restriction? How many cups of food can you eat per sitting? are you getting enough mprotein in??

Just checking in...not a lot to yell with joy about. On the positive side the exercise is doing great but on the flip side the eating still sucks!! Still trying and will never give up. Counting the days until restriction!!

Hi Scarlett - How are you??? any restriction yet? Crossing my fingers for you!!!

Well I'm back, had a rough week. My 16 yr old foster daughter ran away. After several days of searching, we found her. She refused to stay, so she was taken to juvenile hall until they can find other options.

Through it all I was eating everything in site, Cookies, Pasta, M&M's etc. and I still lost 1 lb. I don't know why I lost the lb. It may show back up in a day or so.

WELCOME BACK Kaelin's G-Ma. I'm sorry to hear about the stress with your daughter and I am sending warm wishes your way. Hope everything works out.

Onm another note - congrats on the weight loss. Now - get back on track!!!

Hi Everyone,

Today, I weight in at 236.6. I am at practically 2 months since the beginning of this thread and the beginning of the recommittment journey. 19lbs down and that literally brought tears to my eyes when I did the comparison. Two months ago, I was on plateau/upward movement zone - thinking my band doesnt work and I was such a failure. In the last two months, I have had NUMEROUS "failures" but my successes were greater - maybe 75% of the time right. This just shows me that it takes doing the right thing MOST of the time to get the weight falling off again. My two year bandiversary is in March and I hope to be able to proudly shout that yes, I am a bandstar - and it may have taken me a little while to get it right, but I finally did!!!

Let's keep it going, fellow bandstars.

My Goals for February:

a) Start working out- I really need to - 3 times a week

Eat healthy - 1500 calories a day.

c) drink 64 oz of Water daily

d) Post on LBT at least 4 times a week - I have struggled with this in January

e) Dont let stress from work force you to eat. Find other sources of release other than food.

WE CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Everyone,

How are you??? I have been MIA for a couple of weeks. I feel like a part of me was missing!!! Really missed you all. Thanks Cryzytchr for drawing me out.

The last week was miserable for me with work. Really intense pressure and expectations. I was literally working from 5AM to 11PM daily. Of course, my food choices were HORRIBLE. Needless to say, I got SIck - tonosolitis - and my doctor indicated that many times, stress will do this to you. So now, I cant eat as it hurts, but at least it is forcing me to rest.

i see we have a few newbies. Havent really read through everything yet. WELCOME - we love having yoi.

I gained 5lbs in the past week but lost 3.2lbs overnight (crazy body.) Now that I am a litlte unwell, I am on Soups so that might be helping.

I hope you are all well - thanks for the motivating posts, and I will be back more regularly. Congratulations to all on their successes as well.

Talk to you soon!!!

GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!!!!

posting my update

NAME------------------------START----------------CURRENT---------------GOAL--------------TO GO

1000words..........220............214............210...........4

annjones...........277............264............267..........-3

AuntieGG...........286............278............270...........8

Bandana............165............165............160...........5

BandedCG...........273............236.5..........220........16.5

Barb12590..........185............180............175...........5

Bea1128............190.5..........189............180...........9

Bonnielass.........168............164............159...........5

Brandy.............198............196............190...........6

Charlietuna........163............160............150..........10

crzytchr...........250............243............240...........3

CubsGirl...........150............145............140...........5

Cutiew/booty.......224............222............212..........10

Fordgal88..........274............208............198..........10

Imgoingdown........239............199............189..........10

janesays...........230............225............215..........10

Jodi_620...........160............158............148..........10

karebare714........283............276............265..........18

kikival315.........219.5..........217............210...........7

LauraP.............170............170............155..........15

lcwils01...........227............225............213..........12

Leslie2lose........229............223............219...........4

LilMissDiva........253............243.4..........239.........4.4

littlefroggy.......211............205............195..........10

Long2BThin.........216............210............205...........5

Loveislovely.......223............213............208...........5

ltgordon...........264............262............250..........12

Mair...............231............225............220...........5

Mamanmidwife.......264............260............250..........10

misskitty84........313............263............243..........20

mominlv13..........270.2..........267.2..........260.........7.2

SanDiegoPhotog.....263............191............179..........12<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O:P></O:P>

Sistergrl25........359............289............264..........25

Tabithan...........246............238............236...........2

Terilynn112........224............224............200..........24

Tuger..............192............192............185...........7

twinmommie.........207............206............193..........13

wowox7.............173............165............163...........2

My band is CRAZY!!! When I watch everything to the T and eat 1000 calories I do not lose weight. When I go CRAZY and eat around 1400 I lose weight. Yesterday was my going crazy day, I ate around 1400 calories and today I woke up having lost the 0.8lbs that I had gained that refused to badge the last week. Hmmmmmm.

This has been a pattern for me. My conclusion is that I am eating way too few calories. I will up my calories to 1400 and see what happens.

I see we have some new members. I'm excited to read everyone's story but at work now. Thanks for joining us!! Will read thoroughly and respond later.

Hope you all have a BANDALICIOUS day!!!!!!!!!:yikes:

Just checking in for the night. Hope evryone is doing great. I have had 3 bad meals in the last two days. I went way over my calories. I started my same old crap, Ive cheated so Im gonna just quit. But.....my goal is to stop being my own worst enemy. I just want to dust myself off and finally realize that I cant be perfect all the time, IM HUMAN. Tomorrows another day Scarlett. I can do this but for me I just have to dig deeper than others. I accept that, and now I am gonna pick myself up and press on to a healthy life.

My goals for tomorrow are to first get all of my Water in, some exercise and journal every bite that goes in my mouth. I havent done that in a few days and Im sure thats where I went wrong.

Okay...Im done venting. Hope everyones well, and KEEP POSTING, it helps me sooooo much!!!!

Hi White06!!!!! Hope you are doing well. Just wanted to check in and see if you were able to get back on track, after the few bad meals. Rooting for you. Let us know!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything is out of WAK today. I cant stop grazing - literally all day despite a feeling of satiety. I have not drank my Water and all I can think of is food. I have eaten solids with liquids - very very wierd day.I have already eaten 947 calories and it is ONLY 4:30PM. I have the whole night to go!!!

Well, I need to refocus and i will not beat myself up for today. today, I will let myself do what I need to do. But as a makeup, I will go and sign up at the gym and start doing something regularly tomorrow. I think that is what I need to refocus because FOCUS is really what I need.

PHEW - I already feel MUCH better. Will be back to track tomorrow, I can tell. Just needed to put this out there so that I have ONE bad day and not 6 bad days!!!!

Hope you are well. How is everyone doing on their goals????

I keep having to remind myself that doing this band thing right 80% of the time is way better than 100% of eating badly on my pre-band days!!!

Hey everyone, I'm doing great. Just a question for everyone. How many Protein grams are you doing per day. I was told, try for 80 but I'm having a tough time of getting that many in. Down 6 lbs Yeah Baby!

I always make sure I get a minimum of 60 gms of Protein. But I am not doing low carb, however. Perhaps your protein intake is higher when you are on a low carb plan?

Have you tried Protein shakes from GNC? they have some good pure protein like Isopure that is expensive but is PURE protein without the high carbs.

Yes...I finally have restriction!!! WhoooHoooo!

I talked the clinic into giving me 1 full cc and boy did that do the trick. I had to stay on liquids a little longer because of the swelling, but I'm starting to feel normal today. I'm going to take baby steps and start on solid food today!

Yayyyyyyyyy on the restriction!! cant wait to see the lbs start to fall off. Whooo whooooop!!!!!!

I gained 0.8lbs but I have been taking nyquil so i think my body is retaining Water, since I havent been eating but around 1300 calories. Cross your fingers for my loss!! :tt2:

Just checking in for the night. Hope evryone is doing great. I have had 3 bad meals in the last two days. I went way over my calories. I started my same old crap, Ive cheated so Im gonna just quit. But.....my goal is to stop being my own worst enemy. I just want to dust myself off and finally realize that I cant be perfect all the time, IM HUMAN. Tomorrows another day Scarlett. I can do this but for me I just have to dig deeper than others. I accept that, and now I am gonna pick myself up and press on to a healthy life.

My goals for tomorrow are to first get all of my Water in, some exercise and journal every bite that goes in my mouth. I havent done that in a few days and Im sure thats where I went wrong.

Okay...Im done venting. Hope everyones well, and KEEP POSTING, it helps me sooooo much!!!!

Hi White,

You have done SO WELL the past few weeks, that this small stumble will not stop you on your tracks. We are going to fall so many times - the secret is how soon we pick ourselves up. If we do this right 80% of the time, we will be successful. Good job on coming back here and posting the good, the bad and the UGLY and getting back on your feet.

With the recent challenges in mind, what are your daily goals for the rest of January?

Please continue posting, especially when things are not going so well. This way, you can get right back when you stumble. Believe me, I have been where you are, many many times. So I know you can do it!!!!!!!!

Hi Everyone- Just checking in. I am on the site daily but will post my progress once a week. I lost 6 more pounds in a month when I saw my nutritionist today. We decided to follow a version of the south beach diet. Basically low carb. I guess it is working because I was not losing alot eating carbs. Started walking 5 days a week for 30 minutes. Track calories in a food journal & on the daily plate.com. Hardest part drinking all the Water. But I am trying. Have a great week guys.

Welcome back Iseethin me!!! WOOOOOOOOW - 6lbs GONE!!!!!!!!! Soooooooooo proud of you!!! Congratulations. Looks like you and your nutritionist figured out what will work for you. It's always so great when we find the missing ingredient to our weight loss. I'm excited to see your progress. Keep it up and yes, please keep posting regularly!! Good, bad or UGLY!!!