jkevhack

One day guys you really will see the thinner you, it takes time to change the image in our mind even after we lose the weight. But you all are doing awesome!

I am down about 75 pounds and still see the fat me. Yesterday I put on my new size 14 jeans, thin looking and a size xl 't' and thought I looked good.
Today I have on my Red Sox "t' and it fits over the fat ass and large hips, never did and I have worn it for years above the hip area, great feeling.
I don't know when we see the thinner us. Don't give up, almost swim suit season.

You are giving me hope. My shoe size went from a size 10 to an 11. A size 11 foot is a nightmare because it is impossible to get shoes. I hope when I lose weight I will be back in my tens.

great post lovethenewme very encouraging.
I came here today after a 4 year hiatus. I was an early adopter to the band back in 2005. I lost some weight but never gave up the bad habits and even found some new bad habits and behaviors. Gained all the weight back and this week just reapplied myself and began tracking my food and "obeying" my band, not eating through it, as I call it, burping, barfing, hiccuping, not carb loading, not eating soup to ease up the band, not attempting to eat pizza and stopping just before I am full. Its amazing I'm down 5 lbs already and it hasnt been hard. I think the hardest thing is sitting down for a meal and eating so little when others are eating so much. Creating new habits - good habits is important and that is what I'm after now. I agree with you, after 8pm eating is done also eating slow and stopping between bites keeps away the wonder of am i barfing because I full or because food is stuck. All a horrible mind game that I am much happier to avoid. The band is a tool the rest is a lifestyle change and change is never easy, but possible. Thanks again for the good post and encouragement

I am a successful bandster and have been at goal for 6 months. The head hunger game can really be an issue all along the journey. I eat small high protein meals all day long. It is actually kind of funny, because on the days I do my best I am constantly eating about every 3 hours. I only eat protein for snacks, peanut butter, sliced turkey, nuts, soy nuts, etc. I do try to eat at least 1-2 small pieces of fruit a day, usually a small banana, cutie or small apple peeled and sliced but when I eat the fruit I always add a small amount of protein. I eat very little zero or low calorie foods, like lettuce, cucumbers, carrots,( I call this rabbit food) To me I think of this as diet food and I am not dieting. I do count calories and I do measure and write down all food intake, I have done this my entire journey because it helps me stay focused and honest with myself.You say you have busy days, I would suggest you start your day with a very good high protein and carb breakfast and energy. I know a lot of people frown on carbs but they give you energy and fuel and if balanced with complex proteins you will stay full longer. My typical day of eating.
Breakfast daily is 1/2 cup oatmeal dry oats cooked with 1 cup water, 1/3 cup egg whites, and 2-3 tablespoons of SF Brown sugar syrup. I add 1/4 cup blueberries, 1/8 cup chopped apple, 2 pecan halves and 1 teaspoon of raw sugar. It takes me about 30 min to eat this and most days I can only eat about 3/4 of this. It is less than 300 calories and very nutritious.
Mid morning I usually have a protein bar that is around 180-190 calories with 9-12 gms of protein or if band is tight I may drink 1 scoop of protein powder which is 140 calories and 25 grms of protein
Lunch consists of 3-4 oz of protein(usually chicken, turkey, fish, or lean pork), some green veggies, lettuce, green beans, zucchini a splash of olive oil and vinegar and some days I add half a sweet potato, no butter or additives. (I have used a few of lean cuisines salad creations lately and they are around 19gms of protein less than 300 calories and I use about 3/4 cup lettuce)
Mid-afternoon, I have a small apple or banana and 1-2 tablespoons of natural ground peanut butter.
Dinner: Lean protein 3-4 ozs and veggies
On days I work out I always have an additional dose of protein by drinking a shake.
I eat about 1200-1500 calories a day.
If I am starving at night, I drink more liquids and rule is after 8pm I do not eat.
to help me stay focused I have kept a picture of fat Diane on the fridge beside thin Diane. A picture is worth a thousand words and I am trying to never go back wards.
I do have grazing days, they are usually Sunday's but I tend to eat same amount of calories and my protein intake on Sunday's usually sucks.
Do not get discouraged, this is a life style change and it takes time to change bad behavior.

I know a successful bandster, been banded and at goal for over 5 years now....and all she does is Graze all day, or another eway is to say she has 5-6 small snack meals a day...
you have to look at the TOTAL food eaten within a day...not always the traditional 3 meals a day....
I tend to graze now and then...especially weekends stuck in the house on cold days.....but when I do, I do not have any meals either...so it all evens out, if not coming out ahead...

Not sure if you still have lil ones in the home but if you dont...just dont keep fatning foods around......or have one place for just YOUR foods....and when your head thinks you hungry know you can only pick from them...maybe one see through container with cut up peppers....carrots....WW chees sticks....fresh fruit all cut up.....
Have you thought about maybe a small fill....?
Good Luck....hugs

Please don't listen to the idiot troll Awanda, she/he/it is hitting every thread on here talking complete BS.
Overcoming emotional eating and grazing is hard. I know that's something I've always struggled with too. I find distracting myself helps. I know this is going to sound weird, but night is my hardest time, so I've kinda "trained" my brain. Every night I brush my teeth and take a hot bath when I feel the urge to graze. Now, it's like a signal to my brain "oh it's bath and clean teeth time, we're done eating for the night". I know it sounds weird but it's worked.
I also find keep safe food around for when I just have to have something. I really like both dill pickles and cucumbers. Both are zero calories, so when I need something I grab one.
Hang in there.

I love reading what you post. I love the info, and honesty, if you don't want to hear an honest answer then don't ask

Great post!

You are exactly right the band is only a TOOL! If you want to have surgery that does all the work for you then there are other options out there. I too researched this topic for two years before I made the final decision to have the lap band. I needed something to help me but teach me in the process. It by no means is easy. This is an entire lifestyle change and makes you completely aware of your eating issues!!
Good Luck keep up the good work and remember this only works as much as you put into it!!
Carol

Pure protein is pretty good. Slim fast protein shakes are good if you want a drink - if gotten extra cold it's like a frothy milk shake. I also like the nut trail mixes from target- they make a good snack- just portion them out a head of time in little snack bags. Greek yogurts are great for snacks to.

Yes, my band is definitely tighter in the morning...and sometimes I have to be out of bed and active for an hour before I can contemplate breakfast. Sipping a hot/warm drink does seem to help me.
This is a learning curve, and I've discovered that essentially my band has a mind of it's own. Some days I can tolerate cool water in the morning, other days I can't. A food well tolerated for months will suddenly create issues for me and goes off my list of tolerated foods.
Be careful with dry foods such as crackers...they are notorious for causing stuck episodes. After any event, such as a stuck episode or fill, it is best to follow your medical team's instructions...my surgeon advises me to stay on liquids for 2 days, and only soft foods for an additional day.

Maybe she insecure and afraid you will steal her thunder when you reach your goal.
Giving you bad, but potentially dangerous advise, shame on her.
This serpent has shone her fangs, stay pisitive at a safe distance.
: )

Are you a nurse??? If not you should work for a WL DR. You give great advice:) Check my blog I need some good advice from a long time bander

no other words needed:
As the new year approaches, stop betraying yourself with the band. Follow your instructions that you were given and even if your weight loss is slow, a pound loss is a loss no matter how you look at it.

Great blog. We can be our worst enemy or our best friend, it's our choice.
Happy New Year!

you go!

Awesome job keep up the good work.

Love this, I am not on this post to be beaten down, I have done enough of that to myself the last 30 years. We all started somewhere and some need to remember that before coming down so hard. I need support and encouragement, even when I screw up and you know what I might also whine once in a while. Sorry but just being honest. Thank you to the ones that have encouraged me so far as a newby. That is the only reason I come to this site, not to see drama. We all want to be healthy and lose weight right???????? Then help us don't make us feel worse. Love this site and most of the posts:) Raising a child with Down Syndrome has taught me alot about how to treat others and to be kind and more patient with people. We could all learn from that :)

I don't think you are having a pity party, I think you are asking a good question. When do we take charge of the food instead of the food taking charge of us? To put it bluntly the holidays just plain suck if your a lap band person starting out. I wish I could say it doesn;t and say the holidays are all about being with family and being together, etc, etc etc. But lets be realistic, most of our favorite times were spent around the dining table visiting with family enjoying food and drinks. I was banded the first year two months before Christmas and one month before Thanksgiving, and had my first fill 3 weeks before Christmas. It was the most stressful holiday of my life, my second Christmas (last year) I had been stuck for about 5 months at the same weight and continued to be stuck until after the holidays. Patience is hard, we all want that brass ring and that wonderful feeling of success and it comes at different times for all of us. Why am I telling you all of this, well I reached the brass ring and food no longer controls me or my life, but it was not easy. My journey had ups and downs, set backs and obstacles all along the way. I got frustrated, I cried, I hated my band, I hated what I ate, I hated what I thought I was missing, but the one thing that gave me hope was knowing that there were people that were successful and I tried to learn from them. I often e-mailed people and asked, tell me about your journey, was it hard, did you get stuck, how long did it take you, when did you stop feeling fat, when did you stop thinking about food. So when did I know I was going to make it and know that I was going to no longer allow food to control me, I can tell you exactly when and where I was. It was 8 months ago and I was at work. I was getting ready to get on an elevator and caught a glipse of my reflection in the long mirrored elevator door and honestly I was shocked. I was thin, not only was I thin, I didn't even recognize the person in the reflection. Food had always been a big part of my life, I am a very social person so parties and families and food all go together. I am still a social person but have found that I can be social with out food and drink, I no longer have to carry my food, I know what I can eat and how much and I know when to say no. I won't lie, I do have occasional days that I feel less in control but I just look up from my dest at the fat girl on the bulleton board and know for sure I do not want to be her again. So your question was when do you finally allow food to stop controling you, my answer is when you can finally start thinking like a thin person. When I was fat I always thought about food and the preparation of food and what the next meal was going to be. Now food is just that food, yes some of it is very yummy, and I love to cook but food made me fat and I prefer to be thin. There does come a time when you control the food and you control the band, for me it took almost 2 years and daily I remind myself of the fact that there is still a fat girl living inside me and she would love to come back if I gave her half a change. So yes be patient but you too can be successful if you just Bee "lieve" Good luck to you in your journey.

I have my first fill tomorrow and I am 6 weeks post op. I hit a plateau too and it was discouraging but then the scale started to move again. I actually was eating 800 calories a day and not losing and I upped it to 1200 and started losing:) I also played around with the Carb Cycling and it worked too. Just changing things up helped;) Everyone says those few weeks after surgery are tough to lose.
A friend of mine had the surgery a year ago and she said she would hit several plateaus and that was discouraging but then all of a sudden the scale moves a lot. In one year she lost 100 pounds. So we just have to be patient and trust in the process. Everyone says it takes a couple of fills to hit the sweet spot and then the hunger goes away and food stops controlling you. In a couple of months, we will be there.

Keep in mind, you have to burn more calories than you take in...so if you consume 1000 calories per day, you would need to burn app. 1500 calories the same day. And that formula is for a weight loss of 1 lb per week....multiply the calories burned per day for more.....
If you have trouble burning calories (lack of exercise, etc) then consume less.....
I NEVER counted calories, let the band dictate portion sizes and I made wise food choices.......and paid very close attention to my protein and water intake to sustain my metabolism and vital organ functions............
I have studied the "Starvation" mode very closely when I was first banded, and from a Physiology standpoint it makes perfect sense...for a NORMAL WEIGHT person....
It does not take into effect overweight people have a lot of fat stored to get through many famines.....as a matter of fact I WANT my body to rely on that stored energy source........just get your protein so your body does not turn on other important things you don't want to loose.
That's always been my philosopy, and my body fat % is now very, very low.....as far as metabolism, I have more than enough energy with some to spare...
I read somewhere....If you need to eat to loose weight...then none of us would be fat...
It's all about burning calories versus calories consumed...always has, always will be. And the band is there to stop us from consuming to many calories...

Welcome. My dietitian told me that you have to eat to lose weight. Maybe contact yours to ask questions. That is why they are there. I can email mine and she usually answers within 24 hours.
Good luck with your new journey.

Actually I just asked my nutritionist this last week because I use myfitnesspal to journal my food and found that some days I only get 5-600 calories, which worried me this is not enough. She said she was not worried about the 800 calorie days, but I needed to work on the below 800 calorie days. They (my nutritionists) really don't use calories in what I'm supposed to eat as they focus on protein and carbs, but I still see the calories and just think that is too low, even if I'm not hungry.