LessLee

Hi Everyone! How are you all doing?
Gary, thanks! lol
Congrats to you! That is great! It may slow down, but you will get there!
Allyson, congrats to yoU!!! That is awsome! WooHOO.
I have been doing good. Losing steady. I exercise 5 days a week and just finished C25K week 5! I did the dreaded 20 min straight run. I also do weights and yoga.
I had my 3rd fill and feel I am still not in green, but I am not going for anymore until maybe after the new year. I really have to be careful eating now and I am little afraid to be any tighter. I get hungry at the 2.5-3 hr mark consistently and often go to bed hungry. I am going to experiement with upping my calories a bit, given my activity levels - especially on running days.
I am down about 35lbs and have 10 more to go to hit my first major goal and ONEDERLAND!
I am off today to the inlaws for Canadian Thanksgiving. Wish me luck - my first family meal and they don't know...

Ah I have read 2 Dan Brown books. Is that your typical go-to genre?
I am currently reading,
To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn
by Sandra Byrd.

Hi Everyone! How are you all doing?
Gary, thanks! lol
Congrats to you! That is great! It may slow down, but you will get there!
Allyson, congrats to yoU!!! That is awsome! WooHOO.
I have been doing good. Losing steady. I exercise 5 days a week and just finished C25K week 5! I did the dreaded 20 min straight run. I also do weights and yoga.
I had my 3rd fill and feel I am still not in green, but I am not going for anymore until maybe after the new year. I really have to be careful eating now and I am little afraid to be any tighter. I get hungry at the 2.5-3 hr mark consistently and often go to bed hungry. I am going to experiement with upping my calories a bit, given my activity levels - especially on running days.
I am down about 35lbs and have 10 more to go to hit my first major goal and ONEDERLAND!
I am off today to the inlaws for Canadian Thanksgiving. Wish me luck - my first family meal and they don't know...

Hi Everyone.
Gary, you are doing so great! Congrats!
Yes, I hit 30lbs since pre-op. Onederland is not far away now. I hope to hit it by Dec 1st.
I went for a 3rd fill yesterday. I thought I'd get .25 but the nurse felt I could go for .5. I was a little leery to be too tight, but so far so good. I do feel it though and have to sip small. I am on liquids until lunch, then try purees. I took my pills last night (they are tiny) and almost felt like they were going to get stuck - but eventually passed.
Let's hope this is green! But I do not want to get stuck more often like before..ugh. I didn't vomit but sure felt like it..slime and a bit of foaming too. I will have to be real careful. Going to my inlaws in 2 weeks for Thanksgiving (Canada's is in Oct), and they don't know about my band....
I gave blood yesterday and felt fine despite being on liquids, but today I feel heavy and have zero energy. Looking forward to something with more consistency.

Sooooo...I almost hugged my scales this a.m.!!! For the past 15+ years, I've been over 200 lbs...way over. I had a follow up appointment scheduled with my surgeon today and decided to weigh before I went. I didn't want to be surprised, shocked or disappointed. Well..I thought my eyes were deceiving me, so I tried not to get excited. The dr's office scales are always different anyway. I got there and weighed in today at 197.8!!! I almost cried. Although I know I still have long way to go, but I am so excited and happy!!!

Ok, I went to the mall today just for the heck of it and went to a sale rack. I asked the salesperson if they had dresses in a size 20 or 22. The sales lady tells me that that there are no plus size dresses in the store. She tells me that dresses only go up to size 18. I said we'll why do they sell plus size tops and pants up to size 6X but no dresses, she didn't know why. Anyway, I go over to a sale rack of size 18 slacks. These slacks were originally $52.00 marked down to $10.98 with 40% off the sale price. Well, even though I hate trying clothes on in the store, I decided at that great price I had to try them on. Well guess what? These front zip, front hook (no elastic waistband!) fit with room to spare! I checked to make sure I was seeing right and that they were really size 18. Yup, they were! I was at my highest weight in a size 28 pants. Oh, and I got a size 1x blouse as well. No more 3x blouse. I still think I'm dreaming lol but the last time I wore a size 18 was way back in the 1970's.
This may seem like a silly post but I still think I'm dreaming! Please wake me up lol! Tell me I'm not
Dreaming! Woo hoo!

So unfair! You guys get bigger junk and all we get are smaller, saggy boobs!

I wanted to share this because it made me cry. I'm on holiday with my husband and I am climbing up a hill , when we get to the top there is a small area to squeeze through to get to the other side. I tell my husband I can't do it and turn around to climb back down. He asks me why and I say because ill get stuck because of my size. He takes my hand and leads me to the area and pushes me forward. I walk through with a space each side. I sat and cried for five minutes whilst my husband laughed at me. I cannot express my thanks to all the people who have walked with me through this journey and the ones who will continue to walk with me till I get o my goal. It's a great feeling.

This may be a HORRIBLE generalization and I by no means stand by it but it seems to me that a lot of people I have talked to that got banded in hospitals have received poor aftercare more so than people banded in stand alone clinics. I've met many people that got banded at a hospital, never got fills, then think they'll lose weight eating Soup and Cereal all day every day. Again, maybe that's just the hospital in my area or maybe I have talked to people that just didn't pay attention to their aftercare.
The fact is the band is VERY high maintenance and requires much learning and attention. There's a lot to learn and aftercare is PARAMOUNT to the band's effectiveness.

I asked myself: "why are you eating, Penny, are you hungry?"
And the answer was a resounding: "NO"
So I put the food items away, and went to clean my bathrooms. Listening to my body feels so right.

LessLee congrats on passing one of the many marks that end in a zero.

I also had my first stuck episode! It was terrible. I was foaming at the mouth and had bad chest pain. Teach me to eat too fast now that I finally feel my band
Congrats LessLee on hitting the 30lb mark!

Hey everyone, hope you are all doing well.
yay new jeans! Congrats Beanie!
Allyson, I also got stuck this week. I have been mildly stuck before, but this was real stuck. It's a bit scary and not fun at all!

I went through the first couple of months without a stuck episode, but have had a few minor ones since my fill. All due to my own fault of getting distracted while eating and swallowing too fast. Usually within seconds, I think that was dumb on my part because I know it was going to get caught even before it did.

My wife and I went out for dinner at one of the local Soup and salad places. It is usually pretty busy at dinner, but tonight I guess the storms kept people home. So as we sat down I got a chuckle and said, "look honey the booth fits." Now looking forward to flying in October without having the fear of wondering if I will have to ask for an extender belt.

Congrats on the 40lbs!!! I'm not really in the green zone yet, but I can finally feel my band. I have about 4.75 in a 10cc band.
I've been meaning to ask you LessLee, you have mentioned before that your doc did some test to determine where your green zone is. What test is this? also, what size band do you have? Hope you are having a great day!

I too have to be more careful of my bites and chewing with this last fill. Especially chicken! I got a piece stuck last night and walked away from dinner early. So far the worst stuck I've had, but it went away with in 15 min or so, then I was fine.
You will see that 60lb soon! Way to go! (yes, these tickers round up so today I weighed at 216.5 but put 217 in my ticker)
Today I have finally passed the 40lb mark since my Weight Watcher days (I never could quite make it there) and 27lbs since starting the banding journey.

I am so happy for you! Tell me what it's like?
I am sure I am not green, but I think I may be yellow-green...lime-ish?...LOL
I feel I am on the edge of green, but I am not really sure what it feels like exactly. I have been documenting everything from the time it takes to eat a meal and how I feel after, plus how long until I am hungry again. I have been eating pretty clean with lots of (solid) Protein (60-80g) and 8-9+ cups of Water a day. After a small meal, I am hungry consistently at the 2-2.5hr mark. It's been almost 2 weeks since my fill.
If I thought about it, I still feel like I am on a diet, but it is a bit more manageable. I am looking forward to not obsessing as much.
Other than that, my youngest is back in school and I am glad to have some sort of routine back. I re-started the C25K program and thinking of making my new goal to be 199 by my birthday, Dec 1st, but that may be too ambitious. I'll see how I do this week.

Oh I know what that's like. ugh Hope things settle down!
Yes, that makes sense!

Congrats! That is a great loss!

I am so happy for you! Tell me what it's like?
I am sure I am not green, but I think I may be yellow-green...lime-ish?...LOL
I feel I am on the edge of green, but I am not really sure what it feels like exactly. I have been documenting everything from the time it takes to eat a meal and how I feel after, plus how long until I am hungry again. I have been eating pretty clean with lots of (solid) Protein (60-80g) and 8-9+ cups of Water a day. After a small meal, I am hungry consistently at the 2-2.5hr mark. It's been almost 2 weeks since my fill.
If I thought about it, I still feel like I am on a diet, but it is a bit more manageable. I am looking forward to not obsessing as much.
Other than that, my youngest is back in school and I am glad to have some sort of routine back. I re-started the C25K program and thinking of making my new goal to be 199 by my birthday, Dec 1st, but that may be too ambitious. I'll see how I do this week.

How's everyone this week?

The 1cc fill I got last week did the trick! I'm feeling hopeful and encouraged
What about you!?
oh and I'm going to share my goal for this month with you all so I can be held accountable. My goal is to get to 182 by the end of September. I just hope it cools down a bit more here in NC so I can run outside instead of on the dreaded treadmill. ugh.

How's everyone this week?

Banded 5th June and 50lbs down. BOOM.
Hard work but MFP and not lying to myself and cardio is doing the trick
:-)