Bandista

Me, too -- well said above on all counts. Congratulations on your weight loss and all the changes in your life -- this new business venture is coming together at the perfect time. Best wishes with that and with everything unfolding in your life right now -- you are rocking it!

Sounds like you're doing very well -- so happy for you. On the other side now! We have a new driver, our teen aged son. Loved reading the yogurt escapades -- bet you were glad to get horizontal again! Now a new week...it's Monday morning and you have a band. Can you believe it?

Hi there, hope you had a good night and that you're doing well with your recovery!

Beautiful post! Thanks so much. Best wishes for a speedy recovery and a lovely restful weekend ahead.

Hi there, great idea! Years ago I asked an anesthesiologist to "hold the room" when I had my gall bladder surgery. He had no idea what I was talking about and I'm sure he thought I was out of my mind. This was in groovy Vermont, too, but kind of a while back. I can see his face now.

When I started this band journey at the beginning of the summer I decided to look for a therapist so I'd have an objective person to go through the process with me. When I got the list of providers from our insurance company, I couldn't believe it when there was a hypnotherapist listed. I studied hypnotherapy about twenty years ago when we lived in California and I respond well to those relaxation techniques. Also Mindful Meditation, etc. My eating issues are so connected to anxiety -- stress eating, soothing myself, etc. I really want to sort out whatever I can ahead of time so I am really ready to go once I am banded. I know there will be head hunger, but when it comes I will be ready!

I will definitely ask the anesthesiologist to plant some healing information in my brain -- and I'll do it myself as well. I think I'll write it up on a piece of paper to make it easy. I think of the band as a gift I'm giving to my body, the help it needs to get healthy. I have needed to make friends with my body again and what better thing to do than offer up a gift like this?

Very best wishes! A whole new chapter begins.......

You are ready! Best wishes for this new era -- exciting times ahead!

Hi there, hope your appointment went well and that you're feeling better today and recovering. Best wishes!

I am still pre-band and love reading posts like these. Sounds like you are really doing beautifully and you're right on track. Your body is undergoing a tremendous adjustment -- not just recovery from the surgery but settling into this new mode of lower calorie intake. And it's so great that you can implement will power knowing that it is temporary. That's been the thing, really, an inability to sustain will power over appetite for long enough to lose the weight then maintain the loss. I could always make it a while on a new regime but without the band just couldn't keep it going. One failed attempt after another. So looking forward to this new tool to dim that appetite and allow me to lose weight and home in on my body's signals for hunger. The knowing how to stop. Best wishes to you and thanks for blogging!

Happy two-month Bandiversary! I am still pre-band and can't wait to get there. One of the things I'm really looking forward to is losing enough weight to be able to exercise more comfortably. I know I need the outlet of exercise to help me manage stress (treadmill on incline seems to release those hormones), and I know once that cycle really kicks in then it's such a healthy time for the body. Lose weight = able to exercise = lose more weight = HEALTH! Good luck with everything. I think you're doing great. Two months out is baby steps and you are making great progress. Go Adrienne!

I am pre-band but from what I've been reading your body in that first month is healing up and many people don't have restriction until the first fill. The tool is placed but needs to be adjusted for you. Don't worry, you're on your way!

Thanks for blogging. I find that writing really helps with my stress load -- the naming what it is in my life helps me see it in a different way and that helps anchor me.

We have a "light heavy bag" (there's an oxymoron for you) in our basement for our teenaged son to pound on. You may be on to something -- that need to release stress hormones. I can only seem to get it with the treadmill on incline and really walking hard, which I can only do when I'm in shape enough -- a vicious circle. So looking forward to the band as a tool for getting weight off so I can exercise. So much release is needed!

Best wishes to you and thanks again.

I love autumn for the feeling of a new start -- must have to do with all the back-to-school energy. What a great time to get banded! You will be able to walk outdoors and by the holidays you'll be well into a good routine. So happy for you! Thanks for keeping us pre-banders posted. Hoping my hospital program gets a move-on so I will be right behind you. Best wishes!

Yippee! Imagine carrying around a bale of hay all the time. Oh, wait -- I have two. Good grief, going to have some ENERGY when I put those thi go down! Congratulations on all the hard work that got you to this place. Yippee!

Love this post -- thought you might need to read it again.

Please know that you are worthy of all good things. It's so easy to get down on ourselves when we're exhausted. Please be gentle with yourself and take good care -- you are worth it. Thank you for posting. It really helps me to read what others are going through. Life can be so stressful. When I'm able to step back and view things from a distance, sometimes I gain insight.

You are the picture of health! Congratulations on all the hard work that brought you this success -- you are amazing.

Congratulations on your upcoming Bandiversary and a really successful lifestyle change!

You are bringing up some profound issues here, Kelli -- thanks so much for writing this. I have worries about people liking me better when I'm thinner and that being more "acceptable" is just so screwy it gets my back up. Mis73 thank you for pointing out that this is not a badge of courage but part of a shielding system I've had in place for a long time. I want people to like me/love me how I am, of course, but when it comes time to help me celebrate my newfound health I need to let go of these old hang ups. It's okay to look better even if the real objective is better health. It's okay to be pretty (I have never experienced that feeling and it's hard to write this).

Some one else pointed out somewhere that we all have a role and sometimes there is resistance from within as well as from our families, community etc. to a change in that role -- for whatever that is worth.

Some one somewhere here wrote about the people who want this more than anything and how that's what it takes. Here you are at that place -- very exciting. I am pre-band, waiting to begin -- maybe I'll be September, too! Best wishes!

You are doing great and you're not alone! I like the HALT saying, never get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. One and four, for me, cause the other two.

Out of the mouths of babes......

Thank you for this piece. I hear you on the stress -- it's not going away but how we respond to it can change drastically. Being on the outside looking in vs. being whirled up in it and (for me) having to eat to anchor myself in the storm.

Big changes must sometimes bring up a lot of stuff for the people around us. I worry about this in my usual way of banking anxiety in advance -- what will I say, what if people like me better when I'm thinner and that feels weird, unfair...etc. And so I love how out there you are with your colleagues -- it's inspiring me to be more open. Maybe. But just so you know I like the you on the left as well -- so glad for your health, your success -- congratulations on the results of all your hard work!