dialit

Here they finally are...afters and befores.

I'm Diane and I was banded May '07. I'm 43, going to turn 44 on Valentine's day. So far, the 40s have been the best and the worst of times!

22 lbs is great! My experience is that sometimes the weight loss slows for a while, or stops, and then cranks back up again...sometimes on its own (like after my period), sometimes it takes a fill. I didn't even really feel my fill. I guess the RN got through at a nerve-less spot!

I'm thinking..."its a (sort of) clear liquid"...ain't it? :tt1:

If you've ever felt a pregnant mamma's tummy, and she's told you..."oh, that's a foot", that's what my port feels like. You can't see it, but if you press on my abdomen you can feel it. No way a band could EVER show!

I'm also prone to fever blisters, and have noticed an increase since surgery, but I attribute it more to stress than weight loss. Said it on other posts, will say it again here...I would never have pegged myself as an emotional eater, but take the food away, and surprise! One thing I would suggest is try adding a serving of yogurt to your daily intake. I found eating yogurt daily minimizes the outbreaks. This was true for me before surgery, and yogurt goes down easy post-op, so its worked out. Make sure you get the kind with live cultures, not the kiddy stuff!

I am not a person who has had problems in the past with anxiety and depression, and I can tell you that though I don't think its the surgery, I'd definitely say that losing food as a coping mechanism sent me crashing. In counseling now, and on meds, and doing much, much better. I think of it like this...for 40 years I used food to keep my emotions from swinging to one extreme or another, and now without that "packing", I've got to learn how to swing gently. Hence the therapy!

I agree. The puree is to give the healing process time and let your body focus where it needs to. Further, though its a bother and somewhat visually unappealing to do the puree thing, accept this step in your process! If you are going to fight your band from day one, push the "rules", you may find you don't get to have the ideal relationship with it you've been dreaming of!

Thank you all for your supportive comments and cudos. Hey, having to do with #2: "I would never have ID'd myself as an emotional eater. Well, guess again! ..." the DH and I came up with a great analogy for this... if your emotions are like the pendulum on a grandfather clock, emotional eating packs the box, keeping the pendulum firmly in one position with food on both sides. When you take away the food, at first the pendulum swings WILDLY, and you have to learn to manage the swing range!

There used to be a thread on this, but I can't find it now that I've reached it! Talk about a GREAT feeling! And I must confess, I have waited 3 weeks since my "entry" into the magical world of "1" just to make sure I was really there before announcing. Here's a great Christmas present for me...my NS goal was to be a size 14 by Christmas, went to the "after Christmas" sales on the 26th, and bought my first pair of size 12 Levi's!!! and they aren't "stretch" jeans, either! :eek: My goals right now are to get to 175 and/or size 10. I know that will still keep me in the "overweight" BMI range (though just barely), but I've been the recommended weight for "normal" (long, long ago) and was so skinny and sickly that I don't care to revisit that. I will probably revisit my goal when I get there, and I think my most likely long term goal will be more Fluid, and have to do more with whether or not the outer package matches the inner person than with a number. There have been a lot of "reality checks" along the way, too. :smile: 1) Marriage problems are not necessarily resolved with weight loss. :eek: I know, SURPRISE, but its true. In fact, they can get worse! That's right, because, see #2, all the stuff you suppressed with food is now running loose in your relationship, adding to the fun! :wink: 2)I would never have ID'd myself as an emotional eater. Well, guess again! When the unlimited food went away, and the novelty of losing weight passed, the lid on Pandora's box was blown off explosively! I remember so naively sitting in the MD's office before this journey began and thinking, "I won't really need counseling". HA! My poor shrink! Freaked out me! 40+ years of stuffed experiences, emotions, fears, all jumping out of the box together! :clap: 3)Building a new life to go with my new body takes A-C-T-I-O-N. You can't just sit in your house like you did 90 lbs ago and say "I wish I could go skiing" and then have it happen. YOU have to take the initiative to start doing all the things you always wanted to do but never "could". They don't come to you. This was and continues to be a tough one for me. I'm not completely used to self-direction yet, and I will frequently catch myself sitting in the living room thinking "I wish I could..." and sometimes it takes a little while before my wise self smacks that whiner in the head and says "YOU CAN! Now get off your no longer well cushioned ass and DO IT!" This adventure has been and continues to be FANTASTIC. I have "gained" so much more than I've "lost", hee-hee, and I feel that for the first time, I am moving every day toward a more mature, more authentic, more self-directed me.

I had the same food issues you have, and I found that the right amount of fill and a few unpleasant episodes of sliming...OK, and a couple episodes where I WISHED I could throw up and make the pain go away, suddenly I found myself a LOT more able to exercise some self-control. Now, I still catch myself emotionally eating, but its a LOT sooner, and I'm a lot more honest with myself (i.e. do you really want to eat this...you KNOW what will happen!), and I've found myself able to stay more self-aware and in control.

A little over 7 months for me and I am down 90+ lbs. I can walk, I can breathe, I can sleep without machinery, my BP is down, and I look 10 years younger and feel about 25 years younger!!!! I eat things I LOVE, and a little bit is more than enough, because I feel SATISFIED! I worried about all the same things you have listed, but, I realized that I had already put myself in such severe jeopardy, that taking this risk would likely actually REDUCE my risk for health problems in the long run...and it has!

I just found this thread, passed my 6 month bandiversary in November. I can't BELIEVE I didn't do this sooner! I feel like an entirely new person! With the exception of hypertension, which has greatly improved but isn't fully resolved yet, ALL of my other comorbidities are GONE!!! No more aching back, no more aching knees, no more aching feet, no more snoring! I live in a very hilly area, and 6 months ago, I hated to walk anywhere. Every up hill stretch led to dizziness, being out of breath. Now most of the up hill stretches feel like flat ground! Not everything has been rosey...there has been a lot of emotional work to do. Now that I don't have the option of eating all my emotions, I've had to do some really intense inside work, but it has all been worth it!