RedTulips3

Hey Chrisann! It's great to hear that you're doing well! 90lbs, that's amazing! Can you believe you've almost lost 100lbs?! Keep it up! I have not been on LBT for a long time, I'm so busy, I just don't have the time to read and post anymore. I have been bouncing around with the same 5lbs for the past few months. I would go off plan a bit, get back down and repeat. I finally got below 170 and then I let myself get off track a bit and I gained it back, but I'm on my way down again. Other than that I'm doing good!

Hi everyone! I remember when I was researching the lapband I found LBT and I loved reading posts of people’s personal success stories with the band. It gave me hope an encouragement that weight loss and success is possible with the band. I wanted to one day share my success story with everyone. I found LBT to be a great and supportive community to discuss and share experiences about anything and everything lapband related. After a year of having my lapband and having a lot of success with it, I would love to share my story with the LBT community in hopes of giving people the same encouragement I received from others in the beginning of my journey. I apologize in advance that this is a lengthy post…. A year and 2 days ago (Jan 9, 2008) I got my lapband. I started this whole journey to health and weight loss in August of 2007. My highest weight was 315lbs in April of 2007. On August 6, 2007 I weighed 305lbs. I had made the decision to get the lapband, but I had to wait until January 2008 to get the surgery. I resolved that I would not waste my time before surgery to begin my weight loss. I had previously done the Atkins diet with a lot of success, losing 50lbs in 8 months. When I did Atkins, I felt healthy and full of energy. So I started the induction phase of the diet and never looked back again! I continued doing Atkins low carb until the day of my surgery. In that 5 month period pre-op I lost 55lbs! Not only was I in great health going into surgery, but now I had less to lose with the band and would get to my goal weight quicker. A year after surgery and 17 months after this weight loss journey began, I couldn’t be more please with my results. I have lost almost 80lbs since surgery and almost 145lbs from my highest weight! I continue to subscribe to and eat a low-carb diet. I love to exercise and be active. I feel so alive! But, I don’t want to deceive you and make you think that this journey has been all rosy and perfect, because it hasn’t! This past August, only 7 months out of surgery, I found out that my band had a leak and I needed to have the entire band replaced. While the surgery was a lot simpler and the recovery a lot quicker, it was an unexpected bump in the road. So if someone asked me if I would do the surgery over again, I could honestly say that I would, because I actually did! I also learned that having a lapband does not guarantee anything, it is not a cure-all, nor is it the easy way out (and don't let anyone try to make you think that it is!!!). The band does not stop me from eating foods that pass right through the band. It does not stop me from grazing all day long. It doesn't make me exercise! I learned that when following the rules and using it properly, the lapband helps you to be successful. The lapband takes a tremendous amount of dedication, patience and commitment, but the results and feelings of accomplishment are worth it! If there’s anything I’ve learned about the lapband and about anything in life, is that success does not come over night. In order to reach your goals, you must be dedicated and patient. There is no such thing as instant gratification. The lapband was one of the best decisions I have ever made for myself. I have been extremely overweight since I was a child. I tried a bunch of diets with minimal success. I had resorted myself to the fact that I would always be overweight……until I found out about the lapband. If you told me 2 years ago that I would weigh almost 170lbs today, after having weighed more than 200lbs since I was 12 years old, I would never have believed you. I am now roughly 10lbs from my original goal, which will put me at a normal BMI. My weight loss has slowed and it gets harder and harder to lose those last pounds though. I know I will get there eventually, but I couldn't be more pleased with where I am today! My journey is not over, and it never will be. I have made a commitment to myself and my health for the rest of my life! While the number on the scale reflects a measure of success, the benefits of the weight loss impact many other things in your life. It's the small (and big) changes that make all the difference as well! I have experienced so many Non-Scale Victories (NSVs) along the way and I would love to share them with you (there are so many more, but here are just a few): Before surgery I: Didn’t go to amusement parks in fear of not fitting into the rides. Couldn’t barely fit into restaurant booths or the school desks attached to the chairs, baseball stadium seats, theatre seats (basically any seat with side-arms!) Got the aisle seat on a flight because I wouldn’t have room if I sat in the middle. Could barely fasten the airline seat belt Couldn’t walk up a flight of steps without getting winded I could barely walk a mile on the treadmill on 3mph Couldn’t keep up with my skinny friends Couldn’t bend down to tie my shoes without losing my breath Had difficulty finding shoes for my wide size 11 feet. Couldn’t wear heels for very long because they hurt my feet Had limited choices of clothing from Lane Bryant and plus size sections Had limited choices of jewelry because my neck, wrist and fingers were so big Now I: Fit into every ride with plenty of room to spare Slide right into restaurant booths, desks and seats without a problem Sit in any seat I want because I have plenty of room on both sides of me Can fasten the airline seat belt with lots of room. Can walk up lots of flights of steps without getting winded. Don’t even think twice about walking a mile on the treadmill. I can run comfortably at 6mph. Not only that, but I ran my fastest mile in 9 minutes and 7 seconds last week! I have so much energy to do everything. I can keep up with the class instructor during work out classes. I love exercising and I miss it when I don’t. Now I have to slow down so my friends can keep up with me! Can bend down to tie my shoes and even bring my leg up on a ledge to tie them without losing my breath. Wear a size 9-9.5 shoes! Who knew that feet shrink when you lose weight! Now I love shopping for shoes even more than I did before Can wear cute shoes with heels. Can go shopping with my friends in any store because I know that I can find something that fits. Don’t need a wide-calf boot anymore Can buy any piece of jewelry I want without adding a chain extension to my necklaces. My ring size went from a 11 to a 7-7.5 Stats: Highest weight April 2007: 315lbs August 2007: Weight: 305lbs Size: 26W bottoms 26/28,3X tops BMI: 47.8 Body Fat %: 46.9 (almost half of me!) January 2008: Weight: 250lbs Size: 20W bottoms, 2X tops BMI: 39.2 January 2009: Weight: 171lbs Size: 12/14 Regular bottoms, Large tops/some Medium BMI: 26.8 Body Fat %: 27.7 Total loss 1 year post-op: -79lbs Total loss from highest weight: -144lbs Thanks so much everyone for allowing me to share my story!

If you want the same logo as I have, right click on it and save the image to your comp and then load the image when you edit your signature. You can right click over any of the images in the logo threads that I posted the links for earlier.

"Couch to 5K(5 kilometers)" is a program that helps beginners train for their first 5K run. I started the Couch to 5K program to get myself into a cardio routine. Here's the link to learn more about it: Cool Running :: The Couch-to-5K Running Plan If you go to Exercise Forum here you'll find a few threads of people doing Couch to 5K

Welcome back Amber! Sent you a PM

We decided on a name way back when we were pre-ops. The January 08 bandsters are the "New Year's Knockouts". A bunch of us have a logo or something in our sig lines! Here are some links to some of the logos if you want to add them to your sig line too! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f112/i-made-couple-more-icons-49327/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f112/new-years-knock-out-logo-signatures-48559/

Thanks Jachut for your comments! Wyomingrl, you touched upon what I was going to say. I agree wholely that one's emotional state is definitely a key to success. But unfortunately, a healthy emotional state is not an easy thing to attain. I am extremely blessed and cannot give my parents enough credit for raising me with lots of love, encouragement and positivity. They accepted me for who I was even when I was overweight. My value as a person was not dependent on how I looked, what I weighed and what size I wore. It was enough that so many other people judged me because of my weight. They taught me to love and accept myself for who I was. They believed that I could be successful. Throughout my weight loss, it has become so clear to me how important it is to have a positive self image and self esteem. I constantly had to draw on my strength to remind myself that I was committed to this change and I wasn't going to let anything stop me- most especially when things weren't so easy. There are so many people, overweight and normal weight alike, who were not raised with the same self acceptance and love. I see my skinny friends who suffer in other aspects of their life as a result of their low self esteem. Then take an overweight person who lives in a society where physical beauty is the ultimate goal and that's the message they've been hearing their whole lives. When your self image is dependent on what society says, it's going to be a lot harder to stay motivated when the number on the scale doesn't move. When people realize that they are not happy even though they're losing weight, their idealized image of weight loss= happiness is shattered and they're is nothing to work towards anymore. All of the sudden you're faced with the reality that true happiness is not rooted in the way you look. This idea is so much more clear to me now that I'm at a relatively normal size and weight. I used to think that my skinny friends were all happy, but now I see that they're not necessarily. I'm not saying that if people have poor self esteems that they can't be successful with band, because they can, but it will be harder. Having a positive self image does not happen overnight and it can take a life time to undo the damage that family, friends and society have had on a person's self esteem. I would say to those who are pre-op to think about how they view themselves. If you see that you don't accept yourself, start trying to view yourself differently. Tell yourself that you're worth it, complement yourself and really try to believe it. Seek out the people who accept you for who you are and will be supportive of you. Talk to a professional. Taking the steps to improve your emotional state as much as possible will definitely help you in the long run with success with the band and in other areas of your life as well!

Thank you everyone for your well wishes! Good luck with all of your pre-op plans. Hope the rest of your 6-month diet goes quickly!

Bumping up this thread because I love it! Here's my most recent NSV! A year and half ago I could barely walk a mile on 3mph. Now I run comfortably at 6mph and last week I ran my fastest mile!

Hey! Thought I would check in to say hi to some fellow January bandsters. Same month, different year though! I was banded Jan. 9, 2008. I can still remember how I felt the week after surgery! The first week was pretty rough for me. If you're in a lot of pain, I promise it will pass. Seems like most of you are handling it pretty well though, which is great! JenzNewLife09- we were banded the same day! I can't believe it's been a year since I was banded! Before you know it, it'll be Jan 9, 2010 and you'll have been banded for a year! Just wanted to congratulate all of you on getting and banded and wish you and the rest of the New Years Hotties getting banded this month a lot of success with your bands!

Congrats Stef on the milestone! Keep up the great work!

Hey everyone! I posted a thread in the General Lapband Support forum with a 1 year update of sorts. Here's the link if you'd like to read it http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f15/1-year-lapband-makes-all-difference-85286/#post1114647 It's great to hear how everyone is doing after 1 year with their bands!

HAPPY BANDIVERSARY CHRISANN! Our first bandiversary of the Knockouts! Happy New Year everyone! I hope all of you have a year filled with only good things and continued health and success with your bands!

Jachut- I have some type of Star-Trac, I think Star-Trac Pro. My treadmill doesn't have any of those ifit things.

Here's what I think is important for a treadmill: I like running, but it gets somewhat boring and monotonous for me, so I need something to change it up. No incline and fast speed is only one way to get your heart rate up. The other way is keep the speed slower and increase the incline. I would definitely recommend getting a treadmill that allows you to change the incline. I do it manually, but I like having programs that will automatically adjust the incline for me. That way I'm forced to keep up with the program that it's set at instead of doing it myself. If you plan to do a lot of walking and want to read while your on the treadmill, then make sure there's a ledge to put your magazine or book. I use the ledge for my ipod. Another thing that is important for me is how the time/calories/distance is displayed. It's a motivational factor for me. I like that I can see my distance, calories, incline, speed and heart rate all at the same time. Some machines flash them in a repeating sequence, which I don't care for. I like to do a certain speed for a certain time interval and and it's hard to do that if I can't see the clock the whole time. Or I can't see how far I've gone the whole time if I'm trying to reach a certain distance. I also have a club-level quality treadmill, so I have some extra feautures that are not necessary, but are still nice. I have a little track display that is goes around in an oval and as you go a certain distance little displays light up to show you how far you've gone around the track. It's another one of those motivational things. Totally uneccesary, but nice. I also have fans built into the display console, which keep me cool. If the room you're working out in isn't so cool, you can always just get a stand fan and place it facing you on the treadmill, which works just as well as the mini fans. You want a treadmill that will give you an accurate heart rate. I use this a lot to gauge if I need to work harder. I like having a cup holder because I like having my Water right there while I'm exercising. Also look at the weight capacity. I weighed over 300lbs when I started using a treadmill, so I wanted something that could withstand my weight and the wear and tear overall of using the machine. And I wasn't just walking. I would jog for small periods of time too. You want to feel like you can jog and run without the fear that you're breaking the treadmill. That's why it might be worth it to spend a little bit extra to get a better quality treadmill because they tend to be sturdier and have higher weight capacities.

I've never done BodyPump because I'm not at the gym when it's offered, but I would definitely do it if I was around. I do BodyStep, which I really like! It's 90% cardio because it's all stepping with a bit of lower body strength mixed in at some points. The music for all the Les Mills classes are great and being with a group is very motivating too (at least for me). The time also flies because it's split up into segments. With any of the Les Mills classes, it takes a few sessions to get used to the choreography (at least from my experiences with BodyFlow and BodyJam, not sure how much it applies to BodyPump) Don't get discouraged if it's hard to follow in the beginning. Once you're familiar with the routine it gets easier and you can focus on getting as good of a workout as you can from the class.

Jetsy- First of all, congratulations on losing 30lbs! Don't listen to anyone else or think about what others are may or may not be thinking about you. Just do what you can do in terms of exercise. Taking it slowly is KEY! How can you expect to go from being sedentary to extremely active if you don't work your way up? Last August I weighed 305lbs. I started out at Curves, which gave me a 30 min. structured workout that I could do suited to my level of ability. I also started walking on the treadmill at 3mph. Then I worked my way up to 3.5mph when I felt ready. I could barely jog for 30 seconds without getting out of breath. So I started with 30 seconds, and moved onto 1 min when I felt ready, then 2 then 3 etc. I And this wasn't in the privacy of my own home on a treadmill. This was right next to people who were running at who knows what speeds. I knew I didn't have the ability to do that yet and I had to just focus on myself instead of thinking that I looked really stupid walking so slowly. I did what I had to do and worked my way up and now, 16 months and -130lbs later, I can run a mile in under 10 min. I walk at 4mph+ and can run comfortably at 6mph. Aside from Curves which I really only did for the first month and a half, I was mostly doing cardio on the treadmill. I also used a few of the machines. Cardio is good for building up your endurance and stamina. Only a year later did I add in weight training. I was fortunate enough to receive proper instruction from a personal trainer and now I have a large repetoire of exercises that I know how to do now with free weights and it's great! I really enjoy the weight training as an addition to my cardio. Keep in mind the big picture and don't feel intimidated that you can't exercise for x amount of minutes or at x speed on the treadmill or elliptical. Just do what you can! Keep up the great work! Good luck with everything!

Becky, I did have a leak and I had my band replaced. But aside from that, my doctor said it's normal for maybe .1 or .2ccs to evaporate. 2ccs sounds like a lot of Fluid to just "evaporate". Maybe he missed the port the first time after your virus? I guess you'll find out if your band is holding the fluid when you go back in Jan. I hope it is! Good luck with everything.

Didn't realize this was posted a while ago...... My band had a leak and I had no fill (obviously). As long as I chewed well, I could eat a large quantity, but there was a limit and I would get full on less than I used to pre-band for sure. For the first 7 months of being banded I was very careful to chew my food well so I rarely got stuck. After I found out my band had a leak, I figured I wouldn't have to chew as much, boy was I wrong! I ate a piece of corned beef, I chewed, but not as well as I normally do and I was really stuck and I spent the next few hours trying to PB and I was making it worse by trying because I would keep making the stoma swell. I got to the point where even warm liquids wouldn't go down. I just had to stop eating/drinking for a few hours to let the swelling go down. I learned the hard way that even without a fill, the band was still there.

CallMeJim- It's great that even when you're not 100% on track, you're not regaining your weight so quickly. (That's not to say that one can't gain the weight back with the band, because one can). 91.5lbs is great! Just keep on pluggin' away at it! WOWOX7- You look AMAZING! Keep up the amazing work! SB0233- You're doing great! Congratulations grantmeneely- Welcome to the New Years Knockouts! Congrats on your weight loss!

Here's a thread that someone posted last year about the molina band. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/melena-sp-band-43497/ I think there are some more threads about it just search the word "Molina"

Congrats on getting banded! Good luck with everything!

I like Fitday.com It's pretty simple and no frills. I have over a year's worth of my food, exercise and journal recorded there so I still use it, though there might be some better ones out there.

Changing my goal since I know I won't get there, which was a bit ambitious! Name_________StartWeight___CurrentWeight______Goal________ToGo *****<v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" filled="f" stroked="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe">:eek:</v:shapetype>**********************************:tongue:****** :tongue_smilie: * agreatknead........204............187...........180............7 areellady..........189............189...........159...........30 BIGB...............342............342...........300...........42 BellaPerdente......253............204...........195............9 Boos02.............258............226...........200...........26 Brandy.............221............200...........191...........9 BrownBear..........240............235...........200...........35 Bunkey1965.........194............167...........170...........(-3) Cadets71...........223.4..........220.4.........189...........31.4 Charlietuna........210............167...........150...........17 Claudine...........250............231...........225............6 CubsGirl17.........172............150...........150............0 Cutiew/booty.......251............225...........220............5 cQQlgirl...........195............183...........180............3 crzytchr...........276............253...........246............7 Donna113...........199............183.5.........160...........23.5 Ekat...............527............172...........152...........19 feefee57...........262............212...........180...........32 FeliciaLevy75......240............204...........190...........14 GillieBean.........304............296...........264...........32 HeatherO...........150............143...........130...........13 Hollie ............l54............154...........125...........29 janesays ..........244............232...........225............7 jazzyywan..........239............239...........190...........49 Jeni85.............182............182...........160...........22 Jillbeme...........235............203.5.........185...........18.5 Josie74............260............255...........215...........40 judy1023...........231............231...........199...........32 klmsilva...........216............212...........190...........26 legster............183............183...........160...........23 linksmom...........251............231...........200...........31 Lindar172.............257.8.....................245.2...............24 0...................5.2 Liquidbluegal......225............214.6.........199...........15.6 Liz_hager..........161............158...........130...........28 Long2BThin.........253............214...........215..........(1) lotzasunshine......292............271...........250...........21 Luu2008............230............199.5.........153...........46.5 Lunabeane..........244............197...........187...........10.0 Mamanmidwife.......295............268...........260............8 Melissa Aguirre ...266............233...........160...........73 Melody2006.........223............223...........173...........50 MiniPearl#2........???............???...........???...........?? Minxz..............299............287...........270...........17 neefam.............238............189...........158...........31 newby23............242............242...........212...........30 odizzzydori........242............242...........199...........43 paige65............252............238...........220...........18 rainer.............236............222...........210...........12 Redtulips3.........180............171...........168...........03 reif78.............294............195...........140...........40 RichardCranium.....338............276...........200...........76 soontobehottie.....201............175...........165...........10 srknepler..........285............249.2.........255..........(5.7) squale.............353............353...........325...........28 SueAZ..............198............193...........150...........43 Sunshine2..........177............166...........160...........06 Suzzzie............305............305...........285...........20 stevegoad..........370............341...........267...........74 Terilynn112........240............224...........215...........6 Truediva...........299............285...........235...........50 thininside28.......255............255...........215...........40 Turler.............219............203...........194............9 youcandoit!........196............182...........165...........17 bjbstoney..........321............153...........140...........13

Looking great Chrisann! Can you believe your bandiversary is in less than 2 weeks?! When was everyone else's banding dates? B-man- good luck with the med, but if you feel like you're appetite is bad, doesn't that indicate you need a fill? Will the weight just come back when you go off the phentermine? Gingerbug, how do you know you have a stretched pouch? From a flouro? My doc doesn't use x-ray/flouros so I have no idea if I've stretched my pouch. I assume our pouches stretch a bit over time, but what determines it? If it exceeds a certain volume capacity? Heather- that's great that you're maintaining thus far! Hope you're feeling good! I can't believe it's almost been a year since banding! This year has flown by so quickly! I've been bouncing around with the same 5lbs since rebanding 3 months ago. I was eating well, but not extremely strict and I've been exercising great, but I just had to buckle down and watch my calories with my carbs and I finally got down to 170. I have restriction, but needed just a tad more so I got a fill on Thursday. I'm hoping the weight loss will stick and I'll be below 170 soon enough. I wanted to be 160 by my bandiversary, but it's not going to happen and I'm okay with it. Losing 135lbs in the last 16 months is a lot to be thankful for! I wonder how all the other 50+ people who were banded in Jan. and were posting on LBT are doing. It would be interesting to hear how they're doing too.