JustWatchMe

Good luck and stay connected here. It helps me every day.

@@Bandista, Family. Can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em.

Like @@gowalking, I've had to replace most of my clothes and shoes recently. I've given the old ones to charity, bought a couple of nice blouses, and go to Goodwill for the rest. I'm losing pretty fast and the clothes won't fit me for long. I also moved, and that forced me to get rid of stuff I might have otherwise pushed into the back of a closet. I hated shopping when fat. I don't really like it now either. I do like trying on something that fits. Last week I bought 9 blouses at four different Goodwill stores and paid 38 bucks for the bunch. Three of them are too small but will fit me in a month. I've never been able to do that before. They were cute and just a tad too tight. It made sense to buy them when I found them. I can switch addictions. I'm built that way. But I agree that some shopping for us is not only normal and healthy, but required!

I like politics. Slate Gabfest, Democracy Now, Rachel Maddow, Thom Hartmann.

That's very cool. Congratulations! You've inspired me today!

@@VSGAnn2014, "In your shoes, I'd start a bloody fantasy document of *everything* in the world you want to be different. Keep it private. Make it honest. Be as outrageous as you want. Pretty soon you will realize that the sky is the limit. " Exactly what I needed to read today.

I'm a big believer in education and this site has been a godsend. I also read books outside of this forum. If you are scared about the complications of LapBand then do discuss them with your doctor. After all the doctor sees the good and the bad and will have an experienced opinion on what would be best for you. Also, until my final surgery scheduled date, my team asked me repeatedly if I was still opting for the band or for one of the other two surgeries. You can choose what is best for you and what your insurance will cover. I chose banding because I was willing and able to do he patient follow up and discipline the band forces you to do to be successful. Some people aren't suited to the maintenance requirements the band has, and they should not be banded. If you've researched and know yourself and are willing to do the legwork this requires then you should have great success. That said, sometimes things do go wrong even when people do things right. But I've read of complications with all of the surgeries. Good luck to you!

Don't focus on the weight loss for the first three weeks. You'll go up some due to the surgery. You're healing and swollen and inflamed and recovering. Follow your team's rules and the weight will come off at the right time for your body. For real. Do get exercise. Walking is magical. The more you do the more you can do. Congratulations on your band and welcome to your new life! It's going to be awesome!

Yikes !! I've had recent lightheaded episodes but not passing out. I've come to realize my blood pressure has gone down with my weight loss and I've already kicked one BP med to the curb and it may be time to reevaluate my other one. Anyway sorry you were injured. My daughter has low BP and can faint sometimes. She noticed that when she takes Claritin for her seasonal allergies it raises her BP a little and she's has no episodes this summer.

Important.

Appetite will come back. Note that right now you're best to follow your team's protocol even though you don't feel like it. Meaning, we think the pre op liquid diet is the hardest. Nope. The post op period was hardest for me. I had six weeks of liquids. After my appetite came back I had to clench my teeth and follow directions. For six weeks. So right now you'll force yourself to eat. Later you'll force yourself to not overeat. Then you'll get a fill and finally the WLS will start to help the process along. Until fills start it's a diet. Take the long view and you'll be successful. Focus on how it feels today compared to yesterday or tomorrow and you'll go crazy. I reread this and it sounded harsh. The up side is that I lost a boatload of weight when I followed those directions post op. I also was told by my NUT that the strict diet post op was intended by my surgeon for maximum weight loss while healing. Liquids only and no more than 800 calories a day. It was hard but it worked for me. I was so grateful for food by the end of the six weeks and it coincided with my first fill. I then went on an Italian vacation and actually maintained my weight loss there. So it had its purpose and I'm glad I trusted the process. Good luck.

It's hard not to rely too much on my daughters too. I am constantly reminding myself that they still need to be my kids, not my pals, and they need a mom. This mom needs to rely on my own friends for adult support. That said, they are happy I am getting healthy. They're also a little older (20 and 19).

Yay!

@@Nursemandyrn You have am amazing attitude and I am so glad you are staying connected here. You're my BPal hero. Kick cancer's butt! God bless you. ***hugs***

Started at 302 in February pre-op. Lost 27 pounds before March surgery at 275. 3 months post-op I lost an additional 36 pounds which put me at 238.6. I'm now 5-1/2 months post-op and total loss is 89 from my high pre-surgery weight. No regrets.

Great job!

I understand your frustration. My mom did the same thing up until right before my WLS. It's concern mixed with love mixed with a feeling of helplessness that they can't help you themselves. It's also scary as hell for them. Know that after my WLS , my mom is now very happy I did this and it took a few things for her to come around. One was that I didn't die on the table. That was a biggie. Second was my quick recovery. Third was my dramatic and rapid weight loss and fourth was how damned good I felt as the weight has come off. I got my life back. I cut her some slack and didn't let her worried cautionary talk deter me. Good luck and remind her that you need her full support because it will be rough for you in the first few post op weeks. Sounds like she's a good friend if she took the time to learn about your surgery. Good luck!

Great! Hope it's a breeze from here !

@bluegudren. Thank you for your honesty. It's hard to make good food choices and I find myself struggling with eating too much too fast and the wrong types of food. You'd think that 80 pounds in I would be easily making correct choices all the time but no. I hope you get this nipped in the bud. I don't want band problems. I needed to read your post today. Stay strong.

I will say that when a spouse doesn't support us, it is about their issues and goes deeper than WLS. My husband never supported me in any weight loss endeavors. OA , diets, weight watchers, WLS. Silence or open ridicule or snide comments. I don't want to bring the thread down but some reading this here may see themselves in my reply. I've left him. Not because of this issue, but because of huge problems in our 23 year marriage and relationships with our children as well. That said, I have a rock solid supporter in my younger daughter. She takes no prisoners. She suffers no fools. And she wants me to live my best life as healthily as I can. She can be kind of a nag but she also watches her weight and will go walking with me at the drop of a hat. I miss her when she is away at college. I want to make her proud of her old mama and forgive me for the years I spent drugged out on food in front of the tv. I'm happy for the healthy marriages in this post. I know they are real. Mine was not one of them, but we move on.

Hi Mrs.Fun!

215 08/22/2014

I just got back from my road trip taking my girls back to school, and read these replies. Thank you all so much for your raw honesty and encouragement. I am blessed with a best friend who made the trip with me and we had a good talk in the car about life in general. I know the future is bright. A little icing on the cake today was checking my FitBit tonight, and with moving two girls into two college apartments, I climbed 36 floors and walked over 9000 steps today. And didn't get out of breath once. Truly a miracle.

Thanks! Good luck to you too. I'm nervous whenever my lawyer emails me something, but more nervous when there's been no news for a week. Ugh!

Had a hellish summer that is ending much better than it began. My divorce is in progress and I'm putting one foot in front of the other. Tomorrow my girls return to college and although we've been cramped where we're currently living, I will miss them terribly. Scared of what the next few months will bring. I won't eat over this. I won't! I'm telling everyone here, right now, that I'm focusing on taking good care of myself and will continue to make progress in my weight loss while I face these scary challenges. That is all. I don't know if that's a rant or a rave but I needed to say it!