JustWatchMe

Ooh, I can't wait to be bloated (she says, with fifty pounds left to lose)!!! jk A little humor helps me survive. ????

Somehow I lost the notifications for this thread, and I'm just catching up today. Thank you so much, everyone. It means the world to me to have the support of you good people who are fighting the fight too. We all have our stuff, don't we? Mine is a divorce. I'm reminded today that I can handle this, one day at a time. Yes, seeing the success is the challenge. I've lived so much of my life focused on what I wasn't doing and wasn't accomplishing. No more. Every day I want to recognize and acknowledge my achievements. That will keep my momentum going. You folks are the best.

Congrats!! Welcome to your new life!

Congratulations !!

This post made my day!

I just love that you went to London and went bike riding there. Can you imagine any of us doing that on vacation pre surgery? I'm going on a four day mini trip with my girls this weekend and we are going to hike a lot. Hike! Me! On purpose!

Amazing!!! Great job! I lost 100 in seven months and had bouts of dizziness in there somewhere. It resolved itself. You may get some pep in your step soon.

So true. We're in this for life, and life has its ups and downs. I can't go crazy over five pounds, but in order for it not to turn into ten or a hundred, I have to stay honest with myself.

"Unfortunately, some people never "Find It"...change can be hard. We have lived our entire lives eating the wrong foods the wrong away. It takes many people out of their comfort zone and choose not to progress forward." @@B-52 nailed it. I find that when I struggle (and I do) it's because I'm resisting change. I still want to eat what (and how) I used to eat. This is definitely a learning process, and I really have to want it. Because change is hard. That said, the band does help alleviate hunger. So the change required from me is "only" mental. Piece of cake, right?

Congratulations! Post often. You will find great support here.

I was banded March 2014. My doc required six weeks of full liquids. My first solid food came right around my first fill. Hard six weeks, but I lost weight like crazy and I had lots of cream soups during that time.

Welcome! You're in the right place.

Congratulations!

Woo hoo! Congratulations!

I'm so happy for you! You look so carefree and youthful!

You are so right. This is exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks. Perspective.

Please post, veterans! We newer banders need to hear from you. Great topic, Julie.

Starting out at 198 (kinda) **** Hi folks. I don't have as much to lose as somebody who is, let's say, 302 pounds. I weigh 198 and have been at this weight for quite a while. I go to the gym once a week (it used to be more) and I eat an average of probably 1900 calories a day. My diet is currently free of most processed sugars and all soda, focusing on high Protein, low carb, and frequent salads with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I do have several cocktails each weekend. I have the band and want to get to my goal weight of 145. ***** Hi folks. That person above is me - today. I was actually banded 16 months ago. I started out at 302. I lost weight like crazy and dropped 100 pounds in 7 months. I got moving on a treadmill one day post op. I was super compliant with post op eating and dropped 50 pounds before my first fill. WLS saved my life. I got to my green zone. Fill level is optimal. Then I stopped losing. What changed? A lot, now that I think about it. Here is some of it. Some of you know that I filed for divorce four months post-op and left an emotionally and financially abusive husband. Moved out of my home. Took my college age daughters with me. Long story, but smartest thing I ever did. I got WLS precisely so that I would have the courage to leave. It worked. We moved in with my mom. Nuff said. I've been in this state for a year now. One year. NSETBEx (not-soon-enough-to-be-ex) is blocking every step of the divorce and financially cleaning me out. Won't pay bills, college, etc, without court intervention, and continues to emotionally abuse my kids from afar. Nuff said about him. He doesn't deserve another paragraph. Me. What's changed with me? I became more social. For all of my adult obese life I was hiding in my house with my food. Now I go out with my bestie on weekends and listen to bands and go to summer festivals and make new friends. I've joined Codependents Anonymous and go to two meetings a week there. I go to therapy every two weeks -- she started out as a divorce coach but we switched to regular therapy. I go to Overeaters Anonymous about once a week. I joined a gym a couple of months ago and just ended 12 sessions with a personal trainer. The divorce is stressful as hell. It is killing me to think I will still be married at the end of 2015. We haven't even started negotiating the house and assets yet. My kids are home for the summer and busy busy busy. One is working a good intern job and one is taking four college classes since she changed her major and needs to stay on time for graduation. We three share my car in the evenings. Nuff said. I can't buy a house until the divorce is final because except for my decent salary, I am now flat broke. He's draining me dry, and all joint assets are tied up in the divorce. I'm in "waiting" hell. Where does that leave my weight loss? I have been down on myself for not losing weight these last 7 months. Then today I had an epiphany. We all start out every day from exactly where we are. Not where we were. Not where we think we should be. Where we ARE. So where am I today? Today I am a 198 pound 5'5" 54 year old woman who goes to the gym once a week and walks a 5k on the treadmill and works out on some strength machines. I eat high protein and low carb. I don't eat between meals. I don't eat foods with sugar. I drink alcohol on weekends which messes up my sugar and calories. I eat buttered popcorn in large quantities at the movies at least once a week which blows my calories to hell. I eat too many fried foods. What would happen if I stopped treating myself as a failure who hasn't gotten to goal after 16 months, and treated myself instead as starting out at 198 with a LapBand to help me? The circumstances of my life today are in some ways very different and in some ways very much the same as they were a year ago when I left NSETBEx. Same: stressful with constant divorce crap. Different: just about everything else. *** Hi folks. I'm starting out at 198 and have a little over 50 pounds to lose. I have a LapBand and I'm looking for encouragement and support to improve my eating and exercise more. Can anyone relate?

Sooner.

I second this. I feel I'm at green because my hunger is sated for 3-4 hours and even longer if my meal is Protein heavy and low carb. Additionally, I have no reflux or heartburn and I can eat almost any food. However, if I eat dry meat too quickly or don't chew certain foods to paste, I get stuck. To me this is green. Here is my fill history: Fills 03/31/2015 0.10 seventh fill 07.80 02/17/2015 0.10 sixth fill 07.70 12/02/2014 0.10 fifth fill 07.60 09/02/2014 0.25 fourth fill 07.50 0.25 third fill 07.25 2.50 second fill 07.00 4.50 first fill 04.50 I have fifty pounds left to lose and have been at this weight for over seven months. I don't want another fill. I'm scared of the harm that being too tight can cause. I want my band to last. My solution has to be cleaner eating and more exercise. But I believe my band is in a good spot now.

Ask your surgeon what his/her preferred recommendation for you is and why. If that surgeon doesn't want to or is reducing the number of lapbands s/he does, and that's a surgery you want, think twice about your choice of surgery OR surgeon. I wanted lapband and sought out a doc who did many. He suggested sleeve to me but when I said I really wanted lapband, he was fully on board. He still does lots of bands and believes in them. It's been good for me so far. No complications and a year and a half post op. Good luck.

Good luck! You're on your way. My advice is stick as closely to the program as you can because you will lose most of your weight in the early months. That is the easiest time to lose and lose quickly. Congratulations !

Sharpie, you're one of the people I look to as a role model here. I'm so happy for you!!!

Congratulations !!!