JustWatchMe

Your coat gets a little roomier every day.
The clothes you bought "snug" now fit. You've shrunk into a smaller size. That was always the plan but never happened in the past.

Hey girls , bet you thought I had dropped off the earth.. still here still doing well, I am a little bit over my goal weight, now 135, I think I have been happy in love and eating out too much. had my skin surgery in March, feel so much better without the apron. my guy has had a few health issues but overall we are still doing great, went to Vegas in June going to go again in January.
I will try to attach picture . I think about all of you often, we also had a hurricane and were without power for 5 days It was difficult but no damage and no injuries. keep praying for the people in Puerto Rico it must be horrible for. them, . I had a hard time logging in , forgot my password but finally figured it out.
I will be checking in more I need all the support I can get.

But WLS is the "easy way out", right?

Nope. Nope. Nope. The struggle is real.

It's much better for me banded than without, but I am eating between 1200-1300 calories a day and I can't get below 178.

If I'm not vigilant or if I make too many exceptions, five to ten pounds comes on immediately.

Lisa, I do love my band, but if I were doing this for the first time today, I would opt for the sleeve.

I just had to get a new general practitioner because my other one retired. I will miss him. He was the one that approved me for weight-loss surgery. So I found another doctor in the same location, and I told her I was a bariatric patient. I asked her if she had other lap band patients in her practice. She said oh yes but you must be the poster child for LapBand. Most of my patients do not have success with the band.

I was taken aback by that comment. It also made me a bit nervous. In terms of long-term success I mean.

Well, I just keep thinking that Alex here has had success for over a dozen years. So far, I have not had one stitch of trouble with my band. I know I am at the right restriction level because I still do get stuck if I eat too quickly or don't chew well enough.

So for today I guess I'm in good shape. This final 30 pounds won't come off unless I up my exercise, and I am just too lazy and unwilling to do that. So for that, I have nobody to blame except myself.

Went to schedule a fill... dang, Dr retired... trying to find a new Dr to fill... all are about 45 minutes away. Some do not adjust bands..
Harder task than I thought
Back to mixing Protein Drinks.
I swear I am not going backwards... too far ...
Harder than I thought.
Still apparently have "fat brain "
"syndrome. Sigh
And I'm trying to track down surgery documents from almost 11 years ago, and my original Doc has retired.
Life still goes on. Choices to make every day

Hi Gowalking the same here , I think I will call for a fill also , I was doing so good but I went to my country for a week and gained 5 pounds and I was eating carbs and sugar stuff again and now is getting hard to be back on track, our fat brain is a traitor 😂 But I will go back to my 1,000 calories at day watching my carbs and sugar intake good luck to us!!

Hi Everyone. I don't know that we need a Banders #8 as there are so few of us left here. If I need to start another one, I will. Sorry you and Ken are having a hard time Lisa. I saw on FB...
So for me...I'm having trouble getting my food intake under control. I've had another fill but I find myself stress eating. I'm around 150 lbs. now and that's too much. I keep saying I'll lose 10-15 lbs but so far, I'm not doing what I say I will.
I even eat when I know I'm likely going to get stuck. I do and still don't seem to learn my lesson. I just have to re-dedicate myself and not use work, or other stresses in my life as excuses.
When I had my back surgery and recovery, I went off track. It's been six months since and I'm still not focused. Will have to do better...
FYI, all my family and friends in Florida are well. Some a little worse for wear but no one got hurt and no one is dealing with major damage. It was scary for a while with my folks especially as they have health issues but again, everyone got through it better than we expected.
Thanks for checking in and letting me have a place to talk about the realities of maintenance.
Liz

Hi All!!
Back on the boards these days doing some revision research....cause I am still very undecided about what to do.
I had the band removed on August 9th and recovery has been a road let me tell ya! It actually was a bit more painful due to the muscle dissection to remove the port. The incisions healed nicely no infections just muscle soreness for a few weeks. Of course though with my father in law in rehab, hubby got super sick with bronchitis and brought that home along with a wicked stomach flu virus and you know I caught that in a heart beat and we have been sick since! Horrible bug really. I am back to work now after having to take another week off for that illness and honestly feeling better now.
For some reason my body did not like having the band inside, it just kept rebelling against it with inflammation all over the place. It was making me so sick, and the reflux and prolapse of the band was just the final straw in a two year battle to get things to calm down.
So...here I am post band removal...and wondering if doing another surgery is something to consider given all the issues I had with this one. Who knows if my body will accept being altered and rewired it didn't accept the hardware

I need to give up more than a few items.
And I'm overdue for a fill.... almost empty right now....still need my crutch apparently...
kinda thought I could depend on just me.... not true in my case. About a month or so in, little adds creep in
I can do this... again

I'm in Punta Cana with my daughters for five days. Bare legs, bare arms, and so happy. I haven't felt this "normal" in decades. These pics really represent a milestone in how I see myself. I even uploaded them to Match.com.

This place is heaven on earth. Only downside is the weight I'm sure I'm gaining this week. I'll have to be extra vigilant when I get home.

It's also the first time in over three years I've not worn a body shaper every day. Just too hot here. I may not go back to wearing them.

I'm in Punta Cana with my daughters for five days. Bare legs, bare arms, and so happy. I haven't felt this "normal" in decades. These pics really represent a milestone in how I see myself. I even uploaded them to Match.com.

This place is heaven on earth. Only downside is the weight I'm sure I'm gaining this week. I'll have to be extra vigilant when I get home.

Oh yes showing your face probably really helps when trying to find a match You look amazing! I'm hoping that once I get through this surgery, I'll be able to eat better and actually focus on my health and healing once and for all.
I'm still not sure what revision is the best...everyone is pushing the sleeve, but you know if your going to have to do it again I would want to do what's best for me not just what's "popular"because I can see how that doesn't work for everyone just like for me the band was not the winning tool. My body is rejecting it.
With all the technology and tools out there I would think that there would be a way to gather the metrics on a person and determine the type of surgery that would work for that individual over another just because it's less invasive, or less maintenance, or more popular or cost efficient than another which might be the actual golden ticket to help the patient reach their ultimate health goals.
I have to go through all the medical testing to check my breathing and heart and all that stuff again...including my "mental" state...but how about diagnosing the reason for my obesity and why the band was a failure no matter how little, how much, or what foods I ate didn't eat or threw up?

It's also the first time in over three years I've not worn a body shaper every day. Just too hot here. I may not go back to wearing them.

Wow Punta Cana ! So beautiful 😍 I went last year and I was unable to control myself so many different delicious food everywhere, take the ride to isla saona is out of this world you are able to do swimming in almost the middle of the ocean in a natural pool 😃 Priceless, enjoy with your girls!

Very nice JWM. I do hope you showed your face on Match though...hahaha!!
seriously though...it's all about being normal. I've gained 20 lbs. as you know and while I am not happy with that and am looking to get back to fighting weight, I am still normal and that's the most important thing.
Enjoy your trip and time with the girls.

I'm in Punta Cana with my daughters for five days. Bare legs, bare arms, and so happy. I haven't felt this "normal" in decades. These pics really represent a milestone in how I see myself. I even uploaded them to Match.com.

This place is heaven on earth. Only downside is the weight I'm sure I'm gaining this week. I'll have to be extra vigilant when I get home.

Julie...wow. I don't even recognize you. My pictures are the same. I'm not recognizable to the obese woman I was before the WLS. So...I went to my lapband doctor on Friday and she gave me a fill as I've gained 20 lbs. in the last 12 months. I will go back in six weeks to see if I need an additional fill. As we all know, the honeymoon period is long over and now it's just slogging through each and every day. But now we all can see for sure that whatever surgery we have, it's no guarantee we will keep the weight off permanently. Vigilance always.

Lisa I'm so sorry. What an ordeal.

If it were me I'd revise. Not sure whether sleeve or rny but like Liz said, take time to decide.

Lisa I'm so sorry. What an ordeal.

If it were me I'd revise. Not sure whether sleeve or rny but like Liz said, take time to decide.

In 2014 I flew to Italy at 250 pounds, eight weeks post op. It was my first flight without a seatbelt extender. Here is my seatbelt today flying to Atlanta to visit my daughter.

So happy to see veterans here. Up. Down. Confused.
All of us at one point I think
I am thankful for the comoderie I find here. Thank you ladies!
And since I posted a happy , 10 years post op pic, I thought I would share a glimpse of my old self. Who I do not want to revisit , I remind myself .
I was kinda happy. But very unhealthy and that was 15 years ago.
Life is better in many ways. Widowhood is not what I wanted. Such is life

Damn. I see your posts on FB and I presumed you were having a tough time. Wish I could do something for ya kiddo. We'll be at the ballgame tomorrow night if you feel like heading to Queens.
Listen...I've been having a tough time as well. Corey and I are great but work is super stressful and I've gained 20 lbs. over the last 18 months or so. I keep saying today is a new day but I find myself dicking around and not losing those ten pounds, oops no...15 lbs. Oh wait....now it's 20 lbs. I had to get new clothes...many of my old clothes are too tight. I swore I'd never let that happen again and yet it has.
So for what it's worth, here's what I think you should do. Investigate other WLS options and give yourself a year to decide if you want to move forward with any of them or not. That will give you the time to see if you can do this without surgery or if you need another intervention.
Let me know about tomorrow night...

Thanks Julie!!
It feels so much like a thankless task taking care of the parents but I can also say being one as the mother of 5 can also be one. Hubby and I are that JAM generation stuck in the middle between the aging parents and the Peter Pan kids we have. You know 30 acting like 10 and never want to grow up
Sadly having surgery might be a bit of a holiday for me...cause I really need the down time to refresh my mind. Physically I know it's more stress but I hope to be able to take it easy at least for a few weeks.
While I'm at home I'm going to do some research, I really would like to be able to lose the weight I haven't been able to...I just am afraid to fall into that "failure" percentage again. I know that's negative thinking so I will stop that and focus on doing some research to see what happens after this heals up and insurance clears me again.
They are not touching my plication so at least I will still have that advantage to work with.

Sorry to hear that lisacaron.
It is very difficult yet honorable to help parents.
And the difficulties with your band probably just add to the stress!
I've given some thought to what my fall back would be if my band fails.....
The newest endoscopic sleeve(done through the mouth/ throat/). Looks promising.... a bit less money and down time than laparoscopically...
it is still new so of course I don't have any long term results to look at.
But at one point the band was fairly new too. I guess we do the best we can with what we got.
Best to you. Please keep posting. I miss your banter !

Not bad for an old broad!! 62...