steph_co

when people may ask why the Band? Or "Why would you choose the 'easy' way?" "Why not just exercise or eat less?" FAT: What No One Is Telling You - Watching: Chapter 1 | PBS VERY interesting special. I got the link from another board. There is a LOT of information about the dynamics of obesity, how our brains work in regards to such, etc. Long special, but you can watch it in chapters. I like to be armed with knowledge and I think this will come in especially handy if I choose to one day tell my family I got the Band and they have a bunch of "why" questions. Watching this truly has solidified my confidence in my decision of the Band. I had a thought when watching this. That I didn't choose the "easy" way, I chose the "SUCCESSFUL" way for me - a way that I can keep this off for life and not have to worry about gaining it all back again!

Ang1982 - I've heard of that. I think I would talk to somebody. Medicated doesn't always mean out of it.

Last weigh-in was this past Monday, I believe...I'm weighing again tomorrow. But I'm down 18.5 lbs from surgery to this past Monday.

I think your nutritionist makes a good point about habits. :Banane20: I've never really been into popcorn anyway, but I think situational eating is something that at least I MUST break away from if I am to be successful. What she may have meant about fiber is the rough texture of the popcorn...I don't know. That's the only thing I can think of. I remember my nutritionist telling me to be careful with fibrous veggies like brocolli - One of the only veggies I can stand.

Phew. I'm glad I'm not the only one on this stuff. LOL I have restless legs. The seat I am sitting in in the car MUST be all the way back ALWAYS so that I can stretch my legs out and move them around. I pick my skin. If there's something on my lip, I have to bite it. This one caused me some grief awhile back because I had some kind of cold sore or something (never get those) on my lip and I kept biting it without thinking about it and I'd be bleeding really bad like I got into a fight. Not the prettiest sight when you're a security officer. LOL I don't like to step on cracks anywhere. I'm not obsessive about it, but if I happen to be looking at the ground, I'll lengthen or shorten my step to not hit a crack. I give up, though, when I hit an area that has bricks or something with a lot of cracks and just step on them. I hate it, but I figure I have to control it. This one is kind of hard to explain. I do kind of do the counting thing that OCD'ers do. I was standing with a circle of people and I had my hand on the girl's shoulder next to me and I was counting with my fingers on that hand and in my head, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5." I wasn't even aware of it until the girl said something. I will also grind my teeth to the beat of music sometimes. I think I'm better at this one - haven't done it in awhile. And of course, I have used eating compulsively. And I am a compulsive shopper. I used to really bite at my cuticles. I got that one under control, too. I'll see some loose skin on my cuticles and pick that off, but make myself stop before it gets any deeper. I used to bite at the perfectly healthy ones, but I make myself not do that. A lot of this is work-in-progress and I still struggle sometimes. Looking at all this, it's encouraging to me. Because if I can control certain things that were compulsive behavior like biting my cuticles or stepping on lines, maybe I can keep my eating under control. I can hope, right?

When I was researching the band, I only read a few things here and there that made me nervous about getting it. Then I joined this board and starting reading some of the forums Lauren mentioned and it scared me. I had to keep telling myself that I could be one of the ones that it works for...I didn't necessarily have to be one of the negative results. So in my case, I kind of had to give myself a pep talk after reading this board before my surgery. LOL

Just based on my research on this board, it sounds more like you are over-filled. I would call your doc and talk to him/her about it. They would know more about your personal situation and could help you with a resolution.

I can't wait to be overweight!! Keep up the good work!

I saw myself as thin as I want to be 10 years ago at 17. I love those pics of myself. I think I looked great. I didn't have the confidence at that time to go with the looks, sadly. I am much more confident in myself now than I was then, which is really strange to me! But I definitely look forward to being thin. I know I'll probably have some wrinkles because honestly I don't take THAT great of care of my face (yes...I'll pay for this one). But the wrinkles I will take over the fat any day!

I work at night, get home and fall asleep around 7:30am-8am. I have to force myself to stop drinking ANYTHING at about 3am. So anywhere from 4 1/2 to 5 hours prior to bed time, I don't drink. That is the only cut-off point I have been able to find that hasn't made me get up at least once to go to the bathroom. I just make sure to drink more of my liquids early in my day. For instance, I try to get at least 44 of my 64 ounces before midnight so I'm not rushing to get it all in between midnight and 3am.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....now that's true love right there! LMFAO!! hahaha

I guess I'd have to say my eye-opening experience was taking 4 1/2 years to get pregnant and then having a miscarriage. Nobody said to me that it was my weight, but miscarriages do not run in my family on either side. I knew something had to be done before I waited another 4 years for it to happen again. I want to be a cute preggo, too...and I would not have been - I would have looked like I just packed on some extra pounds.

Uh...head-scratcher...neither did I. I was not offended. REALLY?? I didn't must have missed where it was said, "This happened to ME."

I have to agree with Wheetsin. The original post sounds very much like, "Because it happened to me, it WILL happen to you - that's just the way the band is." While that may be true for SOME people, it will not be true for ALL people. The generalities and lumping everybody into one category is discouraging (take it from a newbie). I don't want to hear sunshine, rainbows and puppies all the time - that's why I read about the complications to prepare myself for the possiblity, but it is not an eventuality. The tone of the post can be taken wrong...I think that's all that's being said. And btw, I HAVE been addicted to food. I haven't addiction-hopped yet. I do have an addictive personality. I'm trying my best to find healthy activities to fill my time. I don't currently harbor an unhealthy addiction and I hope it stays that way.

Kristin - I think that's part of why I chose to not tell anybody about the band, I can't handle the questions! LOL That is so great about the cargo pants. I'm not sure that I'm going down in sizes. I'm scared to try anything on. Hope everything went okay with the ice storm...I'm hearing some terrible things on the news and it just breaks my heart - right before Christmas. Good luck at the Buffet-O-Death on Thursday (I'm exaggerating - I'm sure it'll be fine!). LOL Let us know how everything goes. I have another NSV to add. Like I've said before - I walk about 20 floors' worth of stairs at work. Well, I avoid the ones I can as much as possible. Tonight I just felt like giving it a shot and I jogged (yes! jogged!) up a set of about 20 and didn't feel like I was going to die!! The last time I remember going up those stairs before I lost weight, I had to stop at about 10 and regain my strength and breath. I felt GREAT at the top. Yes, a bit out of breath, but not dying! So I wondered how many I could do. So far I have "jogged" up about 290 steps (and back down). I love it! I'm getting some great exercise and it makes me feel so good physically (not to mention giving me a mental boost). I also am under the impression (if I'm not imagining things) that my tummy looks smaller in my uniform. I wear a badge on my belt and I looked in the mirror and it doesn't look like it's overshadowed by my gut anymore! I'm so excited.

I was there. I did okay up until the night before surgery and then I had a panic attack. I woke out of a dead sleep (even though I was EXHAUSTED) and stayed awake for about an hour just trying to calm myself down. Then when I was all prepped and just waiting on things to get going in my pre-op curtained area, I was talking to DH and started crying (out of no where!). Then when they wheeled me into the operating room, it was SO hard to not say, "Nevermind! I change my mind! I don't want to do it! Put me back and I'll get my clothes and get out of here!" LOL But even after all of that, I am SO glad that I did. So, so, so glad. It's the best decision of my life. You know, at that moment being wheeled into the operating room and wanting to give up, I had a thought, "What will the me of tomorrow think?" I realized if I gave up on myself, I would have been so disappointed in myself. I would have been back where I started and going nowhere fast (except maybe upwards in pounds!). But I also realized that by that time the next day, I'd be all done with the surgery and sitting in my own home re-couping. I had to think of which reality I could live with. You can do this.

NY Girl - My port digs into my ribs when I bend down to do something. I wouldn't say it HURTS, but it's uncomfortable. I try to avoid it at all costs. LOL Other times, it may not hit my ribs, but I can feel kind of a pinching feeling and it reminds me to take it kind of easy so it doesn't pop off of its stitches. I have no idea how long this'll last.

That's so great, Kristin! I can hardly wait to get into REALLY working out. I walk for work and sometimes do T-Tapp, but try to keep it pretty simple so I don't hurt anything! Congrats on the loss! That's fantastic. Unfortunately, I am addicted to the scale and have had to force myself to step away because I do feel that weighing everyday is excessive. I'm doing my best to cut it to once a week. So I'm not weighing until this Saturday, the 15th, because that'll be exactly 1 month from my surgery...and I'll measure, too. I wouldn't have enough control to stay away from the scale for so long. You go, girl. I think the scale has taken place of my food addiction. LOL I hope I didn't just threadjack. LOL This is about YOU and I am really proud of my fellow November buddy! Keep up the good work!

I'm there with you - which is INCREDIBLY surprising to me. I am the sugar addict to beat all sugar addicts. I used to eat all kinds of junk. I have been on diets before where I have had to cut out sugar or white flour. Yeah, I guess the cravings kinda, sorta went away, but I could be totally clean for a month and still feel bummed out on what I was missing out on and I would eventually slip. I don't even feel an urge at all for any of my former friends. It's SO weird. I won't complain at all, though! I love it. I finally feel free. As for dreams...yeah. I posted a thread about it in general or support, I can't remember, called My Latest Nightmare. But I had a dream that I got stressed out about something and rather than dealing with it, I went ahead back to my old ways and ate a bunch of Oreos! :faint:I felt AWFUL!! I was SO glad when I woke up and it wasn't true. Especially since I HAVE had some terrible stress since being banded and I really didn't have an urge to eat!! I was so angry that I chose that in my dream. LOL

Niiice, Holly! Keep up the good work. That's awesome!

I thought I had read somewhere (and it may have even been on here) that when they put on the band, it's possible to nick a nerve that runs all the way up your body. I can't remember, now, which nerve it was. The vagus nerve, maybe? If that's the case, it'll eventually heal if they didn't do permanent damage. But I agree with Lindsay that it wouldn't hurt to get a gallbladder scan if what's happening to you sounds similar to what happened to her.

I wanted to see that when it was in Denver and I didn't get around to it. I'm so blue. I hope it comes back some time. It sounds fascinating!

Yes, yes! That is exactly it. I did so much research in such a short amount of time, some of it blends together. LOL Pascal's Wager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For anybody interested. Upon reading this, I chose to no longer live in my fear with "what if I burn in hell?" I say forget it. If God gave me a rational, reasoning brain and didn't expect me to use it, then I'd rather he sent me to hell. That is no God of mine. And I found this interesting, as well: Pascal's Wager

I am agnostic. I don't have a certainty that God does not exist, I just don't feel that we can be sure of the true nature of God. I find value in different religions. They are all (well...okay, most) trying to make people better people even if some people might twist that and use it for their own means. Some people need that something to hold onto. And before anybody freaks out, please go back and re-read each time I said "some." Thank you. Titslereux...I read an interesting quote and now I wish I could remember who it was by. I want to say Nietzsche or Thomas Paine, or somebody. Something about it being a wise choice to choose to believe even if you might not because what are you losing, really? If you believe and you're right - good job, you win. If you believe and you're wrong - no God to punish you, so again, you win. Kind of a survival instinct. I found that very interesting and I realized that's exactly what it was that kept me from taking that final step out of religion even though I had wanted to for a very long time before that. At the base of things, I'm Agnostic. But I also kind of dabble in Deism and Pantheism. I was really into figuring it all out awhile back until I fell into a group with a mentally-unstable individual running the group that acted like he was a freethinker, but truly was just a crazy person. I basically just marvel at life's beauty and I feel like I am a better person without my religion (I didn't say a better person than people WITH religion...before anybody bashes me). I value life more. I treat people better. I don't have to wonder if I'm matching up to anybody's yardstick - I just have to ask myself if I'm proud of what I'm doing. If I'm not, then I can make changes accordingly. I strive harder to learn more about myself and people in general. I feel free since dropping religion. I don't judge those that choose religion. That's your choice. That's your own road. Everybody has to choose the path that for them will produce the most growth in themselves. The only gripe I have about religious people is why they feel that their personal beliefs ought to be shoved on an entire nation of people. Before anybody jumps all over me...take a look at the abortion debate around this country. The stem-cell debate. The euthanasia debate. Gay marriage. If you have no interest in participating in these things, fine - just don't try and force other people to conform. By making things illegal, you're not going to stop people from doing them - you'll just make them go underground. I'm all for live and let live. It's none of your business what I do with my life and it's none of my business what you do with yours. You can't force somebody to adopt a belief...it's just not possible. And if anything in the previous paragraph does not apply to you, then there's no reason to get offended. I'm speaking of the ones that bring these laws into play, feeling that NOBODY should do these things and they should somehow be the parent of all the grown adults in this nation. I'm not necessarily referring to people that vote their conscience based on their religion...whatever...I can't say much about that without offending somebody. I was simply referring to those lawmakers that bring these laws up in the first place.

LMAO, Chiqui - that is so awesome. DH and I are dealing with a lot right now, so I think by the time we get around to sex, I'll probably be down another 10 lbs. I look forward to it. LOL