steph_co

:blushing: I love your upbeat attitude. Well, this will not be the answer you wanted, but I'm going to say it anyway. It depends. On genetics. On how FAST you lose. On how reliable you are with exercise. On how well you have taken care of your skin in the past and how well you take care of it during loss (no sun damage, moisturize, etc). So on and so forth. That being said...I'm down a total of like 65 lbs so far, would like to lose another 35. The majority of my weight was gained in my thighs/butt/hip area. And yes...it's starting to look a lil droopy. I don't think it's realistic to think your skin is going to look the same as somebody that was never overweight. When I get down to size, I would adore a LBL. But you might get more of an idea of the skin changes by perusing the plastic surgery forum. :w00t: I was 27 when I got the surgery, btw...29, now. So I had a good 5 years on you.

I was 233 starting out. Lost 3 lbs prior to surgery (yuck...on the 3-day liquid diet). In the first 3 months after Lapbanding, I lost 42 lbs. That was with STRICT adherence to diet (the post-op regulations, but then also low-carbing after that) and also exercise. What YOU can lose is up to you. :blushing: Everybody is of course going to be different because of genetics and drive to lose. But I'm just giving you ONE idea of what's possible. :w00t:

I wanted to :blushing: this post, too. I have just started seeing a guy with freaking 6-pack abs :w00t:, I am not kidding. The most beautiful man I have ever had the pleasure to lay my hands on. :sneaky: LOL Intelligent, family-oriented, great career...etc. I have nowhere near a perfect body and he doesn't care. I still want to lose about 35 lbs (he doesn't know that number, just knows I'm working on it). I was locked into believing that EVERYBODY that had a body like this guy was shallow and narrow-minded. But I told him I used to be 65 lbs heavier...he didn't care. So it's absolutely true what they say - those who matter won't mind and those who mind don't matter!!! Hang in there. I KNOW it's hard. BTDT.

I hate to be one to admit this, but the dating pool is a shallow place. As you get thinner, you will naturally meet more guys. That has easily been my experience. I was ALWAYS shy (and still am), but they approach me, now. I hate that, but as I told the guy I'm seeing now, I don't necessarily consider it shallow to have a body-type preference when you work so hard on your own. So I'm readjusting the way I think, in general. Just be open. :blushing:

LOL...true, dat. Once I pushed him to 2nd base, the port was forgotten. :biggrin:

It's funny. When I first got it done, I didn't want anyone to know. I told my XH (was still married at the time) because I trusted him. But NOBODY else knew. I told him if there was a complication and I died on the table that he could tell my family the truth about the surgery. But I didn't even tell them I was GOING into surgery. I live in a different state, so that wasn't very hard. Well, after I had it done and I started seeing some success, I let slide to a few people here and there. I just kind of gauge where people are at and if I feel I'm going to be judged, I don't tell. My family still doesn't know. They obviously noticed all the weight loss and gave me lots of congrats. I think my fear at this point is if I tell them I got the surgery, it'll go from, "Wow! Good job!" to..."Oh, well it wasn't THAT big of an accomplishment." They won't SAY it, necessarily, but they'll think it. And I've worked hard to get to where I'm at, so I'm not budging an inch on that. Like I said...I'll tell people here and there. If I feel like I will maybe not see them very often (or ever again) and the weight-loss thing comes up, I might mention my band. But for the most part, IMO, I am not my band. Just because I have one does not change who I am or how much work I've done.

Ack. I hope that didn't come across snarky. I wasn't trying to be. LOL I'm working and I'm tired. And come to think of it, I'm hungry, dangit. LOL I appreciate the responses. I guess whatever our next date is will make it easier to gauge an appropriate time.

Yeeaahh. I'm not GOING to lie to him. It was more of a fun type question posted in the 20's forum because I know a lot of these peeps date. The question is "WHEN?" Right before the shirt comes off? Before we even get to that point? After the shirt comes off? I was thinking I'd probably end up telling him right before the shirt comes off. The scars are totally obvious - I can't lie about where they came from. There are 5 of them - I can't think of a freak-accident in the world to explain that. LOL I don't intend to lie to him or even lie by omission or even half-lie to him. I'm not going to. Hence the question. I was more curious about the timing and what people who are dating have done. But yeah - like I said, I think he felt the port, so that's pretty much unmistakable. The only things I could think of for that are cancer or the LB. He just simply didn't ask - I don't think it was in the forefront of his mind. So he'll GET the truth. I think the post was more a commentary on the goofy things you run into with the band. Was wondering if anyone had personal experiences to share.

I've wondered about this. With the new body, the lost marriage (ugh...he had it coming), new-found confidence, I was with a few partners. But nobody I was REALLY interested in - so telling them wasn't that big a deal, or I'd lie to them, straight up. But anyway...it looks like a new and VERY promising relationship is underway. I told him before that I lost a bunch of weight, so that's not really my worry about the lapband. I guess I realize that there is a lot of stigma attached sometimes to people losing with surgery rather than on their own (even though - truth be told, this has been a difficult journey and even 3 months shy of 2 years out, I'm still not at goal). I have to work my azz off to lose. The GREAT thing about LB, though, is that when I get lazy and my eating relaxes, I can't gain any more than 10 lbs at a time - period. I love that. So even when I hit rough Patches, I still don't balloon like I used to. Well, things are heating up and I'm pretty sure he could feel my port through my clothes because he kept going to that spot with his hand. But he didn't say anything...I kept distracting his hand away from there. LOL But WHEN do you tell somebody that's going to see you naked that you got Lapband done? One partner in particular (I lied about what the actual surgery was because I didn't care about the guy - it was FWB), I told him before I'd take my shirt off because I told him I have scars. He didn't end up caring, but that was kind of expected. I just wonder...when would you tell? Already before things started getting sexually-tense? Or right before you get naked? LOL I just can't decide. He has noticed that I eat strangely - very little and very slow. LOL So I was thinking maybe the next time we go out to eat just bringing it up...telling him that the reason I do that is because of LB surgery.

I know, I know - only a doctor could tell me for sure. But I don't have insurance and I'm not anxious to rack up a doctor bill. My band doctor is 4 hours away and I can't really afford to drive there right now, either. So I was more wanting to ask just to see if anybody else experienced something similar and could maybe give me a hint if I should panic or not. I'm down only 60 lbs total from where I started. A lot of that due to my own falling off the wagon. But I don't want to hear about it. The main thing is that I have had zero problems with the band up till now. I have excellent fill such that I can eat a small amount and stay full for awhile. I recently was back "on" the wagon to really push hard and get down to my goal before my 2-year anniversary. I was doing excellent, even started exercising a TON. Well, after much research, I felt I was too low on my calories and wanted to kind of reset my system/metabolism. Went back to eating the "bad" foods (sugar, etc) for a couple days. Well, there's where my trouble starts. On Saturday I ate a couple of tacos and a plain cheese quesadilla (one taco and the quesadilla was enough to fill me up...I ate the other taco later). Hours later, I also had some ice cream. So, basically, nothing absolutely horrific. Nothing that I would think would cause the pain that followed. I work nights. I ate the ice cream maybe about 1am? About 4am I decided that I would try and eat the other taco. Well, that's when the absolutely terrible pain started. I only got halfway through the taco. It came on kind of slow - the pain. But it was SO BAD 4 hours later when I was preparing to go to bed that I took a vicodin (with milk to coat my stomach) and OTC sleeping pills just to get the edge off enough to fall asleep. The pain was right where my band would be. The only thing I could relate it to was how I felt when I first got the thing put in. I had the localized pain right at the site that HURT if I breathed too deeply. Then I had the radiating pain to my back between my shoulder blades. The more I stood and walked around, the WORSE the pain was. It alleviated only slightly if I double over a bit. Sitting or lying down seems to help the most. When I sat in my car to drive home from work (1-hour drive), the radiating pain moved from between my shoulder blades down to just above my pelvic bone (still on the back). Now, maybe somebody will say food poisoning and blame the taco. But I had zero nausea, no vomiting, no diarrhea. Also, on Sunday I had basically no stomach trouble at all. Then yesterday morning about 7am, I had the pain hit again (the last time I had eaten was probably an hour prior - some turkey jerky). Granted, it was less intense, but it was the same that I described before. Only this time I didn't take anything for pain. I was at the grocery store and had to hurry out of there to get back to my car to sit down. I carried a 24-pack of bottled Water from my car into the house and thought I was going to collapse, the pain was so bad. Again - physical exertion of any kind to include standing made the pain unbearable. When I woke up at 6pm last night to prepare to go to work, I was still in a little bit of pain, but it was easy to deal with. I did start eating a pear, pulverizing the thing in my mouth and swallowed it as the equivalent of apple sauce and it felt STUCK. I had to toss the pear. So my band was wicked-tight almost like things were inflamed. After about an hour, things calmed to include the pain and I've eaten normally since then (good foods - I'm back to eating the good stuff). My stomach is not hurting...it's...gurgly-feeling. Hard to describe. So I guess...what does it FEEL like to be eroded or slipped? I'm scared that something has happened to my band and I was not abusing the band - just my nutrition. Which, fair enough, I'd deserve a lecture. But what happened to the band???

Carbs aren't all that matters. How many calories are you getting in a day? Maybe you're not getting ENOUGH.

Never liked popcorn before the band. For some reason after banding it's now one of my favorites. Odd. But it goes through without any trouble.

I haven't had issues with either food. 17 months banded.

I've heard of nail-biters, but I had no idea people swallowed that stuff. I figured most spit it out. Maybe you should try that.

Health Hazards of Fluoride <--Click-able link "Fluoridation ... it is the greatest fraud that has ever been perpetrated and it has been perpetrated on more people than any other fraud has."Professor Albert Schatz, Ph.D. (Microbiology), Discoverer of streptomycin and Nobel Prize Winner

Ooo, I knew it had to be out there...found the nutrition facts on their website: http://www.naturesplus.com/products/category.asp?cryteria=category&category=14&productNumber=3087

Well, Foofy - if it makes you feel any better, I keep gaining and losing the same pounds. It's starting to tick me off. I'm 3 pounds above ticker. :wub: I'm even being good and I gain. It's really frustrating. Hopefully by next weigh-in (next Monday), I'm down something, or it'll be hard not to run the damn scale over with the car.

Hey, Linda - These chewable Vitamins are actually really good: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Plus-Chewable-Pineapple-chewable/dp/B00014D2SM]Amazon.com: Nature's Plus - Adult's Chewable pineapple, 180 chewable tablets: Health & Personal Care[/ame] They're like a grown-up version of Flintstones. LOL And yeah - with what I've read, I wish I would have researched other surgeries, too. I think I would have done the sleeve. Oh, well - I'm happy with what I've accomplished so far.

Bandpal - Body fat scales measure the amount of fat in your body via BIA (Bioelectric Impedence Analysis). It checks the electrical conductivity of your body tissues. Muscle has more Water - it conducts better. Fat has an insulating effect and is less conductive. These scales have metal contacts on their surface - you need to have bare feet. Sometimes even wetting your feet a little bit makes them more effective. They're not as accurate as other methods of measuring body fat such as hydrostatic (they dunk you into a a tank of water - fat floats). In addition, a BIA scale only measures with a current through your lower body since electricity wants to take the shortest route possible. But at least it gives you SOME idea of where you are physically. Realistically, BMI doesn't give a full picture of how healthy your body is. It can be very deceptive. For instance: BMI Calculator ? Body Mass Index Chart ? Ideal Body Weight Chart Review There's a whole list of celebrities somewhere that are supposedly obese or overweight according to BMI, but are really in tip-top shape. The book I've been reading lately is from Tom Venuto: Fat Loss - Burn The Fat Feed the Muscle . He's a body builder and has numerous articles in fitness magazines. But you don't have to look ripped to be in good shape. I just want tone and good body fat %. My current plan should help me do so. But anyway - the scale. You can find them all over. I have a Taylor. They come for about 50 bucks. It gives at least some idea of what your physical picture is of your body. Oh, I wanted to add - you can't feel the BIA at all. It just feels like a regular old scale.

Wow - that's a big decision. Would you consider revising to something else (I'm hearing good things about the sleeve), or just nothing at all? Well...I hope you get the result that would make you happiest.

Oh, hey...I wanted to add something, here. I was doing this back in like Dec-Apr without even knowing there was a name for it: Zig-Zag Diet for Fat loss . Like I said, I've been researching this weekend, and in my research I came across this name and googled it and found this page. It does actually produce incredible results - a whole lot better than staying low calorie the whole time (I'm finding now). I'll be going back to doing this, too, along with the exercise.

Oh...and my exercise has been minimal, too, unfortunately. With the low calories, I find myself too tired much of the time. I was doing my 15-min T-Tapp workout on my 4 workdays and then just as much walking as I could bear while I'm at work, too. I only did light stuff on my days off - went hiking once in awhile but mostly nothing too strenuous. I want this to change, too.

LOL...eating way too little, actually. I'm going to be retooling how I'm doing things because I think it's having a detriment on my body. I've been researching it this weekend and I think my focus is going to change from losing as quickly as I can to losing at 2 lbs per week, max. And my goal will be to get my body fat % down, too. I really don't even want to say what my body-fat scale says my % is - it's incredibly embarrassing. But what I HAVE been doing is low-carb plus low calorie. On MyDailyPlate, I calculated the calories I would need per day to lose 4 lbs a week. I'm kind of an impatient person. But from what I've read (and now that I've read some of the scientific reasoning behind it, it makes sense), if you lose more than 2 lbs per week, you are losing lean muscle mass. As the article put it, I'm going to end up a "skinny fat person" with a high body fat %, but a low weight. That's not what I want. Plus, I've found it difficult to do anything truly serious when it comes to exercise because my calories were way too low. I don't even want to say how low they were because I'm embarrassed about that, too. I'm afraid I was becoming a bit anorexic and the idea of calories scared me. From what I'm reading, if you aren't losing weight on a moderately low calorie diet, don't reduce your calories, first increase your exercise. I've calculated that for my body size, I'd need about 2100 calories a day to maintain. I was reading that you should cut about 21% of your calories. So that'll bring me to a daily total of 1600 calories. Oh, my heavens - it sounds like a TON compared to what I HAVE been eating. BUT...the other side to it is this - it's also obviously recommended that you exercise aerobically at least 3-4 times a week for 30 mins. And it's also recommended to bring in a little light weight training to build muscle. Basically, if I keep my lean muscle mass and lose more of just my body fat, my metabolism will be higher and it'll be MUCH easier to maintain once I get down to goal. Plus, I'll be able to fit into smaller sizes. So, yeah - I just wrote you a book. LOL I've just really been troubled lately with the whole dieting thing and wanted to really educate myself about nutrition and exercise. I was on a trifle of a number of calories yesterday and I'm trying to reset my body. Today I'm just eating whatever I want to let my body rest a bit (but it's not all Cookies and candy). Then this week I'll be setting myself at 1600 calories a day and picking up good exercise. I'm starting The Firm workouts tomorrow - even picked up a piece of workout equipment today that I'm going to need to do them. I had good results with The Firm back before I ever got the band. So although I'm still keeping my goal of losing POUNDS, I want them to be FAT pounds. So my major goals are body fat % drop and size reduction. LOL You caught me at a major shift in my way of working things.

Ha...I hear ya there. Having insurance doesn't seem to be much more help than NOT having it. So for the time being until I have an employer that offers it (so I don't have to seek it out on my own), I guess I'm going without. Yeah - it does suck knowing that there is a medical issue that needs to be taken care of...but knowing you're going to have to pony up the dough. :laugh:

I'm finding that I'm at a smaller size at a higher weight this time around, too. It doesn't make any sense to me because I'm really not exercising as much as I should (yes, yes - I know...things are being revamped here, shortly). So I have no explanation whatsoever as to why I'm in a 10 now at 169 when the last time I was this weight back in 2002, I was like a 12/14.