bulawookie

The goal is not too focus on what amount is in the band but to focus on how hungry you are feeling. In the green zone you can only eat small meals and not get hungry again for 4 to 5 hours. That is a glorious feeling. Are you there? Are you able to stay full 4 to 5 hours at a time? If so.....great you are in the green zone. Believe me you do not want to be too tight. It is great your doctor looked at the passage of barium through your band. That is the most accurate measure of the amount of your restriction. So if he said no more fills for a while then that is great news to you.

Occasionaldream

You are too tight. You can't lose weight when you are too tight. Go get an some fill taken out and you will be amazed to feel the band work as it is designed to do.

Oh My Gosh I am soooooo glad you said you are catching yourself wanting to eat when you don't feel hungry. Isn't that an awesome feeling. Now it is easy to not eat when we aren't hungry. The band takes that unnecessary hunger away and I am so glad you are feeling that wonderful reward. And wow down 35 pounds is fantastic.

I can not tell you how much Hospice helped me while my Dad was dying. They have an incredibly beautiful perspective on death. They bring you peace and hope. Heaven really is our goal. The hard work is here on earth. It helped me to know my Dad would be out of pain and live eternally in heaven. Think that about your brother. My surgeon said not to expect weight loss until 4 or 5 fills. You are not even restricted yet and are losing weight so you are doing very well. One member in my monthly support group inspires me. She lost 50 pounds in a whole year!! Losing slowly worked very well for her. She far in front of us on body image because the slow loss gave her mind time to keep up with and adjust to her changing body. Wow. So a pound a week is tremendous progress. We can not compare ourselves to others on the site. Compare oneself to oneself and go easy on yourself while your brother is dying. You are doing God's work by being with him every day. I applaud you.

That is a lot of calories. Go in for your fills because you will be amazed at how restriction really gets you full fast and keeps you full. Some of us do not lose any weight until we feel restriction. We need so much less food than our minds are trained to think we need. Having the band lean on our Vegas nerve really takes the hunger away.

Ok no worries. You need to know it may take up to 5 fills before you can expect proper restriction. Once you are tighter you will be amazed at how you body tells you when to stop eating. With smaller portions you will notice, "Wow, I am full and not going to eat all of this!". You will start to serve yourself less and be amazed at the full feeling you get really soon. We are here for you when you get discouraged. You are winning.....you are already down in weight. Eventhough you took on a few pounds you are still down. My surgeon told me he does not expect weight loss at all until you feel restriction. So the weight you have lost already is all on your own which is an indicator of how hard you are working. Great on the exercise!! You will make it. Just know with fills you will soon know what it feels like to not feel hunger and cravings.

Oh dear I was exactly where you are right now. My pre-surgery diet was not perfect to say the least. It is a time to practice patience not perfection. You sound like you are expecting yourself to be perfect which none of us are. I have to tell you a wonderful benefit of the band. It really really curbs hunger!! It works to keep you from being hungry which is miraculous. It gives you the peace of mind to get through each day without thinking about food all the time. Before the band we don't get through Breakfast before we are dreaming about lunch. And at lunch while eating we start obsessing about what we will eat for dinner. Once you are banded your life does not revolve around food all day. It is a peaceful feeling. Get your band and you will see how easy these food cravings get. Let us know how you are doing.

jkitch

pm me and we can exchange emails and phone numbers!! Need the same that you do!!!

Hey. I am sorry to confuse you. Sometimes I write without thinking to much. I guess it feels good to share with free flowing thoughts. Yes I was really tight in the beginning but then as things settled down I seemed to get looser. Right now I am fine. Finding out that my band is fickle and the amount of tightness seems to change. Thanks for responding.

no problem with your sleeping positions. you can't hurt the band sleeping on it. Remember fireman whose life is very grueling and physical maneuver themselves around day after day with no problems with the band. i sleep flat on my stomach. i feel the port but am sure it does not harm the band.

hope i said something that may help you. Lifestyle change is hard and it won't come all at once.
We have to be patient. Patience and trust. The weight will come off when we are brutally honest about what we are putting in our mouths. Are we getting more movement in our daily lives? Are we going to the doctor regularly so their experise can guide us in the right direction? Do you have a support system. And don't compare yourself with others weight loss on these forums. Everybody is different. Different sex's. Different beginning weights. Different levels of motivation. Different ideas on what works. Debate your self-depreciating thoughts and focus on how far you have come as an individual. We are all unique and the weight is going to come off according to your genetics, metabolism and adherence to your after care program. This tool works!!

Oh Nolans Nana do not fret. You are right on track. A group member I know from my support group meetings felt the same as you. (Don't compare yourself to other's because it can make you feel like a failure) Anyway, She has lost 50 pounds in one year!! That is a slow weight loss but Wow you should have seen her pictures. I think she has something on all of us because she lost consistently for a whole year. Getting weight off slowly as been said to be one of the best indicators of those who are successful at keeping the weight off for good.

Stop comparing yourself with others weight loss. It is different for everyone. The tool gives us 80 % burt we must work the other 20%.

I recently made a list of all the rewards I am going to give myself along this journey to Celebrate my lost weight. I found some meet up groups who engage in activities such as community service, hiking, socializing with live music and happy hours. These are my new rewards.

Obestiy in my has led me into a very sad isolated lifestyle and I am being proactive to change that. I am attending many meetings over the next few weeks to reintegrate myself back into a social group. I am thrilled because on this journey I have rewarded myself with glasses of wine, pizza, Peanut Butter and Bagels. All these foods as rewards are not helping my total weight loss so I searched on the internet for positive activities that when finished would make me feel good about myself. Hope this helps. Love your comments so please write.

I hate how those out there in the world think that just because we are big girls that we are automatically stronger than other's in shape. I get this all the time. When I go to Costcoe and buy big items that are too heavy for me to lift I get the sarcastic attitudes that say, " You are a big girl so of course you can maneuver this 60 pound bad of dog food all by yourself. I have never understood why folks think we big woman are also very strong woman because of our size!! To hell with those people. It is hard moving around this store hauling really heavy items. The attitude we are treated with is, "She is a big girl so she can lift that 85 pound bag of dog food all by herself" Fat doesn't mean strong. We walk around all day with various amounts of weight on us. Walking is harder, Carrying heavy items is harder. So to hell with others preconceived ideas that we big girls are also strong as an ox. I find the opposite true. Sure I am staring to exercise by walking but I need to do weight lifting at the gym. We overweight people have more difficulty moving around and carrying heavy items. But the population doesn't see it that way!!! Fat people are often treated as invisible. Like we don't exist. But all that will change as our program goes along and the weight starts coming off. People are going to treat us differently once we are thin. That will be a real good NSV. Being noticed and having doors opened for you will be more NSV's. This is a life changing endeavor. I am going to make it. How about you others out there? What do you think?

Kindle,

I love what you have said. You respect and expect times when we are around foods that maybe are not the best for us. You resist. You partake with a small portion and then do not beat yourself up about it. I love that you said you refuse to be in a situation where you deny yourself some of our old, not recommend foods. After you consume them it sounds like you spend no time beating yourself up about these minor slips. We are human. We are going to make minor mistakes. But it is the whole process ranging over a week, a month, an 8 week period of time. Given that we can fit into our programs some of you most delicious foods. The band limits our intake for small portions and when you eat small portions you don't feel deprived. Deprivation leads to binging later. So your approach is a good one. Thanks for sharing what works for you!!!

Banded May 15th and down 26 punds! I am so proud of myself and just wanted to share. I have been stuck with developing a reward system that does not involve food. In the past food and overeating has been my reward. Overeating numbs me to a place of uninteresting, dull days of isolation. So I joined a few meet up groups who do community service, hike local trails, go to happy hours and listen to live music. I am so happy I have found a great source and avenue of a healthy reward system that will help keep me motivated to move forward with my weight loss.

Earlier tonight I went to my doctors office lap band support group. Many members said I was looking so good. They all said they noticed how much weight I have lost. It made me feel so very very good. I have been following the rules. I am not in the green zone yet so I have to deal with a bit of real hunger issues. Lining myself up with positive, motivating people in my community is the best reward I could come up with. At the support meeting tonight several members said they really noticed the weight loss change in how I look today. Those non-scale victories are going to keep be going and keep me motivated for a long time. Hope sharing this helps some of you out there!! Would love to hear your comments!!

I just joined a few meet up groups here in Austin. Social groups, Hiking groups, groups that want to walk to lose weight and laid back happy hours. I am thrilled to find some non-food rewards for my weight loss adventure. Going to volunteer to beautify some gardens, hiking wild basin, happy hours with other singles looking to meet new people, adventure activities and helping out in our community. I am thrilled to find some active, non-eatinfg activities that where I will be able to make more friends. This weight loss journey is hard. Lifestyle changes take time but I am taking a proactive approach to re-integrate back into healthy social settings. My obesity has me very socially isolated. I go to monthly support group meetings at my doctors office but once a month isn't helping me enough. So tonight I joined a few meet up groups who do fun things in Austin. I am thrilled to have found these groups. I am going to use the time to develop satisfying activities that do ont involve eating. Just looking to replace the old rewards of eating the wrong thing with social, active activities with other people. I had been searching for a way to work out isolation obesity put me in. Yah!!!

i get dizzy too, but it is when i con sums no food most of the day and then eat too much at n ight so I can go to sleep. sleep is very important so I try to follow the rules of strong Protein first with small amounts of veggies late. So far it is working for me. I eat three small meals a day with nothing in between . Mhy downfall is that late at night before I go to bed I eat something very satisfying so I can go to bed and sleep. I am exercising 3 times per week. I am only up to about 2 hour walks. my legs rub together which is very uncomfortable and every time I walk I get blisters. It is hard to exercise when one has these unfortunate maladies but I still go walk even it it is for 10 minutes at a time. I will build up to long her walks soon, but i am not ready for a 5k yet. Too embarrassed to get out there and walk among all th4e skinny people while I am still obese. I will keep trying but I get a lot of anxiety before I meet my walking partners. Anyone have some good advice. I am a new bander only out from May 15th surgery date. Would love to hear what you all have to say about my circumstances.

Sorrry you are struggling. You can not give up. Weight loss is dependent upon so many different factors so it is hard to come on this forum and compare our weight loss with the next person. All we can do it do the best we can every day. When we do the best we can to follow the rules then we are working it in the right direction. There will be bad days, but many more good days to come. Be determined. Be committed to this process. Commit to following the rules and the weight will peel off of us!!! We are powerful people with an almost magic like band. We have all the tools we just have to utilize the tools or we can't be bumped we are not losing weight. It is easy for me to get discouraged when I read of all these people losing vast amounts of weight in short amounts of time. If I compare my journey to others it will zap my motivation. I am happy with 2 pounds per week. I know that means it will take a long time for me to get to my goal weight but I am patience with this process. Going forward at a slow pace but happy with the fact the weight is still coming off and I am not in the green zone. I ignore al lot of real hunger to stretch out my daily a lot of calories. I do this so I can have a snack before I go to bed which yeps me fall asleep.

I was banded May 15, 2014 for the second time. Things are coming into place very well for me right now. I started out at 187 and am now down 26 pounds. I know this does not seem like a lot of weight compared to all these posts I read here of enormous weight loss's. I am staying positive despite my weight loss is low compared to so many of you out there. But I am determined to get all this weight off with lots of hard work. The band can't lose the weight for me. I have to follow the rules of eating my Proteins first and then a little extra of salad or bread. It is still working even though I have only lost 26 pounds. I still have so much more weight to lose. But I am very proud of my 26 pound weight loss so far. I have been walking but not every day. The heat and humidity here make it hard to get outside and walk. I will continue to walk but am building up to more time as I walk. I walked an hour and a half a few days ago and got terrible blisters. So I had to stop walking for a few days still the blisters healed. Today I ate 10 grapes for Breakfast, 6 ounces of chicken and a bagel before bed. Yes I can still eat bread. I am really trying to decide whether I need another small fill. Any good advice out there???? My last fill was way too ight so I had to go gert a slight infill to calm things drown. Now my band it tight and a few food items are coming up especially when I drink Water with my meals. I am trying really hard to keep the weight going down. I am determined to get the best out of this band and I won't quit my gill asppoinments until I find that green zone. I know it is near. I am thinking I need a very small fill on August the 4th because I still eat oatmeal, pizza, and bread. Those are things I know I should not be eating.What do you all think?? Shlould I go in for a slight fill. A very small fill????? Or just I just be happy with where I am since I have lost 26 pounds since May 15th. Would love to hear your comments, criticisms and advice!!!

I know what it is like being hungry at night. I gained all my weight by late night eating. I hate trying to go to sleep hungry so I curtail what eat during the day so right before I go to bed I treat myself to something good to eat. Usually applesauce or yogurt or half a bagel or a few Peanut Butter crackers. It is my method for dealing with night time hunger.

It is natural that you are feeling hungry right now. You are not eating much and adjusting to the band. It may take up to 5 fills before you find the green zone. I was hungry only two hours after eating too for a long time. I drank a lot of Water and just dealt with the hunger. Now I have had a few fills and notice that I am not hungry for about 4 hours after I eat. You will get there too. Meanwhile, keep up the good work. Sounds like you will need a fill at the doctors prescribed timing.

Wow what a great success you are!! Thanks for sharing the pictures. What an inspiration it is to see your pictures. You look great!!

Way to go!! A size 12 must feel really good. I am proud of you so keep up the good work!

Hey everyone, I just wanted to tell you all that I can finally cross my legs!! It is a victory since my surgery and about a 23 pound weight loss. I use it to keep me motivated. I am dealing with hunger issues, real hunger versus mind hunger, but am dealing with it. Crossing my legs feels so good. My face looks thinner too. I am looking for all the little motivators I can find.

I drink white wine every so often and have been banded since May 15th. It helps relax me in the evenings and I enjoy the taste with food. I was told we can have alcohol but of course we have to understand the calorie intake and the fact that it has no nutritional value. I agree that we have to be careful not to grow dependent on it because we don't want to replace our addiction to food with alcohol.

Susan,

Don't give up on the band. I was banded for the first time back in 2009 and it worked so well because I kept going back to the doctor and being honest about my amount of restrictiveness. I lost all my weight and was so happy for so long. My life was full again. I stated dating and felt alive and wanted and attractive. Then I was too private about my band and very self-conscience about my port showing. I was sure I would be able to keep the weight off so I got my band out. I got it out because I was so worried what others would think. Then I gained all the weight back and life was really dim again. I slipped into depression. I isolated and felt worthless. Then at 186 and being short I went back to get banded again. My new band is with me only a short time since May 15th of this year. I am so happy to have the band again. I have a newfound ultimate respect for this band. I am dealing with hunger but learning to deal with it because I am determined to make it work and return to being happy. I hope you work with your band and keep it. With my first band I was throwing up and sliming too but I soon started to follow all the rules and got the weight off just like you will. Going for a second band at age 50 was really hard. My recovery was painful and I had terrible gas pains. We are all brave to go through the surgery just as you are being brave right now. I am glad you are working with your doctors but I hope you don't give up on the band. Please let us know how you are doing. We are all here to help you and your post helps us.