SpecialK

I had a hard time traveling for work eating out every meal, they were ordering muffins for breakfast, pizza for lunch, etc. and then I found it easy to drink beer/wine to have fun with the bunch of guys I was traveling with so I was getting back on the bandwagon when I got home. I did lose .4 lb. when I weighed in at WW yesterday so its progress. Gotta do better this next week. Trying not to use my birthday tomorrow as an excuse to fall off the wagon too. I was so so excited on my birthday 3 years ago because that was when I learned about my lapband surgery being approved. I did make some good choices at Olive Garden last night for an early birthday dinner. Come on Shamrocks,,,, let's finish this off !

Hi Bugwitch! I'm a Columbus bandster and a group of us informally meet up at the Polaris mall on the 2nd Saturday from 2-4pm. If you want to talk to some of us in person, send me Private Message here on this board and I'll give you an email address and/or phone #. I had mine done at Mt. Carmel 3 years ago.We have folks from Riverside and Ohio State that have come and also Dr. Curry in Cincinnati.

Here's my 2 cents worth -- I try to stop drinking about 10-15 minutes before I eat - with my band fill level 10cc in a 14 cc band - that seems to be enough that I can then start eating and not have a problem. At restaurants -- I don't order a drink other than ice Water unless I think I really will have time to drink it before or after I've eaten -- which is generally not true. I've wasted coffee and iced tea many times before I realized I should just not order them so automatically like I used to do. Saves money not ordering a drink! On why some fill amounts seem to do more than others or lose their effectiveness -- this is one I think is so personal and individual based on how much 'belly fat' you have around your stomach and whether you are losing weight around your stomach and liver (abdominal fat) or are losing all over or from somewhere else seems to be changing more than your belly. If you are noticing a fill doesn't seem to be giving you the right restriction level, make an appointment to see your surgeon - they will always be the best source - better than internet friends or general people who aren't bandsters - follow your surgeon's advice first and foremost. Hope this helps.

Hi Rosey and other Golden bandsters! I hit the big 55 next week and I'm out three years now almost from my lapband surgery. I lost 140 lbs and then had a really stressful year in 2010 and gained about 10 lbs back so I'm back on track now. Committed to staying online and getting other support from bandsters that really helped me in my first couple years and then I got away from asking for support. I joined WW and really like the PointsPlus program as its very close to aligning for what I need to do now - fruits, vegetables, lean proteins first and not using my points on carbs, fats, and sweets except as exceptions. I also think I need weekly weigh ins now for accountability to someone else since I don't go see my surgeon's office any more except if I think I need a check up which I am physically fine. No band fill needed, I have enough restriction if I choose to eat the right things. I'd be glad to try to answer private messages or post here to questions from a longer out bandster but I need encouragement to finish off my last 50 lbs! Want to get done and get to maintaining with +5/-5 lbs around the same. I can tell you +10 lbs was making my clothes tighter and it was a real wake up call.

The brutal honest, and painful to me truth is, I was under a lot of stress and found myself slipping back to some of those slider foods - I found I couldn't even keep small quantities of things around as I wouldn't leave them alone. I could eat them, I knew I shouldn't. Back on track now and want to nail my last 50 lbs and then maybe have my long awaited tummy tuck to really be proud of this body for myself. You have to decide for yourself its worth it to skip the comfort foods and find an alternative to get to your goal.

Best wishes to the newbie! You will be thrilled as I am. At three years out, I'm starting to learn the ups and downs of staying down for my -140 lbs and I still have a way to go but I'm so much healthier and happier with myself--regardless of what others think.

Encouragement from a 3 year old lapbander-- hang in there newbie! This phase will pass and when you look back on your progress you'll think of it like a mother giving birth - painful at the time but so joyous the results!

I'm also tracking what hours of the day I eat my WW PointsPLus to see if I am eating a little bit throughout the day including breakfast to fire up my metabolism and keep it burning calories all day.

I feel so much better knowing that I am not the only one who slipped up over the holidays but I am really committed again now. I signed up for a WW at Work program that starts Thursday Jan 13 and I felt that would give me a weekly weigh in goal for the next 10 weeks and some verbal support from the lunchtime speaker and others who are trying to lose. I don't plan to tell them I have my lapband, only that I need to lose 50 more lbs and want help! Keep on trying everyone.

Well I am almost three years out on my lapband journey and had lost a total of 140 of the 200 total pounds I want to lose and I just hit a wall in 2010 with some very eventful, stressful things in life and I reverted to some old bad behavior of thinking okay, I can eat now and get through this stress, and then lose the weight if I can something later. Just get through the stress. Whoa! Was that really me thinking that -- I want to lose this last 60 lbs. I want to see the scale go below 199 for the first time in years and years. I want to finally lose the rest of my weight so that I can go ahead with my tummy tuck or whatever surgery I need to be able to accept what my body looks like when I am done. So, for all that history...on to a new year! I took both pictures with front, back, side views today and its not so pretty! What was I thinking being so proud of my 140 lb loss and thinking I was just too cute in those smaller sizes and jeans! I want to get to even smaller sizes and smaller jeans! Anybody else want to be accountable in 2011 and take photos today and then a year from now take photos again and see if we really meant our commitments? The only person I am really committing to is ME! Forget this thing that I let get back in my head that if I were to lose weight I'd finally find my dream man. I did find someone in 2010 and then just as I was getting brave enough to show my feelings, I lost my job where we were working together and he started dating someone else we worked with. Darn! Okay, without posting ugly pictures here, I'm wearing Size L to XL Tshirts now and Size 18 in dress pants and Size 20 in jeans as of today. Can't wait to see where this new year of commitment takes me.

You are inspiring to me! I got stuck after losing 140 lbs and I got so 'satisfied' in my head with how I was looking and kept wanting and wanting to get below the 200 lb mark and I keep bouncing up and down and then slipped back over the holidays with gaining from some sloppy eating habits. I decided to recommit to my old 2008 self when losing weight was foremost in my mind every hour of every day as I got ready to have my lapband surgery in March and for those exciting months after when I was losing weight so fast. I joined a WW class at work that starts January 13 and it goes for a 10 week session and I'm going to fight like heck to get my 199 or less lbs mark. Keep me in prayers for this all important life milestone.

Its been a few days since your Christmas post -- how are you doing? Hope things settled down.

I'm still hanging in here at -140 lbs from my March 2008 lapband surgery and I need to lose a good 50 lbs more to have my tummy tuck to get rid of my ugly belly skin. I need to really buckle down as I lost motivation in 2010 due to personal stress but I'm feeling better and more committed than ever again.

Welcome to the newly banded. I'm about 3 years out and stuck at a loss of 140 lbs and I need to lose about another 50 lbs and I kind of got sloppy with my eating habits in 2010 so I'm going to commit to getting back on this board regularly in the new year to get inspiration from all my other lapband friends out there. Wishing you all the success I had. I definitely would do it again for all the health and emotional gains it has been for me.

Hi to all my Buckeye bandster buddies -- I haven't been online in awhile - still going through some stressful crap in my personal family life and the new job I have is involving quite a bit of overtime but I like what I'm doing and the people I work with. I have been overindulging in sweets over the holidays and junk food so I'm coming clean with the need to turn a new leaf for the new year. Hope to hear how the rest of you are doing out there. Its tough keeping going every day. I now realize how thrilling that fast weight loss was for motivation versus slow and steady wins the race. I am joining a WW class at work on January 13 and I'm committed to 10 weeks and hoping to nail a good 10 lbs in that time!

Hi to all my Shrinking Shamrocks -- I haven't been online in awhile - still going through some stressful crap in my personal family life and the new job I have is involving quite a bit of overtime but I like what I'm doing and the people I work with. I have been overindulging in sweets over the holidays and junk food so I'm coming clean with the need to turn a new leaf for the new year. Hope to hear how the rest of you are doing out there. Its tough keeping going every day. I now realize how thrilling that fast weight loss was for motivation versus slow and steady wins the race. I am joining a WW class at work on January 13 and I'm committed to 10 weeks and hoping to nail a good 10 lbs in that time!

Thanks Christine and Chubby Checker for answering back. I do have great friends here locally that are tremendous support and I do have a good counselor I see. My mother died when I was 5 years old and my Dad remarried 3 more times, the last to the wicked stepmother figure you see in the Cinderella story. Anyway, she was so abusive that I eventually was taken out of my home and sent to live with an aunt and uncle as my foster parents. The aunt is the sister of my stepmother - what a crazy family but I have made it work for more than 40 years which my counselor says is a tremendous credit to me. I believe in God and believe He has brought me through and will continue to be with me until this is resolved. She has done this thing of not talking for periods of time in the past but not as bad as she is doing this year. Yes, family stress is part of the reason I became an overeater -- stuffing my face to make me feel better. She doesn't even comprehend that she is causing pain - or maybe she does - but the holidays are a stressful time for someone single and someone who struggles with weight and eating so I have to be extra diligent at this time of year not to gain weight. I did have a good day yesterday -- Positive - worked out on my lunch time, ate a healthy salad for lunch, healthy turkey chili and a Protein shake for an evening snack so I am doing good as I start the day. Thanks for being out there and listening as I am sure those of us who struggle with eating understand emotional eating.

Where are my Shamrock friends? I am still trying but I'm finding that I make some bad choices when I eat and that is discouraging to me. Really frustrated with my foster mom - she is 83 years old and has been pretty mean to me since I lost my job in June - she was convinced I did something to deserve to be laid off - what the heck! then when I let them know I had found a new job - she agreed to finally meet me after 2 months of not speaking - then that day I had to deliver some bad news that I can't afford certain things in life now and needed her support on that -- so again, not speaking to me again. Here it is with Thanksgiving coming up and she isn't speaking so I'm not sure what I'm doing for the holiday dinner. I did go ahead and make plans to get together with a cousin and her son/grandsons the next day on Friday but this is so frustrating to me that family can be such an emotional problem-- and that I revert to food for comfort. Ugh! Keep me in your prayers and good thoughts. How are others doing? I hope being quiet here on this board means you are doing okay.

I admit it - I'm struggling - the emotional ups and downs in my life right now are driving me to make some bad food choices. I did better this past weekend but the scale is totally stuck at the level I'm at with fluctuating up and down 5 lbs when I need to get losing and keep going further down. I'm trying...its just getting harder.

Hi CJ! Congrats on getting your lapband. I had mine done about 3-4pm on an afternoon and I was being released from the hospital by about 12noon-1pm the next day. Definitely within 24 hours I'd say is the max you'll be in the hospital. Stay in touch how you are going. Send me a Private Message here if you'd like to ask other questions off line.

I must be getting back into 'band eating' -- eat a small amount and get full then a few hours later - suddenly realize I am really hungry and I need protein now! Yesterday I was doing heavy duty yard work so I was probably burning off every calorie I had eaten so I was after a protein shake later in the day - putting chocolate protein powder into morning coffee to give myself a protein jumpstart to the day and sometimes making a strawberry protein shake using skim milk, vanilla/strawberry protein powder, Crystal Lite Strawberry drink single packet, ice cubes, frozen strawberries, and some Splenda -- makes a big strawberry shake to sip on slowly and its not that many calories.

Way to go Jamie! I too used to login and check the lapband board daily and sometimes multiple times a day when I was first going through this and now I've fallen back from getting a daily dose of help from those who understand. I promise to try to stay in touch on here more often. The scale was down 2 lbs from where I thought I was so I think the dedication I put in this week is helping. Let's keep going! I also feel a responsibility to make the lapband work for me because so many people never heard of a lapband including my primary care doctor and my family when I decided to go thru this instead of gastric bypass. I don't want to fail for fear it will scare others off a valuable tool option they could consider.

How are the Mt Carmel lapband folks doing out there? I've had a slow period but lost a couple pounds here recently. I just keep working at it every day and encourage all of you to do the same.

Hi Shamrocks! Its been quiet on the board here but I am still giving it a try every day and still hope to stay committed for the rest of my life. Been bouncing up and down at the same level too long. I miss getting to buy new smaller size clothes every so often. Sadly, the things from last winter (like Feb of this year) still fit -- that is good and bad -- good that I haven't gained weight back (Yea!) but bad that this last 40 lbs I need to lose are very stubborn. I've been giving it some thought on why I am stuck and it is likely because I think I'm cute and healthy where I am...I really had "getting healthy" as my primary goal and "getting thin" to find my desire to date and have other relationships as a secondary goal. I am getting ready to schedule an appointment to be retested on my need for a CPAP machine. I think it will show I no longer need that. So, no high bloods pressure, cholesterol or diabetes, dramatically less knee and hip pain, etc. adds up to me meeting my primary "get healthy" goal. I know I'll be even more healthy if I get this last 40 lbs off but I guess I know with what I've lost I'm not at risk to drop dead from my morbid obesity where I was at 300+ lbs. On the 'getting cute' front -- I did get brave enough to contact someone I was working with at my former job that I thought might be interested and he waited weeks to respond to my email -- really hurt my ego that I misjudged whether he was available/interested...this is the kind of stuff that has driven me crazy in the past...to eating things.... where I took a chance to put myself out there for a relationship and was put down again. Well, I felt like I was handling things okay, wasn't freaked out, and yet the motivation to 'get cute' to get a man, was gone. So, I'm back to the motivation to be only based on 'get healthy' or 'get to buy cute clothes in smaller sizes' as my motivators. I can't tell you how wonderful it is that people who knew me for years as overweight continue to remain stunned at how much different, better, I look now, and that I'm keeping it going almost 3 years after starting this journey. They are each day becoming convinced that I am in this for life. Okay, I'm going to buy me something in a smaller size and keep trying that sucker on every day until I get into it! Maybe doing something just to please me alone, will kick my butt into gear. Hope you're all hanging in there friends. This board was such support for me in the early months and its where I still think I can unload my thoughts and fears and find someone who understands where my family and friends who don't struggle with weight, can't say much to help.

Heather -- you are not alone. I am stuck at -140 lbs off and keep bouncing up and down at the same number and I have at least 40 more to lose. Do you want to start getting together over coffee weekly -- kind of a WW buddy like approach. I could meet on a Monday or Tuesday evening at that Paneras near Maxtown? I need to buckle down and use my DailyPlate to track what I'm doing. I have restriction but I'm bored with my eating and I slip up to try something easier to eat or something sweet. I do not want to ever go back to where I was. I also believe I have this tool and will use it. Give me a call. SpecialK