bandpal

Congratulations, Kellie! Enjoy this wonderful accomplishment!

Hi Allea, welcome to LBT. Check out the monthly support groups on the main forums menu. The companionship and support gained by communicating with other bandsters who started out along with me has been an invaluable part of this experience. All the best,

Congratulations to you both! It feels great, doesn't it? Enjoy the accomplishment!

Welcome to LBT, Kathy, and congratulations on making this big decision. With a little (okay, sometimes a lot) of patience, acceptance , follow through and the aforementioned good luck, the band can be nothing short of a miracle. This site is an endless source of information and support. Read the relevent forums, paying special attention to stickies and faqs. Identify the threads that are meaningful, and go through them searching for whatever you need – don't just read the recent posts – some of them go back a long way, and some of the information there is still quite valid. Read peoples' profiles to get an idea of who's been around for a while, who is walking the walk. And join the April 2009 Bandsters Forum to share this experience with others who are going through it at the same time. Here's the link: April 09 Bandsters - Lap Band Surgery and Lap Band Discussion Forum Best of luck!

Name............Start.......Current...........Goal..........To Go Momto1plus1...173...........163.............159................4 Bandpal..........151.14..... 148.5............150................ - Cindyg...........190...........190..............175................ 15 Hi All, I reached my goal weight of 150 two days ago and am now actually a pound and a half below it. I'd like to make it down to 145 by April 2, when I have an appointment with my lapband doc. At that point, I'd like to try a small unfill. I have a little anxiety over this - what if I gain weight, what if the band opens too much, what if it doesn't close again later on, blah, blah, blah... but I know I have to have faith and give this a try. For one thing, I want to see if the habits I've developed hold up once I have a little more wriggle room; for another, I'm just too tight, something I haven't admitted to myself up 'till now. I couldn't see holding steady at a given weight the way I am now. I'm a little subdued today because I binged last night, or what passes for binging these days - eating and pb-ing most of it back up. I have to keep telling myself that the habits I am trying to rid myself of, both on the level of thought, feeling and action, are among the most deeply seated I have. I have been practicing and perfecting them for years, and a year and four months, even a year and four months of dramatic change, is not going to make them go away overnight. It's very hard for me to forgive myself, temptingly easy to adapt the mind set of "well, you screwed it up tonight, let's go for broke tomorrow". But today I know that it doesn't have to play out that way. The band enabled me to break that pattern - I know that a bad night doesn't have to lead to a bad day the next day, a bad week, a bad month... I actually excercized yesterday, too - walked and ran for a mile and a half. I'm going to try to do that two more times this week. Anyway, look - Momto1plus1, I look forward to meeting you in the promised land soon. Cindy, thanks for your kind words, take all the motivation you can get. You're pretty inspiring yourself, you know - closing up shop at school and producing a bar mitzvah is a tall order, and I am sure you are doing a great job. I hope you can manage to stay off the Phentermine - that sounds like strong stuff. I'm waiting for a picture of you in that dress. I miss everyone here too. I truly don't think I could've pulled this off without the support of people who were going through the same thing and at the same time as I was. You are all very special to me, and I am saddened that we've grown smaller - especially because this is, for me, where it starts to get "interesting" - maintainance. I have lost weight before, but I have never managed to keep it off. Living life as a thin person, cementing the new habits and continuing to eschew the old ones, dealing with the challenges of sexuality, and trying to set limits to emotional and thought-based excesses which once lead to eating; kind of like developing a "lap-band for the head and the heart" which works as effectively as this one has. These are the challenges which I am facing now, and who better to share with than you guys, who "knew me when". You are such a rare and wonderful resource for me - please don't go away! Thank you to each and every one of you - I couldn't have done it without you.

Shanyab, congratulations on your progress. Successful "closet shopping" and not breaking out in a cold sweat at the thought of putting on a bathing suit are only two of the many benefits of the band. Enjoy them. Now, about those people. Some of them may actually be trying to hold you back, while others may be sincerely complimentary when they say, "you don't need it, you're fine the way you are". But all these comments are meaningless, and ultimately they just have to be screened out. Just as the band helps me to define my limits for what I put into my body, we have to define limits for what we put into our heads. Maybe these people are sick, vengeful, sexually frustrated or well-meaning; the important thing is that their comments can have no effect on me or relevence to me unless I allow them in. For me, one of the reasons why I got fat was because I didn't have enough skin - and I allowed the world to enter my body (sounds freaky, but think about it) by allowing outside events to influence me to the point where I would binge over them ceaselessly, a never ending cycle of anger and humiliation. Like I said, we have to let the band affect our mindset as well as our stomach. If you hear something you don't like, don't swallow it - spit it out! This might be a little graphic, but it's from my heart. One more thing - the best weapon against people and situations like this not a snappy reply but your own sense of humor and compassion. Best wishes for continued success, sorry for the long and rambling reply (actually, not sorry at all),

There is obviously a variety of views on this subject. My doctor had no problem with coffee or caffeine, so I continued to drink coffee and tea post surgery, up until today. That having been said, I don't drink nearly as much of either as I did before. I think the general idea of redefined limits is central to success with the band.

Dear Capn, You've already received some excellent advice here, but I wanted to chip in with some of my own. I really felt for you when you mentioned that your parents paid for your surgery and are now pressuring you for results. I have had my parents (wonderful, loving people) pay for various attempts at losing weight. For me, their good intentions aside, this led only to pressure, humiliation, guilt, anger, frustration and failure. Even though you might not be able to pay your parents back in the near future, is there any chance that you could make a commitment in principle to reimburse them at some point, or to pay them a symbolic sum monthly? This is not only to get them off your back - you need to know that this is your battle, that you are doing this for yourself and not for them. I'd be concerned that no matter what other efforts you make to "rehabilitate" yourself, the harmful dynamic of this situation will keep bringing you down. Having a fill done under flouro sounds like the right thing to do. I hope all goes well. Once it has been established that you pouch is working, maybe you could ask your doctor for guidelines regarding how much you should be eating. It's good that you recognise that this is the core of the problem, rather than what ever muscle weight you've been putting on at the gym. For me, the band is a tool to reestablish limits and change my relationship to food – how much I eat, how fast I eat, why I eat. It can't do the work for me, and if I choose to agress against it and sabotage myself, then I will ultimately succeed. Cap'n, it looks like you want to stop before you get to this point. Like Plain said, you can. One more thing – stop lurking, start posting and build yourself a support system here. I couldn't have done it without the people here. Isolating, which you've already identified as a sign of trouble for you, will get you only to bad places. You don't need to be ashamed of anything here . We are all in the same boat. Keep us in the loop.

Brad - here are some threads from the site which may be relevent - some of them deal with Juarez and some with Mexico as a whole. Either click on them or paste them into your browser - hope you find what you're looking for, best of luck - http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f18/juarez-mexico-jan-16th-84145/?highlight=juarezhttp://www.lapbandtalk.com/f84/dr-rodriguez-juarez-mexico-reviews-81726/?highlight=juarez http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f11/surgery-mexico-57747/?highlight=juarez http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f11/dr-jose-rodriguez-juarez-69033/?highlight=juarez http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f18/going-2-juarez-64330/?highlight=juarez http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f178/mexico-danger-89029/?highlight=juarez http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f11/has-anyone-used-dr-natera-cd-juarez-mexico-surgery-87990/?highlight=juarez

Good luck is indeed wished. With a little (okay, sometimes a lot) of patience, acceptance , follow through and the aforementioned good luck, the band can be nothing short of a miracle. Advice? There's more of that here than you'll ever need. Read the relevent forums, paying special attention to stickies and faqs. Identify the threads that are meaningful, and go through them searching for whatever you need – don't just read the recent posts – some of them go back a long way, and some of the information there is still quite valid. Read peoples' profiles to get an idea of who's been around for a while, who is walking the walk. My own thoughts: Take time after the operation – not necessarily from the pain (I didn't think it was too bad) but to readjust. Life gets different right away. You might need to mourn, to accept a new relationship with food. Follow your doctor's instructions to the T – that's really important. And reward yourself by knowing that you have made an affirmative life-changing choice. It's a long adjustment – habits of a lifetime do not go away overnight, but slowly, with the help of this marvelous tool, we can learn a different way, Wishing you all the best,

Name.........Lbs Lost....% of orig. wgt lost.....BMI Abbisgood.........53.............23%.............?? Aubrie............65.............%...............31 BandChick64.......104............34.67%..........31.6 Bandpal...........136............47.5%...........24.5 BarbBee...........131............43%.............28.9 Cherlita..........60.............20%.............55 Cindyg............62.............24.5%...........34.5 Close.............50.............20%.............33.1 Firebolt..........67.............27%.............30.2 Foofy.............50.5...........18.5%...........35.5 gabeekeeper.......101............30% ............40.2 Hajohnson1........49.8...........18.2%...........39.8 Hollyberries......113............31%.............36.2 HoppingToIt.....69.............19.7%.............49.1 Huskerette........54.............22%.............30.5 kandiceb..........63.............26%.............27.6 linda.............52.............23%.............29.9 lindseyann2u......100............N/A.............N/A Maincat...........141............46.5%...........22 Mariegabrieleee...86.............40%.............36.9 Melanie1972.......80.............30%.............29.7 MollyBrown........36.............12.5%...........36.5 Momto1plus1.......106............39.4%...........25.5 NYGirl1...........102............33%.............32.6 plump_princess....57.............22%.............36 QatarPhil.........55.............19%.............32.2 Rachel............63.............%...............28.3 Robin_Bird........132.2.........43.3%............26.3 Sades.............44.8...........19.5%...........33.7 scarecrow.........125............40%.............27.3 Shalee04..........70.............28%.............29.2 Shortgal..........44.5...........20.5%...........32.9 Skinny_Jill.......71.............32.4%...........28.5 Staysee...........70.............20%.............48.4 Stephanie.........64.............27%.............26.5 strangeratx.......63.............27%.............29.6 Teresajo..........93.............36%.............27.3 Tmusicmaker123....73.............19%.............48.7 TxArcher..........103............25.75%..........39.2 tyman311..........61.............31%.............28 want2lose.........91.8...........32%.............31

This challenge will run until June 21, which is the first day of summer!! Name............Start.......Current...........Goal..........To Go Momto1plus1...173...........163................159................4 Bandpal..........151.14.......151.14............150................1.14

I'm also going to end this challenge without reaching my goal - one pound off the mark. But I know that the next challenge is the one for me. All in all, we lost 27 pounds together according to the latest updated total - not too bad, everyone!

Name........Start......Current......Goal......To Go CindyG...........190...........190.............175 ...............15 Momto1plus1...178...........163.............159..................4 Shortgal.........176...........175.............168..................7 Shalee04........178...........178.............168.................10 Skinny_Jill.......145...........145.............140..................5 Bandpal..........161...........151.14.........150.............. 1.14 Another half a pound down... I don't know, gonna be close... (thanks for the votes of confidence, Shalee and Shortgal - Momof1+1, I am your biggest fan).

Hi Linda, Congratulations on your upcoming surgery and welcome to LBT. This site is a great source of information and support. Pay special attention to the surgery-related forums (Pre-Operation Lap-band Surgery Questions & Answers, Lap-Band Surgery Frequently Asked Questions and General Lap-Band Surgery Discussion) , there's more advice there than you'd ever want to hear about the operation - preparing for it, recovering from it and how to make the most of your band from day one. Don't pay attention to only the recent posts. Check out the stickies and read through the threads that are relevent to you, gleaning information along the way. On the support side, check out the General Lap-Band Support forum and, most importantly, hook yourself up with a support group (Monthly Lap-band Support Groups), based on when your surgery date is. My own group has been an essential part of my recovery process. Best of Luck to you!

Name........Start......Current......Goal......To Go CindyG...........190...........190.............175 ...............15 Momto1plus1...178...........163.............159..................4 Shortgal.........176...........175.............168..................7 Shalee04........178...........178.............168.................10 Skinny_Jill.......145...........145.............140..................5 Bandpal..........161...........151.47.........150.............. 1.47 5 days to the end of the challenge... can the kid do it?

Name.........Lbs Lost....% of orig. wgt lost.....BMI Abbisgood.........53.............23%.............?? Aubrie............65.............%...............31 BandChick64.......104............34.67%..........31.6 Bandpal...........134.58.........47%.............24.8 BarbBee...........131............43%.............28.9 Cherlita..........60.............20%.............55 Cindyg............62.............24.5%...........34.5 Close.............50.............20%.............33.1 Firebolt..........67.............27%.............30.2 Foofy.............50.5...........18.5%...........35.5 gabeekeeper.......101............30% ............40.2 Hajohnson1........49.8...........18.2%...........39.8 Hollyberries......113............31%.............36.2 HoppingToIt.....69.............19.7%.............49.1 Huskerette........54.............22%.............30.5 kandiceb..........63.............26%.............27.6 linda.............52.............23%.............29.9 lindseyann2u......100............N/A.............N/A Maincat...........141............46.5%...........22 Mariegabrieleee...86.............40%.............36.9 Melanie1972.......80.............30%.............29.7 MollyBrown........36.............12.5%...........36.5 Momto1plus1.......106............39.4%...........25.5 NYGirl1...........102............33%.............32.6 plump_princess....57.............22%.............36 QatarPhil.........55.............19%.............32.2 Rachel............63.............%...............28.3 Robin_Bird........132.2.........43.3%............26.3 Sades.............44.8...........19.5%...........33.7 scarecrow.........125............40%.............27.3 Shalee04..........70.............28%.............29.2 Shortgal..........44.5...........20.5%...........32.9 Skinny_Jill.......71.............32.4%...........28.5 Staysee...........70.............20%.............48.4 Stephanie.........64.............27%.............26.5 strangeratx.......63.............27%.............29.6 Teresajo..........93.............36%.............27.3 Tmusicmaker123....73.............19%.............48.7 TxArcher..........103............25.75%..........39.2 tyman311..........61.............31%.............28 want2lose.........91.8...........32%.............31