bandpal

Lets share poems that have moved, touched and inspired us on our journey. Please feel free to comment on whatever comes up. Here's one that speaks to me:

"Speech to the Young, Speech to the Progress-Toward."

Say to them,

say to the down-keepers,

the sun-slappers,

the self-soilers,

the harmony-hushers,

"Even if you are not ready for day

it cannot always be night."

You will be right.

For that is the hard home-run.

Live not for battles won.

Live not for the-end-of-the-song.

Live in the along.

- Gwendolyn Brooks

I too am moved by the honesty and emotions expressed here. Ladykcusa, you did it for me with that "66 year life-long battle with food". Early in my adolescence, I already knew that I was fighting that battle - and I was losing. I can remember myself at 14, sitting in the back of a bus, drugged with junk food, looking out despondently at the neon lights blurring by whispering "Food... Food... Food" and thinking: "Food spelled backwards is Doof... something called doof is ruining my life... and the biggest doof is me."

The band is not a miracle worker, but it came along at the point when I was ready for it - I knew that I needed help, I knew that I was ready to try something new and to work for it. Every day of the last two years, three months and 12 days has been a gift. I'm going to be 50 in 2 days and I've already given myself the best present I ever could have hoped for, one I never dared to think I would ever achieve.

People - for me, the stuff about "finding substitutes for food" doesn't cut it. food monopolized my life, my thinking, my relationships. This legitimate need for nourishment turned into a monster that swallowed my life. Today, I don't want to find a substitute for food. For today, and - with grace - for tomorrow, I just want to live better, live more.

Welcome, Vixen! Thank you for that moving post. You do indeed sound ready. All your suffering and pain will turn into your greatest ally down the road. It will reinforce the decision you have made and deepen your gratification as you move from success to success. My children (I have four: when I was banded two years ago, they were 3,5,7 and 15) were a major incentive for me to take this step. Today, they hardly remember me as ever having been fat, although they occasionaly complain about me no longer having a belly for them to jump on!

Good luck, and keep posting and reading threads here. There's lots of hope, strength and experience here. Good luck,and stay in touch!

Hi Jason, Welcome! Your journey has begun, stick with it and keep posting here. Many people here have had to jump through countless hoops in order to get banded, if the diet is the only thing your insurance is asking for, then I agree with Leigha: consider yourself fortunate.

Check out my stats below and pictures on my profile, we weren't so far apart at the beginning - if I can do it, so can you! Good luck, and stay in touch!

Congratulations - you are on the way! "Patient and careful" is the ticket - as far as those mixed messages, what is your doctor telling you? Did you get a food plan? That should be your north star. Also - visit the Food and Nutrition Forum here http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f9/ and look at the stickies - some of the answers to your questions should be there. Good luck!

Cogratulations on your weight loss and on reaching this post-band milestone. Good luck with that fill, and I hope things work out with your job. Don't let Mom buy all the presents - buy yourself some presents, too. The most important gifts are the ones we give to ourselves, like the one you gave to yourself three months ago...

That is fantastic news - full bore ahead, nothing can stop you now! Congratulations!

Good for you, and let me assure that your dreams are well within the realm of the possible! The band is a great tool, and the wisdom and experience and support you'll receive here will help you use it.

One of my favorite quotes is, "Miracles sometimes occur, but one has to work terribly hard for them." If you do the work, your own miracle has already begun. Welcome!

I'm so happy to have been able to help you out from so far away! Keep pushing out Z's and moving forward!

Your painful, honest insights will pay you back in gold, Birney, and your lifetime of bitter experience with food will be your best teacher and guide, because it will give you the wisdom and courage to perservere in post-band life. The band will be there helping you along - reducing your hunger, helping you make better food choices and change the habits you developed around eating. And we will be there for you also.

Food is an indispensable necessity and a legitimate source of pleasure, but you are right: for many of us, it became a false God - offering us fullness and comfort but monopolizing and ruining our lives. This knowledge, that can only be accrued with years of suffering, will make it easier for you to step away from what you have been and help you move on into a life that will be better than you have dreamed it could be. Sounds a little dramatic, but I mean every word, because that is how it has been for me.

I read your profile: You do sound ready to do this, and you can take your life back.

Won't it be great when we don't have to worry about things like this anymore??!!

Tell you what, it sure is. Not having to use that # % & ! - ing extender anymore is what the joy of flying is all about for me these days. I could just sit there buckling and unbuckling that seatbelt from takeoff to landing - what a rush - ummm, please don't let that get to the TSA, okay?.

Like so many other of our problems (I'd say that one was number 2 on my list, right behind having to use my moveable showerhead for some sanitary purposes that are better left undetailed) they just go away - and good riddance! Give me a little restriction over a lot of extension any day!

I can empathize, Mimi. The last month before my surgery, I binged non-stop. I was afraid of the surgery. I knew I was standing on the precipice of a major life change, and I knew I was saying goodbye to my previous relationship with food: how I ate,when I ate, how often I ate, how much I ate and what I ate.

Be kind to yourself. Forgive yourself. Talk about how you feel with people who care about you, and get all the hugs you can - and keep putting it out here, because we understand. Meanwhile, April is coming.

The H-Pylori stuff sounds really annoying - I just read that more than 50% of us have it inside of us, and 80% of the people who have it are asymptomatic. It just sounds like more fun and games from the insurance industry.

Just follow through and be patient - and remember, you are doing this for yourself, not your husband. Imposing deadlines might only add to your stress. Keep hanging in there.

Any words of Pep I could offer pale before the encouragement of the Master: Paste this into Youtube and prepare to be inspired

Animal House - Bluto's Inspiration Speech

Seriously, looks like you need to change some habits. Buy some of those McD hot chocolates and oatmeal Cookies. Put em in a bag and step on them! Or better yet, take your daughter along and donate all that stuff to the homeless. Make a official break. You can do it. Don't beat up on yourself. Move forward.

Wow, MNWMN,you go sell that truck of yours and then maybe you'll give me your autograph along with some short words of prayer and gratitude, and I'll be honored to stick that paper in a crack in the Western Wall of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. (I'm from Israel) This is a common tradition followed by religious and non-religious people alike, and it doesn't matter if you are Jewish or not. I am probably the farthest thing from a wingnut you can imagine, but I am moved by the step you are planning to take, and want to honor it. Best of Luck!

Congratulations and welcome to the club. Your pain (shoulder) might also be related to leftover gas from the operation. I'm all for taking it easy right after surgery - don't overdo it. I had nothing but Clear Liquids for my first week, not the one Protein Shake either. I say you're lightheaded because you know you've just turned your life around!

First, thank you, Laptastic :biggrin:.

Second: Ah yes, people. Reminds me of my favorite line from Peanuts: "I love humanity - it's just people I can't stand." I have been lucky here. Wife has been loving and supportive, kids stopped making fat Dad jokes a long time ago, dog is still trying to make sense of it all, and everything else is window dressing. Co-workers: juck 'em if they can't take a foke.

Your sisters' cattiness made me sad. I hate that comment. I thought of three zingers for you, in response to "Well I could lose weight too if I had surgery.":

:tongue:"So what's stopping you? Climb up on the table and I'll make the incision right now!"

:tongue:"Yeah, too bad there's no knife sharp enough to cut through your thick, cold, insensitive skin."

:tongue:"Looks like they tried, but they forgot to close the opening beneath your nose that those funny sounds keep coming out of."

It's sad about being treated nicer, isn't it? Not for nothing is there all that talk about discrimination and prejudice against fat or obese people. I do hope, though, that I too am easier to be with and work with than I was before.