Apples2

I reached my goal on 10/15/08. I started at 242# and now weigh 134#. I lost 54# from 11/22/07 until time of surgery on 06/17/08. It's been a good ride. No complications. Basically followed each and every rule my surgeon requires and things fell into place and the weight loss happened. I went from wearing a 3X top and 18 or larger jeans. I am now in a medium top and size 6 jeans. The best part of all of this is the way I feel physically. Plus, no more worries about my health when it comes to BP,etc. I am me again!!!!

It's not like you said "You can park those boots under my bed any time!". It's pretty sad that we have to be so overly careful in the work place. But, the way I feel about it is that it is better to make no comments than have harassment run rampant as it did not too many years ago.:biggrin:

I feel for you being so far away from your doc and any support group. We live in a rural area...I'm only 15 miles from my doc so I feel fortunate and to have my support group is another plus. Just try to make an effort every day to check in on the board with your questions and concerns. Make this thread your base. There's always someone that has been through something similar and can support you. BTW....Good Sunday morning to all of my friends here. Hope you are all having a good day. I am working...Grrrrrrr. My volunteer jobs are getting in the way of my real job. At the present time I am learning the new volunteer jobs and they will not take up as much time in the future so I can handle it. My husband is working today anyway so like to stay busy. DH is a true workaholic but just gotta love him! Struggling with figuring out what my caloric intake should be to maintain now that I am at goal. I dreaded this for months. Sounds funny? I am going to just take this next two weeks and experiment. I bumped my calories up quite a bit and will see where I sit on the scale after that point. Did not help that a tummy bug was passed around the farm this week. No vomiting but a real sour tummy any time I ate. Dropped 5# and did not in any way want to. Going to eat some pumpkin ice cream once a day besides my other calories to see if it will go back on. Doc does not do fills on anyone under goal and don't want to have to struggle with hunger in the future. I find that my band is quite fickle. Five days that are really good and two days of hunger. That tells me I should have a small fill. But, I am willing to go until my 11/04 appt. to see what happens. I have a feeling most bandsters have the same problem. Kind of sitting at an OK place with restriction but a little unsure of fills because being too tight is worse than being hungry once in awhile. Am I making sense?????????? (I've been known not to!) You all have a great day!!:biggrin:

Househuntress...congrats on the weight that you HAVE lost. You somewhat answered one of your own questions when you said that you have not quite gotten the chewing and eating too fast where it should be. Take these next two-three weeks to make a conscious effort with EVERYTHING you put into your mouth to chew and take your time. You should be able to see a difference with the pb'ing. It cannot be good for you to pb so much. Also, for emotional support. Do you have a support group in your area? Go online and see if you can find one close to your home. It does not have to be your doc's support group. I think most accept any body. I cannot imagine doing without my group. Great information comes from a variety of tried and true actions. I, too, struggled with 4#s for a couple of months. I stayed away from the scale and tried to just stay on plan. I have read other posts of people alternating their days from a bit higher calories and the next day stay within the plan. Supposedly that will kick things into gear. Haven't tried that plan but I know it has worked for others. You sound like you are at a place where you are fairly frustrated and I feel for you. You have come a long way and if you can find a way to get things moving again things will seem so much better for you. I wish you loads of luck and hope your scale moves soon. Take care and good luck with finding the support you need. You always have tons of people here on LBT.

Katydid...Love your Op shops over there. We have been to Australia a few times (we were able to stay a month at a time four diff times). We had two foreign exchange students and have had their families visit us quite a few times. One of the girls is an Op shop addict. We had so much fun digging through racks. We could spend all day and we always had a great time. Please take the time to look into what is going on with your own health. I have had a number of hernia repairs. I stayed on top of going to the dr., insisting they take a look at what was going on. I had a split in my lower abdomen with the first one 4 years ago. I was rushed to another hospital for a CAT scan. Well, needless to say, they did the CAT while I was laying down and nothing showed. They said that most likely it was an ovarian syst that had ruptured. Found out a couple of weeks later all on my own....a HUGE hernia fell out of my belly while I was bowling. If they would have recognized what it was to begin with, my emergency surgery would have not been so extensive and the recovery time would not have been what it was. The sucker was the size of a football when it popped. I guess the warning I am trying to send is that it is unsafe to let it go. You could be a short step away from a strangulated bowel. Something that is life threatening. Three weeks ago I again had surgery for a number of hernias and adhesions. The adhesions had my entire bowel system wrapped up. I do not like to lecture but reading your explanation of your symptoms gave me a scare. I realize you are hugely tied up in taking care of your parents but please take care of yourself also so you can be around for them when they need you in the future. Please, Katy, take the time needed to see what is going on and insist your doc does all the tests necessary to take care of the problem. "Hugs" and take care!:w00t:

My LB surgeon advises waiting a year or more b/4 TT, etc. States the reason is that things can fall into place in that time period and maybe the patient would be more satisfied and not feel the need to go through the surgery. We work so hard at getting this weight off. I know most of us don't for strive for perfection...we just want to be able to pull up our slacks and not have a hanging bulge. I guess my point is that each of us has to decide at a certain point what the trade off is. The surgery that can be painful, expensive and put our life on hold for awhile or are we satisfied (if only somewhat) with the outcome without PS. There's so many factors that come into play. About midway through my weight loss my belly looked like melting butter. I told one of my good friends that no matter what, if it looked like that at the end of this weight loss journey, I would definitely get a TT. If we get to goal and look pretty good in our clothes, can a person accept that? The way I see it with my jiggly thighs...I just cannot go through another surgery after all that I have had (especially elective surgery). Been married for 29 yrs and my husband says he loves every part of me. I guess the only time those thighs would be out in public is in a bathing suit. Think I am going to just buy me a pair of boy shorts to go with my bathing suit top. But, I do admire people that recognize the need for PS and that it will make their journey complete.

Katie...good for you for being proactive and doing what you need to do for yourself. At least you recognize what is going on and are able to name it. Take care, sweet girl, and all the best.

Don't get me wrong...I do have places where my skin looks like melting butter (especially inner thighs) But, they are my thighs and I liken 'um. I just happened to luck out and not have flab on my tummy, boobs didn't go south, my arms are OK and no back flab. I can deal with the inner thigh thing. If my DH were repulsed by inner thigh flab...he just wouldn't be invited to visit there any more! I am a fairly active person and even was when I was heavy. I am not sure if that helped at all? I did walk a lot during the weight loss process and would do exercise to dvd's also. I certainly did not kill myself exercising. I really think that a lot has to do with genetics.

Iteach..I found Biotin in the vitamin isle at Walmart...also the vitamin E. I am sure you can find it even in your grocery store.

Thanks for the info, Lulac. I am going to try your recipe. Have never had them and they sound wonderful!

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Orea. I am also a jewelry person. My husband takes care of that dept. I think it's so cute when he says "Well, I consider it a good investment". Hmmm...it could help pay for my funeral when I kick off and also a pretty nice Irish wake!

OK...JoannMarie was talking about rewarding ourselves. This may sound vain, self-indulgent or what have you but I guess I am brave enough to share how I have rewarded myself throughout this process. I kind of watched what I spent on clothes throughout the weight loss process. I shopped at Target and Walmart for tops during the summer and tried to get by with stretchy bottoms. At my 75# milestone I went and got permanent eyeliner and eyelashes. LOVE THEM. I now wear no makeup. When I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel (goal) I went shopping. (Blush) Bought everything I needed and now have a closet full. Today I treated myself (goal day) to a boiled wool red winter coat. It is soooooooo beautiful I could cry. When I was thin 14 yrs ago, I was truly a clothes horse. I guess I'm back on that pony!!!!!!!!!

JoannMarie...thanks for the congrats. But, you are an inspiration to me! You are not even banded yet and are so full of wisdom and always has the nicest way of giving advice. Thank you for that. Long...your question on what size I was. I weighed 242# in Nov when I started pre-op diet. I wore a 3X shirt and 18 slacks...sometimes larger. I now wear a medium top and size 6 jeans and dress slacks. I am all arms and legs. (I carried most of my weight through the mid section). I am VERY smalled boned but 5'7" in height. I have to special order my jeans in at least a 34" inseam. I think I am happiest about just the way I feel physically and also happy that I did not end up with sagging skin. I cannot pinch anything through my middle. When I weighed what I do now 14 yrs ago, I did have an issue with flab. Go figure!

Congrats of your 41# loss. Lots of work and paying attention to your band and what it can do, plus, doing a lot of the work yourself. As to your question about how much lost after surgery...I lost over 50# b/4 and 52# after being banded.

Congrats on your 70# loss, iteach. Try not to panic about losing some hair...could be just a short term thing but I guess I would discuss this with you doc. He could have some ideas on what to do. I, too, have tons of hair but I would feel like you do and not want to lose any. I wish you lots of luck and hope you can get the needed protein in your daily diet.

I have never posted b/4 and after. Not sure if that's my bag. Maybe someday but thanks for asking.

Hey Long...I hate to say this but "What a Loser"! (joking). I have been taking Biotin since the day I had surgery. Also take Vitamin E. No hair loss so far. I hate to jinx that but I have my hair thinned every six weeks when I get it cut. I have way more hair than a person should. I still don't want to start losing it though!

Congrats on the 75# lost, Long. Isn't every milestone just a lot of fun and encouragement to get to where you want to be? You've done so well. I was able to hit goal this morning. 106# gone. Feels wonderful. I could just cry when I think about how I felt about myself a year ago. That's all behind me now and time to live life that I would have only dreamed about a year ago. Again, congrats on the 75#s. Coach? Leather coat? Both? Oh my!

Thanks Linkoop...yeh, I pretty much stuck to my doc's plan. 1/2cup 3x daily. I did treat myself once in awhile though. As far as the skin...I lucked out on that one. When I started this process I thought for sure I would need a TT because I carried soooooooooooo much weight through my middle. I think that watching that I got the required Protein helped not to lose muscle mass and also carried me through this process with excess energy. My tummy is flat and I don't have the dreaded excess back flab. My arms don't keep waving when I have stopped. A lot of this depends on genetics, I believe. Wishing you luck with is process. As I stated above, the best resource to keep a person motivated and educated is this board.

Hi Cappy...want to wish you happiness and a successful lapband journey. If you read a second post by me above, I lost over 50# b/4 being banded. Had to do the 6 mo. medically supervised diet and decided to just start with the weight loss at that time. As far as obstacles go...making the decision to do the LB is one big obstacle in itself. It's a huge decision. When a person comes to the realization that once that LB is in your body, your way of eating and your life changes forever. It is all such a positive change though. About the only advice that I can give is to follow ALL of your doc's orders when it comes to eating, follow-ups, etc. Do not sabotage your good intentions by eating "slider foods", not exercising. It's all up to you to make things work. One of the best resources for support that I found was this board. I was very lucky to not run into any obstacles physically. I guess the one thing I would have done different is to have gotten another fill about a month ago to have a little more restriction. (I have a fear of being too full. This comes from many years of dealing with acid reflux. I had a haital hernia repair at time of surgery and have not had acid reflux since). If I would have gotten that fill, I would have been a little more satisfied with my 1/2 cup 3x daily. I am getting that fill soon. I do exercise on a daily basis whether it be a 4-5 mile walk daily or just working out with a dvd. I did not join a gym (mostly because we are 15 miles from any town). To answer your question about how this journey was for me...it's work but there are so many positives along the way, i.e.: the increased energy, the way a person feel about their accomplishments...this all outweighs the work that needs to be done. The only other things I have to add is that I KNOW that this is the best thing I have ever done for myself. I will be 53 in about a month and I feel better than I did at 19 yrs of age.

Hey...made goal this morning. 106# gone. I feel so good, have so much energy and the cloud of obesity has blown away. I love my band.:regular_smile:

PLEASE...I notice a number of people eat potstickers. Never had one...no idea what they are (naive in potsticker dept.). Can someone tell me the nutritional content? Today: B- Didn't have time to get it in L- 1/2 Chicken Keiv (squeezed butter out), 1 broccoli spear, 1/4 cup fruit (Had a volunteer banquet) more than I usually eat. D - 1/2 cup honey mustard chicken

Hey JD...are you feeling restriction with the 4 fills that you have gotten? I have had two fills in a large band with a total of 6cc's. I sway back and forth whether I need another fill. Most days are good but other days I am very hungry and feel I am doing this all by myself. I have decided in the last couple of days that I will ask for a fill at my 11/04 appt. Doc gives .5 at a time and can get an unfill day or night if I need to. My biggest fear is being too full but know that I some days work hard than my band. Decision made and gonna go for that fill. Want to keep this thread going and stay in touch with all the June 2008 friends. We started with a mega amount of people and would be nice to hear from some of them and how they are doing. Sounds reasonable, right?:biggrin:

Hey...where all you Jazzie June people? Everyone doing great, I hope. CathyChatts? I'm calling for you!!!!!!!!!! Where have you been??????????

JoannMarie....I must have missed when you posted that you got a surgery date. When is the BIG day?