NJ_gal_in_VA

This is very true, Doddie! You know, we both weigh around the same! We could be a GREAT support for each other because we're both pretty much at the same point in our journey! I need all the support I can get, that's for sure! You know, I think my biggest problem is that I DON'T eat, believe it or not! I never eat breakfast and rarely eat lunch. For instance, I haven't even eaten yet today and it's 2:00! Then later I gourge myself! I know, bad! :rolleyes2: I know what I SHOULD be doing....I just don't do it! I have to change that soon!

Me too Doddie! I can feel it and sometimes it even gets stuck on my ribs!! LOL! But feeling it helps me know its there and helping me!

Good luck to you, girl! We're all praying and rooting for you!

That's what a friend of mine said earlier today. So I will stick with mine too because I've been using that one.

Well, I went to the doctor today (my physician, not my band dr.) and I guess my scale at home is wrong. The scale at my physician's office said 246! The scale at home says 240. Which do I believe? Another scale that I checked on at the hospital said 246. This was a state of the art digital scale so I just went by that one to update my ticker. But now I'm so depressed because here I am thinking I lost 5 pounds and I didn't And my back and shoulder problems are worse and PT isn't helping much. I had to have more xrays today and I'm not sleeping. I am so tired during the day because of this that I dont want to do anything. I hurt so bad I feel like I cant exercise. Even low impact kills me.

Thank you so much Doddie! I've seen some of those pregnant bandster groups and I will keep them in mind. I think that we will probably set the wedding date for the summer. I was banded June 11, 2007 so it will be more than a year since I've had my surgery because we're thinking about July for the date. I will let you all know when we set the date! Thanks for everyone's support!

Thank you to all of you for your kind words! Doddie and dawgfan, I appreciate your comments about me being beautiful no matter what I weigh! And my fiancee asked me to marry him before I even got the band so I was 30 pounds heavier then! I know he loves me no matter what. This is my own thing. I'm the one that's worried about it. Not him. I'm not going to try and quit smoking right now because it is definitely too much for me. Besides, like I said in my other posts, I only smoke like 3 or 4 ciggs a day so it's not too bad. Just a nasty habit more than anything! Unfortunately, I already cancelled my appointment for next week for my fill because we just couldn't make it. They will be sending me a letter in the mail with my next appointment which they said will be in March. But I think I can do ok until then if I really buckle down. However, I'm going to work on trying to get a doctor in Kingsport to do my fills, which is only about an hour away. Hopefully I can find someone who will take another doctors' band patient! Another thing I forgot to mention in my last post was that I do NOT want to get pregnant until I am at least under 200 pounds. I'm not going to put a baby through my own weight problems because I know I will have more problems if I'm overweight while I'm pregnant. I weighed about 145 when I got pregnant with my son 10 years ago and gained 74 pounds during my pregnancy. It was not fun for me. But that's besides the point. I want my baby to be healthy. And I need to be healthy in order for that to happen. Of course that's not where my weight problems started. I was diagnosed with Lupus at a very young age-11. I was put on steroids for about 3 and a half years. I was always very thin before that. Of course, as I mentioned above, I got down to 145 before I got pregnant. I have a very small bone frame. I'm not supposed to be this way. As a result of this weight bearing down on my small bone frame, I have many bone and joint problems. I'm hoping that will get better as I lose the weight. After I had my son I lost almost all the pregnancy weight until I moved to VA. I lived in NJ, in the same house, all my life before that-21 years! I guess the stress of moving to an entire new state and leaving everything I had ever known and all my friends and most of my family was too much for me! I moved to VA because I had no choice in the matter because of financial problems. I let myself go and I think that's a big reason why I am the way I am today. I'm 27 now and that's all behind me. Hopefully I can just start new!

Denise, First I just wanted to say congratulations to you for only having ten more pounds to lose! I wish I were that close to my goal. Second, I'm having a bit of a dilemma. I've been engaged for a little over a year now, and we have set a date and cancelled it 3 times now. These were for many different reasons. One of them being that I want to lose as much weight as possible before I get married. This will be a once in a lifetime thing and I want to be perfectly happy with my weight, pictures, etc. I would hate to look back on my wedding pictures and regret being so heavy. However, we really want to start a family and I want to do it right this time (my 8 year old son was conceived out of wedlock with a deadbeat loser...lol) My fiancee loves my son as if he were his own but we want a baby that's a little of both of us....I'm sure you all understand where I'm coming from. Anyway, I'm feeling like my biological clock is ticking and I'm ready for another baby. We were thinking about scheduling the wedding for this summer but I'm not sure I can lose 100 pounds by then. I guess if I set that particular goal it will get me motivated more but I don't want to set the date and then find that, a month before the wedding, I'm not even close to my goal. What do you ladies think? Should I go ahead and schedule the wedding for the summer and just really buckle down or should I wait until I'm closer to my ideal weight? Keep in mind that if we don't get married this summer, we'll have to wait until next summer because my fiancee is a school teacher and we want to schedule the wedding for when he has his summer vacation. I don't want to wait until next year......What should I do? :ohmy: But whatever I decide, I know my lapband family will be behind me and encourage me all along the way to get to my goal before the wedding! You girls are awesome!

Thanks for the advice Doddie! I do feel as though I need some sort of treat or I have deprived myself and I go nuts! Especially when I end up finally giving in to my cravings and I go off the deep end....eating till I'm sick!! I think that the slower you lose, the longer it will stay off. And you're right Doddie. We need to focus on changing our lifestyle habits rather than obsess over what the scale says.

Well, I'm now trying to quit smoking on top of losing weight. It sucks! And I'm finding myself trying to replace the nicotine with delicious evil foods...lol! Ice cream and cookies... So I got up this morning and bought a pack of ciggarettes... :prrr: But see, I only smoke like 3 or 4 a day. Is that horrible? And should I try to quit while trying to lose weight? My fiancee is so pissed at me. He says he would rather me quit smoking and gain a few pounds. :rose: It's like this big circle that I'm going round and round in...and it never stops. I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. I can't seem to make anyone happy....

Thanks girl!! I'll see what I can do

Well, I can't make my January appointment and they can't reschedule me until March. Also, I talked to someone at UVA about changing my fill appointments to Kingsport but she said that no one likes to take other doctors' lap-band patients for fear that something will go wrong and they'll be blamed even though they didn't actually do the surgery. Do you think this is true? I've only had two fills and I'm in desperate need for another. I still feel hungry all the time. I don't feel like I have ANY restriction except for the occasional getting food stuck and sliming if I eat too fast or don't chew well enough. I'm not losing any weight. In fact, I gained two pounds even though I started excercising more and eating less! (Meanwhile still feeling hungry) I just can't afford the gas to get to UVA this month. I live 6 hours away! But I know I need a fill because I'm not losing. I've only had 2 fills since my surgery in June! And I can eat too much and still be hungry it's so damn frustrating, ladies!

Well, I can't make my January appointment and they can't reschedule me until March. Also, I talked to someone at UVA about changing my fill appointments to Kingsport but she said that no one likes to take other doctors' lap-band patients for fear that something will go wrong and they'll be blamed even though they didn't actually do the surgery. Do you think this is true? I've only had two fills and I'm in desperate need for another. I still feel hungry all the time. I don't feel like I have ANY restriction except for the occasional getting food stuck and sliming if I eat too fast or don't chew well enough. I'm not losing any weight. In fact, I gained two pounds even though I started excercising more and eating less! (Meanwhile still feeling hungry) It's so damn frustrating, ladies! :eek:

I hear ya nonad! I hate the whole sliming thing. I have to be sooo careful. I also agree we need another thread. How do we do that? I'll start it if needed! Also, I can't make my next fill at the end of this month and I'm bummed because they can't get me in again until March if I cancel I just can't afford the gas to get to UVA this month. I live 6 hours away! But I know I need a fill because I'm not losing. I've only had 2 fills since my surgery in June! And I can eat too much and still be hungry.... I'm so frustrated :eek:

I live in southwest va. very small town. but i'm about an hour from kingsport tenessee so that may be an option. thanks! I will talk to my fiancee and see what he says about the january appt.

Thanks joeygirl! I feel better especially because I only had two fills so of course i'm not feeling full! I guess I am one of the ones that need more! I have an appointment already. I just dont know if I can make it because I live 6 hours from where I get them done and i dont think its in our budget this month for gas and expenses. But I will reschedule for next month. Thanks for all your input! It has really helped me to understand this better! I wonder if I can get my fills at a doctor closer to me....I only stuck with UVA because that's where I started the whole process before I moved.

Denise, Mine is always that thick mucus. i do all i can to avoid throwing up so i spend a lot of time just spitting in the sink and holding it back when that happens. sorry so gross! What is slime? is that the thick mucus thing?

I am on 2 different antidepressants and im still in the dumps. im at the highest level u can be on with the meds. they cant raise my dose anymore. so that isnt it. but i will try better fills and i will be honest with my doc. i'm just afraid he'll tell me its not working and want to remove the band or something.

I'm definitely in! I was wondering where all my slow losing friends were! Lost just 24 pounds in 7 months! By the way, what's NSV or whatever it was??

To all who have responded so far, Thank you so much to all of you who have responded so far. It feels good to know that I'm not alone in all of this! We need to support each other because it seems as though so many people on these forums are doing so well. I agree we should have one for us "lost" banders! And to joeygirl, I've been in twice for fills. How do I get these "agressive" fills as some of you described? The nurse practitioner that fills me just does it how she wants and doesn't really ask my opinion. Also, I get food stuck sometimes so does that mean I have some restriction? Sometimes it gets stuck so bad I have to throw it back up (sorry so gross!) And it hurts really bad. Especially when I eat bread and drier foods. Also, if it's time for a meal, say, when I've finished cooking for my family, should I eat even if I'm not hungry? And thank you for the support teach! I've thought the same thing. I even considered getting the band removed and just doing it all on my own. I thought this maybe isn't for me. I'm not so sure but we can help each other! And I, too feel guilty about the time and money that my fiancee "wasted" because I screwed up. But I guess we shouldn't look at it that way because my fiancee and my son are there for me no matter what and I'm sure your family is too!

I was banded on June 11, 2007. Since then I have lost about 25 lbs. Problem is, 20 of those pounds were lost in the first week. I had serious issues with the immediate post-op diet. Liquids, then mushies even, were not doing it for me. I was starving. I am an extremely picky eater so even the stuff that my dietician told me I could eat was not edible for me. Again, I was starving. After about a week, I started eating things I used to eat, in moderation. Slowly but surely, I worked my way back to my old eating habits. My fault, I know. I'm not looking for sympathy or excuses, because there are none for me. I screwed up. I was given a golden opportunity and I screwed up. And with all the crap going on in my life, I'm finding it difficult to get back on track. I feel like I can't because I messed it up. I don't even exercise. I always have an excuse. Currently, my excuse is that it's too cold to go for a walk. Also, I have a cold so that's another excuse I'm making. Can I start over? Should I go back on the post-op diet? I know all the things I SHOULD be doing and God knows I don't need to hear them over and over again. I'm not asking for people to tell me it's ok that I screwed up and feel sorry for me. I just want to know if I should go back to the beginning. Can I start over and redeem myself? Make a new start? Get on track with exercise and diet? Someone please just tell me I'm not alone so I know that there may be hope for me.

I had my lap-band done by Dr. Shirmer at UVA and he was very nice. A little strange, but very nice! He takes time to answer your questions and he's pretty patient. But you won't see him much after surgery. Janet Dix will do your fills. She's the Nurse Practitioner I believe. Good luck!:clap2: