sleepyjean

I tried some baby food. A friend of mine who has a baby told me that babyfood fruit can actually be pretty tasty. LIES! ALL LIES. It was gross. I've got three jars of Gerber stage 3 and not a clue what to do with them.

I'm curious - for those whose husbands are against this, are the husbands overweight too? Now that I know what it's like to be obese, I would never argue with anyone else's decision to do what they feel is necessary. All of us have tried EVERYTHING before coming to this point. We all know the desperation and hopelessness that comes with obesity. I couldn't look another obese person in the eye and tell them what they should or should not do to control their weight.

Before I got banded, I resolved to weigh myself once a month. In the past, I have weighed myself daily and if I didn't lose or if I (gasp!) gained, I would be so depressed I'd binge. I was terrified that it would happen again, so I didn't want to weigh myself too often and get obsessed. But then I got my band - and started weighing myself every day. It was addictive, because every single day, the number was lower than the day before. It was so thrilling to see the weight coming off so steadily. It gave me confidence that I am going to succeed in this. As the honeymoon phase came to an end, and the weight loss slowed down, I decided to weigh myself weekly, so I wouldn't be disappointed by not losing every single day. I have since learned my lesson. Now that I couldn't binge even if I wanted to, the scale has become a valuable tool for me. One of the reasons why I weighed 266 pounds is because I stopped paying attention to my weight and the poundage just kept creeping up and up. I'm never going to be "surprised" like that again, so not weighing myself isn't an option. Also, weighing myself weekly built up so much anticipation, that if I didn't lose weight, or lost a tiny amount like 0.2 lbs, I would be really disappointed and feel like all of my hard work was for nothing - which lead to skipping exercise and eating junk food for the next couple of days. Now I weigh myself in the mornings, when I've got too much restriction to drown my sorrows in vast quantities of food. Weighing myself daily rather than weekly keeps me from convincing myself it's ok to eat an entire box of graham crackers on Monday because I can diet for the rest of the week and still lose weight by Sunday's weigh-in. Monday always lead to Tuesday which lead to Wednesday, and then I'd have to fast for the rest of the week, which I could never pull off. Now, if I eat too much on one day, I see it on the scale and correct it the very next day. The cause and effect relationship between eating and weight gain is much clearer to me now. In a strange way, I find the daily fluctuations in my weight sort of comforting. Given the way I'm eating now, It is physically impossible for me to gain two pounds in one day. So if I'm 248 today and 250 tomorrow, I know that it's just a normal fluctuation and not actual weight gain. I know that not only will I succeed, but even if I do gain some weight back after reaching goal, I will be able to catch myself before it goes too far and becomes 20, 50, or 100 pounds. It's a good thing.

meyour, your attitude is completely unnecessary and unwanted. Aussie was never rude or disrespectful to you.

Not to preach gloom and doom, but you might want to consider couples therapy to help get you through this period in your marriage. Your husband is already bringing a whole lot of baggage and resentment into the situation and his fear is only going to grow as you lose weight. If it was enough to tell him that you love him and would never cheat on him, then he wouldn't still be so upset. Therapy would help him work through his issues and help him find peace in his heart. It would also help you understand how difficult this is for him. You losing weight and getting healthy could be a great thing that brings you two closer together. But situations like this are also one reason why there is such a high rate of divorce after one partner loses weight. This will be a life-changing experience for you. If he's not on board, you may find yourselves growing apart.

Hey gang! Nothing major to report on my end. I'm still losing at a pretty good rate and I've just about resigned myself to the fact that one week out of every month is going to be a MAJOR struggle for me. I'm still pushing along, though. ONEderland is on the horizon. Some days it seems like it will take forever to get there. Other days it seems like just a matter of time...

I agree. I think you're overthinking it. I think your PCP is in a better position to assess your physical risks than the shrink.

That's so awesome! Congrats!

My doc says not to eat anything after midnight the night before. Its' the same as when you do the barium swallow. They need your tummy to be empty so they can see exactly what's going on through the flouroscope. Don't be nervous. It's not scary at all. Just don't look at what they're doing and you'll be fine.

Sounds like hooey to me. There are no end of different kinds of implants used in modern medicine, and I've never heard of one corroding. Hip replacements, Breast implants, etc, all of that stuff is made of inert materials.

I'm with you Aussie. This post seems highly suspicious to me. I can't imagine anyone losing that much weight so quickly without seriously damaging their health. Besides that, you said your doctor put you on a very strict diet, but the diet you posted doesn't seem all that severe, and certainly not severe enough to lose that kind of weight in such a short time. In my opinion, that would require some sort of liquid diet. Looking at the meal plan you posted - an egg, three pieces of bread, three pieces of chicken, two pieces of fish, nevermind the other stuff - that's more than 800 calories. I'm sorry, but I'm too much of a cynic to believe you. You know what they say about things that sound too good to be true...

I turned on the tv this morning and Extreme makeover was on. One of the people getting the makeover was this guy Jeff who'd lost 200 pounds in one year (diet and exercise only, no surgery). His skin was loose and baggy all over his body so the surgeon was going to do a "full body tuck" on him. I didn't stay to watch the show, so I don't know what kind of weight loss program he was on, but he had to have just about starved himself and worked out for hours daily. So why didn't "starvation mode" hit him? Is this going to be one of those reasons why men lose weight faster than women do? http://abc.go.com/primetime/extrememakeover/bios/jeff.html http://www.ienhance.com/extreme-makeover-s2e10.asp

I'm 5'7" and I'm aiming for 140. I don't know if I have a weird body or what, but to me, 140 is even a little bit chubby. Last time I was that size, I think I was around a size 12 and I distinctly remember having fat rolls. It seems like a lot of people my height are aiming for a higher goal weight than I am, which makes me wonder. I think some people may carry weight better than I do. Or maybe I have a small frame or something. I've noticed that quite a few of us have a goal weight that puts them at a BMI of 30+. So I guess my question is not so much what your goal weight is, as how you decided what it would be?

I still swallow my pills whole. One of them is effexor and it's pretty big capsule, but I haven't had any problems. It might be because I take my meds at night when I'm less restricted.

Anyone have links to any good lap-band success stories? I really like Mae's (muffinbirdie). Are there any others like it?

I read somewhere that WLS can make a strong marriage even stronger and weak marriage even weaker. I believe that. Here is an interesting article from two years ago. The title is "Gastric bypass surgery has its risks, including divorce" but GB or LB, what's the diff? I believe this was originally published in the NY Times. Here's the link: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/180580_bypass03.html

Hey Vines, does your doctor know what the deal is? I know you've been having trouble but I haven't been following all the details. Are going to work on regulating your imbalance or did they just shrug and give up? If they did, that's pretty rotten.

Holy cow, that must be SUCH a relief!! That's awesome news. You know what? I've always wondered about that. Every dieter has heard about the whole "starvation mode" thing. But if there truly is such a thing as starvation mode where your body feels deprived and tries to hang on to every last calorie you take in, how do anorexics get so skinny?

I didn't have to do an enema but I did have to drink Fleet's phospho-soda. I think I would've preferred the enema. (gag)

Just eat slowly. Try to make your meal last as long as theirs does. Plus, you can always fall back on having a stomach ache or having had a big lunch/breakfast, etc.

Hmmmm...on the one hand, it sounds like you've got too much restriction. But on the other hand, you're not losing. Sounds like your doctor isn't terribly helpful. A few questions: 1. do you get your fills w/ flouroscopy? 2. are you chewing your food to liquid consistency? 3. are you eating 3 meals or grazing through the day? 4. what kinds of foods are you eating? 5. are you exercising?

What do you guys think of these? Is a watch too subtle? http://www.creativemedicalid.com/watchlets?b=1

I say go get the one that goes up to 350. Pretty soon, you won't need a scale that goes over that!

I had the exact same problem. I sleep on my stomach, so the first three or four days after surgery were rough. I can nap for an hour or so on the couch or in my pappasan, but I can't sleep through the night like that. I tried sleeping on my back in bed, but I'd inevitable wake up when I rolled over in my sleep and got that feeling of a red hot poker jabbing me in the stomach. In the end, I took drugs. My doctor had described Lortab for the pain, but I was afraid I'd get addicted or something, so I didn't take it. When I finally got around to trying it, I discovered that it would knock me out for a good four hours. That's basically how I got through that first week. The good news is, is does get better relatively quickly.

I'm looking at some of the ones here: http://www.medicid.com/ They're more subtle than the big red emblem. I know vanity isn't important - or shouldn't be - when it's your health, but I haven't told anyone about my surgery, so I don't want a big honking thing that says LOOK AT ME.